Chapter 26

While Qrow went ahead with preparing the Manta for their next trip, Ruby and Penny went off to the side to converse with their newest A.I. companion. Once they were certain that Qrow couldn't hear them, the two friends shared a nod of agreement before turning to their new companion. "Pearl? Do you mind if Ruby and I ask you a few questions about this 'Project Guardsman?'"

Pearl nodded. "Of course. I shall endeavor to answer them to the best of my abilities."

Ruby smiled. "I don't know what it is exactly, but I can already tell that you're best is more than enough." She cleared her throat before continuing. "Anyways, you mind telling us why Uncle Qrow is so hesitant to talk to us about this mission?"

Pearl mused, thoughtfully, for a moment. "I believe that Agent Grey is uncomfortable discussing our program in any fashion. He was one of the many 'failures' during the implantation process."

Penny blinked "Wait, one of the failures? How many were there?

Pearl shook her head in disgust. "Several. Though I do not know the exact reason, Jacques insisted on escalating the number of experiments as time went on. In fact, Tock - Agent Yellow - was part of another experiment that he classified as a 'failure.'"

Ruby shared a confused look with Penny "Wait, what? But she didn't even seem to have an A.I. unit…"

Pearl gave a bitter chuckle at that remark. "She did not. In point of fact, the experiment in question was shared between her and Glynda Goodwitch, Agent Purple. Jacques wanted to see what would happen if one agent received an A.I. unit and another did not."

This time, Penny was the one to shake her head in disgust. "I guess we all saw how that turned out… back when she had her former partner killed."

Pearl nodded, grimly. "Forcing Glynda into a position where she was sure to die is just like Tock. She never did like to work in a completely direct manner. Still, they didn't all have unhappy endings. At least, not initially." The logical A.I. gave a sad grin. "For example, Agent White - Ms. Winter Schnee - was implanted with two A.I. fragments at once."

Ruby's eyes widened in awe. "Wait, Winter? Weiss' sister? She had two A.I.s in her head?! How did she even handle having three minds in her head at once?!"

"She didn't… at least, not at first. She would only be able to function for short periods of time, and not very well at that." A mild look of admiration adorned Pearl's face. "...but eventually, she was able to get the situation to work for her. Through a combination of treating them like teammates instead of tools, and a healthy amount of sheer willpower, she was eventually able to surpass all but one of the other Agents. And that one Agent was a unique case in and of herself."

Penny blinked. "Wait, back up a bit. You said that Winter had trouble working with more than one A.I. fragment before she started treating them both with respect? Ruby mentioned having run into Cinder before, and that she didn't seem the type to respect anyone." She looked over at Ruby as she went on. "Could that explain why she's the way she is now, even partially?"

Pearl mused for a moment, considering her words. "Perhaps. Now that I think about it, Agent Crimson's power symptoms could be a small indication of what must be going on inside her head."

Ruby sighed. "I actually pity her. She finally has the power she sought after, but she's no longer able to properly enjoy it."

Pearl smiled at the girl's empathy. "You truly are a simple soul, Ruby Rose…" Suddenly, she noticed Qrow walking over to their little group. "...but we can worry about all that later. Agent Gray is ready to pursue the Meta."

With that, Pearl retreated back into Ruby's mind. "Okay, kiddos, ready to go?"

"Uh, yeah, Uncle Qrow." Ruby replied. "I'm just gonna keep Pearl in my head for safe keeping."

"That's fine with me." Qrow shrugged. "Let's just get going. We need to figure out how Summer was planning to take down Jacques Schnee and fast."

Meanwhile, none of the huntresses noticed that Cinder hadn't truly left after all. "That's right, Agent Gray…" Priscilla cackled within Cinder's mind. "Keep it up. You'll find what you're looking for soon enough. But just to make sure you do…"

Cinder reached for her scroll; she had recorded everything the group had said. With Pamela's help, she scrambled the words to make it sound as if Ruby was in distress. Then she called Pyrrha.

"Hello? Ruby? Is that you?"

"Pyrrha! Help! Uncle Qrow's gone crazy!"

"Oh, my gods! What happened?!"

"Need help! Please, find us!"

"We're on our way! Just hold out until then!"

Priscilla gave an arrogant chuckle as Cinder hung up. "That's right. Come to help your precious friends. 'Come into my parlor' said the spider to the fly."

Meanwhile, Yang, Raven, Holly, and Vernal had successfully made it back to Beacon...just in time to see everyone gearing up for what looked to be all-out warfare. "Whoa, where's the fire, guys?" Yang couldn't help but ask.

"Yang!" Nora yelled out. "Thank goodness you're back! Remember how Glynda said that Qrow had a few issues back with Project Guardsman? We think he's had a relapse or something!"

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Raven declared. "Let's head out and…"

"We?" Taiyang growled out. "Oh, no. I might have enjoyed that night we shared with Summer, but don't think that means I've automatically forgiven you for just leaving me high and dry the way you did!"

"Why are you still…?" Raven just cut herself off with a groan. "Oh, who am I kidding? I can't even say I'd never put my family in direct danger, as once upon a time, that's exactly what I would have done if it meant achieving my goals."

"Once upon a time, sure, but not now," Vernal declared, drawing her foster mother into a hug. "I know in my heart that if you had to choose between me - the tribe - and the mission, you'd choose the former. Every. Time."

"Well said, my sister from another mister," Yang remarked as she and Holly also embraced the older woman. "You're not a murderer. You're a Chieftess. A Maiden. A Huntress. A mother. My mother."

Velvet couldn't help but blow her nose as tears flowed from her eyes. "Does that look like a woman who doesn't care about anyone but herself?" She couldn't help but direct at Taiyang as Raven returned the hug, genuine joy and relief clearly plastered on her face.

"I… suppose I might have jumped the gun a bit," the brawler of Team STRQ replied, "but this doesn't mean I'm going to go back to trusting her just like that." He snapped his fingers to further cement his point.

"We're not asking you to trust her," Jaune declared. "Just let her fight alongside us. We're going to need all the help we can get for this one."

"Good attitude, kid," Vernal said with a nod. "Though maybe it's just the Bandit in me, but this feels like a trap. Don't get me wrong: if Raven's stories about her are to be believed, she's worth walking into a trap if it means the possibility of saving her, but maybe we ought to do some reconnaissance first."

Nora gave an excited grin. "You mean like spy stuff!? That would be cool! I could wear a spy tuxedo…"

Ren could only give a deadpan glare. "No."

"...with a hidden spy camera…"

Raven frowned. "No."

"...inside a tiny spy bow-tie."

Fox groaned. "No."

"Or, I could wear a flower on my lapel…"

Yatsuhashi glared. "We said no!"

"...that sprays water in people's faces."

Jaune shook his head. "That's enough Nora."

Nora gasped. "No, a secret spy liquid. That would be awesome!"

Ren, Raven, Yang, Vernal, and Velvet all gave a collective "NO!"

Pyrrha hummed to herself. "Actually, that does sound kind of cool." She then shook her head. "Wait, I'm sorry. I mean, NO!"

Nora whined "Oh, come on! I could be Double 0 Nora!" She blinked. "Err, wait, would that just be Noora, then?"

Ren just sighed and gestured to Nora even as she continued to ramble on about being a spy. "I'll stick close to her and see if I can't contain her latest fantasy. You guys see about gathering some intel, deal?" Everyone else nodded as they prepared for the coming mission.

Cinder was practically giggling as she watched Qrow enter the room across from his Silver-Eyed Niece. After cloaking herself, she used some of Priscilla's assistance to help broadcast a copy of her voice across the room. "You know, I can't wait to see the look on your face when I kill your uncle right in front of you." Her voice seemingly declared from right next to Ruby and Penny.

"Keep waiting, you bitch!" Qrow angrily declared as he blindly shot in the direction he heard the voice...only for his heart to practically freeze in his chest as Cinder uncloaked right next to him. "Wait, what? If...if you're here, then who did I…?"

"Ruby!" Penny yelled out as he cradled the hooded huntress - who had been knocked out by the blast from her Uncle's weapon - in her arms, before giving the male Branwen a glare. "How could you?! We trusted you!"

"And on that note…" Priscilla declared as Cinder punched a button on a remote she was carrying, activating two shock traps that knocked both Penny and Qrow out. "...it's time we got what we came for."

Penny let out a groan as she took in her surroundings. "Is this...Ruby's mindscape? How'd I end up here?"

"I brought you here, that's how."

Penny blinked as she took in the figure that stood next to Mental-Ruby. "Pearl?!"

Mental-Ruby nodded. "Yes, this is my friend, Pearl."

Here, Pearl couldn't help but give a smile. "Salutations, Penny."

"Wha...what's she doing here?" Penny couldn't help but ask.

"She said she had some information for you." Mental-Rudy declared matter-of-factly.

Penny shrugged. "Fair enough. What information might that be?"

Pearl gave a somber look. "First and foremost, before we go any further, I should make it clear that I was indeed taken by the Meta while you, Ruby, and Agent Grey were knocked unconscious. I am merely a memory I inserted within Miss Rose's mind to help you along your way."

Penny blinked. "I...I don't understand. If that's true, how are you talking to me right now?"

Pearl chuckled. "I'm not. Not really. I merely used logic to determine what questions you would ask, and in what order. Then I left the appropriate responses."

"Oh, really?" Penny suddenly grew a mischievous smile.

"Yes, really." Pearl nodded.

"Okay. I love Ruby Rose." Penny stated.

Pearl frowned, indignantly. "Stop trying to test me."

"I want to marry her and build multiple robot babies with her." Penny smiled wider.

"Seriously, stop."

"Okay, sorry." Penny sighed. "Then she really did it: the Meta won."

Pearl, or rather Mental-Pearl, smirked. "No, Penny. You and your friends are very much still capable of beating her. Despite all her power and how much her mind has been altered by all those different A.I.s, she's still Cinder Fall at her core, and Cinder Fall is still human; still capable of being defeated…" She then shook her head. "...but believe it or not, the Meta isn't the most pressing issue. Listen very carefully; I have an important message for you. Tell Agent Grey - Qrow Branwen - that memory is the key."

Penny could only give a huff in reply. "'Memory is the key?' What does that mean? ...and for that matter, why would I tell Qrow this? He's made it pretty clear that he can't be trusted."

Mental-Pearl gave a somber nod. "Your first question? Qrow will understand. As for the second question - and before you ask, even without having witnessed it myself, I've known him long enough to know that his experience with the A.I. fragment designated 'Penelope' has resulted in him being a bit unstable, mentally speaking, in his present state. And thus I had calculated that the odds of him causing harm to Ruby and/or one of her friends, yourself included, to be very high prior to all of this - I know that it'll be very hard to trust him, but like it or not, he knows more about Project Guardsman then just about anyone. If you want to have any chance of freeing the Summer Maiden - who like Summer Rose, is a prisoner of Jacques Schnee - you'll need access to his knowledge."

Penny sighed. "Fine, I'll work with him, but I'm not going to like it."

Mental-Pearl gave a bitter chuckle. "I'd be surprised if you did at this point in time." She sighed. "Good luck, Penny, and be wary: the next time you see me, I may not be able to help you."

Meanwhile, Jaune, currently standing besides an unconscious Penny and Ruby, the latter of which was sporting several bruises that were being treated by Jean, gave a growl even as he held his sword to the neck of one Qrow Branwen - who had since woken up. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't take your head off...and no: saying that your Yang and Ruby's Uncle won't qualify as an answer. Not anymore."

Penny grunted as she woke up. "Stand down, Jaune." The android just sighed in response to the flabbergasted look she got. "I just spoke with Pearl...uh, sort of. Turns out we can't kill him just yet, as he might be able to help us rescue the Summer Maiden, who in turn can help us rescue the real Summer Rose." She then gave a wicked grin. "Don't worry: we can always kill him later."

Qrow sighed. "Yeah, something tells me it's going to take some time for everyone to trust me again…"

"Nevermind that." Penny interrupted. "Pearl wanted me to give you a message, Qrow. She said 'memory is the key.'"

"Memory is the key?" Qrow rubbed his chin in thought. "Memory is the key…"

"Yeah, but what does that mean?" Penny asked.

"How should I - AH!" Jaune was cut off when Qrow accidentally knocked him over when he sat up.

"That's it!" Qrow exclaimed. "Pearl, you're beautiful!"

"Whoa, what? What is it, Uncle Qrow?" Ruby tilted her head. "I don't understand, what does it mean?"

"It means in order to bring Jacques to justice, we have to go to the source of our problems… we need to go straight to Project Guardsman."

Sometime later, Qrow, now standing inside an old Schnee compound with Penny and Team RWBY, gave his allies a nod. "Alright we got in, but that's only part of our mission so no celebrating just yet."

Yang couldn't help the sarcastic scoff that escaped her. "Oh shoot, and I was going to be in charge of confetti."

Qrow sighed. "Ignoring that. We still need to reach the A.I. storage facility: we'll find what we need for our next step there. Security will be tight, though, since it was mostly likely given an update since Project Guardsman broke into here."

Penny blinked. "Wait, you mean to tell me that the Summer Maiden was kidnapped before?"

Weiss, meanwhile, couldn't help being confused. "I'm still stuck on wondering why this 'Project Guardsman' would feel the need to break into their own compound…"

Blake quirked an eyebrow as she glanced towards the Schnee family crest that was on full display on the walls. "Uh, Weiss…"

Weiss sighed. "Yes, yes: realized it the moment I said it: shut up."

Qrow gave a stoic nod of understanding. "Look, I promise to explain everything to the best of my abilities when we're out of here, but for now, we need to focus." He cleared his throat. "Anyways, my clearance as a Guardsman should get us close to the storage area, but they won't just let me through without the proper motivation." He nodded to Penny. "...which is why Miss Polendina will be coming with me as a 'hostage' while you guys provide a distraction as extra insurance."

Ruby frowned. "...any chance I could be the hostage instead? Not sure how I feel about my Uncle holding Penny at gunpoint."

Yang could only sigh even as Penny gave a grateful blush. "For the record, I don't like it any more then you do, Ruby, but no offense, but Penny is a bit more durable than you." She then gave Qrow a glare. "...though for the record, if anyone of us gets killed, I don't care if you're my uncle: you'll be wishing that Cinder killed you."

Qrow could only give a nervous gulp in response. "Noted."

Once Qrow and Penny led the others inside, Qrow addressed the group. "Okay, Penny and I are gonna need a few distractions to keep the guards away from Penny and I. Do you guys think you could make some noise?"

"Ha! You may as well ask a fish if it can swim!" Vernal snorted as she took out her weapon and gave Ciel a firm slap on the butt. "C'mon, hot stuff! Let's make some noise!"

Ciel glared and the tribeswoman. "Touchez-moi encore comme ça, et je vais vous trancher la gorge, vous arracher les ongles et les coller dans vos yeux. (Touch me like that again and I'll slit your throat, rip off your fingernails, and stick them in your eyes.)" She warned.

"You come with us, Ciel." Rachael suggested. "This is no time to be fraternizing with girls you fancy."

Ciel facepalmed. "Putain ma vie. (Fuck my life.)"

"Good luck to you all." Penny waved farewell to her friends. Just as she was about to follow her own team, Ruby turned back and gave Penny a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Don't tell Weiss." She blushed.

"What she doesn't know won't hurt her." Penny shrugged, happily.

A few minutes later, Raven had discovered a particular file on a computer console. "Mom? What're you looking at?" Yang asked.

"This is… this is everything the SDC has on the Maidens! It's all here!" Raven gasped. "And they're getting close to finding out that I'm the new Spring Maiden! We… we have to delete this!"

"I can do that!" Velvet offered, stepping up to the console's keyboard. "But just deleting this file by itself won't be enough. We're gonna have to delete the backups."

"Can you do that?" Yang asked.

"Oh, yeah! No sweat!" The rabbit faunus cracked her knuckles before skimming over the keyboard at a remarkable pace.

Meanwhile, the rest of Teams CPPR, CFVY, and JNPR were doing their own work to keep the guards distracted. And by "keep them distracted," that meant they were actually engaged in all-out war with them.

"We can't let them escape!" The commander declared as he turned to one of his men. "Jo-An-Nes… Jo-An-Nes! I'm talking to you, Jo-An-Nes!"

The soldier groaned. "Sir, for the millionth time; my name is pronounced 'Jones!' JONES!"

"Just go get the tank, Jo-An-Nes!" Another soldier snapped.

"Seriously! How am I the first person you people have ever met named 'Jones?!' It's very common!"

But Jones wasn't able to get the tank anyway, as Coco mowed him and the others down with her minigun. Jean was trying her best to stay out of harm's way, hiding under a Warthog to avoid enemy fire. Thankfully, Ciel and Rachael were more than capable of keeping up with Coco, Yatsuhashi, and Fox. At last, there was only one soldier left standing. He was a stout young man with dark red hair, holding a weapon similar to Rachael's.

"I will not allow you to hurt my friends!" Rachael snarled, protectively. "Come at me if you dare!"

"I… I cannot!" The last guard threw down his weapon and held up his hands in surrender. "I swore never to harm a woman! Especially not a woman as beautiful as you!"

"How dare you!" Rachael snapped. "You refuse to fight me because of my sex?! I am warrior-strong! Proud Mother Rushland!"

"Rushland?" He echoed, eyes widening in disbelief. "Y-you are from Rushland? I am Rushland man!"

"What?" Rachael dropped her guard in shock. "But how? I thought I was the only one. Don't get me wrong, it's great news, but how?!"

"Well, it wasn't easy, let me tell you." The man smiled and slowly got back to his feet. "But we Kashtanovyys do not die so easily!"

"'Kashtonovyy?'" Rachael dropped her weapon as tears of joy welled in her eyes. "Mikhail? I-it's me! Svetlana!"

"Svetlana?!" Mikhail could hardly believe his ears. But as he saw the sparkling green eyes and bright crimson hair of his lost love, he knew it to be true. "Oh, my gods! This is the best thing ever!"

The two childhood lovers embraced each other in a loving hug. "Oh, Mikhail! I missed you, so much!"

"So did I!" Mikhail was now also in tears. "I was worried that the White Fang had caught you! How stupid I was! You are the strongest woman ever! If anyone could survive, it had to be you!"

"Oh, Mikhail, you sweet talker!" Rachael set the boy down to wipe her eyes. "But, please, darling! My friends and I are in the pursuit of justice! We cannot let Jacques Schnee find us! Please, do not sound the alarm."

"Well… this job has been a good provider for me, Svetlana…" Mikhail thought for a moment before shaking his head with a happy smile. "But for you, I will do anything! Oh, my darling, I want to hug you!"

"No!" Rachael started crying again, hoisting Mikhail up by the scruff of his shirt collar. "Kiss me!"

Team CFVY, Ciel and Jean could only watch as their friend began passionately making out with the guard. "Uh, what's going on?" Jean asked. Even Coco and Yatsuhashi were disturbed by such a bizarre display of affection.

Ciel, on the other hand - having already been told of the lovers' tragic past - was touched. "C'est ... c'est tellement foutu. Et pourtant ... très doux en même temps. (This… this is so fucked up. And yet… very sweet at the same time.)"

Meanwhile, Qrow and Penny had finally gained access to the SDC's main computer console. A few minutes of hacking later and Qrow found what he was looking for. Penny gazed in amazement at the bizarre cylinder the huntsman held.

"So this is the Summer Maiden?" She asked.

"No." Qrow shook his head as he gently put the containment unit on the floor. "This is Penelope. My A.I."

"Are you kidding me?!" Penny spluttered, angrily. "This is what we came here for?! Your crazy A.I.?! I knew we couldn't trust you!"

"It's not that simple." Qrow explained. "Penny, listen to me… everything you've been told is a lie."

"What? What're you…" Penny paused, remembering something that the Spring Maiden had told her. "W-what do you mean?"

"This mission goes back way before Summer and I got involved. Are you familiar with the story of the Four Maidens?"

"Of course." Penny nodded. "They were four sisters who met a kindly old wizard and earned the powers of the elements. They left to spread their gifts to the world and reincarnate into new bodies to keep spreading those gifts."

"Right, well… here's the real story." Qrow sighed. "Professor Ozpin… is that old wizard. He and Salem are the Maidens' parents. And just like their dad, they were cursed with reincarnation. Until a few years ago, Ozpin decided his daughters deserved a better life than constantly reliving their whole lives only to be reborn over and over again. So, a few years ago, he funded a special project that would give the Maidens permanent bodies to money was easy. Five thousand years is plenty of time to amass a fortune. The hard part was finding his daughters to complete the project. But as luck would have it, one daughter found him."

"The Summer Maiden." Penny gasped, enticed by Qrow's story.

"Right. Ozpin convinced the council that the Maiden was actually an advanced artificial intelligence he had developed on his own to see if machines could replicate protective auras. But when Jacques Schnee requested that he share the A.I. with him, he was forced to decline… so Jacques stole the Summer Maiden with the intentions of replicating it for his own purposes. But since the Summer Maiden was actually a living soul, it couldn't be copied. So instead, Schnee thought he could get her soul to fragment itself. His men put the Maiden through the most grueling situations-"

"They tortured her." Penny corrected, angry that anyone could do such a thing.

"Right. They did torture her. And every time she was pushed too far, she would fragment a portion of her soul and release it into their hands. And each fragment made up a certain aspect of the Summer Maiden. Kind of like weaponizing multiple personality disorder. The Meta, also known as Cinder Fall, was given Priscilla - the Maiden's ambition/creativity. Glynda was given Phoebe - the Maiden's trust. Summer was given Paulette - her rage. And I was given Penelope - the Maiden's memories."

"And memory is the key!" Penny snapped her fingers as the realization hit her. "So if Penelope is the Maiden's memories, then that means she remembers what Jacques did to the Maiden! She can prove to the council that Jacques has committed crimes against Remnant and bring him to justice! But… you said when you tried to integrate with Penelope, she nearly drove you insane. How are we going to keep her stable?"

"The only way to make her safely relinquish the memories is if the true Summer Maiden coaxes her." Qrow explained.

"But where is the Summer Maiden?!" Penny asked. "Shouldn't we be there instead of here?!"

"You still don't get it, do you?"

"Get what?"

"It's how you're able to possess other beings. Why you weren't affected when Paulette tried to take you over. Why you could sense Pamela in the Manta and not the false Summer A.I. Why you listen to everything Pearl tells you."

"... what're you saying?"

"Penny… there's no such thing as a synthetic person capable of generating an aura." Qrow stood up to look his friend in the eye. "Summer's brain patterns were never used as the basis for your mind and neither was Pietro Polendina's. The only person who can do the things you can is a Maiden… it's you. You're the Summer Maiden."

To Be Continued.