Luken Taupe sliced the head off a Beowolf and as it dematerialised and a new order came in, sliding his blade back into place he left the training room and walked down the familiar maze-like corridors "Thank god for HUD" he thought to himself as he walked past several members of staff who busied themselves with their tasks but before he entered the hanger a technician patted him on the back and smiled "The test went without hitch" to which Luken nodded and agreed in his normal toneless voice before excusing himself and entering the hanger.
-Hanger bay-
"Salutations Luken" Penny welcomed with a wave
"Hello Penny, how was your day out?" Luken asked still toneless
"I made friends" Penny beamed "2 Faunus and 3 Humans"
"Good, I'm glad want to tell me about them later" He asked
"You can read the report Mr Taupe" A new voice belonging to his boss said
"Yes General Ironwood" Luken agreed then got to work checking the Bullhead after finding no issues he left the hanger and made his way to the tech lab and sat down next the bed on which Penny laid.
"Ready to start" He asked as he smoothed Penny's hair back into place
"Affirmative" Penny smiled as she closed her eyes while Luken typed away at a keyboard
"Just uploading your memories to the backup" Luken thought as his mind wondered back to first day he was assigned to Project: P3ny
/Flashback starts/
"Luken" called the elderly voice of the head engineer
"Yes Ma'am" Luken answered as he walked to the R&D Development lab to see the elderly woman
The Head Engineer pointed a seat out to Luken
"Ma'am I had calibration corrections yesterday from 14:07 till 15:30" Luken stated monotony
"Just sit" The Head Engineer said as she took her own seat "Luken you've been here since you were 9, its been 8 years yet you have no kith or kin, the later cannot be solved easily but the former" She started
"No-one can stand by my side, We are to different they are flesh and blood while I am more" He lifted his cybernetic arms before his continued "Yet I am less" his monotone voice sounded down tread but they both knew that it wasn't
"Well" The head engineer smiled "What about if you had a project to lead?" She looked at her assistants eyes seemingly light up
"That would be interesting, what is it" Came the response she hoped for
"Neural pathway mapping and software integration for a larger Project" She answered
Luken thought for a moment and asked "Project: P3ny by any chance?"
The head engineer was surprised "How did you find out about it, it is only known to those who work on it"
"Nothing stays hidden to me" Luken grinned as he tapped his temple "I'm the man who connected to the server 24/7"
The pair laughed and continued to chat for hours
/Flashback time skip/
Luken sat there watching P3ny being built "So much more yet so much less" he chuckled as he brought up penny's neural circuit and went through it testing its connections and also weakening the limiters on her personality matrix. As the final parts were added her eyes opened "Sa...sa...salu" she crocked before shutting down and was charged with the aura that was donated by Luken.
/Flashback ends/
With his task at an end he woke Penny and told her he was done she asked if he had missed her to which he said that he had they then where joined by General Ironwood who asked them to follow him to a dull looking room and sat down on one side of the odd triangle shaped desk with Luken and Penny taking the other 2 seats.
"Penny your mission went well?" Ironwood half asked and told
"Affirmative" came her normal response
"Good, now any system issues Mr Taupe?" He continued
"Just some really minor damage to her pseudoskin and her hair is a tad longer by only 2.4cm so her artificial follicles do seem a little slow but apart from cosmetics there are no issues regarding her systems or chassis" Luken remarked
"Good" Ironwood said as he relaxed a small amount "How many hours till she is ready to be deployed again?"
"She may be an android but still she deserves rest so I would say at least 336" Luken grinned
"2 weeks then" Ironwood agreed "You are both dismissed" he said before leaving
With the meeting over the Android and Cyborg left the room and then the base heading to the nearby city where they did a light bit of shopping for books of the academic type for Penny and ones of a mechanical nature for Luken, dust for Luken's weaponry earning him a look of curiosity from Penny to which he said the dust from the shop was more stable when mixed due to its impurity. They then walked to a pancake shop where they sat and eat in silence till a twenty-something man approached the pair and spoke to Penny in a leering voice "Why don't you drop the freak and come hang out with me, I just got paid so I have plenty of Lien for a good time" to which Penny looked at Luken and asked what the man was asking her to do, looking up from his plate Luken answered that the man wanted to take her out and try to have sex with her even if it was against her will. This caused the man to become aggressive where he pulled a knife and said that he wasn't asking but as he went to grab Penny, Luken raised his right arm reviling a rifle barrel that glowed an ominous red and spoke in his characteristic monotone voice "You will leave my little sister alone or I will shoot you, and before you think I won't I have qualms about killing scum like you" when he finished the glow grew brighter "My weapons are unaffected by aura just so you know" the man stood still and then left muttering about how Luken would regret his actions. Luken turned back to Penny, "Penny" he said "That man is a wanted criminal, so do you know why I let him go for now?"
"I don't know" Penny said grinning
"So we can finish our food" Luken said smiling but thought "So I didn't waste a charge"
Penny just chuckled sweetly and continued to eat her pancakes when Penny looked up and waved to a yellow haired girl who came over and sat with Penny who said "Salutations Yang, this is my brother Luken" She pointed at Luken, who just sat there and looked up at Yang
"If that's your brother is he an android too?" Yang asked
"No I'm human...mostly" Luken said with his monotone voice
"You sound like one, your voice is all robotic-like" Yang said leaning over and giving Luken a full look down her top
"Yang stand up you look like a hussy" Luken stated with a blank look on his face
Penny just watched and asked "Luken what is a hussy?"
This caused Yang and Luken to face palm before Luken explained it to penny whose face went more and more red until it rivalled Rubys cloak and she muttered out that she understood
"So Yang, what are doing here?" Luken asked to change the flow of the conversation
"Out shopping with the gang" she responded and just as she finished Penny light up and asked if Ruby was there as well to which Yang said she was in the dust shop, this caused Penny to beg Luken to go there he started to scold her but seeing the look on her face he relented and agreed as they stood to leave Penny ran off to the bakers and was back in seconds with a bag of strawberry chocolate cookies and more or less dragged Luken to the dust store where she ran straight into Ruby knocking her down just for them both to be caught by Luken.
"You, are you okay" Luken coldly directed towards Ruby
"Y-y-yeah, Thank you mister" Ruby said regaining her composer "Hello Penny" She grinned
Penny greeted her in her normal way then gave Ruby the cookies earning her a hug the sat and talked with Luken being the silent guard till Ruby spotted his arm which was still in the rifle mode
"Your arm is a gun " Ruby squealed "ohmyoumcanIseeitcloseupwhatelsecandocanItakeitapartisyourotherarmalsolikeit" she rambled
"No you can't, its a rifle both semi and full auto firing, No you defiantly can't, and yes but its a rocket/grenade/shell launcher also its a heavy beam rifle and both arms have extendible wrist blades" Luken said as his arm reformed to its human shape and with a shake of his wrist Luken checked it was finished before slipping his hand into his pocket.
"How do you know Penny" Ruby asked
"That's my brother" Penny interrupted "His name is"
"Luken Taupe, I'm a Cyborg" Luken said in a cold voice
"I'm Ruby Rose, a Huntress-in-training at Beacon" Ruby smiled "Nice to meet you"
"A pleasure, your weapon is called Crescent Rose a HCSS" Luken said plainly
"How did you know" Ruby gasped
"Penny's data banks held that information" Luken explained
"Oh" was the only response Ruby made