We all woke up early enough to once-over the plan again without being heard. Blake made sure the windows were closed and the curtains pulled over them. A bit paranoid, but I guess she had reason to be with her past. We all dressed in an outfit different enough from our combat gear that we wouldn't be as easily recognized. My own clothes were 'changed' to a deep purple hue with flecks of silver and running streaks of the same highlighting the pattern of a collared suit on me.
"Alright, so me and Weiss will go to the CCT and gather what information we can and then come back here to sort through it. Yang's heading over to Junior's again with Blake. Darren will buy up some cologne and head to the meeting. All good?" Ruby asked. All of us nodded and Blake turned to me.
Before heading to Junior's I'm going to get in contact with a few sources for the meeting, then text you the time and address. Take this." Blake pulled something out of her travel bag and handed it to me. It was a collapsible White Fang mask. I nodded as I crunched it up and put it in my pocket.
"And I'll be on standby until then." Everyone nodded again. "Alright good. Let's get classes done and do this." She said. We all donned our school uniform over our clothes and dealt with the day as if everything was normal. If and when anyone asked about our plans we were to say we were all seeing a new movie.
Nobody asked though, and JNPR seemed to avoid us all and were aggressive at me. I say aggressive because when no one was looking Nora spat at my feet and shoved me out of the way. Ren stuck a safety needle in my arm as we passed and Jaune attempted to trip me but I hopped over his leg. I pretended to be confused and hurt but didn't follow up. A problem for another day, but probably someday soon.
Other than that the day was normal. We met outside of the school and split up then at 4:00. Blake said the meeting would almost definitely be after sundown so I had some waiting time. The drive was long to the other side of town and Yang decided to hit up a few side-sources along the way. I was left alone in the walkway of the school and made my way to town on the side of a bullhead.
First stop was cologne, as was necessary. The guy behind the counter was kind and asked me if I needed any help. "Do you have anything animals would hate?" I asked. He tilted his head and pointed at the back. "Strange, but yeah. Grey metal bottles in the corner. They make you smell like a brewery that got hit with a mint truck, mixed with just a bit of cigarettes." He said. What a colorful description.
I walked and found the metal bottles labeled, "Rich Homeless". I grabbed three of the somewhat larger bottles and rang them up. After walking outside and climbing a nice rooftop I proceeded to spray the stuff on me until even my nostrils were burning. I kept the last bottle for a final coating before the meeting. Then it was just waiting until either I was needed or Blake gave me my information.
Fortunately I was not left bored for long as within half an hour Ruby shot me a text. "Moving by the park with a friend. Watch over, I've got an off feeling about things." The message said. A simple request and the park was only half a dozen rooftops away. So I hopped across like a master free-runner and watched out for the red of Ruby's cloak.
She appeared a few streets over from the bank and sitting in a small cage. The ginger was with her, Penny. Seeing her very existence defying some rules of the natural order and how souls worked left a bad taste in my mouth as I watched them. Ruby scanned the rooftops a few seconds and didn't find me, but seemed content I was around somewhere.
I watched as the 'girl' jumped when Ruby laid a hand on her shoulder. She was jumpy, scared even, but Ruby's presence seemed to calm her. Oddly enough, her soul did not seem ripped around by her emotions the same way it did when she moved, as if her emotions were real. It would not surprise me that even in this state the soul retained parts of itself.
Ruby goaded the girl into a walk and explained that she was gathering information on the White Fang, but managed to keep her out of the loop by maintaining a guise that all she knew was that the event at the docks were strange. Penny apologized and said she knew nothing about it. The two continued walking and conversing and I hopped a few rooftops to keep up with their pace.
Nothing interesting was said as they reached the end of the street. A familiar voice was flooding out of some speakers nearby. Ironwood. Looking over I was that it was simply a hologram. The white-clad man was presenting about the current droid model that Atlas had been using. Penny and Ruby came to a stop as they listened with me.
"But, the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and fine, well that's just not good enough, is it?" The general said as doors opened to reveal a new model, sleeker and brighter than the models before them. As Ironwood stated their model they theatrically stamped down their precursors as people clapped. "Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary." He stated.
The droids took on poses that gave them a personality, flexing, thumbs up, etc. "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 undoubtedly require a human touch." Ironwood said.
Far below me I heard Penny apprehensively say Ruby's name in order to get her attention. The lack of response showed the effort futile as she watched enraptured by the mysterious next item.
"Our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the SDC, are proud to introduce, the Atlesian Paladin!" He announced. His figure disappeared and was replaced by a life size replica of a giant bipedal droid with multiple turrets, heavy armor, and many more systems I likely couldn't name.
"Now we couldn't have them here today, but these mechanized battle suits will be seen defending the boarders of our kingdoms within the year!" People applauded loudly and below me Penny once again tried to shake Ruby out of her stupor as she drooled over the tech. I followed her gaze and saw two human guards pointing at her and beginning to run in her direction.
Fortunately Ruby heard her and they began to run across the street and down the alley. A far jump, but after bouncing across the light poles I was following undetected. The guards followed them through more alleys and streets. At one point a guard was almost run over and they were slowed by the encounter. As I ran with the two of them Ruby sliced down a large shipment of boxes to block the guards paths.
Soon after she used her semblance to vault into Penny and vault again down the hall. I faded all colors from my body and bent light around my face until there was naught but void and landed behind the guards as she encountered the boxes. Ruby was right, something was up and I didn't need these two interfering. I quickly severed the first guard's head and muffled the scream of the other with my hand as I slit his throat.
I waited patiently as his convulsions stopped before flicking the blood of my blade and jumping up to a rooftop at the end of the alley the two boosted down. Right before I made it up top I heard a thunderous and clanging boom along with cracking rubble. A few dozen feet away and on ground level was Penny, arms outstretched, holding back the weight of an armored bank truck.
This is possible, if incredibly difficult, to pull off. With an insane amount of aura and a body pushed to its limits she could have done this, but she had none of this. The way her aura moved showed that her body was not even generating an aura shield, so there was no way her body could take that stress.
After making sure the driver was alright Penny ran down the alley across from her to escape the attention she had gathered. Ruby followed and I hopped unseen across the street again. We ran for a good ways as we both separately followed Penny through two more turns until the ginger stopped. Ruby caught up.
"Penny, please, what is going on? Why are you running? How did you do that?" Ruby asked. Penny had returned to her originally jumpy state amplified tenfold. "I-I can't. Everything's fine. *hic* I don't want to talk about it. *hic*" The 'girl' tried to speak convincingly but it was obvious that she was lying due to her nervous tic of hiccupping. Ruby saw through it as well.
"Penny, if you could just tell me what's wrong I can help you!" She pleaded. Penny turned away.
"No, no no. You wouldn't understand." Penny argued, becoming reclusive in her nervous actions.
"Let me try. You can trust me." Ruby said. Penny seemed to break and turned to her.
"You're my friend, right? You promise you're my friend?" Penny asked desperately. Ruby gained a sincere tone as she answered.
"I promise." Ruby answered. Penny lowered her head and stuck out her arms. Metal glinted in her palms as the sunlight bounce off them. Skin was peeled back to reveal a harder core that would explain many things.
"Ruby, I'm not a real girl." Penny admitted. Ruby could only stare dumbfounded while I pieced things together. A machine with a soul somehow bound into it. That would explain the odd personality, near impossible durability, and why the guards were after her. She must be an incredibly valuable piece of hardware and research.
"Penny, I don't understand." Ruby told her. Penny had calmed down and gave clear, sincere answers.
"Most girls are born, but I was made. I'm the first synthetic person capable of generating an aura. I'm not real." She said. More like contorting an aura to be honest. The emotions were the only part about the aura that I could see were willing. I don't know how they bound the soul to metal and other synthetics, but it was obviously rejecting those materials. Whenever it moved the body it was jerked and stretched in ways it shouldn't be, yet it couldn't convey that into thoughts.
In some ways I think her soul and aura simply accepted this shell as their existence, and tried to live as a person. I was all for killing, maiming, and breaking a person, but when they die their soul should leave their body and go to the afterlife. A soul was not meant to exist outside of its original body. As horrible as I was, even I wouldn't dare to break those laws.
"Of course you are." Ruby argued. She began to go into some short-winded speech about how Penny was just as real as all of us, and ended with them hugging. The talk changed course after Ruby mentioned her father.
"Oh, he's very sweet. My father's the one that built me. I'm sure you would just love him." Penny told Ruby.
"Wow, so he built you all by himself?" She asked. Penny shrugged and answered, "Well, almost. He had some help from Mister Ironwood." She told Ruby. That information didn't sit right with me, but perhaps I could use that information as leverage if I ever revealed myself to the man.
"The General? Wait, is that why those soldiers were after you?" Ruby asked. Penny smiled.
"They like to protect me too." Ruby chuckled at her answer.
"They don't think you can protect yourself?" Ruby said. Penny seemed to get distraught.
"Well, they're not sure if I'm ready yet. One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the tournament." Penny said resolutely.
"Penny, what are you talking about? We're in a time of peace." Ruby said. Wrong in some ways, right in others. I haven't been known long enough for her to be built in order to combat me.
"That's not what Ironwood said." Ruby cocked her head and Penny gasped as she realized that what she said was probably confidential. "Well anyway, I should probably go back to them so they don't worry. Just promise me you won't tell anyone about my secret, alright?" Penny asked, but it wasn't up for debate.
"O-Okay, but we need to talk about this some more soon, okay?" Ruby asked. Penny nodded and walked away back across the street and into a different alley. With two dead guards in the alley not far from there, I needed Ruby to get away from the location so she couldn't hear any screams Penny may let out at the sight of them. I used my scroll and texted her.
"Head down the alley you're in, I'll be on the other side after the turn."
"Ok."
I ran across the rooftops to meet her at the specified location while she tiredly walked there. She seemed drained after the encounter and after learning that Penny was made of metal, it made sense. Warping a second body of that weight into your speed would be taxing to her. I made it to the entrance and leaned against a wall as I waited.
Ruby appeared around the corner breathing heavily. It looked like she had been hiding how tired she was to Penny while they talked. As soon as she reached me Ruby slid down the wall and sighed. "Thanks for the lookout, but it turned out to be nothing." Ruby said.
"It doesn't always have to be something, though that was a neat stunt Penny pulled with the truck. She must have a ton of aura." I said nonchalantly as Ruby looked at me.
"Hey, you didn't hear or see anything odd, did you?" She asked. I shook my head. "No. Why, was there something to hear or see?" I lied.
Ruby shook her head and smiled. "Nope, just some personal stuff. We were both silent for a bit until I got a text from Blake.
"8:00. 5th of Church Street. Wear the mask when you greet the doorman."
It was 4;45 now. I showed Ruby the text and she nodded. "What now?" I asked her. She shrugged, finally catching her breath.
"I'm actually going to rest here for a bit longer. Speed boosting while carrying Penny was exhausting. She isn't as light as she looks." Ruby told me.
"Alright. Well I've got a few hours to kill so I'm going to go get back into standby." I told her. Ruby gave me the thumbs up and I jumped to some windowsills and started climbing up them. I made a quick pass over where I had killed the guards to see Penny in tears as she frantically checked for a pulse on the one that still had a head. Blood was on her hands.
If I was lucky she might get pegged for it as the last to see them alive and the one who found them with blood on her. There were no cameras around, but she likely wouldn't be named a suspect.
I returned to my building and watched the sun slowly begin to droop to the horizon. The cologne on me was still strong, but Ruby had made no comment. To be safe I would get another extra bottle and apply it like an asshole in the faction meeting. At the same time I texted Blake in order to formulate a plan if things went squirrely at the meeting.
I was to keep her on call during the meeting so she could interpret things. She would give me a quick out if I needed to, then her and Yang would try to meet me outside in between the buildings to escape. A good plan, but if it failed a lot of Faunus were going to die tonight.
Sorry for the extra few days. I was on a block as for how to wrap up the Ruby/Penny confrontation with the guards dead. Thanks for the power suggestions I got. Leave a review if you want and stay tuned for more.