Penny knocked on the Ironwood's new door. After the attempt on the General's life his entire office was refurbished to its former glory though it had seemed little had changed to her, she wondered if perhaps the General simply liked his workspace to stay a certain way or if this was his way of showing stoicism in the face of danger as if to say the attempt on his life was only an inconvenience.
"Come in," the intercom outside sounded with Ironwood's voice.
Penny opened the heavy doors with ease and stolled in. He was sitting at his desk with Winter by his side conversing with him. She looked at her and smiled in polite greeting. "Hello Penny," she said.
"Salutations Winter, General Ironwood," she said addressing the both of them.
"Penny," Ironwood greeted giving her a nod from behind his desk folding his hands on the surface, "How are you today?"
"Oh just wonderful," she answered him, unable to hide the excitement that colored her features, "I am here to request tomorrow night off between the hours of six in the evening and four in the morning."
"Time off?" Ironwood asked her.
"Yes," Penny explained to him, "I would like to clear my duties for recreational purposes," she explained.
"Really?" Winter inquired, "You have never requested time off before."
"I know, and because of that I have accrued a substantial amount of off time I would now like to begin making use of," she explained to them.
"Why do you want to suddenly use your time off Penny?" Ironwood asked.
Penny averted her eyes awkwardly. "Well you see General, I would like to go out on a date tomorrow night."
"A date!" Winter inquired a bit louder that she would usually expect from the rather stoic woman.
Penny nodded watching Winter's face betray surprise at the very idea that she was going on an actual date. Ironwood showed less surprise but his brow furrowed at her answer.
He stood up hands clasped behind his back, "Penny… we are currently in a state of emergency," he explained, "we are still investigating who is responsible for the recent bombings and as you know a very capible assassin is still alive and he just hospitalized my best operatives."
Penny listened and bit back her desire to ask why the General hadn't told her or Jaune that Vasily was in fact still alive. She still hadn't told Jaune the news herself, demanding to know why General Ironwood had left her in the dark when she herself hadn't told Jaune seemed hypocritical.
"Penny your services are invaluable," Ironwood explained to her, "you provide the citizens of Mantle with a symbol of security and hope and right now they need that more than ever."
"I understand that General," Penny told him.
"Yet you are requesting a night off when I might need your services now more than ever," Ironwood said stepping around his desk, "I am sure you can understand why I am hesitant to grant your request."
"It is just one night," Penny said, trying to reason with him.
"These bombings happened over the course of one night," Ironwood explained to her.
"Sir," Winter cut in, "Miss Polendina has indeed accumulated many hours of off time and she is entitled to its use the same as anyone."
"I am aware of this Specialis Schnee," Ironwood replied, "But I am sure you can understand that right now we are in a dangerous time, we are under attack by an unknown enemy and I need all hands on deck for when our enemies strike again."
"I understand Sir," Winter said her scroll in hands projecting a duty schedule in front of her, "But looking over Penny's schedule she is only scheduled for standard duty during these specified hours, clearing this segment of time should not be difficult, I am sure Penny will remain available to contact should an actual emergency occur."
"Yes I will!" Penny promised wanting to jump on Winter's suggestion, "I would not let anything bad happen General I only wish to use my time on the standard duty, if there is another attack I will be only a scroll message away you have my word."
Ironwood frowned and looked between the two women clearly outnumbered. "Very well Miss Polendina, you shall have tomorrow night," he told her, "I am going to assume this will not be the only time you ask for time off for a… date. Let us try to keep these nights of recreation limited to once a week," he told her.
"But I have accumulated this time off," Penny argued, finding the idea a little strange, "Why should I not use it as I see fit?" she asked him.
"Because your services are invaluable," Ironwood explained, "Penny you of course understand that you can perform your duties with greater efficiency and precision that any of my human personnel, even with standard duty you accomplish as much work as ten fully trained huntresses, with this unseen threat and trying to get the Amity communications tower online your work is invaluable."
Penny looked at the floor, "General… I know the work I do is important. But I also desire to enjoy things outside my work like any huntress that goes through this academy. Am I not entitled to that?"
Ironwood stepped forward closer to her. "Yes Penny you are," he told her, "but I want you to also understand how important you are to me, and to Atlas. We live in dangerous times and you were built to help us maintain peace and order, I only ask that you do not lose sight of this."
Penny nodded, "I will not General," she assured him, "I just want to enjoy time with my boyfriend."
The General nodded to her, "We can discuss the particulars of scheduling future recreation later, you will have your time slot cleared for tomorrow night so go enjoy your… date."
Penny nodded in agreement, for now she had what she wanted, anything else would have to come later. "Thank you General," she said, turning on her heel and leaving with a smile on her face.
She opened the door and stepped out into the hallways walking towards the lift to return to her room for a quick recharge before returning to her various round the clock duties. While she had hardly been able to see Jaune since she had parted ways with him at her room, Jaune had bothered to leave a gift on her doorstep for her. It was mostly some of his comics with a note wishing her to stay well and safe in her work and saying that if she had time to read this he hoped to talk to her about it when next they were able to meet. Penny had devoured each and every issue gleefully and she hoped that Jaune had left her another gift on her doorstep.
She pressed the down button for the elevator to arrive. Heels clicked upon the stone floor behind her and she turned to see Winter approaching her.
"Thank you for speaking up on my behalf," Penny said.
"Think nothing of it," Winter told her, falling into a stretch of silence between them. "You have a boyfriend," Winter said, it was not a question.
"I do," Penny said, unable to contain her elated grin.
"I must say I am surprised to learn this, but pleased." Winter told her, "How long have you two been dating?"
"We made our relationship official a couple days ago," she explained to her.
"So this is a recent development?" Winter asked.
"Yes," Penny admitted, "but I had been harboring a crush on him for some time now, it was only a couple days ago that I was able to actually reveal my feelings."
"I see," Winter said, "I… wish I had known," she confessed to her, "your are of course entitled to keep your personnel affairs private but I wish you to know that you are free to speak to me about these things."
Penny nodded, "I know… and perhaps I should have told you about this, but I had help," she explained to her thinking about all the help Nora and Team RWBY were in this journey, and Neon who despite appearing to be an obstacle in this had turned out to be an ally, "I even made a friend getting here."
"And I am pleased to hear that," Winter assured her, "I simply wish to express to you that you are welcome to communicate these things to me," she explained to her, "I want to see that this goes well for you, and that you are never pressured into anything you might be uncomfortable with."
Penny gave her a smile, "I appreciate your concern Winter, but I am confident that I can handle this on my own, I am sure Jaune would never try to hurt me."
"Jaune?" Winter asked, "Jaune Arc?"
Penny nodded, "Yes… ever since we survived together I began developing strong feelings for him. I did not understand it at first but Team RWBY helped me see that those feelings were romantic."
"I see," the specialist said watching as the elevator opened up. Penny stepped aboard and turned to Winter who had not stepped aboard the lift.
"We will try to talk more," Penny assured her, the last thing she would want was anyone to worry about her.
The door closed and the elevator descended several floors down to her level separate from the rest of the student dormitories. She stepped out and walked briskly to her room. There was no gift waiting for her this time but she did not mind, she did not want to be left tokens of his affection she wanted to be with him, and now that she had gotten Ironwood to approve her time off she was closer to that. Their first official date, the first of many she hoped.
Ironwood looked out the window over Atlas, he heard the door to this office open and the distinctive click of Winter's boots on the marble floor. "Did you get a name?" he asked her, turning around in his chair to face the specialist.
Winter nodded, "Jaune Arc," she answered him, "they apparently only started dating a couple of days ago but from what Penny explained to me her feeling has been a factor for quite some time."
"I see," he answered her folding his hands on the desk in front of him.
"Sir," Winter said, "If I may speak frankly, I do not think this is a problem. It is not so different for our other personnel, any huntsmen or soldiers can do the same but they are managed all the same."
"Penny is different," Ironwood said, "she is irreplaceable in protecting Mantle, having her waste her time on dates is time she could be supporting one of a million different efforts."
"General, she is not simply military hardware. She thinks and feels independently, this was inevitable."
Ironwood sighed and massaged his temples, "I know that," he admitted, "but her timing could not have been worse."
"You could try explaining that to her." Winter suggested to her.
Ironwood shook his head, "Were you reasonable at that age about romance?"
Winter blanched, "Well… I uh…"
"That was a rhetorical question Specialist," Ironwood told her, "believe it or not I do remember what it was like to be smitten at that age. What's more I need Pietro's cooperation and expertise for future projects and we agreed that I am to treat Penny the same as anyone else under my command."
Ironwood turned back around in his chair and looked out his window. "But perhaps there is an opportunity to be found here," he said.
"Sir?"
"You read Vasily's personnel file, what do you make of him?" He asked her.
"From what has been pieced together from his old Beacon files and criminal reports, I think he's a malignant narcissist."
"Yes," Ironwood agreed, "he's cruel and sadistic and he has an overly grandiose image of himself, and Jaune put a sword through his abdomen, he's not going to let it slide."
"You think he is going to target Jaune?" She asked him.
"I think there is a high possibility," Ironwood told her, "and if I am right then this gives us a reason to keep Penny by his side ready and be ready for when he strikes."
"You are talking about using Mr. Arc as bait," Winter told him, "and Penny was his original target, he is likely prepared to deal with her again if not target her as well"
"I know," Ironwood affirmed, "but this needs to end, we'll inform Mr. Arc but first I want you to set up a team to shadow him and be ready to move in whenever Vasily makes his move. We have enough problems with an egotistical assassin on the loose."
"Sir is this really necessary?" Winter asked, "we are already short handed as is with these unidentified terrorists."
"Vasily is most likely linked with them," Ironwood told her, "capturing Vasily is our best hope of finding this threat, assemble a team for now we can honor Penny's requests for time off, it'll put her in a prime position to handle this when the moment comes."
Winter nodded to him clearly reluctant with the idea but obedient as well. "How many should I arrange for this team?" She asked him.
"Two squads," Ironwood told her, "with bullheads to deploy and support them."
Winter nodded, "It will be done."
Jaune watched as the bullheads passed overhead to drop off their relief teams lowering themselves onto the clear landing pads. Another long boring night of watching Mantle's perimeter for grimm incursions that slipped past Atlas's regular military. It was tedious and boring work with each passing night, that was honestly a good thing considering the boring tedium was because every night the number of grimm attacks decreased significantly.
Tonight he had slayed six grimm, not a lot for hours upon hours of waiting around. He had hardly even heard the city's automated defenses. No thundering artillery dispensing steel rain, only the occasional burst of autocannon and small arms fire in the distance. He couldn't wait to step into his dormroom's shower and stretch out on the bed.
"Hey there lady killer!" Yang greeted as she was the first to step off the bullhead with the rest of Team RWBY right behind her.
Jaune laughed a little in embarrassment, at least that was better than being called Vomit Boy. "Sore and tired," Jaune told her honestly, "and ready for a hot meal and a long hot shower." He glanced over at all of them assembling, "hey uh… do you mind if I ask you all a favor?"
Ruby looked at each of her teammates before looking back at Jaune. "Yeah what's up?" she asked him.
"I know it's a lot to ask," Jaune started off, "but uh tomorrow night my team is all on border guard after all of you, I need someone to cover my shift with Ren and Nora," he explained to them all.
Weiss raised an eyebrow at him, "that would mean one of us would be pulling a double shift," she pointed out, "what do you need that time off for?"
"I bet he's got a hot date with Penny!" Yang said wagging her eyebrows at him, "that's it right? You're hoping to have some alone time with your new girlfriend?"
Jaune scratched the back of his head, "yeah that's it," Jaune admitted to all of them. "I just need one of you to take my place, I know it's a lot to ask any of you but Penny and I just got together and we've barely seen each other since all this chaos started, we want to have our first official date."
"I'll do it," Blake said suddenly speaking up, Jaune hadn't expected her of all people to offer to take his place guarding a dark perimeter for long hours with the rest of his team.
"Really?!" Jaune exclaimed, earning a silent nod from Blake affirming her words.
"Thank you so much!" Jaune told her resisting the urge to hug her in appreciation. "I'll make it up for you," he promised her, "I'll trade a shift back whenever you need one."
A small thin smile curled Blake's lips, "Don't worry about it Jaune," she told him, "I'm not doing it for you, I'm doing it for Penny, I already owe her a shift remember?"
He took a moment to think back and remembered when Penny and him had first ended up on that truck together heading out across the tundra to deliver supplies for the Amity Tower only to be attacked. He had almost forgotten that Penny had only been there for that because Blake had requested her to take the shift to pursue a huntress contract with Yang.
"Still… thank you," Jaune told her.
"So what's your plan for tomorrow night?" Yank asked him, "anything special?"
Jaune shrugged, "We haven't really planned anything," he told them, "Penny suggested dinner with maybe a movie or more dancing."
"Dinner?" Weiss asked, "I mean… she doesn't eat."
"Well I do, besides she likes it when I try explaining flavors to her so I'm sure she'll enjoy herself," he explained to them.
Weiss nodded at that.
"So if it was your choice would it be a movie or dancing?" Yang asked him.
"Dancing," Jaune answered her, "we didn't really get as much of a chance the last time, and she is a very good dancer."
"You talking about Jaune's date?" Nora asked appearing from behind them, "he made sure to ask you about trading places right? One of you will do it right!? Please!?"
"Nora!" Jaune said, trying to calm her down, "Blake has already kindly agreed to trade my shift."
"Yay!" Nora cheered, "This is wonderful! Should Ren and I stay up tomorrow night and wait for you to get back and share all the details, or are you going to be spending the whole night with Penny again?"
"Wait what?" Ruby inquired.
"Nora!" Jaune growled at her. "I already told you it wasn't like that!"
"So what is it like?" Yang asked him.
"I just wanted to talk to her about everything that had happened, I met her at her room after we had been out all night and told her I wanted to give things a try, then she suggested I spend the night in her room, it was completely innocent."
"Nothing happened?" Weiss asked him, crossing her arms.
"Nothing like that," Jaune said more than a little red faced at the idea, "Nora just has an overactive imagination."
"If I'm just imagining things then why are you as red as Ruby everytime I bring it up?" Nora asked him.
"Because Jaune's a nice guy," Yang teased, "and nice guys get flustered easily."
Jaune sighed, "Can we please talk about something else?" He begged.
"Nope," Yang giggled.
Hope everyone enjoyed this week's chapter. It's almost hard to believe that this story is already approaching the end. Please review and leave me with your thoughts and comments. As usual I'd like to thank MidKnightMoonglow99, DrknssRules1, MajorBrony95 and Firefly25 for all their help for this story. See everyone again next week.