Here we are at Chapter 117. After watching Yang's group, it's time to get back to Ruby and Velvet's group and see how they're doing. I do not own RWBY or Tales of Berseria. They belong to their respective creators. I only own my OCs. Here's chapter 117. Enjoy. Happy New Year!


Chapter 117: Sneaking and Entering

Velvet and Ruby's group head up the tubes into the Atlas military compound. They managed to sneak into the facility without being noticed, and they also managed to get in unscathed... Mostly...

Ruby pops out while May and Penny are there to help keep her on her feet, "Okay, maybe let's try not doing that next time," she steadies herself.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow!" they look to see an angry Velvet digging and twisting her knuckles into the sides of Nora's head, hard. "Oh, come on! That was a once in a lifetime experience!"

Velvet growls, "Oh, I'll give you a 'once in a lifetime experience'! Next time, how about I shoot YOU up as the first one on something this crazy?!"

Luckily, for Nora, she releases her, "Ow..." Nora rubs her head.

Blake is the last one up after Weiss, "It's official, I NEVER want to do that again," Blake looks like a mess as she tries to fix her hair.

"I didn't say it would be fun. But, it did get us inside," Weiss says as they join the others.

"Well, now that we've all had our daily brush with death, let's get moving," Velvet notes as they move through the room for the tubes.

"Alright, robo-girl, you're up. Which way to the terminal?" May asks Penny.

Penny looks up as her eyes glow and she scans the compound to get a digital map of the area.

When she has one, she faces the group, "We'll cross the bridge, then we go left, straight, right, straight, left, up, up, right, straight, right, right, straight, left, left..." Penny points in various directions, making Ruby smirk while the others look on in stunned silence. "...And my name is Penny, ma'am,"

May just clicks her tongue, but Velvet smirks at Penny showing off again. Activating her semblance, May creates a field around the group that conceal their presence as long as they stay within the field. They move through the room and after a few minutes and some turns as Penny showed them, they then take an elevator up. Everything is going smoothly, until it stops on one floor. The group gasp and step back as two Atlas soldiers enter the room. Luckily, May's semblance keeps them hidden, but only as long as they stay quiet.

"I don't think even the squad captain knows what's going on," one soldier tells the other as they enter the elevator with the group behind them. "We've apparently sent scout ships into that storm to get more intel, but they get shot down by that lightning or destroyed by Grimm the second they get close. Who knows what's lurking in there besides more Grimm,"

"It's terrifying really. All those Grimm, right there, and yet, they haven't made a single move to attack. I've never seen anything like this. I don't think there was even a Grimm horde this big during the Great War," the second soldier replies.

"Well, hopefully, the C.O. will have some answers for us soon before something happens. But yeah, I don't like any of this either. Just what is going on out there?" the first soldier replies.

The group take this opportunity to sneak by while the doors are still open, but not without Nora giggling as she hits all of the buttons on the elevator as they leave. One soldier eventually notices this, looking confused before the doors close on them. The group move to another door, but this one requires a security clearance. Luckily, Penny simply pops out a plug from her index finger, much to Ruby's astonishment, and using her father's security clearance codes, opens the door for them to move on.

"Is there anything you can't do?" Velvet asks, eyeing her finger.

"Well... I've tried cooking a little bit, but I've been having a hard time in making pie for my dad," Penny replies.

"Well then, when this is all over, I'll be sure to teach you. It should be fun," Velvet offers.

Penny smiles, "Thanks, Velvet,"

"Alright, we've made it this far. What now?" Weiss asks.

Penny points to their right, "We go right through central command,"

The doors open to reveal the central command room... and a lot of soldiers and military personnel all around there.

Velvet deadpans, "Well, that should be fun,"

May shakes her head, "I can't move us through all of that,"

Penny simply smiles, "It is no problem. That's because we have Ruby. She can travel at an extreme velocity from one point to another by breaking her body down to its molecular level. This negates her mass, and she is able to reassemble herself at the destination without any harm to herself or others. Ruby is thus capable of transporting all of us in the same way since mass no longer matters," she explains Ruby's semblance.

However, Ruby has no idea what she said, "Uh... what?"

"You can use your semblance on all of us," Penny gives a simpler explanation now, though Ruby is still a tad perplexed.

Velvet leans close to Ruby, "Did Penny figure out your semblance before you did?" she chuckles.

Ruby looks annoyed, "Velvet, come on, how was I supposed to know what she was talking about when she talks all technical like that?"

Velvet thinks back to Beacon, "Well, you did have the same issue in Oobleck's history class," she notes, making Blake and Weiss giggle, while Ruby groans.

"If we can get back on track, we still need to figure out a way to keep all those eyes in there off of us, even with Ruby moving us through with her semblance," May reminds them.

Just then, a new problem pops up, "A security threat has been detected in the compound. Status level 3 – red. Lockdown initiated. Authorization granted to handle any threats with lethal force," Ironwood's voice comes in over the comms.

Velvet groans, "Great, they know we're here. We're running out of time now,"

Penny scans the compound, "The pneumatic tubes have all been closed off. We can't escape that way now,"

"But, that means we're trapped in here," Blake realizes.

"Hold on. I remember that we passed a hangar on the way here. I can hijack a ship and get us out of here before they realize anything," May suggests.

But Penny isn't giving up, "Wait, we might still have a chance. We can't just give up now. We are so close now,"

Velvet steps up, "She's right. If we don't get this done, then we'll never get the word out to the rest of the world about Atlas and Salem," she looks around at all the people walking by and their monitors. "I have an idea,"

With May still concealing them, they move past the door and Velvet activates her Maiden powers, just enough to send out a small bolt of lightning at one monitor. The monitor shorts out so much that it causes the worker sitting in front of it to freak out and toss his cup of coffee onto another worker and his monitor, causing that one and the one next to it to short out.

"For Pete sakes, Bill, read the sign! Read the damn sign, will you!" Another co-worker yells as he points at a "No food, no drinks in the work place" poster that shows the image of a few snacks and drinks floating above a Shark Grimm swimming underneath it.

With everyone distracted, Ruby uses her semblance on everyone and flies right by everyone and moves to the door to the security terminal. Ruby releases everyone, breathing heavily at moving so many people with her, while the others look on in shock, awe, or slight terror (though that's mainly Blake on shaky legs).

"Another thing I never want to do... EVER again," Blake tries to recompose herself again.

The group continue on a walkway in a large passage to the room where the security terminal is located. They reach the door, seeing an electric forcefield blocking their way.

"Please, leave this to me," Penny uses her finger port again to deactivate the security field and unlocks the door for them.

Everyone draws their weapons in case they need to fight their way in, but find an empty room on the other side with several smaller terminals and the terminal they need on the other end of the room.

Velvet looks around the room, "You'd think that for a room that has Ironwood's private security terminal, there would be, you know, more security here," she retracts her arm blade.

The group walk inside, "This is a highly classified area. Only those who have clearance, like the General himself, are allowed in here," Penny takes a seat at the main terminal.

Nora glances back as the electric door closes behind them and its security field coming back on. Ruby joins up with Penny while the others wait on the side lines until they're done.

Penny takes a deep breath, "Hey, Dad? I'm ready," and suddenly her eyes change in color and shape.

"Penny?" Ruby asks, confused.

"Ahem, this process is a little complicated, so I'm remoting into Penny from the Amity coliseum," Pietro's voice comes from Penny's lips, spooking Ruby a bit.

Meanwhile, the others wait for Penny (or is it Pietro?) to do their thing, "Well, so far, so good. Hopefully, it'll stay that way until we're out of here," Velvet notes.

Velvet and Weiss are leaning against some terminals, Blake is sitting in a seat, and Nora is just standing by.

Blake looks at Weiss, "Hey Weiss, are you okay? I mean, are you and Yang... okay?"

"Yes, we're... *sigh* There's going to be strife un any relationship. Yang is doing what she thinks is best. It's just... a tough situation right now for all of us. I never said she was wrong. We do need to protect Mantle as well, but... this isn't just about Mantle. Or even Atlas. It's about everyone. I don't regret the choice I made here. We just need some time. Yang and I, I mean. I'm sure she'll be fine," Weiss' thoughts drift to her girlfriend.

"Yeah, besides, we all know they'll be fine. Jaune's become a great leader, Yang is more than capable of protecting them in a fight, and Oscar has really gotten better with a lot of things since we first met," Nora says, but the others just stare, knowing that Nora's deliberately withholding one more name from that list, which she sees as well. "Oh, um, and Ren is, of course, is... Ren is..." Nora loses her smile. "...I don't know what he is anymore... Every time I think we're making progress together, he just... takes it all back down... We've been together our whole lives. I can't really remember anything from before I met him. All my dearest memories involve him. And now, I feel like I know less about him than before we first met, and I don't know if that's his fault or mine," Nora worries.

"When you've been at someone's side for so long, they become a part of you. But, that's just it. They're only a part of you. You must never forget about the rest. I understand that more than you might think," Blake says.

Nora chuckles bitterly, "Heh-heh, I actually have no idea who I am... without Ren. Sounds pretty pathetic, doesn't it?"

Velvet steps forth, "Nora, if that's what you think, then maybe take this opportunity to figure out that part. Who is Nora Valkyrie? We can't answer that question, and neither can Ren. Only you can. My life was given back to me thanks to Ruby, and she is indeed a big part of who I am, but I know there's more to me than just Ruby. And I don't mean my powers as a demon or even as a Maiden. There's more to everyone than stuff like that. You just have to find it," she tries to cheer her up.

However, Nora seems even more conflicted now, "And what will I find when I look? That I'm only good at being strong and hitting stuff?" she notes bitterly.

Weiss is about to add something to the conversation, but they all stop when they hear some beeping from Ironwood's terminal and walk over to see how it's going.

"Hmm, I just have to... ah, there we go," Pietro says as the other stare confusingly at Penny, perplexed at hearing Pietro's voice and not Penny's. This is seen when Velvet gestures to Penny as she looks at Ruby, who only shrugs in response, just as perplexed as she is. "Downloading the cloned imprint now. When Penny gets to Amity, we'll run the launch sequence. Amity's computer will try to connect to General Ironwood's terminal, but get Penny instead," Penny downloads the data, and then takes back control of her body now that her father is done.

"And after the launch, I'll return to help you all with the evacuation efforts," Penny's says cheerfully

But her father doesn't agree, "About that Penny, when Amity goes up, I think you should be up here with Maria and I. We'll be needing your help with the launch sequence," this makes the others look concerned for Penny.

"But, the others need my help," Penny turns to them. "...Right?"

Despite Penny's wishes, some can't find the strength to agree, "Well, if you stay far enough out of Salem's reach, she can't open the vault," Ruby says.

"Maybe... it is for the best if you go help your father. At least for right now," Weiss tries to be supportive for both sides.

Velvet tries to help to, "Look, it's not like you'll be up there forever. After you help Maria and Pietro get the message out, Amity will be out of the way of the battle, and maybe you'll be able to come back and help us out,"

Penny sighs sadly, but acquiesces and stands up.

They walk to the door, "I guess... we all have to do some things... we would rather not..." Penny goes to open the door.

"We just have to keep moving forward, Penny," Velvet comforts her.

However, when they open the door, they find the Ace Ops, except for Clover, waiting for them.

"Hello, kids," Harriet 'greets' them with an angry expression, as does Elm, while Vine looks indifferent, and Marrow looks saddened by this situation. "Time to come home now, Penny. The General has ordered that you return to him,"

The group quickly draw their weapons, "You guys never learn, do you? Still acting like mindless drones. Why am I now surprised?" Velvet aims her arm blade at them.

"Please, let's not do this," Melina pleads.

Vine tries to deescalate the situation, "We have all said things that we regret, but please hear me out first. I know you were only doing what you thought was right when you left with the Maiden power, but Salem is here. Things have changed,"

"Really, because the last time I checked, Atlas hasn't gone back to help Mantle. As far as I can see, NOTHING has changed," Velvet retorts.

"Velvet, please, think about what's best for everyone. You're the Fall Maiden. You can still help them, but only if you come us. Penny as well," Marrow asks.

"Your idea of 'what's best for everyone' is leaving everyone else to die while you run away. Trying to play god and decide what roles people play. And many of those roles involve death. Ironwood is no different than my brother, Artorius. He thought he could play god; that if everyone did as he told them to, it would be fine. But, that was a load of crap. Ironwood thinks he knows what's best for everyone, but he doesn't have a damn clue at all," Velvet retorts.

Vine sighs, "I thought your duty was to protect the people, not hurt them," Vine then looks at Penny. "Penny, why would you hurt people like this?"

Penny is taken aback, "I would never hurt them,"

"Well, Winter is in critical condition...because of you," Elm spitefully says.

"And you repaid her by taking away the power that should've been hers," Harriet claims.

"And that's another problem I've noticed here. You blame everyone else for your mistakes. Winter knew what was at stake, and so did Penny. If she didn't act, then Emerald might've killed the Winter Maiden, or worse. Besides, we all know how Winter would've really used that power. It wouldn't have been for Remnant. It would've only been for Ironwood," Velvet keeps their focus off of Penny as she protects her.

"You just don't get it. People are going to die, in both Atlas and Mantle, because you kids won't look at the bigger picture here," Harriet takes a step forward.

Marrow tries to play peacekeeper, "Please, Penny, you can still fix this. Just open the vault, hand over the relic, and you can save Atlas,"

"And what about Mantle? You have to realize that leaving Mantle to die will not reunite the world-," Ruby begins.

"One more word out of your mouth, and I'm throwing you in jail right next to your uncle, brat," Harriet threatens her, making Ruby growl at her mentioning her uncle.

Penny moves a protective hand in front of Ruby, "Leave her alone,"

"You so much as touch her, and I'll kill you," Velvet stands with her.

Velvet and Penny step forth, but then Harriet hits a switch on her scroll, locking the door and separating them from the rest of the group. The pair look back at the door, and then turn to the Ace Ops.

Velvet looks at Penny, "You ready?" she activates her Maiden powers.

Penny does the same, "Yes," and they face their opponents.

The Ace Ops get ready to attack, but find a sudden wind blowing by them. They see the wind coming from Penny, who then turns it into a monstrous gust that blows them back. The Ace Ops use various means to keep themselves from getting blown away, but then Velvet uses her powers to send out a wave of fire at them, propelled by the wind. Vine uses his semblance to swing over the attack, while Melina uses her semblance to phase right through it. Meanwhile, Marrow and Harriet get behind Elm as she stays in place with her semblance and twirls her hammer around to block the flames. Vine swings around and lands behind the girls.

Penny turns to face him, "You won't hurt my friends!"

Her change in focus releases the wind, and the other Ace Ops make their move. However, Velvet conjures a score of ice shards and fires them at the others. Melina phases through them and Harriet uses her semblance to race around them before making the attack. Melina makes the first strike as she jumps into the air and swings her tonfas down on Velvet. Velvet meets the strike with her arm blade and they clash. Melina twirls her tonfas around to try and get a hit in, but Velvet backflips, just as Harriet races by her to go after Penny. Velvet activates her foot blades and throws a few spinning kicks at Melina, who blocks the attacks with her tonfas. Meanwhile, as Penny faces Vine, Harriet comes in on her side and gets a quick strike on her. She then makes another two hits, but then Penny figures out her pattern and blindsides her with a clothesline to the face. Marrow and Elm fire their weapons at Velvet, but she activates her demon claw and swings it wide to create one of here claw shields to block the shots.

Vine jumps up high and brings out a bladed-disk weapon and strikes down at Penny with it. Penny dodges to the side, and then uses her swords to block an incoming strike from Harriet. Meanwhile, Marrow throws his boomerang at Velvet, who kicks it away and then fires off a fire arte at Melina who phases through it. Elm runs by her and swings her hammer at Velvet. Velvet flips over the swing and uses her power to freeze Elm's feet to the floor. She then swings her arm blade around as Melina tries to attack her rear and deflects one strike, following it up with a swing of her claw. Melina phases through it, but Velvet uses the chance to run through her and attack Marrow. Marrow fires her rifle, but Velvet blocks with her demon claw and manages to clasped it down on his skull. She conjures up a fire arte point-blank and blasts him away. Elm changes her hammer into its launcher form and fires off a pair of rockets at her, but Velvet uses her power through her demon claw to freeze them in mid-air.

Back with Penny, Vine swings his semblance arms around at her, but Penny jumps over them, but gets knocked in the air by a quick strike by Harriet. Harriet kicks it into high gear and makes a series of hit-and-run strikes on Penny, but Penny figures out her next path and twirls her swords in her path, hitting Harriet back. Vine sends out one of his arms to grab Penny, but she blasts the arm back a focused blast from her swords, and then deals another shot to him directly. Just then, Marrow gets back on his feet and focuses in on Velvet.

"Stay!" he uses his semblance to freeze her. "Melina, Elm, get her now. I can't hold it for long,"

Penny sees this, "Velvet!" she tries to help her, but Vine and Harriet block her path.

Inside the other room, the others try to break through with Weiss' Armas Gigas summon, but it gets destroyed when it contacts the electric door.

"Five against two. They're nothing but cowards," Weiss says angrily.

"Don't worry, Penny is the Winter Maiden and Velvet is the Fall Maiden, among other things. They can last for a little while with just the two of them. But, still, we have to find a way out of here to help them," Ruby looks around for a way out.

Nora steps up to the door, "We have to do something," she stares at the door and gets what is probably a stupid idea. "...Be strong... and hit stuff," she readies her hammer.

"Nora, wait!" Weiss tries to stop her, but Nora has already touched the door with her hammer.

The electricity moves from the hammer to her, and she uses her semblance to charge up her strength. The power of the field is so strong, that it pushes her beyond her limits. The electricity leaves scars reaching all across her body, and her hair sprouting up as she screams. The Ace Ops are about to handcuff Velvet, but then Penny senses something from her scanners and glances back, uses her swords to make a shield behind her. Nora swings her hammer around and smashes hard against the door, destroying it in a huge explosion that blows the Ace Ops away. With them blown back, Velvet is free and gets up. Velvet and Penny then look back at Nora.

"That was... pretty awesome, huh..." Nora's aura gives out and she collapses onto the ground, her strength completely spent.

"Nora!" Velvet and Penny run to her side as the others stand ready to face the Ace Ops., who get ready to fight as well.

Just then, Harriet gets a call, "Sir... But, General, we-,"

"We understand, sir," Marrow stops her.

Penny flies in while Velvet sends out a storm of flames at them. The Ace Ops are forced back from the flames while Penny zones in on Harriet. Marrow spins his boomerang around to block the flames, giving Vine the chance to use his semblance to smack Ruby, Weiss, and Blake off of the walkway, though Ruby's scythe holds onto the edge. Velvet glances back and growls before absorbing an ice Dust crystal into her demon claw. She swings her claw, sending out several ice shards at Vine and the others. Ruby drops down with the others, but uses her semblance to catch all of them and fly back up to the walkway. Meanwhile, Penny twirls her swords around at Harriet, but Melina attacks from the rear, hitting Penny from behind with her tonfas. Penny swings her sword around at her, but Melina phases through them. Hariet then comes in, forcing Penny to focus her blades on her. This gives Melina the chance to grab onto one of her swords and its string. She pulls hard and snaps the string off of Penny. Just then, Ruby and the others return to the fight.

However, "...Let's go," Elm suddenly says and the Ace Ops retreat by jumping off of the walkway.

However, Marrow hesitates when he glances back at the others, looking sad at having to fight his former comrades, but then leaves with his team.

"Did that seem weird to you guys?" Ruby wonders.

Penny and Velvet check on Nora, "She's hurt bad. She needs help, now,"

With Penny carrying Nora while Velvet caries her hammer, they make their way to a hanger, only to find it empty.

A sudden whistle rings out, "You coming or what?" they hear May's voice and move to find her concealing herself and an airship. "Alright, you guys ready to-," she stops when she sees Nora in bad shape.

"She's in bad shape. We need to find somewhere where we can treat her," Blake says.

Penny looks ahead and activates her semblance. A moment later, they break through the compound and escape on their airship.

"I'm so, so sorry," Penny lays Nora down gently. With the mission done, Penny looks sad because of what that means. "It... it is time for me to go now, isn't it?"

Ruby hugs her friend, "Don't worry. We'll see each other really soon. I promise," and she holds her tighter.

Penny looks at her friends, and then Velvet gives her another hug, "It'll be alright. Just remember that you have friends nearby," and then she releases her.

With their goodbyes done, Penny exits the airship and flies on to Amity. With her gone, the others think about where to go next so they can treat Nora.


And that's the chapter. Velvet's group succeed in their mission, but at what cost? What's more, will the next stage in their plan go more smoothly, or will it have its own complications? Until then, please Read and Review. Happy New Year!