"…didn't really think about impact."

"Is she…?"

"…breathing. I think she'll…"

"I can't believe that..."

"…better then it was supposed to. We… not completely…"

"Guys…waking up!"

"Ruby! Can you…? …something!"

Voices bounced around in Ruby's skull. They echoed and sounded mostly like gibberish.

Trying to open her eyes was one of the hardest things she's ever done; they felt like they were made of lead. Actually, Ruby's whole body felt like lead. What happened to her? Did she try to race a truck again and got hit... again?

"Did someone get the number of that truck?" She mumbled as she continued to try and open her eyes.

When her eyes finally did opened, three girls sat very close to her. They all had worried looks until Ruby started blinking and looking between them all. Now it was smiles all around.

"Come on, give her some space." Weiss said, using both of her arms to push the others back some.

Ruby tried to sit up, but she stopped when her head started spinning in circles.

"Easy there. Try taking it slow for once." Blake said.

Ruby took her advice, and tried sitting up more slowly; Her head still spun, but at least it was bearable. Once she was sitting up, the others had gotten back to their feet. Everyone was still smiles; except Ruby, who only rubbed the back of her head, feeling a killer headache coming on even now.

"So, did we get 'em?" She asked.

Blake nodded, Yang started rubbing her nose, and Weiss folded her arms and stepped aside so Ruby could see behind her.

"See for yourself."

The Death Stalker was a gruesome sight to behold. It still had ice encasing its legs and its left arm and pincer. Its tail and right arm were free, but lay limp. Blood slowly drained from the creature's tail and the many other wounds, and half of its face still looked raw and burnt from the Nova Shot. Crescent Thorn was impaled deep into one of the creature's eye. The impact had caused the armor around the eye to cave in, creating a pit of blood and bone. And starting from the pit, long and wide cracks flowed to the other side of the creature's body; exploding with blood, and leaving the creature drenched all around.

Ruby had seen plenty of dead Grimm before, but even this corpse made her wince a little. It was a disgusting, pitiful looking sight.

"Yeah." Yang said. "I think it's safe to say you got him."

Ruby looked up at Yang. A half smile crossed her lips as she raised a brow.

"Gee, you think?"

Then something uncomfortable happened. Both Yang and Blake reached a hand out to help Ruby up. They didn't even realize they'd both done it until it already happened. The two sharing an uncomfortable look before both looking at Ruby... and waiting.

Ruby wasn't sure how to handle it. What was going on? Were the two actually competing for her? No. What ridiculous theory. It had to be a coincidence, surely. Maybe it's just tension from earlier? They didn't exactly meet on good terms...

She looked between the two before trying to play it off with a smile. "How about instead of fighting, we bury this hatchet here." She reached up with both arms and grabbed both Yang and Blake's hands. Both helped her up.

When she was on her feet, Ruby dusted herself off and then proceeded to grab both of the teens's hands again; Yang's right hand and Blake's left. She put both hands in a handshake, then let go. She took a step back, happily looking between the two.

Both girls weren't sure what to say at first. They both just stood there, awkwardly holding hands and avoiding each other's gaze.

"Um… Sorry I tried to break your fucking skull in?" Yang said, rubbing the back of her head as a sweat drop formed.

Blake only raised a brow in response, though her face was still neutral. Meanwhile Weiss started to pinch the top of her nose, and Ruby fell flat on her face.

Yang's sweat drop continued to grow in size as Blake just kept holding that soul piecing gaze. Time seemed to even slow down in suspense.

But then, after a moment, Blake lowered her brow and a small smile formed. She started shaking Yang's hand.

"My name's Blake."

After a moment of brief surprise, Yang started to return the gesture. Her signature wide grin present.

"Solitaire Rose. But call me Yang."

When Yang and Blake let each other's hands go, Ruby let out a loud, "Woo-hoo!"

They both looked over, finding Ruby doing a little dance. "Everybody's friends now!" She said in singsong like voice. She even started bouncing in place, unable to contain her energy.

"Well, not quite." Yang said.

Ruby froze mid dance and even in mid air. Her eyes become white circles and the sound of mental glass shattering could be heard. "What?"

She suddenly disappeared into petals, reappearing right in Yang's face. "You're still going to take Blake in?!" She exclaimed in horror.

Yang pushed her sister back with one finger before continuing.

"No. I think I'll look the other way on this one." Yang sent a wink in Blake's direction. The Faunus girl giving an appreciative bow in return. "What I mean is, you haven't properly meet Weiss." Yang turned her head in the royal's direction. "Hey Weiss! Come on over…here?"

Weiss wasn't anywhere near the three. She had her back turned to them and was heading for one of the exits.

"Weiss! Where are you going!?" Yang shouted.

She stopped, calling back without even turning her head.

"Your sister's safe. An oath's an oath."

"I thought we both made an oath!"

Weiss started moving again. As she opened the door and slipped out, she called,

"I made an oath to you. You don't owe me anything."

And just like that, she was gone.

WWWWWWWW

Everything suddenly came into focus around Penny. She was in her usual barren steel room, attached by wires coming out of her back that connected to her dock.

That's odd. I received no commands to activate. She thought to herself.

Penny ran a quick scan of all her systems. Everything seemed to be functioning properly, and she confirmed she hadn't received any messages or virtual commands to activate.

Perhaps there's something wrong with the dock? Odd... Nothing has ever been wrong with it before.

She calculated what would be the most logical choice in this situation. If it was just a bug in the system, she could scan the dock and enter the dock systems to try and locate the problem. Or, she could try contacting one of the Blue Fairies and wait for one to show up.

To her, the most logical choice was to scan and enter the system herself. It'd be an easy fix, and it'd interesting to go into the system and not the other way around. Penny even started to wonder why she'd never thought of it before. Perhaps because no one had given her the command or idea to?

I'll just run a quick scan of the dock first. If it's a virus, I don't want to just jump in.

She began scanning. The dock was a recharge station, but it was also a connector for the Blue Fairies into Penny's systems. Though it also seemed to connect to something much bigger. Other signals seemed to be connecting with it. Signals that seemed to have similar data to... the dock.

Now I really want to see what's in there. There could be a bug running around to all these other docks. I'm not sure why there are other docks, but I'll find out soon enough.

"Action, denied." A voice only Penny could hear sounded.

"Huh?" Penny spoke out loud. Her training for surprise is really working well. It now tends to happen naturally whenever something confuses her.

"J.I.M.M.N.Y.? Why did you deny me? I'm not breaking any of the rules. I'm trying to help." She argued to her conscience. She tried accessing the dock's systems again, but J.I.M.M.N.Y. intervened once more.

"Action, denied. Final warning."

Well, now what? J.I.M.M.N.Y. gave final warning. If she tries again, it'll shut her down. And if Father finds out she was breaking the rules…

Maybe there's something wrong with J.I.M.M.N.Y.? I've never had to scan him before either. What's going on?

Suddenly the door started to lift up. People in white coats stepped in.

The coats had a shining star on the front, and on the back were printed fairy wings. They all wore masks that looked like a beautiful young lady, but their voices were distorted so Penny couldn't determine if they really were men or women. Then again she's not supposed to scan the Blue Fairies in the first place.

Two of the Fairies went behind the dock to examine something, while the other five approached Penny. They talked amongst themselves in a strange distorted speak that Penny couldn't translate even if she tried. It wasn't like any of the four kingdom's tongues or Common tongue. It was just distorted noise that somehow they understood.

So it was pointless to ever talk to them, but she might as well try.

"Excuse me. Do you know where my father is? I think there's something wrong and I'm really worried about him."

The Fairies in front of her stopped talking and stared at her for a moment. But they quickly went back to their conversation.

The Blue Fairies always scared Penny (though she would never tell anyone that). Sometimes they just didn't seem alive. They almost seemed…

Oh what's was the word? Artificial? Mechanical? Hm... Something like that...

Suddenly a surge ran through Penny, causing her vision and systems to scatter. Pain simulated though her. It felt like it was coming from the dock. What were they doing? Were they overcharging her?

"Stop! That hurts!" She yelled. Penny's voice came out very mechanical sounding; Her voice system not doubt malfunctioning. "Stop it! Ahh!"

Through her now static vision, Penny could see the Blue Fairies in front of her just staring at her. Soulless and unmoving, they watched as she suffered.

She didn't have time to think about it, or consult on her actions. Penny thought, knew, she was going to be terminated if she didn't do something. J.I.M.M.N.Y. was also out, so nothing would stop her.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Penny screamed. Her voice still very mechanical.

She charged forward. The wires connecting her and the dock snapped, and she collided with the cold hard floor. She was unable to move, though she could hear the Blue Fairies screaming and yelled at each other, clearly unpredicting this.

J.I.M.M.N.Y.? Is this just a memory? Please tell me this isn't real. Penny pleaded, her systems shutting down to reboot.

Status: highly damaged.

Emergency reboot started.

-Weapons systems, ONLINE

-Communications systems, OFFLINE

-Personality systems, ONLINE

-Sensory systems, ONLINE

-Subsystems, PARTIALLY ONLINE

-J.I.M.M.N.Y., OFFLINE

Reboot, complete.

Penny's vision and senses came back full force. She saw some of the Blue Fairies gathered around her. Some were banging on one of the walls, screaming. And one must be doing something to her, as she could feel hands trying to pry open her back and get into her internals.

Warning: hostile targets. Humans. Unarmed. All panicked [reference, heart rates and actions]. Point zero three percent chance of threat.

J.I.M.M.N.Y. moral program: "ERROR"

Nothing was stopping Penny. For the first time in her life... she could do whatever she wanted.

Combat mode, activate!

Penny's backpack made a pop like sound. For a tense moment, all the Blue Fairies stopped in place as they watched in horror as Penny's backpack opened wide, letting her signature blades out and letting them form into standard wing formation.

As Penny got back to her feet, the Blue Fairies all started to scream and scatter throughout the room. Not that it would help them.

Seven people had entered into product four's room.

...One left it.

WWWWWWWW

When she stepped outside, Weiss was immediately hit by the warm spring air. Fitting, considering today was the first official day of spring. The time for rebirth, warmth, and sending every kid back to school for their second semester.

Weiss had started to descend the stairs from Beacon's Tide, when she had just suddenly stopped. She was stuck there for awhile; suddenly unsure of what she was doing. Eventually she just took a seat and stared off up into the clouds.

"You know, usually when a team succeeds, they celebrate with each other."

Weiss jumped to her feet. She drew her rapier and aimed it at the sudden stranger sitting beside her. When did he show up?

"Who…who are thou?" She said with a stutter. Great. Perfect time for her shyness to kick back in. Didn't she just kill a giant scorpion monster not more then a minute ago?

The man just sat there silently and gazed up at the clouds, just like Weiss had been, unfazed by the weapon being pointed at him. The slight breeze made his gray hair dance and his scarf to flow behind him. His hands were occupied with cane in one hand, and a mug of coffee in the other.

"What a perfect day." The strange man said. "And to think, no one in this city was going to be able to enjoy it."

The stranger took a sip of his coffee, a sigh escaped his lips. He just continued to stare up at the clouds with those baggy eyes, completely ignoring Weiss.

Weiss felt that sudden rush of courage and anger she'd felt when facing that crowd at Wonderland, or when she had come face to face with Torchwick again. Or even when she was fighting that Death Stalker.

"Hey! Are you even listening to me? I said, who are you?"

The stranger's eyes jumped to Weiss. He set down his coffee to push in his glasses. A smile and a very light laugh passed through his lips.

"What is so funny!?" Weiss practically screamed. She was beyond tired, and in no mood to deal with... whatever this was.

"Oh, nothing. It's just interesting to finally meet both sides of you Miss Schnee."

Weiss lowered her blade a bit, confusion settled in. Followed by a throbbing in her head, all those fuzzy memories were starting to become clear again.

"Schnee. Weiss, Schnee." Weiss mumbled. She let the memories flow back naturally. Her head starting to hurt more and more with every passing second. "I'm…Princess… Weiss… Schnee."

"Long live the Queen."

Weiss dropped Myrtenaster, the blade tumbling down the steps with loud clanks. She clutched her head as his voice continued to call out. The pain was unbearable.

The stranger had gotten to his feet. He held on to Weiss, making sure she wouldn't fall.

"The injuries must be worse then Goodwitch predicted. You'll need to have someone examine you." The stranger said.

"Hey!" A familiar child's voice called.

Weiss looked up to the top of the stairs. Ruby, Blake, and Yang stood at the doorway.

"Let her go!" Yang called out, fists at the ready. "I made an oath to that girl! I promised to protect her and that's what I'm going to do! I look out for my friends!"

Through the constant and unbearable pain, Weiss felt something deep down. They were, friends? But they all barely knew each other. They were just working together... right?

"Three things change a person Snow Angel. And battle is one of them."

"Shut up! Leave me alone!" Weiss yelled, trying to break free of the stranger's hold. Her head pulsed with pain as fast as her heart beated in her chest.

Ubove, Yang's fists lowered for a moment, a sign of hurt crossing her face. But in less then a moment, she shrugged off the hesitation and raised them again.

"Wait a minute, don't we know that guy?" said Blake.

Ruby's eyes widened in realization.

"You're that guy from Upon a Time!" She exclaimed.

The strange man that had brought them all together didn't acknowledge the call out. He was busy gently helping Weiss down the steps.

"Hey! Don't you know it's rude to ignore people?" Ruby yelled. "And where do you think you're going with the Princess?!"

Ruby started to run down the stairs after them, with Blake following close. Yang also started to follow when she paused.

"Wait. WHAT! I've been running around with Princess Schnee!?"

And just like that, everything made sense. The fancy outfit and weapon, Torchwick, the knights. Everything made sense now. Weiss wasn't just rich. She owned rich like an accessory!

As Yang ran to catch up to the others, she yelled, "I can't believe I was running around with royalty. How long have you two known?"

"Since I saw her." "When you were going to kill me." Both girls answered at the same time.

Why am I always the last one to catch on? Man, and it was right in my face too. Talk about a royal blunder. Yang thought to herself.

WWWWWWW

"…How bad?"

"Product four killed the seven technicians we believe were the spies. Honestly we've always suspected we had moles for awhile, but that was just always a rumor. I mean, my God Dr. G... I knew these people, I would have never have suspected..."

The doctor broke off from something sitting in the middle of the room to stare into his personal assistant's eyes. The two were sitting in the doctor's personal work room. It was dark; the only source of light coming from a single desk lamp next to them.

"Anything else?" The doctor asked.

His assistant sighed and started to rub his eyes. "After it escaped, it started tearing through the building. It didn't kill anyone else, until some idiot called a security team down. They didn't last more than ten seconds. Eventually product four had trapped itself in the combat training room."

"And that's when she saw Nickel?"

"Yeah…That's when she saw product three." The assistant corrected.

The assistant's eyes then drifted toward the center of the room. Four figures stood attached to docks. Two were covered by large veils, while the other two were clearly visible.

They both looked identical to each other. Same kind of clothes, the same hair style, and the same facial features plagued both of them; they both even had that same pink bow attached to their heads. The difference came from their distinctive product differences. Product four has red hair, with a green color code. Meanwhile product three has blond hair, and her color code is a dark blue.

Even their preferred personalities differed. Because of the AI they use, they'll react and act differently to each other. Product three is more calculating, cold, and factual. She likes to take things as they are and focus on a strait forward solution to the task at hand. Meanwhile product four…well…

The assistant shook away the thought, focusing back to Dr.G. "Luckily I was on hand, and I activated the mini EMP in the room before anything transpired."

Dr. G put down his glasses down on his desk, and began to massage his forehead.

"Well that's a relief. All that's left to do now is delete their memories and patch up any damage to Penny."

The assistant suddenly jumped up to his feet, and his voice rose to a shout. "Are you kidding me? People are dead doctor! I told you what would happen if the moral program were to ever go offline, and now it's happened. You were wrong."

The doctor just stared up at his assistant, not bothered by the enraged youth as he ranted on.

"We may have created the greatest artificial intelligence we've ever seen, but it still acted like any other AK droid would've. Like any of our fighting machines. It killed without second thought, and with no mercy. You said, with a greater intelligence and training, we'd create something practically human. But all today has proven-"

"All today has proven," The doctor interrupted. "is that we have Mistral spies in our ranks. If anything, Penny-"

"Product four." The assistant angrily corrected again.

"Penny, acted like any other person would have. How would you act when people you knew were trying to murder you?"

"That's not the point!" The assistant started to argue.

"Oh yes it is! The point is, that obviously they wanted Penny. I mean if they wanted they just wanted any of the girls, why didn't they go for Dime? Or Quarter? They were unguarded, and are at least two years older than Penny; Showing greater intelligence and skill in combat."

The assistant sat back down in his chair, leaning back. Fighting with the doctor was pointless. He was too prideful and too stubborn to even consider the possibility he could be wrong.

"I don't know doctor. Maybe it's because we're still working out their quirks? You know, those dangerous and hindering quirks that just help my case?"

"Hmph. Boy, you are driving my patience!" The doctor scolded. He took a deep breath, put back on his glasses, and started calmly, "I think they wanted Penny because she's different from the rest."

"What? Are you talking about the phantom memories? I hardly call that different. It's just some strange bug we haven't fixed yet."

"The memories, and a feature I haven't seen in the others. Curiosity. I've never seen any of the other girls ask so many questions, or wonder about things, or even strive to know more. She takes all her training, and applies it to herself constantly."

"I hardly call failing tests constantly something to be proud of."

"But she tries. Every morning she's excited to learn and to try."

The assistant threw his arms in the air in exasperation. "Do you hear yourself? They're simulating those emotions! But here you are acting, like they actually feel! I think you've forgot what the whole damn point of this project is. You said it yourself: it's an illusion to fool people!"

An clock alarm went off by the doctor. He turned in his chair, turning off the alarm. He also checked the time, and then spun back around to his assistant.

"We'll finish this conversation another time. For now, we need to decide which one to send out on the mission."

Dr. G stood up and started walking to the door.

"Gee, I'll take three guesses as to which one you want." His assistant said sarcastically.

The doctor opened the door and called as he stepped out, "I'll brief her myself. Call me when she's ready to move out."

WWWWWWWW

Whoever this stranger was, he sure was fast. By the time the three girls were down the stairs and rounded the corner, the stranger had just vanished. Again.

"Where'd he go?" Yang asked.

Ruby turned to Blake. "Blake, can you track him?"

Blake nodded, and began searching for a scent. Strangely she couldn't find the stranger's scent, but she could smell Weiss's.

"This way!" She pointed down the street and into an alley, and the three teens rushed onward.

Ruby, Blake, and Yang followed Weiss's scent into a somewhat hidden maintenance door back into Beacon's Tide. Only this entrance lead deep underground and into a maze of tunnels with no light. Thankfully they were able to find a decent size stick and used some of Yang's bandaging to make an impromptu torch.

They followed Weiss's scent through multiple twists and turns of tunnels, sometimes feeling like they were going backwards and in even circles. Both Yang and Blake had their weapons at the ready, expecting anything to pop out around the corner. Meanwhile Ruby was in-between them, weaponless. (Poor Crescent Rose!)

"What do you think these tunnels are for?" Yang asked, in the back with the torch. Blake was leading, both to track and because she could see in pure darkness anyway.

"I think these are some kind of elaborate shelter or escape routes. Perhaps if Beacon needed to hide students for some reason, they set up hideaways like these in all their recruitment centers." Ruby explained. "Signal does something like that. Though theirs are more like shelters than anything else, and much less convoluted."

"Uh-huh" Yang responded, half listening. She kept nervously looking left and right of her feet, swearing she just saw a rat scurry by. She'd have to be super careful not to scream if she did see one.

"Hey Blake?" She called.

"Hm?" Blake responded, not stopping.

"Do you smell any rats in these tunnels?" Yang said, fearing the answer.

"No." Blake answered flatly. Yang could feel a sigh of relief escape.

"But, I do smell plenty of their feces on the ground." She finished. Her smirk hidden by the darkness.

Yang's entire being went into a shade of dark green and a sweat drop formed.

"Oh my God. I've been walking in rat crap." She said in a squeaky voice.

Ruby started to laugh at her sister's expense when she was interrupted. Blake had suddenly stopped and had risen up a fist. The others understood, and went silent. Meanwhile Blake just stared down the long hallway they were now in, her bow twitching.

After a tense moment, Blake motioned to move up. She started moving forward, now with a slight crouch and making little to no sound. Ruby followed as best she could. As did Yang after she snuffed out the torch by hand.

After moving down the long hallway in the dark, the three teens managed to make out a light at the end of the tunnel. They could also hear what sounded like many different voices, and the sounds of some kind of loud machine (probably what Blake was hearing earlier). They also could make out someone sitting and leaning against the wall at the archway of the tunnel. A feminine figure according to Blake.

Is it Weiss? Yang asked in hand signals.

Blake must know military signs, because she answered back: Can't tell. Too many smells.

Plan? Yang asked back.

"What are you guys saying?" Ruby said a little too loudly. This caused both her sister and new friend to quickly cover Ruby's mouth and shush her.

All three girls slowly turned their heads, hands still on Ruby's mouth, to the light and figure. She hadn't moved, and the sounds of work still filled the air.

Both girls slowly removed their hands from Ruby's mouth and huddled close together.

"I don't have a plan." Blake whispered. "I was never the plan and lead type. Honestly, I was just thinking we get close and see who that is. If it's Weiss, we run for it."

"And if not, then we fight our way through and find her." Yang finished.

"Like you stand a chance against us." A loud and confident voice called out.

WWWWWWWW

"I'm sorry, but Roman isn't here right now. And I'm begging you to reconsider." She pleaded into the phone.

"No way! Bad enough Roman's too big of a coward to face me, but I've had it up to HERE with being double crossed." A gruff, angry voice answered back.

"No one double crossed you sir. We've just been having some setbacks."

"Setbacks? SETBACKS?! I got thrown in jail, half of my best boys are still in prison, one of my finest establishments is in ruins, and my niece was nearly killed this morning! And you call those setbacks!?"

"Look, we've had some problems of our own. Just give us some time and we can still work something out. You'll get your artifacts back no matter what, and we can still get you your weapons."

"Bullshit! You told me you didn't find what you were looking for, yet I haven't seen or heard anything about my stuff being returned. And this was never about the weapons was it?"

"I don't know-"

"Stuff it Stocking! I got wind of what you White Fang freaks were doing. You were just going to kill us off like everyone else, and I almost helped pull the trigger! You know what? I'm actually glad that blonde bimbo showed up before I had the whole city's blood on my hands!"

"Junior, please calm down. I can explain everything."

"Save it. And tell that bitch you call your boss to go to hell. I don't want to be a part of this anymore. Consider yourselves all enemies of the Xiong family from now on!"

The line went dead, and Pippi was left in silence.

"I'm guessing you don't have good news for us?" Gubben asked.

Pippi turned to her friends. They were all (mostly) back together again, waiting in their temporary sleeping quarters. Though none of them looked well or excited by this fact.

Tommy and his sister were still in infirmary, Nilsson had bandages all around his head, and Gubben just looked exhausted. Really Pippi was the only one that could be considered, "presentable".

"No." She mumbled. "Junior's out."

Nilson threw his arms in the air. "Great! That's just perfect!" His speech was starting to come out as half ape screeches. "We blew our first job when it mattered most, and now we lost Xiong! Just Perfect! They're going to blame us for all this, I know it. We, are going, to die!"

"Will you get a hold of yourself? We are not going to die." Gubben said coolly.

Nilson jumped in front of Gubben, grabbing him by the collar of his suit as he screeched at him.

"How can you stay so calm? We got our asses kicked! And if Torchwick doesn't kill us, he'll throw us into the White Fang! Or worse, he'll send us to the boss!"

Nilson wasn't acting rational, and Gubben could be seen subtly reaching for his glaive behind him. If Pippi didn't do something, a fight was going to break out.

What's happened to us? She thought depressingly.

"Knock it off!" Pippi ordered.

Nilson threw her a glare before backing off from Gubben.

"Now look, freaking out isn't going to solve anything. We just need to figure out what we're going to tell Roman. We might not even have to worry. Maybe things have started to pick up and he'll be in a good mood."

As soon as she said those words, a soft tap came from the door. Pippi eyes shrunk to the size of marbles as she turned her head to the left. And what she saw made her freeze and unable to breathe.

The only light in the room was coming from a window, so the hallway was left in complete darkness. But in that darkness, bright amber eyes shined. Snake eyes that could probably terrify even Grimm with just one look.

She let her tongue flicker before speaking.

"I think Roman is the least of your problems." She said in a deceivingly seductive voice.

Pippi was trying to summon the courage to speak, praying that the smell of fear wasn't as overwhelming as she felt. Meanwhile Gubben had gotten to his knees and bowed low to the floor, not daring to raise his head. And Nilson? He had leaped away and was currently cowering behind his bed, desperately hoping he hadn't been seen.

"H-h-h-ello-o-o-o Cam-m-m-m-mand-d-d-der." Pippi stuttered.

The commander stepped into the room, revealing herself. She looked to be about twenty six. She was tall, ranging to about six feet. Her raven black hair was long, going into a single pony tail that touched the middle of her back. Her clothes consisted of a sleeveless white shirt that showed some midriff, a black jacket with sleeves that stopped at her biceps, and sky blue shorts that stopped at her kneecaps. She notably wore no shoes, and her skin was a heavy tan.

She was a beautiful woman no doubt. But what clashed with it all were those snake eyes, her thinner and longer tongue, and a disturbing feature of her skin. Starting from the left side of her neck, were reptilian scales. They continued on unseen under her clothes until they were revealed almost completely covering her left arm. They stretched further down, showing back up near her left knee and leg. And they even showed on the side, and part of the back, of the revealed midriff.

"Oh dearie, you don't have to be so formal with me." She approached Pippi and leaned forward, cupping Pippi's face and squeezing a bit too tightly. "I'm not your commander. Yet." She whispered that last word.

Come on Pips, show some back bone! Pippi tried to encourage herself.

When the commander let go, Pippi tried to stand up straighter and talk with more confidence.

"What brings you here commander Jasz? I thought you were leading an operation in Vacuo?"

"Oh I was." She said as she paced around Gubben, looking at him with an amused expression. "But I got called away. Our glorious leader wanted me to represent him at this sudden meeting. I got to hear from the witch herself about the botched plan."

She lost interest in Gubben, moving on to "searching" around for Nilson. But it was obvious she was just toying with him.

"What a waste of resources. And after months of planning, we didn't even make it past stage one." She let loose an overdramatic sigh. "Oh well, there's always plan B."

She stopped right before Nilson's bed, and just waited. Pippi could hear Nilson breathing heavy, failing to cover it. And she would've bet even a human could smell his obvious fear.

"Commander Jasz?" Pippi said, trying to spare her friend.

"Hm?" She responded without turning. She just continued to stand over Nilson's bed, waiting in anticipation to pounce.

"What do you want?" Pippi asked bluntly.

"Many things girly. Many things." Jasz moved on from Nilson, coming back to Pippi and leaning in close to Pippi's face. A bit… too close.

"But right now," She said with a flicker of the tongue that touched Pippi's cheek, making her skin crawl. "I came to fetch, you. The witch wants to see you."