The Tale Of X-49: A RWBY Story

Chapter Eighty One - Amity

As X-49 and Penny made their way to the Amity Tower, they make their way to the Schnee Dust Mine and begin planting explosives. As they set up the explosives, Penny speaks to the Combat Droid.

Penny: X-49. Do you...do you think we're doing the right thing?

X-49: We're doing the best we can with the situation we're given. I'll admit it's not the best of plans, it's our only option. It's not ideal, but it's all we got. If we can get the Amity Tower up and running, then we can broadcast Ruby's message and warn everyone about Salem.

Penny took note of the words said by X-49. When they finished setting up the explosives, Penny grabbed X-49 and flew to the upper levels of the Tower. They soon meet up with Pietro who was with Maria Calavera at the base of the Tower.

X-49: The explosives are set up.

Pietro: All systems are ready. Penny?

Penny looks at him and then gets up and walks over.

Pietro: Amity is requesting launch access.....now.

Penny looks at the screen, which says "Connecting..." She looks down, waiting. Pietro and Maria look at Penny, and after a few moments, her eyes glow slightly. The tower's stabilizers activate, glowing purple, and Pietro and Maria celebrate.

Pietro: Oh yes, it worked!

Penny smiles, but then lowers her head. Pietro places his hand on her arm to comfort her, and she looks at him and smiles. He then begins typing on the computer again.

Pietro: Oh, I didn't have time to install seat belts, so I'd advise you to hang on.

Pietro taps a button on his walking chair, and parts of the chair's legs begin glowing purple. Maria laughs and walks away. The bombs in the Dust mine begin counting down from thirty seconds, and Penny begins helping Maria get back inside the mech. The two are soon distracted by a loud thud. X-49 immediately readied his pistols.

X-49: That doesn't sound good.

What followed by a fireball flying up through the air. Penny flies over to the edge of the platform and looks down to see a huge hole where the fireball melted through from outside the colosseum. An airship levitates up from the smoke, and atop the airship stands Cinder Fall.

Cinder: And where do you think you're going?

Penny looks back at Pietro, who looks scared.

Pietro: Penny, no!

Against her father's wishes, Penny flies down and floats above the arena to face Cinder, drawing Floating Array. Cinder hops down from the airship with a grin, while Emerald Sustrai and Neopolitan exit the airship. The countdown on the bombs reaches zero, and the bombs explode, setting off a chain reaction of Dust eruptions. As the colorful explosions intensify, four jets on Amity Tower activate. The combined force causes the tower to begin flying into the air, which slams Penny into the floor. Cinder drops to one knee and steadies herself with her hands. Emerald has been forced to the floor by the tower's ascent. She looks at Cinder, who is focused on Penny.

Cinder: I was hoping your friends would be here. But it looks like they left you to do all the work.

Cinder begins spawning dozens of glowing hot glass swords on the floor around herself.

Cinder: You're just a tool to be used!

Penny: You do not know what you are talking about.

As Penny fights Cinder, X-49 attempts to join Penny, but were attacked by Emerald and Neopolitan. X-49 was quick to recognize Emerald.

X-49: Back for more?

X-49 immediately begins firing at Emerald, but she uses her Semblance to the illusion of multiple enemies to throw the Combat Droid's aim off. As X-49 fights Emerald, he takes aim with his pistol. He then fires a shot towards Emerald which grazes Emerald's face. The shot breaks Emerald's concentration and shatters her illusion. He then tackles her to the ground and knocks her down. X-49 assist Maria in fighting Neopolitan. Much to his surprise, the old woman seemed to be holding her own against the much younger Neopolitan. X-49 then focus his fire on Cinder. As all this happened, Pietro was able to briefly access the signal, but it quickly lost. Eventually, Cinder along with Emerald and Neopolitan were forced to retreat. X-49 attempts to fire on the airship, but they escape. After that, they make their way back to Pietro.

Penny: Dad! Are you okay?

She runs over to Pietro and kneels in front of him. The computer screen says "Broadcast Signal Lost".

Pietro: The stabilizer was damaged. We've missed our window. At this rate, we're likely to drift until touching down just north of....

The colosseum rumbles again, prompting X-49 to get the airship ready. But Penny steps forward.

Penny: I can fix this.

Maria: What?

Penny: Our message is only a few minutes long. I can try and hold Amity in place until....

Pietro: Absolutely not! You're in no condition to do something like this. Even just the temperature out there could--

Penny: It is our only option.

Maria: She is right, Pietro. We have to remember the big picture....

Pietro: I don't care about the big picture! I care about my daughter! I lost you before. Are you asking me to go through that again? No. No. I want the chance to watch you live your life.

As Pietro says this, Penny steps forwards and hugs him. Realizing what needed to be done, Pietro relents. X-49 soon steps forward.

X-49: You might need some back up. There's an airship nearby. I'll cover you from there.

Penny flies down to the damaged stabilizer and begins pushing on it, using the jets in her feet. X-49 then boards an unoccupied airship and follows Penny. On the airship, X-49 watches as Penny displays tremendous strength and will. Penny activates her Maiden powers, and the jet she is producing increases greatly in size and changes from green to cyan. The computer plays a noise as the tower reaches broadcast range, playing Ruby's message all across Remnant.

Ruby(Broadcast): Um, uh. Hi. My name is Ruby Rose. I'm a Huntress. And if we've done everything right, then I'm talking to all of Remnant right now. Dr. Polendina can explain more later, but right now you all need to know that the Kingdom of Atlas is under attack. Things are dire, and we need help. But please, try not to panic. This isn't some new enemy or invading Kingdom. This is a force we've faced before, for centuries...Salem. I know the idea of the Maidens and Relics seems...well...crazy, but I promise Professor Goodwitch of Beacon and Headmaster Theodore of Shade can verify all of this. They might even be able to help organize a way to fight back. But sadly, General Ironwood can no longer be trusted. We didn't have time to prepare for Salem. But now you do! Just because she can't be destroyed, doesn't mean she can't be beaten. If she really was unstoppable, she wouldn't have acted with such caution until now. She knows we're a threat. So even if we-- even if Atlas falls, you can't give up. I hope Amity Tower will help bring us all together. Because in the end, that's how we'll win....

Suddenly, the broadcast turned to static.

X-49: What the hell?!

Without hesitation, X-49 contacts Penny.

X-49: Penny! Penny! Can you hear me?!

X-49 watches in shock as Penny began to flicker from green to red. He watched in horror as Penny loses consciousness and begins plummeting to the ground. Without hesitation, X-49 pilots the airship after her. As he attempts to catch up towards her, X-49 pushes the airship to it's limit. As he did so, airship malfunctions. He attempts to regain control but was unable to. All he could do was to aim the gunship at Penny's location. With a loud crash, the airship crashes, leaving the fate of X-49 at the hands of fate.