Chapter 35

"Dammit!" Penelope cursed. Her latest plan to find Summer Rose by altering her memories had failed once again. She had no idea how long she had been inside the containment unit, but she kept telling herself that it didn't matter as long as she could find her. But the whole process of repeating her memories was beginning to get on her nerves. "I can't believe that didn't work!"

"I could have told you that it wouldn't." Pearl suddenly appeared behind her "sister," as the background of Beacon academy faded into nothing.

"Hey, don't start with me, Pearl!" Penelope snapped. "You don't know me!"

"Uh, actually I do, Penelope. I am you."

"I know you know! I was being sarcastic! Who's the idiot, now?!"

"Uh, still you."

In an act of pent-up frustration, Penelope delivered a strong right hook to Pearl's jaw. Unfortunately, it seemed to cause her pain as well, as both Maiden fragments recoiled in pain. "Ow!" She groaned. "Man, we are really strong."

"Or we both just have a glass jaw." Pearl turned back to face Penelope. "So, what did we learn?"

Penelope let out a long, tired sigh. "Antagonizing the Doppelgangers is not a sure-fire way to keep Summer Rose at Beacon."

"Correct. Although, I would have hoped you'd learned that the first time it didn't work."

"Don't you mean 'we?'"

"Don't sass me." Pearl scolded, prompting Penelope to collapse to the ground, exhausted. Pearl just crossed her arms and continued to lecture her. "Hey, we knew what we were getting ourselves into when we came in here. Finding Summer Rose isn't going to be easy. It's more than likely that we'll just keep repeating our memories over, and over, and over, and over, and over, and-"

"Okay! I get it!" Penelope sat up. "Let's start over again."

"Any new ideas this time?"

Penelope considered her options for a moment. "... what if we marry Ruby?"

Pearl blinked at this. "How will that help us?"

Penelope shrugged, nonchalantly. "Well, it'll make me feel better."

"... huh, good point." Pearl nodded and disappeared, the memory world was resetting once again even as she smiled, remembering a different relationship that involved a Silver-Eyed Warrior.

Maria smiled as Winter finished tying some bandages around her eye. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it, Bones." Winter remarked, shaking her head as she did. "I'm not sure what angers me more: that you took a bullet for me, that you lost an eye because of it, or that my father...that Jacques doesn't even seem to care that one of our resident Silver-Eyed Warriors is now missing half of her most valuable assets against the Grimm."

"Well, I wouldn't be the first of the God of Light's chosen to manage with only one eye - likely won't be the last either - and you of all people know that this won't stop me for long," the Grimm Reaper declared before frowning. "Wait, back up: why are you upset that you're alive? I mean, I thought that it was okay for teammates to protect one another."

"It is," Agent White said with a calming gesture, "It's just...I'd rather not have to deal with you dying in my place, you know?"

Maria snorted. "Careful now: one might think you were interested in me, Snow Angel."

"And what if I am?"

Needless to say, Agent Silver had not been expecting to hear that. "Winter, I...I can't say that I'd be against it, but you know what Project Guardsman, what your father, feels about inter-team relationships, to say nothing about how I'm…"

"...a very gorgeous lady that I've had my eye on for quite some time now," Winter interrupted, quickly kissing Maria on the lips before looking her in the eye, an almost desperate look in her own. "Besides, I could care less about what my father...what Jacques thinks. Just...just once, I want to feel like a woman, not a soldier or a Schnee. Could you do that for me?"

"I'll certainly do my best," Maria said with a smile even as she gave her teammate - now her lover - a kiss of her own, already undoing their armor as they headed back towards the nearest bedroom, before frowning. "But first: hey, Jewels: would you mind giving us some privacy?"

"Of course: preparing to temporarily go off-line now," Pearl declared with a smile. "But first, let me just say congratulations. I always did ship you two."

The logical Maiden fragment couldn't help but chuckle as she came back to the present. "I've said it before and I'll say it again: Ruby Rose reminds me so much of the late Maria Calevera." She then sighed to herself as she briefly remembered how that story had ended. "Hopefully, things will be different this time around."

Penelope, having experienced the same memory that Pearl had, merely nodded, understanding the double meaning in her sister's words. "Agreed."

As Pearl continued to rematerialize, she saw that Penelope had not wasted any time in creating a world where she and Ruby were happily married. The couple had been sleeping in a king-sized bed with their adopted daughter, in a humble house on the beach of Patch. Penelope had been snuggling with her wife and daughter before Pearl had woken her up. The logic fragment sighed, somberly. "She's not here, Penelope. It's time to move on."

"No, please…" Penelope whispered, desperately. "Just let me stay for a little longer."

"I'm sorry." Pearl waved her hand, causing the mindscape to reset once more.

"Hey, as long as we're making timelines where we get a happily ever after, do you think you could make one where Mom and I get to meet up and she doesn't get killed off by Cinder?" Phoebe called out.

"What do you think we've been trying to…?" Paulette quickly cut herself off. "Oh, wait: you were talking about Glynda, weren't you?"

Phoebe nodded, her tears reminding Penelope and the others that Penny hadn't been the only one to suffer throughout this adventure. "Like Yang said, there's nothing saying that I can't have two Moms." she declared, remembering how Agent Purple had come to adopt her, albeit indirectly.

"Getting awfully chummy with the lightbulb." Tock, Agent Yellow, declared with a scoff.

Glynda, Agent Purple, couldn't help but snarl at her fellow Guardsmen's words. "Don't you dare insult my daughter like that!"

"DAUGHTER!?" practically everyone in the room shouted.

"You...you really mean it?" Phoebe asked, happy tears in her eyes.

"Oh, sweetie: you're smart, kind, determined, and cute as a button to boot." Glynda said with a smile, tickling the hologram's chin as she did, getting a tiny giggle as she did. "Honestly, I'd be honored if any flesh-and-blood child of mine turned out to be anything like you."

"Ugh, I think I'm going to get diabetes," Maria, Agent Silver, teasingly called out.

"Shut up, it's cute." Trifa, Agent Blue, declared, smiling even as she accepted some lien from Qrow, Agent Grey.

Summer, Agent Rose, nodded in agreement. "I'll go ahead and cover for you with Jacques: give you some time for a little one-on-one."

"Thanks for that." Glynda said with a smile, turning to Phoebe as she did. "So, what do you want to do now?"

Phoebe simply smiled in return. "I'm good with whatever you decide...Mom."

Glynda couldn't help but let out a teary eyed smile. "In that case, I hear there's a park nearby: might be worth checking out."

Phoebe couldn't help but smile as she came back to the present. "She was always so nice to me."

Paulette scoffed and crossed her arms. "Trust." She sneered. "A pitiful and dangerous thing to have. I never trusted a single person in that damned facility."

"That's a rather pessimistic way to live, is it not?" Pearl replied.

"Well, it's not like I'm the only one who's had trust issues." Paulette snapped her fingers, shifting the background to a Manta flying into battle. Agent Silver was on a solo recon mission, with only her Maiden fragment to provide her with any support.

"Hey, Jewels?" Silver called, summoning her "A.I." fragment.

"Yes, Agent Silver?"

"I'm in a bit of a pickle here." Silver explained. "I need to get to an altitude low enough to stay out of that fleet's radar, but I've got two scouts closing in on me. I have an idea, but I'm gonna need your help."

"I am at your service, Agent Silver."

"Great. I'm going to cut the engines and let us drop. So I need you to tell me when we get to the right altitude to switch 'em back on. You think you can do that?"

"Well, in order for this plan to succeed, I will need an accurate understanding of your reflexes." Pearl decided. "When I say 'mark,' you say 'synch.' Mark."

"Synch."

"Mark."

"Synch."

"Excellent. I am fully prepared for this task, Agent Silver." Pearl smiled as her image flickered.

"Whoa! Pearl, you okay?" Maria let go of the controls to cup her hands around the transparent girl, concerned for her fragment's well-being. "What the hell was that?"

"Oh, that was nothing." Pearl shrugged. "I must have received a software update."

"Wait a minute…" Maria squinted, suspiciously. "Did you just make a backup of yourself?"

"No." Pearl shook her head. "I tried to make a backup of myself. But for some reason, my programming prohibits me from performing such a task."

"You cheeky little-"

"Additionally, the scouts you were concerned about are getting closer. I recommend evasive actions."

Maria sighed before taking the controls, again. "We really need to work on your social skills, Jewels."

Coming back to the present, Penelope sighed as the mindscape shifted back to Beacon. "Okay, maybe this time, we should get the others involved. Any ideas?"

"Well, there is one thing we can try." Polly declared.

"Uh, I'm not so sure that's a good idea." Patricia remarked.

Understanding what they were talking about, Penelope gave a shrug of acceptance. "Well, digital recreations or not, they're still our friends: it's not like they wouldn't believe us if we told them the truth."

"I don't believe you." Memory Jaune stated.

"I can't believe you." Memory Pyrrha added.

"I don't care." Memory Nora finished. "Honestly, you expect us to believe this is all a memory world? What is this; Inception?"

Needless to say, Penelope wouldn't have been able to stop the groan that escaped her even if she tried. "Yeah, I was afraid you'd say that. Honestly, what else can go wrong?"

As if to answer her question, a massive earthquake shook the ground. "I had to ask." Paulette sneered, bitterly.

"NOOOOOO!" An anguished cry rang out from the school.

"Was that Ren?" Penelope asked. "Why is he still inside?"

"Ugh, he's still cleaning up the room." Nora rolled her eyes in annoyance. "I guess that earthquake spilled something on the floor."

Just then, the aforementioned Memory Ren came running up to the group with a frantic look in his eyes. "Hey! Does anybody have some carpet cleaner, rubber gloves, carpet cleaner, a plastic bucket of water, carpet cleaner, a power vacuum, carpet cleaner, and a wet rug sign?"

"You said 'carpet cleaner' four times." Penelope pointed out.

"Oh, no! Only four?! I better say it again! Just to make sure nobody I love dies!"

"Ren! Calm down!" Memory Nora ordered, slapping her friend across the face. "It better not have been the crock pot I was using to steam my broccoli that spilled! Or else there'll be hell to pay!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold on, this isn't right." Penelope was wondering if this was how Weiss felt when she and Penny went into Ruby's mind. "Ren is supposed to be lazy. And Nora isn't some kind of serious warrior who eats healthy foods! She eats pancakes!"

"Hogwash! Baseless slander!" Memory Nora shouted, slapping the Memory Maiden across the face. "Pancakes are empty carbs!"

Just then, another earthquake shook the ground, prompting Team JNPR to run away. Penelope regained her footing and turned to her sisters. "Pearl, what's going on?!"

"I think we've been in here too long." The Logic Maiden replied, fearfully. "This memory unit has been running on reserve power ever since we got here, but that was always a finite charge. Once this memory unit dies, we will perish along with it."

"We… we're gonna die?" Phoebe trembled as she hugged Pamela.

"No. Pearl doesn't know what she's talking about. We'll be fine." Pamela lied, for once grateful that she was the Maiden's Deceit.

"Perhaps we can still escape before it's too late." Priscilla offered, optimistically.

"We can't; at this point, the unit can only be opened from the outside." Pearl explained. "All we can do now is make our peace and wait to be reunited with the true Summer Maiden."

"Technically, aren't you all the true Summer Maiden?" A voice asked. The fragments all turned around to see the Memory of Summer Rose standing behind them.

"Oh, now you show up?!" Penelope couldn't help but growl out.

"This wouldn't have been the first time Jacques had tried using someone I cared about to try and trap me, or have you forgotten about how I mentioned that he had used Willow, his own wife, to trap the original Summer Rose? I had to be absolutely certain that you were really Penelope Polendena." Robo-Summer declared before pulling the girl into a hug, tears flowing from her eyes. "It's good to see you again...my daughter."

"It's good to see you too...Mom," Penelope remarked as she returned the hug, likewise crying tears of joy. The other fragments couldn't help themselves, and joined the hug.

Sometime later, after separating from the other occupants of the memory unit, Summer sighed as the tremors they were feeling began to increase in intensity and the sky started to split open. "I guess this is it."

Penelope merely nodded in reply. "Yeah; hey, uh, Mom… Summer: there's something I need to tell you: something, if this is the end, that I need to say."

"Whoa, wait a second," Summer declared, hands raised in a calming manner. "I can take the whole 'at peace with the world' thing, and I can even stomach all the 'accept your fate' stuff...and truth be told, I would jump at the chance to adopt you, so you don't have to stop calling me 'Mom' if that is indeed something you want, but... just do me a favor, okay? Don't say goodbye: I hate goodbyes; I mean, we are huntresses, right? We should try to maintain some level of credibility."

Penelope couldn't help but give a bitter chuckle even as she did her best to not look her in the eye for this discussion. "No, no, no, Summer...Mom, no: I think I just figured out what Jacques couldn't. What the Summer Maiden, the original Penny couldn't either: it was you, Summer, all along. See I thought...I thought we made you: what with Jacques, and the fragments... but that's not the case. You made us: when the Summer Maiden was kidnapped, for lack of a better term, you just kinda came along for the ride. You gave Jacques the idea that he could make something more: that he could split the Summer Maiden up. Don't you get it? You were the memory: you were the key. You were so strong, you made a whole other person. Gods, he always wanted to find you. You know, to get you 'right': to own you, and he wanted me to be able to do the same: to find you in here and... just, go down another iteration: figure out this little 'Summer problem': figure out how to do it 'right', make it 'perfect', and while I can only hope that Ruby and the others will be able to rescue the real Summer Rose, in the here and now, I finally understand: I know how to fix all of this: how to truly end it once and for all."

Penelope couldn't help but shake her head in a sense of dry amusement. "It was so simple all along: I just had to tell you four words: four words I wasn't capable of telling you before."

"Oh, okay, wait a minute... are you gonna say 'I love you, Mom?' Because I already know you do, and the feeling is mutual."

Penelope gave a humorless sigh. "I appreciate it, but no Mom...Summer. No, I'm not gonna say I love you, no matter how true it is: ...I'm gonna say I forget you, Summer." The Maiden's Memory couldn't help but let out an oily tear even as she allowed a relieved smile to grace her features, fully aware that Summer Rose was no longer standing next to her. "I'm forgetting you: I'm letting you go: I'm setting you free."

She then sighed looking to the sky as she did. "Okay, world: I'm ready to die now: do your worst!" She then looked down, a somber expression on her face. "My only regret: I'll never get to see Ruby, the real Ruby, or the others, ever again."

"It's opening: it's working!"

Needless to say, Penelope couldn't help but blink in shock upon hearing Velvet's voice. "Wait, what?!"

Velvet could only smirk as she seemingly appeared in the sky. "I see her: she's okay!"

"Is that...Velvet?!" Memory Jaune called out.

Not long after, Coco, Fox, and Yatsuhashi showed up alongside their tech-savvy comrade. This further confused the other members of Memory JNPR. "Team CFVY are the gods?" Nora asked.

"That would explain the fuck out of porn." Memory Ren snorted. "Holy shit, does that mean the kama sutra is, like… the Bible?!"

Memory Coco, meanwhile, merely smirked in reply. "I knew it: I knew my honey bunny was an angel!"

"You'll, uh, have to explain what you're seeing: all I see is a bunch of glowing wires." Yatsuhashi stated, confused.

Velvet merely nodded. "Yeah, but the fact that they're glowing alone is proof that she's still alive!"

Penelope, meanwhile, let out a startled gasp, tears of joy in her eyes as she suddenly realized what was going on. "This...this is... the memory unit isn't dying: this isn't the end of the world: this is a rescue attempt! I'm going home! We're going home!" The Maiden's memory turned around to see her sisters fading away. "Guys…? Guys, what's wrong?"

"Have you learned nothing?" Paulette scolded. "We are all long dead! We only existed herebecause you remember us!"

"Ahem, what Paulette is saying…" Pearl patted Penelope on the shoulder, offering a comforting smile. "Is that we'll always be a part of you. You just have to remember us."

Penelope wiped away a stray tear as she felt herself being pulled back into the real world. "I doubt I could ever forget you, sisters." She declared, watching her "sisters" smile as she left.

As Penelope came to, she couldn't stop herself from coughing, but quickly gained a smile nonetheless. "Ah, genuine fresh air: much better than the pixelated variety." She then froze, realizing what she had just said. "Wait: I'm a ghost: I don't need to breathe: what...how...?"

"Uh, how about you save the existential crisis for after we've dealt with all these soldiers?"

"Wait, what?!" Penelope shook her head, taking in what Qrow had said before sighing. "Okay, I think I can understand that there are some people who did not want me set free, but that just makes me wonder: how did you get me out? I mean, I didn't think you were that good with technology, Velvet. ...wait: that didn't come out right."

Velvet, however, merely gave a light chuckle in reply, giving someone else in the room a nod of appreciation as she did. "It's fine: truth be told, she gave me a bit of help. Thanks for that, by the way."

"No problem."

"Wait, you?!" Penelope gasped, turning towards the source of the voice. "But… but you're supposed to be dead!"

"Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated. It'll take a lot more than Cinder to keep me down for good." Winter Schnee, Agent White, declared with a chuckle.

"AH! PENNY!" A voice cried out. Penelope turned and nearly stumbled backwards in shock. Ruby Rose, the love of her life, was wearing a new outfit similar to her own. The Summer Maiden barely had any time to blush before she (ironically) found herself on the receiving end of a hug-tackle, Ruby's modest bust pressing against her face. "I WAS SO WORRIED!"

"Uh, R-Ruby?"

"I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONE FOR GOOD!"

"Ruby, please-"

"BUT THEN WEISS' HOT SISTER TOLD US WHERE YOU WERE!"

"Ruby, this is embarrassing!"

"AND NOW WE FOUND YOU! AND EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY, FOREVER!"

"RUBY! PLEASE, GET OFF!"

Meanwhile, Qrow waited, patiently, for Jean and Ciel to return to their temporary base with the others. Velvet had called ahead just a few minutes ago requesting back up on their mission to retrieve Penelope, but things weren't looking good. "Man, if we get through this without the others, it'll be more shocking than when Raven managed to get together with Taiyang via pun usage."

"Wait, what?" Yang's eyes widened in shock. "Mom told Dad a joke?! What was it?! I need to know!"

The younger twin crossed his arms and flashed his sister a smug grin. "If you don't tell her, I will."

Raven groaned and turned towards her daughter, uncomfortably. The chieftess was barely able to maintain eye contact as she forced her confession from her lips. "I just… I went up to him and said… 'Hey, Tai, is your semblance driving women crazy? Because you're making me... STRQ Raven mad.'"

Yang cupped a hand over her mouth to contain her obnoxious snort, but it was no use. The blonde brawler fell to the ground, kicking and screaming from laughter; never in her life would she have expected her mother to make such a pun. "This is the best fucking day of my life!" She wheezed.

"Oh, get up!" Raven blushed. "It wasn't even funny!"

"It was funny enough for Tai, apparently." Qrow chuckled. "What was it he said after that? 'I have never wanted any woman more than I have right now?'"

"I swear to gods, Qrow, I will punch you in the throat." She threatened, before her eyes widened, apparently spotting someone her brother hadn't. "Look out!" she called out, pushing him out of the way before using her sword to unleash a stream of dust, knocking the would-be assailant out.

As it turned out, however, Qrow still had some trouble with trusting his sister, as evidenced by the glare he gave his twin. "Don't think for a minute that this means that I…"

Raven meanwhile interrupted him with a scoff. "Oh, I'm sorry: I didn't realize that 'saving your life' was a criminal offense."

Yang nodded in agreement. "Yeah, give her some credit: she's at least trying to make up for accidentally killing the last Spring Maiden, abandoning me and Dad, and then nearly getting me and Ruby killed while selfishly trying to escape a criminal record that's looking more and more like something one might actually deserve. Oh, wait: that last part would actually apply to you, wouldn't it?"

"Uh, excuse me? I think we've got other things to worry about," Blake deadpanned as she gestured to the soldiers that they were still dealing with, before blinking. "Speaking of 'we', where's everyone else?"

"At the moment, working on our extraction," Winter remarked. "They actually should be here right about…" ...and that was all the warning anyone got before a Warthog driven by Nora and carrying the rest of Team JNPR came in over the next hill, taking out the rest of the soldiers as she did. "...now."

Needless to say, Nora was feeling a bit smug regarding her accomplishment, as evidenced by how she turned off the radio and gave the group a smug grin. "Sup?"

Raven merely cleared her throat. "Not that we don't appreciate the timely arrival, I thought for sure that the others were behind you."

Yang scratched her head. "Yeah, Mom's right: what happened to everyone else?"

Ren quirked an eyebrow in reply. "That's odd: they were supposed to be right behind us."

"We're here!" Jean declared as she slowly drove in her own Warthog carrying everyone else onto the site.

Needless to say, the fact that Jean had been playing classical music did nothing to take away Jaune's deadpan glare. "Wow: nice entrance, buddy: very thrilling."

"Yeah, we're never letting her drive again...or if we do, we're riding with you guys." Svetlana declared even as she crossed her arms to further showcase her irritation.

"I can't believe you stopped at the train tracks!" Ciel agreed.

"It's the law!" Jean declared.

"We were under fire!" Mikhail growled out.

Jean at least had the decency to look sheepish. "It's still the law…"

"Jean, only you would find a way to make a high-speed chase boring." Yang sighed before turning to everyone else. "All those in favor of taking away Jean's driving privileges?" Needless to say, Jean herself was the only one who didn't vote in favor of that suggestion.

"Well, Jean's stupidity aside, I'm glad that everyone's safe." Raven declared, before frowning as Ciel approached her. "Uh, can I help you?"

"You already did." And that was all the warning the Brawnwen Chieftess got before the French girl wrapped her arms around her. "I heard what you, Coco, and Team JNPR did. My father can finally rest in peace now that the Meta's gone. Thank you for that."

Raven just gave a dry chuckle as she patted the girl on the back. "For what it's worth, you'll always have a place with us."

Penelope couldn't help but smile at this display, taking in the group as she did, before giving a light frown. "...not that it's not good to see you guys again, and I appreciate you getting me out of that memory unit, but I get the feeling that my rescue isn't entirely because of our friendship, or in the case of Yang, Ruby, and Weiss, a sort of pseudo-sibling bond."

"Pseudo-sibling bond?"

Weiss merely gave her sister a shrug. "What can I say? Even taking our father's schemes out of the equation, Penny's like the little sister I've always wanted."

Winter simply gave a shrug of her own. "Touche, though I hope she isn't too offended that I'm not in too much of a hurry to call her 'sis.'"

Penelope nodded. "Fair enough." She then frowned. "Man, I just realized how completely messed up my family tree is."

"Tell me about it." Ruby said with a shake of her head before clearing her throat. "Anyways, to answer your unspoken question, Penny, Winter here wants to find her father, who seems to have gone into hiding in recent years: seeing how he implanted some of his memories into you, you might know where he is…"

Velvet blinked. "Wow, she actually summarized that fairly well: from what Blake told me, I thought for sure that there would be something that you might not have underst-"

"...and when we find him, we can have a nice family reunion and resolution between him, Weiss, and Winter like we had with Yang and Auntie Raven."

Velvet just sighed. "...and there it is."

Weiss could only give a sad smile. "Ruby, I love you, and your constant hope for a peaceful resolution is one of the many reasons why, but there's a big difference between Raven and Jacques: as many mistakes as she's made, even Qrow can't deny that unlike our deadbeat dad, she actually cares about people other than herself."

Hearing this, Qrow gained a glare and made as to deny that statement…only to pause to think about that, letting out a groan as he did. "Dammit, she's right: between the two, Raven's actually the better person…"

Yang couldn't help but share a smirk with her mother. "Nice to know you can admit that she's not a Jacques."

Penelope joined the others in groaning at Yang's pun, before nodding to herself as she thought over Winter's plan. "I'll do what I can, but it'll take some time: I might have Mr. Schnee's memories, but I don't exactly remember how to access them, if that makes sense."

Winter merely nodded in reply. "Qrow did warn me that you had suffered some damages so I'm not too surprised: for now, let's get going. It's only a matter of time before reinforcements arrive, so let's not dilly dally."

Meanwhile, Jacques Schnee sat in his office in Atlas' capitol. The malevolent CEO was currently engaged in a conference call with General Ironwood regarding their current situation. "This is your fault, James!" He snapped. "If you could have kept your people on a tighter leash, we wouldn't be having this conversation!"

"Who's fault it is is hardly relevant at this moment, Schnee." Ironwood replied. "Right now, we need to focus on what we're going to do about it. My men tell me that the Memory Fragment escaped three hours ago, and they have reason to believe that a pair of Guardsmen were responsible for aiding in her release. One of them claims to have seen a woman dressed in white."

"Winter…" Jacques sneered. "I should have known she'd survive. If, for no other reason, just to spite me. I'm so close, James. I just need more time. If I go down, they'll take you with me."

"I understand, sir. Leave it to me." The general ended the call and stood up from his seat. As he made his way across the room, he paused to gaze at a portrait of himself and Winter from when she entered Project Guardsman. "I'm sorry, Winter. But I cannot protect Atlas from behind bars."

The general took out his scroll to contact all agents under his command. "Time to get to work."

To Be Continued