A Second Chance
Once we reach our destination, and I give the other Ruby's some comm links to communicate, I make a video call that will be broadcasted across the entire world. And so, during the call, I can draw them in for a final battle!
Lisa: "Ladies and gentlemen... The Liberty tip line has just received a call from none other than the fugitive known as Scarlet Spider. Fresh from her rampage in Patch. So, Ruby Rose... What pernicious propaganda are you peddling?"
Ruby: "Just the truth."
Lisa: "Sure you are." Clear sarcasm.
Ruby: "The truth is... that this is all my fault. I'm the one who accidentally brought those dangerous people here."
Lisa: "Well I'll be damned. She admits it!"
Ruby: "And if those people are watching... Please understand that I really was just trying to help you. I mean, I could've send you all home to die..." As I bring the relic in my left hand into the shot. "At any given moment, but I didn't." I let my arm with the relic down. "And the reason why is because my sister taught me that everyone deserves a second chance... And that's why I'm here."
Lisa: "And where would that be?" I move the shot to finally reveal my location.
Ruby: "A place that represents many things, including second chances." I show the face of the statue of Vale's first king. The statue stands raising his sword up high in his right hand, while his left holds his scepter to the ground with his left. Shoulder length long hair and a beard upon his head whist in his armor, a cape, and his crown. The statue is completely covered in scaffolding up to the right arm for the renovation to add Captain Vale's shield to it.(Basically just Pyrrha Nikos' shield from the shoe, but with the Vale emblem embedded in it) I chose this place because of it's being on its own island off the shore of Vale. And again, at this time at night, absolutely no one is here. Tourists are forbidden until renovations are done, and the construction crew have all gone home for the night.
Lisa: "The first kings statue!? Good God! She's about to destroy ANOTHER national landmark..."
Ruby: "And world, if you're watching..."
Lisa: "Oh, believe me. The world is watching." You know, I'm honestly getting quite tired of her snide remarks, but I don't have time to deal with that.
Ruby: "Wish me luck... Your friendly neighborhood Scarlet Spider could really use it..." After I finish my call, I position myself atop the statues head with the relic still in my hand. "Alright, girls. It could be any minute now." They're in some lower levels of the scaffolding securing the cures among different points of the whole structure. Ruby L. has discarded the clothes covering her suit, while Ruby B. has put her cloak back on.
Ruby L.: "Yep. Almost done." Then she secures the last cure while Ruby B. looks out to the city out in the distance.
Ruby B.: "You know, the thing about Mercury is that he was... just the sweetest guy you've ever met... up until he fell into a... pool of young Sea Feilong's."
Ruby L.: "Yeah, that sounds about right." Ruby B. turns around while Ruby L. seems a bit stiff. "And there it goes..." As she leans against the steel beam.
Ruby B.: "Huh? Are you okay?"
Ruby L.: "Yeah, it's just... my back. I think all the of swinging is making it a bit stiff..."
Ruby B.: "Oh, yeah. I know that feeling. My middle back tends to kill me quite often."
Ruby L.: "Really?"
Ruby B.: "Mhm. You want me to crack it?" She considers it for a second before agreeing.
Ruby L.: "Yeah... That would be great." Ruby B. crosses her arms in an X to tell her to do so. After Ruby L. does so, Ruby B. wraps her arms around her from behind, lifts her up and hops a few times, result in a crack from Ruby L.s back. "That's good..." Then she stops and let's go.
Ruby B.: "How's that?"
Ruby L.: "Wow... That's good."
Ruby B.: Right?"
Ruby L.: "That's much better..." She stretches a bit when Ruby B. sits down.
Ruby B.: "Man, this is so cool... I've always wanted twins." The other Ruby nods in agreement. Then she goes and asks what we've all been thinking since the school. "So, you're able to make your own web fluid in your body."
Ruby L.: "I'm not sure I wanna talk about this..." Feeling a little awkward.
Ruby B.: "No, I just mean-:
Ruby L.: "Are you teasing me? Or-" Feeling a little bored of waiting, I decide to jump on the conversation at this point.
Ruby: "No, no, no! She's not teasing you. It's just that... we can't do that, so naturally we're curious as to how your web situation works. That's all."
Ruby B.: "I mean, I can understand if it's personal. I just think it's cool."
Ruby L.: "It's not even really that. I wish I could tell you, but even after all this time, I'm still not entirely sure how it works myself. It's almost like... like if I don't do breathing. Like it just happens."
Ruby B. "Whoa..."
Ruby: "Like, does it just come out of your wrists, or... does it come out of anywhere else?" Ruby B. gives a pondering look to that question. Probably getting some strange mental pictures on that concept just like I am. Thankfully they're immediately dispelled when she answers.
Ruby L.: "As far as I know, only the wrists."
Ruby B.: "Okay. And what about a web block? You ever had one of those?" The other Ruby then shows a surprised face and wants to says something. "Because I'm always running out of webs. I have to keep making it in a lab... And it's a hassle compared to what you have." I mean, yeah, it is kind of tedious, but I actually enjoy the time I spend doing smaller tasks like that.
Ruby L.: "That does sound like a hassle. Yeah. But, I did actually. As soon as you said that, it just popped up, like, 'Oh! I had a web block'."
Ruby B.: "Whoa! Why?"
Ruby L.: "An existential crisis in my life."
Ruby B.: "Pfft. Yeah. Don't even get me started on that." Then I get curious about more of their adventures.
Ruby: "Question... Who would you say are the craziest villains you guys have fought?"
Ruby L.: "I'd say you've already met some of them."
Ruby B.: *chuckle*"That is a good question."
Ruby L.: "When I last fought Hazel, I also fought this... alien thing made out of some red goo stuff."
Ruby: "Oh, no way! I fought an alien, too. On Remnant, and in space."
Ruby L.: "Oh."
Ruby: "Yeah. She was like, vampire white."
Ruby B.: "Aw man! I wanna fight an alien, too..." Sounding genuinely disappointed.
Ruby L.: "I'm kinda still on that you fought an alien in space."
Ruby B.: *sigh*"I'm lame. I once fought a lanky red haired bull Faunus from Menagerie in... like a large bull mech suit."
Ruby L.: "Can we rewind it back to the 'I'm lame' part? Because, you are not."
Ruby B.: "Yeah, thanks. I mean, I'm not saying that I'M lame-"
Ruby L.: "It's just some self talk that I think we should get through. Because... you're amazing. Just to take it in for a minute."
Ruby B.: "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I can take it in."
Ruby L.: "You are amazing... You are amazing..."
Ruby B.: "Thank you..."
Ruby L.: "Will you say it?"
Ruby B.: "No. I kind of needed to hear that. Thanks." Then I get a tingle in my Spider Sense... Their coming!
Ruby: "Alright girls, focus up. Can you feel that?"
Ruby L.: "Yeah..." Ruby B. then stands up.
Ruby B.: "And I know this feeling all too well." A thunderstorm starts up with sinister white flashes. We can guess who's causing this.
Mercury: "What's up, Ruby?" We can hear his voice from the storm before he finally shows himself flying in the air. He's replaced his t-shirt and coat with a slate gray and black two-tone partial-zip jacket. He's got armor pieces on his arms, shoulders and ankles. He has an orange keychain hanging from his belt, some black straps aross his chest, and tons of orange cables along his body that all connect to the Dust Core attached to his chest strap. "How do you like the new do?" Bolts of white electricity continuously spark around his body. "Now, listen. If you give it to me, then I'll destroy it, but I'll let you live. Don't make me a murderer, Ruby." I put on my mask and hood and jump off the head, with him hot on my tail.
Ruby: "Alright, guys. Here he comes!" They put their own masks and hoods before running in opposite directions to jump off the scaffolding.
Ruby B.: "Hey, Merc! I missed you, dude!" She swings upwards to avoid an incoming blast. Providing a distraction from me while I swing around the statue.
Ruby: "Oscar! Velvet! Heads up!" I toss the relic through a portal by the scaffolding as I swing by, to which Velvet catches it.
Velvet: "Got it! Close it." Oscar puts his hands out to close the portal... but it's still open. "That is not closing it."
Oscar: "Yeah, I know." He keeps trying but it doesn't want to work.
Velvet: "Why isn't closing?"
Oscar: "I don't know. I just-"
Velvet: "Did you close it before?"
Oscar: "No! I mean, I've opened some..." Meanwhile, by the islands edge, Merlot emerges from the water and jumps the guard rail. I guess he swam all the way here. Cutting back to Mercury still trying to get Ruby B. with his powers, she's tries to reason with him once she lands on the statues head.
Ruby B.: "Whoa! Hey, hey, hey! Can we just calm down and maybe talk this out? Huh? Okay, Mercury?"
Mercury: "Well look who it is... My friendly neighborhood Scarlet Spider!"
Ruby B.: "I'm trying to save you, Mercury. That's all I've ever wanted."
Mercury: "You're not trying to save me..."
Ruby B.: "I am."
Mercury: "No, just shut up! Okay? You're not worth shit anymore!" She hangs her head in disgust for a second before looking at him again. "But don't worry about me. I've saved myself..." He unleashes another powerful blast, causing her to jump off and swinging around again.
Ruby B.: "Whoa! Well, I've got his attention! Now what?" Cutting over to Ruby L. swinging by the large crane.
Ruby L.: "Okay, great!" Then Merlot grabs on to her foot as she's swinging, and she keeps kicking him in the face with her other foot. "Uh, and in other news... The Creep guy is here too!" They crash into the crane and are now crawling along the bars. "Guys, comm check! Hello!" I land in the scaffolding on the other side of the statue from Ruby B. and Mercury.
Ruby B.: "I need Mercury's cure!"
Ruby: "Right! I'm on it!" Then I look to their right to see Ruby L. and Merlot fighting on the crane.
Ruby L.: "Ruby! I need the Creep cure!"
Ruby: "Uh... Okay, okay-" I start running along the scaffolding, but then... and giant hand of sand grabs me from behind. When I turn around, I see a giant version of Hazel's head before.
Hazel: "Where's the box, Ruby?"
Ruby: "Hazel! We can help everyone!"
Hazel: "I don't care!" Yeah, that's about what I thought. Around us, Ruby B. and Mercury are swinging in the air while Merlot and Ruby L. are balancing on the crane. I manage to free my right hand and try to web the crane, but it is cut short by a passing Ruby B., who then starts falling. Trying to stop her fall, she tries to web the crane but ends up hitting Ruby L. in the face. Merlot uses this and smashes her against the crane.
Ruby B.: "Sorry!" She swings off elsewhere while Ruby L. pulls the web off her masked face.
Ruby L.: "Ugh. Gross..." Ruby B. finds herself on the crane as well trying to get a leg up over Mercury.
Mercury: "Sad to tell you this, Rainart. But nobody's going home!" He then shoots at the crane which falls on Hazel and disrupts his physical form, knocking him down and freeing me. All three of us get away from the object, which crushes the leftover Merlot. Mercury finally gets Ruby B. and knocks her down into the scaffolding. Hazel rises up as a sandstorm, preventing Mercury from seeing anything. All three of us, hidden safely inside the scaffolding, use this moment for a little timeout as we all lower our hoods and remove our masks.
Ruby B.: "What the heck is going on out there!? I keep yelling at you, Ruby 2, Ruby 2, Ruby 2..."
Ruby L.: "But I thought you were Ruby 2?"
Ruby B.: "What the-!? I'm Ruby 3!"
Ruby: "Stop arguing, both of you! Listen to Ruby 1!" Wow. I sound like a mom or first grade teacher trying to discipline children. But as what's basically the team leader here, someone has to keep us all in line. "Look, we're clearly not very good at this!"
Ruby B.: "Yeah, I know! We suck! I don't know how to work as a team!"
Ruby L.: "And my working with Emerald was really just splitting the workload between into one-on-one fights! So I don't either!"
Ruby: "Well I do! I have been in a team before! Not to brag or anything, but... I was in the Avengers!"
Ruby L.: "The Avengers?"
Ruby: "Yeah!"
Ruby L.: "That's great!"
Ruby: "Thank you!"
Ruby L.: "What is that?" And... now I'm confused.
Ruby: "Wait, you don't have the Avengers?"
Ruby B.: "Is that supposed to be a band or something?"
Ruby: "No, it's not a band!" Though it does sound like an awesome idea. "The Avengers is a team of Remnants mightiest heroes, but we disbanded after defeating Salem... But that's not what's important! All we have to do is focus, trust your Senses and coordinate our attacks. Okay?"
Ruby L.: "Right. Okay. Let's pick one target."
Ruby: "Right!"
Ruby B.: "We'll take them off the board one at a time!"
Ruby: "Now you got it! Okay, Ruby 1!" As I point to myself. "Ruby 2!" I point to Ruby L.
Ruby L.: "Ruby 2."
Ruby: "Ruby 3!" I point to Ruby B.
Ruby B.: "Ruby 3!"
Ruby: "Let's go!"
Ruby B.: "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" She has her hand on either of our shoulders. "I love you guys." You know, despite how bad the situation is, it actually feels refreshing to have some positive reinforcement.
Both Ruby's: "Thank you." Once we finish up some reassuring smiles, we put our masks and hood back on.
Ruby: "Alright, let's do this!" The three of us make a run for it and jump off the scaffolding, screaming wildly, and start swinging in tandem. We make our way to the top and land on the kings head. Hazel, Mercury and Merlot gather to meet us in a villain team-up shot. Both our teams lunge at each other at the same moment. Ruby L. meets up with Mercury, Ruby B. flying kicks Merlot, while I tap Hazel lightly and swing down, ready to take command. "Alright girls... Hazel's first!" I maneuver my way through the scaffolding with Mercury on my tail. Ruby L. runs through an upper level of the scaffolding with Hazel chasing her.
Ruby L.: "I'm gonna lead him inside the statue." Meanwhile, Ruby B. is running through a lower middle level being chased by Merlot.
Ruby B.: "I'll meet you at the top." As she's running along the path, she's finds and grabs the anti-collider but then is grabbed Merlot and pinned to the by the throat. "Argh! Hey, Dr. Merlot..."
Merlot: "Hello, Ruby!" She catches me swinging by to their right.
Ruby B.: "Ruby 1!" She tosses me the anti-collider.
Ruby: "I've got it!" But Mercury intercepts and blasts me out of the air, and I drop it back onto the same floor as Ruby B. and Merlot. Meanwhile, Ruby L. dropped down to an opening by the statues feet and heads inside, with Hazel still following her. She proceeds to climb the statue as Hazel fills up the whole structure with sand.
Ruby L.: "Hazel! We're trying to help you!" He ignores her and continues to fill the statue. She swings up the statue until she reaches the head. "Okay, I'm at the top! I need the cure!" Reaches out through the hole in the forehead, where the crown jewel rest. The sand stops filling at the hole, and solid hands start grabbing and dragging her back into the sand, trying to suffocate her.
Ruby: "Don't worry! I'm coming!" As I climb up along the side of the scaffolding. Back with Ruby B., Merlot has her by the ledge as she desperately keeps him from biting her head off. Then she punches him in the face, kicks him off of her and gets back up.
Ruby B.: "Grr! Just wait your turn, Doc!" As he staggers back, she manages to web him in place to the scaffolding. "I'll be right back!" She recovers the anti-collider and jumps out of the scaffolding, sends out two strings of web from both shooters and slingshots herself up to the top before Mercury catches up to her. Spinning in the air gracefully, she quickly throws the cure to me as jump over the head, and then throw it through the forehead hole to Ruby L., whose arm is the only thing not submerged in sand. With a press of a button, she activates the anti-collider and light shines out of the crown of our first king. The sand sinks away and Ruby L. takes off her mask and takes a few deep breaths. On the floor of the statues head, Hazel Rainart, cured at last, rises from the puddle of sand, looking at his hands in confusion. His muscular form was accurate, but his human form is back, with his tanned skin, his dark brown hair and beard, and wearing his black pants, brown boots and tight black shirt with dark green patches. Ruby L. smiles, satisfied that it worked.
Ruby L.: "It's okay, Hazel... We're gonna get you home. Just... stay right here." After getting her mask back on, she joins us back outside along the front of the statues crown as we face Mercury, surging up another storm. Ruby B. has Mercury's cure with her. "How do we stop him?"
Ruby B.: "I've never seen him this powerful."
Ruby: "It's the Dust Core on his chest. We've gotta get it off if him."
Mercury: "I won't let you take this away from me!" I try to web the core but he catches it mid shot and tosses it aside. It definitely helps that he's now got the speed of lightning. "That's not going to work..." He fires off another blast that we all have to jump and avoid. All landing at nearby points.
Ruby: "Looks like we gotta do this up close. Ruby 2, go right. Ruby 3, go left. On me!" The others web Mercury to two ends of the scaffolding and we all try to reach him, but he repels each of us with a blast straight from the core, with Ruby B. having it the worst - she gets frozen by the electricity and kept in the air while Mercury attempts to fry her to death. I try to get him from behind, but he vanishes as he teleports behind me and blasts me away effortlessly. As a result, I hit.a fragment of the monument covered in a sheet, then fall down and land in a corridor. Merlot frees himself and notices the still open portal to the school lab up in an upper level. Though he only notices it because the two are still arguing as they keep trying to close the portal. As I recover a get back up into the air, I notice him on his way to the portal. "Oh no. No, no, no!"
Velvet: "And that is a Creep! We need to go!" They start running with Merlot on their tail. I catch up to him and kick him against a wall.
Ruby: "Run!" They run the other way towards the portal. Merlot knocks me back and gives chase again. "Merlot, stop!" I jump on his back a try to hold him back. Once we get through the portal, he gets me off of him and smashes me against the floor before continuing after them. Meanwhile, Mercury once again has Ruby B. caught in the air as he fries her and gives an evil laugh. She eventually drops the device from the pain, to which Ruby L. grabs it from her vantage point with a web. She tries to go for it, but is grabbed mid air by... a black and white tentacle and she's drops the device onto the scaffolding! Not a second later and another one grabs the other Ruby too, and Mercury directs a second beam at Ruby L. Then Dr. Watts emerges from below with his remaining two tentacles, now wearing his googles again.
Watts: "Leave them... They're mine." He keeps moving until he's positioned between Mercury and the two Ruby's.
Mercury: "I don't need your help... I've got this!"
Ruby L.: "Dr. Watts... No!" Then he uses one of his other claws to grab Mercury by the chest, forcing him to stop his attacks and grab the tentacle in resistance.
Mercury: "Hey! What do you think you're doing!?" He turns around to face him. "Let go of me!" Watts then drops the two Ruby's and uses one to grab the device. He uses the other to grab Mercury from behind so he still has a hold of him when he removes the first one off of his chest, yanking the Dust Core off in the process, and then placing the device on him in the cores place. The upgrade proved effective in draining all the bad electricity practically immediately as all the light turn green in a matter of a few seconds.
Watts: "There you go." And this is why Watts was keeping a hold of him. Cause now that he's lost his powers, that would include his flight power, so he made sure to keep him from falling to his death. Back to us and Merlot, Oscar and Velvet maneuver through the scaffolding corridors as he chases them. Oscar gets up front and moved his hands to open another portal. He and Velvet turn the corner before it can fully open and then Merlot gets washed away by a flood. Oscar must've opened it in a body of water. He's knocked down to a lower level and when he stands, I kick him back down before he fully recovers. Conveniently, the others are where Merlot's cure is and Velvet grabs it from its web.
Ruby: "Velvet!" She throws me the bottle and after I catch it and I find the web backed up the nozzle. Then Merlot gets up and comes for me, but I get an idea and raise it up, to which he bites through it, and the cure inside burst into a green smoke, and he starts reverting back to normal as he staggers backward and falls onto his rear.
Oscar: "Whoa..." Velvet then realizes they're getting sidetracked.
Velvet: "We gotta hide this thing!"
Oscar: "Right, right, right!" He then opens another portal and they both get excited, but... out comes Ozpin and they get worried. He looks at then in anger as the portal closes behind them.
Ozpin: "Where is she?" With his magic, he takes both the relic and the ring from them.
Velvet: "Wait, wait, wait!"
Oscar: "Before you do anything, Mr... Professor Ozpin, sir... Ruby's plan is working!"
Ozpin: "What plan?"
Oscar: "She's curing them!" Now standing between them, Ozpin looks down to my level as I wait for the smoke to dissipate.
Ruby: "Dr. Merlot?" Eventually I'm able to see him. Albeit naked, but that's not important right now. He's an old man with disheveled gray hair with matching a mustache and beard, and he's missing he's right arm. He doesn't say anything, and just looks down in shame. "Welcome back, sir." Ozpin... actually looks impressed.
Ozpin: "Well I'll be damned..." Then he turns to Oscar and looks a little serious. "Did you just open a portal?"
Oscar: "Uh, yes sir. I did."
Ozpin: "Hmm..." He just nods, once again kind of impressed, and walks away. Everything is going good so far, but we only have one person left to cure. But now that Ozpin is here and has the relic... I'm getting kind of worried.