Volume II: Episode 2: Encounters
Professor Greene called an end to the class, and another day began for Blake Belladonna. She was empathetic enough to realize that not everyone felt the same way she did, especially on a Monday, but she also just couldn't help it. Miss Greene's class was just so relaxing, giving her a chance to do an extended warm-up with something that was familiar to her before moving on to the more trying classes of the day.
Still, today was different, as the dark specter of Weiss's experiences in Atlas still hung over the girl like a foreboding cloud. Granted, she had cheered up significantly since Yang's talk with her the previous day, but she still was in a state of depression, and that just wouldn't do. Even so, Blake felt like she should thank the blonde for her efforts, especially since she seemed somewhat uneasy ever since the class began.
Did she have a bias against Mistrali or Atlesians? It was certainly possible. The few times the subject had come up, Yang had expressed an advocacy for faunus rights that bordered on the fanatical, and Blake knew all too well from her history as an activist just how quickly a "love of the faunus" could transform into a "hatred of the human." Indeed, even that meek little second year with rabbit ears who sometimes ate with them had apologetically related to Pyrrha how she had grown to hate all Mistrali and assume they were racist and cruel until she had met her big-hearted - and big in general - teammate.
She was interrupted from her thoughts by Professor Greene covertly flagging her down as the class dispersed. Not drawing attention to herself, Blake made her way over to the front desk. Hopefully, whatever it was wouldn't take too long; she was worried about Weiss. When the last student left the classroom, the redheaded teacher began to speak.
"Miss Belladonna."
"Yes, Professor?" asked Blake in reply.
Greene looked up at her with a neutrally curious expression. "Why are you here?"
Blake blinked in confusion. "...because I want to be a Huntress."
Greene shook her head. "I don't mean 'why are you here at Beacon,' Miss Belladonna; I mean 'why are you here in my class, wasting both our time.' This coursework is beneath you, and we both know it."
Blake raised an eyebrow. "It's... on my schedule?" she tried. Get to the point already! she thought impatiently.
"You could easily test out with top marks," the professor pointed out. "Better, if I were to grant you extra credit for your intrusion skills with Atlesian security networks."
"I..."
"I'd offer to transfer you to a more advanced course," she continued, steamrolling over Blake's half-hearted protest, "but your other classes would conflict with the schedule."
"So what do you suggest?" Blake asked. Professor Greene wouldn't have brought it up if she hadn't had something in mind.
At that, the professor picked up a notepad, scribbled something on it, then tore out the page and handed it to Blake. "When you're tired of treading water," she said, "go to this address. You'll find an old friend of mine there. He's a graduate of an accredited ninja program."
Blake accepted the note and glanced at the address. She cocked an eyebrow curiously. "Really? I didn't think anyone lived there."
Greene tilted her head to the side in acknowledgement. "I'm not entirely sure he does."
"I… see," Blake lied. "Well, I should go."
"Think about what I said," the professor urged her.
"I will," Blake agreed, turning to leave.
She had to check on Weiss.
This post, Bumblebee reflected, had got to be the most relaxing one of the war. Oh, sure, there'd been ones far from the front he'd been to, but the presence of the Great War was still inexorably there. Here on Remnant, though? Here, there was no war.
Oh, sure, the people of Remnant had the Grimm to deal with, and they certainly were a unique and ever-present threat, but… Well, Yang had been right when she'd screamed at him that he had never experienced peace. He was barely four million years old, not counting however long they had been in stasis on Remnant, and had been protoformed at such a point that not only could he not remember a time when the Autobots and the Decepticons weren't duking it out, he also couldn't remember a time when Optimus wasn't leader of the Autobots.
In fact, the only reason he had any idea what peace was defined as was because of the occasional imported media from other alien races and a little bar back on Cybertron called Maccadam's. At that bar, no one fought - even Optimus and Megatron observed the truce there - and they could all drink together. It was… a good place. Yang would probably love it there. Why, he could even remember the first time he walked in there, clear as when it first happened.
B-127 crouched low as he snuck behind his leader, sticking to the shadows. Optimus Prime, on the other hand, was pointedly not walking in the shadows. In fact, he was striding with strong, powerful steps down the center of the street, seemingly without fear or worry.
It was kind of infuriating to the young scout. Here they were, on a blasted and cratered street, with snipers possibly around every corner, and Optimus didn't seem to care. B-127 couldn't help but growl in frustration at the sight of his leader being so lackadaisical.
"Relax, B-127," rumbled Optimus in that kind baritone of his. "No one will harm us here."
"Forgive me, sir, but I severely doubt that," said the scout as he sucked up next to a wall that was missing half its supports.
"Have a little faith, B-127," said Optimus as he stopped in front of a door beneath a flickering neon sign.
The big red 'bot motioned for him to come over, and the little yellow 'bot obliged. He rolled from cover and transformed into his vehicle mode to shoot across the street. In no time flat, he had transformed next to Optimus and was searching the surrounding skies for Decepticons.
Optimus placed a big hand on his shoulder, and B-127 looked up.
"Put your weapons aside and come on in. You won't need them in there," said Optimus.
"Why, what's in there?" asked B-127.
"Only what you bring with you," said Optimus sagely.
B-127's optics flashed in confusion, and he looked up at his leader.
"And the best energon on Cybertron," added Optimus with a smile.
"All right!" cheered the little 'bot as he holstered his blaster and transformed his arm back from its weapon mode. "Why didn't you say that to begin with?"
"Because I didn't think you would believe it, especially when I explain the special conditions of this establishment," said Optimus gravely.
B-127's cheer died away. "What conditions?"
"Only one: no fighting. Autobot, Decepticon, this is neutral ground," explained Optimus.
B-127 paused. "Okay, so if I'm understanding you right, there might be Decepticons in there?"
"Correct," replied Optimus.
"So... how am I supposed to kill them if I can't fight them?" asked B-127.
"You don't. This is neutral ground," repeated Optimus.
"Right. Right. I got it," said the smaller Autobot. "So…"
"Neutral ground means that it isn't involved in either side of the war," Optmius explained patiently.
"...I don't understand," said B-127 finally.
"No, and I fear I may not be able to explain it. Some things can't be explained; they can only be experienced," said Optimus wisely. "Just keep your weapons offline, don't engage in melee, and stick close to me."
"All right. I trust you."
With that, the two entered the door, and… well, it was like nothing he had ever seen before. Autobots and Decepticons, sitting about, and not shooting at each other! Why, there was Sixshot glaring at Prowl from across a big table, and they hadn't even drawn shuriken or katana! What even was this madness?
The two continued to walk along until they reached a counter at the far end opposite the door, behind which was a big brown bot with big blue optics that kind of looked like the spectacles some organics used to correct faulty optics.
"Greetings, Maccadam," said Optimus jovially.
"Optimus!" said the 'bot. "It's been too long."
And then he turned to look down at B-127.
"Hello, Bee! It's good to see you as well. You know, I think Yang would like it here too. I even cooked up a special brew here that's safe for faunus to drink, with a bit more kick than a Strawberry Sunrise. No, wait, that wouldn't work; she's not a faunus. Ah well, back to the old drawing board."
B-127 looked up at Optimus in confusion, and his leader gave him a good-natured shrug mixed with a smile. Ah, a joke then. Well, it had certainly put him more at ease.
Bumblebee was not at ease, and that wasn't a joke! That was… what even were those memories? He must have been imagining or misremembering something.
He was further snapped out of his thoughts by a text message coming in on his burner scroll from Yang.
'Cinder Fall + henchmen = Haven students'
Bumblebee balked at the message and quickly sent out a response.
'Do you need evac?! Backup?!'
The reply was painfully long in coming.
'No'
Bumblebee checked his chronometer and resisted the urge to break cover with a curse of frustration. Yang would have just started her class, which meant she couldn't afford to say anything, just like he couldn't. She was trained for this, she'd done this before, she could stay safe, no matter what Cinder did…
He was getting on the Autobot comms frequency as fast as he could.
"Come on, come on, pick up!" he hissed under his breath.
"Bumblebee?" came the accented answer over the audio only line.
"Ironhide? Where's Optimus?" asked Bumblebee.
"Out on a mission. Ah'm on comms duty raight now," explained the faux pick-up truck from what was presumably the Ark.
"I'll tell you then. We got problems."
"Oh, did that li'l spitfire Yang get inta trouble again?"
"No! Yes… Maybe," said Bumblebee rapidly. "Cinder Fall is a Haven student, and she's in the classroom with Yang right now!"
"Has she been made?"
"I don't think so."
"Then there's no need to panic. Just take it slow and tell me what ya need."
"Backup! No, wait, not yet. Run a background check on her first. See who she could be posing as at Haven."
"Okay, Ah'll see what Ah can do."
The next few seconds were consumed by a tense silence, broken once again by Ironhide's drawl.
"Bee, yer not gonna believe this, but Cinder Fall's alias at Haven Academy is… Cinder Fall."
"Wait, what?" stumbled Bumblebee.
"Yeah, no disguise at all. Everythin' Ah can find - which, Ah might remind you, is only stuff Ah can find over the CCT without a direct hack into their central mainframe - says she's completely on the level. Same for her teammates too, though I don't like the look of that fourth girl; there's something about her optics that just feels too familiar."
"So what are you saying, Ironhide? That some teenaged girl is going around moonlighting with terrorists while training to be a Huntress? Do you have any idea how nuts that sounds?"
"...have ya been payin' attention the last few months, Bee?"
"Hey… well… that's different," protested Bumblebee.
"How?" asked Ironhide with deadly seriousness.
"Yang's fighting to save the world, while Cinder's clearly fighting to destroy it."
"Again, how?" repeated Ironhide.
"Well, just look at her interactions with the White Fang," insisted Bumblebee.
"Ah am."
Bumblebee continued on without stopping. "We've been interacting with the White Fang because we happen to have similar goals, shared enemies, and we both care about faunus in trouble. Typical alliance stuff. Cinder, on the other hand, killed a bunch of people as part of her opening pitch, and she's just using them for her own nefarious purposes. She's no better than the Decepticons!"
"Bee, Ah've read Sienna Khan's book; the White Fang basically are the Decepticons these days."
"Not all of them," insisted the yellow Autobot. "And the ones that are? Well, they can change. I mean, you did, right?"
There was a long pause before Ironhide replied with a sigh. "Ah'd like to think Ah did, kid. Ah'd like to think Ah did, but… Ah, what can Ah say? Ah'm attached to them too. Can't let that affect mah judgment none, though. Look, just hang tight, and Ah'll try to come by as soon as Ah can get Beachcomber to cover me."
"Thanks, Ironhide," replied Bumblebee.
The line went dead, and the little yellow robot settled into an uneasy silence. He was left with no other choice but to fall back on his millions of years as a scout... and wait. For hours afterward, he had no choice, but to wait… and wait… and wait…
If he ever got the chance to talk with whoever did the landscaping for Beacon, he'd be sure to mention that the parking lot could be a lot more aesthetically pleasing than it was, at least in some way to take the nervousness off.
Cinder Fall was from Haven. Wait a minute. Sun was from Haven too! Did that mean-? No, that was ridiculous. Just because they came from the same school didn't mean anything; it wasn't like Haven's headmaster was evil, after all. And besides, Sun was a decent guy - kind of why he was pushing Yang to make a move on him; he was good for her - and not someone who would truck with the kind of girl who would take over an organization like the White Fang.
His thoughts were interrupted, thankfully, by the sight of Yang coming out of the academy. She walked with relaxed, unhurried steps, steps that let Bumblebee know that she had something to hide. It was a remarkably common sight when she was around him.
"Miss me, Bumblebee?" she asked as she climbed into the cabin.
"Miss you?" he replied. "I was worried sick all day. What happened in there? What's going on?"
"Nothing, at least, not right now. We ran into Cinder and her team in the halls, but… they didn't recognize any of us. Well, except for Weiss, of course. We'll have to be a lot more careful, but… I don't think we have to rush, not yet."
"Good," said Bumblebee. "Plenty of time to get the dirt on her then."
"Yep," agreed Yang, and then her face became pensive. "Do you have any ideas there? 'Cause I'm stumped."
"Not a one!"
Ruby Rose was in a good mood as she walked through the parking lot of Beacon, though that was perhaps a foregone conclusion. Indeed, how could she not be happy? She was finally going to learn how to drive!
It was the end of the first week of the second semester, and her dad was arriving that day with Zippy, the family car, to teach her the ins and outs of driving. Ostensibly, this was so that she could drive Bumblebee if Yang was unavailable. Secretly, it was so that Jaune would see her as a mature and responsible adult when she took him out on a date.
That was something the woman was supposed to do in the relationship, right? Take the guy out on dates in her car? Ah, well, no sense fretting over it now. That bridge had already been crossed, and there was no turning back. There was nothing for it but a full charge straight ahead!
She was broken out of her thoughts by the sight of Zippy pulling into the parking lot.
"Yeeeeeeeees," she said to herself with a grin.
The red vehicle pulled alongside her, and her father, Taiyang Xiao Long, rolled down the window with a grin. "So, you ready to drive?"
"You know it!" said Ruby with good cheer.
Tai smiled at his daughter's enthusiasm. That was good. After all, she had been the one to call him over, demanding - practically begging - to learn how to drive.
She jumped on in with a million-megawatt grin on her face. Ostensibly, this appointment was so that she could learn how to drive in case Yang was out of commission and they needed to use Bumblebee. Secretly, teaching her how to drive was a clever ploy to make sure that when she went out, she would always be with friends and wouldn't run off ahead to get caught in a crossfire again.
"Ready?" she asked.
"Of course," he replied. "After all, what could possibly go wrong?"
Despite Ruby's horrified expression, he was sure nothing could happen to them this time… unless his good-for-nothing brother-in-law showed up. Then they were all doomed!
Leaning out the window, he searched the sky for any black birds.
"Um, Dad?" inquired Ruby with worry.
"Nothing, Ruby," said Taiyang as he pulled his head back inside. "We're safe for now. Now, let's find an empty lot to practice in."
"Blake, are you well?" asked Pyrrha out of the blue as they entered the simulator.
"What?" replied Blake blearily. "Of course I'm okay. Why wouldn't I be?"
"It's just that you've been rather... preoccupied the last couple of weeks," elaborated Pyrrha. "You still seem a bit preoccupied now, in fact."
"I'm fine. Just... thinking about the mission," assured Blake with a smile that Pyrrha knew from long experience was completely and utterly false.
"Very well," she acquiesced. "Still, you should know that I'm your friend, and that if you ever need to talk, I'm here for you."
"Weiss is my friend too," muttered the black-haired girl.
Pyrrha tensed in realization. Of course it had to be that. Ever since Weiss had returned from Atlas, Blake had hardly allowed the girl out of her sight for more than a few minutes, always doting on her and trying to help her along. Even when Yang had followed along after Weiss the previous weekend, Blake had only waited till the blonde exited the room to covertly chase after them with speed such that Pyrrha would not be surprised at all to learn that her flight instructor had been able to eavesdrop on whatever conversation they had had that made Weiss just that little bit happier when they next saw her.
Of course, it hadn't just been Blake and Yang seeking to help the distressed white-haired girl in her time of need. Nora, Ruby, Ren, and even Pyrrha herself had contributed as well. Jaune, wise and caring Jaune, had stayed back, perhaps fearing his presence was unwanted by the Atlesian girl. Not that she hadn't given him plenty of reason to think that.
They sat in the simulator couches, but Pyrrha caught Blake's wrist as she reached out to activate the simulation. "Stop, Blake," she said.
The dark-haired girl blinked. "Stop? But we just got here."
"Not this," Pyrrha said, shaking her head. "I mean… with Weiss."
"With Weiss?" Blake repeated. Her expression turned combative. "Stop… what, Pyrrha? Stop caring?"
Pyrrha shook her head. "No. Stop trying to box her in. She came to Beacon to get away from that."
Blake's hands curled into fists. "I am not like her family," she spat venomously.
"No, you're not," the champion agreed, "but you're still trying to box her in, give her limits. Unlike Weiss, I was blessed with a loving family. They let me make my own choices, only demanding that I excel at whatever I chose to do. But as I got famous, I found that freedom slipping away. It's why I came to Beacon. It's a refuge where I can avoid my fans, ignore my PR… for the most part, at least. For Weiss… I suspect it's similar. And you're taking it away from her."
The other girl seemed at a loss at that. "But… I'm not… I just want to make sure she's okay."
"I understand, but trust me, it's all too easy to get so caught up in helping someone that you drive them away." Pyrrha offered a sad smile. "Before I went to Sanctum, my best friend was a boy named Prasinos Epitheus. One day, I realized that his grades in combat class were falling, badly enough that if he didn't improve, he wouldn't be accepted into Sanctum, so I… well, I dragged him out to spar."
Blake winced. "You didn't hurt him too badly, did you?"
Pyrrha shook her head again. "No. He was actually quite good. But he kept failing in class, so I kept dragging him out, pushing him harder and harder."
Blake frowned as she turned the thought over in her mind, then slowly shook her head in confusion. "I don't get it," she admitted. "If he could keep up with you, why would he be failing combat classes?"
"Because he didn't want to go to Sanctum," Pyrrha answered. "He didn't want to become a Huntsman."
Blake blinked at that. The idea was so alien, it took her a moment to wrap her head around it.
"But he was from a long line of Huntsmen," Pyrrha continued, "so there were… expectations."
"But I'm not trying to push Weiss to follow what her family wants," Blake insisted.
Pyrrha began some subtle breathing exercises to banish the frustration building up within her. Maybe a new tactic. "No, but… compare that to Jaune."
"Jaune?" Blake echoed, further confused.
Pyrrha nodded as she considered how much she could say without revealing secrets that weren't hers to tell. Jaune was kind and understanding, and to help a friend, he surely wouldn't mind, but… Pyrrha couldn't stand the thought of betraying him, even that little bit. "Like Prace, he also comes from a long line of Huntsmen, but his family wanted to protect him. They smothered him to keep him safe. And it nearly killed him." There, that was circumspect enough.
"Pyrrha…"
"I know you want her to be safe, Blake, but you have to remember something," Pyrrha pressed on. "Weiss came to Vale to get away from her family's influence, but she came to Beacon to become a Huntress, and while you can use many words to describe the life of a Huntress… 'safe' isn't one of them."
Blake drew her arm up and brought it down, redirecting it at the last second away from the control panel in front of her and onto her own thigh. "What do you want me to do?"
"The hardest thing in the world for people like us to do: nothing." After all, people who were willing to stand by and do nothing… they weren't the sort of people who signed up to be Huntsmen.
"I… Pyrrha, that's… Are you even listening to yourself?" Blake sputtered. "I'm not just going to abandon Weiss!"
"I'm not telling you to abandon her," Pyrrha corrected. "Just… let her find her own way."
"And if she can't?"
"Then be there for her," Pyrrha answered gently. "Just like the rest of us are."
"...all right," Blake agreed with a resigned sigh.
"Weiss! Weiss!" called out an intellectual voice as the snowcapped girl, Yang, Ren, and Nora walked through the halls on their way from their dorms after getting resettled following the last classes of the week.
The group turned and saw a lavender-themed girl with glasses in an Atlas Academy uniform running up to them with a frazzled expression.
"Twilight?" asked Weiss as the Atlesian came to a stop in front of them.
"Weiss!" she gasped out, her expression worried. "I was worried about you. Are you all right? Heard something happened at Park Place… did you find something?"
Weiss's face took on a dark and disturbed quality to it when she answered, "Only death, and dishonor, and…"
Yang picked up Weiss in a bridal carry and ignored the tiny punches to her chest. "Nora, Ren, distract the interloper!" she barked.
"You got it, Yangarang!" cheered Nora as the blonde carried Weiss away.
Twilight boggled at this. "Distract me? You can't…"
She was cut off by Ren throwing a smoke bomb at her feet.
"Gah! Ninja tricks!"
Yang ignored the shenanigans as she carried Weiss over the threshold and into the courtyard, heading towards the parking lot.
"Yang! Put me down this instant!" yelled Weiss.
"Sure, just as long as you promise not to go into another episode," said Yang, ignoring the looks from other students as she briskly walked.
"I was not having an episode," huffed Weiss.
"She brought up what screwed you up, and then you started ranting about death or dishonor," pointed out Yang.
"Death and dishonor," corrected Weiss.
"Even worse," said Yang. "Listen, I know I was just going to ferry Ren and Nora around while they looked after you today, but I think it's better if we just leave now and save time."
Weiss crossed her arms. "I like Ren. He makes me calm."
"I thought that was Jaune?" asked Yang.
"Jaune makes me forget, that's different," pouted Weiss.
"And creepy," admonished Yang.
"Hey!"
"I'm just saying," continued the blonde, "you might want to lay off that description when you're trying to put the moves on him."
Weiss frowned, then sighed. "Point. Thanks, Yang. I'll try to remember that."
Oh, no. Please tell me I did not just give her advice on chasing after Jaune, Yang mentally shouted.
"Or you could try for someone who hasn't shot you down yet," the blonde amended.
"Like who? Who could ever want a girl like me?" she asked sarcastically. At Yang's stunned expression, Weiss elaborated, "That I would actually want to date."
"Ah, okay, important distinction," admitted Yang before dropping the snowcapped girl unceremoniously to the ground, which elicited a squawk of protest. "Oh, come on, Weiss. You're not nearly as fragile as you look, and we're at the parking lot anyway."
Grumbling the whole way about childish roses and cheeky dragons, Weiss followed after Yang into Bumblebee. Together, they then drove out of Beacon and into the city of Vale. The route became familiar soon enough though, and it drew a question.
"Yang, where are we going?" asked Weiss in a tone that made it clear she already knew the answer.
"Tukson's," replied Yang easily. "You looked like you could use a pick-me-up, and you like books, so…"
"Hmm, a surprisingly astute observation," admitted Weiss. "I don't have any money though."
That... was a surprise. Had her father cut her off? No... thinking on it, Yang could make a few guesses what she really meant.
"Don't worry, I'll spot you," offered Yang with a reassuring grin.
"That's… thank you, Yang," said Weiss with a soft smile.
They arrived at the panther faunus' store soon after, and as they entered the establishment, a sudden poisonous thought occurred to Yang. Tukson was White Fang, she was on the outs with the White Fang, Tukson knew her secret identity, if Tukson wanted to, he could call in a goon squad right then and there, and to top it all off, she had just brought Weiss Schnee into the establishment. Really, the only possible hope she had of getting out of there without a fight was that Tukson somehow wanted a fight as little as she did.
The man of the hour was stocking shelves when he noticed them come in. "Yang, and uh, Miss Schnee, it's good to see you both again."
He was speaking with a smile, but that wasn't lessening her worries.
"Please don't call me that," replied Weiss with a frown, and then she attempted a small smile of her own. "Call me Weiss instead."
Tukson seemed confused, but still nodded. "Very well, Weiss. We've still got the biggest selection around, and if you don't find what you're looking for, we can order it."
"Thank you, sir. I think I'll just browse for now," said Weiss with a slight bow of the head before moving on through the store.
Yang watched her go for a moment and then walked up to Tukson. The shop owner was putting the last of the books away when she got there. He looked at her curiously, and then spoke in a quiet voice.
"What's wrong with her?" he asked.
"Family troubles," said Yang simply. "Didn't want to poke at it."
"Neither do I," agreed Tukson.
"Hey, Tuck, are we… you know, still good?" asked Yang.
Tukson's face grew conflicted briefly, and he glanced around before coming a bit closer to Yang and whispering, "You mean, with the big bad boss coming back?"
"If you want to phrase it like that, sure," agreed Yang.
Tukson nodded. "We're good. Got a message for you, actually."
"Really?" asked Yang with a raised eyebrow.
The two walked back to the counter, Yang glancing to the side to see Weiss kneeling next to the history books. When they got there, Tukson crouched down himself and came back on the other side of the counter with a small envelope. He slid it across to Yang, and she carefully took it and put it in her pocket.
"What is it?" she asked hopefully, patting its hiding spot.
Tukson glanced at where Weiss was still occupied, and then leaned in close to her. "I don't know. Adam gave to me and told me to track down Sunfire and give it to her. I was hoping to find a way to do that without exposing her… and then you step into my door."
Yang's heart and breath froze, but her smile stayed on. Adam? Adam had a message for her? That was… all sorts of things really. Uncertain, mostly. Why didn't he just send whatever message to her burner scroll? And the timing was... suspicious, to say the least. Had Cinder recognized her after all? She didn't know what he wanted, and so, that letter could be anything from a plea to talk to a delivery method for something nasty. She'd have to have Bumblebee look it over, make sure it was safe, but that was something he had experience in.
"And does he know…?"
Yang trailed off, and Tukson shook his head.
"No. I didn't say anything about you being my contact, and he wasn't asking," explained the panther faunus, keeping the same quiet volume but obviously growing more worried.
Yang was about to reply when she noticed Weiss finally stand up and begin walking toward them. She kept her mouth shut instead, and just watched as the… well, one would imagine that she wasn't the heiress anymore, in spirit if not in fact. However, that did leave the question of what she actually was.
It was then that Yang realized with shocking clarity that the person least capable of answering that question was Weiss herself.
The short girl with white hair put four books on the counter, a growing blush spreading across her body. "Here, I… I don't know if this is too much, but…"
Yang looked over and felt her eyes widen at the first title: On the Necessity of Racial Reconciliation by Quinze Quarante. It was the book published by the founder of the White Fang shortly following the Faunus Rights Revolution. It was a rather stunning purchase for her in particular, but it definitely fit with the titles below it in the stack: Mantleite, Not Menagerite: The FRR in the North, Founded in Principle: A History of the White Fang's First Twenty Years, and Fighting for Home for the Second Time.
The last title was one she recognized, as she'd had to write a book report on it when she was still back at Signal. It was the memoir of a Valish soldier who had fought first in the Great War, and then in the Faunus Rights Revolution. She couldn't quite remember the author's name - A. Dodd, but for the life of her, she couldn't remember what the A stood for - and couldn't see it from her angle, but she remembered that she had found it to be quite enthralling. The sheer betrayal Dodd had felt after being told his reward for serving his kingdom was deportation to some continent he'd never seen halfway around the world had been utterly heartbreaking. It stuck with her, it all stuck with her.
The other three books, on the other hand, were more recent additions to her library of knowledge. Which was to say that she had read Quarante's after forming an alliance with the organization he had founded, and then skimmed the two history books because she'd been browsing at the time and was looking to kill time. Of course, after she'd read Quarante's book, she'd read Sienna Khan's Freedom Through Fear, and holy smokes, had that been a mood whiplash.
"Quite an interesting selection you got there," said Tukson conversationally as he began to scan the books for payment.
Weiss seemed to flinch at that, then shrunk back in shame. "I… I just want to see what the other side has to say. Is that so wrong?"
"No," answered Yang without hesitation. "No, it isn't."
"She's right," said Tukson with an embarrassed smile. "Sorry if I came across as insulting. That was never my intention. These books are quite good, and I'm sure you'll learn a lot of interesting things from them."
"Yep. Just make sure you read this one first," said Yang, reaching out to tap the cover of Fighting for Home for the Second Time and noticing with slight annoyance that it was one of the covers that didn't give the author's full name like the copy she had at home. "It gives context to basically everything else."
And man wasn't that the understatement of the century? It wasn't something she had considered until just then, but reading that book when she was younger really helped Yang understand even things like the Cybertronian Great War. She got what the Autobots were fighting for, why they continued to fight after all these millions of years even though they could have easily just packed up and left for some other planet. They were fighting for their homes, scuff marks and all.
Weiss nodded somewhat nervously. "Okay, I will, then."
Yang paid for the books, which Tukson put into an opaque bag, and the two Beacon students left the store.
As they were leaving, though, Weiss whispered to the blonde. "Thank you. I don't think anyone else would have let me get these. Blake certainly wouldn't have."
"Why's that?" asked Yang in an equally low whisper as they were leaving.
"Don't get me wrong," elaborated Weiss. "She's still my best friend, and I am very grateful to her, but… but I think she's got some kind of grudge against the White Fang, and even besides that, she's been kind of... smothering lately."
"She probably just wants to make sure you're safe," reasoned Yang comfortingly.
Weiss nodded. "She does. It's just… Yang, listen, there's something important about what I saw in Atlas that I need to tell you."
"No, there isn't," objected Yang.
"No, you don't understand," pressed the snowcapped girl.
"And I don't want to, Weiss," insisted Yang. "Every time you start talking about that, you freak out. I don't need to know a darn thing if telling me hurts you."
Weiss pouted. "I'm not made of glass, you know."
"I know," answered Yang with that same comforting smile, one she'd given Ruby plenty of times over the years. "That's the other reason why I know I don't have to hear it. You're strong, Weiss, far stronger than even you give yourself credit for. I don't need to know what hurt you, because I already know that it won't stop you, and whatever else the universe throws at you will fail as well."
There was about enough time for Yang to notice the slight tears into Weiss's eyes before the little girl hit her like a sack of potatoes. The blonde's eyes widened, and then she hugged the smaller Huntress in turn. Not too hard, not too soft, but just right. Tukson, thankfully, seemed to have disappeared into the rear of the store.
"Thank you," muttered Weiss into Yang's chest.
"You're welcome," replied Yang in both confusion and humor. "Let's get back to Bumblebee now, though, all right?"
Weiss nodded, and they left. They had just about reached Bumblebee when the strangest thing happened. Luckily, they had good reflexes, so they were able to dodge the red and black car swerving onto the sidewalk.
"What the-?!" started Yang, and then her eyes narrowed. "Zippy? Dad?!" Then she remembered why he was in town. "RUBY!"
As she raced off with Weiss following behind her, another pair of students - these two from Haven - rounded the corner from the other direction.
The silver-haired boy cocked an eyebrow in curiosity at the two racing off. "Wonder what that's all about."
"I'm trying hard not to," his mint-haired companion replied dryly. She recognized the pair running off as half of one of Beacon's first-year teams, but aside from the fact that the team leader - if her boasting was to be believed - was the same girl who had foiled one of Torchwick's dust heists a while back... they just weren't important to the plan. She shook her head. "Focus, Mercury. We're here for a reason, remember?"
"Right, right, Emerald," Mercury waved it off as he continued slouching toward their destination.
The front of Tukson's Book Trade was empty, and so with a shrug, Emerald walked up to the counter and rang the service bell.
"Be right there!" a voice called from the back room as its owner backed out with an armload of books. "Welcome to Tukson's Book Trade, home to every book under the sun! How may I...?" he greeted as he set the books down and turned around. "How may I help you?"
"Just browsing," said Mercury, closing the book he'd had open.
"Actually," Emerald said, "I was wondering, do you have any copies of The Thief and The Butcher?"
"Yes, we do," Tukson assured her.
"That's great," she said excitedly.
"Would you... like a copy?" he asked hesitantly.
"No," she denied, "just wondering. Oh, oh! What about Violet's Garden? In paperback?"
"He's got it," Mercury said. "Hardback too." He held up the book in question.
"Ooh, options are nice."
"Eh, no pictures." Mercury closed the book. "Hey! Do you have any comics?"
"Near the front."
"Oh, no, wait!" Emerald interjected. "What... about... Third Crusade?"
There it was, the moment of truth. Tukson's muscles tensed, but he kept his best salesman smile on his face regardless. "I think I have exactly what you're looking for in the back," he said woodenly. "Give me a moment."
"Of course!" Emerald agreed cheerfully.
Tukson ducked back into the back room for only a moment before returning with a large briefcase and setting it on the table.
"Thank you so much," Emerald said, accepting the briefcase.
Mercury walked up and slapped a comic down on the counter. "How much for this?" he asked. At Emerald's look, he shrugged. "I like the pictures."
"Five lien."
Mercury rifled through his pockets, then frowned and glared at Emerald. With a cheeky smile, she produced his wallet and extracted the five lien.
"Would you like a bag with that?" Tukson asked as he rang up the sale.
"Nah," Mercury said, shaking his head as he took the comic. "I'm good."
Tukson watched the two leave his shop and then let out a sigh of relief. With Adam's ever increasing radicalism, he'd been considering skipping town, going to Vacuo, but with the... more recent changes in the Vale White Fang, he'd been hopeful for a new direction, a better future, so he'd stayed.
And then Cinder and her lackeys had returned.
He thought back to the message he'd passed onto Yang just a moment ago. He didn't know what was in it, anymore than he knew what was in the briefcase he'd given to the pair that had just left. He just hoped Adam knew what he was doing.
Tukson wasn't exactly a fan of playing with fire like this.
"Ruby! Stay on the road!" Taiyang cried from Zippy's passenger seat as the car swerved back and forth, narrowly missing a civilian.
"I'm trying!" his younger daughter retorted. "Don't you think I'm trying?!"
Zippy overshot the road again and barely swerved away from hitting… was that Yang?
Taiyang shook his head. Not now! "Slow down! Use the brakes!"
Ruby made a mistake. She glanced down.
"That's not the brakes!" he warned, his voice rising as she turned on the windshield wipers.
"Well, you're making me nervous!" she accused him, tearing her eyes off the dash and back onto the road. "Oh, no, Jaune!" she cried as she swerved the car again to avoid hitting a pedestrian couple, a blond boy and a red-haired girl.
"You're making me nervous!" was the only thing Taiyang could think of to say.
"This was all a horrible idea! Why did you make me do this?!"
"Make you?!" he asked incredulously. Okay, granted, he'd had an ulterior motive for agreeing, but... "It was your idea!"
"Well, I've changed my mind!" she snapped, turning her head to glare at him.
"Don't let go of the wheel!" he shouted as he reached over for the now-unattended steering wheel.
It was too late. The front of the car slammed into something unyielding, and the tail end of the car rocked up toward the sky before gravity took over, and Zippy crashed back to the ground with an impact that shattered the chassis.
Ruby stirred and looked up. Her eyes widened. "J-Jaune?!" She felt her cheeks heat up and struggled to free herself as she realized he was holding her in a bridal carry.
"Hey, Ruby, careful," he said. "You took a bit of a bump to the head there. Are you sure you can stand?"
"I'm fine!" she insisted.
"All right," he said, lowering her feet to the ground. "If you say so."
Ruby took an uncertain step before regaining her balance, then looked around and saw Pyrrha helping her father out of Zippy's passenger seat. Standing frozen in front of the car was a familiar figure, staring down at her hands.
"PENNY!" Ruby cried as she bolted to her new friend. "Oh my God, Penny, are you all right? I'm so sorry! Let me see!" she babbled as she tugged on Penny's hands. That seemed to snap the Atlesian out of her stupor.
"Friend Ruby…" the carrot-topped girl murmured, her gaze swept up to meet Ruby's as she yanked her hands away. An unfamiliar expression that took Ruby a long moment to recognize as fear crossed her Atlesian friend's face before she turned and fled.
"Penny!" Ruby called out again, running after her.
"Ruby!" Taiyang shouted.
"I'm fine, Dad!" she yelled back over her shoulder, not slowing down. "I need to make sure Penny's all right! Jaune, Pyrrha, make sure Dad's okay!"
Taiyang sighed as he watched his daughter run off. He looked over at the blond boy speculatively. He hadn't missed the way Ruby had reacted to him. As he studied the boy, however, the other redhead surreptitiously sidled up to him.
"Are you... all right, Jaune?" she asked. "That was an... awfully close call."
"I'm fine, Pyrrha," the boy replied, instead walking up to Taiyang. The downcast look on the redhead's face as he brushed off her concern and walked up to him was unmistakable.
Oh, no, Taiyang thought. Oh, no. This can't be happening with both of them.
"Are you all right, sir?" the boy asked, snapping him out of the growing horror.
Taiyang shook his head clear. "Yes, I'm fine. So... you two know Ruby?"
"Oh! I'm sorry," the redhead apologized as she walked up to join the blonds. "I'm Pyrrha Nikos, and this is Jaune Arc. We're on Team Juniper."
"Yeah," Jaune confirmed with a nod. "Our team rooms across from Team Ruby."
Jaune Arc… Jaune Arc… he'd heard the name before. Ruby had mentioned him, her first friend at Beacon, fellow team leader, and leader of Team RWBY's sister team…
Come to think of it, he really should have seen this coming. Well, half of it, at least.
A familiar voice rang out. "Dad!"
He turned as his older daughter rushed up to him and began checking him for injuries, a subdued-looking Weiss trailing behind her with a bag full of what looked like books. "Dad, what on Remnant were you thinking, letting Ruby on the actual road for her first driving lesson?"
He winced.
Ruby loved her semblance. True, lately, she found the name she'd given it, Petal Burst, to be a bit too cutesy, but she couldn't deny it was descriptive. And it certainly helped when it came to keeping up with Penny. Why was she running?
"Penny! Come back!" she called as she rushed through yet another alley, only to find her friend at the other end, looking back and forth at the busy street uncertainly. "Penny! Please! What's going on?!" she asked. "Why are you running? Are you okay?"
Penny turned to look at her. "I-I can't!" she said. "Everything's fine!" She hiccupped. "I-I don't want to talk about it!" She hiccupped again.
"Penny, I just want to make sure you're okay!" Ruby begged. "There's no need to run!"
The other girl backed away, shaking her head. "No! No, no! You wouldn't understand…"
"Understand what? Tell me! You can trust me!"
Penny seemed to come to a decision and leaned in close. "You're my friend, right? You promise you're my friend?!"
"I promise," Ruby agreed. What would make her doubt that? Still, rather than ask, she waited, giving Penny time to collect her thoughts - or courage - to answer.
Penny looked down at her hands, then led Ruby back into the alleyway. "Ruby…" she said, once they were deep enough into the alley for some privacy, "I'm not a real girl." She turned to face Ruby again and raised her hands, palms up. Ruby looked. The skin on her palms had been torn away from when she'd slammed her hands into and through Zippy's hood, and beneath it, Ruby could see metal glinting through the torn flesh.
"You have prosthetic hands?" Ruby blurted out in confusion. Then Penny's words clicked. "Oh."
"Most girls are born, but I was made," Penny continued. "I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an aura." She looked away. "I'm not real..."
Ruby reached out and grabbed Penny's hands. "Of course you are," she insisted. "You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?"
Penny seemed startled. "I don't... um..." She leaned in close to study Ruby's face carefully. "You're... taking this extraordinarily well."
"You're not like an Atlesian Knight," Ruby said with a shrug. She tapped Penny on the chest. "You've got a heart, and a soul; I can feel it!"
"Technically, I have a fluid pump," Penny corrected.
"What's a heart if not a squishy fluid pump made out of meat?" Ruby argued.
Penny raised a finger, then lowered it. "You... raise an excellent point."
Before they could talk any further, Ruby's scroll rang, and she answered.
"Hello?"
"Ruby!" It was Yang. "Are you all right? I saw the crash."
"I'm fine, Yang," she said. "I was just worried about Penny. We hit her pretty hard, and then she ran off."
"If she could run off, I'm sure she's okay," Yang assured her. "I mean, it takes more than a little car crash bring a Huntress down. It's not like Zippy had aura, after all."
"Yeah, but she's still a little shaken up," Ruby… not exactly lied. "Can you make sure Dad's okay and get Zippy towed to Maple's or something? We'll make our own way back to Beacon."
"Dad's fine, and sure, I'll do that. Take care, Rubes."
"You too, Yang."
As Ruby closed the connection and pocketed her scroll, she looked back at Penny and tilted her head quizzically. The other girl seemed pensive about something.
"There's… one more thing," Penny said apprehensively.
"What?"
"I'm also a gun."
Mustn't squee. Mustn't squee. Mustn't squee.
"COOL!" Ruby totally did not squee. "Can I see?"
Penny looked around. "This… really isn't the right place for that."
"Oh." Ruby thought about that, then her eyes widened in realization. "Ohhh. Right. Top secret. Hush hush."
Penny perked up. "I know! Follow me! I can introduce you to my partner and show you there!"
"Huh?" Ruby blinked. "'Partner'?" Professor Ozpin had mentioned partners back before initiation, but no one had ever brought the concept up again, not since their teams had been formed.
Then she realized Penny had already started moving. She shelved the thought and hurried after.
"Wait up, Penny!"
The Glacier Lounge turned out to be pretty typical of Vale buildings on the outside, all brickwork and bannerless. Inside, though, was a different story entirely. The center was taken up by a large pool where several arctic animals could be seen swimming around, while around the edges were three floors of tables and chairs, though by far, the most noticeable feature was the gigantic Atlesian flag hanging in the center above the water. The hostess who greeted them - like the rest of the wait staff - was wearing an outfit that resembled a black one-piece swimsuit, with hose and a bowtie, all topped off with a black trilby.
"Your party is waiting for you at Table Twenty-Three," the hostess said. "When you're ready to order, just press the call button on the touch screen."
"Impressive place," commented Neptune as he and Sun stepped into the room.
Sun nodded, but kept his arms crossed with a slight tremor in them. "They really need to lay off the AC though."
"Or you could have just buttoned up your shirt," pointed out Neptune with a glare.
"Dude, my shirt doesn't have buttons, remember?" Sun reminded him.
"Fine, fine," relented Neptune. "Come on, let's go find their table."
Sun looked around and saw a woman with opaque glasses and a long black ponytail on the second floor next to a man with short red hair. Navy blue eyes caught his. They knew they were here.
"Come on, I've got them," said Sun.
With quick steps, the pair made their way up the stairs to the second floor, and soon, they were approaching the table of Team APRC. Well, three-quarters of Team APRC at least. Penny, for some reason, wasn't there. The two girls were seated on the far side of the table, while Rufus was sitting side on to the two Haven students as they approached.
None of them were dressed in their school uniforms. Aska was dressed in an almost stereotypically burgundy ninja gi over what looked like a fishnet body stocking, with metallic armor plates on her arms and shoulders. She also wore a headband on her forehead with a metallic plate engraved with the Atlas Academy symbol on it and a dark grey neck warmer. Ciel was wearing a single-breasted white T-shirt with gold buttons and black fingerless gloves that ran past her elbows and almost to the yellow fringes of her shirt, with a blue beret perched atop her head. Rufus was dressed in… a grey Atlas Academy sweatshirt and sweatpants with white sneakers?
"Impressive. You got the message," said Aska as they approached. "Tell me, why didn't you go to Glacier Park instead?"
Sun and Neptune took the two open seats opposite the Atlesians, and the blond started to talk with a serious look. "Could have been that, but you don't seem like the types to meet under a Valish flag in a public space. Besides, the two riddles together could give the impression of the Atlesian flag, and given the setting of this little bar, it seemed like the safest bet."
"'Little bar'?" quoted Rufus in amusement, raising his hand and letting Sun see that he was wearing some sort of black glove.
Aska smiled appreciatively at the Haven students. "Good work," she said before turning her head to her stoic companion. "See, Farsight? I told you they would be able to pull it off. They're smarter than they look. Though I suppose they'd have to be."
Ciel glanced them both up and down, lingering for a moment on Sun's open shirt and the goosebumps on his skin. "Current evidence aside, you do seem to be correct."
A chuckle came from Rufus as he noticed their expressions shift slightly. "Congrats, Neptune, you managed to pass the 'will they wear shirts?' test."
Sun sulked, and Neptune cocked a confident smile. "Hey, I always dress to impress, and are you not impressed?"
"No," deadpanned Ciel.
Aska shook her head. "Not really."
Rufus shrugged. "Better dressed than I am, but that's not saying much."
Sun let out a short laugh at Neptune's expense, and the blue-haired boy scoffed. "Hey, at least I managed to pass a test. What have you managed to do?"
"To be precise," interrupted Ciel, "you both managed to pass two tests prior to this. The first was a basic background check, the second was your ability to find the meeting location."
"I considered the second test a bit of a gimmie, but Mad Dog wouldn't let me go all out," complained Aska with an obviously fake pout.
Neptune thumped Sun in the arm. "See! Told you they were testing you to see if you were smart enough to win Penny's heart."
The Atlesians raised a collective eyebrow at that.
"Dude, stop it. This clearly isn't anything like that," insisted Sun.
"Oh, and why is that?" asked Ciel coldly. Not emotionlessly, coldly. There was a protective and dangerous edge in her voice that wasn't there before.
Sun raised his hands in placation. "Hey, Penny's a nice girl, and I'm sure she'll make some guy very happy one day, but I got someone else on my mind. And even if I didn't, she's… she's Penny."
Ciel closed her eyes and nodded. "Very true, and acceptable, Mister Wukong."
"Bladerider has that effect on people," agreed Rufus.
"Indeed, but that's not why we called you here," said Aska.
"Why have you called us here then?" asked Sun seriously.
"First of all, to eat," said Aska with a smile as she pressed the call button on a solid-looking touch screen built into the table. "Secondly, for a mission."
"A mission?" inquired Neptune.
"Indeed, a mission, to be conducted as soon as we leave this building," confirmed Aska. "By this time tomorrow, you'll either have earned some trust from us, or... you'll be dead."
The forest south of Vale was odd in Yang's estimation: porous ground that was littered with caves, towering trees, steep hills, and every so often, there was a small concrete fort slowly being worn down by time. Not the sort of terrain that favored driving a car, not unless you utilized the abandoned highway from Vale to Mountain Glenn, and even then, decades of neglect had allowed nature to reclaim much of the old road.
It was in this terrain that Adam had sought to meet her. His note had been remarkably simple, just a location and instructions to come alone as stealthily as possible. It was the sort of message that made Yang wonder if he had any idea who she was despite working with her on many an occasion, because apparently, the control freak just couldn't let anyone else take top billing on a single job, and of course, that just let him be the big ol' hero that everyone…
Yang rubbed her forehead over her glasses. She hadn't even met the guy yet, and he was already driving her up the wall like he always did. Really, the glory hound should just count himself lucky that she showed up at all, given that the meeting time was on Friday, and it had been delivered to her on Friday, not to mention all the time she had to spend with Weiss and her father cleaning up Zippy.
Maple had her hand to her chin for a long moment, looking at Zippy, before she turned and looked at Yang and Taiyang. "Two questions, in no particular order," she said, displaying one hand with two fingers raised. "First is how you thought that this could be fixed without charging more than the car was worth, just from depreciation alone. The second is whether or not I should worry about why there's a human-shaped and human-sized hole in the front with handprints on the engine block."
The two blonds looked at each other, and then Yang answered, "We did not crash it into ourselves for laughs."
Maple stared at them, glanced back at the giant dent, and then back at them. "That's a very specific denial."
"But a very true denial as well," assured Yang's father.
"Yeah, and one that doesn't actually reassure me," Maple said. "I'm more worried that whoever made those handprints or their friends might come looking for you."
"It was an accident," the man insisted. "She's apparently a friend of Ruby's."
"Huntsmen," Maple muttered, shaking her head slightly, then went about getting her tools ready, stepping past the chair Weiss had claimed to read one of her new books. "I'll talk to some dealers I know. In the meantime, I've got to ask you two, since you both look and act so similar, would I be wrong in guessing that the mother of the family looked and acted like an older Ruby?"
The blond man scratched the back of his head. "That's... not an inaccurate statement."
"Of course it isn't," sighed Maple.
That had just sucked up time, but she had managed to get out here all the same. Here being defined as the middle of nowhere, and allegedly alone to boot…. What was she doing with her life? When did her idea of a good Friday night change from dancing at a club to trudging through the muck? When did her idea of a stylish outfit change to be some one-size-fits-all mechanic's uniform? When did her idea of good tactics change from a fist to the face to a knife to the back? When did her friends change from fellow Huntresses in training to giant shadows in the dark? When did she start repeating the same questions over and over to herself? Was it really all since that jerk walked into her life? Or jumped, she supposed.
She hoped he was all right. He might have been… well, a lot of things she could rant about, but there was still some part of her that hoped he was okay, and that he was calling this meeting to defect to the Autobots. With hopes like that, she could only guess that Optimus was rubbing off on her more than she thought.
"Yang, you've stopped moving," observed Bumblebee over the radio in her earbud. "Are you ranting about Adam in your head again?"
"...Noooo," she fibbed. "I'm just getting my bearings again. How close am I to this alleged meeting point?"
"You can be there in five minutes, assuming you pick up the pace," answered the yellow Autobot. "Please do, so we're not out here watching you hike all night."
"Yeah, yeah," groused Yang as she started to run.
Several minutes later, she stopped.
"Not bad. Best guess I got, you're in the right place, and you won't find any guesses better than mine," said Bumblebee in her ear.
There was another of those concrete forts in the distance, and she could feel something in the dark. It looked like this was the place, or at least near the place. She really hoped that the Autobots would be able to set up a planetary positioning system like they had back on Cybertron once things got more secure; it would make meetings like this so much easier.
"I walk in the shadows," Yang said to where she could sense a powerful aura.
"I fight for the light," replied the smooth voice of Adam Taurus before he stepped into view, his hand resting on the hilt of his blade. A sensible precaution - they were outside the city walls, after all - or a prelude to an attack?
He didn't seem all that different, but she could tell that there was something wrong.
"I didn't think you would come," observed the bull faunus as he walked closer.
"I almost didn't," admitted Yang truthfully before lying. "You've got to get a better way to ferry me messages than a dozen go-betweens."
"I couldn't be sure you didn't delete my number or throw away the burner scroll altogether. That would have been the smart play. Besides, it looks like things worked out in the end," Adam almost joked. "This meeting, it seems, was fated to happen, Sunfire."
Yang stiffened at that. "What do you want, Adam? Why did you call me here?"
"I want to survive," he said bluntly, "and I called you here because there's only one way that's going to happen."
The personnel door to the hangar burst open as a certain coppertopped student of Atlas Academy strode in cheerfully.
"Sal-u-tations, partner!" Penny declared.
The hangar appeared devoid of life. Nonetheless, she received a reply: "Penny, what are you doing here?"
"Well, I thought you might be lonely, all alone in this hangar all the time, since you can't exactly go outside much while we're in Vale," she explained.
"Oh," the voice replied, surprised. "Well, that's… kind of you, Penny."
"So I brought someone to meet you!" Penny continued. "This is my friend, Ruby Rose!"
The crimson-themed Huntress cautiously stepped out of the setting sun and into the hangar... then her eyes widened, and she vanished in a Petal Burst.
"Ohmigosh, is that the new Atlesian XP-14A Skystriker?" she asked excitedly as she darted around the sleek, blue and grey aircraft parked in the hangar. "Soooo coooool! I heard about these things! They say they don't use gravity dust at all and are fast enough to outrun Lancers!"
"Faster than sound, actually," Penny informed her.
Ruby paused and looked at her, then looked up at the aircraft. "That's a fast airship." She scrambled up onto the fuselage for a better view.
"Actually, the term is 'airplane,'" the Atlesian girl corrected.
Ruby turned to look down at Penny. "What's the difference?"
"I don't know." Penny shrugged. "I'm programmed for combat, not linguistics."
"Huh, okay," accepted Ruby. "So where is your friend anyway?" She started walking toward the obvious cockpit. "Is he in the airsh- ah, airplane?"
"No, silly!" Penny said. "He is the airplane!"
Ruby barely had a moment to process that when the airsh- airplane began to move beneath her feet. It changed, transformed, and she lost her balance briefly, but before she could tumble to the ground, something caught her. The next thing she knew, she was no longer on top of an aircraft, but instead cradled gently in the hands of a robot that genuflected in the hangar and yet still towered over both her and Penny.
"Penny… you do understand the concept of 'classified,' right?" the robot asked patiently.
Ruby was only vaguely aware of his words. Her attention was occupied by something else, something that sent a chill running down her spine. Her gaze was locked onto the all-too-familiar purple face emblazoned on the wings sprouting from the robot's back. The very familiar robot's back, as she'd seen the footage Blake's Seven had taken on their mission while she was on Patch.
There was no mistaking that symbol. Sharp, angular, and stern, it was scorched into her memory. She had made sure it was.
At long last, Ruby Rose was face to face with the enemy, and it was her new friend's partner.
Author's Note 1 (Cyclone):
Surprise! Sweet little Penny Polendina is a Decepticon! Dun dun DUN!
By the way, the title of Sienna Khan's book is a reference to one of Tarkin's lines in the comics, in which he advocates achieving "order through power," not a reference to Command & Conquer.
There are a number of additional crossover references here. See if you can spot them. And if you can figure out whether they count as Homages, Pastiches, or Shout Outs - we're honestly not sure ourselves - we'd appreciate it if you added them to the TV Tropes page.
Author's Note 2 (Cody MacArthur Fett):
For all those wondering why Ruby was staring so intently at the Decepticon logo back in "Aftermath," this is why. And yes, we did have this planned out since about the time we started. Indeed, the little conversation where Penny is revealed has actually been written out since July I believe.
Hope people enjoyed reading this, since it was a pain to get out, not because of any inherent difficulty, but simply because I was suffering through shingles at the time and the pain meds were making me loopy. Cyclone stepped up to write much of this chapter though. Hopefully this will all be gone in time for the meat of the writing on the next chapter.
Also, to all those reading or editing the TV Tropes page for the fic, that's three cliffhangers one right after the other in this chapter. Why so many? Well, the cliffhanger is one of my favorite literary tools, and sometimes you just have to indulge some base urges.