(Bad news y'all, I have found an incredible new fic, and I kind of can't stop reading it... like, I haven't stopped to actually write a chapter in a few days can't stop. So... yeah. sorry.)
Samus enters the Tower, noticing that the power is out, and while the lobby is otherwise untouched, the elevator is missing entirely, the doors lying on either side of the would-be entrance.
"What do you think Adam, up or down?"
"DOWN. IN THE EVENT THE ATTACK IS RELATED TO THE ANOMALY PRESENT ON THE COMATOSE WOMAN IN THE BASEMENT, SHE IS MOST LIKELY ALREADY COMPROMISED. WE SHOULD ENSURE OUR PORTAL HOME IS NOT. I'M SORRY, LADY."
"You're right." Samus admits with a growl. She would have preferred to look for those guys' friends, but, well, Chozo tech is far above anything these people seem to possess from what she's seen so far. If these terrorists got their hands on it, it would definitely be very bad. Even if Samus is presumably the only one here who can use it, there's always the chance they could reverse engineer it, and she can't take that.
Making a decision that she knows could weigh heavy on her heart, she jumps down.
She sees the elevator as she descends. There's a hole in it, going straight through. It seems she might have made the right choice after all. She adjusts her trajectory to land on the edge of the roof, or more accurately through it.
Only the top half of the elevator reaches the basement floor. Samus curls into her morph ball, and jumps through the small gap, unmorphing as soon as she is in the basement proper. It's dark. As she expected, there's no power here either. She had still hoped there would be a backup generator, but alas. Main thing is that it does not bode well for the injured woman that was here. She turns on her thermal visor, and sees evidence of a battle. Though it moreso resembles a warzone. She can see craters, spots of intense heat, and freezing cold. Whatever caused this damage was anything but worried about collateral. One especially bright, vaguely human shaped one catches her attention. moving up to it, she switches to her combat visor, and reverts to her basic beam, charging it up to provide some light. She cringes at the sight.
It is a person, yes, but they're burnt. Charred to a crisp to the point of being unrecognizable. Save for a telltale cane lying beside him. "Jesus, Ozpin." Samus mutters. "Son of a-" Samus suddenly shouts. The kids were with Ozpin! If whoever did this to Ozpin... did THIS, who knows what they'd do to the kids. One thing at a time. Look for the Chozo door. Found, still closed, still has power. Surprising, but good enough. Only beams open those doors, and since it's not broken, the portal is still secure. The only thing that brings her comfort is that there only seems to be one body here, not counting the one in the machine, who Samus already presumes dead, whether from Ozpin's assailant, or the lack of life support. Hopefully, Ozpin sacrificed himself to allow the two to escape, and not being their target, the assailant chose not to chase after them. As of right now, that's the best-case scenario Samus can think of.
Something rocks through the entire tower. It doesn't affect her in the basement. Samus only knows because of the loud boom and the metal creaking and groaning through the elevator shaft.
"THAT WOULD BE OUR CUE TO LEAVE. GO SEE WHAT THAT WAS."
"Right." Samus acknowledges, turning on her thermal visor and making her way to the end of the hallway, passing by the aura transference machine, where her suspicions were confirmed. The girl is dark, no heat emanating from her.
"THERE IS STILL A CHANCE YOU CAN SAVE THEIR FRIENDS, LADY." ADAM chimes.
Samus snaps her head up, and chuckles to herself. "Thanks Adam. I really shouldn't have needed that. But I did. Let's see what that explosion was about." She did need that. And ADAM knows it's not a bad thing. But they could have that conversation later.
Samus retreats to the corner, and starts running forward, building momentum for the speed booster. The makeshift runway is just long enough for her to reach minimum speed as she crouches right before the elevator, instantly halting all momentum, storing it, encasing her in a pinkish-red aura.
She jumps to the top of the elevator, where she shoots a missile upwards, incase it's blocked. After giving it two seconds to travel, Samus begins to float in mid-air, emitting a whirring increasing in pitch before rocketing up at high speeds, spinning horizontally as she makes her way to the top floor of Beacon Tower, and speeds past the missile.
Once she sees the night sky, she realizes what caused the tower to shake so violently: The roof is missing.
"Please don't be up here," Samus repeatedly chants to herself. As she clears the elevator shaft, she deactivates her Shinespark, the red glow fading from her body. As she continues to rise from the momentum, she looks below her to see her fears confirmed. A red-headed young woman -most likely Pyhhra- is bleeding out from her right shin and dozens of wounds of varying degrees. The other person present is Ozpin's murderer. A simple scan reveals as such as Adam informs Samus that the anomaly present in the woman from the basement is present in the woman below, and much more intense. Complete would actually be the better word.
It doesn't take a genius to realize she got there just in time.
"It's a unfortunate that you were promised power that was never truly yours." Cinder monologues as she slowly walks around Pyrrha to be face to face. "But it's pitiful you didn't try to take it for yourself sooner. Power is everything. And if you can't understand that then-" She is interrupted by volley of missiles suddenly striking her. "What-" She looks up to see a strange robot, hand open in a claw, glowing purple, just in time to get her head encompassed by her hand and slammed backwards into the ground, the back of her skull making first contact with the glass floor.
Something is wrong. She recognizes it instantly, her strength is being stolen from her! in a panic, she focuses wind magic in front of her, between her and her mysterious thieving assailant, and releases it in a single focused burst, sending the machine flying off of her. Pyrrha only having just gotten to her feet, is sent flying into a wall once more, where she doesn't try to get back up. Good. She may not have any Aura left, but she could still serve to be a distraction, and against this person who can somehow sap her Aura, she cannot afford to find out if it extends to her Maiden powers. Nor can she afford to take her lightly for even a second like she did with that Pyrrha girl. She finally claimed the rest of her power, and she'll be damned it she lets it get stolen from her.
The enemy is already on its feet, positioning itself to place Cinder between the incapacitated redhead and itself. She doesn't know what the hell this thing is, but for how advanced it is, it must be from Atlas. Whatever it is, she'll have to rely on Watts to find out. She can't afford to be prideful on this matter.
She materializes her twin scimitars, Midnight, and rushes in, her left hand forward, intending to stab the machine with her right. Its hand isn't glowing, likely meaning that it won't be able to absorb her aura. The armored figure swings its missile launcher at her left sword, shattering it and knocking her hand to the side. It charges up something in what is clearly not just a missile launcher, judging by the ball of light forming at its tip as it points the canon at her. She drops her other sword, and shoots it in front of her, forming a red barrier just as her attacker lets loose an explosion, causing the shield to glow brightly in response to the attack. The discarded and broken weapon break into orange shards, and with a backwards leap and a sharp raise of her arms across each other, Cinder sends the molten shards flying upwards into the machine, that, with no time to react got splashed with molten glass. A situation that doesn't seem to faze it at all. Worrisome. Fire-based attacks won't work on this one. That doesn't mean her semblance won't. She allows herself a victorious grin as the splashes of glass on the machine start to glow brighter and emit a horrific screech. The Machine, realizing its mistake, braces itself for what's to come. The screeching reaches its peak, and the bits of molten obsidian across the armor explode, sending the attacker sliding back.
Cinder wasn't planning on letting it have a moment to think. She rockets towards it, using her magic to propel herself forward, encasing her hands in lightning. Once she's a foot away from the mysterious machine, she puts her hands together, sending a wide cone of electricity before her, jumping across any surface it can find, glass floor, discarded gears, pesky machines. It recoils, but quickly recovers and begins shooting missiles at her. The first one hits, and she can feel her temperature dropping, and more than that, she sees her protective red glow fizzle and shatter. Cinder clumsily dodges the next missile directed at her as she sets the air ablaze around her, instantly vaporizing the ice built up. Cinder is less than content with the outcome of this bout.
She can't afford to keep this fight going. Not without any aura. Her opponent has both the firepower and resilience of a Paladin in one tiny package. No, it's much more powerful and hardy. If she weren't so exhausted from her deathmatch with Ozpin, she could easily overpower her, but as it stands, that old man was weak, but far more skilled than her. A disparity she would have to ensure will never occur again. And as a result of her wasteful usage of her powers, and the beating she took from him, she is in no position to take on this power stealing machine. One more grab and it could all be over. The girl behind her is still alive, and that's only because the machine she's fighting is deliberately avoiding hitting the girl, limiting its offensive options. But Cinder now realizes it's not enough to win this battle. She has a plan. An admittedly foolish one that will backfire miserably if it fails, but if it DOES fail, then she had no hope of victory in the first place. The only way she can defeat this thing is by using the dragon.
Pyrrha watches in horror as the two people fight before her. She doesn't know who this metallic stranger is, but based on how every attack it sends out is at an angle that won't pass through her if it misses Cinder, they're clearly not fighting at their best. Even Cinder has noticed it, she's slowly backing closer and closer to me, giving the mysterious ally less and less room for error.
And because she's forcing them to hold back, the armored stranger is going to lose. Another death on her hands. She desperately wants to help, but she can't find the strength to get up. She's completely out of aura, and everything hurts like hell. Cinder shot all the way through her heel, severing the tendon and splintering her shin, she's already put in a tourniquet, but her right leg is completely useless. She can't help at all, and it disgusts her. Here this stranger is, fighting for HER life, and all she can do is sit there and do nothing. And the worst thing about it is that Cinder is USING her as a shield.
She never wants to feel like this ever again. This weak, this helpless, this useless. She needs to do something.
Samus fires another missile, hitting her opponent head-on. She's winning, that much she can tell, but people backed into a corner get desperate. She needs to finish this now, or get her away from the red head. Enveloping her hand in a pink glow, she lunges at Cinder, who, as expected, dodges out of the way. Second objective successful. Unleashing a volley of beams at the assailant, Samus drives her back, now positioned between Pyrrha and the attacker.
With a mighty roar, the dragon joins the battle. It dives down to try and snatch her in its mouth. So Samus does what she does best: jump right into its waiting jaws. Her feet and hand positioned between its teeth, Samus uses herself to keep its mouth pried open as she pumps missiles down its throat point-blank. The dragon panics as ice coats its throat, letting out cries that somewhat reminds Samus of Kraid. An apt comparison considering she's using the same strategy. She retreats before it gets dangerous, jumping from the dragon's mouth to her previous position near the red-clad assailant, raining beams down upon her. The dragon comes in for another bite -which is deftly dodged, seemingly trying to stop Samus from attacking the mystery woman. Out of the corner of her vision, she sees the red-headed girl struggling to move Please, stay down. Don't get up she silently pleads, knowing that the only reason she's alive is because it limits Samus's actions. The mystery woman is constantly keeping her eyes on Samus, while using some kind of PDA to communicate with someone, while also taking potshots at Samus as she tries to reach the ground. She's got to get down there fast. Pyrrha will be noticed eventually, even if the attacker's attention is split two ways. Unfortunately, the dragon refuses to let her reach the ground easily, trying its best to swallow her up or knock her off course. Thanks to her Space Jump, her arial mobility barely sufficient to avoid the dragon, but each pass it makes delays her descent by seconds.
Come on! Get up! Pyrrha grabs at a warped piece of rebar, using it as a cane to prop herself up. I won't... Her breathing is heavy as she scans the rubble for anything she can use. Let anyone else die for my sake! She spots the remains of Miló, her spear, in the rubble, one of the pieces, its tip, already pointing at cinder. Her aura may not have recovered enough to defend her or to use her semblance in any significant way, but it should be enough to send that small shard of metal into Cinder. She'd only get one shot at this.
Mercury and Emerald are still just under a minute away with their stolen bullhead. But she knows she won't last that long. As much as she despises it, she must flee before the machine can get to he-
Cinder stumbles with a pained cry as the sharpened tip of Miló stabs into her digging deep into her side under her armpit, piercing her right lung. With a desperate intake of breath, Cinder reaches to her side and picks out the long red and gold piece of scrap. So this is how you want to play huh? She clenches her hand down on the tip, beginning to glow red hot as it melts, dripping off her hand onto the glass floor below. I was going to let her live, but now it's personal. "Oh, Pyrrha," Cinder taunts, voice teeming with barely contained rage as she manifests her twin obsidian scimitars, "You really should have stayed down!" She croaks as she throws one of her swords into Pyrrha's good leg, burying itself to the hilt into her lower thigh, eliciting a satisfying wail of pain from the so-called "Invincible girl" as she collapses to the floor again. Cinder allows herself a sadistic smile as she superheats the sword, causing her screams to intensify. Such an action also has a bonus of ensuring that if by some miracle she does survive this, she'll never be able to use that leg again. "If you had just laid there like a good girl, I wouldn't have to do this!" She groans as she walks over to Pyrrha, cauterizing her stab wound with her left hand while carrying the other blade with her right. "But I'll admit, that was a good hit..."
The tower shakes as the dragon lands, pinning Samus down under its legs. She got careless. She saw Pyrrha get stabbed and tried to shoot Cinder before anything else could happen. That only served to give the dragon the opening it needed to snatch her in its claws and slam her down into the surprisingly sturdy glass floor. I've still got a clear shot at her! Just have to- Samus misfires a missile as she gets dragged across the floor by the dragon, its grip on her body too tight to just break out of. If she weren't trying to protect Pyrrha, she could afford to take a moment to think, to figure out a way to escape the dragon's grasp, but the way things are going, she wouldn't have any before Cinder kills Pyrrha. She tries to line up another shot, but is dragged across the ground again, causing her to miss. The dragon then starts slamming Samus into the glass floor repeatedly, causing cracks to splinter underneath her, each impact shaking the still gears underneath them, each impact cratering Samus deeper into the floor beneath her. All she can do is watch in anger as the woman readies the killing blow. "So allow me to return the favor!" she shouts as she stabs downward, slicing through flesh, bone, and glass, until it's buried to the hilt.
Then everything goes white.
.
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A/N
Yeah, Deus Ex Ruby!
Mr/Ms Aruachu239 (Over on AO3), I just want you to know that you have directly responsible for changing Pyrrha's fate my friend.
(That is to say, yes I do love every comment I get (That isn't a bot) And it might even end up influencing the story to some degree!)
Also, WOW. this chapter was tough to write. like couple drafts difficult. How so? Welll Let's just say that getting Pyrrha out of commission without her being... dead was harder than you think. (She's not joining RNJR to Haven because I am a coward and didn't want to account for those changes.) Like, at that point, Her being crippled/dismembered was a given. The HOW was a much harder question to answer. I mean, how would a badass bounty hunter like Samus possibly let a young girl lose her legs? I thought, maybe the dragon bit her legs off, but I couldn't really believe that. Instead, I had the dragon take her out of the equation. Lazy, but as many an author before me has shown, effective.
So I settled for this. (I say settled, but I'm actually pretty happy with it.)
Ok now that I think about it, maybe Pyrrha could join them just in time for or just after Haven? Not sure rn
Anywhoo after things settle down, Next couple chapters are going to be much more anthological, at least that's the plan. (This excludes the next chapter or two.
Coming up... eventually. Either far in the future or soon, Samus in a familiar environment. (caves)
