Chapter 31: Mechanical
The screen burst to life with a bright blue glow. There was a loud mechanical whirring as the various fans and computer parts entangled within the wires roared to life. Cinder stepped back, with Adam whirling around to see. Even Roman began walking over to see what was happening.
The screen flickered a few times. Suddenly, a loud voice began playing from one of the speakers. It was feminine, but clearly mechanical.
"J.I.N.N. online," the computer said. "Power at fifteen percent." It paused. "What knowledge do you seek?"
"Knowledge?" Roman muttered. "Boy, these pricks are pretentious, aren't they? Why not just 'Ask a question' or 'Input command'?"
Cinder studied the machine. It had not proven to be a threat, at least not yet.
"Power at fourteen percent," the computer suddenly said, startling Cinder.
"If you're going to try to get any information out of it, you'd better do it fast," Adam said.
"The note said its storage was broken," Cinder said. "Who knows if there's even any info in here. And even if there is, what do we ask?"
"I guess whatever you've always wanted to know about Lord Ozpin," Adam said.
Cinder stepped closer, eyeing the machine. She was cautious, but curious what information it held. However, there was one question that weighed on her stronger than any other.
"Who is Salem to Lord Ozpin?" Cinder asked.
"Question confirmed," J.I.N.N. replied. "Searching keyword 'Salem'. Error."
Cinder sighed, thinking she had wasted a question.
"Retrieving relevant documentation," J.I.N.N. continued. "Latest use of keyword 'Salem' dated eight years, one month, twenty-one days, fourteen hours, five minutes ago. Error. All other documents corrupted. Would you like to hear the relevant document?"
Cinder glanced at Adam, who shrugged. "No harm, I suppose," he said.
Cinder turned back to the computer. "Yes," she said.
J.I.N.N. paused as it processed her response, then spoke again. "From Lord Ozpin's personal journal log: 'I have done it. The world now lies in the palm of my hand, ready for the next phase of my plan. But far better than that is my greatest triumph: Salem is no more. After decades of deception, hiding in plain sight and waiting for my moment to strike, she came just as I planned she would. What I did not account for was her developing a counter to my curse. Fortuitously, she never got the chance to use it. My creation did its job. Her death will not come quickly. It will be slow. It will be painful. The whole time, she will be trapped within, screaming to be let out. But no one will hear her. She will wander alone and afraid before it takes its toll and ends her in matter of days. Farewell, worthy adversary.' Power at ten percent."
Cinder felt sick. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "I knew it," she growled. "I knew he had something to do with Salem getting sick."
Adam placed his thumb on his chin and pondered. "Eight years, one month…" he said to himself, but loud enough for the others to hear. Then his head lifted up as his hand opened up. "That was when he took over, wasn't it?"
Roman shook his head. "That was the bombing of Vale. He must have logged this right after that."
Adam tilted his head. "I'm confused," he said. "I thought the bombing of Vale was when he took over."
"Officially, yes," Roman explained. "But he had been rising through the ranks of the Vale government before that. It was only after the bombing that our intelligence found out he had been preparing long before. He was having followers gather kids for the Huntsman/Huntress program anywhere from two to three years before the bombing."
"That's when Salem got hurt," Cinder said. "The bombing. Whatever he did to her, he didn't expect her to survive for more than a couple days. I wonder if he even knew about us."
"What scares me is something else," Roman said. "Assuming that entry was done right after the bombing of Vale, what does it mean by 'the next phase of my plan'? Taking over the whole godsdamn world wasn't the last part of his plan?"
"What could be a bigger goal than complete world domination?" Adam asked.
Cinder glanced back to J.I.N.N. Making sure she was speaking clearly, she spoke to it. "What is the plan?"
"Question confirmed," J.I.N.N. replied. There was a clicking sound as the fans whirred faster and there was even the faint sound of electrical buzzing. "Error. Storage corrupted. Retrying… image file found containing keyword 'plan' in data. Would you like to view?"
"Yes," Cinder said.
There was a long pause, and then suddenly the blue screen was taken over by an image. Cinder, Adam, and Roman all moved forward to get a closer look.
"It's… a map of Remnant?" Adam asked.
"That really helps," Roman said sarcastically.
"Look," Cinder said, pointing at the screen. "Certain areas have been circled." She pointed to the top portion of the map. "That's Atlas Compound, where military are trained."
"It's also filled to the brim with Faunus slave labor," Adam said. "Blake had always hoped to liberate it one day." He motioned towards the left side of the image. "Looks like he's also highlighted Shade Academy."
"And Signal Academy here in Vale," Roman said.
Cinder nodded and moved her finger over to the last one. "The last one is… Haven Penitentiary?" Cinder retracted her arm. "What's so important about these four locations?"
Roman shrugged. "They're major places of influence for his regime. A military training compound, two Huntsmen/Huntress academies, and a prison. I assume they're all important to keeping his forces strong. Which is why it's all the better Haven's fighting back tonight."
"Is that all, though?" Cinder asked. "Whatever Lord Ozpin's grand plan is, it's bigger than complete world domination, and those four locations have something to do with it."
"The next phase of the plan could just be keeping his power," Roman said.
Cinder stared at the map. "That doesn't feel right…" she muttered. As she stared at the image, it suddenly blinked away, revealing the blue screen again.
"Power at five percent," J.I.N.N. reported. "Shutdown imminent."
"Shit!" Cinder exclaimed. "We need to think of more questions before this thing craps out on us!"
"What else do we ask?" Adam said. "We've gotten some vague idea of what's been going on, but the rest is corrupted."
"We need it to be important," Roman said. "I think that thing's only got enough juice left for one more question."
"Power at four percent," J.I.N.N. said.
"Damn!" Cinder said, thinking of the right thing to ask. She thought hard, then hurried up to the screen.
"How do we kill Lord Ozpin?" she asked.
J.I.N.N. paused. Then the screen turned red. "Prohibited phrase entered. Deploying programmed response: 'you cannot'. Activating security protocols."
"Oh no!" Adam yelled, pulling out his sword.
"No!" Cinder screamed, slamming her fist forward. It impacted the screen and shattered it, instantly going dark. The fans and machinery switched off, and electrical buzzing ceased. Adam still pulled out his sword and slashed at the wires, cutting them for good measure.
Cinder stomped her foot. "I'm sorry," she said. "I panicked, and I thought since it had other info…"
"I understand," Adam said, cutting her off.
Roman threw the bag of supplies over his shoulder. "Even if it was only active for a few seconds, there's a chance someone got the security alert from that thing. I suggest we move, now."
Cinder and Adam nodded. Roman hurried out of the room and back into the hall, his allies following close behind. As soon as they exited into the hall, Emerald and Mercury were seen waiting for them.
"'Bout time," Mercury said. "Hurry."
Emerald took the lead, waving the group forward towards the door labeled "Manufacturing". It was a large metal door with a circular window on it. Emerald pushed on the door, visibly and audibly straining from the weight, but managed to heave it open. It creaked as it revealed a large area, filled with machines of various kinds. Cranes and hooks rose up to the ceiling. Tables with electrical components and scrap metal lined the perimeter. Computer screens and towers sat on desks and countertops. The entire area was zig-zagged with conveyer belts, all with different machines and devices on them and coming in and out of gaps in the walls.. Cinder noted guns, tank parts, computer chips, and communicators. It was all motionless and inactive, no doubt on lockdown fro the attack outside. Adam nudged her and pointed up.
Cinder glanced up and took a deep breath. On what looked like an automated assembly line, she saw what looked like metal bodies riddled with wires.
"Looks like you were right," Adam said. "They were planning to make more."
"Over here!" Roman called in a hushed yell. He pointed to another conveyer belt, this one along one of the far edges. Cinder hurried over to see spherical firebombs, designated with red paint, sitting on the motionless belt.
Roman gestured to Emerald, who moved over towards him. "Hold this for me," he said, removing the bag from his shoulder and handing it to Emerald. She took it and flung it over her shoulder.
Roman crept closer to the firebombs, digging into his pocket. He pulled out some Fire Dust crystals.
"I can shoot these with my cane from a distance," he said. "It will start a chain reaction. If one firebomb was enough to level our entire base, I'm fairly certain that all of these will bring down the entire laboratory. But we want to be clear when I fire, because it's gonna go up fast." Roman placed the Dust crystals next to one of the firebombs.
Suddenly, there was a noise. It sounded like metal creaking and machinery starting.
"Alert," a metallic, feminine voice said. "unauthorized Dust detected in Manufacturing. Entering sentry mode."
Cinder spun around to see where the voice was coming from. She recognized it. There was a clatter, and she watched in horror as something rose off the desk. It was a metal skeleton, wound with wires and lights. Its eyes glowed a deep red. Half of its face was covered in realistic-looking skin, with curly orange hair on top. Pieces of a green dress with black stockings were stretched over the metal, as if someone had not finished dressing it. Its eyes focused on the group.
"Targets identified," the robot said. Its expression was grim. "The Resistance. Salutations, we meet again."
Cinder's eye narrowed. "P.E.N.N.Y." she spat.
What was going on?
There was a big hullabaloo outside. The sounds of alarms and gunfire had woken Ruby from her nap, as well as woken Yang attempting to sleep on the floor beside her. Yang groaned as Ruby retrieved her chain, yanking her along as she ambled into the hallway.
Ruby yawned. "The one time I try and get some rest, and everything starts going down?" she said to Yang, but mostly to herself. "Can't I catch a break?"
Ruby shuffled down the hall, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She felt Yang slowing down, so she gave the chain a tug to force her to hurry forward. Her tired eyes scanned the area. It was empty and almost quiet save for the alarms in the distance and the sounds of explosions.
"Sounds like we've got a fight," Ruby said. "Maybe I can try my new powers out on some actual people again." As she walked, she saw lights flashing in a room up ahead. She paid it little mind, simply wanting to get to the action, but paused when she happened to glance inside.
It was a security room, full of screens displaying camera feeds. A red light was flashing above. No one was sitting at the desk, and the emergency case usually containing a gun was shattered and its contents missing. The security guard must have joined the fray.
Ruby was about to move on when something on one of the screens caught her eyes. She blinked a few times to make sure she was not still dreaming a bit, entering the room and approaching the screen. Yang wheezed as she followed.
No, she was seeing it right. Above a series of screens was written the word "Laboratory". Each screen was labeled: "Hall", "R&D", "Robotics", and "Manufacturing". In the camera labeled "Manufacturing", she saw figures. Familiar figures. All of a sudden, the sleepiness left her body. Ruby's eyes widened, awake and alert, as she saw the people in the camera. She started breathing heavily. Her mouth warped into a maniacal grin. Yang cowered.
"Besties!" she mused.
P.E.N.N.Y. started towards them. It began as a fast walk. Then a run. Then a sprint. Each Resistance member pulled out their weapons. Emerald steadied the bag over her shoulder with a free hand before pulling out her gun. She began firing at P.E.N.N.Y., but the shots simply ricocheted off her metal body. A few hit the dress, creating holes. P.E.N.N.Y. flinched, but kept charging.
As soon as it had reached them, P.E.N.N.Y. threw a kick. Cinder held up her swords to block. While the leg struck her weapons, it still hurt Cinder's hands and made her skid back. P.E.N.N.Y. prepared to tackle, but Mercury intervened, kicking P.E.N.N.Y. in the side and firing a blast from his weaponized boots. P.E.N.N.Y. was thrown to the ground, but twisted its body in a way so that it was able to quickly recover. P.E.N.N.Y. extended its arm, retracting the hand and replacing it with a long blade. It lunged at Mercury, swinging its weapon.
Mercury dodged the slashes, each one faster than the last. One slashed at his shirt, tearing the fabric.
"Make way!" Adam shouted, pulling out his sword. He jumped between Mercury and P.E.N.N.Y., raising his sword and blocking one of P.E.N.N.Y.'s swings. He strained at the robot's strength, but held back the blade. P.E.N.N.Y. extended its other arm, retracting the hand and revealing a spinning circular saw. It swung at Adam, who managed to break the connection and leap back just in time for the roaring saw to skim past him.
Cinder dove in from behind, stabbing her swords at P.E.N.N.Y.'s back. One managed to poke through and pierce the dress on the other side, but the other hit a metal component and simply bounced back. P.E.N.N.Y.'s head turned one hundred and eighty degrees to face Cinder, its red eyes burrowing into Cinder's terrified eye. Its limbs rotated as well, turning the entire robot around save for the torso. Cinder recalled her blades just as P.E.N.N.Y. attacked, slashing with both its weapons as Cinder tried to block. The saw ground and screeched against her swords. It swung low, and Cinder tried to dodge, but felt a sharp pain as the saw blade slashed at her. She yelped and staggered back, glancing down at the shallow bleeding gash near her stomach. P.E.N.N.Y. raised a leg and kicked, the blow landing right into Cinder's midsection. Cinder gasped as air left her body, the powerful blow not only knocking the breath out of her lungs, but also stretching and tearing the newly-formed cut wider open. Cinder's legs were lifted off the ground from the force of the impact, throwing her back. It took every ounce of control she had to avoid landing on her swords as she slammed onto her back, crying out from pain as she sharply inhaled, attempting to breathe. She coughed, then saw P.E.N.N.Y. preparing to stab her through her head.
Roman and Adam lunged forward. Roman hooked P.E.N.N.Y.'s neck with his cane and yanked it away from Cinder, and Adam followed up with a series of quick slashes. Each one tore at P.E.N.N.Y.'s skin and clothes, but left the rest undamaged. P.E.N.N.Y. stabbed her saw blade forward, just missing Roman. Emerald took another shot, this time well-aimed at P.E.N.N.Y.'s left eye. The shot connected, and P.E.N.N.Y. threw its head back as electrical sparking and red flashing emitted from its head. When it lowered its head again, The eye was broken, with no light and sparks coming off of it. P.E.N.N.Y. charged Emerald, who tried firing at the other eye. She missed, and P.E.N.N.Y. tackled Emerald into a wall. Emerald felt the wind knocked out of her as she was hit, and then her back and head pound as they hit the wall. P.E.N.N.Y. readied a sword stab and attacked. Emerald recovered from her daze quickly enough to yank her head to the side, letting the blade stab into the wall. P.E.N.N.Y. started pulling, but the blade was stuck in the wall. Emerald ducked down and jumped away, dodging a saw blade swing to do so.
Cinder groaned as she got up from the ground. Roman aimed his cane at the robot.
"Don't!" Adam warned. "We're too close to the firebombs. If you shoot it, there's a chance they may go off!" He ran forward, sword at the ready. P.E.N.N.Y. swung its saw again, but Adam dodged and slashed at one of the open parts of its torso, cutting through some wires. They sparked and hummed, and P.E.N.N.Y. jolted. Its saw blade stopped spinning. As Adam prepared another attack, P.E.N.N.Y. freed itself from the wall and blocked with its blade. It raised its unmoving but still sharp saw blade and slashed at Adam's face. He yelled out as he staggered back.
"Adam!" Cinder called.
Adam turned, revealing a long scratch across his mask and the lobe of his left ear having been slashed, bleeding profusely. P.E.N.N.Y. leapt at him, but Roman and Cinder charged at it, using their shared strength to tackle the robot backwards to the ground with a loud thud. Cinder stabbed a sword down at P.E.N.N.Y.'s arm. It passed through the metal skeleton and into wires before digging into the floor. P.E.N.N.Y. tried raising its saw blade, but its arm was pinned to the ground. It slashed with its blade, but Roman blocked with his cane as Cinder stabbed with her other sword, pinning the other arm down.
P.E.N.N.Y.'s legs kicked and began twisting unnaturally, attempting to stand up. It threw its head forward attempting to headbutt someone. However, Emerald ran forward and slammed the barrel of her gun into P.E.N.N.Y.'s other eye, firing at point-blank range. Glass shattered and sparks flew as the eye shattered. Cinder yelped and jumped back before reaching down and pulling a shard of glass out of her arm.
"Error," P.E.N.N.Y. said. "Optical sensors offline."
"You bet they fucking are!" Emerald yelled.
Suddenly, P.E.N.N.Y. freed its bladed arm, tossing Cinder's sword aside. Thinking quickly, Cinder grabbed the other one and wrenched it, loosening the metal and opening up a bigger space. She grabbed the arm, careful of the saw blade, and began to pull. Adam recognized what she was doing and leaned down, grabbing it with her and pulling. They strained and groaned, but soon metal began creaking and sparks began flying. The wires tore and the arm dislodged from the rest of the body, leaving a sparking stump of wires in its place. P.E.N.N.Y. threw itself forward, its top half seemingly rising weightlessly to align with its bottom half, standing menacingly. Cinder threw the arm somewhere else, then readied her one sword blade, though eyeing the other laying nearby. P.E.N.N.Y. began slashing at the air, unable to see.
"Error. Error. Error," P.E.N.N.Y. repeated, swinging faster and more crazed than before. Its torso began spinning on its hips, whirling the blade around all around its body. Cinder ran and dove down, sliding on her bottom underneath the spinning blade up to her sword. She retrieved it, the blade clattering slightly as it was raised off the floor. P.E.N.N.Y. stopped spinning and charged towards the noise. Before it reached Cinder, Mercury attacked, kicking rapidly and firing from his boots with each kick. P.E.N.N.Y. staggered with each blow, eventually slashing with its blade. The blade made contact with Mercury's leg, clanging loudly against his prosthetic but knocking him off-balance. As he fell to his back, P.E.N.N.Y. came over, stomping its feet towards him. Mercury rolled away from each stomp, which cracked the floor from the impact.
Emerald began firing again, the shots hitting in the head and chest. P.E.N.N.Y. began moving towards Emerald, but Roman swooped in, sliding down and hooking the robot's leg with his cane. He yanked, tripping the machine and sending it crashing to the ground. Adam and Cinder pounced onto the robot's back, slashing and tearing away any fabric or fake skin to expose anything vital they could. Soon they found it.
"There's a Fire Dust crystal lodged into its chest!" Adam reported. P.E.N.N.Y. bucked, almost throwing the two off. Roman, Emerald, and Mercy all jumped up and onto P.E.N.N.Y., retraining the arms and legs as best they could.
"Destroy it! Hurry!" Emerald winced, unable to hold back P.E.N.N.Y.'s arm. P.E.N.N.Y. threw her off, then began clawing at Adam. Cinder raised her sword and stabbed down into P.E.N.N.Y.'s back, right into the Dust crystal. The tip stabbed into the crystal, causing it to crack. P.E.N.N.Y. spasmed, then dug its fingers into Adam's back. He screamed as it stabbed at him. Emerald grabbed P.E.N.N.Y.'s wrist and strained, but pulled the bloody digits out.
Cinder put more pressure on her blade, with the crystal cracking and splintering more. She, as well as everyone else, closed their eyes and prepared for impact.
The crystal shattered. P.E.N.N.Y. let out a mechanical screech as it exploded into a burst of flame. Cinder was thrown back, roaring fire engulfing her entire front side. She screamed aloud from the burning pain, feeling it decrease but not fade as the fire fizzled out and she landed on her back on the floor. She was still for a moment, only slowly opening her eye. Her arms, legs, chest, and face were burned. Fortunately, she had been in contact with the flames for a brief enough period that they were not life-threatening. Still she noticed her pant leg on fire, and winced as she patted herself out. She noted some of her skin on her hand was second-degree burned, with small bubbles on her thumb and wrist. She groaned as she sat up, her skin stinging as she craned to see the unmoving, unpowered P.E.N.N.Y. lying face-first on the ground, any trace of its human disguise burned away and leaving nothing but a charred metal skeleton.
Cinder panted as she stood up, taking it slowly and minding her red, wounded skin and sore muscles and joints. She gazed around at the others. They all sported first-degree burns on their arms, with Roman's reaching to his neck, but she seemed to have gotten the most of it.
Emerald huffed as she walked over to P.E.N.N.Y.'s remains and kicked them with a metallic clang. She immediately winced and raised her foot up, grabbing at her boot.
"Ow," she muttered. "Bad idea."
Adam adjusted his mask, minding a small burn on his cheek. "Is everyone alright?" he asked. A chorus of groans and sighs replied. "Good," he added.
Emerald looked around. She saw the bag lying on the ground where she had fallen. She checked inside to make sure everything was still there. It was, and she pulled out some ammunition and reloaded her gun. She tossed some to Mercury, who reloaded the shots on his boots.
"I think I'm ready to get out of here," Mercury muttered.
Cinder nodded. She turned to Roman to ask him to get ready to set the bombs off, but another noise caught her ear. It immediately made her hot, burning skin run ice cold and her pounding heart freeze in her chest.
Mixed with the sound of a clinking chain and metal scraping against the floor was an eerie humming. The tune was recognizable, and Cinder's sore, tired head turned in fear towards it. The heavy door was pushed open and two people entered. Everyone, though exhausted from their fight, readied their weapons and stood defensively.
The person on the chain groaned and wheezed as her captor hummed and skipped, her scythe dragging across the floor. Her hood rolled back as she lifted her head and gazed at her targets, a wide grin almost contorting her face.
"Hello, besties," Ruby said. "Fancy seeing you here."
