The Tale Of X-49: A RWBY Story

Chapter Thirty Eight - Fall Of Beacon

After dealing with Roman Torchwick, X-49 rushes to find Ruby. As he makes his way to Beacon, he is approached by Jaune who was getting out of a locker.

Jaune: You need to stop her!

X-49: Stop who?

Jaune: Pyrrha! She's going after that woman at the top of the tower! She doesn't stand a chance!

X-49 glances over to the CCT Tower Jaune spoke of. Without saying a word, X-49 began making his way to the CCT Tower, believing Ruby was most likely going to be there. X-49 had to fight his way to the CCT Tower. He fought though wave after wave of Grimm. Despite these overwhelming odds, X-49 pushed through. Soon enough, he cornered the two at the base of the tower. Cinder could be seen battling Pyrrha Nikos. As X-49 aimed his pistols at Emerald and Mercury, the two turned around to face him.

Mercury: Huh. You again. 

Emerald: I thought you took care of him.

Mercury: I thought so too. Those grenades should've done the trick. 

X-49: Alright, you two. This party is over. Back away nice and slowly. 

Mercury: You sure are slow, robot. Like I said, Vale's history.

X-49: Not if I have anything to say about it! You might've gotten the drop on me last time, but I'm not letting you get away this time.  I took down Torchwick. You're running out of friends.

Mercury: So Torchwick up and got himself killed? See, Em? Told you he wasn't going to last long?

With that, X-49 began attacking Emerald and Mercury. The Wyvern could be seen circling all across Vale while the Atlas Bombers tried to get into position. Meanwhile, Emerald began firing on X-49 with her Thief's Respite weapons.

Emerald: You shouldn't have come here!

X-49: Drop the weapons and I promise I'll go easy on you.

Emerald: You have no say in the matter. It's already over. You just don't know it yet.

As X-49 engaged in a firefight with Emerald, he was attacked by Mercury. Mercury began kicking X-49, but the Combat Droid was able to block his attacks.

X-49: I'm gonna enjoy beating you to a bloody pulp for what you did to Yang!

Mercury: Awful lot of tears over a blonde bimbo! You're a sensitive little bucket of bolts, aren't you? It's really pathetic!

X-49: You put that poor girl through hell! I only wish I caught on to you sooner!

X-49 soon broke through Mercury's defenses and began beating him down. During the scuffle, X-49 pins Mercury to the ground and puts him in a chokehold. Just as X-49 was getting the upper hand, Mercury kicks X-49 in the gut. Mercury then goes for the kill, but X-49 headbutts him and begins to beat him down.

X-49: You should've kept your mouth shut about Yang. Now I'm gonna have some fun beating your sorry ass!

Mercury: Big talk for a rusty bucket of bolts!

As X-49 was about to beat Mercury, a loud scream was heard from above them. X-49 as well as Mercury and Emerald saw Ruby confronting Cinder with Pyrrha nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, light seems to emulate from Ruby.

X-49: What the hell?!

X-49 then sees the Wyvern getting closer to the tower as if it was preparing to attack it. Soon enough, a blinding white light begins flashing nearby.

X-49: RUBY! 

Without hesitation, X-49 ran to Ruby. Before he could get close to Ruby, X-49 was violently pushed back by a powerful shockwave of energy. The energy from the shockwave caused X-49's circuits to short circuit. As X-49 struggles to get up,  the Wyvern destroys the tower, but blinding light immediately consumes the Wyvern as well as the tower. The resulting shockwave knocks X-49 off the tower. X-49 crashes onto a nearby car. The resulting crashed did considerable damage to his armor. Once the light faded away, he saw that the Wyvern had become frozen in stone. Seeing this shocked the Combat Droid.

X-49: Ruby....

As the Wyvern was reduced to stone, X-49 makes his way back to the tower. By the time that he reached the tower, Emerald and Mercury were nowhere to be seen. He looked around to see Cinder nowhere to be seen as well as Ruby's unconscious body. He also spotted Pyrrha's headdress.

X-49: Pyrrha....I'm so sorry....

X-49 then glances over to see a motionless Ruby laying on the ground. Without hesitation, X-49 runs to check on Ruby. The constant fighting took it's toll on X-49 as he collapsed to the ground. It didn't matter though as he was only concerned for Ruby's wellbeing. It wasn't long before Qrow arrived. 

Qrow: Kiddo....

Qrow then rushes to Ruby's side. As the two looked over Ruby's condition, X-49 glanced over to the Wyvern now encased in stone.

X-49: Qrow....what the hell happened?

Qrow: It was Ruby.

X-49: You mean....Ruby did this? She turned that giant Grimm to stone?

Qrow said nothing as he tended to Ruby. Seeing Ruby like this brought deep concern for X-49. In the span of a single night, both Ruby and Yang had sustained serious injuries. A sense of guilt had fallen on X-49 as he felt responsible for what happened to his adoptive sisters. 

Qrow: She seems to be all right. We'll need to get out of here as quickly as possible. I don't know how long that Wyvern is gonna stay like that....

Soon enough, a Bulkhead arrived near the ruined CCT Tower. X-49 helped Qrow carry the unconscious Ruby to the Bulkhead. As the Bulkhead began flying away, it was clear that Beacon had fallen.