Penny felt weightless as Jaune's arms enveloped and held her while they kissed. Everything around her seemed muted as he kissed her back. It was a strange sensation kissing, it was completely new to her. She used to wonder what could feel so good about bringing one's lips to another, she used to believe it was more about the act itself showing affection than physical sensation. But she was wrong, she did not know how or why it felt so good but the sensation made her feel light and it seemed.

One of Jaune's hands pressed against her back holding her against him while his other ran his fingers through her hair holding her head from behind as he towered above her as they kissed. It felt strange to be so suddenly aware of how much taller he was than her making her look up and stand on her toes just to meet his lips. It was everything she had wanted, everything she had read about in Blake's novels when the two heroes kissed. It had always seemed perfect and magical described in the pages and it all paled in comparison to what she was feeling right now.

Jaune rose from her pulling his lips away. She opened her eyes and found him staring down at her. His lips shimmered with moisture from the exchange and he was panting. Panting? Had she done that to him? Stole his breath away? The throught excited her.

"Penny," Jaune whispered to her as she stared up at him. She pulled him back down to her lips. She didn't want to talk, they didn't need to, his hands and lips were telling her enough and the way he whispered her name told her everything she needed to know. He seemed She wanted more, words could wait until later for right now enough was being said without them. Her hands had clutched his shirt but as the kiss deepened she found herself growing bold as she moved them to his shoulders and finally entwined her fingers in his short spiky hair. She pressed the kiss wanting to get further lost in it. She opened her mouth to him inviting his tongue to meet hers. It was perfect, it was everything she wanted. There were no words, not yet but the simple fact that Jaune was kissing her back was enough for her. It was simple, it was nice and she wanted it to continue for hours on end.

Her internal scroll beeped informing her she had an urgently marked message from Atlas police command.

SOUTH CENTRAL EXPLOSION REPORT IMMEDIATELY. It read in bold letters urging her to leave at her earliest convenience.

Penny broke the kiss. She was being called away, now of all times she was being called away.

"Damnit!" Penny cursed wanting to cry. Why now? Why did this have to happen now?

"What's wrong?" Jaune asked her his features coloring with worry. "Did I uh, did I do something?" he asked her, looking flushed and embarrassed.

The simple question was painful, the very idea that Jaune thought he might have done something to offend her actually sent a powerful jolt of fear through her. "No!" she told him shaking her head, "no Jaune no it is not you there is an emergency," she explained to him, "I have to go, people need my help," she said feeling pained just admitting that she needed to leave him to end this moment of bliss between them. She wanted to stay more than anything but people were in danger and she was called to help.

"Goodnight Jaune," she said, turning to leave and hurry but Jause stepped forward and took hold of her wrist.

"Penny," Jaune said only for his phone to beep in his suit pocket indicating that he too was being called out on an emergency. What was happening? A glance around showed that everyone else from Ren and Nora to the whole of Team FNKI was pulling out their scroll to check similar messages. Something big was going on if everyone was receiving emergency messages on their scrolls, she couldn't wait even if she wanted to stay.

"You are needed too Jaune," she told him, refusing to meet his eye.

"I know," Jaune said firmly, "I just… I want to talk when we have a moment, after this, after whatever is going on we'll talk, I'll meet you at your room."

Penny finally met his clear blue gaze and wordlessly nodded to him. She wanted to say something sweet or reassuring, she wanted to kiss him again but feared she couldn't end it if she did. Instead she slipped off the heels Neon had bought her and handed them to Jaune. "I cannot fly with these on," she told him and sprinted away and out of the club on her bare feet before running outside into Mantle, she leapt up and rocketed away. She couldn't generate the same amount of thrust without her boots but she could still fly if only in a limited capacity.

The minute she took to the air she saw it. Fires lit up the urban landscape and the thunderous sound of other explosions echoed below her. What had done this? Who had done this? She wondered, a feeling of dread took her pulling away. Sections of the city went suddenly dark as they lost power leaving the fires burning bright in square patches of black.

Below she spotted her designated target furthest away from the city than all the rest of the explosions. A single house burned in a dark suburb. She landed on a grassy lawn and scanned the area detecting no immediate threats in the area.

Her scan however did pick up the scroll signals. It belonged to Clover and Harriet and the rest of the Ace Operatives and it was coming from inside the house emitting an SOS signal indicating that their auras were dangerous or depleated. She sprinted inside the burning home deploying Floating Array and cutting her way through the house careful not to damage the structure and cause it to collapse while other people were still inside.

"Clover!" she cried out hoping they could hear her, "Harriet?"

"We're here!" She heard Marrow cough coming through the smoke. The dog faunus was dirty and stained with smoke and soot, blood stained his white uniform and the lithe figure of Vine who appeared to be unconscious sporting a head wound was leaning on him looking weak and confused, likely suffering from a concussion.

"Clover and the rest are down the hall!" Marrow told her coughing from all the smoke in the air as he helped drag Vine out of the building. "Help them, I'm getting Vine out of here."

Penny dashed down the hallways, her dress got singed by the flames blacketing it and burning away pieces of the hem. She would have to apologize to Neon for ruining the dress, she still needed to thank her and Nora both for their little plan that had worked perfectly. Why couldn't she get that kiss out of her mind? Even now navigating a burning home she was thinking about that kiss and hungered for more in her chest.

"We're in here!" She heard Clover cry out to her from what appeared to be a living room. Harriet knelt next to him looking just as battered as Marrow, even Clover was sporting light wounds and was black with smoke and ash as well. A pile of rubble was between them trapping an unconscious Elm beneath it that both of them were trying to lift, their hands were red and blistered from the heat.

"Stand back!" Penny said moving past them. Floating Array slashed and cut away pieces of the rubble before she took hold and lifted it away with her superior strength. "Get her!" Penny instructed holding it up. Harriet and Clover both took hold of Elm and pulled her clear of it. Penny's still high aura levels kept her from being burned and once she was sure that Harriet and Clover had secured their teammate she set it down gently.

She turned and picked Elm up draping the much larger woman over her shoulders and walked her out. Her enhanced hearing detected Elm's heartbeat and she was still breathing, but the burns to her body were great. She sent a call out for a medical bullhead to come and offer them treatment.

They stepped out of the house, Harriet and Clover both gasped for clean fresh air and coughed as they stepped out onto the lawn.

Boom!

The house behind them exploded knocking Penny down face first into the grass dropping Elm onto the ground. Burning debris littered the yard and street and onto other houses. A quick check around to the Ace Operatives confirmed they were all alive too.

"My semblance must have delayed those explosives," Clover coughed trying to pick himself up off the ground.

"Why were you here?" Penny asked him, as she helped situate Elm for the paramedics to arrive. She looked back at the shattered remains of the house still burning brightly. "What is this place?"

Clover coughed trying to stand upright, "I'm afraid that is classified," he managed to tell her through a gasp.

A green laser blast flashed through the air as Floating Array fired striking down a single aerial drone sending it crashing on the ground below. "Was it Vasily?" She asked recognizing the drone model as the ones she had seen tracking her and Jaune across Atlas's icy tundra and shooting them down in a similar fashion.

Clover didn't answer her but simply remained quiet trying to breathe fresh air. Already an emergency bullhead was overhead with emergency personnel roping down to provide assistance.

"You should go," Clover told her, watching as they assisted Vine and Elm first as they were the most heavily wounded. "We should be good now, others need you."

Penny wanted to press further to demand answers to what was happening right now and confirm her suspicions but she knew that Clover would not relent and unfortunately he was right that she was needed elsewhere now that she had helped secure them.

Penny gave him a long hard look before she blasted off leaving them behind as she soared above Mantle looking to where she was needed most.

Vasily watched his safehouse burning from the comfort of his truck as it sped away from his now demolished haven. He couldn't help but frown as he watched two stumble out through the front door followed by the rest of them with the android Penny.

"They survived," he said somewhat disappointed as Bonnie drove for him watching as the house erupted into a larger explosion moments after they stumbled out. They could hear the distant explosion as they drove away like thunder muffled by distance.

"Did you set the explosives properly?" Vasily asked her dangerously. "That blast was delayed too long."

A look of worry crossed Bonnie's face but she nodded to him, "I set them, something must have gone wrong and delayed the other charges… perhaps a wire was cut during the fight."

Vasily nodded accepting her answer, it hardly mattered. The Ace Operatives would be dealt with later and now they were at least temporarily dealt with. It almost would have been a disappointment if Atlas's elite team had been defeated with a few well placed bombs.

"That girl," Penelope said looking over his shoulder from the back seat to gaze at the screen, "she looks just like me."

"She is your predecessor," Vasily explained to her finding the odd dress that Penny was currently wearing to be rather strange, "you might even think of her like an elder sister, but make no mistake Penelope you are the superior model built to be an improvement of her design, and in time you will defeat her."

Penelope nodded, "Should I fight her now?" she said, "I could fly out and face her now."

Vasily shook his head "Not yet, we shall face her soon enough but there are preparations that must be addressed first, unfortunately we are in need of refuge for the time being, we need a place to stay and finish preparations."

Penelope nodded watching as her counterpart shot the drone down with her laser. "What should I do then?" she asked wanting answers.

"Study your prey," Vasily instructed, "ready yourself, our confrontation will come."

Hope you all enjoyed this week's chapter and I hope all my fellow American enjoyed their 4th of July. Sorry this week's chapter was so short but between work and 4th I didn't have as much time to write but I figured something was better than nothing so I'm posting these two short scenes for your enjoyment. Please share your thoughts and comments and review. As usual I would like to MidKnightMoonglow99 , MajorBrony95, Firefly25 and DrknssRules1 for all their help and contributions.