Chapter 36

Years ago, Jacques Schnee, currently enjoying the power he'd gained following the ejection of one Professor Ozpin from his Project, could be found giving a lecture about his "A.I." program to the members of Project Guardsman. "Of course, our A.I. units are what we call 'fragments,' so there's very little chance that a personality subroutine can run off unchecked."

General Ironwood, who was assisting in said lecture, then turned to the group. "Are there any questions?

Tock - Agent Yellow - merely scoffed in reply. "Yeah, I've got a question: why do we need to learn all this stuff?"

Winter - Agent White - then cleared her throat. "A.I. theory is like vehicle maintenance, Yellow: if we're going to use this equipment, any equipment, we need to know how to care for it." She leveled a glare at her father. "After all, it'd be a real shame if Mr. Schnee's merchandise was damaged." Realizing what she said, she then winced before looking to the present A.I. fragments. "Sorry, that didn't come out right…"

Phoebe merely smirked in reply. "It's fine, Winter: I know you didn't mean it like that…"

Pearl shrugged. "No offence taken, though I would request that you not take out your aggression towards your father out on us…"

Priscilla, meanwhile, gave a bitter chuckle. "Hey, it's not like you're wrong about how President Schnee views us…"

Tock couldn't help but chuckle as Jacques leveled a glare at Winter, giving a fake smile while all this was going on. "Aw, that's so sweet: Agent White is bonding with the toasters…"

Pearl briefly flashed Phoebe, who had shrunk in on herself upon hearing that remark, a comforting smile before glaring at Tock. "Now that was just rude…"

Tock merely scoffed in reply. "Cry me a river, light bulb."

Winter, however, let out a growl upon hearing this. "You know they are far more advanced than that…"

"What I know is that I don't even have an A.I. because somebody didn't bring enough to share," Agent Yellow declared, leveling her own glare at Jacques as she did. "Which makes me wonder: what am I even doing here, sitting through this Elementary School bullshit?"

"Need I remind you that I don't have one either?" Agent White asked with a roll of her eyes.

Maria - Agent Silver - couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Uh, no offense, Princess, but do I need to remind you that you gave yours to Agent Crimson?"

Winter gave her girlfriend and lover a smirk. "It's fine, Bones, and in my defense, she needed Priscilla more than I did after that last mission of ours temporarily robbed her of the ability to speak."

"Yeah, we all know that's not the only reason you gave it to her." Tock declared, nodding to an irritated Jacques as she did. "Real hero material, White." She gave a smug grin in Cinder's direction. "Besides, it's not like Crimson's got much to say right now."

Priscilla took this moment to clear her throat, giving a growling Cinder - Agent Crimson - a calming gesture as she did. "I feel it's necessary to point out how appreciative the two of us are for Agent White's generosity." She gave Winter a smile. "Besides, I'd like to think that if anyone could excel without an A.I. unit, it would be her."

Winter smirked. "Thanks, Priscilla."

"Well, her and Agent Rose, though I suppose that goes without saying…"

Agent White couldn't help but groan in response to the teasing grin she got. "Thanks, Priscilla."

Upon hearing this, however, Glynda - Agent Purple - couldn't help but blink. "Actually, that reminds me: where is Agent Rose?"

Jacques scoffed. "Agent Rose does not require this training."

General Ironwood leveled a glare at Winter's father. "What President Schnee means to say is that she's already finished her theory course work." He then cleared his throat. "I think that's enough for today."

"If I may, General," Priscilla called out, "I do have one last question."

Maria Calevera wouldn't have been able to contain her sigh even if she had tried. "Oh, boy…"

Priscilla, however, chose to ignore that. "It's regarding the different levels of A.I. awareness and rampancy, specifically the final stage."

"Meta-stability?"

Priscilla nodded to confirm Ironwood's suspicion. "Yes, I believe you and President Schnee stated how, in the meta stage, an A.I. could be considered most human…"

"Yes, that is true," James declared, "but so far no A.I. has ever reached that stage. At the moment, it's purely theoretical…"

"...but still possible," Priscilla declared with a smile. "I find that very interesting."

Needless to say, General Ironwood didn't share her enthusiasm, as evidenced by the flat look he gained. "Be that as it may, as an A.I. fragment, something of that magnitude would be far more difficult…"

Priscilla merely shrugged in reply. "Well, for all our differences, I find myself agreeing with President Schnee when he says that it's good to have ambition."

Jacques couldn't help but smile upon hearing this. "Indeed it is: class dismissed."

As everyone exited the room, Pearl couldn't help pause upon noticing that Cinder, and by extension Priscilla, had yet to leave and in fact was re-arranging the symbols that indicate all the A.I. fragments available in front of her. "Priscilla, are you and Cinder coming?"

Priscilla simply paused the holographic rearranging with a self-satisfied smile. "Yes, we will be joining you shortly." As the trio left however, the symbol that Priscilla created continued to flicker in a rather ominous fashion. Little did they know that years later that symbol would be synonymous with the rogue Guardsman known simply as "The Meta."

Back in the present, Winter and Qrow had been leading the group across Remnant for almost two weeks, now. Using their encyclopedic knowledge of the SDC and its outposts, the group had been systematically invading every outpost in search of any information on Jacques' whereabouts. Ever eager to please her older sister, Weiss put herself to work looking for any computer console and information port she could find.

Unfortunately, her teammates were being less than helpful at the moment. As evident by how Yang currently had Blake pinned against a wall, their lips locked in a furious make-out session.

"Yang! Could you stop being gay for Blake for two seconds and give me a hand?!" She shouted. In response, Yang detached her prosthetic limb without unlocking her lips with Blake and threw it at Weiss' feet. Needless to say, Weiss felt her blood pressure rising. "Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha. Yeah, that's… that's very funny but THIS IS SERIOUS!"

Meanwhile, Ren and Nora were keeping watch outside their temporary base, looking out for any of the SDC's soldiers. "Hey, Nora?"

"Yeah, Ren?"

"Do you ever wonder why we're here?"

"... is this another philosophy question?"

"No! I mean… ugh." Ren rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Okay… we are all officially enemies of the Atlas government, we've been kicked out of our school before we even had a chance to graduate, we're now working alongside a man who tried to kill us, and to top it all off, this is all because Weiss' sister wants us to help her take down some old rich guy we don't even know!"

"Well, uh…" Nora scratched her head as she tried to think of an answer to her boyfriend's stressful question. "Well, Weiss said that her dad was the one who helped create Project Guardsman in the first place. And if Project Guardsman is the reason we're enemies of the Atlas government, then we're helping stop them before they hurt anyone else! So, if you think about it, they're the reason we're here!"

"I… huh, I guess that makes sense." Ren admitted. "But what is this place, anyway?"

"I think Penelope said it used to be one of the SDC's warehouses, so it should have a computer with information on it."

"Still, Winter's starting to get on my last nerves." Jaune commented as he and Pyrrha joined the childhood sweethearts. "All she does is boss everybody around."

"I agree." Pyrrha nodded. "She's just using us. It's like she doesn't even know who we are or what we're capable of."

"I know exactly who you all are." Winter replied, startling Team JNPR. The former Guardsman circled the young huntsmen team, judging them with her eyes. "Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie; two orphans from the ruined village of Kuroyuri. During an attack by a Nuckelavee, Ren discovered his semblance could hide auras from all types of Grimm, giving the two of them a chance to escape. Soon afterwards, Nora was struck by a bolt of lightning, unlocking her semblance to channel electrical charges through her body and convert it into muscle mass."

"Hey, that's kind of personal." Ren replied as he hugged Nora for comfort. "I lost my family that day."

"Is that relevant?"

Ren hardened his glare. "It was a traumatic event."

"So, no." Winter turned to Pyrrha. "Pyrrha Nikhos. Graduate of Sanctum Academy, top of the class, and consecutive winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament for four years. Very impressive."

"Oh, uh, thank you." Pyrrha smiled, modestly.

"And also a sellout to Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes cereal." Winter added. "Additionally, she resents her own status and talents; blaming them for her inability to form any meaningful relationships."

Jaune grew angry at the sight of Pyrrha's saddened face. "Hey, that's crossing a line, lady! I don't care who you-!"

Winter grabbed Jaune's arm and twisted it behind his back, stopping him. "And that brings us to Jaune Arc, the 'leader' of Team JNPR." She stated with distaste. "Latest in a long line of decorated huntsman, youngest of eight, and a rather pitiful excuse for a huntsman, himself. Faked his transcripts to get into Beacon Academy, didn't even unlock his semblance until he was being bullied…" She pulled Jaune's sword out of his scabbard and snorted. "And I half-expected it to be made of wood."

She released the young huntsman, ignorant of his depressed expression. "You are all, without a doubt, the worst huntsmen and huntresses I have ever met." She declared. "But this is your chance to make yourselves useful. So stop whining, and await my orders."

"... I don't like her." Nora stated as Winter walked away. "She is a rude bitch."

"If you'd like, you could all move to New Rushland with us when this is over." Svetlana offered, coming out of the base. "Mikhail and I would love having some neighbors."

Team JNPR was startled by her sudden appearance. "How long were you-?"

"The whole time." Svetlana answered before Nora could finish her question. "But in all seriousness, you are all invited to come and build yourselves a home in New Rushland."

"We… just may take you up on that offer." Ren replied as he subconsciously prepared a back-up plan for when they failed to find Jacques.

Meanwhile, Winter had secretly been keeping an ulterior motive from the others for coming to this particular warehouse. According to her intel, it was in this warehouse that her former lover - Agent Silver - fell to the hands of Tock and the Meta. In spite of the severity of the mission, the seasoned Guardsman desired to pay her respects to the dead.

"Was that really necessary?" Maria's voice called out.

Winter could only blink, for a moment seeing her old lover where Ruby was standing, the young girl having apparently witnessed her dressing down of Team JNPR, before shaking her head. "Maybe, maybe not, but I'm not sure you realize how serious…"

"Okay, I'm going to stop you right there," Yang declared, approaching her sister with her fellow teammates as she did. "As happy as I am to have Holly in my life, considering how she was conceived and how I lost an arm before that happened, to say nothing about how your family held my mother against her will...well, you'll have to forgive me if I don't think you really care about us."

Agent White, not knowing how to respond to this, simply scoffed before turning to leave. "I'm going for a walk."

Weiss could only sigh as Winter walked off. "Penny, could you follow her?"

Penelope couldn't help but blink in surprise here. "Of course, but if you don't mind me asking, why? I thought you trusted your sister?"

Weiss merely shrugged in reply. "I do, or rather I want to, but with what happened with Qrow Branwen, I'd rather be certain that Winter is still my sister, you know?"

"Fair enough." Penelope declared, abandoning her robot body to hitch a ride on Winter's Mongoose.

Sometime later, Winter, having found the spot where Maria - Agent Silver - supposedly died, couldn't help but let out a tear. "I'm sorry, Bones: I should have trusted you more. It's just...I don't understand: how'd you do it? How'd you know to trust Summer?"

"Well she was supposed to be Ruby and Yang's mother: why wouldn't she?" Penelope gained a sheepish grin as Winter turned to glare at her. "I'm guessing that was a rhetorical question…"

"What are you doing here?!" Winter growled out before holding up a hand as Penelope opened her mouth. "Wait: don't tell me: you want some information."

"Actually, no," Penelope declared with a shake of her head. "The others were getting worried about you: Weiss was getting worried about you."

"Wait, what?"

Penelope shrugged. "Is that so hard to believe? She's your sister, and after the stunt that Qrow pulled, she… they want to make sure that they can trust you."

Winter let out a bitter laugh. "Well, give them some advice from me and tell them not to; after all, I don't trust anyone anymore."

Penelope gasped. "You...you don't mean that…"

"You don't have a clue, do you?" Winter declared with a scoff. "You and your friends just think I'm some blood-thirsty merc with a bad attitude. But you know what? You're wrong. I'm much worse." She shook her head as she took out a knife out of her pocket and stared at it, almost able to hear the laughter of the one who used to own it. "You know, I had a team once. A team with the best training, the best equipment, and despite everything that they had that made them the best, they still lied, and stole, and tore each other to pieces!" She leveled a glare at Penelope as she angrily closed her fingers around the knife. "So you tell me: how the hell am I supposed to trust a bunch of reckless idiotic children when I couldn't even trust the people that were close to me?!"

Penelope answered with a glare of her own. "Tell me: is Weiss included in that grouping of yours? Is she on your kill list?"

When Winter's only answer was to give a startled blink, Penelope couldn't help but shake her head in disgust. "I was afraid that's how you'd answer that: you and Jacques have more in common then you think…"

Instantly, Winter paled, realizing the real reason for Penelope's earlier gasp. "Wait, that's not...I'd never…" And yet, as she looked back down at a certain switchblade in her hand, she couldn't help but shake her head, an angry growl escaping her. "Just...just leave me alone, okay?"

Penelope merely nodded. "Fair enough, but just so you know, well, I don't remember everything, but I do remember enough to know that by time Project Guardsmen was ending, you'd manage to successfully push away everyone you'd ever cared for, and from the looks of things, are on the fast track to doing it all over again: I hope you're happy."

"Winter!? What do you think you're doing?!"

Winter - Agent White - could only frown upon hearing those words from Maria - Agent Silver. "That's my line: what are you doing helping Summer, if that's even her real name?! She's just Jacques' personal hit-woman: the moment she, and by extension my deadbeat dad, are done with you, they're just going to put a bullet right between your eyes!"

"Wait, is that what you think is happening?!" Maria asked with wide eyes. "Who told you that load of elephant droppings!?" She then shook her head. "Wait, never mind: not important right now. Listen: things are a lot more complicated than anything you might be guessing."

"I don't care!" Winter growled out. "Even if you're right and she's some sort of multiple agent or something: Jacques is my father, so it's my job to kill him, so get out of my way so I can stop her from getting in the way." She looked down, letting just the tiniest bit of doubt enter her voice as she did. "I have to."

Maria, however, just shook her head. "No you don't: you can come with us: you don't have to do this alone: we can help you: you trust me, right?"

"Always." Winter said with a light grin before instantly gaining a glare as she raises her weapon. "...but it's clear you don't trust me!"

Winter charged with her sword, fighting with a ferocity that Maria was not unfamiliar with. The "Grimm Reaper" did her best to dodge her lover's attacks, not wanting to do any harm, herself. But eventually, she realized there was no peaceful way to stop Agent White. She took out her scythes and tried to disarm the enraged agent, but it was no use. Winter was famous for always keeping a strong grip on her sword during battle. For a moment, Maria considered using her silver eye to blind her, but shrugged it off as futile. Suddenly, Winter managed to slip behind Maria, grabbing her switchblade and stabbing it into her flesh.

Maria couldn't help but cry out in pain as she was literally stabbed in the back. "Winter…"

Despite everything, Winter couldn't help but flinch at the betrayed tone in her now-ex-lover's voice. With a remorseful sigh, she placed a switchblade with the word "Kuroyuri" written on it by her side, knowing that she didn't deserve to carry it right now. "I'm sorry…" she managed to say before leaving to confront Summer - Agent Rose - even as Maria reaches for said switchblade.

Winter couldn't help but let a tear fall from her eye as she came back to the present, knowing full well that she only got that knife back because she had taken it from her corpse after stumbling upon it following her former lover's final confrontation with Tock - Agent Yellow. Thinking back upon how Ruby, Weiss, and the others had been nothing but sweet to her, she almost broke out sobbing. "No: I'm not happy at all…"

"Winter?" Penelope suddenly called out.

Winter turned away with a scowl. "I'm done talking to you…" She refused.

Penelope, refusing to give up, concentrated on her memories. "Winter, I think I found something that you might want to see."

Winter scoffed and reluctantly turned to face the Maiden. "Really? What might that be?"

Suddenly, Penelope's aura changed from light green to a bright blue. "A memory." Pearl replied.

Winter gasped at the familiar face. "Pearl?!"

Pearl's aura flickered. "We must be brief. Penelope is struggling to remember."

"Remember what?" Winter quirked an eyebrow as Pearl focused. "Pearl?"

The eldest Schnee daughter gasped in shock as Pearl's image changed into that of Agent Silver. Maria smiled as she had Pearl record her message. "Good evening, world! It's a beautiful Monday night and I'm here with another adrenaline pumping journal entry, courtesy of our friend, Pearl."

Winter felt tears stinging her eyes. "It can't be…"

Pearl's voice was heard off-screen as the message continued. "Maria, please, documentation is an important part of-"

Maria scoffed. "Yeah, yeah. Jeez, sorry if I wanted to lighten the mood a little…" The silver-eyed warrior cleared her throat before continuing. "So today, I intercepted some interesting messages from our friends working for Jacques Schnee. It sounds like someone is causing him a bit of trouble. Old news, I know, but here's the interesting part - hey, Jewels? You mind giving me a drum roll?"

Pearl sighed. "Fine, but just this once." The Logic Maiden imitated the sound of a drum roll.

Maria smiled and went on. "He said 'It's high time I curbed this rebellious phase of hers.' That's right: someone who makes a habit of messing with old Kernel Sanders' evil twin - and a lady to boot - is causing many a disturbance. Someone who was part of this from the beginning, and if you know me, you know my money's on the hottest Ice Queen I've ever met... Well, if I had any money... Also, on the off-chance you end up seeing this, Snow Angel, I'm sorry for the 'Ice Queen' comment. I know how much you hated hearing that from Qrow."

Winter smiled, tearfully, even as she tried to suppress a blush. "It's fine, Bones. I actually kind of like it when you say it."

Suddenly, a new recording of Maria came on. "Still no ID on our little troublemaker, but given what I know about Tock's last location, I'm fairly certain the odds are in my favor."

Again Pearl's voice came from off-screen. "Not trying to discourage you, but the odds of Agent White's survival are-"

Maria interrupted her Maiden fragment with a groan. "In other news, Pearl's track record of remembering Winter's record of beating the odds continues to be nonexistent." The image briefly vanished before reappearing. "So when I meet up with her again, I've narrowed down my openers to two options. Okay, Pearl, tell me what you think. One; Hey, Winter: if I offered to warm you up, would you take offense to it? Or-"

Pearl scoffed. "Maria, please focus."

Maria shrugged. "What? Playful banter is a natural part of conversation, Jewels. Hey, did I ever tell you about how Winter and I first met? See, I was out one night with some friends, and somehow they ended up ditching me at this ridiculous performance hall in Kuroyuri." Winter smiled as she mouthed the exact same name at the exact same time before Maria continued with her story. "So, I'm just sitting there, bored out of my mind, tossing my switchblade up into the air, catching it as it comes down - don't worry, I made sure not to have the blade just sticking out - and then all of a sudden, she walks up to me, snatches the knife right out of the air as I'm about to catch it, she looks at me and…" Again, the image briefly vanished, reappearing with a somber expression on her face. "Agent Silver, journal entry 0424; intercepted another transmission from Jacques' men. They've confirmed that Agent Rose continues to evade their response team, and that she does still have possession of Paulette. Nothing more to report."

Pearl unknowingly shared a sense of concern with Winter. "Maria?"

Maria sighed. "You know, Jewels, I bet if I went straight for the playful banter, you know, not even checking to see if she was okay first, I would have never seen her again."

"Why is that?" Pearl asked.

Maria let out a bitter chuckle as she rubbed her eyepatch. "Because she would have probably busted my other eye."

"What… would you have told her, Maria? After making sure she was alright, that is?"

Maria sighed. "I would have told her...that I loved her. And that I understood why she did what she did... I just wish she hadn't. I wish she could have learned to let things go. I guess I should, too."

With a heavy heart, Winter wiped away her tears and stroked the image of her late heartthrob. "I love you, too." She whispered before Penelope reappeared. "Polendina… Penny, why did you show me that?"

Penelope sighed. "Because… I know what it's like to spend your life chasing ghosts."

Winter could only give a frustrated shake of her head in response. "I don't understand, these are more than memories…"

Penelope nodded. "Her journal entries were part of the data that Qrow had recovered and the higher ups stored them in their personal files… which just happened to be one of the many files I managed to acquire during my last visit to a Project Guardsman base alongside Team RWBY and company." The Memory fragment smirked and crossed her arms, smugly. "Not bad for one of those 'reckless idiotic children', as you called us, right?"

Winter glared. "If you're expecting me to get down on my knees and beg for forgiveness, you're out of luck…"

Penelope shook her head. "I never wanted to humiliate you, I just wanted you to respect me and my friends…"

"I've always respected you guys." Winter couldn't help but sigh as their earlier talk surfaced in her mind. "...though I suppose I could do a better job at showing it, starting with saying 'Thank you for the gift'."

"You're welcome."

"Penny, Jacques is still out there," Winter declared, "and I need to find him. Not just for what he did to me and Weiss, to Yang and Ruby, but also what he did to Maria, to Qrow, to Cinder, the twins, to all of them." She then looked to Penelope. "And for what he did to you. I guess I forgot that, in a way, you were there alongside us too."

Penelope nodded. "You know, the more memories I sift through, the more that sounds like a good plan."

"Find anything that can help us?"

Penelope shook her head. "Yeah, sorry: there's a lot of memory for me to sift through, though I might be able to pull up some of Jacques' files if you give me some time…"

Winter nodded. "Well, you'll have plenty of time on the way back…"

Some time later, Velvet managed to find a way for Penelope's aura to transfer her memories into one of the computers where everyone could view them. At last, they managed to discover Jacques Schnee's exact location based on his most frequently visited labs. "You may thank me later." Velvet announced, smugly.

"We'll thank you, right now." Coco replied as she and Yatsuhashi kissed the rabbit Faunus' cheeks.

"So that's it, then, huh?" Ren sighed, tiredly. "Now, do we send this to the authorities, or-?"

"No." Winter interrupted. "Now, we finish our mission… and take down Jacques Schnee!"

Team JNPR shared a concerned glance. "Uh… I thought the deal was we help you find Jacques Schnee?" Jaune stated.

"And we found him!" Pyrrha added. "Good job, everybody!"

"Look, I just need you all to provide a distraction long enough for Penelope and I to get inside." Winter clarified.

"So we're just a decoy to you?" Qrow sneered, disgusted by Winter's tactics.

"No, Gray, you're with me." Winter corrected. "You're on lock-pick duty. You'll be getting us into Jacques' lab."

"Uh… we have to fight the bad guys on our own?" Ruby whimpered.

"Fuck that!" Yang shook her head, angrily. "I'm not risking my neck for this! And neither is my wife and sister!"

"Look! You have nothing to worry about!" Winter pressed on. "You're not going up against Guardsmen! Just standard Atlas soldiers!"

"But you said we were the worst huntsmen and huntresses you had ever met!" Nora replied.

"And you were right!" Ren added. "You're very perceptive!"

Penelope had heard enough. She finally had a chance to stop the man who had ruined her life, to save the closest thing she had to a good mother, and as she approached her moment of triumph, her friends were giving up on her. "Will you all stop whining and do something useful for once?!"

"Excuse me?!" Raven snapped. "Are you forgetting who saved your sorry magic ass from the military?!"

"Yeah! We almost died trying to save you!" Pyrrha reminded her.

"Oh, cry me a river!" Penelope shot back. "Let me know when you're on your fourth or fifth life to complain about how hard life is!"

"Wow, fuck off, Maiden." Ren holstered his weapons and marched towards the exit.

"Where do you think you're going?!" Winter demanded.

"I'm going with Svetlana." Ren replied. "Anyone who wants to come with me is more than welcome to tag along."

"Oh, that's great, Ren!" Penelope lashed out. "We can always count on you to cut out when we really need you!"

"Well, you can count me out, too!" Raven declared.

Winter clenched her fists in anger. "What?!"

"Don't get me wrong; I hate Jacques Schnee just as much as the next guy." Raven explained before she walked over to Yang and Blake, putting her arms around them. "But I'm not letting my family get turned into swiss cheese just so you two can settle some personal vendetta! This isn't our fight."

"Wow. Well said, Mom." Yang smiled.

"Both of you! Be quiet!" Winter demanded.

"No, this is bullshit!" Yang pushed the scorned Agent White away.

"Be quiet!" Winter repeated. "That's an order!"

"Well, guess what, psycho?!" Yang fumed, pointing a metallic finger in the former heiress' face. "I don't take orders from you!"

"No?" Winter drew her sword and held it against the blonde brawler's neck. "How about now?"

However, before she could make another move, Winter found a familiar scythe around her own neck. "Don't do that." Qrow growled, sternly.

"Gray? What're you doing?"

"Protecting my family and their friends. Now, drop it." He demanded. Once Winter did as he ordered, the alcoholic huntsman motioned for the others to step away from Winter.

"You're siding with them? After everything they've done to you?!"

"I'm sorry, White. But I've already caused more than enough problems for them." Qrow moved Harbinger's blade away from Winter's neck and stepped away. "And I'll be damned if I let you cause any more."

Penelope growled, feeling furious regarding this latest development. "So that's it?! We finally get a chance to take down Jacques Schnee, to possibly save the real Summer Rose, and you're just going to turn your back on us?!"

Qrow tried to calm her down. "Penelope, I-"

"No, no, it's fine!" Penelope scoffed, bitterly. "I should've expected it from you! I mean, it's not like you're really new to the concept, right?"

"That's a little harsh." Yang replied.

"But you guys?!" Penelope's glare hardened as she turned her gaze to the others. "After all the shit you put me through, I really thought that at least you'd have my back!"

Jaune blinked in shock. "Us? What the hell did we do?"

Penelope's image began to grow as her rage and aura intensified. The others stepped back in fear as she continued her rant, summoning a maelstrom of lightning, leaves, and rain. "You called me weird without knowing me! You stuck a magnet on my head! You shot me with a tank! You got me sent to the past! You killed me with my own damn swords! And that's just how we met!" She fumed.

"Penny, calm down!" Yang shouted. "What's your problem?!"

"YOU'RE MY PROBLEM! YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN MY PROBLEM! EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU IS JUST A PROBLEM! THAT I HAVE TO DEAL WITH ON A DAILY BASIS!" Penelope's words echoed around the room, leaving the others in shocked silence as the storm died down.

Weiss was the first to react. She glared at her sister, took off the tiara she had given to her years ago, and threw it at the ex-Guardsman's feet. With a huff, the younger Schnee sister turned around and left the room, angrily. Winter reached out to stop her, but no words came out of her mouth. At the same time, Penelope had calmed down enough to realize what she had just said; as evidence by the way she shrank back to her normal height.

"Guys…" Penelope called out as Teams JNPR and CFVY left along with Raven. "Guys, w-wait a minute…"

Qrow, Yang, and Blake were about to leave with the others, only stopping to wait for Ruby. The hooded huntress in training just stared back at her best friend with a saddened expression on her face. Ruby Rose; the original Penny's closest and dearest friend - the love of her life, even. The one human in the world who would have fought to the bitter end to prove that Penny Polendina was a real girl. The girl who's infectious smile and happiness always warmed Penny's heart. But now, after hearing what the Memory of her best friend thought of her, she could only stare, blankly, at her.

"Ruby, I…I didn't mean..."

At last, Ruby backed away from Penelope and turned around to join the others. Yang and Blake put their arms around her, as the poor girl silently wiped the tears from her eyes, albeit giving the spirit a look that showcased equal parts hurt and understanding: out of anyone, they understood what Penelope was going through.

"Forget it, Polendina!" Winter sneered. "We don't need them!"

Qrow looked back at the two before leaving. "Penelope I can understand: one can only go through so much before the pressure finally gets to them. Give it a day or two and I'm certain the others will welcome you back, Polendena, especially if I try and put in a good word for you." He then turned to her former teammate. "But you? I don't know what's gotten into you, Winter. All I know is that it's past time that you started to learn the difference between your enemies and your friends."

As Qrow finally exited the building, Penelope vanished out of shame. Winter was now all alone, with no one to comfort her.

To Be Continued