In Shades of Red and Gold-A RWBY/Avengers crossover AU fic

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of RWBY or the Avengers in any way, shape or form.

A/N: Hey Everyone! So, I am giving you all just a bit of a heads up. For this story things are going to be a bit different in terms of writing style from what I normally write.

I ended up adopting this story from Z. R. Stein when I sent them a PM asking for permission to write a few one-shots that take place in the universe of this story but don't affect the plot but then, to my surprise and joy they offered me the opportunity to adopt it so I did. As a result of this, I want to give a BIG Shout-out to Z. R. Stein. Also I will be doing my best to be as faithful and loyal to the original vision so for those of you who read the original, reading the first 10 chapters of this story is going to leave you feeling a bit of déjà vu.

Now, for those who haven't read the original, this story begins before the events of Iron Man 1, though Tony will be slightly more mature than in the movie. Slightly.

Be warned, this story is very AU for RWBY. By the way, in case you aren't familiar with AU's, a lot of characters in this story (more so with the RWBY characters than the Avengers characters) are going to be very OOC. Also, just so that people don't get confused about who is related to who in this story, here is a handy-dandy little guide. Ruby is the daughter of Tony Stark and Summer Rose. Yang is the daughter of Summer Rose and Taiyang. Qrow is Raven's brother and Taiyang's half brother. Also everyone has been de-aged by 2 years, for reasons.

If you have any questions about this story leave them in a review and I will address them in an Author's Note. If you have any questions that don't directly pertain to this story send me a PM. Make sure to tell me what you think of the story down in the Review section down below. Also, for those that haven't read the original, please note that if you find the length of this chapter disappointing/unsatisfactory there is no to fear, for the chapters will get longer as the story progresses.

Additionally, this chapter has a special RWBY reference and I have been told to say that whoever can point it out gets a virtual cookie.

Edited on the 4th of September, 2018: To all new readers, there are no pairings in this story so please disregard any talk of pairings in author's notes in later chapters.

Okay, that should be everything so, enough chit-chat. Story time!

Chapter 1: Ruby Rose of House Stark

An aging Ford Mustang tore down Highway 1, an angry speck of rust red that contrasted sharply with the seaside cliffs of the California coast. The sky was a flawless plane of blue, not a cloud in sight. The sun was shining merrily, and the ocean air was the perfect blend of balmy and briny. All in all, it was the kind of day that made people glad that they lived in the Golden State, as opposed to almost anywhere else.

And yet, a certain teen-aged girl named Ruby Rose was seated in the back of the Mustang wishing that she was literally anywhere else. Alaska was supposed to be bearable this time of year.

"I don't want to go to Malibu, Uncle Qrow! Can't we stay with you?"

In the driver's seat, Qrow Branwen sighed, his eyes obscured behind a pair of aviators.

"Sorry kid… we've been through this already. I'm not blood related to you, Rubes… and I don't have a snowball's chance in hell of formally adopting you. So it's either this or a state facility… trust me, this is better. Much better."

Ruby frowned deeply and returned to looking out of her window… for all of two seconds before her sister punched her shoulder.

"Yang!"

Yang Xiao Long gave her sister a cheeky smile that didn't reach her eyes before responding with, "Lighten up, Rubes! It's Malibu! Sun Surf, hot guys," Yang drooled a bit at that, "…girls in bikinis." Yang added with a suggestive glance at Ruby.

Ruby's face scrunched up cutely and a hearty blush spread across her cheeks.

"Sh-Shut up. That was one time."

Qrow grinned privately as the conversation between the two (though calling it a conversation was a bit of a stretch. It was mostly a back and forth of innuendos and teases from Yang and stuttered replies from Ruby) continued. It was good to see them like this; they deserved some levity in their lives. He had been watching over them since the funeral, it just wasn't natural for the two of them to stay down.

Qrow tuned the girls out, paying the barest amount of attention to the road. Two months to the day, and he himself didn't want to believe it. Summer had always seemed…indomitable. She was the perfect warrior and a damn good mother to boot. After Taiyang had disappeared-damned if he wasn't still mad at his half brother, even after thirteen years-Summer had raised the girls on her own. Qrow had helped out whenever he could, trying to fill in for Tai, but between the missions and the drinking, he hadn't been around as often as he should have been. Summer was really all that the two girls had had.

And then Libya had happened. Freaking Libya. Qrow grimaced. He'd been in the thick of it, same as Summer. They had been in the same platoon, although Qrow had been part of a different squad for the mission. The brass had sent the SEAL platoon in to eliminate some new terrorist group called the Ten Rings that according to reports had emerged from the chaos of the Arab Spring…or at least, that's what the C.O. that led the mission briefing had told the platoon. A newly born terrorist group like that should have been easy to take care of. It wasn't; bloodbath was a far more accurate term than easy. They'd been seriously organized. His squad had lost two members that day, while Summer's was whittled down to just a handful of guys.

The memories rolled around inside of Qrow's mind, and he gripped the old leather steering wheel tightly until his bones were nearly creaking in protest. When he had found out about what happened to Summer, there had not been enough booze in the base to forget. And then…even worse…he had been the one to tell the girls…but then again, it hadn't seemed right to let a complete stranger tell them. He had had to watch as the light died from their eyes when it truly sunk in that their beloved Super Mom was not coming home this time. Something died inside him that day, something that he hadn't even known he still had.

Damn. He could really go for a drink right about now.

"Hey, Uncle Qrow?"

Qrow mentally shook the oppressive mood off and nodded.

"So… um… can you… tell us more about him… my… um… da-I mean… you know." Ruby sounded hesitant in the extreme. Though, that was kind of expected; Summer had never really talked about either of the girls' fathers much.

"Well... I don't know if you've seen him on the news or not. Tony Stark… he's the CEO of Stark Industries, probably the biggest manufacturer and supplier of military tech in the world. Word is he also personally designs the bulk of their advanced products. Guy's a genius billionaire, so you won't be lacking for much.

Ruby released a strangled eep.

"My dad's a billionaire? Why didn't-"

"Why didn't your mom ever tell you?" Qrow said finishing for her.

Ruby nodded.

The eldest Branwen shrugged as he turned off of the highway and onto the exit towards Malibu.

"You kids know how your mom was. Summer never asked for help if she didn't absolutely need it. Plus… well, I don't know everything, but my theory is that Tai left 'cuase he found about her and Stark. Freaking bastard. Err… sorry about that Blondie."

Yang shrugged wearily, a distant, lonely, pain in her eyes.

"Not like I ever got to know the guy."

Damn his brother to hell.

"Anyways… your mom never spoke to Stark after that, at least to my knowledge she didn't. I'm not sure he even knows about you. Summer never came forwards about it, didn't try to claim child support or anything like that. So… he might be… surprised."

Two conflicting emotions warred on Ruby's face.

On the one hand, her dad was a billionaire! How cool was that! She bet he had a huuuuge house and a whole bunch of sports cars. Or at least she hoped that he did. Being the engineering nerd that she was, Ruby could think of nothing better than being able to spend all of her time in a garage tinkering.

On the other hand, how would he react to finding out he had a daughter? He… he could… he could hate her. Ask her to leave. Abandon her. There were so many things that could go wrong!

Yang was hesitant as well, although for… different… reasons. She was slightly better informed than Ruby was. Her sister spent most of her time watching anime, studying college level engineering and mathematics-despite being of the tender age of thirteen-building various things in the garage, and reading manga as well as novels big enough you could use them as a weapon in a pinch. Yang knew that Tony Stark had quite the reputation as a celebrity playboy who cared exclusively about one person: Tony Stark. She swore to herself that she would beat him to a pulp if he so much as thought of doing something that could hurt Ruby, no matter what his relation to her sister was.

Qrow's thinking was along the same lines as Yang's, though he was imagining more… inventive… ways to get at Stark. He might not be able to take care of the girls legally speaking, but he would be damned if he did not watch over them to the best of his ability. He did not care if they threw him away for the rest of their lives; if Stark did not treat the girls right, Qrow would find a way to make him suffer. No one was untouchable, and Qrow had nearly two decades of experience as a soldier to back up his threats.

One could almost feel sorry for Tony Stark. Almost.

. . .

The Mustang pulled up to a wrought iron gate that was set into a high stone wall. A screen was affixed to one of the wall pillars, the Stark Industries logo rotating against a navy blue background.

Qrow rolled down the window and looked at it. Was he supposed to touch it or something like that?

"I have no records of any appointments in my databanks. Please, state your business."

Qrow frowned at the smooth masculine voice that had emanated from the screen. There was something… off… about it. Eh, whatever.

"I'm here to see Tony Stark."

"For what reason, may I ask?"

"I have his daughter in my backseat."

The voice was silent for a full thirty seconds, as if processing this information.

"Do you have any have any proof or documentation, sir?"

Qrow rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I've got proof enough. She's Summer Rose's daughter. And don't you sir me… names Qrow Branwen."

"Very well then. Master Stark will see you, Mister Branwen."

The gate opened, slowly sinking into the wall, and Qrow drove his Mustang through.

. . .

Pepper's eyes were practically glowing. Shit. This was bad. This was very bad. Scratch that. This was very, very, bad.

Tony Stark cleared his suddenly dry throat and asked, "JARVIS, could you repeat that?"

"Sir, a man who identified himself as 'Qrow Branwen' says that he has your daughter in the back seat of his car. I've opened the gate for them."

"Do they have proof? Who does he say the mother is?" Tony asked, clinging desperately to the idea it was all a lie.

"He assured me that he has some form of it, sir. He mentioned a 'Summer Rose' being the mother. I believe that it would be best if you were to meet him personally."

Summer? Did he know a Summer Rose? "Hmmm… could be lying."

"And if he isn't?" Pepper said, interjecting, her voice harsh. "If he's telling the truth, you can't afford to ignore him. With all due respect, Mister Stark, knowing you, there is a fairly good chance that she is in fact your daughter."

Tony made a small, panicked noise.

"Wh… what about that thing? The uh… the… the Jackson Pollock showing. I was going to go to that today-"

"Tony! You are not going to an art show instead of this!" Shit, she looked mad. Why had he hired her again? Oh right, because she actually put up with his insanity. Hey, he couldn't help it that he was a borderline mad scientist. Although he could do without a daughter.

Oh, hell. What if she really was his daughter? Tony knew he wasn't qualified to be a parent. He was liable to be worse than his old man.

Tony winced. Ok, if she really did happen to be his daughter, he would make sure that he treated her better than Howard had treated him. There were enough messed up kids out there in the world as it was.

Shit… he would have to tone down on the swearing. How old was she supposed to be anyways? JARVIS hadn't mentioned anything… what if she-

"Sir, the car has pulled up to the front of the house. Where will you be meeting them?"

In the silence that followed, Pepper sighed deeply and said to JARVIS, "He'll meet with them outside. Mister Stark, come along."

If Tony wasn't so preoccupied, he would have snarked at her. As it was, he was desperately searching through his collection of half forgotten trysts with various women. Summer Rose… that name did sound familiar… wa-ah shit.

He remembered her alright. Cute little thing he had met during the demonstration of his first piece of weapons tech. She had been just sitting at the bar by herself trying to drown her sorrows when he had walked up. She had had the most amazing silver eyes…

And if he remembered correctly, she had been married at the time. Shit. And that was… what… fourteen years ago? He had a teenage daughter then.

Pepper reached the door and opened it. Tony brought himself out of the mire of his thoughts long enough to notice that there was a dark red Ford Mustang parked in his driveway. A '71 if he was not mistaken. Well, at least the guy had good taste.

The man whose name was apparently 'Qrow Branwen' was leaning against the side of the car, windswept, gunmetal grey hair pushed back and a pair of aviators over his eyes. He looked to be about forty, and had hard, corded muscle over every inch of his body. Great… with the way this day was going so far, this guy would turn out to be Summer's husband.

"Tony Stark?"

Tony nodded, swallowing thickly.

"That'd be me. Nice car, by the way. '71, right?"

The guy, Qrow, gave him a lopsided grin.

"Yeah. Got her from a junkyard a few years back and fixed her up. Best car I ever owned."

Good. Car talk. Tony could do car talk.

Qrow's smile vanished. "But that isn't why I'm here."

Shit.

. . .

Ruby looked out of the window at the man whom she assumed was her father. He looked… nice. He was definitely rich. Even the casual clothes that he was wearing looked like they cost more than her entire wardrobe. And that house! It was enormous! Right on the ocean as well. Her father's house…

Ruby pulled the front of her hood down further over her face as her nervousness increased to critical levels. She did not think she could do this! What if-what if he-

"Rubes?"

Yang was looking at her sister, concern written all over her face. She held out a hand.

"Come on little sis. I'll be right here, kay?"

Ruby took her sister's outstretched hand and gave it a little squeeze, hoping to let out some of her nervousness.

"Okay."

. . .

A car door slammed shut on the side facing away from Tony. He saw a red hood emerge, followed by a mane of bright yellow. Wait… there were two of them? Shit, shit, shit, shit. Which one was his daughter? Who the hell was the other one?

The two girls walked over next to Qrow. The one wearing the hood would not look directly at him, and he could not see much of her. The other one looked like she was trying to burn a hole through his head with her eyes; eyes that seemed more red than lavender. Whew… that was a strong glare.

Qrow reached up and plucked his aviators off, clearing his throat.

"Stark… this is Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long. Ruby is Summer's daughter. Ruby?"

The girl in red almost seemed to cringe before she slowly drew back her hood.

Damn. She certainly was Summer's daughter. He would remember those eyes anywhere.

She looked to be about thirteen. A small, teardrop shaped face with messy strands of black and red hair everywhere. Cute kid.

The girl stared at him for at least five seconds, then opened her mouth and in a voice so small he had to strain to hear it said, "Hi. I'm Ruby."

Tony rubbed the back of his neck, unsure of what to say. Being him though, it did not take long for something to spill out of his mouth.

"Do you like Chinese food?"

Everyone present blinked at the non-introduction. Tony winced and continued anyways, waving a hand around vaguely in front of him.

"Just, well… I could kinda go for some. And I was uh… wondering if you'd like some too."

Ruby tilted her head, thinking about it, and then nodded and in a more normal tone said, "I'd like that. Can I get orange chicken and spring rolls?"

"Some kind of spicy beef for me. The hotter the better!" added the other girl, Yang. At least she was not glaring at him anymore. Good icebreaker, food.

"Right. I'll tell JARVIS when we go back in… so… you guys wanna come inside the house?"

Ruby nodded, a bit of excitement on her face, while Qrow and Yang simply shrugged.

As soon as they entered, Tony spoke to the empty hallway.

"JARVIS? We're ordering takeout from Sun Wukong's. Get the usual, plus spring rolls and some hot and spicy beef. Better double up on the orange chicken as well."

Tony noticed the girls looking at him like he was crazy. Ooo… probably should've warned them about JARVIS.

"The order has been sent. Will there be anything else, sir?"

Before Tony could respond, the girl (his daughter-well, his daughter probably… damn, that was going to take some getting used to if she was) asked, "Who's that?"

Tony gestured towards a panel on the wall.

"That'd be JARVIS. He's an AI that runs the house."

Ruby's face lit up with excitement as she momentarily forgot her shyness.

"An AI? Did you program him yourself?"

"Yeah."

Tony blinked and the kid was next to him, silver eyes sparkling.

"That's so cool! I didn't even know that was possible! I mean, I've coded some robots before, but that's nothing compared to an AI!"

"You've coded robots?"

The girl nodded enthusiastically. Huh. Interesting.

"I actually brought one of them with me. Oh! Oh! Uncle Qrow, can we go and get Zwei out of the car soon?"

Qrow (whom was her uncle, apparently-whew, he wasn't Summer's husband) nodded, a playful smile on his face.

Blondie was smiling as well, though hers was a sly and teasing one.

"Sis, your nerd is showing."

Ruby glowered at her sister (sister? Ah shit… she must be Summer's kid from the guy she was married to; it explained the glare) before sticking her tongue out at her.

"Nerds are awesome and you know it."

Heh… he might actually grow to like this girl.

. . .

Pepper was impressed. Tony had made it a whole ten minutes without making an ass out of himself in front of his daughter-the girl whom might be his daughter. Although, it was looking more and more likely as the minutes ticked by; she could see hints of Tony in the structure of the cheekbones and in the messy, black hair. That, and the way the girl was going off on a passionate tangential rant about hydraulics. Of course a child of Tony's would be an engineering prodigy.

Still… one could never be too careful. There hadn't been many, but a handful of children had come forwards over the years claiming to be Tony's progeny. All of them had been discovered to be fakes and had been summarily removed.

"Mister Branwen?"

The gentleman named Qrow turned towards her, as did the other three occupants of the room.

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering if you have the proof that you said you brought. I hope you understand… there have been others. Mister Stark is a rather wealthy individual and… well… " Pepper motioned with her hand, attempting to convey what she was trying to say.

Qrow nodded like he had been expecting the question and drew a manila file folder out from within his vest.

"It's not much, but I have the birth certificate and a few photos. From what little Summer told me… they weren't together for too long."

Tony nodded, his dark eyes unreadable.

"Couldn't have been more than a week. I remember her though."

The room fell into an awkward silence at that, Tony resolutely staring at his shoes. The sound of JARVIS' voice made them all jump.

"Sir, the food has arrived. I just opened the gate to let the delivery van in.

Pepper nodded to herself and said, "Right… I'll go and get that."

Anything to escape that oppressive mood. Damn it Tony… how did he always manage to get himself into the most awkward situations. She was not paid enough for this.

A/N: Since, I couldn't find a way to fit this into the Author's Note at the top that actually worked here we go.

Yes, for those of you whom are wondering, Ruby and Yang still have their abilities, or at least they will, in the future. However, that is not for quite a while. I won't be saying more than that.

Also, yes. More RWBY characters will be appearing. Eventually.