If Atlas was the pinnacle of Remnant's technology, Mantle was the foundry that created it.
The difference between the two adjoined cities was night and day, quite literally in some cases where Atlas floated above, casting a colossal shadow over the cityscape.
It was all hardened brick, cast-iron beams and older, more worn infrastructure covered in a thick veil of smog that belched from the steel-mills, foundries, factories and furnaces that kept the lower city pumping.
Atlas may have been the mind, but Mantle was the heart, the blood the millions of litres of molten metal that was processed from the raw ore located deep beneath the mountains, and the thousands of tons of Dust that was refined and processed in the SDC-owned processing plants.
Naruto would be very surprised if Ilia managed to find a place that sold high-end outfits down here, but then again, she was more familiar with the layout. Perhaps there was a shopping mall somewhere that he'd missed the signs to, or she knew someone who was an expert tailor from back when she used to live here.
Naruto doubted the latter, but he couldn't completely rule it out.
The poverty was clear, too. It was bad, he could tell from a single glance, but more looks revealed a little more to it.
The only places that seemed to be making a roaring trade down here were the proverbial watering holes. Even now, despite being only a few hours past noon, there were drunks staggering about on the pavement outside one of the bars.
One such bar patron accidentally bumped into one of the patrolling Atlesian Knights, only to find himself roughly shoved aside with mechanical precision, falling ass-first onto the concrete with a grunt.
The robot didn't even spare him a glance, and neither did any of the others in the patrol group, continuing to march in metallic rhythm down the street.
"Made me spill my drink, tin can!" The drunk slurred from his newfound seat on the curb.
Naruto almost continued on before one of the other drunks threw what looked like half a brick at the back of the AKs. Naruto watched as it sailed through the air, hitting its mark against the back of the rear-most robot, leaving a sizeable dent in the metal plating on the back of its head.
The blond teen had enough time to wince before the patrol group all spun around, drawing their weapons with incredible speed, aiming at every single person on the street.
Which, unfortunately, included Naruto.
A good number of the people raised their hands quickly, but Naruto was in too much shock to even consider that. This was one hell of a reaction to half of a brick.
"Disable and detain," One of the robots announced, and they began to fan out, seizing people by the arms and forcing them onto their knees, a kind of mechanical set of handcuffs wrapping around their arms.
One such robot stepped towards Naruto, and he reacted on instinct, grabbing the rifle with one hand and forcing it away from him, pointing it towards the ground.
In an instant, the black visors of the robots lit up red, and they all turned on Naruto, rifles raised. "Target is resisting arrest. Stand down or be eradicated."
The bright red glow of the visors sent a chill down Naruto's spine. The last time he'd seen that glow, it had been during the Fall of Beacon.
He kept his cool, though, releasing the blocky upper receiver of the rifle and holding up his scroll. "Naruto Uzumaki, Hunter. Stand down, release the detainees."
This was a hell of a gamble.
If robots could share glances, they'd be doing that exact thing, or so he was imagining. It was easier than just staring into the red glowing faceplate, and less nerve-wracking. He didn't want to be spending a night in a Mantle jail cell if he could help it.
If he got arrested and Ilia didn't, she'd never let him live it down.
He may not have been an Atlesian Specialist, but it seemed that the robots weren't able to make that distinction, the rifles being re-holstered and the cuffs automatically disengaging.
There were murmurs that sounded somewhat like gratitude, but Naruto didn't pay any attention. He hadn't wanted to draw attention, but it seemed like life was yet again throwing him obstacle after obstacle.
He needed to get away from this section of street now, and he did that exactly, quickening his pace until he'd managed to round the nearest corner.
Okay, so maybe Ironwood might've taken the whole 'blockade' thing a bit far. Though he wasn't entirely sure how detaining an entire street's worth of people would actually help, or even be possibly considered helpful.
Unless it was some kind of group punishment thing, but even then, there was a pretty hefty disconnect between whatever the intended message was, and what Naruto had just witnessed.
Well, more than witnessed, but the less people knew about him throwing his weight around like that within the first day of actually getting the official license the better.
Of course, with Naruto's luck, despite however many points he put in the damn stat, someone had noticed.
Multiple someones, in fact, who were currently approaching from both sides of the street towards him, three to his rear and one in front.
He may not have been picking up any hostile intent from them, but his Sixth Sense had picked them all up regardless, which meant they at least had active Aura.
He stopped walking, if only to test a theory, but it was one proven correct so quickly it might've been unnecessary. The three behind him stopped when he did, and whilst he couldn't actually see them without turning around, he could hear the telltale sound of weapons being checked.
Either they were planning a fight, or making sure they were ready in case he was. He was really starting to hope it was the latter, he'd drawn enough attention today already.
"Can I help you?" He asked, directing his question to the woman in front of him, who'd reached about halfway down the street now.
The woman shared a brief glance with the three as-of-yet unseen people behind him, before refocusing her gaze on Naruto.
"Heard you're the new Huntsman in town. Wanted to see what all the fuss was about."
Naruto rolled his shoulders back, letting his hand come to rest against Predator, where it sat magnetized to the holster-plate on his hip. "Seems I'm at a disadvantage then. You know who I am, but I don't know who any of you are."
The woman held up one hand in what Naruto presumed to be a placating manner, an easy smirk forming on her expression. "I'm Robyn. The girls behind you are Fiona, Joanna and May. There, we're all on equal footing now."
Naruto finally spared a glance away from the blonde-haired woman in front of him to the three behind him, a smaller sheep faunus, a much taller and broader tan woman and a medium-height bluenette. He gave a nod of greeting to the three before turning back to Robyn.
"Nice to meet all of you. Is, uh, that all?" His question went unanswered for a moment as he gently tapped a rhythm against the grip of Predator.
"You know, there's a lot of rumors circulating about, concerning a 'Naruto Uzumaki'. Considering what I've heard, you surprise me. A lot younger than I thought you'd be."
Naruto frowned. "Rumors? That'd be the first I've heard of anything about me."
Robyn shrugged. "Not exactly wide-spread gossip, but I keep in touch with a lot of people. Information is important, especially these days. Don't worry, though, it's mostly good things."
Naruto cocked his head to the side. "Mostly?"
The sheep-eared faunus, Fiona, spoke up from behind him. "There's a good portion of the White Fang that claim you're a demon sent to destroy all faunus."
"First I've heard of it."
Robyn let out a short chuckle. "You don't seem like a demon. I don't think someone bent on exterminating an entire race of people would help out a street full of innocent civilians like you did. Wanted to say thanks for sorting that out. Not often we get Atlas Hunters down here, but you're not from Atlas, are you?"
Naruto shook his head. "Vale."
Robyn visibly winced. "You were at Beacon? My condolences."
"I try not to let it weigh me down."
The woman glanced him up and down. "So it seems. You're packing quite an arsenal there, kid."
"Why have one gun when two will do?" He ventured, before switching to a different tack. "Look, as much as I'm enjoying this little meet-and-greet, I do have some stuff I have to do today, so if it's not too much trouble, do you mind letting me pass?"
Robyn gestured for Naruto to do exactly that, though the moment Naruto tried to take her up on the offer she stopped him.
"Just one quick question, yeah? Ironwood's planning something. I want to know what it is."
Naruto sighed. "I don't know anything about what the General is planning. Ask somebody else."
Robyn frowned. "And if I don't believe you?"
He shrugged. "That's your call. I landed in Atlas this morning, I haven't exactly been privy to sensitive information like you think I have."
"You landed in Atlas today and already you're promoted to an official Hunter, and you expect me to believe you and the General aren't connected in some significant way?"
"I worked with the General in Vale. Guess I've still got some good-will left with the man, what can I say?"
"I don't need you to say anything except the truth. Hold out your hand."
Naruto glared at Robyn, the tapping at his side on Predator's grip redoubling. "Why?"
Robyn rolled her eyes. "I'm not gonna bite, blondy, now give me your hand."
Naruto hesitated a moment longer, before grasping her extended hand with his own, his other hand gripping Predator and disconnecting it from the mag-plate.
Robyn noticed him drawing his weapon, but whilst her three companions drew their own weapons, she made no move, simply meeting his eyes. "What is Ironwood planning?"
Naruto watched as their grasped hands lit up with a bright glow. "I don't know what Ironwood is planning."
The glow faded, and Naruto released his grip as Robyn did the same.
"Huh, I'm surprised. Could've sworn you would've been roped in on whatever it is the General is planning. You seem like the type."
Naruto shrugged. "Sorry to disappoint. Now, if that's all?"
"See you around, blondy."
Finally, Naruto was starting to make some headway down in the endless maze that was Mantle.
And to think he'd thought Vale's downtown was designed to make you lost. This was just a plain nightmare to navigate!
According to his scroll, his destination was supposedly on his left, but Naruto was a little concerned that the quote-unquote secret laboratory of a mysterious doctor seemed more like a workshop doing some kind of humanitarian aid.
At least, the small crowd of people with what seemed like prosthesis in various states of wear and tear seemed to indicate that it wasn't a secret laboratory at all.
He wasn't quite sure why he'd thought it would be a secret lab in the first place, actually. Maybe all that time delving into dungeons and fighting Grimm had warped his sensibilities. If he started being surprised that cafes weren't actually fronts for inter-kingdom mafias, he was going to have to take a holiday.
Preferably somewhere sunny, with maybe a nice beach without too many Grimm. Also preferably with all his friends. Being alone with his thoughts was what was leading him to tangents like this.
Tangents he needed to stop, er, tangenting down. Was tangenting a word?
Nope, he was on another tangent again. 'Focus, Naruto, head in the game. Er, metaphorically speaking. Thinking.'
"Excuse me, but can I help you with something?"
Startled, Naruto jumped, snapping out of his thoughts to see the short man in front of him. Dark skin and gray hair with brown eyes that looked up at the blond from behind a small pair of glasses, the man cocked one of his eyebrows at Naruto's surprise.
Naruto also noticed that the man was sitting in a chair with legs. Well, all chairs had legs, he supposed, but these were mechanical legs that seemed to serve as a way for the man to maneuver around.
"Are you Dr Polendina?" Naruto asked, once he'd recovered from his surprise.
The man nodded with a genial smile. "That I am, my boy. Is there something you need?"
Naruto scratched at the back of his head in what was most definitely a signature move by now, struggling to find a way to voice what he needed to say. "Well, uh, I'm not quite certain how to put this, Doctor, but I kind of have your daughter's soul?"
Doctor Pietro Polendina looked at Naruto like he was insane. Which, to be fair to anyone who'd never met Naruto before, was an entirely acceptable first impression.
The man continued to look at Naruto in shock for another few seconds, before he recollected himself, gesturing for Naruto to follow. "Come in, please. I'd like you to explain yourself, if that's within your ability."
Naruto nodded, following the robot-chair-riding doctor into the workshop, sidling past various cabinets and racks covered in spare parts, tools and other engineering paraphernalia.
The man led him through into a small room off to the side of the workshop, decorated much the same way, but it was clear that whilst the outer area was where Dr Polendina worked with his patients, this was his personal office and workspace.
Naruto took the offered seat opposite the custom-made wood desk, clasping his hands together, fingers interlaced, resting between his knees.
The doctor rotated his mechanical seat around to where he was facing Naruto, and gestured for the newly-minted Hunter to explain.
And so explain Naruto did.
"There's a lot of stuff I can't speak about, like how I managed to actually contain Penny's soul, how I have it on me, and pretty much everything else to do with my semblance, but what I can tell you is that firstly, Penny is a friend of mine, and a friend of my friends. I hate to ask, but did you watch the Vytal Tournament?"
Pietro nodded. "I did. I'd prefer not to dwell on what happened, however, unless it pertains to the situation."
Naruto nodded. "Penny was hacked, as was all the rest of Atlas' tech. The Knights and Paladins turned on us, but it was Penny being no longer in control of herself that was the biggest threat. She nearly killed me." He frowned, letting out a sigh. "If Ruby hadn't done what she did, I would have died, and many more would have followed in my footsteps. She regrets it, of course, Penny was one of her best friends, but it was necessary."
Naruto leaned back in his seat, unclasping his hands. "In a last ditch effort to try and salvage what I could, I tried to do something with my semblance that I've never done before. Like I said, I can't tell you what I did, or how it worked, though the latter is because I don't actually know how it worked, but I have her soul contained. I'm not sure how much I managed to save, or how it might help, but it's better than nothing, right?"
Naruto reached into his inventory, withdrawing the Steel Puppet's Soul Orb and holding it out, allowing the doctor to see the green swirling orb of pure Aura.
Pietro delicately took it from Naruto's hands, a blend of intense curiosity and gratitude crossing the man's face as he stared deep within the encased green mist. "How did- no, you said you couldn't explain. Perhaps you could tell me what this is?"
Naruto reached into his inventory, withdrawing a Minor Soul Orb as an example. "This is a Soul Orb. They're effectively made of condensed Ambient Aura, though I'm not quite sure what that is. I use them with my summons, to create new ones and to improve them. As for that one, I'm not quite sure. I've never drawn from a direct source before, but I have to imagine that it's effectively a solid form of Aura. When Penny was hacked, she switched over to a remote mode, or at least that's what I think she said, and her Aura was deactivated. That's why I think I managed to grab it. I'm not too sure on that, though."
Pietro booted up his desk-scroll, hitting a button that slid open the large metal panel at the back of the office, revealing something that made Naruto's eyes widen in surprise.
"When Atlas recovered Amity Colosseum, General Ironwood made sure I was given Penny's body. I did what repairs I could, and then dedicated myself to improving her chassis and systems, as well as removing the remote function that the Atlesian Council had made me install. It was supposed to be a security function only to be used in situations of dire necessity. The same was to be said for the override function of the Knights and the Paladins."
The Doctor stared at the lifeless Penny that was suspended behind the metal panel. "I'd resisted, but the council gave me an ultimatum. Either my daughter would have an emergency brake, so to speak, or I would have no daughter. I made the choice, warning the council that it could go poorly. My warnings were ignored, and I was proven right. I wish that weren't the case."
"Is there anything else you need to do with her, Doctor? Because I might be able to put her soul back into her body." Naruto stood from his chair, one hand clenched into a determined fist.
The man delicately handed Naruto back Penny's Soul Orb, allowing himself one last tentative look at it before he released it from his grip. "Please, Naruto, bring my daughter back to me. I will be forever in your debt."
Naruto stepped up to Penny's body, holding the Soul Orb in both hands, feeling it pulse faster and faster the nearer he got to the chassis.
He moved it closer and closer, until the orb was touching her body, and he felt the pulsing become a constant vibration, ramping up in speed.
And then the orb broke, swirling green energy engulfing Penny's body, and flowing up Naruto's arms.
And then, all of a sudden, Naruto felt everything go white.
Disconcertingly, when he opened his eyes, he was not standing in Pietro Polendina's personal workshop and office, but rather a large park, filled with trees and a small playground, a pristine creek running along the one side. Beyond the park was an expanse of nothingness that stretched so far that it hurt to even look at, so Naruto decided it might just be easier to focus on the park part of wherever he was.
This wasn't even the first time today he'd been transported somewhere, be it dream or whatever this was, so he wasn't entirely thrown by it.
He walked towards the playground, noting the girl on the swing, vibrant ginger hair offset by the large green bow.
He took a seat on the swing next to her, wrapping his arms around the chains that suspended the seat. "Hey, Penny. Long time no see, huh."
Penny looked up from her seat on the swing. "Friend Naruto! What a surprise! What are you doing here?"
Naruto didn't answer, he didn't know how. Instead, he switched to a different topic. "So this is what it's like inside a Soul Orb. It's a nice place."
Penny nodded. "I'm not sure what a Soul Orb is, Friend Naruto, but it is a very nice place! I have spent only a few hours here, but I do like the sound of the flowing water!"
A few hours? "Penny, what's the last thing you remember?"
Penny cast her mind back, staring blankly forwards. "I… remember fighting you in the tournament! I do not remember who won, though, Friend Naruto, but I remember having a lot of fun! Then everything went black. Did I have a memory error?"
Naruto didn't know how to answer that, either, so he put it to the side, noticing that the park was beginning to come apart at the edges, chunks dissolving into nothingness one after the other.
"When you wake up, I'll tell you everything you missed, Penny. I promise. I owe you that much at least."
"But we are awake, Friend Naruto! Are you okay?"
Naruto could feel his body coming apart at the seams, but it was without sensation. "See you in a bit, Penny."
Naruto opened his eyes.
"-rc! Mr Uzumaki, are you alright?!"
Pietro was calling out to him, and Naruto found himself on the floor, staring at the ceiling. He put one hand on the ground, pushing himself to a seated position with a woozy groan. "Mmph, yeah, I'm okay."
A hand reached out and he took it, feeling himself be hauled to his feet with surprising strength.
"There you go, Friend Naruto! I now see what you meant about waking up! I did not realize I was asleep, or that I could dream!"
Naruto smiled. "Thanks, Penny."
"Hello Father! I've missed you!"
"Penny! My darling!"
Naruto stepped back, out of the office. They deserved a moment, and he was more than willing to give them that. Besides, he had a notification to attend to.
[Quest Complete!]
[Tinker Tailor Soldier Friend]
[Help Dr Polendina repair his daughter.]
[Reward: Blade Tether Skill Book]
He accepted the reward, dropping the skill book into his inventory next to the other one he'd acquired, and was still yet to read. He'd been meaning to, he'd just been sidetracked.
He looked up, seeing Pietro wrapping Penny in a tight hug.
It had been a good sidetrack, though.
Blake and Ilia both looked up from their comfortable positions on their respective beds as the door to their room opened and Naruto trudged in, exhaustion lining his expression.
"Naruto, are you-" Blake began, but Naruto held up a hand to cut her off.
"Penny's alive again."
And with that statement, Naruto slumped into his bed and immediately fell asleep.
Ilia looked at Blake. "Who's Penny?"