Hey, UknownHero here and welcome to another chapter of A Simple Mission Rebirth. Sorry, but real life has taken me and has gotten me busy lately. Especially with special events coming up that I need to prepare for. Stupid stuff. Anyway, just wanna let everyone know that React Watch Believe Yikes has been moved to Archive of Our Own if you guys aren't aware yet. Keep this a secret but I think a user by the name of nightelf7 will post it back on his profile on FanFiction so watch out for that. Anyway, onto some reviews. Huh, I think this is the first time for this fic. To a random Guest: Yeah, I'm gonna try and balance it, mostly by restricting what the RWBYs can do with their powers. I mean, mind raping someone isn't exactly what Ruby wants as a power, no matter how powerful it is. To manticore-gurl071134: You just have to wait and see if Team CFVY and/or Raven enters the peerage. To Dragon Rider 66: Yeah... that's a good point. Time to make up reasons. Anyway, that's it for the reviews! Time for a start!
Load Game… Start!
Chapter 9: A Simple Repair
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ruby and Yang screamed out before quickly covering each other's mouths to muffle their screams before they calmed. They stayed silent as they stared at Penny's body, which was still on fire,
"Oh my God, you killed Penny." Ruby muttered quietly before wincing in pain, before glaring at Yang, "You bastard."
"Sh-She just c-c-ca-c-came out of n-n-no-now-no-nowhere and, and…" Yang stuttered out before collapsing to her knees, "N-No. No! I'm sorry! I'm-I'm not a monster! I'm not!" Quickly seeing that Yang was having a nervous breakdown, Ruby quickly went to comfort her,
"It's okay Yang. It's going to be okay. It's not your fault. Just calm down." Ruby said quickly as she pulled her sister into a hug, Yang crying into her shoulder. They stayed like this until Yang realized something,
"Wait, why is Penny on fire?" There was a record scratch as she realized something.
She never told anyone Penny was a robot. And she forgot Penny was still on fire.
"Oh no…" Ruby groaned as she looked at Penny. Surprisingly, Penny's uniform was taking a rather long time to burn. Unfortunately, it was causing Penny's artificial skin to melt off, "Oh no!" Ruby exclaimed as she pushed Yang away and quickly started to look around for anything to put out the flames, "Yang, h-help me find a fire extinguisher! A blanket! Er, anything!"
"Oh right!" Yang said, realizing the smell would probably attract people to their location. But upon realizing there was nothing to put out the flames around them and looking in the school for something would take too long, Ruby (unable to think of anything else at the moment) had an idea,
"Str-Strip her!" Ruby quickly said,
"Wait, what?" Yang asked, extremely confused right now,
"Take off her uniform! We'll replace it as soon as we can but right now we worry about the fire!" Ruby said frantically,
"O-Okay…" Yang said hesitantly before performing the task, ripping off the burning uniform as fast as possible. While she was doing that, Ruby decided to call Weiss,
"Um… Weiss?" Ruby said nervously, "Er, there's something you should know…"
"Ruby? I'm in the city with Blake. I'm assuming you know Penny's here." Weiss replied,
"Uh… well… yeah… Penny's definitely here…" Ruby muttered as she watched Yang throw away bit of the now useless uniform, "And… um… l-look, do you mind getting my toolkit from the apartment and meet at the clubroom. Something… awkward came up."
"'Awkward' as in…" Weiss started,
"'Awkward' as in…" Ruby took a deep breath before continuing, "Ya-well, we… kindakilledPenny."
"...Run that by me again?" Weiss said, wondering what she just heard,
"C-Can you pass the phone to Blake?" Ruby asked awkwardly, fearing that Blake's reaction would be a bit more subdued than her Bishop/partner,
"Sure…" Weiss answered, Ruby swearing there was a suspicious look on her face. Ruby waited for a few seconds before she heard Blake's voice over her phone,
"What is it Ruby?" Blake asked,
"We killed Penny by accident." Ruby answered bluntly. There was a long length of silence that followed after that statement. Suddenly, there was a dial tone, "Hello? Blake? Blake…? Weiss? Anyone?" Ruby said before looking at her phone to see she had been hung up on, "They're so gonna kill me." Ruby groaned before pocketing her phone and checking up on Yang and Penny. The first thing that came into Ruby's mind when Yang finished was how… anatomically correct Penny is, "They really went all out…" Ruby muttered. She guessed that whoever created her went through great lengths to make sure Penny wasn't discovered, even with all her clothes removed. Ruby then observed the damage Yang dealt to Penny.
Part of Penny's skull was caved in, her right eye crushed by Yang's fist, and her expression stuck on horrified surprise. There were sparks coming out of, what she assumed to be, Penny's computer brain and on occasion she sparked, causing different parts of her body to twitch. There was also some patches of melted skin on her thanks to the fire which revealed her metal skeleton. She was sure she could put bandages to cover it up but repairing Penny's brain was going to take some work.
And Robotics 101. Which she didn't have.
"So… uh… are you gonna tell me why Penny kinda looks like an Exterminator?" Yang asked as they both looked at Penny's naked body,
"Penny's… the first robot in existence to generate an Aura." Ruby answered,
"Oh. Cool. That… explains a lot, really." Yang replied flatly, "…What are we going to do?"
"First. We get her into the clubroom. We can't let anyone else see her or else things are gonna get a lot worse." Ruby said. Yang nodded and quickly lifted Penny's body over her shoulder and as fast as they could, they sprinted to the Occult Research Club, hoping they could save the robot girl.
(ORC Clubroom)
"Put her down gently…" Ruby said as Yang sat Penny down onto the couch, "There we go."
"So, what's next?" Yang asked, looking at her little half-sister,
"Now… we… repair her… I guess?" Ruby muttered,
"Ruby, Penny isn't a weapon." Yang said before muttering to herself, "At least I hope she isn't." She shook her head before continuing, "Point is, we can't fix Penny. We aren't robot scientists!"
"I-I'm sure we can. I mean, it shouldn't be that hard…" Ruby said, trying to smile before her expression fell, "Oh who am I kidding, we're doomed…"
"Yang! Ruby!" Weiss called out as she and Blake entered the clubroom, Ruby's toolkit in hand, "I swear, if what Blake told me is tr-" She then stopped herself when she saw Penny, "…Why is she naked?"
"Why don't we just save the explanation for the end?" Ruby groaned,
"Just so you guys know, don't blame Ruby. Blame me…" Yang muttered,
"Thank you." Weiss said before clearing her throat, coughing a little, making sure her stance showed who was in power, and promptly gave them Hell, "OF ALL THE-"
(One three hour lecture later…)
"Are you done?" Blake asked, looking from a book she borrowed from Kiba about legendary Knight Pieces throughout history,
"Yes." Weiss said, finally calming down as Ruby and Yang profusely apologized. The Heiress just pinched the bridge of her nose, "What are we gonna do?"
"Okay, first off, if you think about throwing Penny away…" Ruby growled, her eyes going red for a few milliseconds,
"Wh-What? I'm not thinking about that." Weiss quickly said, stepping back. She was a little confused about what she just saw but quickly wrote it off, "B-But, we can't repair Penny and I doubt the others know anything about robotics."
"Maybe there are instructions." Yang suggested,
"Oh, that's preposterous!" Weiss exclaimed, scoffing at the idea, "Who in their right mind would put freaking instructions-"
"That's it!" Ruby suddenly called out, causing her peerage to jump a little, "We gotta find the instructions!"
"…You're joking, right?" Weiss deadpanned,
"Nope!" The Low-Class King replied happily, "I'm guessing in case Penny gets damaged and her engineers or something can't get to her, she can repair herself. All we have to do is gain access to Penny's brain and find the instructions!"
"But we don't have a computer and I'm exactly seeing any access points." Yang pointed as she looked all over Penny's body, only to stop when she looked in between Penny's legs, "…Never mind. Found it."
"Huh?" Blake looked confused and put down her book to see the access point Yang found,
"Why the Hell is there a USB port in Penny's crotch!?" Yang exclaimed,
"It's called the perineum. The USB port is in Penny's perineum." Blake corrected, "But you are right. Wouldn't it be better to have it at the base of her neck? Near her brain?"
"Just be glad it isn't a dongle switch thingys or something…" Yang mumbled to herself,
"I-It really doesn't matter…" Ruby muttered, blushing, "Blake, do you mind um, 'borrowing' a computer with its charger off someone? No offense, but you're much better at cat burglary than any of us."
"None taken." Blake said with a sigh as she got up and left,
"Weiss, do you mind telling Pancakes and the others that we're in the clubroom." Ruby ordered. Weiss nodded and started making her way to the door before Ruby quickly added, "Oh, and tell Issei if he even steps into the building, I'll destroy all his porn! King's orders!"
"Already ahead of you!" Weiss called back,
"Yang, you guard the door in case Issei ignores what I just said." Ruby told her big sis as she searched the clubroom for some bandages,
"I won't even let him into the building." Yang replied with a salute before heading out. Once Ruby found the bandages, she walked over to Penny. She slowly ran her fingers through Penny's hair as she stared at Penny's frozen, shocked face,
"I promise, I will fix you." Ruby whispered to her friend before wrapping the bandages delicately over Penny's burn wounds, "You're my friend Penny, human or not. And like Hell I'm letting you die because of an accident."
If Ruby wasn't so focused on her task, she would've seen Penny's lips twitch upwards.
(Some time later…)
The bell rang, indicating that it was now the end of the school day. Rias stretched out her arms and sighed, 'Tonight is the night.' Rias reminded herself. She was considering whenever or not to drag Ruby along with her when she remembered Weiss telling her that the Red Reaper was in the clubroom right now, not wanting to be disturbed. She inquired Weiss about why but wasn't given a straight answer, telling her to check on it herself. She decided to cancel club activities for the night and see what this 'Project' Ruby was working on, "Akeno, tell everyone not to come to clubroom today. I need to speak with Ruby in private." She said as she stood up,
"Ara, ara, is it about a 'certain event' coming up soon?" Akeno asked, "Or about Pancakes-chan?" She snickered a little at the name,
"It depends." Rias replied with her own chuckle before turning serious, "I just need to clear things up with her."
"Like how-"
"Look." Rias interrupted her Queen, "I already know one day they're going to know what I've done, or in this case what I didn't do, and I am prepared to face the consequences. Do you think I like what I've done? At this point, they can do whatever they want to me when the time comes. They deserve it, I deserve it. I just don't want any of you to get in the crossfire. While it is your role to protect me, my peerage's happiness is more important than mine. Even if it means marrying him, I will protect my property with everything I have. Got it?"
"…As you wish Buchou." Akeno said with a bow before heading off. Rias sighed again before heading over to the clubroom. She noted as she approached the clubroom that there was one light coming from the window. She suspected whatever this project Ruby was working on, it was important and was probably going to spend the night in the clubroom. She passed by Yang, who was looking around diligently for a certain Pawn and made her way to the clubroom door,
"Ruby, we need to talk." Rias said as she knocked on the door,
"Ju-Just a minute!" Ruby called out from behind the door. There was some clangs of metal and junk before Ruby opened the door, revealing herself to be covered in black oil, "U-Um… what's up, Prez?" Ruby greeted as she tried to lean on the door, only to miss and end up on the ground. She quickly got up and acted like nothing happened, "Whadda ya doing here?"
"Well, I wanted to talk to you and check up on you and your project." Rias replied as she tried to see what Ruby was working on, only for the girl herself to block her vision, "What are you doing, by the way?"
"Running maintenance on Crescent Rose." Ruby lied,
"Ruby, I can see your scythe on you." Rias deadpanned. Ruby looked and saw that Rias was right; she had Crescent Rose with her all day, "And I can smell something burning."
"Burning? OH CRAP!" Ruby exclaimed before shutting the door in Rias' face. Rias raised one of her eyebrows and just decided to let herself in. There were a lot of things happening all at once. Weiss extinguishing a fire with some Ice Dust, Blake reading several textbooks on robotics that she somehow managed to find and Ruby on a laptop with a cord coming out of it and connected to a girl she didn't recognize at all's crotch, who was placed face up on the table.
But there was only one thing that stuck out to Rias at that moment.
"Why is she naked?" Rias asked as she pointed at Penny before noticing the bandages and exposed robot parts, "Okay, what's going on?"
"It's not what it looks like! SHE'S NOT A ROBOT! IT'S JUST A VERY CONVINCING COSTUME!" Ruby shouted out instinctively before realizing it was just Rias looking rather confused, "Um, I mean… please leave." Rias did not look amused,
"What the Hell is going on here?" Rias asked, hands on her hips and with a tone that said she wanted answers or else. Ruby sighed and quickly summarized everything that led up to this moment. Rias could only sigh but decided to help even though she didn't know a thing about robotics, "Okay, what's the problem then?"
"Well, we're guessing that Penny has instructions to how to repair her in her brain so we're trying to gain access to it. Problem is, we're not sure if it's even there considering Yang destroyed part of Penny's brain and I need a password to even gain basic level access." Ruby explained, "Right now, from what I can tell, Penny's brain has a dedicated interface with highly developed security protocols. The information I'm trying to access is stored on somewhere else inside Penny's hardware and its various systems. That system has its own distinct layer of security. From what I can tell, those systems verify their identities by trading randomly generated two thousand fifty six bit encryption keys. I'm trying to spoof one of those keys right now and from there I can…"
"You have no idea what you're talking about, are you?" Rias said flat out,
"Yep!" Ruby cried out, tears running down her face, "I'm a 15 year old Huntress Devil! Not some hacking computer goddess-ow! I don't even know what this HTML crap is! Let alone how to fix an android with a soul!"
"An android with a soul…" Rias muttered before getting lost in her own thoughts as Ruby continued to rant,
"I'm such a horrible person! I let my friend die and I can't do anything about it!" Ruby cried out, "I'll never hear her say 'Salutations' ever agai-" Ruby then suddenly stopped crying as the gears in her head started turning as Weiss and Blake slowly came to the same conclusion,
"It can't be that easy." Weiss whispered out,
"Only one way to find out." Ruby muttered as she went back to the computer, "Hope this works…"
paSsWorD: Salutations
vErifYing…
PoWER at 2%
SAluTaTions… fRiEND ruby.
"She's alive…" Ruby whispered to herself as she put on a headset Blake 'borrowed', "Sh-She's alive!"
"Barely." Blake said, having taken a glance at the laptop and saw how much power Penny had left, before turning to Weiss, "Come on, make sure she doesn't shut down!"
"Got it!" Weiss responded before using her magic to give energy to Penny,
"Penny, can you hear me!?" Ruby said excitedly.
i aM Glad YoU aRe oK I waS WoRRied
"You should be more worried about yourself." Ruby replied, "Can you run a diagnostic or something like that?"
I haVe dONe tHaT sINCe YaNG hAs dAmAGEd Me I FORgivE hER
BuT You mAY NOT like ThE conCLUsion
"What is it? You can't use that multi-sword puppet thing? Come on, Penny, tell me something!" Ruby said desperately, only for her world to shatter at Penny's next few words.
I AM IRREPARABLE
"…Wh-What?" Ruby whispered out, "What do you mean by that?"
WhiLe my bODy Can bE repaIREd The mateRials neEdEd arE raRE ANd neCESSary foR my bOdy TO geNErate an Aura bUt the maIn PROBlem is My BraiN
DAmAGE To mY bRaIN CAnNot BE RePAIRed aND thUS MuST bE RepLACed
Due tO the DamAGE I wILL Be ShUTTING DoWn aNd mY MeMORieS WiLL be dEStroyed in A feW minutes
I Do NOT have A baCK up iN mY BOdy
i don't wanna die ruby
"No. No no no no! Don't shut down!" Ruby shouted out as she desperately searched through Penny's files to try and find something, anything to save the robot, "I'm not going to let you die."
but i am happy knowing you are safe ruby
good bye
Ruby's mind was running at a million miles per second as she tried to figure out how save her, before it started to settle in her mind that she couldn't. She didn't have the skill nor the time to fix Penny. She was going to fail again. She was going to fail to save her friends again and it was all her-
"This android has a soul…" Rias muttered, interrupting Ruby's thoughts, "That means she can potentially become a Devil…"
"Huh? What!?" Weiss exclaimed, "Um, how do you know that?"
"I don't. It's just me thinking out loud." Rias replied as she shook her head, "It's like the situation with Ruby's King status all over again. We don't know the repercussions or if it'll even work. But Evil Pieces can practically reincarnate anything with a soul so there's a fair chance. But again, I have remind Ruby that she's gone isn't she?" Rias sighed. She was really tired right now,
"You got her at 'potentially'." Blake said before Ruby burst through the door,
"Out of the way!" Ruby yelled out as she quickly searched for an appropriate Piece, shoving Rias out of the way, "Sorry! Um, Pawn? No. Knight? No. Queen? Uh…"
"Ruby, 60 seconds!" Weiss called out, checking the laptop,
"Aw crap aw crap aw crap!" Ruby said as she picked a random Evil Piece and placed it on Penny's chest, "U-Uh… what do I do now?"
"Just say what comes to your mind and channel some of your throughout your body. It will work." Rias said as she stood up,
"30 seconds!" Weiss announced,
"Please work please work please work." Ruby said to herself as she started to glow red, "My name is Ruby Rose and I am a Devil. I, as King, command you, Penny Polendina, to become my servant. Forgive me for my sins and forgive me for my inaction. Rise and BECOME MY…" Suddenly, Ruby's energy fizzled out as she realized she didn't take a good look at what Piece she chose. She looked down and saw what it was.
It was a Bishop Piece.
"5 seconds!" Weiss yelled out, snapping Ruby out of her trance,
"Right! Blah blah blah, BISHOP!" Ruby exclaimed before slamming her hands onto the ground. Suddenly, a symbol appeared on the ground with Ruby's symbol within it appeared underneath Penny as the Bishop Piece started to glow. The red light was blinding and there was sparks of Ruby's energy and wind going everywhere, causing everyone in the room to cover their eyes and face as the Bishop Piece sank into the android's chest. There was then silence as everything settled down. The room was dark thanks to the ritual causing the lights to blow out. No one dared to move or speak as they waited for something, anything to happen.
Then suddenly, two eyes opened.
"What the-" Penny was extremely confused now, but didn't have a chance to figure out what had just transpired as was tackled by Ruby in a hug, "Ru-Ruby?"
"I'm *sniff* so *sniff* glad *sniff* YOU'RE SAFE!" Ruby cried out, crying into Penny's chest before realizing Penny was still naked. And they had no clothes ready for her.
And now that she noticed, Penny's boobs were really soft…
'I've been hanging out with Issei too much.' Ruby thought before scrambling off of Penny. She then noticed that Penny was completely repaired, like nothing ever happened to her. She guessed the Evil Piece repaired her for them, though she didn't know how or why, "Penny! It's so good to see you again! Though, it would've been nicer if it was under better circumstances."
"Friend Ruby! Thank you." Penny said, "How did you repair me so fast? I'm aware your Semblance allows you to enhance your speed but this is unprecedented." She then tried to move her limbs, but discovered she couldn't, "Though, it seems I cannot move on my own."
"Well, Ruby, you and your peerage continue to surprise me." Rias said, "But, to make sure she's fine, you need to use your Devil energy to heal her tonight."
"But I don't know how to-" Ruby then paused as she remembered what Rias did several weeks ago and blushed, "O-Oh…"
"Ruby, who is she? And what does she mean by this 'Devil energy' you have?" Penny asked,
"Oh, right…" Ruby said nervously, "I-I-I'll tell you at the apartment."
"Ri-Right." Weiss said, also sporting a blush, "I'll go get Yang to carry Penny there."
"And I'll go get some clothes for her." Blake said, sporting a blush as well,
"Thank you." Ruby said with a sigh before turning to Rias, "So, you wanted to talk to me, right?"
"Huh? Oh! Right." Rias said, almost forgetting due to everything happening, "We'll talk once we're alone. It won't take all night." 'Hopefully.'
"O-Okay…" Ruby said with a nod. Once everyone went to do their tasks, Ruby and Rias sat down from across each other,
"First off, you're cleaning the clubroom." Rias told the Low-Class King, "You made quite a mess."
"I was expecting that." Ruby muttered, "So… what made you think enrolling Pancakes into Kuoh was a good idea?"
"Well, first, she heavily relies on you, Ruby. To her, you are her entire world." Rias explained, "I was scared that if you weren't around her, she's probably starve to death or something."
"Yeah… it did take me a while to make her eat daily." Ruby admitted before groaning and covering her face, "Ugh… what did I do in the Church? I wanna know but at the same time I don't!"
"I do admit, what you've done… I can't say I like it. But there's nothing we can do." Rias said, "The best we can do is train Pancakes and possibly insert a new personality. That's also another reason why I enrolled her here. I hoped interacting with other people other than your teammate will allow her to develop her own personality and eventually become an individual."
"…Okay. I totally get that." Ruby replied, "I don't like it but I accept it. Just tell me before you do anything that involves me and my team."
"Thanks." Rias said, sighing in relief, 'Plus, I had Pan Cagayake in my head as soon as I heard it.' Rias mentally added,
"Anyway, anything else, Prez?" Ruby asked, "I need to talk to Penny about… you know? Her becoming a Devil? Man, I wonder how the Hell that managed to work…"
"I'll definitely need to do some research on that, along with your power and Yang's Sacred Gear." Rias muttered. Ruby frowned at that,
"Please… don't tell me." Ruby requested, "I don't wanna break people again. Whatever I did… stays where it needs to be."
"Are you sure? If we know more about it, you'll have more control over it. You don't have to necessarily use it, but it's better to understand everything that's changed about you, so that you're aware what limits you have and don't." Rias explained,
"I know but… it isn't something I want to understand. What if I like it? What if I lose myself again to it?" Ruby said as she began to hold herself, "I don't wanna become a monster…"
"Ruby, you are not a monster!" Rias called out, "Whatever you did, we'll make sure it won't happen again! You are my apprentice, and I will not let you get corrupted by your power!"
"Rias…" Ruby whispered before swallowing some saliva, "…Okay. I'm trusting you on this Rias-sensei."
"And I'm trusting you will help me too." Rias replied before standing up, "Well, I guess that's it."
"Thanks." Ruby said as she stood up as well, "I need to go home." She was about to leave, only for Rias to grab her hand, "Um… Prez?"
"…Nothing." Rias said. She was going to tell her but decided maybe it was enough drama for tonight, "Good night, Ruby Rose."
"Good night to you too, Rias Gremory." Ruby said back, "What was that about?" Ruby thought out loud before dashing off to the apartment. Rias sat back down and sighed again. She leaned her head back and stared up at the ceiling,
"Ruby Rose…" Rias muttered to herself as she held her hand up in front of her face, "…You truly are a Devil."
(Some time later…)
"Ugh… where am I?" Yang groaned as she got up and looked around. She was in a dark empty space and she was sure there was no exit. The last thing she remembered after putting Penny on the sofa was going to sleep,
"You…" A voice from behind her said. Yang jumped and quickly turned around, only to be met with a sight. It was a dragon, its scales a beautiful golden colour and eyes the most captivating shade of purple. And it was big. As in, about the size of planet Earth, "You…"
"What the-Who are you!?" Yang called out as she activated her gauntlets, only to realize they weren't on her,
"I am…" The dragon said menacingly, "...hungry."
"Hi Hungry! I'm Yang!" Yang said before face palming, "Why are you making dad jokes in front of a dragon!?" Yang quickly scolded herself before looking,
"You… are not funny…" The dragon said, "Or worthy…"
"'Worthy'? Oh, I am plenty worthy!" Yang exclaimed, "But uh… worthy of what?"
"To be me." And that's when Yang woke up.
Save Game… Quit!
Whew! Done! Another cliffhanger! See ya whenever!
UknownHero signing off, my friends!