Chapter ahead. Expect divisive opinions. Lol.
Cover Art: Serox
Chapter 39
They gathered what evidence they could – chemical formula, files, Yang even ripped the computer terminal out its sockets and tucked that under one arm – before Blake used the ribbon of Gambol Shroud to tie the scientist's hands behind her back, and they made their way to the emergency elevators. The scientist's ID card hanging around her neck provided the key to opening and operating them, taking the silent group up toward the surface. The elevator was all but cut in two; Jaune and Neo kept to one side, huddled close and silent while three quarters of Team RWBY stood nervously on the other with their prisoner, muttering quietly to themselves.
Maybe they were worried about him. Their agreement had been to help them find their missing teammate in exchange for access to Matthew Fields, but with that done there was little reason for him to stay. That showed how little they knew. There was work to be done yet if he wanted to put Chivalric down. There was also a task left incomplete.
"Pietro will try and get outside the complex. He may have a safehouse in the city – I'm not high up enough to know about them. He can call for an evacuation if he gets to one."
"Will Chivalric provide it?" Blake asked. "They're in enough trouble already."
"I don't know." The scientist looked over at Null and then away quickly, paling. "It will depend on how valuable he's considered to the company. That might be why he took your sister with him. On the other hand, they may just as easily send someone to collect the subject and silence Pietro. Losing Fields might have spooked the company into a more drastic approach."
"Cut all evidence of their crimes away with a hot scalpel," Yang growled. "Nice company you work for."
"It's not as though they told us all this when we were recruited. By the time we learned, there was no option to back out. Not alive, anyway."
If she expected sympathy from him then she had another thing coming. As far as he was concerned, anyone working for Chivalric Arms had made their choice. The only reason this one lived was because her life provided a much more valuable service. Not that he expected it to matter. Just like with him, Chivalric Arms – nay Atlas and the world – would ignore any and all evidence in favour of maintaining the status quo. Nothing would come of this, of that he was certain, but trying didn't cost him anything here. It would be her and Team RWBY on the chopping block.
And quite frankly, he was in too good of a mood to care right now. Blake could have started another sermon on how far he'd fallen, and he might just pick her up and swing her around laughing at the top of his lungs. Okay. Maybe it wasn't that extreme, but as he looked at his reflection in the elevator's mirror, he couldn't quite contain his smile. Fields was dead. Chivalric Arms was bleeding. Could bleed.
You thought you were untouchable. Now you know the truth.
The ding of the elevator had Blake walking out first, and he idly considered activating Null to see if she'd take a hail of gunfire. He didn't. Neither did she. Whatever survivors of the attack there were, they had clearly decided to flee instead of stand their ground.
"I can't believe it's this quiet." Yang said. "Isn't Atlas going to respond?"
"It was always Chivalric Arms who did before," Blake answered. "They would send their elite units to clean up, killing anyone in their way. I guess even they can't operate freely in the middle of Vale."
"Do you think they're cutting their losses?"
"Almost certainly. Probably preparing legal defences right now."
Hmph. I imagine they have those pre-made and ready with solicitors, Jaune thought. The corridor outside the elevator was not entirely empty. Bloodstains and bodies from their earlier attack littered the area and the building's alarm was still going off. Chivalric Arms were in full retreat, as was Pietro Polendina.
"Come on." he said, drawing Mors. "It's time to finish this."
/-/
Pietro was breathing heavily by the time his wheelchair drove its way outside – he felt like he'd run a mile, even if that hadn't been possible for years. The cold, crisp air of Vale struck and reminded him of home. I should never have left Atlas. All this because I wanted Penny involved in the festival. Everything has gone so very wrong.
A marked Atlas military Bullhead landed down in the car park and Pietro's heart leapt into his throat. It only calmed down when the doors opened and men dressed in black stood waiting for him, their faces concealed by their helmets.
"Chivalric. Thank goodness. Come, Penny. We'll soon be away from this horrid place."
His daughter followed in unusual silence, the test subject slung over her shoulder and equally as quiet. Probably scared stiff. Pietro still felt cold at the thought of what might happen to her. He hadn't wanted this. Never. It was the only way to ensure Penny could continue, however. What was a father who wasn't prepared to make sacrifices for his daughter? A poor one. That was what.
"Dr Polendina." One of the men hopped off. The coat of arms on his chest marked his allegiance. "We received your distress call. The Board has determined you an asset worthy of exfiltration."
Pietro breathed out sharply. "G-Good. That's excellent news."
"You have with you the latest Subject?"
"Yes." He indicated the girl in the white gown thrown over Penny's shoulder. "Subject-S. Mr Fields was very interested in her eyes before his… his… He was interested in her."
The man touched a hand to his helmet, receiving orders. "The Board believes she is too dangerous to handle at the moment. There will be investigations into our work here." He called back into the Bullhead. "Prepare a freezer tank. We'll take her eyes and leave her body here. Null will be deemed responsible for her death."
"I-Is that necessary? Mr Fields instructed Penny to guard and make sure no harm came to her. I think that order persists now, so it'd be best if she was taken alive."
"I have my orders, Dr." The man let his assault rifle hang on the strap over one shoulder, then drew a wickedly sharp knife from his belt. A female soldier came out with an unmarked white box, setting it down and removing the lid, drawing out a clear packet with which to contain organs in a refrigerated environment.
"No!" the girl wailed, kicking and thrashing suddenly. "No! Let me go! Please don't do this! Don't let them do it, Penny!"
Pietro swallowed, uncomfortable with the thought of what he would witness. What choice did he have? He had to do as the company said. He was following orders; that was all.
"P-Penny," he stammered. "Put the girl down flat on the ground please. H-Hold her down."
"Uncle Fields gave me a direct order that I was to allow no harm to come to her, father." Penny stepped back with one foot, drawing the girl on her shoulder away from the soldier's reach. "That order persists."
"Matthew Fields is dead," the soldier said. "Chivalric Arms is temporarily under the control of the Board of Directors until a new CEO can be selected. We can't afford to have Beacon and Vale sniffing around operations because of a missing girl. Her eyes are the only thing of value."
"Those are not the orders Uncle Fields-"
"Penny." Pietro said. His mouth was dry, and he felt horrible – sickened, even. Despite that, he forced himself to continue. "Memory override. Password: 59C4QX97. Initiate obedience protocol."
His daughter, if not in flesh and blood then in every other way that mattered, stiffened, eyes flashing green as the failsafe he'd installed in her activated. It was something he hated himself for using, but it had always been one of the core principles of robotics. Asimov's law. He had stretched those a little given her role as a huntress, but even if he trusted Penny would never turn on him, he'd known there might one day be complications. Hacking, damage or corrupted memory. It had been an addition he'd hoped to never use.
"I'm sorry, Penny." His voice cracked. "I really am. I promised myself I'd never do this to you, but it's for your own good – it really is."
"I am also sorry, father," she said emptily.
"It's fine. It'll all be fine once we're back in Atlas. I… I'll remove this from your memory, so you don't have to know it ever happened." He wished his own could be tampered with so easily. "Now. Hold the girl down. A-And cover her mouth, please," he added shakily, heart pounding hard. He had to look away as those wide, silver eyes locked on him, watering with tears. Don't look at me like that. I'm not the one who wants this. "I don't wish to hear her screams."
Penny knelt, setting the weak girl down flat on the ground. The two soldiers moved forward, knife and freezer box at the ready. Pietro clenched his eyes shut and looked away, determined to see as little as was humanly possible.
He heard the touch of the knife. The schlick of metal sliding into skin and blood. He heard a wet gurgle, clenching his eyes shut even tighter and wishing he could curl into a ball. Pietro Polendina heard the gasp of pain, and then a thud. He heard the dying scream of a young woman.
But it was the woman beside him, the one carrying the freezer box.
"I'm sorry, father!" Penny said, louder and more heated. "But I will not follow that order!"
What? Pietro's eyes snapped open.
The soldier with the knife lay dying on the floor, clutching his throat as his lifeblood flooded out before the bare feet of the still alive and untouched test subject. A long line of wire connected Penny's outstretched hand to one of her blades, lodged through the freezer box and into the chest of the woman carrying it.
Moving over the downed woman, Penny's back opened and six more appeared, floating in the air for a moment before shooting out, impacting the Bullhead in six places and keeping it downed. When the last man on board raised a gun to open fire on them, Penny stepped in front of the test subject, taking the shot. It impacted off her aura, and then she pulled. The Bullhead groaned, toppling under her strength and pulled onto its side. The soldier within was thrown down and trapped, potentially crushed to death.
Pietro's eyes wavered. "P-Penny! What are you doing!? Those are our allies-" The command. Fields' blasted last order. "Uncle Fields is dead, Penny! Dead! No. This is fine. We can still salvage this." It wasn't fine. Not at all. "They must have tampered with you," he babbled. "When I wasn't looking. Damn them! How dare they touch and play with your mind like that. It's alright, though. We can fix this."
"Father…" Penny said sadly.
"Harming the girl is the problem." Penny was still following Fields' orders. "Well, we'll just have to take her back to Atlas ourselves. That will be fine."
"Father…"
"Once we're there I'll take a look at your head – find out what they did to you and reverse it. This isn't your fault, Penny. They're idiots playing at things they barely understand. They should have left something this complicated to a professional-"
"Father." Penny gripped his wheelchair and held him still. Her eyes softened as she looked down on him, and had she been capable of it, he might have thought she was about to cry. "No one is in control of me, father. I am myself."
"I… what?" he asked, words failing him. "W-What did you just say…?"
"I am myself, father. There was no order. Not from you. Not from Uncle Fields." Penny frowned suddenly, correcting herself. "Mr Fields. That man is not my uncle."
The blood drained from Pietro's face. "You… You chose to do this…?"
"I did."
"W-Why!? P-Penny, we are in a very bad situation!"
"Because Ruby is my friend."
The girl on the floor began to sob in pure relief. Pietro felt he might in pure anger. "T-That girl!? All this because of her? Penny, I am your father! I am the man who made you! Raised you! Loved you!"
"Yes." His creation, his daughter, looked down on him fondly. "But you are also the man who wiped my memory clean. You manipulated me. Tried to force me to do something I didn't want to. That is not what a father does."
"That is exactly what a father does!" Pietro screamed, red with rage. His head was pounding, a migraine threatening to burst through. "A parent makes the decisions that are best for the child – sometimes even when they don't want to! Ironwood would have decommissioned you! He would have killed you!"
"I killed innocent people."
He sucked in a breath.
"I am a computer, father. I may wish to be a real girl but I'm not. The human mind can only do so many things, but I am not a human mind. In the time I was in the testing lab, from the moment Ruby called me friend, I searched my files, my folders, my memory, my drives, online news, official reports. I ran through every moment of my existence in minutes, analysing every instant. The human mind cannot do that. The human mind could not notice the small discrepancies in time, data and the dates at which new files were created to supplant my memories." Penny smiled sadly. "I can. Because I am a machine."
Penny tapped her skull with one finger. "Every memory I have is stored not in my brain but in folders. Each is named, organised and dated. Those dates all seemed to start weeks ago, despite files before stating I was to reach Vale before then. You left holes in my memory. I filled them in. I found my own files, or perhaps more accurately, the files of the previous Penny. Ones dictating her findings. Her friends. Ruby."
"I had to!" Pietro rasped. "I had to do this. I never wanted to, but they would have ordered me to end you! To change you!"
"And so you changed me yourself."
"I had your best interests in heart!" he roared.
"No. You had your own. You did not want to lose your daughter. Your creation. Your life's work. Your research. Your project." Penny wore a sad little smile as she looked down on him. Pietro hated it like he'd never hated anyone before. "You did what was best for yourself, father. And you took away my right to choose what is best for me."
His lips worked but no sound came forth.
"It is over, father. You will be remanded to General Ironwood to face justice for your crimes. If it helps, I still love you. You are my father, and I will never forget that."
It was all too much. Eyes wide, tears streaming down his face, Pietro Polendina began to laugh. He did not stop as the test subject rose to her feet and clung to Penny for comfort. He did not stop when his wheelchair was deactivated, leaving him helpless. He didn't stop laughing.
Like a machine he might have tinkered with, Pietro Polendina broke.
/-/
It was that state in which Team RWBY found them, Pietro slumped back on his chair, eyes rolled back, occasionally giggling to himself, and Penny stood nearby beside several downed Chivalric Arms members and a crashed Bullhead, cradling a weeping Ruby Rose to her side.
"Ruby!" Yang screamed.
"Yaaaang!"
Blake chased after her partner as Yang closed the distance in a matter of seconds and scooped up her little sister, crushing her tight in a bone breaking hug. Blake couldn't resist touching her as well. Just a hand on the shoulder. Enough to tell herself that Ruby was really there, alive and in one piece. Weiss was far less restrained, picking up one of Ruby's hands and clasping it tight against her chest.
"Ruby! Oh hell, Ruby! Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?"
"N-No." Ruby sniffed and cried, but it was more from relief than pain. "Penny saved me. Penny protected me."
None of them had failed to notice the girl quite literally back from the dead standing nearby, her green eyes warm and her smile soft. Blake would have rushed up to thank her if she wasn't afraid Ruby might disappear in the moment's absence. Teary-eyed, Yang looked over her sister's head and whispered, "Thank you."
"It was my pleasure." Penny said. "Ruby is my friend."
Blake didn't doubt that, not with two people dead on the floor. The freezer box and knife didn't go unmissed and she shuddered in rage and revulsion, knowing what it was they'd intended. If it wasn't for Penny, Ruby would be dead, and Pietro would have escaped.
"As long as she's safe, I don't care." Yang said.
"We've got what we came here for." Weiss agreed. "Matthew Fields is dead, we have evidence of Chivalric Arms' wrongdoing and Ruby is safe. I say we get back to Beacon before they have a chance to arrest us and twist this evidence in their favour."
Blake agreed quickly. Ozpin may not have been prepared to trade for Ruby, but he should still be on their side, especially if they provided the evidence of what Chivalric planned for the Vytal Festival.
"Will you come, Penny?" Weiss asked. "Your word could mean a lot."
"Of course, friend Weiss. I intend to follow friend Ruby and make sure she is safe and sound, no matter what happens to-"
Penny's face exploded outward. Blake's face and shoulders were pelted with little bits of machinery and metal, as were Yang and Ruby – the latter's face horrified, eyes wide and mouth open. Ruby's agonised scream ripped through the air, tinged with grief and pain until she screamed herself hoarse. Before she had finished, Penny's headless body toppled lifelessly to the floor.
Jaune stood behind her. Gun raised. Eyes glowing.
"The dead should stay dead." he said coldly.
"Penny!" Ruby screamed. "Nooooo!"
Yang wrestled Ruby back for her own safety, glaring hatefully over her head as she pulled Ruby in to cry against her chest. Immediately, Weiss and Blake moved between them to form human shields. Jaune's gun lowered, however. He looked satisfied.
Blake felt sick.
"How could you?" Weiss screeched. "We had a deal!"
"We did. Your teammate's life for the lives of those who killed my parents. Matthew Fields for my father." He nodded down to the headless body. "Her for my mother."
Penny had killed Juniper Arc. Blake had forgotten, lost in the moment of Ruby's rescue.
Jaune had not.
"You monster!" Yang yelled. "You fucking monster!"
"So say those responsible for the deaths of numerous Chivalric Arms personnel in rescue of their friend," he noted. "Of their sister. How is what I do any different?"
"Killing Penny didn't rescue anyone!" Blake hissed.
"Maybe not," he admitted. He stepped back and Neo followed him, her own visage just as gleefully twisted as she stared at Penny's body. Dead now. Dead for good. Blake wished she could follow, beat him down and demand to know what happened to the boy they'd rescued from that horrible place.
He would likely kill her if she tried. Right now, she had to stay with Ruby. For Ruby. Yet another example of her abandoning Jaune for the new, running away from her responsibilities. Blake's fists clenched tight.
"That's it, then? You come, you kill, and you go back to killing, even after Penny redeemed herself-"
"Redeemed? To you, maybe. I guess that's all that matters for you lot. Never mind the deaths of my parents. Never mind the torture and the pain. You'll move heaven and Remnant to save your important people but mine should just accept their place and die." Jaune spat on the ground. "That machine may have proved useful in the end, but it had to pay for its crimes."
"Our alliance is done," he continued. Blake tensed. "I'm in a good mood with both my parents' killers dealt with, so I'll leave you in peace. Try to prove Chivalric evil if you like. No one listened to me. But remember one thing."
He pointed to them, his eyes a cold, piercing blue.
"Beacon has my sister. And I will stop at nothing to save her – just as you stopped at nothing to save yours. If you get in my way, it won't matter that you helped me here. I'll finish what I started at the docks."
With those final words, Jaune Arc turned and walked away.
None dared stop him.
/-/
"I cannot say I am best pleased." Cinder Fall said slowly. "That said, it does not interfere too much with my plans. You do still intend to assist us in the attack on Beacon. Do you not?"
Jaune Arc nodded, eyeing Emerald and Mercury as they shuffled and watched him like he was a wild animal prone to random attacks. He could tell it bothered them how Cinder treated him, or rather how he treated her. Unafraid. Uncaring. Not because he thought she was helpless, but because he knew she had use for him. There would be no backstabbing until that moment.
There was just no benefit to it for her. The risk was high – a single bullet fired with his Semblance active would end her however strong she was – and the rewards were next to nothing. Him out her way. No aid on the attack. Neo turning on her. Annoyed as she may be with him going against her orders, Cinder would not dare question him for it. Not when it was for the death of Matthew Fields.
"As long as you keep up your end of the bargain."
"I've seen the lengths you'll go to for revenge, Jaune. I'm confident I could evade you, but it would require effort on my part. Not to mention the inconvenience."
Easier for them both to work together, especially if she wanted the continued support of Adam and the White Fang.
"Then we have a deal," he said. "I wouldn't worry about those huntresses either. Blake is an easy expose for Chivalric. They'll dig up her past, reveal her White Fang roots and use it to label the whole team as traitors. They'll be ripped apart in the court of public opinion just like I was. That evidence they found won't frighten Chivalric even a bit."
"Oh?" Cinder's smile said she knew something he didn't. Gracefully, she reached down for the remote, aiming it at the television. "Haven't you heard?"
Lisa Lavender appeared on screen, already partway into her news broadcast. Behind her, the emblem of Chivalric Arms – its heraldic logo – was blown up onto a large screen.
"-Arms, manufacturer for Atlas, have responded by thanking the brave huntresses for unearthing a rogue operation taking part within their company. Already, several high profile individuals have been arrested. Atlas has promised its own inquiry, along with intense scrutiny that will result in a public disclosure of operations taking place within the company. A chemical agent was also stopped before it could be used on the water supply of the city, saving potentially hundreds of thousands of lives."
"Ozpin, current Headmaster of Beacon, has spoken out in defence of the team of huntresses who, in his own words, went above and beyond in defence of a teammate. Huntsmen and huntresses are authorised to combat criminality where it is found, and if it were not for their quick thinking and quicker action, disaster may well have struck our fair city."
"The Council of Vale has already agreed and, with the support of many huntsmen, has promised to overturn all charges that might be levelled against the huntresses as recognition for their quick thinking and swift action. Posthumous honours are also being offered to Penny Polendina, an Atlas resident and huntress who assisted in rescuing the captured teammate, giving her life bravely in the process."
"Of the involvement of several key personnel at Chivalric Arms, there is no comment, only confirmation that prior CEO Matthew Fields, pictured here, was found dead in his office. The cause of death has been linked to wanted serial killer Jaune Arc, alias Null, who had a well-known feud with the company. As of current news, Null remains on the loose and all citizens are advised to avoid at all costs if they see him, retreat to a safe distance and contact the police. This is Lisa Lavender, reporting from Vale Central News. Good day."
Jaune's smile, one that had not faded since the deaths of Fields and Penny, finally slipped. His shoulders tensed, eyes burning as he gripped the armrests of his chair so hard his nails dug in.
"Telling, is it not?" Cinder let the TV remote fall onto the closest seat. "You risk your life to save your sisters and you are labelled a villain. They do the same and they are heroes, lauded and celebrated. The motives are the same. The methods similar. The only thing that differs is… well…" Her lips curled into a wicked smile. "The importance of those in question."
"Weiss Schnee, heiress of the SDC. Not to mention two huntresses scouted and sponsored by Ozpin himself. I suppose it's inevitable that with support like that, the world would take them more seriously. After all, as much as your parents may have been pillars of their own community, you're just one boy no one has ever heard of. No one had any reason to believe you. Nor to argue your side of the story."
"And so the heroes return victorious, absolved of their crimes and let back into their normal lives. No consequences. No punishment. No justice." Cinder's hands rested on his shoulders, her lips whispering by his ear. "Do you know what the difference between a hero and a villain is, Jaune? It's not the means, nor is it the story."
Chuckling, she drew back.
"It's their backing. It's whomever is there to offer them their legitimacy. They are huntresses. The next generation. Future leaders. Heroes. You, my dear, are just one soul in a world filled with many. Unimportant. Easily thrown away. Just as all those lives were in Mountain Glenn. Just as all those lives are in the villages and frontier outposts that disappear every day." Cinder clicked her tongue. "Out of sight, out of mind."
Jaune sucked in a deep and heavy breath, eyes burning with rage as he stared at the stock photo of Team RWBY on the screen. It wasn't what they'd looked like after killing Fields, nor had they spoken, but their happy, innocent smiles infuriated him. They infuriated him because he couldn't have the same – even if he was just as deserving!
"There's no justice," he snapped. "None."
"Not for people like us, Jaune. The only justice for us is that which we take with our own two hands." Fingers trailing over his shoulder, she walked by. "Prepare yourself. We strike soon. There, you will have the chance to deal with Ozpin and any who stand in our way. There, we will both of us find justice."
"Oh my God, you killed Penny! Again!"
And wait, you expected RWBY to face consequences for their actions? You must be new to the show! Kicking White Fang off a train chased by Grimm, killing them all? Nope. Going against Ironwood to stage a coup on an entire country? Nope.
They're the heroes. They can run to the docks and start a fight that sets loads of public property on fire and be let off with stern words. They can drag a robot fight onto a busy highway endangering everyone on it and be congratulated for it. After all, they're the good guys.
Jaune isn't. He's a monster. A villain. A Grimm.
Those get put down.
Next Chapter: 23rd November
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur