RWBY: The Dragon's Rose

RWBY Vol. 8 Part 12

Winter came from behind, above James as she send a wave of icicles at his back with William backing up as he tosses out slashes of acid, eating away Ironwood's aura. Oscar attacks again but was able to land a combo, knocking him back. The boy follows up but Ironwood grab hold of the cane, and William used this to attack him as well but James predicted he'd go for it too, so he also stopped his greatsword from coming down on him thanks to his prosthetic arm.  

William smirked at him and the General widened his eyes while Winter passed him, releasing a deadly combo that immediately broke his aura with a flurry of pretty blue stars.

William: Nice one babe! Almost got me though with the last one. (embarrassed smile) | Winter: *Stares at him with a hint of anger* | William: Right right, sorry, it's been a while. | Winter: ... (smiles) You're not wrong.

Emerald reappears and Winter removes the gravity bolas from her as she retrieves Jame's guns.

Winter: Go! Move to phase 2!

--30 minutes ago, Your POV--

Nora: Guys, she has to go to the vault... | Y/n: Wait...that's...! | Ruby: That's...actually a risk we haven't considered! | Jaune: We've been so worried about keeping the vault closed, but, we never considered what's inside! | Oscar & Niko: The Staff of Creation... | Y/n: Maybe we could use it to save Penny and get everyone in Atlas and Mantle back to safety.

Weiss' notification went off and she checks her Scroll.

Weiss: *surprised at first* Well! You'll never guess who I just heard from.

We then all gathered at the dining room and discussed on our plans. Jaune was amplifying Penny's aura to keep her in control.

Weiss: So we got people trapped in Atlas and Mantle that we can't evacuate unless we use the staff, which is inside the vault. If we open the vault, Penny terminates. If Ironwood gets wind of any of this, he blows up Mantle. | Oscar: There's something else to consider.

Oscar: Once the staff creates anything else, the city drops. | William: Atlas has enough natural gravity dust to keep it from plummeting at an instant 100mph, but I'm sure nobody want to be around when it hits the ground. | Y/n: Okay, then let's use the Staff to teleport everyone to safety! | Niko: Maybe to another kingdom! | Oscar: We can't just wave it like a magic wand to make our problems go away, and we haven't even told you about...him...

Jake: Who? | Ozpin: *takes control of Oscar* The spirit in the staff, like Jinn, but...well, he's a character. He can build you anything, but, only if you can explain to him how. Like any craftsman, he'll need blueprints, some sort of reference. It'll help if we have real world examples to show him. | Whitley: I've already gone through the city's layouts for the SDC evacuation, maybe I can help?

Oscar: There's still James and his bomb to consider. | William: Oh, I got a plan for that.

One explanation later.

Jack: Alright, that takes care of Phase One. | Ruby: Meanwhile, Penny goes to the vault, with help. | Oscar: *takes control back* I blasted a hole at the bottom of Atlas and I highly doubt for they've had time for repairs. That should take you straight to it. All of that...is the easy part... | Y/n: As soon as Penny opens the door, we go through, grab the staff, and stop her termination.

--Present Time--

Klein moves the airship upwards to Atlas' underside and we see Oscar's hole that he blasted through. Ruby grabbed her team, along with Penny, with her Semblance while Jack flew up there with me with his new advance control on wind thanks to his Lunarium genes.

Arriving ahead of the vault, we climb up the stairs and have Penny open the golden doors of the vault. We quickly head inside and Ruby grab hold of the Staff of Creation, slowing down time and everything except us to a halt. The same blue smoke starts to come out until a muscular male revealed himself.

Ambrosius: *grunts* It seems someone has come to engage my creative wiles! And with the god's kin no less! All I'll say is, it had better be worth it after my last project. A floating city? (scoffs) How pedestrian...

Ruby: Hi, um, Mr. Ambrosius? Sir, listen, it's about our friend. She's--She's dying. | Ambrosius: I'm gonna go ahead and assume that you know it's against the rules for me to bring people back from the dead so-- | Y/n: That's not what we want. She's not your typical girl, actually.

Ambrosius grow interested and flew toward Penny, inspecting her.

Ambrosius: So she isn't! I'd love to meet whoever did this! Ah, I see. (flies back toward us) There's something eating away at her. I'm guessing you think you have some clever plan to save her? Just know, I will give you exactly what you ask for and I don't want any complaining when its not what you wanted.

Ruby and Weiss share a nod and the Schnee brings out her Scroll, showing several blueprints and schematics of Penny.

Weiss: We brought her schematics. | Ruby: We want you to make a new version of her, using her exact same robot parts. | Ambrosius: That was...curiously worded, girl. | Jack: An exact copy of her would include the virus, and a exact copy of her without the virus that would cease to exist the second you make something else. | Y/n: And we kinda wanna keep her around longer than that. | Ambrosius: *chuckles* You've done your homework!

Ruby: We want you to create a new version of her, using her existing robot parts taking the virus with them. | Ambrosius: Hmm...okay, but if I take the robot parts out of her, that would leave... | Blake: Penny. The girl who's always been there underneath it. | Ambrosius: Hmm! | Jack: You can't destroy, it's against the rules, but you wouldn't be destroying her. Her soul is who she is. | Yang: The mechanical parts are just extra. (flexes her robotic arm)

Ambrosius: But, a soul without a complete body, what would be left?! | Ruby: I don't know. I guess you just have to get creative! | Ambrosius: *laughs, then starts going around thinking* I suppose I could do a little, oh, add a touch of, but if I do that, how much of the old Penny would be my work and how much would be her? Just coming up to the surface...this is all very exciting! And very dangerous, I don't know what the results are going to be.

Weiss: We don't have any other options. We believe in her. | Y/n: True that. | Jack: Aye. | Ambrosius: Then ready yourselves! To witness my artistry!

The man shows his bare ass before he sends out wisps of blue fog toward Penny, lifting her up before she starts to glow brightly.

Ambrosius: *snaps his finger* It's done! 

He poses with a cheeky smile before disappearing. In front of the vault's entrance stands two Pennys, one robot and one should be human, now, right?

--William's POV--

A loud rumble was felt by everyone, giving me the signal to set up the livestream.

Jaune: I guess that's the signal then? Looks like things are moving forward in the vault. | Nora: Hopefully Penny is going to be okay. | Niko: Me too. | William: Alright, stream's up, let's go.

I move out of the way and gave Jaune the stage.

Jaune: Oh! (clears his throat) Citizens of Atlas! Mantle! What we have to tell you is very important. Atlas. is. falling. but! We have our friends down at the vault of the S--

Suddenly, the screens turned into the bloopers image, showing that it has suddenly lost signal.

Jaune: W-Wait, what happened? | William:What the hell? It's dead? | Ren: The entire CCT even. | Niko: *waves her scroll* And so did kingdom wide communications! | Nora: How?! | Oscar: Bigger question is, what do we do now...?