Peter and Pyrrha met up on a rooftop in the Bowery to discuss their plan. "So, I know you could probably handle this easy, but I think you should head to Grand Central and keep an eye on things there, just in case the Demons show up early or things go south here. Sound good?" He asked her.
"Yes. We can't leave anything to chance, so we have to cover up all our options. If even one thing goes the Demon's way, it could be a total disaster." Pyrrha agreed.
"Right. Besides, we can't make it too easy for them, right?" Peter said jokingly.
She would've argued it wasn't time for joking, but she had to admit, the small giggle the comment gave her really helped bring her mood up. "Right. Best of luck to you, Spider-Man." She said.
"Best of luck to you, too, Arkos." Spider-Man said, giving her a wink, before webbing off to patrol the area as Pyrrha floated her way to Grand Central.
The redheaded superhero made her way to the famous train station and was about to enter, when she heard someone scream, turning back around to see what looked to be a massive lizard running through the streets, before finally pulling up a sewer lid and dropping in. "Everyone run! The Lizard's on the loose!" Someone screamed as people began to clear the streets.
"Peter told me about the lizard once. One of the doctors at his university attempted to use lizard genetics to replace his lost arm, but something went wrong and he changes into a lizard that wants to make everyone in New York like him. And he's probably feeling like trying again if he's back in this form." Pyrrha said, looking back and forth between Grand Central and the sewer. This would be the Demon's next stop, but only if Spider-Man couldn't stop them. Lizard is running around free as he pleases and no one was immediately coming for him. She had to deal with him first. "I'm sorry, Peter. It's up to you now." She said, before rushing towards the opening in the ground and jumping into the sewers.
She dropped down into the septic system, searching around for the creature. Luckily, he wasn't trying to be stealthy and was wading through the sewer water, making plenty of noise from making the water slosh around. Pyrrha quickly followed, but she was being stealthy, floating with her gauntlets, rather than slosh through the water or run on the sides of the sewer, wear her armored boots would clang against the metal floor. She rounded the corner and saw the Lizard at a cross section of the sewers, looking around for which way to go. Pyrrha used this opportunity to fling her shield at the back of the beast's head, knocking him forward into the water as she landed on the right side of the sewer system.
Lizard got up with a growl and turned to face her and hissed in rage. "You dare attack me, human!" He snapped.
"I don't want to fight you, but you cannot be allowed to run around as you please. Just come with me and I can get you help and have you returned to your natural self." She told him.
"Never! I refuse to be an inferior human ever again! I shall stay as a lizard and change the whole city to be superior like me!" He declared.
"I can't allow you to do that." She said, taking her fighting stance." She said resolutely.
"Then instead of a lizard like me, I'll change you into a meal!" He snapped, rushing in.
Background Music: "Animal" by Disturbed
Pyrrha flung her shield at the Lizard, but he ducked under it and pounced at her, arms ready to grab her and pin her down. Pyrrha extended her sword into spear form and held Lizard back as he grabbed it instead of her. He tried to bite at her, but she pulled her head back far enough to avoid his jaws and called back her shield, smacking him in the back of the head and making him stumble forward. She then spun her spear around and brought up the bottom of it to smack it into his jaw, making him stagger back, allowing her to fire several rounds from her rifle into his chest, but they did nothing to him.
"Bullets cannot harm me, foolish child!" He snapped, rushing at her again and spinning, slamming his tail at her and sending her into a wall. Luckily, however, he knocked her against a wall with a ladder to climb up and out of another sewer lid, so she grabbed onto one of the bars and lifted her legs into the air, holding her self in place with the bar and bringing both feet into the Lizard's face as he lunged for her and kicked him in the face, turning him enough so his back was to her, at which point she got her feet against the wall and pushed off, diving forward and slamming shield first into his back with all her weight behind it, smashing him between the wall in front of him and herself.
She delivered a few jabs to his side with the butt of her sword and shoved him back into the wall once or twice, before he used his tail and smacked her away. He lunged at her and struck repeatedly with his claws, which she managed to block or deflect with her sword and shield, dodging a bite aimed at her neck, but he then caught her with a headbutt that sent her to one knee, before flipping forward and slamming his tail into her, sending her onto her back and sliding back deeper into the tunnel. "I will never be defeated by an inferior mammal!" He declared, rushing at her.
"I need to slow him down somehow." Pyrrha told herself, before remembering something she caught Yang, of all people, reading. A book on reptiles, as the blonde had apparently wanted a pet python at some point. But she remembered that reptiles are cold-blooded and struggle to function at lower temperatures. So, she loaded her rifle up with ice dust rounds and took out a larger ice crystal Weiss had once tried to bribe her with to allow the SDC to sponsor her rather than Pumpkin Pete. She then tossed it down the tunnel and shot at it with the last electric round in the chamber before newly inserted ice rounds. And conveniently, the lizard had rushed down the hall and now was just under the ice crystal as the round hit it, catching him in an explosion of frost and cold that even flew well past Pyrrha.
She heard a lizard-like shriek of surprise and pain. The mist cleared, allowing her to see the lizard shivering in place. "What have you done to me? It's freezing!" He declared.
"I thought I'd help you cool off." She declared. Spending a lot of time with Jaune and now Peter had given her more quips or one-liners than she ever thought she'd be able to use. She then flung her shield at the lizard, who just barely dodged, the cold greatly slowing him down, Pyrrha quickly rushing in after and delivering a knee to his stomach, calling the shield back to hit him in the back of the head, before she went all out and delivered several powerful hits with both her shield and sword, hitting him with either the butt of the weapon again, or the flat side of it, finishing up with one powerful uppercut with her shield, knocking him back into the warmer water of the unfrozen sewers behind him.
He got up and rapidly slashed at her with his claws and chomped at her with his fangs, spinning and attempting to knock her back with his tail, but thanks to his slower movements, she managed to dodge or block each attack with little issue, jumping back to avoid the tail swipe and firing an ice round at each foot, freezing them to the floor and firing one round into his right shoulder, leaving a solid amount of frost on that as well. She rushed him, knocking back his left claw as he swiped at her, hitting him in the stomach with her shield, then bringing it up into his chin, landing a few more hits with the flat side of her sword and finishing the fight with a backflip kick that knocked the lizard out cold.
End Music
Pyrrha stood over the defeated lizard and called Yuri. "Captain Watanabe. The lizard was on a rampage. I managed to stop him, however. Could you send over a few units to Grand Central? I chased him into a sewer entrance near there. That's where we'll be coming from. And we could use a few police there as well. The demons may be targeting it." Pyrrha informed her.
"I'll send a wagon over for you. And I'll be there to help look for the demons with my best guys. Great work, Pyrrha." Yuri said, before hanging up.
Pyrrha smiled at this, turning to the lizard. "I'm sure they'll be able to help you." She said, before cracking a vial of liquid metal over him and binding him like a straitjacket. "Thank goodness I had this or I'd never get you out of here." She said, using her gauntlets and floating him along with her as she made her way back to the sewer entrance near Grand Central.
Pyrrha now walked around Grand Central Station, looking for any signs of the Demons. There seemed to be no shortage of things they might want, as there was some form of technology demonstration being held at the station, with countless pieces of tech that could be incredibly useful in the right hands and incredibly dangerous in the wrong ones. Pyrrha was now in a hoodie and cargo shorts, having stashed her armor up on the roof. It was at times like these she REALLY missed Beacon's rocket propelled lockers, but she made do. So, he was now walking around with the hood up, keeping her hair and a good portion of the upper half of her face hidden, so no one would be able to see what she looked like if, or more likely, when she needed to don her armor again. She wished she could thank Ruby for the idea from all the times she had expressed a desire to do stealth or undercover missions.
Suddenly, she was pulled from her thoughts by a call from Peter. "Pyrrha, the Demons got the Devil's Breath. I tracked down their getaway vehicle, but they got away from that, too. They must be heading to Grand Central. Keep your eyes open." He alerted her.
"Understood. I also have Yuri and several other officers patrolling the area. If they show up, we WILL stop them here." Pyrrha told him. "They'll be here any minute now. If they're after something, I have to figure out what it is." Pyrrha said, quickening her pace, before she came upon a strange rectangular box-like device. "What could this be?" She asked, walking up to it. Luckily, someone on the other side decided to look at it, too and pressed the button on the monitor. "Thank you." She said, before realizing who it was. "Mary Jane?" She asked.
"Pyrrha?! What are you doing here!?" MJ asked.
"I should be asking you that. You knew the Demons would come here!" Pyrrha told her.
"Yeah and I thought I could do something to stop them." She explained.
"I'm here and the police are here. It's covered. You'll only get yourself in trouble." Pyrrha warned her.
"Well I can help now. I have the same soul forcefield thing you have." MJ countered.
"Aura won't win every fight for you. You still need to know how to fight. And just because you have it doesn't mean you know how to use it. It requires you to consciously put it up to defend yourself like any other shield. And you barely have the hang of doing that last I checked." Pyrrha told her. She'd been teaching her the basics of aura when she first unlocked it, but since the Sable base incident, they hadn't been able to focus much more on it for obvious reasons.
"I just want to help people, like you and Peter do." She said.
"You were helping just fine by getting us the information we needed and getting the right information to the people with your journalism." Pyrrha said, before sighing and thinking back to Beacon and how she chose to face Cinder despite knowing it was pointless. "But I understand. When all this is said and done, I promise to help you become a hero as good as Peter or myself. But for now, you can help by pressing the button." Pyrrha told her.
MJ looked at her strangely for a minute, as if wondering if Pyrrha was lying to her, before nodding. "Okay." She said, hitting the button.
"This Gaia Microbe Dispersal Device releases specially formulated microbes into the atmosphere and in turn leaves our oceans and rivers cleaner than when man first walked the Earth." The computer said.
"Disperses microbes into the air... Then it could be used to disperse Devil's Breath." Pyrrha realized, looking up at MJ, before gasping as she saw Li walking up behind the reporter. "Mary Jane!" She warned, looking around to see several other demons approaching. Thinking quickly, Pyrrha grabbed the device and threw it to the ground, already considerably damaging it, before pulling out Miló from the back of her pants, where it had been hidden underneath her hoodie like how people often hid pistols, changing the weapon into its rifle form and firing at the device, causing it to explode in a rain of tiny pieces.
"No!" Li shouted, before shouting in Mandarin. (It's Arkos! She doesn't have her armor! She's vulnerable! Destroy her now!) He ordered, his hidden demons pouring into the room to help him. Several demons ran at Pyrrha, but the cops began shooting at them, taking out a few and making other demons turn their attention to them. Yuri and a couple other cops were able to handle themselves, but unfortunately, several other officers were taken down by weapon wielding Demons. A large group rushed at Pyrrha, but she called her armor to her, crashing it through the roof, which also caused glass to fall and rain down, causing some demons to slip on the tiny shards.
Pyrrha was soon fully armored up, the hood still having done its job of keeping her face hidden until the helmet was over it and she managed to take a demon down by calling Akoúo̱ to her, hitting in the back of the head as he rushed at her. Martin fired a beam of energy at her, but she blocked it with her shield. A pair of demons, wielding a kama and katana respectively, rushed her, but she defended herself with her sword and shield. It almost reminded her of fighting team CRDL, but the huntsmen-in-training were ever so slightly more skilled. Pyrrha blocked the Katana with her sword and deflected the kama with her shield so it got caught on the katana, leaving her enough of an opening to deliver a side kick to the Kama wielder's chest, staggering him back and allowing her to fling her shield at him to knock him out, dodging a sword swing and calling her shield back to hit her other opponent, causing him to stumble forward and allow Pyrrha to get an upward swipe to send him into the air and knock him out.
"Enough!" Li shouted, holding MJ hostage. "Surrender now, or I'll kill your little friend here." He warned, grabbing MJ's throat. Pyrrha, however, flung her shield at the former philanthropist, but he managed to turn his head to avoid it, glaring at her. "You shouldn't have done that." He declared.
"No. I should've done it much sooner." Pyrrha declared, calling back the shield and hitting Li in the back of the head, allowing MJ to run. A couple demons with katanas blocked her back, but Peter swooped in from out of nowhere and snatched her up, swinging her to the exit.
"Hurry, MJ! You've got to get out!" Peter told her, before swinging back to help Yuri, who was being attacked by a fat demon, a second large one on his was on his way towards her as well.
"This wasn't how it was supposed to happen." Martin Li growled, retreating back through the way he came from.
"After all this, you're not getting away." Pyrrha declared, turning back around. "Spider-Man, help the cops with the rest of the Demons! I'm going after Li!" She ordered.
"You got it, boss!" He declared, delivering a swing kick to the face of a large Demon.
Pyrrha quickly ran after Martin Li and chased him to the subway terminal. Li was about to escape on a subway, but Pyrrha used her semblance to send the door flying forward, Martin barely dodging it, before she threw a vial of liquid metal at him, hitting and restraining him, allowing Pyrrha to pull him right in front of her. However, the the last second, he freed himself and grabbed Pyrrha's arm as she tried to strike him. "Why don't I give you a new perspective..." He declared as Pyrrha's vision started going dark, before darkness engulfed everything.
However, there was soon a light that illuminated the area. However, the scene it illuminated was a scene Pyrrha had never wanted to see again. It was Beacon, during Cinder's attack. The images were frozen, but more than enough for Pyrrha to piece back everything that happened. People fleeing in terror, the White Fang and Atlesian Knights gunning down civilians, the Grimm running rampant and Brawnz Ni being stolen away by a Nevermore. [1]
"Well, well, what have we here? Yet another tragic event. Death and destruction seems to follow wherever you go. And you can't do a thing to stop it." Martin said as he observed the events.
Pyrrha rushed at him, leaping into the air and coming down with a swipe from her shield"We were betrayed by people we trusted as friends! The attack came from the inside, we never could have prepared for it. Even still, I did all I could! I have no regrets about that night!" She snapped.
"Then what about this day?" Martin asked, the scene changing from Beacon to the rally. "You were there, just like Spider-Man. And the officer who saved your life died right before you. And you could do nothing." Li said.
"Because you forced innocent people to suicide bomb the even and bury other innocent people under rubble or simply destroy them! Innocent families! Children, even! You may be even worse than Cinder! You're a monster!" Pyrrha snapped.
"Norman is the only monster here! He ran when he heard my threat. He didn't stay to face me, he didn't warn anyone. He just ran. All those who died are on his hands." Li declared.
"They're on your hands! They wouldn't have died if you and your demons hadn't attacked in the first place!" Pyrrha countered.
"Norman must be destroyed. He's a danger to the city that has to be removed for the good of all. After all, he's the one that made Devil's Breath right here in the heart of the city. You know how dangerous it is. And you know it shouldn't be here." Li told her.
"It was wrong for him to do that, but for you to know how dangerous it is and still try to use it on the city is unforgivable." Pyrrha snapped.
"Not only will you forgive me, Arkos. You will help me. Put an end to Norman and together, we will truly protect this city from monsters like him." Li offered, a demon mask floating in the air between the two of them.
"The only monster here is you!" Pyrrha declared, turning her sword into a rifle and firing at the mask, shattering it, then firing a few times at Martin.
The illusion broke and Pyrrha shoved Martin back, ready to attack, but three demons rushed out: one unarmed, one with a kama and another with a katana. The one with the kama rushed at Pyrrha to defend his leader as they other two helped Martin up. Pyrrha quickly dispatched the demon and turned back to see Li stealing the energy from the other two, taking the sword from the one who had one. "If you're so determined to defend that scourge on humanity, show me your resolve." Li declared.
"It's a shame how far you've fallen. I hope there are people in the Raft who can help you." Pyrrha said, readying herself to fight the former philanthropist.
Background Music: "My Demons" by Starset
Martin delivered a vertical sword slash that sent a wave of negative energy at Pyrrha, who rolled to the side and fired at him with her rifle. He blocked a couple of them, but the last one managed to hit him in the face, before Pyrrha hit him in the chest with her shield, then used her semblance on her armor to make herself fly forward at high speeds to kick him in the face with both feet, sending him back into one of the steel beams between the subway lines.
Li got up and rushed in at Pyrrha, at speeds of a blur. Luckily, she's had several sparring matches with each member of team RWBY, all of whom were capable of such speeds, so she was able to jump and twist sideways in mid-air, passing over him and flinging her shield into the back of his head, which bounced off and came back to her. However, this barely effected him, so he almost immediately turned around and struck at her with his sword, managing to break through her guard with one attack. Despite only having one weapon to her sword and shield, he was putting her on the defensive, forcing her back as she had to use both the sword and shield to keep him from landing attacks against her, before he spun and delivered another vertical slash, sending another energy wave that she couldn't dodge or block at this point blank, which sent her back into a wall.
Pyrrha recovered and fired several more rounds at Li, which he again deflected, but two things were different this time. The first was that Pyrrha had also fired a few rounds at Li's feet in between shooting at him, so the ground at his feet for about a 5 foot diameter was frozen. The second was the rounds still went off as they hit Li's sword, freezing the blade solid and making it as brittle as the ice itself. Pyrrha then rushed in, deploying her spear and thrusting it at Li. The former philanthropist blocked it with the sword, which then shattered, staggering him and compromising his footing on the ice, allowing Pyrrha, still at a safe distance with her spear, to land a good number of hits with the polearm, before one wide swing sent Martin flying back into a wall like he had done to her.
Li got up and began firing blasts of his demon power at Pyrrha, but she managed to dodge them once again and rushed in at him, slamming her shield into his once again and getting off a couple sword strikes, but these didn't seem to harm him and he readied what seemed like a lightning attack, which she blocked with her shield, sending her skidding back a bit, but she changed the sword into a rifle and got off a few more shots into his chest.
"I've had enough of this." Martin declared, pulling out a second sword he had kept hidden until then, rushing in at Pyrrha again and swinging it viciously, but between the several hits he'd taken up to this point and the amount of ice rounds he had taken, much like the lizard before him, he was beginning to wear down, making it easier for Pyrrha to block his attacks. That being said, the two were still on even footing, neither one getting through the others defenses, but now neither one conceding any ground to the other.
"Whatever Osborn did to you, surely it can't be worth all this. All the lives of these innocent people! Surely you must see that!" Pyrrha declared, managing to block his next strike and deliver a knee to his chest, allowing her to turn sword to spear and hit him with another wide swipe that sent him reeling.
"The only thing I see is you and the spider standing in the way of my justice. My vengeance!" Li declared, unleashing several more sword swipes, each one with a wave of energy behind it. Pyrrha dodged a few, but had to block some as well, pushing her back.
"Maybe the city would be better without Osborn, but it shouldn't get rid of him for your vengeance!" Pyrrha declared, using her semblance and flinging every metal object at Martin that wasn't nailed down: several trashcans, a few phones and even the subway layout maps, which significantly staggered Mr. Negative and allowed Pyrrha to rush in, deliver an uppercut, sending him into the air, where she leapt after him and finished him in a manner very similar to Cardin in her fight with his team.
End Music
Martin got back up after the final move, albeit incredibly dazed and staggered, barely clinging to consciousness, dropping back to one knee, using the sword for support. He took a few deep breaths, then gathered the last of his strength and determination, preparing for one final attack, raising his sword and rushing at Pyrrha, but she turned her sword into a rifle and shot the sword out of his hand, changing the rifle into a spear, spinning and smacking the the flat end of the spear into the side of his face, sending him reeling backward, holding his face. He then looked up to face her just in time to see her shield flying at his face and slamming into it, knocking him out.
Yuri quickly sprinted down the hallway towards her as Spider-Man swung around the corner, the two quickly reaching Pyrrha's sides. "Nice work, kid. The Demons are finished, thanks to you." Yuri told her.
"Yeah. I won't lie. Part of me wants to end him and make sure he can never do this again." She said, gripping her weapons tightly, the other two looking at her in concern. "But I've also heard how much he's done for the city and the people in it. And I hope the people on the Raft can help remind him of that person. He'll never be able to make up for what he did and I doubt they'd just hand him back F.E.A.S.T, but maybe he can learn to do good again some day if he's given the chance." She finished.
"I'm glad you're thinking straight, Pyrrha. Let's get him out of here." Peter said, webbing up Li and carrying him out of the building.
Martin Li was loaded on a RAFT gurney into an Oscorp armored vehicle by a couple of Sable agents, which quickly closed up and drove away, while the Devil's Breath was put into another specialized briefcase and loaded into its own completely separate armored vehicle. It turned out, as Martin had grabbed MJ and held her hostage, she had spotted the Devil's Breath in his coat and managed to grab it off him. She had turned it over to Yuri, but the Police Chief, in turn, was forced to hand it over to Silver Sable. But at the very least, the dangerous substance was now contained and being taken to a secure location. At the end of the day, that's the best results anyone could hope for.
Peter left for his job with Otto, leaving Pyrrha and MJ to themselves. "Hey, Pyrrha? I'm sorry about everything. I was being immature and foolish, trying to do more than I really could and you're right, I could've made the situation today so much worse if I hadn't told you and Peter about Grand Central. I'm sorry." She said.
"It's good you learned your lesson, MJ, but it's not all on you. I should've done a better job ensuring you knew basic combat and aura control. You only wanted to help and I could've taught you how, but I didn't give you the proper time or attention you deserved." Pyrrha apologized, but was shocked when MJ pulled her into a hug.
"It's not your fault. You were busy and I could've been more deserving. Let's just stop playing the blame game and especially stop blaming ourselves. We don't need to cut into Peter's territory any more than we have." She said.
"Right. So, let's get back to your apartment and start aura training. With enough practice, I'm sure your Semblance will show up sooner, rather than later." Pyrrha told her.
"Alright! Let's go!" MJ said eagerly, the two girls jogging back to MJ's apartment.
A/N: Thank you all so much for reading! Also, don't forget about my challenge! I dare any one of you willing to try to create this story with a different character from RWBY. Who would you send into the Marvel universe? Ruby? Blake? Qrow? The choice is yours if you're brave enough!
[1] Yes, this happened. in the After the Fall book, it is explained that most of team BRNZ was killed during the Fall of Beacon and Brawnz specifically was snatched up by a Nevermore.