Ironwood looked at the casualty report in front of him feeling a heavy weight on his heart. Three dead including two huntsmen and all the supplies destroyed beyond salvage. The laser burns and bullet marks found in the wreckage had left him with little doubt as to where the attack had come from.
His initial concerns about the prototype were that it would be sold on the black market to terrorists or some group of shady mercenaries. But it seemed clear to him that Vasily had indeed activated the android himself and had made use of it in this most recent attack. He had not expected an assassin to have the capabilities to activate Penelope himself but he couldn't deny that he was looking at a worse case scenario.
Too many questions were left unanswered. Why the sudden spike in assaassionation attempts? Why was an assassin using his weapon? He would have expected an assassin to try selling it for easy money, surely even someone like Vasily Patterson had to understand that using his prototype would attract the wrong kind of attention.
The General couldn't help but get the cold feeling that Salem's hand was involved with this somehow. They were targeting the supply trucks for Amity Tower as they headed for the launch site. They were impeding his operation and he would have to commit more resources to assure they didn't get easily attacked, two huntsmen would wasn't enough now, they would have to utilize convoys to help secure everything.
Officially the report would say that the supply truck was ambushed by grimm. He couldn't quite admit to the existence of his prototype, Pietro would not be very pleased to learn what he had been doing with Penny's spare parts and he needed to keep the man happy. Unfortunately with an enemy of Atlas running around with a stolen military prototype and using it for wet work meant he needed to take control of this situation before it was exposed or worse. He was sure that the next time a huntsman and huntress ended up dead he wouldn't be able to use grimm to cover up.
His terminal flicked away from the actual report on the truck and it's various losses and to another file specifically on the assassin Vasily. An interesting character to say the least, a self trained huntsmen who managed to pass initiation at Beacon some thirteen years ago. His record as a licensed huntsman was short if impressive, he took contracts to kill rare and exotic grimm and eventually moved on to bounty hunting, now he seemed to accept work against other huntsman, and it seemed he wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
The fox tailed accomplice had yet to be identified but in many ways she worried him more than the assassin. Whoever she was she had been able to get past security right here in the heart of Atlas and helped get an assassin close enough to strike at him. Pluse they had been able to build the equipment necessary to activate the android, for an assassin Vasily had resources and personnel that to him seemed wasted on mere wetwork.
Ironwood massaged his temples as he considered his options. Too many things were happening right now and this was and this wasn't a problem he could ignore or delegate to a subordinate, he needed to handle this personally.
Ironwood picked up his scroll off his desk and pulled up his list of contacts and calling. "Hello sir," the voice greeted him.
"Clover," Ironwood said, cutting past formalities, "assemble the rest of the Ace Operatives… I have a new priority mission for you."
The only thing Jaune could hear was the grind and ring of steel against steel. Floating Array danced in front of him sending a flurry of thrusts and slashes at him and it took every bit of energy and concentration just to keep up and defend himself from the blades.
Penny wasn't even using all of her blades on him only limiting herself to six as she attacked him from multiple angles and directions. Jaune could only parry and block so many before he was forced to withdraw and reorient himself for the next assault.
He rolled across the floor of the training room and raised his shield to stop a thrust and bashed away more of Penny's swords. The blades pulled back and Jaune readied himself for another attack but it never came.
The half dozen swords folded back up into a single blake and folded up and receded into Penny's back. Jaune kept his stance and his blade raised to her, "Why'd you stop?" Jaune asked her, realizing he was panting.
"We are out time," Penny informed him motioning to the rest of the room where Team FNKI and JNPR were finishing up their one on one spars clearly tired.
"Oh," Jaune said lamely, feeling his fatigue fall over him like a wet blanket, "I hadn't noticed," he told his sparring partner. He wasn't expecting Penny to join them for their training session, and he hadn't expected Neon to insist they spend the session sparring one on one with Penny as his partner.
Penny giggled at that, "I guess I had your full attention," she mused aloud.
Jaune chuckled in kind, "Yeah I couldn't well check the time with a half dozen blades attacking me all at once. Thanks for going easy on me, I know you could have kicked my ass twenty times before we were half over."
"The goal was not to win a fight, it is to learn is it not?" Penny asked him rhetorically. "And I certainly noticed your reactions were speeding up, you anticipated my attacks well."
"Thanks," Jaune said, sitting down on the bench to grab his water bottle, "I feel like I sweated a gallon," he said, gulping down half the bottle before pouring a little out on his head. Penny sat down next to him watching as he caught his breath.
"Your stamina is actually quite impressive, I was expecting you to need to rest but you managed quite well," She praised.
Jaune smirked, "It wasn't enough to fight back, all I could do was defend myself, I had no hope of actually attacking you."
"That is better than some could manage, besides it's not like you will have to actually fight me" Penny told him. Jaune nodded to her and took another gulp of his water. It probably was better than some could manage, but he could only think of how that assassin Vasily had managed to hold his own against even more blades and score hits on her with only a rifle and a bayonet. He knew he was still improving but compared to others he still felt leagues behind.
"Well I certainly wouldn't want to fight you for real," Jaune told her with a grin, "I'd be mincemeat in seconds."
Penny returned his smile, "I would go easy on you," she promised him, "I would fight you for a full minute before finishing you off."
Jaune laughed, "How about you just let me take that minute to make peace with the gods and then you can just cut me to ribbons," he suggested to her, "that sounds a lot easier."
Penny laughed at that, "Alright, a minute to pray, then you're mine," she winked at him sealing the deal.
They chuckled together on the bench and Jaune felt his exhaustion from their sparring leave him. He watched Penny she shook with girlish giggles looking quite cute as she did so. She of course wasn't drenched in sweat or flustered like he and everyone else was. She didn't look like she had been sparring with him for the past hour. It was so easy for him to forget that she was a machine that didn't sweat or feel exhausted like a normal person, he didn't see her as an android, just a cute girl.
"What are you two laughing abou?" Nora asked, stepping forward with Ren and Neon as the rest of Team FNKI conversed behind them.
"Penny has graciously agreed to let me have a minute to make peace with my maker before giving me a swift death," Jaune explained to her with a grin on his face, "If I ever needed to fight her for real it just sounds easier than a pointless drawn out death."
Nora nodded, "Sounds like a good deal," she joked with them. "Jaune we're done for the rest of the night right?" she asked him.
Jaune nodded and took another sip out of his water bottle, "Yeah we got no other plans for the night, what's up?"
"How would you like to come to a club with me and my team?" Neon asked him.
"Pass," Jaune answered her immediately.
"Hold on," Neon said holding her hand out, "It's a jazz club not a techno club like last time, Flynt plays there saturdays and I'm sure it's more your speed Jaune, no strobing light, no gyrating crowds and no ear bursting music. Just smooth jazz and dancing that I think will agree with you."
"Please fearless leader!" Nora begged him, "Ren and I haven't gotten a night out in awhile and we don't have any other plans."
It did sound much nicer than that techno club they had gone to for their date. Jazz music was in fact something that he could dance to, he had learned ballroom dancing sharing lessons from his sisters so it would be good to actually dance for a change even if he was tired.
Jaune turned to Ren, "What about you Ren?" he asked hoping that his other teammate would help him.
He noticed his friend gave a glance to Nora before nodding, "It sounds like it could be nice," he said, actually surprising him, a club sounded like the last thing Ren would like to do. Was something more happening here?
"You sure?" Jaune asked him.
Ren simply nodded at him. "Alright," Jaune relented, seeing no room to argue with them. "What time?" He asked Neon.
"Yay!" Nora cheered.
"We'll head there by eight, you got a couple hours to shower and suit up," Neon explained.
"Ren can wear his new suit!" Nora said excitedly looking at him, "You're gonna look so sharp."
"Do you have something to wear?" Ren asked Nora who grinned and nodded enthusiastically at him, "Oh yeah, Neon helped me pick out a pretty hot dress, you're gonna love it!"
Jaune raised his eyebrow at Neon and Nora, "How long have you been planning this?" He asked the two of them, "When did you go dress shopping?"
"We've been planning this out for the last week," Neon said with a wink, "and we got a dress for Penny too!"
"Me!" Penny exclaimed her green eyes going wide.
"Yup!" Nora said stepping forward and taking hold of Penny's hand and pulling her up off the bench. "You're going dancing too."
A confused and worried look crossed the android's face as Nora dragged her towards the girls locker room.
Jaune sighed and stood up moving for the boys room to shower and get ready for this sudden night out. "Did you know about this?" He asked Ren as theys stripped down and stepped into the showers letting it wash away his sweat and aches.
"I had an idea, Nora said we needed a night out together," He explained to him.
"Why didn't she mention anything to me?" Jaune asked him, "If she wanted a night out on the town all she had to do was ask me."
"I think she wanted it to be a surprise for you," Ren explained.
Jaune wasn't sure he understood but the soothing hot water of the shower was the only thing he wanted to focus on. He'd need it if he was going to dance tonight, if he knew dancing was in the cards tonight he would have taken it easy on the sparring. At least the hot water was seeming to do the trick.
Once they had washed themselves off and changed into their spare clothes they made way for their dorm to change. "I wasn't expecting to wear that suit again so soon," Jaune admitted opening the small closet to find his rather pricy suit on a hanger, it sort of felt silly that he spent so much money on something he had no idea how much he'd wear it.
Ren too was donning his black and grey suit that was a lot more formal than Jaune's casual two piece suit. "Jaune," Ren said breaking the silence between the two of them, "have you thought much about relationships since your date with Neon?"
Jaune raised an eyebrow at him as she buttoned the cuff of his dress shirt. "Why do you ask?" It seemed like an oddly personal question coming from Ren of all people, he usually let others keep to themselves.
"You mentioned last week that after your date that you felt ready to think about relationships, and since we're going to be in Atlas for awhile it seems this would be a good time for that."
"I suppose I did say that," Jaune admitted scratching the back of his head, "To be honest I'm feeling really rusty on the subject matter, I haven't really thought much about which girls catch my eye as I thought about what it would be like to actually date a girl or and what we'd do together. Going out with Neon made me realize I'd never been in a relationship before and I don't really know what it'd be like."
"Have you come to any conclusions thinking about this?" Ren asked, securing his tie.
"Not really, dancing may be nice but honestly my ideal date is just sitting in with a movie," Jaune explained, "I feel lame saying it but I'm a simple guy."
"So your average night out," Ren said.
Jaune chuckled, "pretty much, I can't think of many girls who would be happy with such a humble night out."
Ren tucked his tie into the vest, "I don't know, Penny seems to enjoy nights like that."
Jaune looked at his friend, "I never really thought about that," he admitted grabbing his suit jacket to leave for a night out.
Penny let the water cascade over her as she showered. She kept the temperature cold as it didn't bother her like it did regular people. She hardly ever showered, she didn't need to most of the time only occasionally washing herself and her hair from dust and dirt, her synthetic flesh didn't sweat or produce oils like regular people did but Nora and Neon had insisted she wash up and get ready for their night out.
"Why did you not tell me we were going out tonight?" Penny asked them, she turned the water off and grabbed a towel to dry herself as Nora and Neon continued their shower clearly savoring the steaming hot water, Penny didn't bother with long showers, the sensation of water on her synthetic flesh wasn't as pleasing as it was for humans.
"I thought it'd be best if you kept a clear head," Neon said to her, "If I told you I was planning on setting up a romantic evening with you and Jaune you would have spent all week fretting about it."
"I am fretting about it now," Penny told her, "I've never done anything like this before it's practically…"
"A date," Neon said proudly grinning from ear to ear, "exactly what we intended, I actually was planning to ask Jaune out to watch Flynt play if the first date went well but now it's the perfect time for you and Jaune to have some one on one time."
"It's best that you find out about this now, otherwise you would have spent a week overthinking it," Nora said, shutting off her own water, "Just leave this to Neon and I, we have this all planned out all you need to worry about is confessing to Jaune."
Penny averted her gaze as she dried herself. Was that all she needed to worry about? She still hadn't quite managed to pluck up the courage to face Jaune, their often conflicting schedules hadn't made things easy either, she only was able to find him at good times only a couple times a week.
Wrapped in towels the three of them moved to the lockers. Nora pulled out a bag and opened it to reveal a light green spaghetti strap dress. It looked modest which Penny supposed was best, she wasn't sure she would feel comfortable in something risque like what she would expect Neon to wear.
"Looks good right?" Neon bragged, "I picked it out myself, you're gonna turn heads tonight, Jaune's especially."
Penny looked away in embarrassment, "I doubt I will look by much next to you," Penny told her.
Neon shook her head at her, "Nope, tonight's your night to shine," she assured her, opening up her locker and bringing out a makeup case opening it to reveal a numerous brushes and colorful eyeliners and blushes along with eyelash curlers and even cosmetic tools Penny was clueless to the use of. "Trust us Nora and I have been spending all week brainstorming tonight, we got everything ready. I even know what eyeliner to use so those green eyes of yours pop, Nora and I will set the perfect mood for the two of you."
"Yup, we're gonna fix your hair up too," Nora promised her helping her sit down on the bench and wrapping her hair up elaborately in a towel as Neon sat on her other side with her makeup in her lap.
"What if this is all for nothing?" Penny asked as Neon assembled all her cosmetics laying them out on the bench. "What if despite everything you two are doing I still don't ask Jaune out?"
"Don't worry about that," Neon told her, "Just do what comes naturally, spend some time with him, have a good time flirt a little with him, and if things progress they progress, if not we always try again."
"I do not know how to flirt!" Penny insisted.
"Yes you do," Neon told her holding a brush up to apply some eyeliner, "You were doing it with Jaune earlier "I guess I had your full attention" and promising to go easy on him if you were to ever fight for real, trust me Penny you're a natural."
Penny sighed and let Neon get to work on her makeup, "So if I do not ask Jaune out tonight what next?" she asked, hoping to at least know what to expect after tonight.
"Well if all else fails we figured we could just lock you in a room with Jaune until you confess," Nora told her.
That idea sounded horrifying, forced into confessing like that seemed awful. "You would need a very strong room to keep me trapped," Penny told them threateningly, "I am strong enough to break most doors."
Neon laughed, "and then you'd have to explain that to Jaune," she countered.
Penny went quiet seeing the logic to that, breaking down a door to get away from Jaune certainly would be questionable.
"Hold still," Neon instructed, "perfection is work and that's the goal tonight, just think about dancing with Jaune tonight."
Penny did, why was everything about this as terrifying as it was exciting? "I have never really danced with another person."
"Jaune's a good dancer," Neon assured her, "I have no doubt he'll help you out."
Penny nodded as Nora unwrapped the towel from her hair ready to help style it, "Just take a deep breath and let us work Penny, I have a good feeling about tonight."
Penny nodded, "I do not breathe," Penny told Nora, "but I will try to relax."
Hope everyone enjoyed this week's chapter. As usual please review and leave me with your thoughts and comments. As usual I'd like to thank MidKnightMoonglow99, MajorBrony95, Firefly25, and DrknssRules1 than you all for your continuious help for this story and my future story. I'll see you all next week for Penny's night out with Jaune.