Military Grade Interceptor, AKA Carl
Ring.
Interrupting Penny's reflection was the doorbell.
"I got it, Carl!" Penny called out.
Running down the stairs and to the door, she opened it, to find her friends.
"Salutations, friends!" Penny exclaimed, excited to see Team RWBY and… a couple others.
"Who are your friends?" Penny asked, pointing towards the rest of the group.
"I'm Nora!" Said the red-haired one with an adventurous tone.
"I'm Pyrrha." Said the other redhead, adding a pleasant smile to her sentence.
"I'm Jaune." The blonde one told her, with an awkward but confident wave.
"My name is Ren." The dark-haired one told her, with no expression.
Penny smiled. "I'm Penny. Nice to meet you all!"
Ruby interrupted. "I'm sorry Penny, but we don't have much time. If we are to help you, we will need you to do… something." Ruby said, careful to make sure no one had heard her.
"Come in. We can discuss and have tea!" Penny said, welcoming the group into her house.
"Carl, we have guests." She said.
"You are forbidden!" Came a suddenly hostile voice in the kitchen.
"Initiate Protocol 7. Code: 6785." Penny said. Carl became silent.
"We can work peacefully," Penny assured them. "Sit down, tell me what your plan of action is."
Yang looked hesitant. "Can't…" She started.
She leaned in closer to Penny, so Carl wouldn't hear. "Can't he hear us?"
Penny shook her head. "No, of course not! He only records on my order. Like I said, he is hacked."
Ruby nodded. "That's what we're here for. We need to know if you can possibly do something with him that will allow us to track The Creator." She said.
"Yes, of course. It will take a while, and if I fail you will have to leave immediately. I never tried; if I fail Carl will reboot and have his old capabilities, but this time unhackable. It's kind of like his model's alarm system." Penny said.
'That's fine. Let's get this started." Said a disgruntled Weiss. She did not want to be here, as cruel as it sounded. They were ditching precious studying time.
"Okay, we'll start in a bit. I just need to get my tools." Penny told them, walking out the living room.
"She's kind of awkward." Jaune said, watching her leave.
Pyrrha told him off. "We're trying to help her, Jaune, be quiet!"
"Calm down. We're here so she can get the help she needs." Said Ren, shushing the two.
Ruby opened her mouth, but before she could speak, a loud clang was heard in the next room.
"Ow… I'm fine!" Came Penny's voice. The door then burst open and Penny stumbled in, carrying a box of countless tools.
Blake curiously raised her eyebrow.
"Is that… a blowtorch?" Blake queried curiously.
Penny laughed. "Of course, silly!" She jokingly said.
"Carl! I need to see you!" Penny called. Carl came bustling in.
"What is it, Penny?" He said, completely ignoring the guests.
"Open panel 13, 14, and 17." Penny said calmly. Carl stopped dead in his tracks, and his chest, back, and head opened up to reveal a complicated mix of cables. Penny could not have looked happier.
"I've always wanted to do this! Ruby, friend, grab me some pliers from the toolbox." She said, excited to begin work.
Ruby nodded and walked to the box. She began to fumble in its contents for a bit, before finally pulling out a pair of pliers. Throwing it to Penny, she said, "Here you go."
Pliers now in hand, Penny began work on Carl. She started at his open chest, pulling cables out as if they were nothing.
"If we want to triangulate a where an anonymous transmission is coming from, we will have to take away the anonymous part," she said, holding up a pile of cables. "By eradicating Carl's identification from any transmission. This means all transmission are equal, so no anonymous. Unfortunately any other transmission will not be identifiable, only by signature. I don't get much other transmissions, anyway. It doesn't matter." She said, throwing the cables around like rubbish. "Now , the next step is to place a military-grade interceptor into his hardware. That is also in the box."
"How did you…?" Weiss began.
Penny brushed it off. "I stole it from the warehouse I was made in." She told them.
Weiss nodded, then went to the box. She stared at the contents, utterly confused.
"Uhmmm… How does it…look?" She asked, turning around desperately.
Penny laughed. "It looks like a little ball with red gems every now and then."
Weiss turned back around, and began to look.
She finally found it, sitting at the bottom.
"Be careful with it!" Penny said, worried Weiss would drop it.
Weiss gave her a dirty look and handed it to Penny.
Penny grabbed, and slowly placed it into the empty place where the cables once were. She gave it a little twist, and the gems on the core began to shine.
"He will now be able to track anything from around the world. But it will take him up to say… 2 weeks to calibrate to the new hardware."
Nora immaturely groaned. "It's so much timeee!" She was anxious to save the tournament and possibly Vale, and did not want to wait 2 weeks for it.
Pyrrha butted in. "She means to say that will happily wait the allotted time." She said, looking at Nora.
Nora put a childish pouty face expression on her face.
Penny chuckled. "Well, friends, that was much easier than I thought. I will make sure to tell you when Carl is ready. For now, Would you like to stay for some oil? I mean tea. Yeah, tea." She said, laughing at her mistake.
"I forgot humans don't drink oil."
They all laughed, sitting down, and getting comfortable.
But Weiss had just realized something.
"We will only have a week to find him and bring him to justice! The tournament's in three weeks."
Penny shrugged it off. "I gave an estimate to the amount of time it would take. I believe one week is enough preparation. This androids are hardened, but keep in mind this is three on 8." She said.
"Isn't it nine on three?" Yang pointed out.
Penny shook her head. "I cannot attack my brothers and sisters. I was programmed to not engage in conflict. Any damage I do to them will instead be inflicted onto myself. It works vice versa, so they still will not be able to attack me." She said.
"Tell us more about your… siblings, Penny." Ren said.
Penny sighed.
"There is three. Vlad, the only man. He is a burly, huge man. He is nearly as big as an Ursa as far as I can tell. He carries a hammer with spikes on the end of it. With every strike, he shakes the ground; his strength is so great. You must be careful of him. The other two, Ember and Nika, work hand in hand, exchanging strikes on the same target. Nika, in my opinion, is the strongest of the other two, most likely stronger than the two combined. She has a weapon similar to yours," She said pointing to Pyrrha. "She has a sword and shield. She can flip through the air effortlessly. She will protect the Creator closest, and when things get out of hand, will escort the Creator away. She is very tactful, and not repetitive. She will pick up objects and throw them, heed my warning. There's Ember, who uses a dust rapier very similar to yours, Weiss," She said, pointing at Weiss. " She looks small and helpless, but she is nearly as strong as Vlad. She also employs the use of Glyphs. I told you guys, it will not be an easy fight. In my opinion, they Nika alone might be able to take on all of you. They are androids. They are faster than you. They are stronger than you. If you show weakness, they will destroy you."