Archive of Our Own ^beta

The tiller blades scraped against packed soil, each pass carving neat furrows into the earth. Ruby Rose adjusted her grip, sweat beading on her forehead despite the cool morning air. She’d borrowed the farm equipment from a bewildered but kind older couple two counties over, promising to return it before sundown.

A distant rumble shook the ground, vibrating up through the tractor’s metal frame. Ruby killed the engine, her hand instinctively dropping to Crescent Rose folded at her hip. Across the rolling fields, a plume of thick, oily smoke clawed its way into the sky over the city skyline. Not an accident. That smoke screamed violence. It screamed *wrong*.

She vaulted down from the tractor seat, her red cloak snapping behind her as she landed lightly in the freshly turned dirt. Dust particles hung suspended in the air, disturbed by the tremor. Her borrowed phone buzzed frantically in her pocket, local news alerts flooding in, each headline more frantic than the last. "Homelander betrays us!" "Homelander On A Rampage!" Then, chillingly: "Is This The End Of Humanity?"

Ruby’s silver eyes narrowed, scanning the horizon towards the rising smoke. Heroes didn’t let cities burn. Heroes didn’t let monsters win. A grim determination settled over her features, replacing the momentary shock. She unfolded Crescent Rose with a single, fluid motion, the heavy sniper-scythe gleaming dully in the weak sunlight. Time to move.

She didn’t run towards the city; she blasted towards it. Petals of crimson energy exploded around her as she activated her Semblance, dissolving into a swirling vortex of speed and rose petals. The farm fields blurred beneath her, replaced by suburbs, then the outskirts of the city. The acrid tang of burning plastic and concrete filled the air, mingling with distant screams and the percussive thump of explosions.

She rematerialized atop a crumbling parking garage overlooking the chaos. Below, Homelander floated effortlessly above a cratered intersection, his cape pristine, his smile chillingly wide. Debris rained around him, ignored. Across the street, the mangled wreckage of a news van smoked, its occupants silenced forever. "Pathetic," Homelander’s amplified voice boomed, echoing off the shattered glass facades. "Is this the best you insects can muster?"

Ruby didn’t hesitate. She planted her feet, swung Crescent Rose into firing position, and squeezed the trigger. The high-caliber round screamed across the distance, not aimed at Homelander himself, but at the twisted steel girder precariously dangling above him. It struck with a deafening clang, sending the multi-ton beam crashing down directly onto the floating psychopath. Dust billowed outwards, momentarily obscuring the scene. Ruby lowered her weapon, her voice clear and ringing with defiant conviction: "No. But this is."

Homelander erupted from the settling debris cloud like a furious comet, his pristine suit smudged, his eyes radiating pure, incandescent rage. He scanned the rooftops, laser-vision flaring. "Who DARES—" His roar cut off as Ruby burst into a whirlwind of petals, rematerializing thirty feet to his left atop a fractured billboard. She didn’t flinch under his murderous gaze. "Someone who actually knows what a hero does," she shouted back, her tone sharp as Crescent Rose’s blade. "Which isn't terrorizing civilians!"

Before Homelander could react, Ruby vanished again in a crimson streak. She reappeared near the smoldering news van wreckage, her semblance kicking up swirls of ash and grit. With astonishing speed, she hauled a trapped cameraman free from twisted metal, depositing him gently behind a half-collapsed bus shelter. The man gasped, clutching a bleeding arm, staring at her red cloak and gleaming scythe. "Run!" Ruby urged him, her silver eyes scanning the sky. "Get clear!" Her actions were a stark, deliberate contrast to Homelander's casual brutality.

Homelander hovered, utterly still, watching her rescue. A slow, unnerving smile spread across his face, colder than the subarctic wind. "Oh, a *real* hero," he mocked, his voice dripping with cynical amusement. "How quaint." He raised a hand, palm glowing with deadly heat. "Let’s see how long your little act lasts." The air crackled, thick with ozone and impending violence. Ruby braced herself, Crescent Rose humming with her thirst of battle as a Silver Eyed Warrior. The true fight was about to begin.

The laser blast ripped through the air, incinerating the bus shelter Ruby had just vacated. She’d blurred sideways, petals swirling, the heat searing her cloak’s edge. Concrete slagged where she’d stood. "Stop hiding!" Homelander roared, unleashing a barrage of heat vision that carved molten trenches across the street. Ruby danced through the onslaught, a crimson ghost, using her semblance not just for evasion but positioning , landing behind wrecked cars, kicking off walls, forcing him to turn. Each near-miss sent showers of sparks and superheated debris raining down. She wasn't fast enough to counter-attack yet; she was buying time, forcing him to waste energy, searching for an opening in his arrogant onslaught.

A choked sob cut through the roar of destruction. Ruby’s head snapped sideways. A young worker bee in a delivery uniform was trapped under a collapsed awning from a nearby supermart, pinned by rubble, directly in the path of Homelander’s next sweeping beam. His eyes, wide with terror, locked onto hers. Homelander hadn't even glanced down. Ruby didn’t hesitate. She abandoned her evasive pattern, dissolving into a streak of petals that rematerialized between the trapped man and Homelander’s raised hand. Crescent Rose unfolded with a metallic shing, its blade angled defensively, not offensively. The heat vision slammed into the reinforced metal with a deafening thrum, forcing Ruby back a step, her boots grinding asphalt. The trapped man scrambled free behind her.

"You missed," Homelander sneered, floating lower, his eyes narrowed with predatory interest. "Sacrificing yourself for that? Pathetic sentimentality." He gestured lazily towards the fleeing civilians. "They’re cattle. Expendable."

"They’re people," Ruby shot back, her voice tight with strain as she absorbed another glancing blast, the force vibrating up her arms. She kept Crescent Rose moving, deflecting rather than blocking fully, conserving strength. "That’s the difference between us. You protect your image. I protect them." She saw the flicker of annoyance in his eyes, the insult to his ego stung more than any physical blow could.

Homelander’s patience snapped. He surged forward, abandoning ranged attacks for brutal speed. His fist blurred, aiming for her head. Ruby twisted, using her semblance not to flee, but to pivot impossibly fast within the confined timeframe. Crescent Rose’s blunt haft slammed upwards, catching his wrist with bone-jarring force just before impact. The shockwave split the pavement beneath them. She used the recoil, petals exploding as she kicked off his forearm, flipping backwards to land lightly atop an overturned bus. "Too slow!" she taunted, buying precious seconds for the civilians to get further away. The distraction was working.

A flicker of genuine surprise crossed Homelander’s face, replaced instantly by cold fury. He hadn't expected her to parry him physically. He hovered, staring at the faint scuff on his pristine suit sleeve where Crescent Rose had connected. "Clever toy," he murmured, his voice dangerously soft. His gaze lifted, locking onto Ruby with terrifying intensity. "But toys break."

He didn't charge again. Instead, his eyes glowed brighter, hotter like twin suns igniting. Ruby reacted instantly, dissolving into petals just as twin beams of pure thermal annihilation lanced through the space where she'd stood, vaporizing the overturned bus into molten slag and superheated steam. The shockwave slammed into her rematerializing form fifty feet away, staggering her. The air tasted metallic, burned, and the heat radiating from the glowing crater was intense enough to warp her vision. She gasped, lungs seared.

"Predictable," Homelander sneered, already tracking her reappearance. His lasers swept horizontally, forcing Ruby into a desperate, continuous burst of petals, a crimson blur dancing on the edge of annihilation. She couldn't pause, couldn't attack – pure evasion taxed her aura, each near-miss draining her reserves. Below, fleeing civilians screamed as debris rained down, ignited by stray beams. Ruby gritted her teeth, forcing herself to focus not just on dodging, but on herding Homelander's fire away from a cluster of survivors huddled in a subway entrance. One misstep, one instant too slow, and they were ash.

Homelander chuckled, a low, grating sound that cut through the roar of destruction. "See? This is what heroism gets you." He gestured broadly at the terrified civilians Ruby shielded. "Running. Scrabbling. Utterly *useless*. They slow you down, little girl. Make you weak." He paused his barrage, floating effortlessly above the carnage, his cape billowing untouched. "Join me. Show them what *real* power looks like. We could... remake this world." The offer was obscene, laced with the promise of shared domination. His smile was chilling.

Ruby felt a surge of pure revulsion crawl up her spine. It wasn't just the suggestion of ruling; it was the predatory gleam in his eyes, the way his gaze lingered on her silver eyes, her speed, her strength. He saw her not as a person but as a vessel, a source of superior genetics for whatever twisted progeny he imagined. "Your 'remade world' smells like burning flesh," she spat, gripping Crescent Rose tighter, knuckles white. "And I'd rather shatter than be your queen."

Homelander's smile faltered, replaced by a flash of icy fury. "Such a waste," he hissed, his voice dropping to a venomous whisper. "That power... wasted on sentiment. On *them*." His eyes flared again, hotter than before. "Fine. If you won't stand beside me..." He floated and prepared to charge at Ruby. "...then you'll burn beneath me."

Ruby didn't wait. She exploded into petals towards him, not away. She rematerialized inches from his face, Crescent Rose unfolding mid-swing. The heavy blade whistled through the air, aimed not at his invulnerable chest, but at the vulnerable joint of his shoulder. Homelander jerked back with inhuman speed, surprise flickering across his face as the gleaming edge sliced through empty air where his neck had been. The wind of its passage ruffled his perfect hair. "Too close," he snarled, grabbing for her cloak.

But Ruby was already gone. Petals swirled behind him as she reappeared at knee-level, Crescent Rose's scythe hooking viciously towards the back of his legs. Homelander twisted, the blade scraping sparks off his boot heel. He lashed out blindly with a heat blast, but Ruby dissolved before it connected, reforming above him. She dropped like a stone, driving Crescent Rose's blunt haft down like a piledriver onto the crown of his head. The impact rang out like a gong, staggering Homelander mid-air. He blinked, momentarily disoriented. "Annoying gnat!" he roared, swatting upwards.

Ruby used the momentum of his swing, petals bursting as she flipped backwards onto a nearby lamppost. She didn't pause. Breathing hard, aura flickering faintly, she raised Crescent Rose and fired three rapid shots, not at Homelander but at the fractured support columns of the damaged parking garage behind him. The high-caliber rounds punched through weakened concrete with echoing cracks. Homelander whirled, laser-eyes tracking the source, just as the structure groaned and began to collapse inward, tons of concrete and steel cascading down directly onto him. Dust billowed outwards, swallowing the street. Ruby lowered her weapon, silver eyes narrowed. "Heroes," she called into the settling cloud, her voice clear and defiant, "protect people and put monsters in the ground."

The dust hadn't settled before Homelander exploded upwards through the rubble pile like a missile, his suit torn, face smeared with grime, eyes blazing pure, unfiltered hatred. He scanned the streets, teeth bared. "ENOUGH!" he screamed, spittle flying. "You think your little tricks-" His roar choked off. Ruby stood calmly on the buckled asphalt directly below him, Crescent Rose held loosely at her side. Before he could unleash his lasers, she did something utterly unexpected. With a sharp *clack*, she folded the massive sniper-scythe into its compact form and clipped it magnetically to her belt. She raised her empty hands, fingers curled into loose fists, and settled into a low, balanced stance. Her eyes locked onto his, unflinching. "No tricks," she stated, cool and precise. "Just skill."

Homelander stared, momentarily baffled. Then he laughed, a harsh, grating sound. "You think you can box me?" He dropped like a stone, landing with a crunch that shattered pavement, mere feet from her. He didn't bother with heat vision. He simply lunged, a blindingly fast haymaker aimed to pulp her skull. Ruby didn't dodge backwards. She flowed *inside* the punch, her body twisting impossibly low. Her left forearm deflected his wrist upwards, redirecting the colossal force harmlessly overhead. Simultaneously, her right fist snapped forward, knuckles cracking against the precise pressure point just below Homelander's floating rib, a spot she'd studied during his brief stagger moments before. It wasn't a knockout blow; it couldn't be. But it forced a sharp involuntary grunt from him, his diaphragm spasming. He recoiled half a step, surprise flashing across his face.

Before he could recover, Ruby was a whirlwind. Her movements were economical, impossibly fluid, a lifetime of Grimm-hunting honed into lethal precision. She wasn't trading blows; she was dismantling him. A lightning-fast palm strike redirected his wild backhand, sending him stumbling off-balance. A heel kick swept his planted leg, not to trip the invulnerable, but to disrupt his footing. When he tried to grab her, she slipped his grasp like water, her elbow jamming into the nerve cluster at his shoulder, momentarily numbing the arm. Each strike was surgical, exploiting micro-openings, targeting joints and nerve points, designed to frustrate, disorient, and chip away at his arrogant control. Homelander roared in frustration, swinging wildly, but he was hitting air or deflecting glancing blows that barely registered. Ruby moved with eerie calm, a crimson ghost dancing just out of reach, her silver eyes coldly assessing every twitch, every telegraph. "Heroes," she murmured, ducking under a furious swipe that shattered a fire hydrant behind her, "also know how to fight." Water erupted upwards, adding another layer of chaos as Homelander snarled, momentarily blinded by the spray.

The moment his guard wavered, Ruby struck. Exploding forward, she drove the heel of her palm upwards in a brutal uppercut, not aiming for his jaw, but for the soft cartilage of his nose. It connected with a sickening *crunch*. Homelander’s head snapped back, a choked gasp escaping him. Tears welled involuntarily in his eyes. Before he could blink them clear, Ruby was already unfolding Crescent Rose in a single, fluid motion. The heavy sniper-scythe clicked into its extended form, the barrel snapping up with practiced speed. Homelander, disoriented, blinking rapidly, instinctively raised a hand to his throbbing nose, just as Ruby squeezed the trigger. The high-caliber round screamed across the tiny distance, not aimed center-mass, but precisely at the vulnerable ear.

The impact wasn't a dull thud against invulnerable skin. It was a wet, tearing pop. Homelander’s head snapped sideways violently. A spray of crimson erupted from his ear, splattering across the wet pavement. He didn't roar this time. He screamed a raw animal sound of pure agony and disbelief, clutching the side of his head. Blood, shockingly red against his perfect skin, streamed down his neck, soaking his collar. He staggered back, his eyes flickering wildly, unfocused. For the first time, genuine pain and confusion warred with the fury on his face. He stared at the blood on his hand, then at Ruby, his expression a mask of utter shock.

Ruby didn't pause. She cycled the bolt on Crescent Rose with a sharp clack, chambering another round. Her aim shifted instantly, the barrel steady as she tracked him stumbling around in pain. Homelander, clutching his bleeding ear, saw the movement. Panic flashed across his face for a split second. He jerked his head away, trying to shield his face, his mouth opening in another snarl of pain and rage. Ruby fired again. The second round ripped through the air, aimed precisely at his open mouth as he roared. It struck the soft tissue at the back of his throat with a wet thwack. Homelander gagged violently, choking on blood and shattered teeth. He doubled over, coughing crimson spray onto the asphalt, his invincible facade shattered along with his eardrum and palate. He looked up, eyes streaming, blood bubbling from his lips, staring at Ruby with a mixture of agony and dawning, terrified comprehension. He was bleeding. He was hurt. Deeply.

Ruby exploded forward. Grime, dust, and debri scattered as she closed the distance in a crimson blur, Crescent Rose unfolding into its full, gleaming scythe form mid-charge. Homelander tried to raise a hand, heat vision flickering weakly in his eyes, but Ruby was already inside his guard. She swung Crescent Rose not for a killing blow, but with brutal precision. The heavy blade slammed flat-side-first against the side of his head, right over the bleeding ear wound. The impact echoed like a dull gong. Homelander’s head snapped sideways again, a fresh wave of agony exploding through his already traumatized skull. He stumbled, disoriented, his vision swimming. Before he could recover his balance, Ruby pivoted, reversing her grip. The scythe’s curved blade hooked behind his knee as she yanked upwards with all her strength. Homelander crashed face-first onto the wet pavement with a heavy thud, the breath knocked out of him. He rolled onto his back, gasping, blood pouring from his nose, ear, and mouth, his eyes wide and unfocused. The world tilted violently around him.

Ruby planted a boot on his chest, pinning him momentarily. She raised Crescent Rose high, the blade catching the flickering light from distant fires. Homelander stared up, terror finally eclipsing the fury in his eyes. He tried to speak, but only a wet, choking gurgle escaped his ruined throat. Ruby brought the scythe down – not with the blade, but with the heavy, reinforced haft. It hammered down onto his forehead with a sickening crack. Homelander’s body jerked violently, his eyes rolling back. She struck again, the haft impacting the same spot with brutal force. Crack. His limbs spasmed. A third blow landed squarely. Thud. The frantic light in his eyes dimmed, replaced by a dull, unfocused glaze. His struggles weakened, then ceased entirely. His body went limp beneath her boot, save for the shallow, ragged rise and fall of his chest, each breath a wet, bubbling rasp. The unstoppable force lay unconscious, defeated not by matching power, but by relentless, precise agony inflicted on a brain screaming in shock at its own vulnerability. Ruby stood over him, breathing hard, Crescent Rose dripping crimson onto the ruined street. The only sounds were the crackle of distant fires and Homelander's wet, labored breathing.

She didn't stop. The sheer scale of his atrocities, the casual cruelty witnessed firsthand, fueled a cold fury deep within her. Crescent Rose rose and fell again. Thump. The haft slammed into his temple. Blood sprayed. Again. Thump. Against his jaw. Teeth fragments scattered. Again. Thump. Across the bridge of his nose. Bone crunched. She worked methodically, systematically, shifting her stance, adjusting her grip. Each blow was precise, calculated to maximize pain without risking premature death. She targeted nerve clusters, pressure points she'd learned fighting Grimm ten times her size – places where even invulnerability couldn't shield the nervous system from overload. Homelander’s body twitched with each impact, involuntary reflexes kicking in, but he remained limp, unconscious. Crimson pooled beneath his head, mixing with the grime and rainwater. Ruby’s silver eyes were hard, focused. This wasn't just punishment; it was a message carved in bone and blood. For every life he'd shattered, for every scream he'd ignored, for every ounce of trust he'd betrayed. The rhythmic thump-thump-thump became a grim counterpoint to the city's distant sirens.

The afternoon sun bled into dusk, casting long, distorted shadows across the battlefield. Ruby’s cloak was stiff with dried blood and grime. Her movements had slowed, the relentless assault taking its toll even on her aura-enhanced stamina. Sweat stung her eyes, mixing with the dust and ash clinging to her skin. Crescent Rose felt heavy, its haft slick with gore. Homelander was barely recognizable. His face was a swollen, pulped ruin. One eye socket was a mess of congealed blood and tissue. His breathing was shallow, ragged, each inhalation a wet, sucking sound. Still, she raised the scythe again, aiming for the mangled ear cavity. A sharp whistle pierced the air, followed by the unmistakable sound of a flashbang grenade detonating nearby. Ruby flinched, momentarily blinded and deafened. Through the ringing in her ears, she heard amplified shouts: "FBI! STAND DOWN! WEAPON ON THE GROUND!" Figures clad in black tactical gear emerged from the smoke and rubble, weapons trained on her. Their faces were grim, etched with exhaustion and disbelief as they took in the scene, the unstoppable Homelander reduced to a broken heap beneath a blood-soaked girl in a red cloak. Ruby lowered Crescent Rose slowly, her shoulders slumping with sudden, bone-deep fatigue. She looked from the ruined monster at her feet to the wary agents surrounding her, their guns trembling slightly. The immediate fight was over. The consequences were just beginning.