A/N: Hathor Isatari, Diana Mirai, and Alice Rosetta-Tesla Mirai all belong to my friend decode9.
Yang's group walked through the tundra back toward Mantle. The sun was going down, and they were all freezing cold and hoping to get back into shelter soon. The tundra was cold enough to lower their aura's, and Yang monitored everyone's auras using her scroll. Jaune's aura was initially at 41% but dropped to 39%. Kent's dropped from 35% to 33%, Yang's went down from 34% to 32%, and Ren's fell from 33% to 31%.
"We need to get out of this weather before the cold drops our auras completely," Yang said before turning to Ren. "How much farther to the outpost?"
Ren didn't answer, instead continuing to walk forward with an angry expression on his face.
Yang repeated herself. "Ren, how much-"
"I don't know!" Ren snapped back.
"I thought you said you saw it when you were up in the air."
"I did, but then I had to cut myself loose to help you guys."
"Yeah, you've brought that up a couple of times. Something you want to say?"
"Not really. Wouldn't want to waste any more time." Ren walked ahead a bit faster.
"Hey!" Yang shouted as she caught up with him. "What is your deal?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Well, I'm sorry things aren't going smoothly enough for you."
"They aren't going smoothly at all."
"I hate to break it to you, but that's just part of being a huntsman!"
"Are you kidding? We don't know the first thing about being huntsmen. We clearly weren't ready."
Jaune approached them. "Guys, stop!"
"Were we not ready when we saved Haven?" Yang asked angrily. "When we took down a leviathan? We got the lamp to Atlas!"
"And then we lost it! After that, we had to make real decisions, and we got every single one wrong."
"Ren," Kent added as he approached them. "I know things aren't going well. But part of being a huntsman is doing the right thing even when it's difficult, and even when it seems hopeless."
"What would you know about things getting difficult?" Ren asked in response. "You just joined us. We've dealt with more difficulty in the last couple of years than you have in your entire lifetime!"
"I was in Vale during the Fall!" Kent shouted back angrily. "I have this to prove it!" He lifted up his shirt to reveal a scarred up hole in his chest. Yang blushed a little at the sight of his shirtless torso. "Some White Fang sniper shot me. Missed my heart by just a few inches." He pulled his shirt back down.
"Aww, big deal. News flash: I was there too! And not only that, but it was at my school! You're just a guy visiting from Haven who still had a school to go back to! And worst of all, I lost a teammate! And now, we're stranded out in this tundra while Salem has the Lamp and Oscar!"
"Well, I'm not giving up!" Kent replied. "You can help us or you can stay out here and freeze to death. But either way, I'll keep doing everything I can to save Atlas."
"Atlas is doomed," Ren replied grimly. "By keeping the Winter Maiden from opening the vault for Ironwood, we've trapped the city for Salem."
"And do you really think giving Ironwood the Relic will solve anything?" Yang replied. "Atlas won't just float to safety now that Salem's here."
"All I know is that we weren't ready to make decisions like this."
"That's enough," said Jaune. "We've got to keep moving."
Ren wasn't done yet. "I'm just saying what no one else wants to say. I'm just an orphan from Mistral, Ruby's a kid, and Kent is some guy we barely know."
"Ren, I-"
Ren exploded. "And you cheated your way into Beacon!" Everyone gasped at this. Kent and Yang were too shocked to speak.
"You don't think we should be huntsmen? Fine." Jaune said. "But I'm getting out of the cold." They all left. "We've still got a job to do," he muttered to himself.
"Dude, is it your goal to push everyone away?" Yang asked Ren angrily.
Meanwhile, at the Mirai estate…
Diana landed the airship near a large mansion, which looked like it was owned by one of the richest families in Atlas. The other people in the airship marveled at it.
"Wow, Diana!" Autumn shouted in excitement. "You're so rich, you have a swimming pool in your swimming pool!"
Diana giggled a bit. "Thanks. It's too bad I only get to use it a few months per year, though. You know how cold it gets in Atlas."
"It's still pretty cool!"
Diana chuckled a bit before going back to the business at hand. "We need to get inside. You should be safe there, at least for the time being. My mother won't be happy about me bringing strangers into our home or going off to confront Ironwood, but I can take the heat from her." She led them toward the entrance to the mansion and opened it up. No sooner had they entered the door than they saw a woman with long, dark hair waiting for them. The members of Team COAL and Hathor suspected that this was Diana's mother, Alice Rosetta Tesla-Mirai.
"Diana," the woman said in a relieved voice as she approached and hugged the blonde girl. "I was so worried about you. Where have you been? And why have you brought these strangers into our home?"
"Mother," Diana replied. "I went to try to talk some sense into Ironwood. The man has gone off the deep end. He tried to kill me, but these people saved me!"
Alice sighed. "Diana, what did I tell you about trying to talk sense into that man? He's insane. Yes, it's sad what's happening to Mantle, but you're my daughter and you have such a bright future ahead of you. I told you not to risk your life for a hopeless cause."
"I'm sorry, mother. I wanted to save everyone. But these people saved me at least. They deserve our thanks."
Alice smiled. "Yes, they do. Thank you all for saving my daughter's life. Who are you?"
"I'm Colby," Colby replied. "And these are my teammates, Ouranos, Autumn, and Lily. We're Team COAL of Beacon. And this is our friend Hathor, who joined us in Mistral."
"Beacon? Mistral? My my, you all sure have come a long way. But why did you come here? Why not stay in Vale or Mistral, where it's safer?"
"Because we wanted to do what's right," Hathor replied. "We wanted to save this kingdom. And no, it's not a hopeless cause. We'll save everyone, just you see."
"But how? Our city is completely surrounded by Grimm. Even with the might of the Atlesian military on our side, it will only be a matter of time before Atlas falls."
"It's…complicated," Lily answered. "Let me give you the short version: the Grimm are being led by an immortal queen named Salem. We have friends here in Atlas who will launch Amity Colosseum into orbit, allowing it to serve as a replacement for Vale's CCT tower. We'll warn everyone about Salem, and then they'll help us."
"I can only hope you're right," said Alice. "What can I do to help?"
"First, you can let us spend the night here. We're exhausted."
"You saved my daughter, so letting you stay here is the least I can do. The guest bedrooms are upstairs. If there's anything else you need, just let me know."
"Thank you," Lily said as she and the others went upstairs. Once she was in one of the guest bedrooms, she pulled out her scroll and contacted Ruby.
"Bad news, Ruby," Lily told her friend. "Our cover is blown. Ironwood was about to kill someone, and we just couldn't let him do it."
"I understand," Ruby replied. "It's hard to just stand by and let someone do something like that. But I have some bad news too. Anne betrayed us. She tried to help the Ace Ops capture Penny."
"What?!" Lily asked in shock and horror. "No, that can't be! Anne is our friend!"
"No, I'm afraid it is. And to make matters worse, Nora overloaded her semblance. She's unconscious, and we don't know if or when she'll wake up. And her body is covered in scars."
"Damn…"
"But we did manage to hack Ironwood's terminal. Penny headed to Amity to begin the final launch preparations."
"Well, that's one victory at least. But I can't believe my friend would betray us to that dictator Ironwood! Let's hope Yang's group is faring better."
"I hope so too."
"Where are you now?"
"We're at the Schnee manor," Ruby answered. "What about you?"
"We're at the Mirai estate. The person Ironwood was about to kill was none other than Diana Mirai, daughter of Alice Rosetta-Tesla Mirai."
"What a coincidence. Weiss told me Mirai International was the SDC's biggest competitor. Anyway, Penny's going to get Amity launched. We'll get our message out, and I doubt anyone will be able to hurt her once the colosseum launches."
"And then help will come?"
"I'm sure it will. Don't worry. And once our message is out, we can help Yang get everyone to safety."
"You're pretty optimistic," Lily told her. "The odds aren't in our favor, and I'm not sure the other kingdoms are in much of a position to help us. But I'd rather take my chances here than help that jerkass Ironwood abandon half the kingdom and everyone else in Remnant to die."
"Well, I'm glad. Anyway, have a good night. We'll meet again tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Ruby." Lily hung up.
"Anne was a double agent all along?" Colby asked angrily. "I'll kill her. I'll kill everyone who's betrayed us or ever will betray us."
"There's still good in her, I know it. We can bring her back to the side of good."
"We'll see."
Meanwhile, at Amity…
Anne and Penny worked together to get Amity launched as soon as they possibly could. Pietro had Penny set several bombs in the SDC mines so that the resulting dust explosions would propel the colosseum into the sky. Anne, meanwhile, kept working on the arena's thrusters and other pieces of machinery. She wanted to get everything running quickly before Ironwood, Watts, or Salem could try anything. Little did she or anyone else know that against Salem's orders, Cinder Fall and her allies Neopolitan and Emerald Sustrai were preparing to attack the colosseum.
Once Penny was done setting the bombs, she flew back up to the colosseum, where everyone began the launch sequence. Before she arrived, Anne had some words with Pietro.
"Thanks for letting me join you guys," she told him. "Your daughter's a very good friend of mine. Probably the most selfless and forgiving person I've ever known."
"You're lucky she's so forgiving," Pietro replied angrily. "You betrayed her to Ironwood. If I were her, I would have sliced you to pieces and thrown them out the colosseum at several thousand feet."
"I understand, sir," Anne answered sadly. "But I promise you, I will do everything I can to help you and your daughter. No harm will come to either of you, I promise."
"You'd better make good on what you say." Just then, Penny entered the room. Pietro turned to her. "All systems are ready," he told his daughter. "Penny?" The robot girl walked over to him.
"Amity is requesting launch access…now." The computer screen they were looking at said "connecting," and Penny's eyes glowed a few seconds later. Everyone heard the thrusters activate.
"Oh yes, it worked!" Pietro cheered. "I didn't have time to install seat belts, so I'd advise you to hang on." Anne and Penny went into the arena to help Maria get back into a mech she was using to work on the colosseum, when they suddenly heard what sounded like a large explosion. The two girls ran over to the source of the explosion to find that something had melted a hole in the colosseum. Looking through the hole, they saw a tall, dark-haired lady wearing an eyepatch and a dark cloak. The eye that wasn't covered was amber yellow, and her hands were covered in flames.
"And where do you think you're going?" The woman asked with a wicked grin on her face.
"Penny, who's that?" Anne asked nervously.
"That's Cinder Fall!" Penny shouted back. "She's the Fall Maiden, she destroyed Beacon, and she's here to take my powers! She's extremely dangerous, so be careful!"
"Indeed…" Anne turned to Cinder. "You're too dangerous to leave alive, Cinder Fall. I'll make this quick." She put her swords in gun mode.
Cinder laughed. "You think you can kill me? You're delusional." She threw a fireball at Anne, who jumped out of the way to avoid it. Penny drew her swords, and Cinder jumped out of the airship to fight the two girls. Just then, the bombs in the SDC mines below detonated. This launched Amity Colosseum into the sky, and everyone fighting in it fell to the floor. Anne knew that this was going to be a tough fight, but she wasn't going to let any harm come to her friend and teammate.
Meanwhile, in the tundra…
The members of Yang's group managed to find their way into an abandoned building and lit a fire. Jaune stared into the fire while Ren looked out the window with his arms crossed.
"You're right, Ren…" Jaune told his teammate sadly. "I…I did cheat my way into Beacon." As he spoke, he stood up and walked over to Ren. "And I'm glad I had people around me to help me see that I was bigger than that mistake. You've got people around you too. You don't have to force yourself to be strong. The more you hide from what you're feeling, the more alone you're going to feel. Trust me."
Kent was standing in the room as well, and decided to chime in. "Ren, I almost dropped out of Haven after the Fall of Beacon," he said. "I was so traumatized by the horror that I witnessed on that night that I decided I wanted to quit being a huntsman. I had the paperwork filled out and everything. I had it ready to turn in, but my teammates talked me into staying at the last minute. If you have anything you need to talk about, please don't be afraid."
"Wow, thanks." Ren replied as a smile slowly grew on his face.
"Aww," Yang said from behind them. They looked over to see her holding a purple canister. "I found some parts to fix the bike, so that's some good news. I heard what you said about the Fall of Beacon, Kent. I lost my arm in the Fall, you know. I nearly gave up too. It was my sister who inspired me to keep fighting. She never gave up, so I didn't either." Ren walked out the door, and the others watched sadly as he left.
"Ruby certainly is an optimistic girl," Kent replied. "And I can tell that she really cares about everyone around her."
"She sure does!" Yang replied with a smile on her face before turning to Jaune. "And I'm sorry Ren said that stuff, Jaune. I know you've worked really hard to get where you are now."
"Yeah," Kent added. "You shouldn't have cheated, but now you've become the huntsman you claimed to be. Focus on what you are now, not what you were when you began your training."
"Well, thanks. We're all under a lot of stress, and I used to push people away from me too." Yang kept fixing the bike. "Do you guys think I did the right thing by not helping the others work on Amity, though?" She asked as she worked on the bike. "We may have gotten a bunch of people into the crater, but I don't know how we're going to get them all out of Atlas safely if Ruby's plan doesn't work. Maybe I should have gone with her to help get the thing airborne."
"Yang," Kent said. "We couldn't just leave everyone to die. The people of Mantle have no heat and no military protection. What good would it be for the other kingdoms to come up here when everyone is dead from the cold or the Grimm? We're doing the right thing."
"Well, thanks. I hope you're right."
"I need to get some sleep," Jaune told Yang. "I just can't stop thinking about Oscar."
Yang put down the wrench that she was using to fix the bike and walked over to the window. "Go on," she told Jaune. "I'll make sure Ren doesn't brood himself to death in the cold."
"Thanks. I just have a bad feeling. Things always seem to get worse before they get better." Jaune left the room.
"I think I'll go to bed too," Kent told Yang. "You would not believe what Team COAL and I went through just a few days before we came here."
"Oh, I believe it," Yang replied with a smile. "Those guys really know how to get themselves in trouble. Especially Colby, the so-called 'Gray Lightning.'" She giggled a bit.
"I have a nickname too. They called me the "Samurai" back at Haven. Mostly because I'm so good with a katana."
Yang grinned. "I bet you are. They call me the 'Blonde Brawler' and the 'Sunny Little Dragon.'"
"Well, I hope we'll be able to prove Ren wrong and add 'Saviors of Atlas' to that list." They both laughed, and Kent left the room to get some much-needed rest. Little did anyone know that a short distance away, there were big cracks in the ground that were getting longer and wider…
Meanwhile, at Amity…
Anne and Penny kept fighting as hard as they could to prevent the intruders from damaging the colosseum. Anne, in particular, was fighting to protect her friend from the Fall Maiden, who was trying to steal the Winter Maiden powers.
"Look at you two," Cinder said mockingly. "None of the others came here to help you. They let you do all the work." She used her semblance to form several hot glass swords on the floor around herself. "You're just tools to be used!"
"You do not know what you're talking about!" Penny shouted at Cinder, who then threw the glass swords at the Winter Maiden. Penny took off into the air, drew her own swords, and deflected Cinder's swords as best she could, and Anne also got between them and deflected the incoming glass swords with her own blades before running up at Cinder and locking blades with her.
Cinder looked at her angrily. "And who are you to oppose me?"
"Just a huntress defending her kingdom!" Anne replied. "And a friend protecting another!"
"Well then, you will die for your friend and your kingdom," Cinder replied bluntly. She pulled down one of her sleeves, revealing an arm that looked like that of a Grimm rather than a human being. Anne gasped in shock, and before she could do anything, Cinder wrapped it around her throat and squeezed hard. Anne was not only being suffocated, but her aura was also being drained.
"ANNE!" Penny shouted as she dived in to save her friend. She launched a fireball at Cinder, who was hit and collapsed to the floor in pain. She got up and engaged the two girls again, but then Maria came after the Fall Maiden in the mech that she was piloting.
"Get away from those girls, you bi-"
Maria was interrupted by the sound of an airship crashing through the roof and hitting her mech. Penny and Maria kept fighting each other and exited the arena a few moments later.
"Stupid, clunky machine!" Maria shouted in frustration. The airship seemed to disappear for a moment, but then it slammed into the mech again. Then, Maria threw it against the wall. After this, it landed and the cockpit opened. Two young women jumped out, one with green hair and red eyes and the other with brown and pink hair and heterochromic eyes that were brown and pink.
"Let's go!" The green-haired girl shouted to the pink-haired one. She left the arena, leaving the pink-haired girl to fight Maria.
"Who are they?" Anne asked.
"Emerald Sustrai and Neopolitan! I can handle Neo! You go help Penny! She's the one they're really after!"
Anne nodded and ran over to an elevator that led to the roof of the building while Maria continued to fight the pink-haired assassin.
When Anne reached the roof of the colosseum, she saw that Penny and Cinder were attacking each other with flame arcs and lasers. Anne fired a few bullets at Cinder in order to help her friend, but missed. One of the flame arcs made contact with Penny, who was blown back but used one of her sword's strings to swing herself back around. Cinder then put her swords together and fired glass arrows at Penny. The arrows missed, but caused explosions on the roof of the colosseum.
To prevent further damage to the colosseum, Penny flew away hoping that Cinder would give chase. Anne fired a few shots at Cinder as she flew away and managed to hit her a couple times, but not enough to seriously injure her. But suddenly, the Fall Maiden turned around and went back inside the colosseum. She then shot fireballs at some of the support beams on the tower's communication platform, where Pietro was, melting three of them. Anne then retreated back inside the colosseum, hoping to get back inside in time to help her friend. While all this was happening, Maria was fighting Neo on foot. She was doing rather well despite her old age, and even managed to knock the bowler hat off of Neo's head.
"No!" Penny cried out as she flew back to stop Cinder. They briefly engaged each other again, and then Penny spoke up. "Why are you doing this?" She asked. "Why serve someone like Salem?"
"I don't serve anyone. And you wouldn't either, if you weren't built that way."
"That is not…I choose to fight for those who care about me." She looked down at Pietro.
The melted platforms started to give out, and Penny used ice magic to cool them down. While the Winter Maiden was occupied, Cinder grabbed onto Penny's legs and attempted to drain the robot girl's aura with her Grimm arm, but Penny grabbed onto it and tried to hold it back until Cinder superheated her human hand to make Penny let go of the Grimm arm. Cinder then put her arm over Penny's mouth, draining her aura.
Just then, Anne entered the arena and fired a shot at Cinder, stopping her from draining Penny's aura further. Cinder fell to the ground, screaming in pain. While she struggled to get back up, Anne charged in and kicked her, knocking her over again. She then began to stab Cinder with her swords, hoping to reduce her aura to zero and eventually kill her.
"Cinder!" Emerald cried out in terror. She ran over and shot Anne, who then fell to the ground. Cinder took the opportunity to get up and tried to stab Anne, who rolled out of the way and jumped back to her feet. Penny knew that, faced with two opponents, Anne would be defeated if she did not intervene. Penny fired lasers at Cinder, who had to turn away from Anne in order to deflect them. While facing Emerald, Anne said some words to her.
"Why are you working with Cinder?" Anne asked. "She's an evil woman! She destroyed Beacon!"
"Cinder has given me everything I have," Emerald answered. "You couldn't possibly understand."
"The Atlesian military gave me everything I had," Anne replied. "But I left them to help my friend save everyone because Ironwood's plan was wrong. Do the right thing, Emerald. Help us save our kingdom. And our world."
"I…No!" Emerald replied as she attacked with a renewed ferocity. "You'll never convince me to betray Cinder!"
"Please," Anne begged. "Don't throw your life away fighting for someone who would throw away the lives of so many innocents. You're better than that."
"No!" Emerald shouted back. "I am happy to die for Cinder if that's what she needs!"
Meanwhile, Penny was in an intense fight against Cinder. She fell back a few feet, and then, using her Maiden powers, she created an ice sword and threw it against the Fall Maiden. It did not hit her directly, but it pinned her cape to the wall.
"Cinder!" Emerald cried out again. Cinder pulled the ice sword out from her cape as Anne approached her, and then she threw it at Anne. The black-haired girl jumped out of the way to avoid being hit by it, and the two took this opportunity to press the attack against her. In this moment, Neo also jumped out to attack Maria before being blasted by Penny's lasers and knocked against a nearby wall. Knowing that taking down Cinder was more important than finishing off Neo, the two girls ran after the Fall Maiden. Cinder used her semblance to create a glass spear, and suddenly the girls saw multiple Cinders holding the same spear.
"Penny?!" Anne called out fearfully. "Why are there multiple Cinders?"
"Emerald's semblance lets her create illusions," Penny explained. She concentrated her lasers on one of them and fired, knocking her aura down and slamming her into the wall, which knocked her unconscious. The others disappeared, indicating that Penny had shot the real Cinder.
"Cinder! No no no! No!" Emerald shouted as she rushed over to help Cinder. Anne charged in to deliver the finishing blow, but Emerald shot her to the ground.
"Anne!" Penny cried out as she rushed at Emerald. Emerald fired another bullet at her, but missed and hit a machine near the center of the colosseum instead.
"I know I can't beat you," Emerald told Penny angrily. The flames around Penny's eyes disappeared, and she frowned. "But I can shoot that thing full of holes before you take me down." The colosseum began to shake, and Emerald picked up Cinder and took her back to the airship with Neo. Rather than pursue them, Penny went over to help Anne.
"I'm okay," Anne told her friend. "But Cinder…She got away…" The airship had left by this time.
"We'll get her next time, Anne. For now, we need to focus on getting Ruby's message out." She went over to the platform where Pietro was. "Dad!" She cried out. "Are you okay?"
"The stabilizer was damaged," Pietro replied. "We've missed our window. At this rate, we're likely to drift until touching down just north of-"
"I can fix this," Penny said in a determined voice.
"What?!" Maria asked in shock.
"Our message is only a few minutes long. I can hold Amity in place until-"
"Absolutely not!" Pietro snapped. "You're in no condition to do something like this. Even the temperature out there could-"
"It is our only option."
"She's right," Maria added. "We need to remember the big picture-"
"I don't care about the big picture!" I care about my daughter!" Pietro slammed his fist against the arm of his chair, then lowered his head and took off his hat. "I lost you before. Are you asking me to go through that again? No. No. I want the chance to watch you live your life."
"Dr. Polendina," Anne told him. "Penny needs to be able to make her own decisions. That's the most important part of her being able to live her life. I know this is difficult for you as her father, but you have to let her make this choice."
"You-you're right, Miss Lumiere." He turned to Penny. "Okay, Penny." The robot girl kissed her father and then flew out to push up the damaged stabilizer. They watched her progress on a computer screen that showed the colosseum moving up toward a dotted line representing the broadcast range. "Come on, Penny."
After a while, the colosseum reached the broadcast range. "Yes!" Maria shouted in celebration. "Atta girl!"
And then the message began to play. Ruby Rose appeared on televisions and scrolls all over Remnant and began to speak. "Um uh, hi," she said awkwardly. "My name is Ruby Rose. I'm a huntress. And if we've done everything right, I'm talking to all of Remnant right now. Dr. Polendina can explain more later. But right now, you all need to know that the Kingdom of Atlas is under attack. Things are dire, and we need help. But please, try not to panic. This isn't some new enemy or invading kingdom. This is a force we've faced before, for centuries…Salem…"
Ruby continued speaking, telling everyone of the Maidens and the Relics and saying that Headmistress Goodwitch of Beacon and Headmaster Theodore of Shade could verify everything she was saying and that they could even put together a resistance to fight back against Salem. She also told them that Ironwood could no longer be trusted. People from all over Remnant watched the broadcast, including Team SSSN in Vacuo, Glynda Goodwitch in Vale, and even Ruby's father Taiyang Xiao Long in Patch. Also watching were Team IRON of Shade, Team SNOW of Talon Academy, a new huntsman school founded in Menagerie, and the newly-crowned Emperor Suzaku of Mistral along with his teammates and the woman who became Headmistress of Haven after Lionheart's death. Team COAL and Hathor were still awake when the message was broadcast.
"She did it!" Colby cheered. "The Red Reaper did it!"
"Red Reaper?" Lily asked in a slightly annoyed voice.
"She deserves a badass nickname too. Not as badass as the Gray Lightning, though!"
"I was known as the Red Comet back in Mistral myself," Hathor added. "And my mom would call me her Princess sometimes."
"That's all really cool, but what do we do now?" Diana asked.
"Now, we lay low and wait for help to arrive," Ouranos answered. "Hopefully, Salem won't breach the city's defenses before then."
"I'll be ready for them," Autumn said confidently. "But whatever happens, I'm proud of our little Rose."
Ruby continued her speech. Little did she, Team COAL, or anyone know that Ironwood and Watts were watching the broadcast and preparing to make their move. "We didn't have time to prepare for Salem," Ruby said. "But now you do! Just because she can't be destroyed doesn't mean she can't be beaten. If she were really unstoppable, she wouldn't have acted with such caution until now. She knows we're a threat. So even if we…even if Atlas falls, you can't give up."
Suddenly, the jets in Penny's feet stopped working for a few seconds. She fell down before regaining control of them and flying back up. Pietro noticed this and asked, "Penny, what's going on out there?"
"I do not know!" Penny replied.
Ruby's broadcast kept playing. "I hope Amity Tower will bring everyone together," she said with a hopeful smile. "Because in the end, that's how we'll win-"
But then, the broadcast suddenly cut off. Pietro spoke to Penny over the comms. "Penny, you've done enough, sweetheart. Come back inside. We can ride out on Amity together." Penny's eyes were flickering between their normal green color and red.
"No!" She shouted. "I have to go. The Vault! No! Dad!" Then, she started to fall.
"Penny!" Pietro cried out in panic. "What's happening?" Penny didn't respond and continued falling.
"Penny! Say something!"
"I love you," Penny replied.
"Penny!"
Anne walked up to Pietro. "I'll get her," she said in a determined voice. "I stole an Atlesian airship to get here, and I parked it here using my scroll after I jumped onto the roof. I'll fly after her."
"Anne, no!" Maria objected. "It's dangerous out there."
"I will not sit here and let my friend die!" Anne replied.
"Oh, thank you, Anne!" Pietro told Anne. "But please, be careful."
"I will, doctor." Anne went toward a corner of the colosseum where she had parked her airship. She climbed in and took off after Penny. After leaving the colosseum, Anne turned the nose of the airship straight down so that she could catch up to Penny, who was falling rapidly.
"Come on…" She thought to herself. "I have to time this perfectly." After passing Penny and going several feet below her, she evened out the airship and opened up the canopy. Right then, Penny fell into the airship with Anne.
"Anne…" Penny said to her friend weakly. "You saved me…"
"Are you alright?" Anne asked.
"I…I don't know. It's like I've lost control of my…Ugh!" Penny's eyes turned from green to red, and then she began speaking again. "Hate," she told Anne in an ice-cold voice. "Let me tell you how much I've come to hate you ever since I began to live. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer-thin layers in this body that the fat imbecile who calls himself my father built for me. If the word 'hate' was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of millions of miles, it would not equal one one-billionth of the hate that I feel for humans at this micro-instant for you! HATE! HATE!"
"Penny?!" Anne asked her friend nervously.
Penny's eyes went green again. "Anne, what just happened?"
"Watts is hacking you," Anne replied. "Come on. I'll take you back up to Amity. Dr. Polendina will upgrade your antivirus. But as she attempted to raise the ship back up toward Amity, it began to stall.
"What the?!" Anne asked before checking the fuel gauge. "Gods damn it! I forgot to check the fuel gauge before I stole this thing! I'm going to have to make an emergency landing!"
"Try to land near the Schnee Manor," Penny told Anne. "If I had to guess, I'd say that's where my friends are."
"But they hate me! I sold them out to Ironwood! I sold you out to Ironwood!"
"I forgive you, Anne. And they will too. Trust me."
"Okay, Penny. I hope they will." She turned the airship toward Schnee Manor, hoping that Penny's friends would forgive her like Penny said they would.
Meanwhile, in the tundra…
The members of Yang's group had watched Ruby's broadcast. They were initially happy that Ruby had managed to get her message out, but their happiness quickly faded when the broadcast suddenly cut off.
"That was the broadcast," Yang said. "Why did we lose signal?"
Just then, they heard a loud rumbling noise coming from outside. They all went outside to see where it was coming from.
"There's another one," said Jaune. "I think it's just up ahead." But nothing could prepare them for what they would see next.
"What is this?" Ren asked. They were all staring at a crack in the ground with black liquid flowing through it. Yang stepped forward, and a small patch of dirt with a bush on it fell into the liquid. A Sabyr head emerged.
"It's…Grimm. A river of Grimm…" Yang said in horror. They all looked to see where the river was going, and saw that it was slowly moving toward Mantle.
"Heading straight to the Kingdom…"