Yang paced back and forth in Beacon's hospital ward whilst Blake was by Ruby's bedside. 6 of 8 and his group were kind enough to teleport them to beacon. She figured that was what the whole phasing into existence was. As soon as they appeared he and 9 of 12 cloaked while Weiss got the school's nurse
"ah miss Xiao long may I ask why you called for us at this hour?" Ozpin asked entering the room followed by professor Goodwitch as well as her father, birth mom, and uncle Qrow.
"We got into a fight and Ruby was severely injured." Yang said solemnly. Raven frowned. "Yang, she appears to be fine."
"She has internal bleeding." Blake cried out in anguish as tears threatened to fall. This revelation nearly made Taiyang collapse had Raven not been there to catch him.
"Wait, firecracker. If she had internal bleeding, and I'm not trying to sound pessimistic here, how's she still alive?" Qrow asked.
"That's the other reason why you're here. you can come out now. Sides' it's just about time for the second round." Yang said taking a look at the ward's clock. Ozpin was about to speak when two figures decloaked.
"Oh god Rae. It's him." Qrow whispered to his sister in shock seeing 6 of 8 again. Goodwitch raised her riding crop. "Glynda, I wouldn't do that if I were you." Raven said as a third drone decloaked and raised its arm at the assistant headmistress.
"This unit highly suggests you stand down, we will retaliate should you bring harm to Yang Xiao Long, Ruby Rose, or their colleagues." It said as 6 of 8 put himself between Goodwitch and yang raising his arm as well.
"6, its okay. She's doing this because she's never encountered a race like your kind before." Yang said trying to reason with the command drone. Ozpin meanwhile raised an eyebrow.
"Qrow, you and raven said you encounter men in full-body black armor with ash grey skin once. I assume by your reactions these are those people." He asked the huntsman
"Yeah, they call themselves the borg." Qrow grunted out attempting to wrestle the riding crop from Glynda. The drone that had previously warned the professor to stand down then approached the two and, to everyone's (save for team RWBY and 6 of 8) surprise, begin to aid Qrow in disarming professor Goodwitch by bearhugging her.
"She is a teacher here at beacon, she teaches Yang Xiao Long, therefore, she is safe from assimilation. However, for now keep her restrained." 6 of 8 transmitted to the drone. "understood." Came the reply.
"Why are you here 6 of 8?" Raven asked. Despite her calm façade, the Branwen matriarch was panicking. The drone merely glanced at yang.
"Oh." The blonde said slightly startled. "They have a way to save Ruby, but you won't like it." Qrow frowned. He knew exactly what. "No way in hell am I letting them do that to her." He said aggressively. To his surprise, no borg materialized.
"Uncle Qrow, if ruby doesn't go through this procedure… she'll have to drop out of beacon." Yang said nearly breaking into tears. This worried ozpin.
"What do you mean?" he asked. This time 6 of 8 spoke up. "the nanites are designed to last two hours." The command drone said as 9 of 12 injected Ruby with another dosage of medical nanites. "We don't know long they'd last if she were to use her semblance. The worst possibility, she'd need a new dosage every hour." He said
"Dear Oum." Raven muttered in shock. "Do it." Taiyang said gaining everyone's attention. "Tai, think about this. Ruby wouldn't be your little girl any more, she'd be like them. An emotionless drone." Qrow said.
"Correction Qrow Branwen, the type of assimilation we'd be doing, there's a fifteen percent chance that Ruby Rose will retain her humanity afterwards." 6 of 8 said as yang turned to her uncle.
"Yes, Ruby and I are aware of the risks of the procedure while I don't like it either uncle Qrow, fifteen percent is better than zero."
"Why bring us into this?" Taiyang asked. "For your consent, Ruby Rose and surprisingly Yang Xiao Long agreed to it. To our surprise, Blake Belladonna did not hesitate in agreeing to the procedure despite the risk. Weiss Schnee was hesitant though."
It was then Ruby spoke up. "uncle Qrow," She said sitting up with Blake's help. "I'm willing to take the risk. If I don't then my huntress career ends before it even begins, plus if it succeeds they asked me to do a favor."
"What favor?" Ozpin asked. "To be their voice. Its time that they come out of the shadows." Ruby said. "Voice for what?" Glynda asked. "When the headmasters from the other academies visit during the Vytal festival and beyond."
"Do it please, keep my daughter's dream alive." Taiyang said "would you kindly carry her then." 6 of 8 asked. Taiyang nodded.
"Psst, 6." Yang whispered. "yes?" the command drone asked. "Don't replace her eye, ok?" 6 of 8 would've raised an eyebrow if he weren't a drone. "During one nightmare regarding her assimilation, she saw a drill approaching her face before waking up." Blake whispered. The command drone nodded.
"understood, however, the collective already has a design for her drone body provided by Roman Torchwick's memories. Her hair will be different and she'll be taller." 6 of 8 said. "Could you explain that please?" Weiss asked.
"when drone unit 8 of 10, formerly Roman Torchwick, was fully integrated into the collective, we saw his memory on why he shot the beam. He hallucinated." 6 of 8 said as Taiyang picked Ruby up.
"And…" Yang asked. "in his eyes, she was a drone. A fully integrated drone." The command drone said making the healthy members of team RWBY's eyes widen. "In all the people the collective has studied, not one has had the ability to see the future as their semblance."
LATER IN THE BORG COLLECTIVE'S HOME
"HOLY SHIT! How far down does it go?" Yang asked looking over the railing of a catwalk. "Yang please focus." Taiyang asked as he and Raven followed the remainder of his daughters' team while carrying Ruby.
6 of 8 had allowed only one other person to go with them and that was Raven. Qrow, well, the collective knew of his semblance and didn't want to risk failing summer.
"11,000 meters Yang Xiao Long." 6 of 8 said gaining an impressed whistle from the blonde brawler. "And how many drones are there aside from you, 5 of 7, and 9 of 12." Blake asked before giving Ruby a worrying glance which lingered a tad too long. "Approximately 450,000 drones Blake Belladonna." 6 of 8 said.
"Is there something wrong Blake?" Taiyang asked noticing the ravenette looking at his youngest daughter, that was currently in his arms. "NO!" Blake said looking forward, cheeks burning red. Yang heard her sudden answer and raised eyebrow. "You sure?" she asked before her eyes widened when 5 of 7 spoke up.
"Blake Belladonna was the first to get to Ruby Rose after the beam fell onto her, this unit's audio receptors picked up her chanting ' please be alive' repeatedly." This made Yang, Raven, Taiyang, and Weiss to look at the secret faunas.
"This unit believes that Blake Belladonna either has, as you humans call, a crush on, or is in love with Ruby Rose." Blake's entire face turned pink before she hid it behind her hands. "Oh, really?" Yang said with a grin.
"Yang." Her father said warningly before Raven bumped him with her hip. "Just let her." Raven said "Blake," Yang said gaining the girl's attention. "just so you know, I approve if you two get together." The brawler said.
Blake smiled somberly. "Thank you yang, but as of right now I'm unsure if it's just a crush or if I'm actually in love."
"Like I said Blake, I approve." Yang reiterated. "You also have our consent." 6 of 8 said. "Excuse me?" Blake asked. "The collective gives you permission on subject 508839's behalf." 5 of 7 said confusing all but one of the conscious visitors. "He means summer." Raven clarified for them.
"In here," 9 of 12 said. as they entered the room, yang heard movement and turned to see ruby struggling to get out of her dad's arms. "Ruby what's wrong?" he asked.
"I don't want any of my eyes replaced!" she yelped. 6 of 8 looked to her and rubbed her head affectionately, despite his emotionless expression. "Yang Xiao Long has alerted us of your assimilation nightmare. Rest assured; we don't intend to replace an eye. Let's just say that all that milk you drank prior to the fight aided you." Ruby raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean 6?" she asked. Despite his emotionless face, she could hear the smugness in his near robotic voice. "if the procedure is successful, you'll see."
"If you could bring her to this operation table, this unit will explain the procedure." 9 of 12 said. Ruby whimpered as her dad set her down.
"the first half is pretty straight forward. We'll turn her into a drone." Taiyang, Raven, and the remainder of team RWBY frowned. "The second?" Yang asked. "is all her. We place her in one of the integration alcoves before entering a code that frees her mind." 6 of 8 said gesturing to the many alcoves in the room. "Then all we can do is hope she can reason with her drone half so she may continue on with her life as a half human-half borg. If she fails, she'll be a drone permanently. No do-overs. Before you say anything, we've tried." 5 of 7 finished.
"what would you do if the latter happened?" Blake asked taking Ruby's hand in hers, not seeing the blush on the red reaper's face while 6 of 8 answered her.
'oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Blake's holding my hand like couples usually do!" she squealed in her head. Unlike Blake, who was conflicted, Ruby had a crush if not in love with the Faunas. When Blake ran and she passed her crankiness off on lack of sleep prior to her injury, Ruby was actually livid at Weiss for making Blake run.
Ruby's blush, however, didn't go unnoticed. 6 of 8 saw it, but out of respect didn't call her out for it. "Ruby Rose is blushing due to Blake Belladonna holding her hand. Ruby Rose may harbor feelings for Blake Belladonna" He transmitted to 5 of 7 and 9 of 12. "Do not reveal to the others present out of respect." The two drones faintly nodded.
"Can we see her after the first part is done?" Weiss asked. The three drones looked at each other. "You may, but we will warn you. She won't have any emotions when she sees you again." 5 of 7 said. "She'll also appear much older, according to Roman's hallucination."
Blake nodded before looking at Ruby, the Ruby she knew and possibly loved for most likely the last time. "Please win this Ruby." Before she got up Blake felt a hand on the side of her face. Looking at the owner, she saw it belonged to Ruby.
"I will, for both of us." The red reaper said with a heartfelt smile. The faunas nodded before tearing up slightly. "you better." She said before being led away by Yang.
And with that Ruby was alone with the drones. The girl saw 9 of 12 pick a mask-like object up. "What's that?" she asked. "it'll make you fall asleep. We'd rather you be unconscious during the initial assimilation process when you're activated as a drone you'll be conscious, but not in control." The medical drone said. ruby nodded before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly.
"I'm ready." She said before 9 of 12 placed the mask over her mouth and nose. "We'll be very careful in performing your conversion to being a drone Ruby Rose." Was the last thing ruby heard before falling unconscious.
5 HOURS LATER
Blake was pacing outside. "Blake, calm down. it'll be fine." Yang said. "Fine, Yang, she's your sister!" Blake said. "Blake is it?" Raven asked the pacing cat faunas. Blake nodded.
"I doubt the Borg would harm Ruby. They made a promise to Ruby's mom twelve years ago. I doubt they'd break it." The Branwen matriarch said.
"Promise? What kind of promise?" Weiss asked. "Summer made the collective promise to protect Ruby, and Yang." Raven said
"My guess is when the beam fell on her or when they learned about Ruby's internal bleeding they were berating themselves on failing to fulfill that longtime promise." Taiyang said.
"You are correct in your assumption Taiyang." 6 of 8 said exiting the assimilation chamber. "We feared we failed subject 508839 or Summer Rose when both issues occurred."
Blake was the first to him. "Is she ok?" the faunas asked. "As with all normal assimilations, it was a success, but now comes the tricky part." The command drone said. "Right, the part that has a fifteen percent success rate." Yang said glumly. 6 of 8 stepped aside offering them in.
The group looked at one another before entering. Blake froze at what she saw on the operating table. Instead of a small, lovable girl, was an unconscious female drone. Her skin complexion was still that of a human, and her hair was ruffled. That's not what caused her to freeze. It was the drone's hair color. It was Ruby's.(1)
"You aged her up?" Blake asked. "Had to, other the program wouldn't properly load." 9 of 12 said before the assimilated ruby stood up. Wordlessly, she swung her legs over to the floor. They saw that she had a black piece of armor on the right side of her face with what appeared to be a laser pointer(1).
"Ruby?" Blake asked cautiously. The assimilated ruby looked at the faunas. "This unit's designation is 7 of 13. Awaiti-" she didn't get to finish as Blake plowed into her and embraced her assimilated team leader.
"You've got to pull through the next part for both of us. You promised." Blake sobbed. She felt someone embrace her. She felt someone rest their head on hers. "Ruby Rose is safe in this unit Blake Belladonna." 7 of 13 said. "Will you lead it to the integration alcove for the freedom program." Blake looked at the assimilated Ruby only to see tears falling down her emotionless face.
"Is 7 of 13 crying?" yang asked looking at 6 of 8. "No, remember how this unit said assimilation is the enslavement of the mind?" the command drone asked "Yes, but what does that…" Weiss began. "Wait, are you saying that those are Ruby's tears!?"
"Yes." 6 of 8 said as 9 of 12 pointed Blake to an integration alcove. Blake then took 7 of 13's left hand in hers and led her to it unaware that the drone's face gained a red tint. "is ruby blushing?" Weiss asked. Yang's eyes widened before snickering. "I'm so going to tease her whenever Blake isn't with us." The blonde brawler said.
"If she pulls through Yang." Taiyang said somberly as raven placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
7 of 13 entered the alcove and closed her eyes. "entering the program now." 9 of 12 said. "and finished." He looked at Blake. "Nothing we can do now. Its up to Ruby Rose to decide whether to be free or be a drone." Blake nodded before looking at the once again unconscious assimilated ruby.
Without thinking, the faunas placed a kiss on the drone's lips. "Come back to us. Back to me."
MEANWHILE IN RUBY'S MINDSCAPE
"Ugh, where am I?" Ruby asked herself. "Where do you think? Your mindscape." a familiar yet slightly metallic voice said. Turning, ruby saw herself… as a drone. "I am locutus. Shall we talk?"
Ruby's eyes widened in fear and shock. This wasn't good.
A/N: God damn it, another cliffhanger. Will Ruby convince this incarnation of locutus to allow her to be free of her drone programming. Next chapter will be completely focused on Ruby. As always read and review. That being said. peace
1: remember the teaser from chapter 3