Back in the land of its birth, or at least close enough to it because who in their right mind would want to write anything in downtown New York City, this chapter had sprung forth from a Summer Garden. Growing up alongside the pathways of a peaceful park and fueling itself on the rich clean air of peaceful June days.

Finally, back home, and now with more time to type as I look for employment, I once again will make my formal apologies to the English langue about ay mistakes that were overlooked on my proofreading expedition of this document. That being said, I probably won't be hired as a grammatical teacher anytime soon, so the position of beta reader is still very much open!

Finding my grove once more, onto the review section.

Joecola double 'O' positive adjective that I am definitely not struggling to come up with because I've exhausted most in the dictionary: Thanks for the Salem call out, I don't know why I'm so prone to misspelling it with an 'A', but it is something I easily look over… although considering the actual town she's named after is nearby I feel like I should work better on correcting that mistake.

by the end of book one I can confirm that everybody in the household will need therapy. So much, so much, therapy XD. With the next chapter written out, I can also hint that much of that needed mental healing could be due to other insightful things your comment had theorized.

Blitzkriege37: Not to spoil too much about chapter 20, but I have a feeling it is an installment you will enjoy as well based on your review. Uther is… quite a fascinating antagonist to write, especially since he embodies a lot what being an Earth evolved human being is when compared to a Remnant Aura user. His greatest ally is information, as well as practicality and numbers. He's not fighting a flashy battle between warriors, but rather a logistical one between nations that don't know he exists, which includes the ones he's fighting on the behalf off. That will continue to be expanded on throughout the remainder of this book!

As always, please feel free to review as I get us on the road to the next chapter of The Electric Lens!

Text Key

"Speech"

'Quote'

Thought

"Flashback", scene

"Electronic Speech"

Electronic Text's

"Langue that isn't understood by POV Character"

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Chapter 19

With Remnant and Earth having caused her to feel both extreme ends of the emotional spectrum, Penny could confidently state that over the past three and a half weeks, she had felt 'okay'. While there were periods of joy, and regretfully many accounts of jealousy, both came in tempered down forms.

Instead of controlling her emotions, or letting them control her, the pastel theme string of zero's and one's was beginning to understand that she and her sentiments were intertwined. Much like Velvet had learned, they weren't something to push your faults on, and like Gareth is still experiencing, they are not something you can give into or simply ignore.

That being said, Penny's logic had always been able to outsprint practically, and thus she still found herself in the very human position of coming to terms with the fact that emotions were a never ending problem and solution all sentient beings had to cope with. Of course, her reactions, private and open, were what made this near month in the Aelle estate so therapeutic for her.

Although it took some… adjusting on the part of both Nimue and Arthur, both task force agents eventually accepted that her stay in their computer system was a semi-permanent one. More so than that, after the first few days or so, they slowly realized that her self-enforced residence was something to be capitalized upon.

Of course, Penny herself knew this from the beginning. The software and resources at her disposal now were akin to that of the Atlas defense mechanism… theoretically at least, for, even with Arthur's and Summer's support, all news on Remnant and the task force itself was on a need to know basis. Which meant that...most of the government and militaries of Earth didn't, and while the sentient computer program could now easily bypass all of their security measures… she would most certainly alert them to her presence. And given the bureaucracy and secrecy of even Arthur's high up position, the risk of her being attacked by a cybernetic defense routine, before one of ten dozen phone calls could be made to call it off, was well past the acceptable limit.

That being said, after the period of Nimue and Arthur babysitting her in what the house's internal network dubbed the 'Observatory Ward', the two Earthlings began working with her rather than against.

Starting with the one operating military force that was partially under Arthur's command, Penny spent most of her time keeping an eye, or in this case several motion detectors and cameras, on one Tristin Grendel. Stationed at a base twenty miles northwest, that for all intents and purposes didn't exist in the mind of most Americans, or even most of the military, it was apparently constructed and manned post Summer's arrival.

While the white cloak reaper was still hesitant on revealing what was being hidden, she did unveil enough to state that it is what the three trespasser and terrorists that came from Vale were after. Being from Atlas, such confidential issues were common for the digitized sentience, as was the incentive to not question anything beyond that when such an answer was given.

She studied the base inside and out… as well as the sudden new co-director that the eldest Rose could never mention without narrowing her eyes in disgust. Fortunately, the fire haired man's only fault was how he handled his position, not in the way he abused it. Checking in on him often, Penny could only report that he spent most of his days, either messing with the stationed soldiers by spontaneously enacting unscheduled defense drills or dedicated the rest of his work hours to becoming a nuisance to the actual head of the military institution by frequently going out of his way to repeatedly ask rhetorical questions to Commander George.

While his status and promotion to his newfound power we're questionable from an efficiency standpoint, he hadn't done anything to harm the base or indicate a hidden agenda. He remained far away from the area that housed the supposed Remnant object, and besides his over the top ineptitude, the space skipping life form didn't see him as a threat.

However, with Arthur stating firmly, and more out of her own safety, that she could not contact or traverse any of the other ATF bases without his approval, Tristan did bring with him some level of concern. One stemming from the fact the eldest Aelle was certainly not in absolute control of the hidden United Nations department, and based on his tone, he was far from the most influential member.

...this was limiting, especially since it meant she couldn't get access to the Eastern facilities' resources, nor their knowledge on the whereabouts of Tyrian, Emerald, or Mercury. Even worse than that, when doing things the 'old fashion way', as Arthur put it to his most prized and hated agent, Penny was having a difficult time finding even a hint of their whereabouts… and even if only muttered under his breath, and not for her superior auditory receptors to hear, the Atlas android knew the blonde haired man often blamed a similar position director known as Uther, for their constant dead ends… or rather, blocked off entrance ways.

What this mysterious man couldn't control though, was what was happening right before Penny's eyes. While her work life had gotten into a somewhat unprofitable routine, the interactions and evolving relationships taking place within the pine wood locked Washington estate were both emotionally educational and emotionally entertaining if nothing else.

Causing her true joy, Gareth and her nightly talks had become an established tradition. Even if her newfound sense of duty and necessity, which helped treat her identity crisis immensely, took most of her daytime hours, at night she would be recalled just as the emerald eyed boy entered bed.

...whether it be about what they did for the day, or Penny sharing more on Remnant and Gareth simply smiling or staring at her in awe at the impossibility of her origin planet, the reliance of somebody who sought her for companionship was… uplifting. Also existing in a field where she could physically interact with herself and others was the perfect complement to her mind being relied upon in the physical world. This was especially true and emphasized by the point that the youngest Cadarn was becoming ever more and more comfortable with direct contact.

This could come in the form of her simply moving his hand when he'd place it on her shoulder to stop her from bouncing in place when she redirected herself form the main conversion. Her trying to duplicate what she saw Summer perform with his own father, and give him a playful punch on the shoulder when he said something funny...although when he did so by accident because of he was simply voicing confusion on norm of Remnant he found absurdly strange these moments did turn a bit awkward.

… although by far Penny's favorites form of interaction was when they'd both just decided to fake tiredness. It started when Gareth stated he had an admittedly hard day, which meant he had father and brother issues but wasn't willing to voice them as such and collapsed on his back. Unsure what to do… but acting up her own emotions that arose from less than pleasant places, she simply followed suit and fell backwards as well.

Only she did so perpendicular to him. In such a position that the back of her carrot tinged hair struck his stomach. He gave out a grunt, but after a moment the electronic concluded Gareth was making no attempt to move or separate, and defying all laws of her mechanical structure, she was growing comfortable. Even with the silence, and how far and in between these moments were, Penny enjoyed these connections the most. In fact, even without the need for eight-hour recharge periods, the robotic Atlesian couldn't help but conclude that how she felt after these special sceneries were similar to what an organic being would dub a good night's rest.

… However, the electronic lifeform did have to remind herself that these moments of happiness did stem from the brunette's own inability to deal with his father or brother. Despite talking when necessary, Gareth appeared as distant as ever from the eldest Aelle, and his attitude too Amr was even more strained. With both never going out of their way to communicate, and the emerald eyed boy only ever addressing the silver themed one when necessary and keeping their rare conversation to a number of words one could count on two hands.

The teenager's mother's relationship with the monster slaying squire was the complete opposite. Everybody being forced into a hustle and bustle lifestyle; Laura had taken it upon herself to use the child as her own coping mechanism. Given that she was even more lost than her own biological son when it came to Remnant, she dedicated time to taking care of Amr. Perhaps taking advantage of the life she never got, or simply taking solace in the other person who wanted nothing to do with demons and beast unless they were in his head.

"What are they doing now?", interrupted by her thoughts, Penny was about to ask for clarification… only to scan the room and see the two occupants of the Observatory Ward once again forget she was there. With Arthur pointing up towards a screen, while Summer, having dived headfirst into the one before her, didn't tilt her head upwards to escape

"...baking something", she responded, rather coldly, but in a playful way. Almost as if she was down, but happy she could dwell on it in this way… regardless to say, Penny found the two literal star crossed lovers behavior over the past handful of weeks by far the most confusing display of emotions she'd ever witnessed.

"I meant why Velvet's pointing towards Gareth's shoulder", his voice hesitatingly trailed down at having apparently asked the wrong question for the billionth time.

"Oh that", being two sides of the same coin, Summer's cloak causes a fabric filled avalanche to rise up quickly. Her fault coming from having replied with the wrong answer for the billionth time, "She's explaining why he needs to spread his aura out from his already supported areas and to the joints… given his age, his aura wants to naturally reinforce some parts of the body more than others. She's trying to drill into his head why he needs to forcefully spread it across his entire surface area in a more even sheet"

"I see", the father nodded, but from Penny's viewpoint clearly did not understand what was happening with twenty twenty vision. As she had witnessed this exact exchange of words about ten time since the two brunettes went out for Gareth's conditioning training, "So what are they making this time-"

"I don't know-", the words fell into one another, and once again Summer meant to end the conversation before returning her sights to actually trying to uncover that answer.

Unlike Arthur, whose work with Penny was interrupted only when he was watching his son practice with Velvet, Summer… well the moment she came in she was constantly multitasking. Needing to take full advantage of every edge they now possessed, the snow cloaked grim reaper spent the entire morning putting the chocolate themed huntress through the ringer.

Although Gareth had confirmed to Penny many times during their nighttime therapy/debriefing sessions he did not view it in such a light, by the time their exercises began at noon… Velvet was not physically capable of performing at top efficiency.

The eldest Rose was however, at least when it came to her mental capabilities. On the one hand, she truly was gifted when it came to searching for targets through… nontraditional means. Literally with the other one though, she was constantly zooming in and out of one of two monitors.

The first one contained a complete and detailed view of her son's room. Having equipment measures and presents it in such a way that nature could never hope to compete with. The second screen, and the one the now laser focused huntresses' hands rhythmically swept over and enhanced, was that of the kitchen.

A culinary wasteland that looked to be every child's version of heaven. With disregarded chocolate covered bowls coating a canyon of unused dough that started its settlement adventure in the sink but quickly emerged to coat the entire counter and beyond. Following the river of rainbow-colored frosting that constantly flowed through this newfound wonder of the world, one saw the two deities that created this landscape.

Somehow still clean and unstained throughout her entire use of the equipment, Laura was smiling as she helped the second sugar god up to close the upper oven. Being wisp through the air a short three feet, Amr's silver eyes reflected across the see through like obsidian shaded glass, and unbeknownst to him, into the lens of the hidden camera.

Although this specific type of activity was no more than a biweekly thing, all of Amr's and his aunt Laura's newfound task caught Summer's attention. With his safety now being in actual concern, his academic and social life had been put on hold. But with the arrival of his newfound family member, he had been behaving as if he was on a surprise vacation. With the eldest Cadarn taking him on countless adventures in his own house.

For reasons beyond her understanding, the first interplanetary human traveler looked both overjoyed and devastated by this news. While Arthur just looked relieved, as he would quickly go back to either work, or as was the case in the afternoon, spending time with his sons hundreds of feet apart and through a video feed only one of them new about.

… all of this behavior was unhealthy to say the least. And if Penny, with all her struggles in the educational field known as human, or rather biological emotions, could see it then anybody could see it was. Regretfully, watching as Summer and Arthur once again went through a day of only viewing their happiness instead of taking part in it, the electronic Atlesian could only nervously shuffle around nonexistent feet knowing she was the only one to see this side of them.

"If you wish, I have analyzed the ingredients, as well as have vocal recordings from the room which can help us deduce what they are constructing for dessert-", given all the data she had on these conversational reruns, the pastel huntress knew the interruption was coming, and now was more shocked that it had once again happened at the exact same word.

"No thank you Penny, I would rather just be surprised again", in an attempt to act as if she didn't care, once again recognizing that her husband was in fact not the only sentient creature in the room, the mother's word only came out through clenched teeth at the end. By no way was the silver eyed woman hostile that Amr and Laura were baking together… but her tone did convey that she desperately wanted to know what concoction they were putting together, "...Why don't you help me out with this instead. I've got a strange lack of reports coming out of suburb in Fairfield"

"Of course, f- Summer", given how often the two parents would overlook her attempts to help them see their still present family issues, the electronic soul wasn't overly comfortable using either caretaker's first name without the use of a title.

That being said, she quickly began pulling up articles on every town within a thirty-minute drive of the New England city. If for nothing else, then Summer was the best at finding leads given their lack of resources… and that Arthur had smiled, and even chuckled, at the sight of his camera. One that, as Penny turned code into sight, the digital sentience could also see. And as she was presented with the image of the chocolate theme huntress turning her poke into a familiarly executed shoulder throw, the electrified red head found herself growing quiet.

As before Velvet could laugh at the down young man's grunt, she too fell backwards herself. Seeing her use the youngest Cadarn's abdomen as a cushion, the digital being blocked her own processing with articles not wanting to continue the movie that saw her sacred aera be tread upon.

...Only, as the last week of news in the gated community was sorted through… the now fully digital soul suddenly saw Gareth give his own laugh, after he recovered from his second round of forced away air. With the articles, and all information on the town being cut off this morning that fit with no pre-existing scheduled or planned holidays. The distraction of that now blocking her knowledge of the two outside teenagers… growing bound, Penny began shifting through information on nearby towns.

Appearing now before Summer eyes, and after a few short seconds Arthur's as well after his wife forcefully grabbed his head and spun it towards his work, both adults' lips began to express their thoughts. Whether it be a mountain or valley, both edges formed plains, as the neighboring community only reported on a strange outage that occurred in the area. More so than that, due to a multitude of down wires, the local authorities were under instructions not to allow anybody in or out of one specific gated area.

Being able to scan through and make sense of all this information at speeds far surpassing both silver and blue-eyed occupants, Penny waited with a racing mind until Arthur finally spoke up,

"... It's Uther's work alright", the electronic being would tilt her head in confusion if she could but felt out of place to question his knowledge as Summer nodded to this fact as if it was obvious.

"Never did get around to just blaming downed wires on a town outage… but given what could have happened, he needs to keep it far more simple than usual", her words would have trailed off under different circumstances given the implication she was voicing. However, as was routine with their misplaced joy, so was their switch to sudden militaristic, and in many ways Atlas, mindsets.

"He should have tried something more out there then. Ironically we may have just swept such an outlandish thing under the rug", he disregarded the articles, and the screen Penny cohobated became blank as the man's face, "Penny, see if you can pull up any recordings from the towns surveillance"

"I believe the power outage, for whatever purpose it serves, is very real", without Gareth in the room, the electronic soul was always hesitant to leave the network unless it was to traverse the Caliburn base. Although capable of sending her sentience out like a fishing rod, she much preferred having the fisherman positioned with the item as well. On the off-chance things did go array, it would be nice to know that somebody was there. Wanting and making sure she returned to shore safely.

"The reason behind it's that he can turn off all the camera's, and wipe off all the data of the town", pulling up new material, Summer step up next to Arthur, "It'll only give him a few days, but that'll be enough for him to take control and clear out the existing video evidence… as well as start making reports to the actual government"

Although slight, the gap in her words did not go unnoticed by the electronic Remnant native. Nor was it ignored by her golden locked husband, who gave off a slight shiver at the idea of Uther convincing the United States, and possibly even the United Nations, why his department would need more funding and direct military support. Regardless, this now very possible paranoia fueled thoughts only lasted a moment. For even as Penny voiced her next question, Arthur already held an answer.

"If he has commandeered all video surveillance, I will have nothing to report back unless I digitally assault the Eastern facilities routers", with an electronic wave of relief, the pastel huntress was happy the man before her shook his head side to side.

"Not necessarily, Uther's reach can be vast. But even the nets he cast has holes in them", popping onto the screen, the page for a private home security website appeared, "He'll only be able to gain footage through the public cameras on the streets and in the parks. In the meanwhile, we'll look through the data and video records of the people in that town who relied on private security companies…if you believe you are up for the task that is"

Out of all the people in the house, Arthur had the hardest time treating the digital copperhead as an actual person. It wasn't as if he didn't want to, more so without a direct body to see he acted all too often like he was just speaking to a machine that would carry out his task with no hesitation or delay.

Luckily, Nimue treated Penny as an all too real threat. Thus, she assumed full well that, as with any potential enemy, the mechanical girl possessed cognitive and high functioning decision making. Having just mirrored Blake's behavior towards Yang, Summer too had a much easier time viewing the youngest Polendina as a fellow sentient being. Quickly slapping her husband's shoulder to connect his parted wires and gain some mannerism in politeness.

"We can order Gareth and Velvet in here, given what we think is happening in those town, they'll going to need to be informed anyway", the way the cloaked woman emphasized the former name indicated the hidden meaning of bringing him into to more so help with Penny's ease of the situation… and although the electronic being was hesitant and concern Gareth might want to head back to New England to pursue this case… she also didn't mind if him and Velvet's requested presence here had the unfortunate side effect of disrupting their training schedule.

"I highly believe that would be the best course of action", having looked back to the screen of the rabbit eared huntress still laughing and lying on Gareth's stomach, Arthur seemed to disagree. Regardless he accepted Penny's logic, and zooming in on that image, pressed a button.

"New information has come up, will you two please report to the Observatory Ward to assist Penny with data retrieval", although his voice remained monotone as it traversed through the speaker, the blue eyed Aelle had an almost proud smile on his face.

Wanting to suck her lips in to avoid speaking out of turn, Penny didn't know what was worse. The look of disappointment both brunettes through the camera had on their face that their time together was coming to an abrupt and unscheduled end, or that Arthur's most jubilant moments of the day came when he spoke to his eldest son as if he was a drill sergeant ordering around a new cadet.

Although, as she moved to watch Summer's sad smile at the two scenes, the electronic soul realized the father of two wasn't the only one experiencing unhealthy emotions. As the nonexistent copper tinted girl could only wonder one thing,

Does Gareth experience the same level of disappointment when he wakes up?

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Face carved from the sheer cliffs of a granite mountain. Eye's glued, or more so welded, to the moving green numerals now infecting every pixelated screen on the wall. Summer couldn't help but hold a small smile that the man she analyzed from her peripheral view wanted to house… the one he did actually contain despite the cold and unfeeling ascetic he forced himself to have.

Nobody, bar maybe Nimue who had the uncanny ability to know the smallest details about everybody in the estate, saw the movements of her lips. Velvet was too busy watching the foreign shaped numerals shoot upwards to a lateral horizon. Pretending to wait patiently for what they would reveal. In reality though, the corporeal one at least, the out of place faunus was concerned. Silently shifting her weight from one foot to the other, as the prospect of going on an actual mission was coming into view.

If this lead ripened with any fruit, the silver eyed warrior would make sure to talk and provide reassurance to her fellow vale native. After all, while the girl was nervous about heading back into the fire once again, she had more than proven herself capable in a fight. And even before her new and truly advanced tutelage under Summer, she had already been in the furnace back on the highway. Which was, being an unintended and un-prepared one, the most dangerous kind of mission one could survive.

Off to her side, a young man of a similar hair tone as his rodent eared friend, was standing even closer to the stream of mathematical data. Even if his eyes didn't need to be that close, he was seemingly getting lost in the code, and viewed the binary information flying past him as words from a bestselling novel. Her smile growing dimmer, but not faltering, the hooded huntress couldn't help but feel sorrow for the boy.

Despite Arthur's gaze traveling the farthest distance in the room, it was only for show that it looked towards Penny's work. In actuality he was viewing Gareth...and Summer wished more than anything that the emerald eyed boy hypnotized by the neon hued pixels, could not only see, but know this fact as well.

Her now military performance husband had assured him things would take time. But with all the work he had secretly put in over the past near month, she had thought their relationship would evolve past their monotone incarnate conversations.

… more so than that, she thought Gareth would at least start viewing Amr as a family member, instead of his boss's son… if only so that her child could have somebody else to hang out with during the day then his aunt. Whom Summer was in no way jealous of in the slightest. Absolutely, positively not deeply betrayed that her sacred cooking time with Amr was being tread upon.

"She's coming back", Summer's totally not envious thoughts were forced back down by Gareth's voice. Trying to sound like a professional, and failing miserably, the boy was truthfully not cut out for a military lifestyle. Merely playing soldier to ignore that his newfound general was his dad, the emerald iris of the boy reflected with relief that his friend was coming back, rather than contempt that she had the data she was deployed to find.

Not that there was really any doubt, for as Penny entered the house once again, she did so without Gareth's aura turning green. Nor were there any signs of electricity sparking from the computer or his arm.

"The companies that I have infiltrated have not sorted through the data yet. Thus I have collected seventy-six percent of the estates surveillance footage, the other twenty-four percent were using a more archaic system that did not rely on security cameras", the girl spoke as if she was apologizing for being able to force the other houses to live more digital lives. But given her place of origin, that came as no surprise to Summer, "With retrieval over, I can begin playing back the material"

"By all means", With his voice emotionless only for his son, the cloaked woman felt the urge to slap her husband's arm again. His rudeness towards Penny, however unintentional it may be, was getting on her nerves.

Regardless, the hidden pastel huntress began playing back the video. The frames collapsing into one another, the mess of pictures could at first only be organized and viewed by Penny herself. No doubt, with hours upon hours of mundane upper-class activities filled her memoirs. However, as the weeks portrayed as seconds began to reach the present day the river began to stagnate.

The speed of time diluted to a one much more capital with the human, and faunus, eyeballs and processing center. A rate of time now mirroring the one they were going through at this very moment now being displayed, Summer saw the inside of a well-kept and elite estate. Its walls only on the verge of darkness due to the date of the night. The large glass bay window allowed the moon just enough of an opening to peak in. Almost as if asking the celestial body itself to be jealous of what the Earth could produce in its attempt to barricade itself from the heavens.

...not that it was able to guard itself from the creatures of hell though. If it wasn't for Penny having specifically chosen this scene because she knew what was on it, Summer would have easily been the first to know something was up. Having deduced where the most likely place of entrance was, the silver themed huntress was able to see two shadows dart through the hallway.

They weren't trying to hide from the cameras, in all likelihood they didn't even know they were there. That being said, they stuck to the walls, and the only reasons Summer could make out the disturbances of the constructions two-dimensional surface, rather than looking at the space in between. Based on the displacement of pixels, the two people who failed to break a bit succeed in spades on entering, were most likely the faunus and the young woman.

Seeing where they were heading to, and the lone light coming out from a door, Summer could almost hear Velvet's ear curl up. With the door being mysteriously pushed open, the rest of the audience now was alerted to the twice over occupied house.

The feed then switched to what appeared to be a poorly white themed master bedroom. However, the footage came to an abrupt halt as Penny herself interrupted the scene,

"I have gone through the evidence; I can confirm that the residence of this town has been assaulted and murdered by the hunters and huntress we seek no further-"

"Please continue the video Penny, we're all adults here", Arthur's words came off even more uncaring than usual. Why the electronic being spoke up in the first place though was what momentarily snapped Summer out of her information observing state.

She wasn't concerned about what she would see, for as stated she had already analyzed the video for, relatively speaking, possible hours. More so, looking around the room, and now gazing upon Gareth's chestnut strands began to vibrate, the halberd wielding warrior realized who the caution was meant to advise.

His eyes were hungry for the horror film to continue. Gareth wanted justification, not a healthy one, but rather reassurance so that his newfound terror had a legitimate reason to exist… but such want was to that of a siren call. What would reflect in his pupils would only cause more terror to exist.

...and it was in this moment, that the silver eyed woman stopped herself from returning to a military mindset. For while, for all intents and purposes there were only matured individuals in the room in one way or another, one was clearly not ready for war. Velvet, already placing a hand on the shaking boy's shoulder

The rabbit faunus was uncomfortable with the situation. But her emotions stemmed out of regret rather than fear. She felt bad for what she already knew would happen to the family who at this time has long since been dead. She did house hesitation, but only her thoughts revolving around if she'd be able to stop this from happen, not in her unwillingness to go and face the problem.

Penny, in the mere fact that she already knew the outcome to this scene, and still had a level enough head to show preemptive concern for how somebody could emotionally react to it, proved her ability to handle the situation… which merely left her and Arthur.

With the latter failing to treat the horror show about to begin with respect for all the wrong reasons. His interruption of the artificial intelligence was meant to show hidden support for Gareth. That he was willingly to let his son in on his life and not hide anything. Except for there were two major variables that would keep this act of attempted genuineness from succeeding. For starters, Gareth didn't know that was the intention behind his father's words. Secondly… a good parent would see this behavior, immediately remove the catalyst for it, and realize that watching a serial killer about to murder an unsuspecting victim in no ways met the requirements for a bonding moment.

"Arthur… we should focus on triangulating where they could strike next so we can intercept-", she was lying to the room, and everybody could tell. If she got her way, she'd view this material later, but unfortunately, Gareth used her vocabulary as fuel to start up the engine of his own torture.

"I-I'm fine", seeing two and a half pairs of eyes on him, Gareth shrugged his shoulders. The act was to politely remove Velvet's comforting hand, but his body language throughout it screamed that he wanted the tether back on, "I-I mean… we s-should see what's happening...t-to know how they fight and… stuff"

His words came off painfully inaccurate, and even his attempt at logic was misguided. What these two were about to do to this aura less humans… calling it a slaughter wouldn't even begin to describe how little of a resistance was about to be witnessed. Perhaps they'd get something on these people's calling sign when it came to murder. But the real reason they needed to watch was to understand why they were even doing this in the first place… and whatever that need entailed, it was something that Gareth was certainly not prepared for.

"He's right", Arthur lied as well, but at least he knew he was sending out a mechanically themed fib. The hidden thoughts of this situation being more akin to building a model airplane with his son blinding him from this being an actual high-profile mission.

"...If you are certain, but if the images become too grotesque Gareth, know to look away one minute and thirty seve-"

Although it went against all his natural, and in this case correct, instinct, the emerald eyed boy gave Penny a pleading look. Not realizing she was already helping him, and he was just doing his best to go against the current until he drowned. Unfortunately, the water picked up, as the pastel coded life form caved in and began playing the video.

The moon casting cinematic lighting into the room, the fact that the security equipment also picked up sound made the atmosphere all the more tense. With the want for noise that wasn't there, the only motion in the film was the slow elevation then erosion of the two spots in the soft white fabric.

With the faces of the occupants being viewed in far too much detail, Summer saw the one faunus in the room's eyes narrow in confusion. However, the sudden straightening of Gareth's own posture, as well as his unconscious grasp of his right arm, proved to the woman what they had realized.

Looking like readied corpses for a funeral, the two faces of the Ascalon family revealed themselves as the victims. As this understanding made its way around the room, any hidden emotions of familiar bond Arthur thought the situation would contain was silently murder.

Astonishing, it wasn't the first dead object to lose its life, however. For in the space between camera shots, the business tycoon and his spouse lost their life. Not knowing whether to blame the equipment, or her own age, Summer didn't even realize they had died until a few seconds after the strike. When their necks began leaking red and painted the winter esc sheets with crimson pollution.

…the deed was committed so efficiently, so sadistically humane, the moon didn't even blink. Not knowing a murder had been commit, despite it appearing before its one unblinking eye.

What it couldn't ignore though, was what came next. Revealing themselves in a room that they had long since claimed. Both the grassy green locks of the wayward teenager, and the oily ponytail of the masochist finally graced the third axis.

At the very least the girl, whose blade remained bloodless at the moment, didn't look proud at what had happened. Compared to the now frozen and terrified Gareth she looked like a mediating Zen monk, but the sudden movement of her hands to any area beside her scythes indicated she was far from comfortable with the situation.

...unfortunately, that sentiment was not one shared by her partner in crime. Who upon briefly collapsing his twinned bladed axes, looked disappointed his weapon wasn't coated in more human fuel.

Having his hands crawl like a spider across his own body. His digits caressed two glass vials. A pair of containers that made up an entire belt that zig zagged its ways across his waist, as well as crisscrossing its way across his chest and shoulders...for the moment, only half were filled.

That soon proved to not be the case. For as he moved over to the bodies, he uncorked each capsule. Proving to be a cage and not a scientific instrument, Summer realized in horror that each one contained Grimm. They weren't ferocious like Beowolves, or imposing like Ursa… no, as he seemingly poured nothing but air onto the two bodies, the terror of the microscopic organism came in the way they harvested emotions.

The center of each victim's chest now growing a black pool, and Velvet was the first to reach a hand to her mouth. Covering up a gasp that Gareth was all too frozen to even produce.

Like a miniaturized locust swarm, microscopic creatures of nightmarish terror ate away at the two mercifully dead humans. Their skin wasn't parted, and their blood wasn't sucked, instead their entire organic tissue simply lost its will. The microscopic beings of despair were not eating away at their body's natural energy, but rather their very will to be dead. As the bacteria and insect hybrids swarmed their way back into the vials, they disgustingly called home, Summer knew what was happening.

Going out of his way to force a smile, even as the all too young girl beside him went to open a window targeting the next house, he watched the ichor like machines flow across the room and condense their way into the glass. Not waiting for the process to finish, the crimson eyed aura user dove out the window silently. Lacking the will, time, and stomach, to see her comrade sniff the air of the dead house, almost disappointed in the short length of the compost process.

"This occurs in all houses with video surveillance… I can only hypothesis that the other twenty-four percent that are unaccounted for shared a similar fate"

"We need to see for ourselves why their… why they need human corpses", Arthur was truly at a loss for words. For all the terror his wife had ever informed him on Grimm, he grew up in a world where monsters were just fairy tales. When finding out their actually real… well, that is when one realizes your childhood nightmares on the creatures never did them justice.

"...he's reaping them", Summer didn't know why she used that word… it was accurate, but one of many vocabulary words that were, "Creating more Grimm, although he's going about it in an inefficient manner"

"H-how do you know...I-I mean…nobody knows how the Grimm are made", it was disappointing, but the silver eye warrior new better then to think Ozpin secret society, or whatever the old wizard wished to call it, would reveal any of what they knew to the people of Remnant in the ten plus years she'd been away. But staring at Velvet, and the second-year student sigil on her arm… well she hoped such things would at least be hinted at to the students and huntsman who fought on his behalf.

"She is correct", Atlas hiding crucial detail and high end information even from their own creation was less surprising however, "The creatures of Grimm's creations remain one of our home world's greatest unsolved mystery… and based on the data presented here, your theory seems incorrect. Nowhere near enough energy has been collected by these microscopic beings. Even if they had, all study into Grimm physiology and biology shows they have no way of processing carbon-based life. Their bone and ichor like substance do not even contain organic material, nor even have molecules that could be rearranged from those components"

Summer sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. Her hand was the lost to the world when it escapes behind the darkness of her cowl, which was good as she didn't want to seem like a teacher refusing to give a lecture,

"Listen...we don't have time for all the details", or for an explanation on magic, the silver eyed woman truly wanted to say, "But the knowledge on how our greatest threat is made… has been known for quite some time...Grimm are attracted to negative emotions correct?"

"Affirmative", the question was rhetorical, but that didn't stop Penny from answering or Velvet nodding her head.

Luckily nobody saw her moon-like orbs turn new twice over. As she stared blankly ahead at the two, now clear, huntresses in training.

"That's because they're made of them, we don't know the physics behind it", she gestured towards the computer program in the screen before then turning the hand towards her fellow Vale native, "Or the reason, but they can harvest then reform based on the amount of fear, terror, and general unhappiness in the atmosphere"

"...T-then why kill two people while they're peacefully sleeping?", still in a partial petrified state, Gareth briefly looked towards Velvet horrified she'd ask such a thing. In truth though, it was a brilliant question,

"For speed. On Remnant what they're doing is laughable and inefficient… but on Earth, or at least what they know of it, the people here are nothing but crops in their mind"

"Y-you mean cattle...r-right?", she looked at Gareth, and realized she should have forced him out of the room. The mere fact he was speaking to her with an emotion that wasn't monotone or anger proved how scared he was… but given his role in this… well the time to leave him in the dark was about five minutes earlier. Without an answer he'd just be creating more terrifying scenarios in his head,

"No… I mean crops", a more befitting emotion returned to her voice, "Even fenced in...an animal can try to run away and has a farmer that can quite easily fend off wolves. But a plant is truly helpless… and a farmer can't battle a disease, the only solution in that case is for the community to scorch the field"

The analogy was too accurate. And for once, Gareth seemed to want to be the one with the hood in order to retreat from their conversation. But forced in the open, he turned to Penny, and with almost desperation grasped at his right arm,

"W-what happened to Lance Penny?", the computerized soul, no doubt still going into the scientific impossibility behind Summer's explanation on Grimm manufacturing, literally gave out a few sparks as her attention was returned to the room.

"...Based on my review of the perimeter cameras", looking into the corner of the room, rather than the pixelated wall, Penny spoke as if she was making eye contact with the boy… Delivering to him the worst type of news, "He was not processed"

Even without seeing her body, or material or astral, the black and white clothed huntress knew Penny immediately regretted that choice in words. With the youngest Cadarn's face losing all its color as he became the room's sole spirit.

"...However, the third individual, Mercury Black, disposed of his presence shortly after Lance came across his parents bodies", with all the wrongs that the emerald eyed boy experienced do to his barbaric classmate, seeing him suddenly gasp for air as he malfunctioned. Well it was a touching response to such a tragedy honestly, but it showed the boy had had enough.

"I-I… I have to go", he moved towards the door, forgetting all but two people in the room, "I-I'm sorry… I just need a second… or minute"

Really, he needed hours and days, maybe even a year. But he spoke his apologetic words to Penny and then Velvet before he forced his feet to carry him out of the room. Going too fast for the door, he nearly collapsed before his exit way was opened. However, he managed to will himself up against gravity, and by the time his path was clear, he all but ran out of the room. Desperately needed the support of the structure, but too prideful to use one of the observatory wards walls.

As he passed Arthur, Summer saw the man reach a handout. The now sweat field brunette didn't see it, but the wannabe father was a hair away from showing the true signs of a parent and child relationship. The regret in the eldest Aelle's blue eyes showed he wished more than anything to do this situation differently. However, the cowardice of his hand to not complete its arc and grasp Gareth's shoulder, proved he was still in the belief that his waiting strategy was correct… and in her own misguided belief of it, Simmer didn't call him out for the falsely placed faith.

"I-I'll make sure he's okay", ironically, Velvet showed the most humane and empathic reaction to the scene. Not even waiting for an answer as she too made for the door.

"I shall accompany you", the artificial Atlesian tone of voice contained just as much, if not more, concern than her biological counterpart. However, as Summer hands made the motion that her husbands failed to achieve, she was far to single minded at the moment to question why,

"No", her silver orbs briefly made contact with the rodent eared faunus' chocolate one. Instantly the huntress knew the answer was for Penny not her, but she'd have to wait a command or two before calming down her fellow brunette, "We'll need your help figuring out where they'll strike next. Velvet will go after Gareth, but make your conversation brief… because you, Nimue, and I are leaving for the Northeast tonight"

Although her posture, and demeanor was that of a timid introvert Velvet gave a sharp nod. Needless to say, she had been accustomed to obtaining highly dangerous orders before, and even if she was uncomfortable in most social circumstances, she truly was huntsmen material and direct her courage were it truly matter. Accepting that sign, Simmer gave her own head a sharp movement before letting her go. As she exited the room, the seasoned veteran gave out one last command that was meant for three sets of ears… or well, technically seven, although she didn't know about the last,

"And make sure Gareth knows that he's staging here with Arthur, Laura, and Amr". turning around, Summer saw the blank stare of a stopped computer screen… as well as the still ocean of her husband eyes, "and under no circumstances is that up for debate"

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Not even making it to his own...well he didn't want to call it a room considering whose house it was, but area, Gareth could only look at the ground with one thought,

Who's going to clean this up, the pristine conditions of the floor being marred and scarred by today's lunch turned into a greenish paste, and the boy clenched his stomach. Looking at his own vomit, as the catalyst behind him made him go sick once more. The walls of his singular thought crumbled as he remembered what he was running from, Do they have a cleaning service, because somebody will have to mop it up… I mean Lance won't… because he's dead.

Accompanying his guizer like stomach, the sudden name of the enemy knight caused the wild haired brunettes emerald sea to leak. Watching as he himself salted his food form earlier, he brought a hand up, and wiped at his broken facet.

The liquid condensed and merged into a drop on his finger, and he couldn't help but wonder why he was crying. More so he didn't understand how he was doing the act. There was no weep behind the tears, nor were there an attempt to dam them back. Instead they fell silently even as he observed them,

I...I didn't want karma to come up like this...I didn't even want karma, that was a lie of course, at least the second half of his sentence was. One that he had already told himself, and his mom, a few weeks ago. The time right before his biggest fears in life changed from girl trouble to his father and literal beast from hell.

He had a picture of getting revenge on Lance after the first incident at the school. Almost comically beating him down before everybody like he had done to him… but he didn't want him dead, heck he didn't even want to break bone or pierce skin. Just bruise him up or something, a fantasy where Vivian could see him as somebody besides a helpless weakling.

But now...he wanted nothing more than the blonde behemoth to burst through the wall. Laugh and video tape him throwing up. Humiliate him, and then kick his teeth and say something stupid about the social hierarchy... Gareth just wanted him alive more the anything else.

Still observing his own reaction to the news, with almost a needed logical scientific mind, the boy didn't notice his fellow brunette coming jogging up. Seeing her only at the last minute, to watch as her eyes noticed his own nerves display themselves on the ground in physical form.

...Maybe he still is just embarrassing me, the stages of grief, for somebody he didn't even know, piling into one another, denial came up fast, all this part of his elaborate hoaxes to prove how naive I am… maybe Vivian's even in on it

"G-Gareth…. Do you want to talk about it?", the rabbit-eared girl's voice broke him out of such a conspiracy theory tracked mind immediately… only allowing his shock to remain,

"...you mean my throw up", his response was stupid. However, he simply didn't have the mental capacity at the moment to berate himself for his idiotic chose in stating the obvious.

"… I can… see that", wisely avoiding the polluted pond spreading across the floor, the faunus grasped Gareth's shoulder, and herded him into his room.

...If we were in school, Lance would probably say something about how a pretty girl shouldn't touch a rabid animal, once again, his mind was playing through far off and now impossible scenarios. One where he imagined the blue eyed and blonde mountain of a high school senior through a far more personal lens then he actually held. Regardless, by the time he came out of this thought, Velvet had him sitting on the bed Arthur had bought for somebody else.

"...my stomachs a bit light too", in his almost brain-dead state, Gareth watched as she received her hand then started to twiddle her fingers next to him. His eyes almost stabled open, the now out of place earthling stared off into the void of the wall...waiting far longer than he should have for velvet to hiccup, until he realized that was something only Penny did when dancing around the truth,

"...I-I didn't want him to die", his mental words escaped his mouth and into reality. Falling over one another, as they fought their way past his shivering tongue, "I-I just...h-he was an asshole...a-and so was his dad, but I swear to God I never wanted anything like this to happen to them"

In truth Gareth felt bad about his own statement. After the incident, he never really wanted to think of the senior Ascalon again. And at the moment he felt bad about that, terrible that he didn't go through all the situation they should never be presented with,

"...W-we didn't do this Gareth", her response came out delayed, but unlike last time, velvet was building her own advice, "and the world...or God knows that"

"I-I'm not that religious'', for whatever reason, the boy was just saying the first thing that popped into his mind… and at this point, the words weren't even given enough time to be created by his neurons before being voiced, "If I was… I-I'd probably being saying something about how I-I don't think they should be going to hell...n-not that I think they should, o-or maybe I'm concern they would...do you even know what hell is?''

In his ramble the faunus watched as he got up. Moving over towards the guest room bathroom he cupped some water in his hand then threw it at his face. Fresh water over taking salt, he realized the tears he had started had left just as soon as they arrived… and now he felt bad that he hadn't cried enough.

Not even carrying what order his body and mind went through, the emerald eyed young man found his sense of taste returning. Feeling the acidic sting on his tastebud of his body's acid, he reached for a synthetic form. Drowning out his mouth in mint scented alcohol before spitting it into the drain,

... that was rude… I shouldn't be rinsing with mouthwash wash in front of peopl-, his now desperate attempts at mundane thought was interrupt by Velvet answering his self-directed question,

"...it's one area of the afterlife for three of Earth's major religions… made to house… less than reputable people", seeing her twiddle thumbs stop, she looked up with true...remorse for the situation as a whole, "Penny told me about it...since it appears in the English language so much"

Her words were quiet, but deep-down Gareth was glad to hear them. Even if he didn't know what they meant, or what direction they were trying to take him in. He was just glad she was talking to him, even if he didn't know how to stop,

"...What I'm trying to say is...you remember what I told you about faunus". Heading back towards the bed, the brunette sat down next to his gender swapped counterpart. Not even sure why he was moving, or why he had the sudden urge to remain stationery here,

"That they are a different species than humans… like an actual sister branch on the evolutionary tree", despite downcast eyes, the rabbit eared girl gave a soft smile at this. Which perplex the emerald eyed knight since he was once again answering a rhetorical question with his stupid logic, "...and that a lot of people on your planet don't see it that way...and...t-that I all of a sudden knew why you were so confused by human discrimination on Earth"

"Yeah", the sadness she displayed in tone and posture almost seemed reminisce, "...and back at school, the one I was at on Remnant, there was a first year student who constantly reminded me of that… forcing me to be subject to that racism"

Gareth went into silence, realizing that he had always hidden from his more vocal and violent peers. Never even understanding his own privilege of never being single out for a physical feature or trait until now,

"He'd belittle me in class...called faunus animals", her eyes lifted at this, and she gave off a giggle at this. One that she directed towards Gareth even if it was fueled by a sorrowful want for recent nostalgia, "although as you said, humans are technically animals too, so that's a weird way to insult people"

She was quoting him, and the youngest Cadarn regretted the words he said weeks ago again. His face tinted as he still felt like he was getting off the hook by trying to lessen the impact of a deeply racist and hateful slur by making fun of it,

"... but then he started pulling at the traits that apparently made me an animal", her smile flattered with her laughter. A clearly unwanted, but at the moment needed, memory entering her mind, "...and nobody did anything to stop him… a few students gave him a glare, and ironically Summer's daughter Yang actually tried to get up"

How this woman's family kept tangling itself into Gareth's, and evidently other people's life was beyond him. But given the sudden closing of Velvet's mouth, this girl wasn't going to be the hero of the rabbit eared one's story,

"But...her sister got her to sit down quite easily…", she sighed at this, but one that wasn't meant to direct distaste for the person act of being a bystander… not that Gareth was in a position to call out anybody for that, "and that's how it was… people would talk about faunus rights, say they weren't racist, and when the time came to prove it they'd either only having pretty words, or deem the situation not worth the risk of getting involved"

"...t-that explains a lot about the first situation with Lance", gears clicking into place, Gareth was only just beginning to understand how much courage it took for Velvet to involve herself in that situation.

"Almost", she said with the edges of her lips once turning northward, "But… even if I didn't get involved your teachers would have. Back at Beacon, the advisor on the scene just watched. She didn't have a smile, or frown, just locked her eyes onto the hands assaulting me and didn't move"

"...I'm sorr-", the wild haired brunette cut himself off rather than allow Velvet to do it for him. If he was at that scene… he wouldn't have been brave like she was, he'd just be another viewer in the crowd. Although, having gotten to know her, he wasn't sure what he'd do.

"It's fine… i-it's not your world after all", she let the silene hang in the air before answering, "But I… after that moment, I just kept wishing somebody would show him what for"

She leaned back on the bed, clearly skipping over the part where she knew she could've been that person,

"I-I didn't want to tell my team… they'd...w-well half the cafeteria would have gotten the same punishment as him for not doing anything to stop it if Coco and Fox's had anything to say about it", the young woman ran a hand through her hair. Having it weave through the dive that was her extra set of ears, "But it turns out a didn't even have the time to really consider why that was such a bad idea...because during combat class, another first year kicked his and his entire team up and down the arena"

She didn't smile, nor did she frown in a subconscious symbolic moment, as she thought about the image of that moment. In many ways, from Gareth's point of view, she was actually putting more thought into making sure she translated the final English expression correctly.

"... but when I saw it… I wasn't as happy as I thought I'd be", she lean back up and brought her knees in to hug, "and I wasn't happy because I knew that if their opponent had been a Grimm… they would have all died"

"... I mean… he assaulted you Velvet, t-that type of guy", not wanting to be a hypocrite, but now seeing that was his crushes entire point, the boy couldn't complete his sentence on things coming full circle. Instead his face just went red,

"I know… and he… he needs to know why that type of behavior is wrong", she looked over to emerald irises, and Gareth all of a sudden knew what she was about to say, "b-but...I can't think of any fate worse than dying, and not coming to terms with your own faults"

She reached out and arm...and then hesitantly she brought up another to and wrapped them around Gareth's back,

"I'm sorry that Lance d-died… he should have faced repercussion for what he did… but he at least deserve the chance to come to terms with himself and given the chance to be a better person", wrapping his hands around her in return, Gareth remained silent for a moment, "... but we can make sure a situation like this doesn't happen again… Summer and I are going to stop them"

"I want to come", surprising himself at that moment, the emerald eyed boy was filled with fear, and worse yet misplaced determination, "I-I… I would rather beg you to stay here… be able to know your safe, like I can make sure Penny is… b-but I don't want to ignore my own faults...I-I don't want to be a coward anymore"

His grip growing lacks, and Velvet's pushed them a part slighting in order to make eye contact. Chocolate irises making way for dilated pupil, the rabbit ear girl seemed truly shocked, and her cheeks even dusted over with a pink outer layer,

"I-I… Gareth there's a difference between being a coward and suicidal", she was stuttering, and her mind seem to be going a million miles per hours, "B-besides...Summer doesn't want you there...and I don't want you to get hurt"

His fear only caused his eyes to steel over with stupidly misplaced faith in his abilities he already doubted. The word 'hurt' was a sugar-coated version of 'kill' after all.

"So, you'd have to go instead... Velvet... I just... With all you've done for me, I-I want to be there with you. To do everything I can to make sure you walk away unscathed and can get home", his face was, going atomic it was begun to blend into velvet's new hue,

"...why?", she whispered out the word that held a novel, and all of sudden Gareth realized where his determination was leading him. Wanting to look at either the bedsheets, or the ceiling, his body was unknowingly trapped in the space between… which was an open-air tunnel that led to a chocolate pair of eyes.

"B-because I don't want to be a bystander anymore… a-and because", he took a deep breath. Of course, he didn't know why, the words he knew were coming would be morphed. Abled to be interpreted a multitude of different ways just in, the one hundred percent certain case, things didn't go his way, "My life… I-I mean we've only known each other like two much… b-but I can't imagine it without you or Penny… I care about you-"

He was considering adding the word guys, which would have been an extended truth, but the chocolate eared brunette decided to take part in forming his sentence,

"You can't come Gareth… it'll be safer for everybody if you're here", her words were quiet, and they came out from a hair line that now covered her eyes. Despite that, the vocal waves were clear. Sounding almost as if she was psyching herself up to do something, "But I'm really happy you said that… a-and I'm also really glad you used mouthwash"

As her words finally faltered, so did Gareth's drive. As one eyebrow cocked in confusion about what she meant about that last time. But before he could ruin the moment, he didn't know he set up but saying something gross and stupid, he felt a force fly into him.

Pinewood brown hair strands surrounding his peripheral vision. Gareth was briefly encased in a tunnel of brown hair that wasn't his own. The force knocking him downward into his own bed, he didn't even have time to let air escape his own lips with a yelp. For before he could open them, a soft and intoxicating adhesive ceiled them shut.

Eyes going wide, before joining the ones across them in a closed state, Gareth felt a pair of hands wrapped around his neck. All his emotions shorted out, as his own appendages let instincts take over and wrapped them around Velvet's back. And in that moment just decided to see where else an absent mind could take him.

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With the satellite imagining having come to a complete and utter stop, Summer could finally see the time. Flashing a fourteen followed to number close enough to a twin pair of zeroes the now dried throat woman could hardly believe it was only two o'clock in the afternoon… gods know it felt more like it's morning counterpart,

"I have collected enough data and analyzed their strike patterns. Based on movement as well as town density, the list of their most likely targets are being presented now", the artificial being spoke with the same speed she had put their processor through. How the entire house didn't give up or break down and lose power was beyond her. Penny had proven herself to be a dutiful worker but, being in an apparent rush, she surpassed even her Atlas need for peak efficiency.

"Thank you", the true reason for Summer's exhaustion spoke up. His tone was far from polite, but with his eyes trained on the back of his wife hood, the receiver of the attempted glare hoped the mechanical girl knew all the passive aggressiveness Arthur held was for her. Although, in the highly unlikely chance she took a break from gathering information, the pastel huntress would fully know why, "We'll begin packing immediately"

"Tell me, do you know the definition of 'end'", feeling like she was lecturing her team after their first missions incident all over again, the silver eyed woman was surprised she hadn't pinched her nose right off, "Or are you just confused about it usage with the word 'discussion'"

"I taught you the language, and because of that I understand the conversations over", he crossed his arms, "Because I'm going"

"... would it be acceptable if I leave the premise? I believe my assistance may be needed in helping Gareth recover", taking the time to strike, the pastel Polendina found her opening to politely ask to remove herself from the premise...and through her so did Summer.

"That's a good idea Penny", Summer said ignoring the offer at this point as she already brought her foot down on the subject, "I'll come with you, I need to start preparing Velvet for our departure anyway. Arthur go inform Nimue to get the plane ready"

"Already have the flight planned out, and their doing the pre check as we speak", a testament to her ability, as well as her need to watch social drama unfold instead of taking part in it, the agent confirmed she had been analyzing their conversation the entire time.

"And before you say anything", Summer turned just as she was about to exit the facility, "Nimue is only coming as transportation, and will not be leaving the plane"

Already having his mouth open, the eldest Aelle found his argument dragged out of him before he could deliver it himself. Closing his agape list like a fish out of water, Nimue decided to voice the actual question that should be asked in that situation,

"Do you plan on walking to the towns", her emotionless voice didn't allow for sarcasm, but the agent's words did express a form of rare confusion on her end.

"No, I plan to crash into one, and then, if needed… run to the others ", turning into the hall, Summer didn't hear the door slide down behind her. Instead there was a delay as her husband, after a momentary bout of silent, ran after her, "Since Nimue already behaving like a levelheaded professional, why don't you go tell Amr and Laura that I'm leaving for a bit"

"These people are dangerous Summers… you know I'm just not going to le-", she turned around, and her eyes somehow became even more metallic, as her thin lips spoke even more words then the ones waiting to come out,

"I know, far more than you, how dangerous this is", she brought up a finger and poked at his chest. Losing balance even at such a small display of aura and muscle infusion, the soon to be halberd wielding woman turned an accident into a literal point, "And Amr's not going to risk losing two parents because your precious armor got rip to shreds two seconds upon landing… and I lost my cool because of it"

The king, who was once again succumbing to Sir Mom's logic, was at a loss for words. Still following her though, he didn't heed them,

"...So, I just stay here… and watch as you go into the lion's den without knowing how many cats are in the cave", she rolled her eyes. Partly because his analogy was so terrible, and also because she was somewhat hurt, he didn't have faith in her.

"He got the jump on me last time… but Velvet's helped me shake off the rust", she countered and now picked up her pace, only for Arthur to increase his own.

"Who also gets to go… because a teenager should have to put her life on the line before I do", he didn't have time to cross his arms in protest. For they were far too busy pendulating alongside his torse to keep up with the freight train driven mother.

"By both Vale and the United States definition, she more than qualifies as an adult", staring ahead the winter cloak woman, was far too focused on her task to warrant this distraction anymore sensory dedication, "Besides, she's a second year student at Beacon. It's great that here on Earth kids get to actually get a time to enjoy their stupidity, but back on Remnant our children mature quite fast"

Obviously not seeing it, which was good for the wall's integrity, Simmer could only feel her husband's eyes mirror her own movement form earlier. Finally reaching the door, she input a code… not even realizing the last step she took towards the lock was not on wood.

"She's a better fighter than you. She has better instincts than you. And above all she doesn't get distracted by the same mundane and self-obsessed thing you privilege non Grimm fearing Earthlings do", the door was slowly coming up, and as Summer wielded herself to look anywhere but the blue ocean behind her...she saw her boots held a new greenish coat.

Eye twitching, and with a sigh, she just looked up from the sight as if it proved her point. The door creaking over, the inter planetary husband decided to motion into the room with her arms instead,

"The fact she's kept a level enough head to talk to Gareth about what he just saw proves my point", finally caning in, she shot Arthur a glare, only to see his eyes go from childlike impatience… to pure embarrassment, "Isn't that right Vel-"

Doing the same emotional one eighty her husband just experienced, Summer witnessed her entire argument come apart. Her twin moons being eclipsed in one long blink, she had to restart her visionary sense to make sure what she saw before her was accurate.

When light reentered her retina, she was surprised to see the painting hadn't changed. Brunette hair mixed together, and rabbit ears horizontal instead of vertical, Velvet was very much lying atop Gareth… and her ears only just having picked up more people entered the room, the mother was able to deduce that for a fraction of a second, there was no space between their lips.

Nearly jumping through the ceiling, the chocolate theme faunus was quick to go red in the face. Staring wide eyed at both Summer and Arthur, as if the spotlight just shined on her as classically dressed robber with a money bag...oddly enough however her stare soon turned into one of shame. As her pupils darted all of the room, only to be frozen in place when she found the corner.

Not even able to wonder why she was looking into that area, the house lights flickered, and far in the distance, Amr's yelp at the brief loss of light echoed across the halls. However, such an action directed his emerald eyed brother to the reason why his… well what he called Velvet now was completely up in the air from Summer's point of view.

His own eyes blinking multiple times when he finally found the source of her distress in his estranged father… and unwanted spirit, he also jumped up from the bed. The moment he lost contact with his longer haired brunette's arm; her face seemed to rejoin time. Her eyes now following Gareth's onto the still frozen onlookers.

Seconds turning to minutes, and those skipping hours and days to just achieve the relative status of years, everybody stood or sat in silence. All faces now shifting between pink, red, and pale, and the only sound of motion came from the encroaching set of footsteps,

"...I...uh… I think I'll inform Amr and Laura about-", wanting to leave, and not be on his son's bad side for entirely different reasons, the wayward father began shuffling his feet. Summer's own return to reality was triggered by this, as her eyes pleaded with him a look of betrayal… and desperation that she didn't want to deal with the aftermath alone,

"Mom, mom!", running up Summer' silver eyed son, darted through the halls and pulled at her legs. Revealing herself a few seconds later, Laura also was about to join this moment of awkwardness as well. A look of perplexity on her face as to why the power flickered, "The house hiccupped, the lights went out, then BOOM everything came back to life"

He moved his hands outwards as if the electric literally explodes,

"...But don't worry… I was brave about it", the sound from earlier proved differently, but walking up, still obvious to the sight before her, Laura offered her support of the lie.

"Very brave, protected me throughout the ordeal…", she smiles, only to frown when seeing the throw up on the ground, "...is somebody sick, did Gareth do thi-"

Finally looking up, I saw the sight of two teenagers who did not want to be the center of attention. Eyebrows raised confused, the questions the eldest Cadarn were asking to herself were never voiced to others. Having more than enough mental capacity to figure out what was going on.

With that her lips traveled upwards once again, and new smugness enter the hall and room, only to increase the embarrassment in one to an overflowing degree.

"...", being the only one not picking up on the atmosphere, Amr looked between Gareth, his parents, and Laura. Before bringing up a pointe finger, and acting upon its namesake by directing it towards Velvet, "are they still sleeping together?"

"... maybe when they're married", the words came out of Laura's mouth like an atomic bomb. The shock wave caused both brunettes to go into a change reaction melt down. Speech finally returning to them, both teenagers began sputtering out nonsense.

None of their words were tangible, and besides thinking about how Nimue now had more black mail on people she didn't even go out of her way to annoy, the cloak woman brought a hand to the bridge between her eyes. And this time, with all the stress and anxiety, she tried to pinch her oral factory center off.

"At least now I don't have to worry about him dating Ruby", with all the noise entering the room, Summer turned around to mumble. As she walked off she didn't even think anybody would pick up on it...but forcing her to be dragged back to the situation… somebody most definitely did.

"I believe Ruby and Gareth would make a superior couple", eyes going wide for the wrong reason, Summer was wondering if she should alter her cloak to create a location she could scream into, "After all, she has proven herself a far more open and honest friend then Velvet"

And with those words, making all the affair that could quite possibly happen tonight seem impossible to happen, the hallway erupted with emotions. Some of them positive, some negative, all of which are anxious for a multitude of different reasons.

People were defending themselves, others were asking leading questions, the house itself was apparently shaking with unkempt rage. The cloaked woman however, well unclipping her namesake, decided to act upon her thought from two seconds earlier. Mashing the fabric together, and treating it without the respect it deserved, she turned the object into a pillow.

Forcing her face into its depth, saddened that she couldn't go deeper, the now closed off silver eyed warrior took in a deep breath. Then when there was a pause in the chaos, she added in her own distress. Letting loose a long, soccer winning goal length muffled scream.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In retrospect… Penny may have overreacted. Or, well, scratch that she knew she was overreacting when she first said the words. But in her defense, she was feeling a lot of similar, but all things considered, very new emotions. For starters, she had been paralyzed when she first traversed the house and came upon how Velvet had chosen to 'comfort' Gareth.

...This then may have resulted in watching the exchange of two teenagers uninterrupted for one full minute. Only for her to be brought out of it when more came for the show. When Arthur and Summer came in, she briefly felt her soul become overloaded. Resulting in her… either rebooting the entire house electric grid system, or merely shut it down briefly in an attempt to blink or convince herself for the first time ever she was sleeping and just needed to wake up.

However, as more people started coming in, the reality of the situation became undisputed. Knowing the rabbit faunus could see her, Penny must have looked displeased. For the chocolate irises of her fellow Remnant native had been filled with… not regret but perhaps knowing betrayal.

At the moment the electronic huntress was glad the brunette was feeling such a thing. But then she was just mad at herself for briefly letting the negative emotions take hold… but then jealousy told her not to care. And as Summer Rose spoke of Ruby for some perplexing reason, the green themed girl listens to the siren calls of the synthetic form of the emotion she truly disdains the most.

… As such she had said something quite...idiotic. She wasn't one to use such vulgar words, however junior in hostility they may be. That being said, it was inaccurate, after all Gareth constantly got Ruby's name wrong, why would she even consider a romantic relationship between the two. Annoying though, now she could only think how she still preferred it over the emerald eye boy getting with Velvet. Although, what grinded her nonexistent gears even more was how much of her time these thoughts had taken.

After the reveal of the blooming couple, everything kept moving far too fast for even the electronic soul. Soon enough she was observing everybody having an early dinner, with small talk mostly consisting of Laura teasing her son and Velvet about what they were doing. This then led to Penny only wondering why the mother never asked her what she and Gareth did alone.

Following that awkward meal, Amr painted the table sugar as he presented the dessert. Not having grown overly fond of Gareth or the distance he emitted, the youngest child was just going off his pseudo aunt's energy. Asking his parents what teenagers they did alone, or why were so silent.

Unfortunately for the silver eyed planetary hybrid… the answer to the second was revealed after their in between dinner and lunch. As he soon had to hold back tears at being informed that his mom was going out for a mission again. Now believing monsters to be quite possibly real, and everybody but him knowing they were, he didn't want his mom to go. Clenching to her for a good thirty minutes, he still had his arms outstretched when she left with Velvet… not even able to take solace in the fact that his dad agreed with his sentiment wholeheartedly.

Of course, all of Penny's attention was mostly directed at the second farewell. One that could have been wholesome, if it wasn't for Laura's insistence to make the scene cinematic. Obviously, Gareth was concerned Velvet was going on the mission. But whatever soft display of affection he would have shown was murdered. When his mother kept pushing him further, which resulted in the most awkward hug ever by the two teens.

...and then everybody was off… which meant Penny was as well. Currently speeding in the modified governmental vehicle towards the airbase. Velvet was looking out the window in the back seat, as was Summer in the front. Only the agent, known to Penny as Dumond, had a legitimate reason to stare out the window shield, but then again, she wasn't enjoying all the awkwardness.

The pastel huntress herself was gazing around, doing her best not to make eye contact, or rather camera contact, with the rabbit eared faunus. Every time she did, all she could think about was why she didn't tell her she held a romantic interest in Gareth. Or why she didn't ask for Penny's approve, Of course the mechanical Atlesian's logic would counter herself listing off how she had avoided talking to the brunette about her feelings despite the others advice to be more open. She also only just came to terms with her own budding feelings and had no say over Gareth's choice in partners.

"... okay", the silver eyed woman, with a sigh, was the first to break the silence. Curiosity though, her pupils turned their attention to the driver first, "Before we talk about anything, if you say one quick quip throughout this entire exchange, I'm telling your dad you're still going out of your way to be rude to George"

"I am not!", for the first time perhaps ever, the agent's voice contained emotions. It was shock, and more so than anything else it was the startled noise produced by the sound of somebody being defeated with a preemptive strike… which did not belong on the face of somebody like the pixie cut agent,

"Yes you are, so I don't want to hear anything more from you until we get to the plane", not playing around the cloak reaper then spun her attention towards the back, and instantly Penny felt as if she was sitting next to Velvet, "Now for you two… assuming both of you are actually here"

"... I am", being caught off guard with her best friend's mothers commanding tone, the incorporeal pastel huntress hesitation was produced from the same caught off guard feeling the now closed mouth blonde woman just felt a moment ago.

"Good because… listen, I haven't been on a true 'Team' in a while", she said with a sigh, but her eyes not following in her breaths tiredness, "but if I learned anything, and I mean anything, about being on one, is that secrets revolving around romantic relationships murder any dynamic that group has"

Without the emerald eyed boy semblance, who was no doubt going through his own ordeal back at the Aelle estate, Penny didn't have a body. However, seeing the chocolate iris woman next to her close her mouth, she had a pretty good idea how it be reacting to these words of wisdom,

"Which means the mission is murdered, and as you both know we can't have that, under any circumstances, occur", the position her body was in to stare daggers at both Penny and Velvet must have been uncomfortable. However, Summer didn't infinite she'd be moving an inch until the problem she wanted to know about were resolved, "So what is going between you two and Gareth… and for that matter Ruby too"

Betraying her own demandingness, the silver eyed woman brought her own personal stake into the question. But given the quick responses it didn't matter,

"Despite knowing my jealousy of her stemmed from Gareth, Velvet pursued a relationship without my knowledge", having just argued with herself over why she shouldn't voice this opinion, Penny knew she wasn't giving her words enough thoughts. Especially since the receiver of them looked to be taken aback by them.

"T-that's… you were being so distant, even after I said we could talk again...I-I", from the sound of it, the girl had been preparing an apology to her electronic friend… but now she wasn't so sure it would end up being voiced.

"Given the importance of our shared corporation, I deduced you'd have the morale guidance needed to inform me"

"...O-okay… i-it was the spur of the moment thing...I was meaning to talk to you about it… b-but the moment happened before I could'', her eyes trailed down, but then back up, "y-you always bragged about your nighttime talks though...so I thought y-you got over your crush on him and were just friends"

"... I do not harbor feelings for Gareth hiccup", she didn't know why she tried to lie there, and immediately was glad she didn't possess the physical, or biological components to blush… or else the car would have caught fire.

"Y-you definitely do, you were and, apparently, are almost as obsessed with him as Ruby", the girl said with a quiet voice, "h-he told me about how you went on and on about her during a talk...h-he joke and even said that he felt like a third wheel to you and the girl"

"That is not true, I wished to portray couple activities with both…", revealing a truth to herself, Penny immediately felt the urge to shut down, especially as Summer's eyes went from stone cold to panic.

"I-I'm putting my foot down on that one...I mean", the woman seemed to have tongue tie despite coming into this ready to bring down the law, "Okay listen...I-I can't control who you guys date...or who you like...b-but nobody allowed to have a crush on Ruby"

Velvet looked towards the empty space that she must of imagined Penny was in… for she blinked in an almost momentarily truce born of confusion.

"...why?", the shattered moons, blazed over red for a moment, as Velvet quickly brought down the hand that voiced that question.

"Because she's my daughter, and Yang and her shouldn't be dating until their thirty-five anyway", the mother gave out a huff, and the agent next to her grip on the wheel tightened, not being able to enjoy the exchange as much as she could.

"...are you even thirty-five?", although the words came from the faunus mouth, the now deathly silent agent seemed to be fighting back against the locks that were placed on her lips.

"Flattery won't get you anywhere", the woman said, but clearly did take the compliment due to its unintended genuineness.

"Records indicate she is thirty-six, and that Yang has not been notified to this rule", that was quickly revoked by Penny's logical honestly.

"...insults won't help you though… wait what do you mean-", she now seemed shocked, and almost scared to find out the answer to that, and decided she was better off in her own ignorance, "You know what… don't tell me, I'll let it be a surprise. One that I can yell at Tai about…for apparently allowing my sweet little girl being stolen from me by some guy who's probably a lowlife"

"I was not trying to be impolite, merely voicing a fact. In addition, Ruby stated Yang went on nighttime visitation with other girls from beacon, so your conclusion of them being a 'lowlife' seems premature", in all truthfulness, the electronic soul was confused by the woman's aggressiveness because she didn't mean any ill intent by her statement,

"Wait...what?", clearly now wanting to know, Summer's face went red as she looked embarrassed, "I mean about the nighttime part… I'm happy she's dating girls instead of guys"

"... why would that matter? '' Velvet said truly perplexed, as was the electronic being until she remembered this planet's strange obsession with people mistreating those not in the majority.

"It doesn't… gods I've been on Earth way to long", the cloak woman said with the exhaustion of somebody who didn't want to be on either celestial body, "Just… let's stop talking about my little angels being targeted by greedy demons"

"That… is a consistent pattern, for neither you, Arthur, or Laura ever supported my relationship goals"

To that, Velvet actually did seem to experience guilt. Even Summer falters, before turning around and leaning back in her chair,

"Okay...here the things, Arthur is a moron when it comes to this stuff… and so am I honestly", she brought up a hand that quickly got concerned by her cowl, "But…when we all get back you're going to bring this up to Gareth, and you'll work it out with him… in the meantime we're all going to focus on the mission, or else there might not be a person or friend to be mad with"

Going silent once more, both girls nodded… or at least one did, and the pastel huntress merely knew she would if it was possible.

"Alright now tell that to each other you'll promise to work it out… do it before you make the mistake of just sweeping it under the rug until one of you turns into a bird and leaves", the last part, despite its length, was whispered and meant only for the user's ears.

Given the amount of tension and silent that followed the words though, it could be dwelled on by most for some time. Although, with how deep in thought Velvet, and evidently Penny was do to her own lack of speech, only one-person could make use of that information in the future… and Unfournanlty for the winter cloaked reaper, that person was Nimue.

"... I-I'm sorry I let our old problem linger… a-and that I let it convince me to a-avoid reaching out to you Penny", the rabbit eared girl was the first to break the silence again, "Y-you shouldn't have had to see me do that out of the blue…. A-and we can all talk when we get back"

"...I regret my word choice as well as Velvet… I am still coming to terms with many aspects of myself", the girl felt… well relieved but still jealous. However, she was at least somewhat at peace with the situation… even if it came from Gareth maybe viewing her in a different light if she just out said how she felt later, "And I will make sure we all get back to the Aelle state in perfect health and condition to have the conversation"

"There see", Summer leaned back, and let out an almost therapeutic sigh. One that was putting any thoughts of a quarrel right back where they came… as well as finding a comfortable spot to leave her far more peaceful personality, "Everybody's friends again… with any luck this will be the most turbulent part of our night"