The Visitor

Part 7

Epilogue

"Not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine. "

-Arthur Eddington

" What! How could she be missing? " Hart demanded. " It's not like she could just fly away. She has to be somewhere on the campus! "

Tan held his hands out helplessly. " She's not in her room...or the cafeteria...or the library! Nobody's seen her since last night! "

Renee slumped down onto her bed. " Why would she leave? " She shook her head in disbelief . " This makes no sense!"

Hart held up a hand to stop the conversation as she opened her scroll. " I think we need some more bodies to help find her. Maybe Ruby's team knows where she is. "

The reply to her message only deepened her frown. Looking up at the faces around her, she shook her head in the negative. " No luck. They haven't seen her either, but they'll be over in a minute to help look. "

The worry on Ruby's face was plain as her team entered the room. Yang's apprehensive glance over her shoulder at the empty hallway made Hart wonder what else had happened this morning.

" Guys, something really weird is going on. There's campus security everywhere, and they have Atlas soldiers with them! " Ruby explained as she seated herself at a desk. " They're acting like Grimm have invaded or something! "

Hart groaned inwardly.' Why do I have the feeling that I'm at the bottom of the mountain just as the avalanche is starting?' she thought.

A light tapping at the door broke through the beginning of the despair. Weiss opened it, then stood for a moment with her head cocked to one side. " Penny? Why are you here? "

" Greetings Weiss! I was looking for Ruby's friend, Hart. Is she here? " the girl explained with a broad smile. Catching a glimpse of familiar red hair over Weiss' shoulder, she stood on tiptoe for a moment. " Oh! Friend Ruby! You're here too? Excellent! " Stepping past the doorway as Weiss moved back, she waved cheerily at everyone else. " Greetings and salutations! "

Hart raised an eyebrow at her childhood friend as she waited for an explanation for this odd girl's behavior. Ruby ignored the look as she waved to the new arrival. " Hey, Penny. What brings you here? "

The pink bow bobbed slightly as the robot looked around the room. " I have a message for your friend, Hart. Is she here? I have already met Tan.." a gloved hand waved towards him, " but I do not recognize these three girls. "

With all eyes on her, the doe faunas stepped forward. " I'm Hart. "

A gloved hand dipped briefly into the purse at her side as Penny stared at her. It emerged a moment later with an envelope. " Aurora asked me to give this to you in the morning. " She stepped backwards as the white rectangle was snatched from her hand.

" Do you know where she is?! " Hart demanded.

Penny stood still for a moment as her electronic mind raced through possible answers. The truth was, she couldn't really say that she 'knew' exactly where the other android was. But she had an inkling as to where she'd been and possibly where she was at the moment. Telling her friends this information would satisfy the requirement for a truthful answer, but it would cause greater harm to everyone involved. But if she lied, someone might pick up on her habit of hiccupping after she spoke. Still...Aurora had told her about misdirection and half-truths...

" I ...really can't say where she is!" She hesitated for a moment, waiting to see what her own reaction would be. When no hiccups erupted, she continued. " She gave me that envelope when we were together last night, and that was the last I saw of her." Her hand dipped into the purse again. " I have one for friend Ruby also. "

Paper flew as the two girls ripped open their envelopes.

' Hart,

First let me say thank you to everyone for helping me out in the forest. I'm glad I met you all, you guys taught me a lot. I really enjoyed my time there.

Secondly, please extend my apologies to everyone for leaving so abruptly. I hope you all won't worry about me, but there are things I must do before returning home. Plus, I hope none of you get in any trouble for helping me out...'

Hart closed her eyes briefly, unsure if she wanted to read any more in case it revealed just how much this had to do with the soldiers being here.

' ..but if you do, just put the blame on me.

Keep everybody safe,

Your friend ( I hope )

Aurora

p.s. you may want to destroy this letter after reading. '

Hart buried her face in the paper. " We're doomed! " she muttered.

Silver eyes scanned the paper quickly.

' Ruby,

I wanted to say thanks to you and your team for welcoming me to Beacon. I wish I could have stayed to see how the experiments with your new bullets work against Grimm, but my mother needs me.

Give Tan a kiss for me if you would. He deserves one for going through all that trouble to help me and I won't be there to do it myself.

Stay safe

Aurora '

Breathing a sigh of relief, she folded the paper and put it back into the remains of the envelope. Standing, she strode across the room to where Tan was seated and swiftly deposited a kiss on his cheek. " That's from Aurora for being nice. " she whispered in his ear.

" Oooooh! Little sis is getting bold! " Yang wisecracked as Ruby's cheeks turned pink. Straightening up , she turned and glared at her older sister. Holding her head high, she paid a possessive hand on the boy's shoulder. " Jealous? " she asked with a smirk.

Yang eyed the two of them for a moment. " Maybe I should be. I think I created a monster here! "

Hart looked over the top of the page at the two sisters. " Guys, I think we're in deep..."

The sentence was cut off by the beeping of both her and Ruby's scrolls.

' Please come to my office immediately with your team. Ozpin. '

The two leaders stared at each other across the silent room.

" We're doomed! " Hart whispered.

General James Ironwood clenched his fists as he stared at the hologram that filled the center of the office.

" Ozpin! This... girl...landed at one of our military installations late last night. She went through every bit of security we had in place as if they weren't even there! Then she stole our newest experimental spacecraft equipped with a prototype engine that , if it falls into the wrong hands, could cause massive damage!" He took a step closer and leaned over the desk. " The aircraft she arrived in came from Beacon! " A gloved finger stabbed into the top of the desk. " The trail leads back here! "

Glynda fiddled with her glasses for a moment, carefully avoiding the headmaster's eyes.

Professor Ozpin leaned back into his chair and looked thoughtfully at the image of a rather commonplace girl standing over an unconscious soldier. " I see. Thank you, James. That clears up a mystery for us also. The aircraft was stolen from our hangar last night, and now we seem to be looking at the thief." He turned his head and gazed calmly at his associate. " Professor Goodwitch. I believe you actually met this person, did you not? "

Glynda held up a hand to forestall the General's next outburst. " Before you ask, James, I only met her once. We spoke for only a few moments. She said her name was Aurora, and appeared to be just another normal girl. Our team HART found her wandering in Forever Fall and brought her back with them. If I had any idea that she was going to do something like this, I would have handed her over to the Vale police, rather than offer her our hospitality."

Ironwood straightened and placed his hands behind his back. " Thank you, Glynda. Is there anyone else who spoke to her? You mentioned a team HART., but could anyone else have had contact with her? "

Glynda pushed a strand of hair behind one ear as she thought for a moment. " They have regular contact with four other teams, but three of them were dispatched on missions over the weekend. Only team RWBY was on campus at the time."

" And you think they might have spent time together with this person?"

She clasped her hand in front of her. " Yes. I asked Mister Tyrson of team HART to act as her chaperone while she was here. He's been dating the leader of team RWBY, so I would assume that they would have had some plans for the weekend. Plus, Miss Rose is also a lifelong friend to his team leader. I would be very surprised if she had not come in contact with our thief. "

Ironwood turned to the headmaster. " I need to speak to them all. immediately. This is a matter of the highest importance to Atlas. "

Ozpin's hands stilled on the keyboard. " General Ironwood. I will remind you that these are my students, not members of your military. Until they are proven to have any connection with this theft, you will treat them with respect. Is that clear? "

" Of course! But..." He stopped as the headmaster held up a hand.

" I know, James. I agree that this is a serious situation, but I fear that our students are guilty of nothing more than being kind to a stranger who fooled us all rather badly. "

Ironwood pinched the bridge of his nose and winced. " I'm sorry. I've been up all night dealing with this and the pressure is still on me to find an answer. I appreciate your help. "

" Has anyone claimed responsibility? " Glynda asked.

" No. And that's just what worries me the most! "

" I have a really bad feeling about this!" Hart whispered to Ruby as they waited for the elevator. The two guards eyeing them suspiciously only served to raise her anxiety level.

" I know." Ruby's eyes kept darting back to the grim faces. " I like Ozpin, but I've never been called to his office for anything good!"

The eight of them dashed into the elevator the moment the doors opened.

Hart turned to her team as the elevator rose. " Renee, try to relax, okay?"

The big girl slowly unclenched her fists. " Those were Atlas soldiers! What are they doing here?" she demanded.

Hart's lips thinned. " I don't know, but those guys are never good news."

Ruby was about to ask why they were so mad, when a small chime announced their destination. Striding into the room, Hart stopped to gape at the projection in the center of the floor.

" Aurora?" Her question drew the attention of the others in the room.

Ruby's gaze was centered on another person. " General Ironwood?" she and Weiss spoke together.

The General nodded in their direction. " Hello Ruby...Miss Schnee."

Ozpin rose from his seat and gestured towards the other man. " For those of you have not met him, this is General James Ironwood of the Atlas Military. He has a few questions for all of you concerning this person." His hand swung towards the hologram. " I would appreciate you all helping him. "

Renee's nose wrinkled, as if she smelled something bad. " Atlas...yay!" she said sarcastically.

Ironwood stepped forward. "Do you have a problem with Atlas, Miss..?" he challenged.

Renee's hands tightened into fists. " The name's Delacourt. I was born there. The south side of Atlas city. I kinda doubt if you've ever been to the slums...General!" She spoke the title as if it were a foul word.

Sensing the hostility radiating off his partner, Tan stepped in front of her, his back to the other man.

" Renee! Calm down, please. This isn't helping anything." When his partner looked at him, he smiled and turned to look directly at the General as he crossed his arms. Hart and Akiko flanked him, their own eyes watching the man on the other side of the room.

Ironwood hesitated for a moment, seeing the team drawing closer together. He'd been in enough fights in his life to know that one against four was always bad odds. He turned away and looked towards the man behind the desk for help. " Ozpin, would you please explain things for me?"

The headmaster nodded in reply. " Miss D'Ore, Miss Rose? Something very serious occurred last night and it involves this young woman." He waved a hand at the hologram. " I'm asking you and your teams to please set aside any feelings of ill will and help us with the investigation. Can you do that?"

Hart waited for Renee's hands to unclench before she looked to Ruby. When the redhead nodded, she turned to face Ozpin. " Yessir. We can do that...for you."

Ozpin smiled at her. " Thank you." He seated himself before continuing. " Why don't you start by telling us how you came to meet this rather extraordinary young woman?"

Hart cleared her throat. " Well...Professor Goodwitch sent us into Forever Fall to clear out some Grimm..."

Far too many years ago, I watched the launch of two Voyager spacecraft. They recently passed out of the heliosphere and entered a larger universe. Where they will end is anybody's guess.

When I was young, robots were metal travesties that barely resembled men. Today there are two that could pass for human, and more are coming.

Fiction or Prediction?

Keep writing!

Vin