It's been eight months since the attack on Beacon. The building Left condemned. They are hoping to rebuild but for now it's just a shattered building. Deep in the halls one lone occupant lay slumped over a workbench in a run down weapons Development Lab. Tools scattered around dozens of workbenches her hand lays next to her scroll. Once again it rings to life. This time it's Weiss she lets it go to the messages. Looks like she may need to check in with them again.
"Now I know why Uncle Qrow Drinks so much." She walks through the dimly lit room rubbing her eyes.
"Damn generator!" She kicks the machine and the whole lab lights up. Revealing the parts of her friend. "Stay running you Junk pile!"
She played hell getting Penny's parts. Stowed away on an Atlas carrier just to get there. That's when the calls started. Her team mates never knew what she had planned. She check in with them ever couple of weeks. Weiss seems to be the most worried. But she had to do this.
She looks at the time on her scroll. Almost noon. She must have passed out again. Lack of food, sleep or probably both. Ruby drags her exhausted body to the coffee pot to make what seems like the thousandth pot she has had in the past months.
She checks the power meters to make sure the reserve batteries are still working. She's been keeping them charged they are the only thing Keeping Penny alive. "I'm so damn close. What the hell do I need to do."
In the past few months since she stole what remained of her friend she has done more research and learning in advanced robotics and weapons systems that most the people teaching it have done in a life time.
She thinks back to when she was in Atlas. She over heard Iron Wood talking about Penny's creator. They were just going to scrap her. Penny's father could help her. That's when the soldiers found her. She didn't want to hurt them. But she wasn't about to let them all destroy Penny. Luckily she didn't kill them. Ironwood intervened but took heavy damage during her interrogation of him.
"I'm so broken now Penny. The things I've done for you. Will you still even want to be my friend."
She starts to cry again. Ironwood for some reason kept her name out of everything. No new stories, No wanted bulletins over the network. They made it look like some faction attacked him.
Coffee is done. She opens a bag of cookies and sits down with another book from the massive mountain of textbooks she has devoured over the months. Another headache. The coffee helps. The labs in Beacon just don't have the equipment to manufacture the parts she needs to fully repair her friend.
Footsteps echo through the broken hall towards her. Only one person she knows would be willing to come in here the way it is. "What do you want Uncle Qrow?!" She says irritated.
"I brought food short stuff." He's sober Ruby has him worried. More that she will turn out more like him or Raven that anything else.
"Oh thanks. I think there is some bench space over there by the fridge."
He looks around the lab. "You passed out again didn't you?"
"I guess."
"Damn it Ruby your going to end up killing yourself start eating more than just those damn cookies"
"I don't have time for food! That damn power cell could fail any time now and I'm no closer to saving her than I was 4 months ago."
"Maybe you should just let her go."
"No! It's my fault. I had every opportunity to stop that bitch before it got that far!"
"It's not your fault Ruby!"
"Tell her that!" screaming as she points to Penny's head hooked up to a various machines and batteries.
How did she not here the second set of footsteps... no three sets. There they were hiding behind a broken door frame. Crying seeing the emaciated and exhausted form of their leader in front of them.
"Ruby!" They all cried as they rushed in. They all embraced her crying and assaulting her with dozens of questions. Then everything started to go black and she fell from her makeshift chair to the floor.
Slowly she started to open her eyes. A hospital bed? Yang in the corner passed out in a chair.
"How the hell did I get here?"
Yang was startled awake. "Ruby!"
She tried to sit up. But she couldn't move. She was strapped to the bed.
"What the hell! Let me up! I have to save her!" she thrashed about alarms started going off around her and Nurses rushed in trying to prevent her from hurting herself.
Blake and Weiss rushed into the room followed quickly by a Scarred Ironwood!
"What the hell is he doing here!1 He was going to kill her! Throw her away like trash!" The nurse injected something into the IV in her arm and slowly she slumped back in the bed.
"Ruby! Shut up and listen!" Yang Screamed
Ruby stated to cry she knew her friend was lost. Then Ironwood started to speak. "I should have you locked up for the rest of your life for the crap you pulled back in Atlas."
"Like I care what a murdering bastard thinks!"
"Let me finish! Penny is beyond repair Ruby. But she could have been remade and installed into a new body. Unfortunately a lot of your efforts to save your friend have made that option impossible. "
Her soul shattered at that moment. Her actions were the ones that doomed her friend. She started to sob uncontrollably.
"You still haven't let me finish Ruby. Penny's weapon systems are still one hundred percent functional. Given your attempts at repairing them and thanks to the the few interesting upgrades you have implemented in them we have another solution."
A soldier brings in a black case and opens it to reveal an arm bracer with a top end Holographic display. Upon opening the case a small image of Penny appears. "Salutations Ruby!"
"We converted Penny in to an AI for her weapons system. Funny thing she refused every operator we paired her with. We briefed her on everything and I mean everything and she chooses you to be her operator. Essentially there is no semblance or Aura generated by Penny anymore but you with all of you interference saved her mind and personality. Keep In mind with your actions over the past eight months You are going to be on an excessively tight leash. You however have no choice in the matter"
An emaciated and exhausted Ruby lay chained to a hospital bed crying over the news of seeing her good friend once more.
"You have months of recovery and then we can work in the sensory implants for Penny to interface with you."
Weiss Broke into the conversation, "Implants? What implants? Is Professor Ozpin OK with this?"
"Weiss it's fine."
"No it's not Ruby. ", Blake interrupted, "They are basically saying you don't own your body anymore."
"Given what I did to Ironwood I could have easily just been shot on sight."
Her three team mates just looked at her in shock.
"Ironwood. I'll do it!"