Chapter 38
"Don't even think about it..."
Summer - Agent Rose - could only shake her head in frustration as Winter - Agent White - blocked her path. "Don't try and stop me!"
Summer charged as Winter jumped to the opposite wall and jumped off, using the force to kick Summer. They both knock each other away, but Winter quickly gets back on her feet, while Summer plants her stance on the ground. Winter punches and kicks Tex several times, although every one of her attacks are blocked. Summer lunges at Winter but misses, and Winter kicks her against the wall. Summer lunges back and knocks them both out of a window onto a cliff face below them. Despite reeling in pain, however, Winter managed to steady herself on a railing as Summer landed on a nearby rock.
Summer could only shake her head in frustration, seeing that Winter was stubbornly refusing to stay down. "Give it up, White… Winter: the longer we fight, the more likely Jacques has a chance of winning; just...just stand down already."
"NEVER!" Winter growled out. "I can beat you...I need to beat you: you're just my father's puppet, Summer Schnee!" And that was all the warning Summer got before her (former) teammate tried to tackle her to the ground. "This time, I WIN!"
"No. You. DON'T!" And that was all the warning Winter got before Summer grabbed her by the neck and slammed her into the ground. Summer then sighed as she looked upon her fallen comrade. "You're right about one thing: I'm not Summer Rose, not really." She couldn't help but give a bitter chuckle as Winter looked upon her with shock, clearly unable to believe what she had just heard. "What: you thought I wouldn't get curious as to why 'President Schnee' was going out of his way to make sure I couldn't contact my family? I've known I was a digital copy of the mother of Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long for quite some time...but I did some, I guess you could call it soul searching, and I decided that while the love I feel for them might not be my own, I've chosen to accept them as my family...and another thing: you'll never beat me: not as long as you continue to chain yourself down with the same pride that binds the father you claim to hate." She sighed as Agent White continued to stare at her in disbelief. "You can't win, Winter...but you can come with me if you wish. You're not the only woman who wants to see Jacques dead...but for now..." And that was all the warning Winter got before she was knocked out by Summer, who quickly turned away towards her true goal. "...I've got one more family relation to take care of."
With that, the hooded Guardsman made her way into the laboratory and approached the computer she was looking for. Sure enough, the screen was glowing with a unique green aura. She picked up the prototype mental dive device and placed it on her head, allowing her mind to enter the computer. In the blink of an eye, she found herself in what appeared to be a frozen tundra devoid of all life…
… all except for a little, red-haired girl, glowing with the same bright green aura that had appeared on the computer screen.
Summer couldn't help but smile as she approached the shivering child."There you are..."
"Huh...?" The girl looked up. "Who... who are you?"
Needless to say, Summer had not been expecting that answer from the red-haired girl dressed in green. "You don't know me?"
The girl, despite her constant shivering, did her best to smile in reply. "Oh, sorry… s-s-salutations... I'm... I am... I'm-"
Summer simply sighed. "You're the Summer Maiden. You... your name is Penny. Penny Polendina."
The girl - Penny - nodded in reply. "Oh... right, o-of course... I'm sorry, I'm just... it's so cold here."
Summer nodded. "It's okay. Come on, I'll take you out of here."
Penny shook her head. "I... I'm sorry... I think I j-just... just need to rest..."
Summer blinked. "You don't want to leave?"
Penny sighed. "I...I don't know if I can. I'm... sorry, I-I'm just... really t-tired..."
Summer, realizing that there wasn't any time to argue with her, simply nodded in reply. "Okay... you just go ahead and rest then. I'll be here when you're ready to leave."
Penny smiled in reply. "T-thank you. I hope you'll v-visit me again... w-what was your name, again?"
"It's... it's Rose."
Penny blinked. "Rose? L-like the flower?"
"Yeah."
Despite her shivering and fatigue, Penny couldn't help but let out a weak giggle. "That's a... a funny name for a person."
Summer merely let out a sad chuckle of her own. "Yeah, I guess it is."
Meanwhile, Winter couldn't help but groan as she came to again. "My head..." She shook her head as she tried to get back up. "I...I have to..."
Patricia, having watched the whole thing with her sister, merely growled in reply. "Do what: get yourself killed!? I bet you don't even have a plan!"
Winter leveled her best glare at her companion. "Yes, I do: take down the abomination that thinks it's Summer Rose before she stabs everyone here in the back like the pawn of Jacques Schnee she is!"
Polly meanwhile just shook her head in response. "You mean like how you stabbed Maria in the back, quite literally, I might add? Oh, sorry: 'All Project Huntsman operatives must refer to each other by their code names', which would make her 'Agent Silver', wouldn't it?"
Winter found herself flinching at those blunt words. "That...that's not..."
"What: you think that just because you're his first born daughter means that you're the only one who's allowed to take him down?" Polly asked with a scoff. "What would you have done if it was Weiss that was blocking your path?!" She simply shook her head when she didn't get a response. "I'm sorry, Agent White... Winter, but you'll never be truly happy if revenge is the only thing you live for."
"She's right," Patricia said with a nod. "If you continue like this, you'll spend the rest of your life drowning in your own fears."
"Oh, she's not afraid: not yet."
Meanwhile, Summer couldn't help but whip an oily tear from her eye as she exited the memory unit. "Rest well, Penny." Before she could do anything else, however, a frightened scream broke her out of her thoughts. Turning to where said scream had come from, Summer quickly paled at what she saw: there, in the distance, holding Winter by the throat, stood Cinder Fall - Agent Crimson - wearing some sort of modified Guardsman armor with an unusual symbol painted on the back. "What are you doing?!" she couldn't help but yell out even as she ran, hoping beyond hope that she could somehow save Winter. Unfortunately, she arrived too late, as evidenced by the blood that dripped onto the ground even as Cinder clenched her fist around a pair of microchips before throwing Winter off the cliff they had been standing on.
"NO!" Summer yelled out, watching helplessly as Winter, just barely hanging onto her consciousness, attempted to use her glyphs to slow her fall, landing in the snow below as she did. Though Summer was uncertain if her friend was still alive, she knew she didn't have time to worry about that, as evidenced by how Jacques was already making his move, having witnessed all this from a helicopter. Summer merely growled in defiance, before activating her com-system. "Winter, if you can hear me, I meant what I said: we can still team up. Believe me when I say that I want to see Jacques fall just as much as you do. For now though, I'm going to try and lure Jacques and Agent Crimson away from your location."
Priscilla merely gave an arrogant chuckle as she appeared on Cinder's shoulder alongside Polly and Priscilla, the latter two currently attempting to comfort each other, as Summer ran off. "You can run all you like, Agent Rose: we are the Meta, and we will find you."
Back in the present, Winter armed herself with her sword as she and Penelope faced the army of "failed" Summer drones. "Penelope, talk to me." She ordered.
"I-I'm here." Penelope stammered, trying to steel her nerves for the coming conflict. "I can channel the Summer Maiden powers through your armor and give you any enhancements need!"
"Then let's do this!" Winter declared, charging at the drones with a gust of wind adding to her speed. With one swift motion, she decapitated several drones at once, blasting them with fire dust for good measure. Another triad of drones surrounded Winter, trying to catch her off-guard. But just as they lunged in for the kill, Winter jumped into the air and incinerated them with a blast of lightning. But her luck wouldn't last long. Case in point, eventually two Summers got the idea to attack her at once; one sliding to kick her legs out while the other jumped up to punch her into the ground. Winter recovered, but failed to block the next blow that disarmed her. Now, without her sword, Winter was forced to resort to magically enhanced punches. Her blows alternated from ice, to fire, to lightning, to wind bursts; the Summer drones were quickly shattering to pieces. But eventually, numbers trumped raw power. When one drone was destroyed, ten more took "her" place. Winter became desperate.
"Penny! I need enhancements!" She ordered.
Penelope nodded. "Which ones?!"
"All of them!"
The Maiden fragment blinked. "I don't think that's such a good ide-AAAAAAAAAHHH!" She was cut off as her hostess propelled herself forward with a gust of wind while blasting fire at the drones. Penelope flickered as she felt the strain of using so much power all at once. "Winter, slow down!" But Winter wouldn't listen as she used lightning to fry another drone's circuits. "Winter, it's too much!" Winter ignored her, still ripping four more drones apart with razor-sharp leaves. "Winter, stop!"
At last, Penelope's power faded and Winter was powerless to dodge a clothesline blow from another drone. "You can't beat me, Winter." Summer's words echoed in Winter's head as the remaining drones surrounded her.
"Winter! Winter are you alright?" Penelope asked, regaining her strength.
Winter merely shook her head in frustration, tears flowing from her eyes. "She was right... I can't beat her! I can never beat her..."
One Summer Rose drone merely gave an arrogant chuckle. "Better luck next time, White."
Suddenly, three sticky grenades attached themselves to three of the drones. Winter blinked, looking up to see Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY in the doorway.
Velvet smiled. "Nine points, ya bloody whore!"
Winter took this time to jump out of the way before the explosion went off, blinking as Qrow offered her a hand up.
Qrow merely smiled as she took his hand. "I told you they aren't so bad once you get to know them."
Penelope meanwhile couldn't help but frown. "I thought this wasn't your fight."
Nora smiled. "C'mon! Overwhelming odds, with little to no chance of success? How could we resist?!"
Yang quirked an eyebrow. "Got a problem with that, Polendina?"
Penelope sighed. "Guys... I'm sorry. I had no right to say what I did, and I will properly apologize and accept any remarks and jabs after we're done here. But I'd like to point out that we are currently standing in a room full of Huntress robots ready to kill us."
Yang snorted. "So, cheesy forgiveness speech later?"
Weiss nodded. "Yeah, that works."
Winter simply got her sword ready. "Lock and load, people!"
As everyone else got ready, Penelope approached Ruby. "There is so much I want to say to you, but right now, I need you to get really angry, okay?"
"Okay..." Ruby declared, before frowning, realizing what their opposition was. "I-I don't know how to get mad enough to fight my mom."
Penelope smirked as her green aura shifted to black. "I do."
Ruby shuddered at the familiar feeling of Paulette possessing her mind. This time, however, she gave into the anger and charged at the army of drones. With her increased strength, the hooded huntress had no trouble tearing through the crowd. "My name is Ruby Rose!" She declared, angrily, before slashing another drone with Rose Thorn. "And I!" A swift punch knocked off the head of one of the drones. "HATE!" Ruby grabbed another drone by the feet, spun around, and threw it into a trio as she wrapped up her battle cry. "TAXES!"
Weiss groaned. "It's Jacques, you dolt!"
"That, too!"
Soon enough, the others joined in the fray with vigor.
Raven sprinted ahead of the others, cutting down several of the drones as she did. A part of her did feel guilty about killing the likeness of her best friend, but was able to justify it to herself by assuring her that this was not Summer Rose: this was a rabid dog unleashed by Jacques Schnee, an insult to her friend's name, and it needed to be put down like the monster it was. "Nothing personal." She told herself.
Meanwhile, Yang simply snarled before using a combination of her Ember Celica and Dragon Fang to take out a dozen Summer drones at once, giving a bitter chuckle when she was done.
Needless to say, Qrow couldn't help but quirk an eyebrow at his niece's display. "You seemed to enjoy that a little too much."
Yang merely shrugged. "Just letting off some steam: she never did let me know where she was going on her last mission, which might have contributed to my abandonment issues." She then blinked as Qrow mercilessly cut down a few Summer-drones.
"What can I say?" Agent Grey said with a shrug. "I had my own issues to deal with from back during my time in Project Guardsman."
Meanwhile, Jaune was doing his best with both his own sword and Cinder's, but eventually two drones grabbed him by the wrists and pin him to the floor. Then, they spread his legs while he was disoriented, giving three more drones a window of opportunity to strike his groin all at once. The poor young man saw his life flash before his eyes. Luckily, Pyrrha managed to skewer all three drones just in time before tackling one of the two holding his legs. But just as he was about to release a sigh of relief, the remaining drone finished the job. "OW!" He groaned, instinctively cutting off the drone's head with Cinder's sword before getting up. "Not again!" He moaned.
"We can't keep this up forever!" Ren remarked, shooting a few drones as he did. "There's just too many of them!"
"Penelope, do you remember how Penny managed to hold off the Meta?" Qrow called out.
"Yeah! But that was one person! Not a bunch of them!"
"There's only one Summer." Qrow remarked, bringing Yang and Ruby closer to him. "And nobody knows her more than you three."
Penelope locked her gaze with Ruby and Yang before she let out a sigh. "Okay, just… hang on, guys. This is gonna get… emotional." Using her Maiden powers, Penelope pulled Ruby and Yang into the subconscious mind of the false Summer Rose.
Penelope smiled as she, Ruby, and Yang approached Summer in the mindscape. "Salutations, Summer."
To their horror and confusion, however, Summer merely blinked in reply. "Summer? Is...is that my name?"
Yang couldn't help but gasp. "Oh my gods: what did he do to you?"
Needless to say, Ruby couldn't help but let out a sniffle. "Mom?"
Summer blinked upon hearing this, but nodded. "I...yes, that's right: I have a daughter; two, actually: one of them...her own mother had left and I stayed to take care of her, eventually coming to see her as my own. Something happened, though: I remember a man approaching me and...I never got to see them again after that. I can't seem to remember what they look like, though, or even their names, but I know I loved them. I never stopped loving them. I wonder how they're doing right now..."
Yang was just barely able to suppress a growl as the final pieces of the puzzle came together: Jacques had kidnapped Summer Rose and tried to brainwash her to be his perfect wife shortly after Willow's mental collapse following Weiss' disastrous 10th birthday. When it didn't take, he tried copying her mental patterns into a robotic shell to try and make a version of her that would submit to him. Unfortunately, he kept failing, eventually resulting in the original Summer's mind becoming a shadow of its former self. She then sighed, realizing what she needed to do. "They...they grew up. They never stopped trying to live up to her expectations; the adoptive daughter...she followed your example, trying her best to look after her sister in your stead."
Ruby nodded with a sniffle, understanding what Yang was doing: that it was something they needed to do despite how much it hurt. "...and the sister never stopped loving you: neither of them did. You...you'd be proud to see how much they took after you: how they followed in your footsteps to become huntresses like you."
"So, they became huntresses..." Summer said with a nod. "...did they make some good friends? Are they happy?"
Penelope placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "They've had some rough patches, but I can safely say that they have plenty of support and that they turned out alright all things considered..."
Summer couldn't help but give a tear-soaked smile. "Good, that's...that's all I ever wanted." She then turned to look at Yang and Ruby. "You two: what are your names?"
Ruby sniffled. "It's Ruby. Ruby Rose, and this is my sister, Yang Xiao Long."
Summer smiled. "I don't know what it is exactly, but you seem like good kids. I'm sure your mother's very proud of you two." She then sighed even as Yang and Ruby gave a tear filled smile. "I'm sorry, I'd love to talk some more but...I'm just... I'm just so tired..."
Penelope looked to Yang and Ruby who both nodded, despite the tears in their eyes before turning back to Summer. "Listen, Summer, I need you to rest now..."
Summer couldn't help but give a bitter laugh. "Rest, huh? I'd honestly like that..."
Ruby sighed. "Mo...Summer, we need to go now, but you just rest: goodbye."
Summer scoffed. "'Goodbye': I don't know why, but I hate that word."
Yang couldn't help but give a bitter chuckle. "I know why."
"Hey, before you go, can you...I think I had a team that helped me raise my daughters, among other things: could you tell them that I don't blame them for what happened?" Summer couldn't help but ask. "Also, can you promise to tell my daughters that I love them? Something tells me I won't be able to tell them for myself after today."
Penelope smiled. "Don't worry: I'll be sure to pass along the message."
Summer sighed. "Thanks: you're a good kid, uh..."
Penelope nodded. "It's Penelope: Penelope Polendina."
Summer smiled. "That's a nice name, kid. Such a shame I never met you before today: I'm sure my two daughters would've loved another playmate."
Penelope couldn't help but give a pleased smile. "Thanks." She then sighed. "Goodbye."
The trio woke up just in time to see the remaining drones shut down, much to their bittersweet relief. Jaune, however, was a bit frustrated. "Y'know, you could've done that before I got hit in the balls by fifteen of them at once!" He snapped.
"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Yang chuckled.
"So… he's just behind that door, huh?" Ruby asked before she turned to Weiss. "Are you sure you don't want us to come with you?"
"No." Weiss shook her head. "You and Yang got your closure. This is something Winter, Penelope and I have to do alone."
Winter couldn't help but scowl as she and her sister stormed into the room where Jacques Schnee was hiding. "Hello, Father." she barked out...only to pause as she took in the scene before her.
Jacques, currently watching some old video files of Summer, didn't even turn to look at his daughters. "Hello, Agent White: would you or your companion like to watch this with me?"
Weiss just barely managed to suppress a snarl. She might not remember Ruby's real mother all that well, but if her robot duplicate had been any indication, even as her babysitter, she'd been more of a parent to her than the man in front of her had ever been. Taking a cleansing breath, Weiss simply shook her head in disgust. "No thanks: we're good."
Jacques simply sighed. "Play it again, Gloria."
Gloria/Lori seemed to grow confused. "President Schnee?"
"Again!"
Winter couldn't help but share a conflicted look with her sister before sighing. "So... this is where your obsession with perfection has led you: this is what you've become."
Jacques growled. "She's my wife! She just doesn't realize it yet: I KNOW there's a way that..."
Weiss could only scoff. "...and what about Willow, your real wife? Have you ever thought about her, about our mother, during this 'grand' experiment of yours?"
Jacques, for the first time in a long while, actually found himself hesitating with his answer. "She's...it doesn't matter: I'm too close: I can make this work..."
Winter couldn't help but shake her head in disgust and pity. "The authorities are hunting you: if we found you, they will too."
Jacques scowled. "I just need a little bit more time..."
Penelope, having heard just about enough, couldn't help but growl. "NO! You've had your time! You need to answer for what you did: to Cinder, to Ozpin, to Maria, to Glynda, to Qrow, to Winter, to Weiss, to Whitley, to Willow, to Ruby, to Yang, to me, and to her: to SUMMER!"
Jacques, needing to take a moment to recognize the entity before him, eventually gave a nod. "Hello, Penelope: did you come out all this way to see me?"
Penelope simply growled. "I'm here to remember what you've done: somebody has to!"
Winter blinked. "Polendina?"
"Penny?" was Weiss' cautious declaration.
Penelope just scowled. "Not all of us were as lucky as you two: able to get out of it all with only a scar or two, physically or otherwise; the man in front of you?"
"He was brilliant!" Pearl declared.
"And we trusted him!" Phoebe sobbed.
"But he lied to us." Luna/Pamela declared.
"He twisted and tortured us! And used us!" Paulette growled out.
"Manipulated us for his own purposes, and for what?!" Priscilla couldn't help but ask.
"This cowardly motive of his?!" Patricia trembled.
"To create the 'perfect' wife at the expense of our true father's happiness?! All for this… this shadow?!" Polly asked with a growl.
"He had to have realized how much of a failure this was all going to be and yet look at all he did!" It was hard to tell whether it was Summer or Penny herself who had said this.
"...he needs to pay." Weiss and Winter had to hold back a wince. That one sentence somehow held all of the pain that Penny - that the Summer Maiden - had had to go through and then some. They'd even go as far as to say that there was a bit of Jacques Schnee himself laced within that declaration, as if even the mental copy of "President Schnee" had realized something that his mental origin had failed to: that this experiment had caused more pain than profit.
Speaking of whom, Jacques found himself looking at his two daughters, pleading with them to understand what he was trying to attempt. The pitying looks they gave showed that they couldn't, but the light kisses on the forehead they gave displayed that despite his many, many failures, a small part of them still remembered him as their father. It gave him little peace, however, as evidenced by how he sighed and turned back towards the screen. "I can fix this; I just need a little more time..."
Weiss could only shake her head in anger, disgust, and pity. "Penny, we're leaving."
Penelope blinked. "I...I don't understand: I thought we came all this way to kill him..."
Winter sighed. "Remember what you learned in the memory unit? You need to let go: your past doesn't define who you are. It just gives you the starting point for who you're going to be."
Weiss found herself giving a bittersweet smile. "She's right; in a perfect world, yes, that is likely what we would do, but you know just as much as we do that there's no such thing as perfection... but ultimately, that's not necessarily a bad thing: it's the flaws in life that make it worth living."
Jacques sighed. "Agent White… Winter, would you be so kind as to leave me your pistol?" He nodded as she did just that. "Thank you...and Weiss, look after Summer's daughters for me..."
Weiss nodded. "Always." She sighed. "Goodbye… father."
Jacques could only shake his head in disbelief as his two daughters walked off. "I should have seen it sooner: you were my greatest success..."
Penelope scowled. "I don't know what I am...but I do know this: I never needed you to program me to form a bond with Ruby and Yang...or Weiss and Winter, for that matter: I did that all on my own. I'm not you: I'm better than you."
Jacques couldn't help but give a bitter chuckle. "Glad I didn't make that mistake...though not to seem rude, but I wasn't talking to you."
Penelope just scoffed, understanding full well that he was referring to Weiss and Winter, but also knowing that it was all too little, too late, so she simply turned and left with her "sisters".
Meanwhile, Jacques turned back towards the screen. "Play it again, Gloria."
"Beginning playback."
Jacques nodded. "Thank you Gloria. Now, I'd like you to erase all files not pertaining to the Schnee family and business from this facility, the only exception being this one."
Gloria/Lori couldn't help but blink. "All of our files? Including me?"
Jacques just sighed. "It's been a pleasure. I am sorry that it's come to this."
Gloria/Lori hesitated, but ultimately gave a sigh of her own. "...and to you as well, sir."
"...but before you do, I'd like to shut down all the facility's systems as well: take everything offline."
Gloria/Lori gasped. "...but sir: this is a sealed facility. If I shut it all down, life support will not..."
Jacques shook his head. "Thank you, Gloria. Shut it all down. Lock me in."
Gloria/Lori simply sighed. "...alright, but if I may ask, was the project a success? Did you find what you were looking for?"
Jacques couldn't help the remorseful sigh that escaped him. "No, no I did not...but I think that I might have gotten very close. That there were some minor successes along the way that I simply overlooked." He shook his head in frustration. "I wish...I wish I knew for certain."
Gloria/Lori nodded. "I see: it's been an honor sir."
Meanwhile, the video kept on playing. "I'm flattered, really I am, but I have my own family to look after," came Summer's declaration from the footage.
Jacques simply sighed even as he raised the gun to his head. "You were right all along, Willow: I wasn't seeing how flawed I was."
The Summer on the video gave a sigh. "...but I suppose I have a little time to see Willow and your kids...and who knows? Maybe someday our families will play together; after all, you know how much I hate'goodbyes.'"
With those words spoken, the door to the room closed as the sound of a gunshot resonated through the hallways.
A few days later, teams RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY were waiting at the Royal Atlesian Airport for a ride back to Vale. The evidence sent to the authorities cleared the young huntresses and huntsmen from their alleged crimes; even Qrow and Winter were absolved. Ruby approached the remainder of Team CPPR before they left. "Where are you guys going?"
"As much fun as it was helping you guys, Mikhail and I need to return to our farm." Svetlana explained. "And Ciel and Jean agreed to come with us!"
"I can already feel my blood pressure going down at the thought of being away from you people." Ciel remarked, earning herself a smack from Svetlana. "Oops, was that in English?"
"Don't tell me Penny's going with you, too." Ruby whimpered.
"Penny?" Jean scratched her head as she looked around. "We haven't seen her since yesterday."
"But we're about to leave!" Ruby whipped her head around, scanning the area.
"Don't worry, Ruby! She may just be a fragment of the Penny we first met, but I know that she loves you all the same." Svetlana gave Ruby a final hug goodbye before handing her a sack. "Until we meet again, little Rose. Oh, and this will just be our little secret, no?"
Ruby was perplexed by Svetlana's wink until she opened the sack. Her eyes lit up at the sight of three bottles of the Kashtovvy's vodka. Throwing the sack over her shoulder, and hiding it under her cape, Ruby continued her search for Penelope. Little did she know that the Maiden fragment in question was watching over her from the rooftop of one of the hangars with a certain former Guardsman beside her.
Winter couldn't help but smile. "I know I'm new to this, but it seems to me that everything's getting back to normal."
Penelope shrugged. "What passes for normal, but you're right: after all the craziness, we're... they're finally going home." She sighed. "Sorry, it's just...after everything that's happened, something tells me it's going to take some time before I'm ready to call any one place 'home.'"
Winter nodded. "Might I make a suggestion? Don't say goodbye."
Penelope blinked. "Goodbye? I didn't realize I was going anywhere...not that I'd say 'no' to some 'family bonding'."
Winter chuckled. "Right: Ruby, Yang, and even Weiss all gave it a chance: nothing saying I shouldn't do the same." She then shook her head. "...but more than that: I intercepted a military transmission. It seems some low level thugs have some armor and equipment that's way above their pay grade: sounds like it might be some of the missing gear from a certain organization run by a certain man that had his family disown him recently: very violently, I might add."
Penelope, knowing full well that she's referring to Jacques, couldn't help but smirk. "Is that right?"
Winter nodded. "Think I'll go get it back: hate to think about it being in the wrong hands; not to mention, with all that equipment, I could use some help operating it: you seem uniquely qualified for the job." She shrugged. "Figured we could set some things right, that we helped make wrong."
Penelope just sighed. "I don't know: that's a lot of things to set right."
Winter merely chuckled. "Yeah, could keep us busy for a while."
Penelope smirked. "Well, it would be nice to be a true huntress again."
Winter sighed. "Penelope... Penny, what you and I were involved with... the things we helped do... I'll be honest - I don't know if we can ever get all the way back to good...but, I think that we have a chance to do better...and if we wake up everyday and try to make things better, eventually, we might find that better is good enough."
Penelope shrugged. "Maybe; still, I hate to leave without saying something. They deserve to at least hear a goodbye."
Winter merely gave an understanding nod. "You know, Summer had a saying: did I ever tell you about the time I spent with her? Well, with the original?"
"No: I don't believe you did," Penelope said with a bitter chuckle.
Winter smiled. "She wasn't around a lot when I was a kid. She only visited a handful of times, and when she was there, she could only stay a short time, what with how she had her ownfamily to take care of. Still, when she left, she always made two things clear: one, that she'd adopt me, Weiss, and even Whitley in a heartbeat if she had the chance, and two, she wouldn't say goodbye to us. Instead, she always told us, 'Never say goodbye: if you don't say goodbye then you aren't really gone: you just aren't here right now.'"
Penelope merely nodded in reply. "She sounds like a wise and compassionate woman."
"She was: she really was," Winter said with a content sigh, giving Taiyang - who she had spotted in the distance - a respectful nod. "Had a rather... unique taste in men, though I can honestly say that it wasn't too bad all things considered."
While Penelope left with Winter, Ruby still looked around the airfield. "Penny?! Penny, we're about to leave! Penny?!"
"Ruby, where's Penny?" Yang asked. "Is she gone?"
"... no." Ruby shook her head. "She's not gone… she's just not here, right now."
To Be Continued
