Weiss sat impatiently as she waited for Yang and Blake to clean themselves up. While the trip to her house had given her the chance to stock up on supplies, she had been ready for nearly an hour while her friends used what had to be all the hot water in Atlas. She guessed she couldn't really blame them though; even if she was itching to get back into the life of a huntress, she couldn't expect the girls who had trekked through the wilderness for a month to be so eager. She sat, staring at her ancestral home for another twenty minutes before she heard the soft footfalls of one of her teammates walking down the hall. Yang popped into view, still fluffing her refreshed mane.
"Blake still off showering somewhere?" Yang asked, noticing her missing teammate.
"I guess," Weiss replied, eyeing up Yang's new arm. It looked distinctly Atlesian. " Yang, where did you get that? As far as I know, the waiting list for even basic models can be months long. Yours looks military grade."
"Oh yeah!" Yang said pressing a discrete button on her arm, "Hey Penny, I'm outta the shower now. Sorry about that."
"It's no problem Yang!' Penny chirped as she booted up.
"Gah!" Weiss jumped up from her seat, recognizing the voice of the redhead they had met at Beacon. Rushing over to Yang, she began to examine the arm closely.
"Is there something I can help you with?" Penny asked cheerfully.
"Uhm," Weiss was incredibly confused. The last time she had seen Penny, she had been in a few different pieces. "Are you the real Penny?" She asked uncertainly.
"Of course! Why do you ask?"
"Erhm, well, last time I saw you. You were pretty well diced."
"Weiss!" Yang exclaimed, "don't be rude!"
"It's fine Yang. It's a perfectly legitimate question," Penny began to describe their unique situation to an increasingly incredulous Weiss. She poked and prodded at Penny as she continued to explain. Eventually Penny finished her monologue, much to Yang's relief.
"So the entirety of your old A.I is in here?"
"Indeed."
"Fascinating. How do you compensate for Yang's strength?"
"My father concocted a sort of free flow dampening gel to keep me intact. Actually, if we get the chance Yang, we should probably check in with him soon to make sure everything is operating effectively. I feel fine, but with all of these fights lately I would like to make sure that nothing has been damaged."
"That is exactly what we will do," Weiss answered for Yang, "I want to meet this man. You said he was still in Patch correct?"
"But that's the complete wrong way to Mistral!" Yang said angrily, "It'll add at least a week!" Weiss simply stared at Yang quizzically.
"Why would it take a week?"
"Patch is kinda out of the way Weiss," Yang said exasperatedly.
"Yang, do you think we're walking or something?"
"What else would we be doing?!" Realization hit Weiss like a lightning bolt, and she struggled to contain her laughter. She however failed as the sound of her private hoverjet landing roared through the house. Her laughter redoubled as Yang's face rapidly flipped from anger to confusion to realization.
"Sometimes I forget that the whole heiress thing is more than just a title," Yang mumbled as Weiss's laughter finally subsided.
"Oh you poor darlings," Weiss said as she wiped tears from her eyes."You thought you were going to be walking the whole way. You must have been so stressed!" She smiled at her sheepish friend.
"You know, " Yang said, looking thoughtful, "I don't think I've ever seen you this happy."
"Hmm, I suppose not. I guess I'm just happy to see you again."
"Well please stop it. It creeps me out." Weiss looked suitably taken affronted, her old air of annoyance returning.
"Duly noted, Yang. I -" she was cut off as Yang pulled her into a crushing embrace.
"I missed you too, Icequeen."
Penny's hologram shimmered as she dealt out the next hand. She had turned off the majority of her sensors for the sake of a fair game, but Weiss's tells were so obvious that Penny figured she could beat her without even using her basic facial scanners. The heiress was practically bouncing in her seat from whatever she had been dealt. Yang was a bit harder to read, but try as she might Penny could not not read her bio fluctuations. Yang had not even the slightest spike in signatures, so she probably had a fairly average hand. At least nothing as great as a pocket pair, and nothing too weak to make her angry. Blake was a complete enigma to Penny, her poker face was simply impeccable. Everyone anted up, and Penny revealed the river. As the hologram slowly shifted in place, Weiss remained upbeat and at the third card barely managed to contain a squeal. Penny weighed her options for a moment, looking intently at the two fives and ace. She eventually decided to let Weiss destroy herself.
"five," she said simply, pushing the lien to the center of their little table.
"I fold," Yang said testily, trying to throw the digital cards.
"Likewise," said Blake as the holograms dissolved in front of her. Weiss barely let Blake finish before responding.
"I raise you one hundred," she said excitedly, rushing to push the lien forward.
"I call," Penny responded. Yang choked a bit in shock.
"Uhm, Penny? That's a lot of my lien to be risking on one bet."
"Don't worry, Yang," Penny's voice echoed in her skull, " I've already won." Yang struggled to hold down a smile as she realised the implications. While she knew Penny would never cheat, she also knew that Penny was a bit better at calculating than the rest of them. If she was this confident, then there was certainly a reason.
"Yang! Don''t help her," Weiss puffed, ignorant to the silent half of their conversation.
"Right, Right. My bad. Next card, Penny?" With that, Penny revealed the fourth card. Weiss bet another fifty, which Penny quickly called. The fifth card was revealed, followed by another enormous bet by Weiss.
"Uhm, Penny?" Blake sounded worried, " You may want to cool it while you're ahead. You aren't going to have a lien to your name if you lose this." Penny's only response was to call Weiss's bet.
"Ha! Full House! I win," Weiss yelled in triumph as her cards spun to reveal two aces. She went to rake the pot to her side, but was stopped as a dagger stuck in the table in front of her hands. She looked in disbelief at Penny, who simply waited as her cards turned, revealing two fives.
"Four of a Kind, Weiss. Better luck next time," Yang said smugly, practically drooling as she raked the lien into her and Penny's money pouch. Weiss flopped dramatically back onto her couch-like seat and moaned in frustration.
"Why do you even have that stupid game?" She grumbled.
"Why not!" Penny said good naturedly. "Why Weiss, are you not having fun?" Yang tried to stifle her giggles as Weiss looked in disbelief at Penny.
"I - " whatever Weiss was going to say was cut off as the co-pilot stepped out of the cockpit.
"Miss Schnee," the pilot said respectfully, " We are approaching our destination."
"Thank you, Mr. Bartley." Weiss turned to her friends, motioning them to gather their things. Once the jet hover jet had landed, the group strode purposefully out and towards the Xiao Long estate. They walked calmly for a few moments when the tranquility of the residence was broken by a piercing scream. The girls broke into a run towards the sound, the shriek resonating from the backyard. None of them was quite ready to process what was in front of them.
"Sir, please! I can explain," came a terrified voice from inside the small mobile lab. Standing beside it was a tall blonde man, positively glowing with anger. He threw another punch, adding a sizable dent to a litany decorating the door of the lab.
"Oh you'll explain all right. I'm just gonna break a few things first. I find it keeps people honest," Taiyang called back through the door. "And if I find out you did anything to my little girl, I swear I won't stop there." His fist made contact with the door again. With a sharp shearing of metal, the door caved in.