I do not own RWBY. All rights go to Rooster Teeth.

Daughter of the Gods

Chapter Fifteen: No Rest…

It was the last class of the day, which unfortunately meant we had professor Port's class. It seemed to drag on for what felt like hours, even while I was trying to pass the time by sketching out weapon designs, and talking with my agents, that were unreasonably complicated.

Even Weiss was watching the clock.

Sort of.

Jaune wasn't helping the clock move any slower for her as he tried to get her to go to the dance with him.

Poor kid. She was about to go on a mission, and that meant focus. Focus that she couldn't give to Jaune.

When the bell finally wrung, we all walked out as a team while Weiss just answered all of Jaunes questions about the dance with a no. We walked to the dorm, all the while I was keeping an eye out for that woman and her little minions. I had to tell Ozpin when I got back tonight, so I set a reminder on my phone. I also sent out a picture of Mercury and a description of the green haired girl to my agents.

Hopefully they would find a lead.

Closing the door, I leaned against the desk, my hands resting on the desktop by my side.

"We all clear on the plan?" I asked as everyone readied their weapons. Mine was always meticulously maintained, as it had been this morning before I left for class, so I didn't need to worry about it tonight.

Everyone recited their respective roles and when I was satisfied, I put my hand on the door and was about to step out when I heard something outside. It wasn't a bird, a knew that much, so I burst open the window and dragged two spies inside. At least I thought they were until Blake said something.

"Sun? Neptune?" She asked incredulously.

"Hey guys. How's it hangin'" He asked nervously as I stared at him.

"How long were you there?" I asked tightly.

"Uhhhh…you know…long enough." He said as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. I breathed through my nose before looking at Neptune.

"I already know you both but my question is; why are you here…Why were you just hanging out around the window?"

"Oh. Well…you know…We just hoped you guys were going after that Torchwick guy." Sun finally admitted. Blake stepped forward.

"Sun. We're investigating this together. As a team." She said, emphasizing that it was only going to be us doing the investigating.

"No." I spoke up. I knew that there was strength in numbers. Blake was less likely to be caught by any higher ups in the 'fang. She became defensive when I relayed that to her.

"Blake. You and I both know you had a lot of notoriety in the 'fang. Adam won't just let you go and you know that." I explained calmly.

"There's a job to be done, and nobody, not even you, is gonna stop me." She said with determination.

"I know. Which is why Sun will be going with you as backup." I explained. Blake looked sharply at the other faunus and then at me.

"It's either he goes with you, or I do." I gave her a choice.

"What about your sort of related mission?" She asked.

"I've already got two suspects who I've got my agents looking into. They should be getting back to me in a few hours." I answered calmly. "I honestly might not even need to go." I said absentmindedly as I checked my scroll, which had buzzed. There was a message and a picture based on the description. The file that was sent was labeled 'Emerald Sustrai.'

Interesting.

But not relevant right now.

Turning my scroll off I turned back to Blake.

"I'll go with Sun so that at least he'll blend in." She decided. I looked at her for a second.

"Okay." I said finally. Blake nodded.

"Weiss. I'm gonna go run down this lead quickly but I'll meet you at the CCT when you're done. Remember, we meet back with Yang. Neptune, go with Yang. I don't think Juniors gonna be an issue but you never know with his men." I explained. Weiss was about ready to protest but I dragged her out.

"Weiss. I know he's cute but stay focused right now." I said. She stared at me that I had recognized her attraction before nodding seriously and walking out of the dorm.

"Let's go kids. Time's a wastin'" I said as I walked down the hall and down to the airships.

Running so fast I was a blur, I ran around the police station reading everything as fast I could about Tuckson's murder. There wasn't much to go on except that he was shot point blank by a large caliber dust bullet. The lights were off so the killer or killers must have known he was a faunus. The 'fang made it a rule never to out a faunus who can blend in unless they're traitors to the cause.

Except for Blake. Adam had kept her betrayal secret for some reason but I couldn't figure out why.

Running out of the police department I headed right for the bookstore.

There wasn't much there unfortunately since the crime scene had already been processed and well documented. Using my magic, I felt the aura trace, which was very faint, of anyone that had been in the bookstore.

Sorting through the detectives I found what I was looking for. Aura that matched the like of Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai. Gritting my teeth, I followed the very weak aura trace as far as I could, but only found myself in the massive warehouse district of Vale. It would take me days to sort through every aura trace so I decided I'd come back here later and speed through.

Running to the CCT was a chore honestly, and I was halfway there when I felt a familiarly peculiar aura. Looking to my right as I was running up the sidewalk, I saw Penny.

It had been bugging me how she had disappeared, so for the last few nights I had been searching the internet for who she was and hacking into Atlas' computer systems, seeing as her accent placed her near southern Atlas.

What I found was a whole lot of nothing. Penny did not exist. Anywhere. In any system.

What was strange though was that I found a reference to a file called 'Project P.E.N.N.Y' but it was so encrypted I couldn't get anywhere close without setting off any alarms.

Snapping back to reality, I stopped in front of the girl.

"Penny? Where have you been! You disappeared after the docks. Not even Professor Ozpin could find you." I exclaimed as I walked towards her. She heard me and turned in my direction before her eyes widened and she looked away.

"I'm sorry miss, but I think you're confused." She hiccuped. So her hiccups mean she's lying?

"Penny I know you're lying." It was mean, especially for someone who was as innocent as Penny, but I decided to take a bold risk. "I found the file." I murmured. Her head whipped towards me inhumanely fast as she grabbed my hand and pulled me down a side alley.

"How?" She questioned.

"That's not important. What is important is that I know you're okay." I said softly. She looked at me hesitantly.

"That sounds like something a friend would ask of a friend. Are you my friend, Ruby?" She asked hesitantly.

"Of course Penny." I said as I pulled her into a hug.

"Do you promise." She sounded so scared I was worried someone was hurting her. At this point I just wanted to know what was going on so I could help her. I nodded to her question.

She took a deep breath and looked me in the eye.

"I'm not a real girl…but you already knew that…how are you okay with this." She said. Not a real girl?

Wait a minute…real girl? Project P.E.N.N.Y?

Penny was some kind of Android.

"It doesn't matter to me if you have squishy guts and a beating heart servos and pistons. You have a soul. I feel it. You're as human as the rest of us." I said gently.

"Oh Ruby!" Penny said as she hugged me tightly. My back cracked a little.

"Too tight!" I grunted as she released me quickly.

"My apologies." She said shyly.

"It's okay Penny. These things happen sometimes." I said. Suddenly a voice echoed through the alleyway.

"Penny! Where'd you go!" Masculine, Atleasian.

"It's my guard!" Penny whispered in panic.

"Don't worry. Here, copy my scroll so we can keep in touch." I said as I handed her my scroll. Surprisingly she didn't pull out her own, instead just put it to her forehead. My scroll reacted and suddenly I had a new contact picture on the front.

"It comes in handy." Penny said as she handed my scroll back. I nodded.

"Go. I'll distract them while you figure out how to get out of here." She said as she began walking forward.

"Penny? Who were you talking to back there?" I heard the guard say as I jumped back and forth up the alley walls until I was on the roof. Penny looked up at me in surprise as she and the guard bebgan walking away. I waved and disappeared from her sight…or sensors, I guess.

Jumping across the rooftops, it was getting pretty late and Weiss was likely done by now and heading towards Yang. Deciding I had time, I headed to the recruitment meeting for the 'fang.

I didn't tell Blake, but one of my agents was their and told me the location ahead of time.

Taking off at a run, I headed towards the warehouse district.

Yang's POV

Walking up to the club doors, the bouncers outside opened the doors for me and Neptune. Junior was already there waiting.

"Rose mentioned you'd be stopping by tonight. Blue over there has to wait somewhere else while we talk since she never mentioned another person." Junior said. I nodded and Neptune went to flirt with the twins.

"You're pretty paranoid tonight." I noted. He looked at me as we sat down at the bar and he made a drink for us.

"Yeah. 'Fang's got a meeting tonight. Wanted all kinds of information, but they must have realized I was only giving them the kind of information Rose pays me to give people. They threated all kinds of stuff but rose scares me more. Still, being paranoid has kept me in business this long." Junior said. I nodded.

"Speaking of, Rose wants to know what your men were hired for. The ones from the dust shop." I explained. Junior nodded.

"Well you're in luck. One of them is here tonight since Rose spared them." He said as he waved over one of his goons.

"Tell her what Torchwick hired you for." He ordered. The goon nodded.

"We were hired to steal dust. As much as we could carry. Torchwick said that we'd be helping the new revolution and we'd be set. If we had known Ms. Rose was gonna be at the shop, we never woulda taken that job." He said. I nodded.

"Okay. That's all we needed I guess. Rose might have more questions later. You know the drill." I shouted as I grabbed Neptunes jacket and dragged him out the bar.

"Give Rose my regards." Junior shouted as he held up his glass. I nodded and walked out the door with Neptune behind me. We got on my motorcycle and drove towards our rally point.

Ruby POV

Peering into the window through my scope, I could see Torchwick grandstanding and making a big fuss about how he was helping the 'fang. I saw him locate Blake and Sun and then the power went out. From my rooftop across from the warehouse, I could see Blake and Sun jumping out the window followed by an Atlesian paladin.

Son of a bitch.

I was gonna give Ironwood a good tongue lashing when this was over. Did he decide not to tell Ozpin at least that one of his weapons was missing.

Jumping into action, I shot out two of the threat detection sensors giving Blake and Sun a little breathing room while they ran. Picking up crescent rose, I burst into rose petals and flew across warehouse rooftops, keeping up with the paladin as well as Blake and Sun. I took potshots every now and again, but the armor was thicker than my large caliber rounds could handle, and they just bounced off.

And then the real problem came when they jumped on the highway.

"Damnit you two! Take it off the road! Innocent people are getting hurt!" I shouted as I ran towards the paladin. Angling Crescent rose's blade inward more than it already was, I created a hook. Running as hard as I could, I jammed the blade into a sectional armor plate. Thanks to my velocity, I was able to pull the paladin off the highway and onto the ground below where we landed with a loud crash.

Groaning from the pain, I scrambled as Torchwick righted the metal monster and nearly stepped on me.

"Hang on Ruby!" Weiss shouted as she jumped down and planted her rapier in the ground and froze a large patch of it, causing the paladin to lose it's footing. Blake and Yang landed next to us and reloaded their weapons.

"We need to blind that thing even more. Freezerburn!" I shouted as Yang jumped up and we all backed off before she surrounded the entire area in steam.

Torchwick began taking potshots at us as we moved through the mist. Eventually he got lucky though when he hit Yang and Blake. Charging through the explosion, I took a swipe but backed off.

"Checkmate! Target the sensors!" I ordered. Blake and Weiss began targeting the firing sensors, causing most of the missiles to miss all around them, but never close. Weiss was still up in the air when Torchwick got a lucky break and shot his energy repulsors at her and sent Weiss flying.

"Ladybug!" I shouted as I zoomed past Blake who sprung into action. "Aim for the joints!" I shouted as we got closer. Blake and I's slashing allowed us to take off one of the paladins arms and it fell to the ground with a crash. Yang shot passed us using her gauntlets and began raining shots down on the armored shell, causing massive damage. Torchwick must have been desperate though because he ran straight for a support column to knock Yang off. As she was falling, he punched her with the remaining arm and sent her flying.

"Yang!" Blake shouted. I put and arm in front of her to stop her.

"Do it Yang!" I shouted across the battlefield. Thankfully Yang heard me. I knew she did when her hair burst into flames.

"That's her semblance activating. She'll destroy that thing in the rage she's in." I said lightly. Blake looked back at Yang hesitantly, no doubt remembering unpleasant things.

"Don't worry. She's nothing like him when she's angry. I taught her how to control that anger. Turn it into a sharp scalpel instead of a blunt instrument like Adam. She'll never lose control the way he did." I said gently. Blake's eyes softened and she nodded.

"Bumblebee!" I shouted. Blake immediately jumped up and through gambol shrouds ribbon towards Yang who grabbed hold. The paladin though was still fairly agile.

"Weiss, Iceflower!" I shouted again. Weiss' glyphs appeared as I leveled Crescent rose's barrel towards the Paladin's body. Taking the shot, it spiraled until it made contact with the paladin body and exploded into massive shards of ice, slowing it down. Yang gained some speed until she let go.

By the time we had finished, the paladin was destroyed and Torchwick was standing up a few yards away.

Yang took a shot with ember celica just as I felt a new aura getting close.

Right before the shot reached, a girl dressed in pink and white appeared with a parasol that managed to block Yang's shot.

"Ladies, Ice queen." Torchwick greeted. I barely heard Weiss' response as I was focusing on the new appearance. There was something…strange about her, familiar…but not.

"Always a pleasure." He saluted. "Neo, if you would." He said. she took a bow and I closed my eyes when I felt her aura flare as she used her semblance, but she was still here…

Suddenly I felt it move, along with Torchwicks weak aura. Not wanting him to get away, I whipped out crescent rose using my semblance. Now, this shot definitely wouldn't kill the new girl, but she'd feel it in the morning. I watched the bullet as my semblance faded and saw the shock on her face as the bullet exploded against her aura, nearly shattering. She bent over in shock as the bullhead flew away.

"What did you just do?" Weiss asked. Blake stared at me with curiosity.

"I used my aura to find her when she used her semblance." I explained calmly as I began walking towards the air fields.

"Don't you think that's a skill you should teach us?" Weiss asked. I shrugged.

"I've tried teaching Yang, as well as a few people years ago, but nobody can seem to get it so I figured why bother." I said as I shrugged again.

"That's a fair assumption but I'd still like to try." Weiss said. I studied her for a second.

"Alright. We can try." I said as I began walking again towards the air fields.

"Wait really?" I heard Weiss coming up behind me as Blake and Yang hung back and talked with each other.

"Seriously. We can try if you want. I'm curious if it's the person, the aura, or some other factor." I explained. Weiss nodded and we just talked about random things, history for a few minutes, and just life in general. It still felt weird just talking about life after years of isolation.

When we finally got back to beacon, I felt tired. Truly tired.

Too bad I had a little bit of 'Homework.'

"I'll catch up with you guys. I need to go talk with Ozpin. He sent me a message about 'team leader' stuff." I snorted to sell it. Yang nodded because she knew and easily handled Blake and Weiss.

Heading towards the clocktower, I pulled up the file I had been sent on Ms. Sustrai as well as what I'd been sent at some point during the fight about the other woman.

Walking into the office, Ozpin was already at his desk.

"I got good news and bad news. Which would you prefer?" I asked sarcastically as I sat down on the chair. Ozpin looked at me with weary eyes.

'I know the feeling' I thought to myself.

"Either one Ruby." He answered.

"Good news first…well…I guess it's how you look at it honestly. Anyways, my agents came through and found out the name of the other two people who attacked Terra." I explained. Ozpin just motioned for me to continue. I put my scroll on his desk with the files ready and they transferred to a hologram.

"This is Emerald Sustrai. She has the perception semblance. Master thief because of it and is fairly good at fighting." I explained. Ozpin nodded as he focused on the dark haired woman.

"This is Cinder Fall. She's the culprit behind Terra's attack. How she did it is unknown still but I suspect it's from a grimm." I said. Ozpin looked at me sharply.

"What do you mean?" He asked quickly.

"It's a species I ran into once. They drain the host of their life force. Like the Apathy grimm in a way. This one must have been changed by Salem though to work with the host and drain someone else's life." I concluded.

"Interesting theory, but how did you even come up with it?" He asked.

"The magic from my silver eyes is always on for the most part. Call it a sixth sense we have. Anyone with silver eyes can just tell when grimm are close by. Like what I sensed when Ciinder was close by." I answered. Thinking back, I realized,

"I thought you said you've met with silver eyed warriors?" I asked. Ozpin nodded.

"Yes, but they are fairly secretive people and don't discuss their capabilities." He answered.

"what's the bad news?" He asked after a moment of thought.

"the bad news is, is that Cinder and her underlings are here. For what I can't tell but it's definitely not good. It either has something to do with the festival, since that's what she told me when I ran into Emerald by accident, or it's something far worse." I concluded darkly.

"Keep an eye out whenever you can. I'll do the same. In the meantime, go about your day." He ordered. Standing up out of habit to his order and dismissal, I began walking towards the elevator.

"Do get some rest Ruby. You look tired…like you've been toe to toe with a giant robot this evening, wouldn't you say. You'll need your rest since you have Glynda's class tomorrow." He smirked as I rolled my eyes at him.

"Will do old man, will do." I said playfully as the elevator doors opened.

"Oh by the way, Terra and Saphron will be here in a few days." He finished just as the doors closed.