Chapter 37

"Hey, Winter."

Despite her residual irritation from her subpar training session, Winter - Agent White - allowed herself a smile as Pamela approached her. "Hello, Pamela: does Tyrian know that you're talking to me?"

The A.I. Unit shook her head. "No, he doesn't, and I'd like to keep it that way. Don't tell anyone I said this, but there's something about him that rubs me the wrong way. Also, please call me Luna: I refuse to use a name that Jacques gave me and besides, I always did find the moon to be rather beautiful."

Winter just chuckled in response. "And this is why you are one of my favorites among the A.I. units: I can almost forget that my deadbeat Dad is behind your existence with how… human you act. Anyways, did you need something?"

Luna/Pamela just shrugged. "Just wanted to see how you were doing. I do hope that Summer and Paulette didn't rough you up too badly."

"Paulette?"

"Agent Summer Rose's A.I. unit." Luna/Pamela instantly placed her hands over her mouth, a sense of fear prevalent despite her lack of features and monotone. "Oh no. I wasn't supposed to tell you that."

"Summer has an A.I. unit, eh?" Winter growled out before noticing the fearful look on Luna/Pamela's face and gave the hologram girl an easygoing smile. "Don't worry, I won't tell Jacques, Summer, or Tyrian you told me this. That said, I think I'll have a little talk with her and my father."

Luna/Pamela could only sigh as Winter stormed off. "It's done. Now will you promise to leave Maria Calevera - Agent Silver - alone?"

"Yes." Priscilla said with a smile. "Cinder Fall - Agent Crimson - and I won't lay a finger on the Silver-Eyed Warrior in the here and now, and will work to assure that Tyrian doesn't either."

Back in the present, Ruby climbed out of bed at the sound of a rooster's call. She and her friends had taken up Svetlana's offer to return with her and Mikhail to New Rushland to create new lives for themselves, and were on the verge of building new homes for themselves as they helped with the farmwork. The hooded huntress wasn't too excited to trade hunting Grimm for farming potatoes, but after what had happened with Penelope and Winter, she didn't have many other options.

As she put on her clothes for the day, Ruby sadly picked up Rose Thorn. She still missed Crescent Rose, but she never knew that carrying Penny's refurbished weapon would give her so much grief. Ruby finally made her way outside where she found Team CFVY making breakfast. "Hey, guys." She yawned. "What're you making?"

"Well, I've always had a balanced diet of sausage and tang." Coco remarked, motioning to her own cooking station.

"And I've always been obsessed with buns." Yatsuhashi added, putting a tray of cinnamon buns in the oven.

"And me and my lightish-red apron are just here to help." Fox finished.

"Oh, that sounds tasty." Ruby replied, taking a seat at the large dining table. She noticed Velvet sitting across from her, typing away at her laptop. "What're you doing, Velvet?" She asked.

Velvet sighed. "I went ahead and sent a copy of all the evidence that we gathered to the proper authorities: all we can do now is pray that it's enough."

"Well, the alliance between Atlas, Vale, Vacuo, and Minstral have always been fragile at best." Qrow remarked as he made his way into the kitchen. "So when the others see that Atlas' government has been using a magical being for their own benefit, they'll be out for blood. And something tells me Jimmy won't hesitate to sacrifice Jacques to prevent war."

"And not a moment too soon either." Weiss declared as she too entered the room. "As disappointed as I am about how things ended, one thing that Penny wasn't wrong about is that we've come too far to not do something to take my deadbeat dad down a peg or two and/or get justice for the real Summer Rose."

Raven nodded. "Right and while I wouldn't trade the marriage of Blake and my daughter for anything in the world, one has to argue that Adam Taurus wouldn't have turned out the way he did if it wasn't for Jackass Schnee."

"Wait what?!"

Raven couldn't help but blink at Weiss' shocked exclamation. "Oh, right: you didn't know. So, it turns out that the reason Blake's ex-boyfriend wears that mask of his is to hide a SDC brand on his left eye...and before you ask, I know this because I managed to knock his mask off back at Beacon and caught a glimpse of said brand before he ran off."

Seeing that her girlfriend was looking down in shame, no doubt feeling a sense of phantom responsibility, Ruby placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault: you had no idea what Jacques was up to, and hey, think of it this way: if it hadn't been for your father, we might never have met Blake and become such great friends with her. Actions have consequences, yes, but not all of them are bad consequences."

Weiss merely gave a teary-eyed smile in reply. "Have I told you how much I love you lately?"

"You could stand to mention it a bit more," Ruby said with a teasing grin, giving her girlfriend a quick peck on the lips before looking around, gaining a slight frown as she did. "Speaking of Yang and Blake, has anyone seen them lately?"

As if on cue, they heard a scream from outside. Sure enough, Yang and Blake were out back, the latter having run up to the house in fear. "Get them away!" Blake hissed, having climbed onto Yang's shoulders out of fear. "Keep those beasts away from me!"

"What's going on?!" Weiss asked, Myrtenaster ready in her grip. "Are we under attack?!"

"Not quite." Yang mumbled through Blake's killer grip on her head as a small pack of dogs swarmed the blonde brawler's feet. The canines barked and panted, desperately trying to play with the cat faunus.

"Why are there fifteen dogs on this farm?! They've been chasing me around all day!"

"In Svetlana's Rushland…" Mikhail chuckled. "Dog walks you!"

"Sorry, Blake." Svetlana apologized as she and Ruby tried to reign them in. "Mikhail and I adopted a bunch of strays to act as early warning systems against the Grimm."

Weiss sheathed her weapon and leaned down at the dogs. "Are you telling me that these mangy… drooling… mutts…" Her expression suddenly shifted from annoyed to overjoyed. "Are going to wiv wif us foreva?! Oh, yes, they are! Yes, they are!"

Ruby's heart melted at the sight of her girlfriend playing with the smaller dogs. Unfortunately, the fun quickly ended once Svetlana finally got the dogs under control. After all, they were not here on vacation, and agreed to help with the farmwork. But everyone stopped to gawk at Jaune as he began plowing the fields.

"Jaune?" Ren asked. "Is that… Cinder's sword? And you're using it to plow a field?"

"Well, it seemed like a more practical use for it." Jaune shrugged. "I was going to call it the Arc-Blade and have Velvet mount it on a plaque so I could hang it on the wall."

"And you know me!" Velvet beamed. "I can never resist a good mounting!"

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" Yang spluttered, activating Dragon Fang. "A sword isn't a toy! That weapon was created by a Maiden and you're using it like some idiot?!"

"Hey, leave him alone!" Pyrrha snapped.

"Shut up, Vernal!" Yang spat back, earning her a confused expression from the others.

"'Vernal?'"

"Oh, uh… I mean…"

"Yang?" Blake piped up with a concerned tone. "You're… starting to sound like your mom."

"What?!" Yang spluttered. "B-Blake! What's happening to me?!"

"I think you're having a mental breakdown!" Blake suggested, uneasily. "Everything we've been through, recently, must be putting too much stress on your brain! So in order to cope, your personality is defaulting to what you subconsciously perceive as the symbol of survival; your mom!"

"Th-that's not true! I'm nothing like my mom!"Yang desperately started looking around for someone. "H-Holly! Tell your dad that's not true! Holly?! Holly?!"

"Uh, Yang?" Blake gulped, worried for her wife's mental health. "We, uh… left Holly with the Doppelgangers, remember?"

Yang dropped to her knees and cried. "NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Hey, Yang, can you keep it down?" Ruby asked, tiredly, as she came from around the barn. Rose Thorn was still in her hand as she slowly made her way to her sister. "I'm trying to brood."

"Ruby!" Yang immediately jumped up and grabbed Ruby by the shoulders. "Ruby, quick! Tell me I'm cool! Tell me I'm just a lovable goof who tells bad jokes!"

"What are you talking about?" Ruby's eyebrow arched as Yang continued crying.

"I don't wanna wear stockings well into my forties!" Yang sobbed, pathetically.

"Yang, will you get a grip?!" Weiss snapped. "You're not exactly like your mom! We wouldn't be with you if you were!"

"The hell does that mean?!" Raven sounded offended. "Since when am I the bad guy?!"

"Uh, since this new thing called 'always?'" Qrow shrugged, taking another swig of the Kashtonovvy's vodka. "You think just because you and Yang made up, we're all gonna forget the shit you've done?"

"You're one to talk!" Pyrrha cut in, angrily. "If it wasn't for you, we wouldn't be stuck on a farm for the rest of our lives!"

"What's wrong with our farm?!" Mikhail spluttered. "Sure it's no palace, but rebuilding a village takes time!"

"Voulez-vous tous vous taire?! (Will you all please shut up?!)" Ciel shouted. "Je ne m'entends même pas penser! (I can't even hear myself think!)"

After a few more minutes of pointing fingers and angry accusations, everyone finally stopped shouting.

"Man, it seems crazy." Jean sighed, wistfully, breaking the silence. "When I first met you guys, you were all just a bunch of students learning to be huntsmen and huntresses. Now, it seems like you can't go anywhere without getting caught up in some crazy adventure. No wonder you want a memento of the good times."

"'Good times?!'" Weiss spluttered. "We were almost killed!"

"We almost lost Pyrrha!" Jaune added.

"I was made into a criminal!" Qrow remarked.

"Yang lost her arm!" Blake put in.

"We found out our career was a lie!" Svetlana said, still a bit hurt about how Ironwood hadn't been honest about Penny.

"And my whole team got shot!" Yatsuhashi finished.

That last comment prompted Qrow to look away from the sexually deviant team, putting his arms behind his back as he rocked back and forth on his heels and whistling, nonchalantly. Nevertheless, Jean carried on with her explanation. "Okay, yeah. So it wasn't perfect." She relented. "But look at what you all got out of it!"

"You mean the Meta-sword?" Raven asked, crossing her arms.

"Arc-blade!" Jaune repeated.

"I mean beyond that." Jean clarified, pointing to each person as she spoke. "Raven managed to patch things up with her daughter. Yang and Blake finally got together. Weiss finally admitted her feelings for Ruby. Ruby got a new weapon. Qrow got a new team. Svetlana found her old love, again. Ciel avenged her father. I finally managed to keep some patients from dying."

"And as a plus, we didn't die!" Yatsuhashi smiled.

"See?" Jean shrugged. "In the end, we all got what we wanted."

Ruby looked down in shame. "Not everyone."

The group realized that the hooded huntress was talking about Penny and Winter. Almost instantly, the teams stood up, patted Ruby on the back, and readied their weapons. Qrow looked worried. "You realize what you're all doing, right?" He asked.

"Yeah. You coming or what?" Raven snorted as she loaded dust into her scabbard.

"But, after everything they said to you-!"

"Aw, who can blame Penny?" Yang shrugged. "She was going through a pretty hard time."

"Besides, if we just quit every time a Schnee started yelling at us, this would've been over a long time ago." Blake chuckled.

"We'll be out-gunned, out... everything." Qrow reasoned.

Ruby just smiled at the grizzled Guardsman. "Uncle Qrow, I'll always love you. But Penny is my friend, and I will do anything to save her. With or without you, I will save her."

Qrow sighed and took a long sip from his flask. "This has to be the craziest idea, ever… but you can count me in." He grinned, preparing Harbinger.

Meanwhile, as Winter and Penelope made their way towards their destination, Winter couldn't help but think back on how everything had fallen apart. Penelope had warned her that she would push away her loved ones again if she wasn't careful: she just hadn't anticipated that she'd somehow manage to pressure Penelope into doing it for her. At the very least she had done the smart thing and made a copy of Jacques' location and sent it to the authorities alongside with a copy of the evidence she had acquired with her sister and company. She figured that they might send their own copy, but this would assure that Jacques' men couldn't simply pressure anyone into sweeping it under the rug. After everything that happened, she owed Weiss at least that much everything that happened. Still, she couldn't deny that she had no one to blame for her sister walking out on her: for everyone walking out on her. Her pride always had been a problem for her.

"I'm sorry."

Winter - Agent White - couldn't help but blink upon hearing this declaration, even as she continued to nurse a headache she had gained following a rather disastrous training session, before giving a sigh and a comforting gesture to her two companions. "It's not your fault, Phoebe. Not yours either, Patricia. Everyone warned me that trying to synch up with both of you at the same time would be harder than I thought, but I didn't listen. In hindsight, though, I should've known that overtaking Agent Summer Rose and giving Jacques Schnee a slice of humble pie wouldn't be as simple as flipping a switch or what have you."

"Thanks for that," Patricia declared with a timid smile. "You treating us like we matter makes it easier to not be afraid."

"Of course I think you matter: I'm not my father." Winter remarked, before frowning. "Maybe that's why I was overwhelmed so quickly. I treated you like tools rather than allies." With this realization, she turned and gave an easygoing smile to her two "A.I. units." Her two friends. "How do you feel like going through the park at some point? Glynda - Agent Purple - does it all the time with Phoebe." Despite knowing that her father was responsible for their existence, she couldn't help but feel a bit lighthearted with the smiles Phoebe and Patricia gave her.

"I don't like this…" Penelope suddenly declared, bringing Winter back to the present.

Winter couldn't help but blink at the emotional whiplash, but nodded nonetheless. "Me neither: where is everyone?"

Penelope merely gave a frustrated sigh in reply. "That's not it: Ruby, she...of everyone in that room, she was the one who deserved that tantrum of mine the least. I mean, I don't think I was directing all that at anyone in particular, but...she was my best friend and I…" She did her best to whip away some tears that weren't there even as she shook her head in frustration. "Doesn't help my emotional state that this place...it gives me an uncomfortable sense of deja vu."

Trifa - Agent Blue - had appeared on a hologram projector that Summer had found, unaware that Winter was watching the same message from the shadows. "Agent Rose... Summer. If you're viewing this, then that means I escaped. Or, well, at the very least, I'm probably not around anymore. That said, I wanted to leave behind all the data I've been collecting about Project Guardsman. I never could shake the feeling that something was wrong with the program; the secrets, the lies, the manipulation. Smoke. All of it. Obscuring a big damn fire that had been building up even before Ozpin was forced out of it all, so I did some digging, and now I know what President Schnee has been hiding. What he did. He broke the law, Summer. One of those laws they don't just slap you on the wrist for...but more than that, he hurt you: you and one other person that I've been meeting up with in my spare time...and no: I am not talking about Dr. Merlot, who you might have met up with by now. Let's just say you know this other person and leave it at for now."

The projection of Trifa frowned at someone outside of the video. "I'll be there in a minute!" She shouted, before giving a disgruntled sigh. "I'll have to cut this short soon, so I'll just get to the point; Summer, I'm taking the originals with me as an insurance policy, but I'm leaving this copy for you not because you are the best soldier in the squad, but because I know that I can trust you the most. After reading these files you will understand why. Good luck. Your friend, Trifa."

Winter couldn't help but frown alongside Summer as multiple files appeared, showcasing all of Jacques' crimes, as well as irrefutable evidence that the woman in front of her was not Summer Rose, or at least not the original one. It seemed that Priscilla had been right that coming here would be worth it. All that was left to do was burn the bastard for everything that he had done...but not before taking care of his little tin soldiers.

Coming back to the present, Winter had to suppress a shudder as the memories of how her father had tried to seduce a married woman when her own mother had turned to alcohol, as well as how he had turned to trying to create a robot duplicate of her after she had nearly died in that trap Jacques had set for her, came back to her. "You're not the only one." She then sighed, knowing that she too could've handled things better earlier. "Polendina… Penny: I don't know Miss Rose… Ruby all that well, but I did know her mother, and if she's anything like her, if you apologize to her after all this is over, if you...give her the option of starting over, she'll take it. It'll take time for the hurt to heal, but in time...you will get your best friend back." She then cleared her throat as they approached a teleporter. "For now, though, we have a job to do."

Penelope sighed. "Okay, you're right...and I can only pray that you're right about that other stuff too." She then gained a steely expression. "Well, this is it."

Winter nodded. "Ready to meet my father?"

Penelope smiled. "I'm combat ready!" As soon as they went through the teleporter, however, the Memory fragment quickly lost her smile, the sight before them chilling her to her core. "Oh no…"

As it turned out, Winter wasn't handling this development much better. "Polendina...Penny...what is this?"

"He kept trying: he kept trying to get her 'right'..."

Winter couldn't help but gulp, eyes wide in horror as an army of "Summer-drones", all of which had apparently been deemed "failures" by her father, stood before them, looking every bit as confident and deadly as the woman herself. "Do you...think these things are anything like the real deal?"

A quick preparation for battle by every single one of the drones quickly showed that, yes, they did share at least some of her characteristics, most notably her combat expertise. One drone in particular seemed to share Summer's cocky attitude, as evidenced by how she stepped forward with a twisted version of the real Summer's confident grin., cracking her knuckles as she did. "You have no idea how much trouble you're in…" she declared, her deep voice only serving to add to the duo's horror on multiple levels.

To Be Continued