A/N: I spent a lot of time trying to work out how the tournament arc could be adapted to the setting, and then kind of gave up and just went with setting up the Fall of Beacon. Feel free to leave a review if you're enjoying it (or if you aren't). Enjoy!
For once, things are sort of going well. Pyrrha's found another recruit, which means they have record numbers of heroes. Sun and his team left after a few foiled plots, explaining that while heroism is important, they have families in Vacuo that need to be supported, and that disaster with the White Fang-hijacked train is by and large over. Weiss is recovered, apart from a bit of scarring, and has been improving her control of her abilities considerably. There are a few issues left: Penny, for one.
Ruby doesn't mention Penny to anyone else, since she's one of the robots that they spend most of their time fighting, and people wouldn't trust her. And, to be honest, Ruby likes having a secret or two. It makes her feel like she's in a teen movie, where she'd sneak out and try alcohol and have a boyfriend her parents wouldn't approve of. It feels like a normal high school experience, which she never actually got.
So Ruby might be making a stupid decision, but she's keeping Penny a secret. She slips out two or three times in civilian garb to go walking with Penny and just talk. Penny's amazement at the world around her gives Ruby a little feeling of hope every time.
It's too good to last, she knows. Penny still won't tell Ruby where she came from, or who made her, and there are still enough villains to fight, like the masked woman who Ruby found at the scene of one of Torchwick's robberies. She defeated Ruby effortlessly and just walked away, not bothering with a killing blow, which is a little offensive, because Ruby might not be The Huntress, but she's still a good enough hero.
There's no time to worry about the masked woman now. Ruby could try introducing Penny to someone, maybe starting with Jaune, since he's both very nice and very easy to stop from killing Penny if things go wrong.
When she mentions that to Penny, the girl laughs, and it makes Ruby's heart flutter.
"Ruby, I would love to meet your friends, but not if they would rather murder me."
"Yeah, probably a bad idea."
Their walk is interrupted by Pyrrha's voice through Ruby's earpiece.
"Currently engaging several hostile robots in Sector 31. I need backup, now." Her voice sounds slightly shaky, which isn't like Pyrrha at all. This is bad.
"Stay away from the fights, Penny," Ruby says, then breaks into a run. She doesn't have her scythe on her (stupid, even if she's in civilian clothes), and she can't protect anyone like this and she might be too late already –
Her team are already on their way. This is nothing they haven't dealt with before, just bigger and more powerful.
They won't lose.
…
"Can't you get us there faster?" Yang shouts.
"I'm trying," Weiss wails. "This is the best I can do right now, unless you want me to be completely useless in a fight."
Yang scowls and vaults across the next street onto a flat concrete roof. Weiss may be getting better, but all she can manage is the occasional gust of wind to help them across gaps, which is not going to save the city by any stretch of the term. Blake lands next to her, lightly, not much more than a shadow in the gathering dusk.
Two people emerge from the gloom on the other side of the roof. One is wearing shades of dark grey that blend into the shadows; the other is a head shorter, with scarlet eyes that seem to glow faintly.
They are none of Yang's concern. She turns to make sure Weiss has made it to the rooftop, then continues to walk as if she hasn't even noticed them.
"Nice of you to drop by," the taller one says, smiling. It's not a friendly smile, more like he's starving and staring at a joint of meat.
"Get out of my way," Yang says flatly. She's never been one for mind games and banter.
"Not so fast. Your beloved Huntress will have to survive without you."
Shit. Whoever organized this is good. Good enough to leave Pyrrha stranded with no allies to fight the worst attack in history.
"Team R, take an alternate route," Weiss says hastily, as the girl with the red eyes wraps her hands around the twin pistols in her waistband. Good thinking. At least one of them will get through in time.
Yang grins, because no matter how bad it is you never let it show, and fires the first shot.
…
Pyrrha Nikos has never lost a fight in her life.
There have been near misses and brutal, bloody stalemates and allies arriving with moments to spare, but she has never lost a fight and she's not starting now.
News copters are circling above her. Good. Let the public know that The Huntress doesn't lose, no matter the odds.
Pyrrha dodges more bullets, faster than she can think and faster than she can see, firing off a shot at the next robot.
She doesn't lose.
Dodges the scything leg so it just pins down her cape, tears free and hurls her shield at the dome protecting its processors.
She protects this city no matter what.
Plants one foot in a joint hard enough to make it buckle, and launches herself upward to strike at another.
The Huntress is a symbol of hope.
Lands and pulls the shield back to her fast enough to stop the next hit, then rolls to avoid a hail of machine-gun fire.
She's been fighting her whole life, and this is as familiar to her as breathing.
Someone lands on the edge of the rooftop. A child, really, old enough to start defending their city but too young to survive their attempt. One arm of the remaining robot flies outward to catch her.
The Huntress could use that moment to cripple the robot's other arm, or take out its cameras, or destroy one of its six legs to unbalance it.
But Pyrrha Nikos and The Huntress are not the same person. The Huntress has a duty to save her city no matter the cost. Pyrrha Nikos doesn't want another senseless death.
Civilians die every day; what difference does one more make?
Pyrrha flips the electromagnets to their maximum power setting and lunges toward the robot's arm to drag it away from the girl.
She sees nothing more than disconnected instants of time, snapshots that she can't change. The robot's arm veering away from the girl and toward Pyrrha. The girl smiling, then her mouth opening wide in horror.
She doesn't make a sound as Pyrrha's magnets do their work. Her eyes stay open even as they tear away from her.
The Huntress sees this as nothing more than a minor incident.
But Pyrrha Nikos is not The Huntress.
…
Ruby empties three cartridges of Lightning Dust into the remaining robot's head from a distance, then watches in satisfaction as it falls.
"All taken care of," she says, grinning, then frowns when she doesn't get any response from her earpiece. "Pyrrha?"
There's no response, again, except for a sound that might be a harsh breath or just static. Ruby doesn't want to think about either of those possibilities. If she was too late, and the city's hero is dead because of her –
Ruby takes a running leap across the gap to the building where the fight took place. There are scattered heaps of metal around The Huntress, who is kneeling, tattered cape spread out behind her.
Ruby moves closer, as silently as she can. The Huntress – Pyrrha – raises one shaking hand to her face, and slowly removes her mask. She looks like she – like she lost.
The news copters are still buzzing overhead, and are joined by police sirens below them.
"What happened?" Ruby asks. She doesn't really want to know what's made Pyrrha collapse like this.
"I'm sorry," Pyrrha says, one hand over her face.
The Huntress doesn't apologize. The Huntress isn't polite or courteous or kind. The Huntress is like the old-fashioned kind of angel, the kind who brought destruction and vengeance.
But whatever happened broke Pyrrha.
Some of the detritus is not the black and white of the robots they fight. There's a faint mark of green, the metal itself twisted beyond recognition. Farther out, Ruby sees a larger glint of green.
It's one of Penny's oddly shaped blades, warped and dotted with burn marks.
No.
The news copters buzzing overhead and the sirens below and Pyrrha's shaking repetition of "I'm sorry" fade away.