"Alright everyone, keep your guards up." Blake held her sidearm close, looking around at the rest of her team. Yang nodded and pulled out her pulse rifle, proof that she was serious about this. Normally she ran in with just her fists, saying that the power of her punches was stronger than any other weapon in existence. The way some of those lesser enemies crumbled beneath her, she may have had a point. This was no mere cog, though: this was one of the barons.
"We got this, girls!" Ruby didn't seem to be quite so worried. Despite this opponent being much tougher than any she'd previously faced, there was no hesitation or fear in her eyes. She was the one who suggested they go after Pirrha in the first place, under the guise of ridding the Reef of his terrorizing presence. Truthfully, however, she was doing this to impression the fourth member of their team. She figured that getting the killing blow on a fearsome foe was sure to make the cutest Warlock swoon.
"Would you keep it down, Ruby? Do you want to give away our positioning?" Okay, so the cutest Warlock didn't seem to be swooning. Weiss had her sniper rifle hanging at her side, a perfect match against a creature called 'The Rifleman'. Her hands were tense, ready to pull it out and get under the sights at a moment's notice. It would be nice if she could get to the perfect sniping encampment before Ruby's big mouth summoned the beast that was surely awaiting them. It was hard not to notice when all your minions had been systematically eliminated.
"Aww, don't worry 'bout it, Weiss. How can we be beaten when we have Schnee the Deathless on our team?" Yang giggled at the name, while Blake rolled her eyes and Weiss sighed deeply. She'd always thought that nickname, which came about from her obvious impeccable record of not dying ever, would bring about recognition and admiration. What she'd learned from the team she'd been roped into joining is that they found it more amusing than anything. It made her feel like Ruby was making fun of her, which she probably was. "Plus, you got me! I can beat this chump with my bare hands!"
"Is that so?" The earthen structure in the center of the room started to shake as a towering figure came out of it. Pirrha the Rifleman, the aforementioned rifle in tow, stood there and laughed, a deep and ugly sound. "Then why don't you come closer and face me with your bare hands?" He hoisted the rifle up and looked down the scope with what could only be described as a misshapen smile on his face. Or maybe it was just how his face always looked: Scorn weren't known for their looks. "I will not give you the same courtesy."
"Split up!" Blake's call had everyone scramble away from the spot as a high-powered bullet just missed them. She and Yang moved together on the right, pouring bullets into Pirrha's shield. On the left, Ruby was using handcannon fire to cause a distraction for Weiss to jump into position and aim for the baron's head. Once she was in as good a spot as she could find, she began to fire at his head. That left Ruby to pull her sword off her back and jump directly into the fray.
They were doing a pretty good job, burning down his shield and leaving him exposed to their bullet fire. He wasn't missing every shot, though, and at one point Yang had to duck behind a stalagmite to heal up after a shot to the leg. That left one less person to concentrate on, and his attention was turned to the Guardian whaling at his legs with an oversized sword.
With one hand he swatted Ruby away, sending her flying away from the center. She landed with a grunt of pain close to where Weiss was, pushing herself back up to make another charge. Pirrha wasn't going to let her get far, though. Cocking back his rifle, he eyed the scope and fired, landing a bullseye right in the middle of her Ghost. It was cleaved right in half, the two sides coming apart in midair as it fell to the ground with a sickening crunch. Ruby froze in place, her eyes wandering down to her dismantled Ghost. That was her cushion... The reason she could die repeatedly and still come back good as new. With it lying dead and useless, she was... she was as good as dead.
"Goodbye, Red." Weiss reacted without thinking. She'd been distracted from her own sniping when she'd seen Ruby get knocked back, so she had a front row seat to her ghost getting shot down. That was the end for her annoying, endearing teammate if she didn't act fast. She jumped off her perch as Pirrha went down the sights again, waiting for an impact that would inevitably hit her. The ground came first, buckling her knees and nearly taking out her shield in one go. The rest of her shield, and her health, was gone when the Rifleman's bullet went right through her skull.
"Weiss!" Ruby screamed in horror as Weiss's body collapsed right in front of her, vanishing from sight and being replaced by a shimmering blue orb. Despite the shock, she knew that this was the worst, perfect distraction, and she couldn't waste it. Otherwise Weiss would've wasted her first death for nothing, and then Ruby would probably also die for the last time. Her eyes crackled with electricity as she screamed, her body bursting into its own shade of blue. Bolts of lightning burst from her hands as she surged forward, hitting Pirrha with every ounce of power she had.
At the same time, Blake and Yang hit him from the backside, pouring it on until the baron finally fell. With a strangled cry, his body collapsed to the floor and vanished, leaving no trace of the once-fearsome foe. As he faded from existence, Ruby came out of Stormtrance and felt her feet hit the ground. As soon as that happened, she ran over to Weiss's death-orb, quickly reviving her. She came back with a gasp, blinking as she readjusted to being back on her own two feet.
"Weiss! Are you okay?!" She put her hands on Weiss's shoulders to steady her, as she appeared a bit out of sorts. That was understandable, though: she'd felt the same way the first time her own Ghost had brought her back from death. If it wasn't for Weiss, she would've experienced her last death too. The thought shook her to her core. She didn't even notice Blake and Yang coming up to them until Yang had pulled her into a back-breaking hug.
"You're alive! Thank goodness!" She looked down at Ruby's ruined Ghost, the fires of a protective older sister burning in her eyes. "We have to get you out of here before anything else pops up and tries to take you out." While she fretted over Ruby, Blake went over to Weiss and awkwardly placed a steadying hand on her shoulder. The two of them didn't exactly get along, but they were teammates after all, and she knew the ice princess must've been rattled after losing her 'the Deathless' title.
"I'm fine, Yang. I'm fine." Breaking free of Yang's grasp, she hurried back to Weiss, who seemed more focused now. "Are you okay, Weiss? Why did you do that? Why did you save me?" She frowned, knowing that Weiss's pride may have taken a hit with the fact that she was no longer the perfect Guardian she'd always bragged about being. That was her fault for not being careful. "What about you being 'the Deathless' and all?"
"Ruby, it's just a title. I don't care about that." She said, as she cared very deeply about it. "Besides..." She pointed at her ghost. "I had that life to spare. You didn't. Don't worry about it, though. You can thank me later." With a small but noticeable grin, she slung her rifle over her back and started walking to the exit, with the other three members of her party staring after her.
"Holy cow..." Ruby whistled, sheathing her sword on her back. "I think I'm in love..." So this was the team they were on: an optimistic hunter with a penchant for showing off to cute girls, and an egotistical warlock who would on occasion jump down to save her teammates. Or perhaps just one teammate in particular. They sure were something together... but they were a team, and that had to count for something.
"Uh, she's leaving without us."
"Hey Weiss, wait for us!"