July 29

It was the next day, and Team RRWBY was in Oobleck's class. After Rex had his talk with Ironwood and made it back to his friends, they asked him what exactly happened and he told them that he had a talk with Ironwood since he saw him on the news but he didn't tell them everything.

He still wasn't going to risk his friends getting involved. If Salem was someone even a military general was scared of, he was sure they couldn't do anything about her either. But all of this did make him think.

Where was he going to go or do to stop Salem?

Salem was out there somewhere in the world and he was probably going to have to stop her but how? Where was he going to go. He knew he couldn't stay at the school forever cause if he did, Oum knows what Salem might do to either draw him out or kill him.

He couldn't risk the lives of every student and friend that he made so he knew that he had to get out there someday. But he didn't have any money nor a clue what to do. Maybe when the festival was over, he could ask either Oz or Ironwood to compensate him on a journey to go to stop Salem.

No, they'd never agree. But maybe?

No, probably not. Besides he didn't know the terrain so where could he stay for shelter.

Anyways, when he said that, Weiss was surprised the the general of her home town had seem to take an interest in him, but then again a lot of people were interested in him when he ended up on the news. So she guessed she should've known it was going to happen. But she soon told him, or I should say scolded him, that he shouldn't make a fool of himself around Ironwood. He was a serious man and a general. It wouldn't be a good thing to make an enemy out of him. Rex waved her off saying that there's nothing to worry about.

All he did was talk to him about his powers and that he wasn't a bad guy, even if he's made himself an enemy of the White Fang. But Yang and Ruby defended him saying that there's no way that even if he made an enemy out of Ironwood, that he could defend and attack against him. And those two got chewed out by Weiss saying that they shouldn't take these things so lightly but all this talk soon began to wear her down and they decide that they would go over the plan when its time to make one. And they all went to sleep.


One Week Later (August 5)

Now, it was one week after Rex's chat with Ironwood and Team RRWBY was patiently waiting out the minute left on her holographic clock displayed from her desk in the classroom of Professor Peter Port as he was talking about something from his youth that no one was really paying attention to. Not even Weiss herself as Jaune slid up next to Weiss once again trying to ask her out.

"So Weiss, you know uh,... I was thinking that after this, maybe we could go grab a bite to eat?" asked Jaune before turning towards Port to see if he was looking their way before turning back.

"And, uh um, I-I've got two tickets to that new Spruce Willis movie, if you wanna make the trip to Vale. I hear it's awesome" said Jaune before pausing as his words were having no effect on her cold heart.

"Aaaand maybe after that, we could study together? I mean, you're smart and I'm, uh... Y'know." added Jaune, finally at his most desperate stage.

Finally, the clock in front of Weiss gave a shrill beep as it changed from 3:59 to 4:00, and she dismissed it with a wave of her hand while Port is temporarily unaware of the bell ringing still in the middle of his class.

"And then I— Oh" said Professor Port as he straightened his stance as the students started to leave.

"Timed that one wrong, I guess. Well, the stunning conclusion to this story will have to wait. Until next time!" said Port to the kids as his class ended.

Jaune groaned in his head watching Weiss as she packs up her stuff.

"Weiss? Did you hear me?" asked Jaune as he was hoping for a yes.

"No, no, no, yes" replied Weiss, not even looking at him, causing him to groan and facepalm.

Team RRWBY were walking by, feeling a little bad out for the Blonde Knight of Team JNPR.

"Maybe one day, Jaune" said Yang to Jaune as she patted him on the head.

"I'd just give up. She's impossible. Besides, try asking someone else" said Rex as he left with his team.


Team RRWBY's dorm

The team of 5 made it back to their dorms after another boring lesson from Oobleck, at least to Yang and Ruby it was, but Rex had gotten used to Oobleck's crazy nature. Not to mention the info he gave him, really gave Rex an understanding of this world more and more. Now they were preparing to go out on their secret mission.

Inside Team RRWBY's dorm room, Ruby was strapping the red laces of her shoes, as she wore different clothes than her usual. Ruby's outfit consisted of a long-sleeve, light gray shirt with black belted cuffs near the ends of the sleeves. Over top of the gray shirt is a black pinafore with two vertical lines of red stitching that resembled the lacing on a corset. She wore a red skirt with a large black print of her emblem on the side and matching black tulle underneath.

Her stockings and shoes remained the same as her original outfit, though the boots lacked the red trim that decorated the top. A few pieces of metal that were arranged in an abstract shape were attached to the shoulder of her left sleeve, and her cloak's hood had been wrapped around her neck in a scarf-like fashion, while the rest hanged down like normal.

Weiss was checking and making sure she had plenty of dust in her weapon, while wearing her new clothes. Weiss's new outfit consisted of a white, double-breasted jacket with black piping, cuffs and buttons over a white, pleated full skirt with black lace trim. She also wore a pair of white, thigh high boots with black heels and lace-topped black stockings.

Yang was making sure she had plenty of shotgun shells for her gauntlets, while also wearing her new clothes. Yang's outfit consisted of a deep-collared cream vest worn over a low cut black shirt; both were covered by a dark gray shrug with a raised collar, three-quarter sleeves adorned with a single black stripe down the outside of each sleeve, and gold cuffs. A black miniskirt was worn under the cream vest.

A pair of crooked black belts with gold accents are slung around her hip, with a purple piece of fabric attached to the left-rear section of the lower belt. She wore thigh high stockings attached to her miniskirt by garter-belts on the front and back of each thigh, decorated with four golden studs above her knee and her emblem on the outside of each thigh in gold. She also wore black ankle boots with multiple buckles and white ribbons on the back tied in a bow and around her neck is a purple pendant set in silver.

Blake was tightening the ribbons on her arms as she too wore new clothes. Blake's outfit consisted of a white, v-neck, zip-up crop shirt with a black hem and three-quarter sleeves. Her emblem was printed off-white on the left side of the shirt. She wore black pants that had a vertical gray stripe on the outer side of each leg and a black belt. Attached to the rear of the belt was a black piece of fabric that covered her from hip to hip. Underneath this was a longer, translucent, purple piece of fabric. She also wore black high-heel boots with two straps and buckles and purple under-soles, reaching to mid-calf. She retained the black ribbons on her forearms and her black bow.

Rex just changed into his old clothes as he didn't have much other clothes to change into. And not like he could. He had no money at all.

"I thought that class would never end" said Blake as she was tightening her ribbons more.

"I've said that about every class every since I landed at this stinking academy" said Rex.

"You are such a lazy butt" snarked Weiss.

"Ask those two big Grimm from before, and Torchwick if I'm lazy" retorted Rex.

"Whatever" said Weiss as she loaded her dust cylinders into her weapon.

"Alright, guys, today's the day! The investigation begins!" said Ruby excitedly, jumping off the couch, much to her partner's displeasure.

"I'm glad to see we're taking this so seriously" said Weiss, sarcastically.

"Hey, we've got a plan! That's... moderately serious" said Yang, grinning with her own sense of humor.

"Right. Now everyone remember their roles" said Ruby, checking on her teammates missions.

"Ruby and I will head to the CCT and check the Schnee records and see if there have been any more robberies or issues. Seeing as how I'm in the family, it shouldn't be a problem" said Weiss.

"The White Fang has normal faction meetings to hand out orders and recruit new members. If I can get in, I can hopefully find out what they're planning" said Blake as she stood up.

"Me and Rex will drive into Vale. I've got a friend on the shady side of town that knows everything happening in Vale. Getting information out of him shouldn't be too hard. Plus if things go south, I'll have this strong hero to keep me safe" said Yang in a flirty way, while laying her arm on top of Rex shoulder.

He sighed saying "Do you anything except be a tease?" said Rex as he looked at Yang.

"Nope" was all Yang said as she grinned at him in her teasing ways.

"Get a room you two" snarked Weiss as she didn't want to deal with the two.

"We are in a room" joked Yang as she was then hit in the face with a pillow, courtesy of Ruby with gave her sister a glare but it was so adorable, Yang just laughed at her.

"We're doomed" said Weiss covering her face with her hands in annoyance.

Ruby then shook off her glare as she ran up to the group and cheered"Great. We'll meet up with Yang and Rex to go over the plan. Let's do this" as she raised her fist in the air.

"Yea. Let's do this" said a voice that wasn't any of theirs.

The group was surprised by the sudden voice and looked around to see if someone else was in the room but they they all looked at the window and saw a familiar face.

There, dangling in the air, was their friend, Sun, as he was hanging upside down by his tail with his arms a legs in a seated position, and just smirked smugly at them.

The group was shocked by his sudden appearance that they stepped back a bit in surprise.

"Sun. How'd you get up here" said Yang, starting to lose the surprise factor.

Rex just turned around and gave her a "serious" face as he said "He's a monkey. How do you think he got up here?" as he pointed out the window at Sun.

Sun then swung into the room and landed on his feet as he said "So are we going to get back at that Torchwick guy and teach him that we're not to be messed with?" in his confident way.

Blake stepped forward as she said "WE" are going to going to investigate the situation... as a team" as she was hinting at him to get lost. That this was none of his business.

Ruby just shrugged her shoulders as she said "Sorry Sun, but we don't want to get friends involved if we don't have to."

Hearing this made Rex internally flinch. Oh how those words hit him hard at the moment. On one hand, he felt guilty that he told the teachers his secrets but not his friends. But on the other, he didn't want them to get involved with their problems with Salem. He may have just met these people but he began to care about them.

They were good people that wanted to be heroes. But if Ironwood, general of an army was scared of Salem, then he knew that he couldn't get them involved. They might die and he didn't want that to happen. Needless to say, the pros of not telling them outweighed the cons, in his mind.

But his thoughts were stopped by Sun saying "Pftw that's dumb. You should always get friends involved. That why I brought Neptune"as he pointed his thumb outside.

The team looked confused by what he meant but then remembered that there was a tree outside their room, along with a ledge, so they walked over to the window and stuck their heads out and sure enough, there was Neptune, hugging the wall with a casual expression on his face.

"Sup" was all he said as he looked over at the 5.

"How did you even get up?" asked Ruby as she looked down at the ground then back up.

"I have my ways" said Neptune, casually.

But soon his expression changed when he looked down at the ground and said "Seriously can I come in. We're really high up" said Neptune as he seemed more panicked now.

Rex just breathed through his nose in annoyance as he said "I got ya" and formed his Blaster Caster on his left arm.

He then wrapped it around Neptune's waist, to which he yelped in fear, as Rex pulled him into their rooms.


After another quick meeting/change to plan

With Sun and Neptune being reluctant to leave them alone, the team had to make some changes to the plan.

So now, Ruby, Weiss, and Neptune were going to the CCT and looking for records. He wanted to go with Rex but Yang said no and gave him an evil look, to where he obliged.

Sun and Blake were going the White Fang meeting to see what was going to happen.

And Rex and Yang were still going together to the shady side of town.

"Alright, I'll go with Weiss and Neptune. Sun, you can go with Blake. And Rex will still go with Yang. Everyone good?" said Ruby to everyone as Rex just pushed Neptune, who was stiff as a board, up next to Weiss. When he was done pushing him, he rocked back and fourth, looking nervous. Rex then put his hand on his shoulder to stop him from rocking.

"Dude, you've got to lighten up" said Rex, nonchalantly.

Weiss was reluctant to going with Ruby so she tried to get out of it by saying "Actually, Ruby, why don't you go with Yang? After all, she is your sister. And you can just leave me alone with Neptune to do the rest" as she tried to sound convincing.

Ruby was surprised by this but after hearing this, their team leader just laughed at her idea "Hahaha, nah!"

Weiss was obviously less than amused, yet is powerless to stop Ruby as she soon began pulling her by the back out the door, as Weiss stuck her arms out, fruitlessly, trying to get back to the group as she cried "But! But!", to which Neptune followed them.

Rex just sighed as he said "Alright guys, lets go kick some villain butt" as he pounded his fists together.

Yang did the same as she said "I like the way you think, Rex. I knew we were destined for each other" as she finished her sentence in a teasing way.

Rex just blushed as he then said "Come on, Goldie Locks. Lets get going" as he soon walked out the door. Yang just chuckled as she followed them as Blake just rolled her eyes and did the same.


Outside the school

Yang walked over to a garage by the school where some of the other students kept their own vechiles in as Yang began walking over to her ride, BumbleBee.

She was about to roll it out into the open and but before she revved up the engines, she soon thought of an idea of how to tease Rex again.

"Actually, I'm having second thoughts about taking BumbleBee" said Yang.

Rex was surprised by her words as he was wondering if something was wrong with her ride. If that was the case, then he could try and fix it himself.

"Is there something wrong with it? If so, then I can fix it for you" said Rex as he held up his right hand, glowing blue with his nanites.

Yang smirked as she said "No, its not that. Its just that gas prices suck these days and I hate having to pay for them so I don't think I want to take it."

She then faced Rex as she grinned her biggest grin and then pointed at him as she said "Instead, I'd like to take a ride with you since yours in inside your body and doesn't require much gas in order to get moving" in a teasing way.

Rex blushed at her weird and random phrasing and said "What are you saying?!"

Yang chuckled at his reaction as she said "You have your own motorcycle, duh" as she poked his chest with her finger.

But she then looked into his eyes and said "Why? What did you think I meant?" in her teasing way.

Rex just blushed even more and turned away from her and said "I don't know what I'm thinking. Its a crazy thing up here" as he pointed at his head.

Yang just stood on her toes and leaned close to his left ear and whispered "But I'm sure its even crazier down there" in a seductive way, making Rex blush even more.

He then jumped forward as he said "Hey, hey, hey. We're getting off track. We're suppose to be heading into town. Now if you're going to play the cheapskate way and make me waste gas driving, then lets get going" as his blush died down.

Yang just laughed as she said "Sheesh, you're too easy. But you're right. We should get going. So come on, RoboBoy. Get to making our ride" as she poked his shoulder.

"Hey, I'll have you know, it'd be RoboMan. And I will when you stop teasing me" said Rex in a slight annoyed tone.

"Whatever, you know you like it" teased Yang as she poked his cheek.

"I'd like us to be on our way. Is that too much to ask for?" said Rex in an annoyed tone.

Yang chuckled and said "Fine, go ahead" as she stepped back away from Rex.

Rex sighed as he then pulled his goggles over his eyes and then formed blue lines on his legs and out popped his motorcycle, The Rex Rider.

He then revved the engine a few times as he said "Come on. We're burning daylight so lets burn some rubber and bust some baddies."

Hearing this, Yang chuckled as she said "Nice alliteration there."

Rex then recalled what he just said and couldn't help but chuckle that she was right. That was some nice alliteration there.

Wait, he learned something. Ugh, he learned something from school.

He then stopped his chuckle and said "Just get on."

Yang just snickered as she then jumped onto the back on his ride and hugged him from around the waste.

"Aright, Rex boy. Lets go" yelled Yang as she pointed ahead of her.

Rex smirked as he said "Yes Ma'am" and soon sped off, heading to Vale.


Meanwhile(Ruby,Neptune,Weiss)

While Rex and Yang made their way to vale, Ruby, Weiss, and Neptune made their way to the middle of Beacon.

The Cross Continental Transmission System, or the CCT, was a site to be held for a first time visitor.

It's extremely large courtyard with the symbol of a Beacon in the center surrounded by four miniature pools in the shape of a square surrounding it.

The building itself was an extremely large tower rivaling that of Beacon with the same architect having clearly designed it with a single goal of constructing a building that would last for generations to come.

"Woooow! I forget how big the Transmit tower looks up close!" exclaimed Ruby, excited to see one of the largest towers.

"It is pretty impressive actually" said Neptune in surprise.

"You should see the one in Atlas" said Weiss with pride.

"That was the first one right?" asked Neptune

"Correct. Atlas developed the Cross Continental Transmit System to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with one another. It was their gift to the world after the Great War" explained Weiss, once again proud of her home kingdom's accomplishments.

"Oooh, look at me! My name's Weiss! I know facts! I'm rich!" mocked Ruby, acting all high and mighty as she snorted into her hands at Weiss's frown.

"Don't talk to me, peasants. I'm Weiss Schnee and I'm too important for any lonely commoners to talk to me" added Neptune in a mock tone, making her frown even more.

"I don't sound like that. And, don't be a pest! Besides, the only reason we're here is because you like the tower so much, Ruby! We could have just as easily made a call from the library!" said Weiss as she annoyed by Ruby and Neptune's childish insults.

"I know, but it's so coool! Ooh, I'm going to take a picture!" exclaimed Ruby as she grabbed her Scroll from a pocket on her clothes, but in her excitement, the device launched from her hands, bouncing along the pavement until it landed at the feet of someone they hadn't seen for a while.

Penny.

"Oh! You dropped this" said Penny, picking up the Scroll and extending towards the clumsy teen.

"Penny?" asked Ruby, shocked because it has nearly been a while since they last saw her after the Battle at the docks in Vale.

"Umm, who's the new girl" asked Neptune, which made Penny nervous.

"S-Sorry. I think you're confused" said Penny in nervousness, causing her to hiccup, and throwing the Scroll into Ruby's hands.

"Uh... I've got to go!" said Penny, walking away quickly and hopefully Ruby and anyone else doesn't find out her secret.

"What was that about?" asked Weiss, a little weirded out more than usual with Penny.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out" said Ruby as she started walking in Penny's direction as she shouted back to her partners.

"You go make your call! I'll meet up with you two later!" shouted Ruby as she walked towards the secret Android.

"Ruby, wait!" shouted Weiss in the futility of stopping her teammate as she lowered her hand and sighed, knowing that there's nothing she can do to stop her.

"Let's just go" said Neptune as the two of them walked into the building.

Ruby kept following Penny as Ruby said "Penny! Where have you been? It's been a couple of weeks. We've been worried about you" as she descended the steps until she got in front of the non-eccentric redhead.

"There seems to be a... misunderstanding" said Penny, feeling worse than she already does.

"What?" asked Ruby as Penny continued to walk away, causing Ruby to slide down the rail next to her.

"Penny... Is everything okay?" asked Ruby as Penny continued forward without reaction until Ruby grabbed her by the arm finally making her stop and listen.

"Look, I don't know what's wrong, but you have to listen to me! Those guys we fought at the docks, we think they're up to something big, something bad! I need you to tell me what happened to you that night! Please... As a friend" asked Ruby, wanting to do everything in her power to help people.

Sighing and realizing that her first friend will not give up no matter what she says, she starts to glance to her side swiftly before she walks over to Ruby's side and leans in close.

"It isn't safe to talk here" said Penny as she looked around suspiciously, much to Ruby's confusion.


Communications Tower

Weiss and Neptune were walking through the grand, glowing lobby of the tower with pride, avoiding the central terminal and heading straight for the elevator doors, which slide open automatically and close when they are inside causing the voice of the CCT AI to come on line from a panel near the door.

"Hello. Welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?" asked The CCT AI.

"We would like to go to the communications room, please" said Weiss politely.

"Absolutely. Could you please place your Scrolls on the terminal to verify your identities?" asked The CCT AI as the two pulled out their scrolls, putting them in the required panels.

"Perfect! Thank you, Miss Schnee, and Mr. Neptune" said the AI as the elevator began to go up as Weiss's expressions shifted from pleasant to serious.

Upon entering the room, four symbols were seen on a computer - twin axes and wreaths for Vale, three flying swords pointing down for Valco, a spear and shield inside a fragmented circle for Atlas, and a precise winged shape for Mistral.

The two walked up to the front desk where a holographic secretary appeared in the seat.

"Welcome to the Beacon Cross Continental Transmit center. How may I help you?" asked The secretary in a polite manner.

"I need to make a call to Schnee Company World Headquarters in Atlas" said Weiss to the AI.

"Absolutely. If you could head over to Terminal 3, I'll patch you through to Schnee Headquarters" said The Holographic secretary with her directions.

"Thank you!" said the two Huntsmen-in-training.

Weiss smiled and nodded before walking over to her assigned cubicle-like computer, passing a few Beacon students in uniform - one of which was talking to her mother and asking how things are going back in Signal Academy. She sat at her own display, taking a deep, unhappy breath to prepare for the call ahead. The face of a short-haired brunette appeared on the monitor with the Schnee snowflake rotating behind her.

"Thank you for calling the Atlas- Oh! Miss Schnee! Good afternoon! Would you like me to patch you through to your father? I think your sister Winter and Mother might be here as well" said the terminal operator to the Schnee Heiress.

"No, thank you! I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me. I've compiled a short list" asked Weiss as she produced her Scroll, placing it into a slot on the keyboard, creating a series of noises as the Operator looked at the data from her side of the screen.

"I see. If you don't mind... what may I ask is this for?" asked The operator, looking a little nervous.

"School project" replied Weiss, without missing a beat.

"Um... There are some sensitive documents on this list, ma'am" said the operator, nervously.

"Well then, I'll be sure to take extra care of them" said Weiss, still keeping a straight face.

"Right... Very well. The data is being transferred to your Scroll now" explained the operator, typing a few things on her computer.

"Wonderful! That will be all, then" said Weiss with a smile.

"Are you sure you wouldn't like me to patch you through to your father before you go?" asked the operator, causing Weiss to lose her smile, but quickly replaced it.

"Yes, I'm sure" said Weiss, trying to not growl at the operator.

"Well, then... Have a nice day!" said the Operator as the call was dropped, and so too was Weiss's happy act, seen in the screen's reflection.

Quickly getting over it, she walked began walking away from the terminal.

"Got what we need" asked Neptune.

"Yep. Now lets go find Ruby" said Weiss as they headed down the elevator.


City of Vale

Ruby and Penny

Penny stood alone near a two-story building with patio furniture and she was looking around nervously when a hand grabbed her shoulder, causing her to jump. She turned to see Ruby grinning. She smiled in return before they begin to walk down the sidewalk.

"I wish I could help you, Ruby, but I don't know anything about those men" said Penny, wishing that she could help some more.

"Well, what happened to you that night? We were all together, I went looking for you, but I couldn't find you anywhere. It's like you just you just disappeared! Were you kidnapped?" asked Ruby, hoping that's not the case.

"Oh, no! Nothing like that!" said Penny, assuring that she wasn't kidnapped.

"Then where did you go?" asked Ruby, honestly curious.

"I've never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far, but... You have to understand, my father loves me very much; he just worries a lot" explained Penny, remembering all the times her father tried to keep her out of trouble.

"Believe me, I know the feeling. But why not let us know you were okay?" asked Ruby, feeling concerned for her new friend.

"I... was asked not to talk to you. Or Weiss. Or Blake. Or Yang. Or Rex. Or anybody, really" said Penny sadly since she wanted to have friends.

"Was your dad that upset?" asked Ruby.

"No, it wasn't my father..." said Penny, but before she could continue, she and Ruby heard the sound of megaphones announcing something, as they turned around the corner to look at the platform in the center of a plaza where the holographic image of General James Ironwood was seen before six AK-130 Androids, who were in turn standing in front of two large metal storage cases with the spear-and-shield emblem on their doors.

"The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years, and they have done a fine job. Wouldn't you agree? Wouldn't you agree?" asked the Hologram of James Ironwood, pausing for the clapping of the gathered audience caused the drones to take a bow.

"But... the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and 'fine'... Well, that's just not good enough, is it? Presenting... the Atlesian Knight-200!" explained Ironwood, causing the doors to the cases to roll up, and six new, bulkier, shinier automatons stand at attention before knocking their obsolete predecessors down to the applause of the watchers.

"Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary" informed James, causing the robots to flex and pose as a demonstration.

"These models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone! Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require... a human touch" said James, drawing the attention of everyone, essentially Ruby.

"Ruby?" asked Penny nervously.

"So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce... the Atlesian Paladin!" said James before his hologram was replaced with the hologram of a robotic white behemoth, featuring hinged piston legs, large guns for hands, and a rectangular head, standing at least twice as tall as the Knights below it.

"Now, we couldn't have him here for you today, but these mechanized battle suits will be seen defending the borders of our kingdom within the year!" said James over the speakers

"Whoa, that is so cool!" exclaimed Ruby, amazed by the giant suit.

"Ruby? Maybe we should go somewhere else" said Penny, nervously, as two armored Atlesian Human soldiers saw Penny, and pointed her out and seemed to call in backup.

Penny backed away and then broke into a dead run, which snapped Ruby out of her weapon-awe-induced stupor.

"Penny! Wait! Where are you going?" asked Ruby before she turned to look back at the soldiers chasing after her friend, and realizing Penny's situation, she swiftly followed her in an attempt to catch up down the winding alley.

"Down here! She went this way!" yelled one of the soldiers, giving chase.

Penny and Ruby ran across the street with the soldiers following them, though a honking car nearly ran over one soldier, he managed to brace his hands against the hood and somehow stopped the vehicle, and his partner ran along after the girls.

Ruby was still trying to catch up with Penny, but a high stack of crates on a flimsy support was easily cut down by Crescent Rose, causing a wooden avalanche of boxes to block the path. Seeing Penny right ahead of her, Ruby leapt into the air and landed on the alley wall, ricocheting off to grab Penny around the middle.

"This way!" yelled Ruby as she grimaced at Penny's weight before the two disappeared in a flash of red rose petals.

Ruby dashed away as fast as she could while carrying Penny, but the strain is too great, and they crashed to the ground a short while later, with Ruby falling all the way into the street. She got up slowly, and in her dazed state, she didn't notice the large truck coming up from behind her until the honking was too late of a warning. She stood up just as she was about to be hit, but from out of nowhere, Penny pushed Ruby out of the way and held her palms out.

In the split second where the two make contact, the ground beneath Penny cracked and crumbled into pieces, and the "From Dust Till Dawn" truck was lifted a little ways into the air by the girl's sheer strength. She put the truck down, and the Shopkeep stared at Penny in awe but also the crumples in his hood, just like the Huntress who got saved.

"Penny..?" asked Ruby, a little scared of her friend's sheer strength.

"Are you okay?" asked Penny to the man in the truck, getting a nod from the scared Shopkeeper as Penny backed away looking at Ruby's frightened expression as the bystanders murmured to each other in an attempt to understand what just happened.

In her panic, she ran from the Atlas soldiers who were still chasing her down and bumped into Ruby, knocking the poor girl out of her stupor as her friend tried to get away again.

"Penny! Come back!" cried Ruby as she started going after Penny as the people looked at the destruction Penny caused with her bare hands as the soldiers tried to find their target they lost.

"Penny! Please! What is going on?! Why are you running? How did you do that?!" asked Ruby as she was feeling exasperated as she finally caught up to her scared friend.

"I-I can't! Everything's fine!"said Penny before she started to hiccup with each sentence, meaning that she was lying.

"I-I don't want to talk about it!" added Penny, hiccuping again as she lied.

"Penny, if you can just tell me what's wrong, I can help you!" stated Ruby, trying to convince Penny to let her help.

"No! No, no! You wouldn't understand..." replied Penny as she backed away from Ruby.

"Let me try! You can trust me!" said Ruby as she was a little annoyed with Penny's reluctance.

"You're my friend, right? You promise you're my friend?!" asked Penny, getting in Ruby's face.

"I promise" said Ruby, gently, so to not upset Penny.

"Ruby... I'm not a real girl" explained Penny after a few seconds as she held out her hands.

Penny then showed Ruby the toll of stopping the truck that would have killed her.

Parts of her palm's skin had been ripped away, revealing the gray metal underneath. Penny stared sadly at Ruby's face, now completely astounded by her friend's secret.

"Oh" was all Ruby could say as the realization came over her.

"And I thought only Rex was the only metal being around here" she thought in silence.