"-it Summers! I thought we were past this crap!" Annette growled at Ruby as she checked the stitches on Ruby's side.
"Sorry, he was a bit tougher than I thought he was." Ruby mumbled weakly. Annette shook her head at Ruby's explanation.
"Ironwood trusted you with this mission," Annette finally said, "with him gone no one is going to pick it up if you die, I practically sacrificed my career to see this through, because I trust him and I trust you." She turned to glare at Ruby in the eye, "if you die on me, that's it. My entire career as a pilot amounted to nothing."
Ruby wasn't sure how to respond to the pilot, her usual banter and snarkiness was gone at that moment.
"Let me know when you decide where you want to fly next." Annette said as she turned and walked out of their small apartment in Junior's club. Leaving Ruby alone with her thoughts. At least until she heard Penny's earpiece vibrate.
Slowly Ruby reached over and picked up the earpiece.
"Penny what's going on?" Ruby asked.
"My father would like to talk to you." Ruby froze at those words. She had never met Penny's father but she knew he was a rather highly ranked Atlesian scientist, well connected to the Atlesian military, the same people hunting her.
"Did he say what he wanted?" Ruby asked hesitantly.
"Oh! He sent a message! Should I play it for you?" Penny said.
"Yes please." Ruby said, no sooner had she said it than she heard a different voice filter through the earpiece.
"Greetings Miss Rose." The new voice said, hearing her true name froze the blood in Ruby's veins. "My name is Pietro Polendina, I am Penny's creator, her father if you will. I have heard some about your situation and would like to meet with you about it. I maintain a small clinic in Mantle, please do pay me a visit."
Ruby shot out of her seat, heedless of the fresh bandages, and rushed to catch her pilot in the hallway.
"Annette prep the ship!" She called out.
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Ozpin sat quietly and tried to focus on the paperwork he had sitting before him. Tried being the operative word.
"Mr. Cobe if you could please stop tapping your foot I would appreciate it." Ozpin finally said.
"Huh? Oh! Sorry Professor." The Atlesian Lieutenant answered. The room was quiet for a good while longer until the steady drum of fingers on an armchair began.
"Lieutenant, if you are feeling restless I am sure I will be secure here in my own office." Ozpin said. The lieutenant shook his head.
"A target is easiest to get at when they are alone, or in a crowd." Cobe answered, "Summers is more than capable of getting up here unnoticed." Ozpin took notice of an odd tone to Cobe's voice.
"You sound like you hold her in high esteem." Ozpin commented.
"I do." Cobe said almost absent mindedly, "don't get me wrong. I don't like traitors and I will do everything in my power to catch her, but yeah I admire her."
"Why?" Ozpin asked.
"She was a spy that reported directly to Ironwood even before InOps existed, you could say our entire agency was created in an attempt to emulate her," Cobe said, "she's a ghost, even within our agency we can't pin down a single description of her, every time we saw her she looked like someone else."
"Interesting, how do you know that it was the same person?" Ozpin asked, actually intrigued, knowing what he now knew.
"We don't, not for sure." Cobe said, "there are actually theories that she was an entire other agency, they argue that one person alone can't be capable of what she has done, but I don't believe them."
"Why not?" Ozpin asked.
"I met her three times, each time her mannerisms and voice were the same." Cobe said, "and, well… nevermind"
"Go on." Ozpin tried to coax.
"Well, you know how they say the eyes are the window to the soul?" Ozpin nodded, "her eye showed a person who could have done much more than simply wiped the White Fang out of Atlas single handed."
"Interesting." Ozpin commented, his thoughts were pulled away when he felt his scroll ringing. He quickly pulled it out and checked the caller ID. Blake Belladonna. "I must apologize Mr. Cobe but this is one of those private matters that I must insist you not be present for."
"O-oh, I'll uh, be just outside the door then" Cobe said as he walked out. The man was friendly and rather socially awkward, though that could have been an act.
Shaking his head Ozpin answered his scroll.
"Hello?" He said.
"Hiya, Prof!" The boisterous voice of Yang Xiao Long answered,
"Yang!" Weiss's voice came through.
"Professor are we able to talk right now?" Blake asked.
"Yes, my shadow has stepped out for now. Feel free to talk." Ozpin answered.
"We found something." Weiss answered.
"She's got her own airship!" Yang said,
"Or at least one that's working with her." Blake said, "ATS/R7-18X is the name of our suspect airship."
"Interesting." Ozpin said, "why don't you check the registry on other airdocks in the kingdoms? See if you can find some sort of pattern?"
"Will do, Professor" Blake answered, before hanging up. Ozpin sighed, It was good news of course, but he had a feeling it wasn't going to be as simple as it sounded to find Ruby's airship.
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Annette sighed as she pressed the button on her console that Ruby knew changed their ID so that the airship couldn't be tracked. It was one of the few things Ruby could see from her position in the back. Annette had strapped her in bed and told her to rest her injury, she also said that if Ruby undid the straps she would padlock them down. Despite this Ruby found it difficult to fall asleep, thinking about what she was going to encounter when she got back to Atlas.
Penny said that Dr. Polendina was trustworthy, but as her creator he had to be able to control her in some way right? Was she walking into a trap? Was there anything she could do if it was?
The man knew her real name. He hadn't done anything with it yet but it still unnerved Ruby.
"Well if you're not going to get some sleep you can at least tell me why we had to rush to Atlas even while you are injured?" Annette said after a bit, jolting Ruby from her thoughts.
"Penny's creator sent me a message and he wants to meet." Ruby answered.
"And you're going?!" Annette nearly spun in her chair to give Ruby an incredulous look, "Summers he's got to be pretty high up in the Atlesian military, y'know the guys currently hunting us? What could possibly make you decide to go with this?"
"He… he knows my real name." Ruby said after a bit of hesitation.
"Oh." Was all Annette could say. The two sat in silence for a bit before Annette spoke again. "I kinda figured Scarlette Summers was an alias, no way would you be so willing to give out your name if it wasn't, considering the work that you do." Annette said, "we've just been working together for so long I hadn't thought about it in a while I guess." Annette sighed, "if this is a trap you'll need every bit you can spare try and get some sleep." Ruby nodded and tried to get some sleep. She was woken up when she felt the airship touch down in Mantle.
"Be careful out there Summers." Annette said as Ruby undid the straps and got out of the airship. Ruby gave a nod in response before walking into the main concourse. She hadn't worn a disguise this time, there wasn't much point. Sure her silver eye was distinctive, but with the amount of disguises she had worn it wasn't anymore distinctive than anything else she could have worn. Also if Doctor Polendina was expecting Ruby Rose it might be in her best interest to show up as Ruby Rose. So as Ruby slung her favorite cloak over her shoulders she headed into the main concourse. it was busy and certainly not as upscale as any of the ones in Atlas, but it would serve well enough to keep her from standing out. As she looked over the crowd she noticed a sign saying 'PENNY' on it. She moved towards the sign and got a good look at the person or rather persons holding it.
"Do you think she'll come today?" Asked the red haired fox Faunus.
"The doc didn't say, he just said she'd be arriving at some point and would recognize the sign." The much taller grey haired human answered. They were both young, probably around Yang's age now, and they were both fighters. That much was clear by the sword that hung from the fox Faunus's belt. They weren't military, too at ease for that, furthermore they didn't constantly scan the crowd for threats.
'Huntsmen' Ruby thought. She slowly made her way up behind them.
"Who're you waiting for?" She asked when she was right behind them, causing them both to jump.
"Uh, er, well, that is-" The taller one tried to say.
"Geez, finish a sentence dude." Ruby said.
"Sorry you startled us." The Faunus stepped in, "our employer sent us to escort his daughter to him."
"Was your employer Dr. Polendina?" Ruby asked.
"How-?" The taller one said.
"You're her aren't you?" The Faunus said, "you're Penny?" Ruby considered a moment, they had been sent for Penny, who was a weapon hung from her belt. It might have been an oversight on Dr. Polendina's part, or a stroke of genius.
"Yes." Ruby answered.
"The doctor said you were in danger." The taller one said. Ruby tilted her head.
"Only if I am discovered." She said.
"Well let's get you to the doctor then." The Faunus said, "I'm Reuben, this is my brother Guhn."
"Penny Polendina." Ruby said as she shook their hands.
"C'mon we've got a car out front." Guhn said as he started towards the exit.
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Reg sighed as he looked over the reports on his desk. He reached for his coffee only to find it empty, again. He was contemplating the merits of a seventh cup of coffee when his scroll terminal sparked to life with a call. Reg answered as soon as he saw the caller ID.
"General Adelram, what can I do for you?" He said quickly.
"I'm just calling to get an update Major, how's the hunt going?" The general asked.
"Poorly." Reg answered, "the more I have my men scour Vacou the more I believe it was a red herring to begin with."
"That's unfortunate." Adelram said, "we need to find her before she strikes again."
"On that note the security teams for both the Valean and Vacuean headmasters are in place, although Ozpin seems convinced that we are chasing the wrong person." Reg said.
"Really why?" Adelram asked.
"He's sighting her presence at Beacon shortly before her attack on the late General Ironwood." Reg answered, "he pointed out that he should be dead too if she is the culprit."
"Interesting do you think he could have been behind her turning?" The General asked.
"Doubtful, I spoke with headmistress Schnee about him and she said that Ironwood trusted Ozpin explicitly," Reg answered, "even to the point where Ironwood would send her away for many of their discussions. It does however make me reconsider another theory."
"And what's that?" The General prompted.
"That Scarlette Summers is not a person at all, but rather an agency of people." Reg answered, "what we could be dealing with is a civil war within an agency."
"So what? While one of the loyal Scarlette Summers was finishing her mission with Ozpin?"
"A disloyal one was plotting to kill the General." Reg finished, "Col. Schnee did say that Ironwood met Summers at the dock and immediately sent her off on another mission."
"The same one that you found her on, correct?" The General asked.
"Yes at the time she did seem to believe we were on the same side, but refused to surrender when I tried to arrest her." Reg answered, "at first I thought it was because she didn't believe she had been discovered, but…"
"Now you think it might have been that she didn't know what her fellow agent had done."
"It's a distinct possibility."
"It seems you've had a while to think about this," The general paused, "Also you don't look too well, did you sleep at the office?"
"Sleep?" Reg said as he looked at the clock, it read 0800. "Oh, crap." almost as if on cue his personal scroll rang with the caller ID telling him it was his wife.
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Ruby felt a pair of eyes drift onto her again. It was actually getting annoying at this point.
"Yes?" she finally asked the red haired fox faunus, who jolted back in surprise.
"S-sorry, it's just…" He paused, "Have I met you somewhere before? You look really familiar." Reuben asked.
"No." Was all Ruby answered with, thought now she was curious. Had she met this guy somewhere before? She didn't recognize him from the Redemption Corps so that couldn't have been it. Was he former White Fang? No, she had pretty much wiped out the Atlesian White Fang chapter including all of their members who could stand at a huntsman level. Huntsman?
"What academy did you attend?" she finally asked.
"Beacon, we graduated last year." Guhn answered.
"Is that where I know you from?" Reuben asked, "did you go to Beacon"
"She's younger than us, she'd still be going if that was the case." Guhn admonished.
"I've visited a few times, but never attended." Ruby answered. It was technically true, Penny had visited a few times but she was a student of Atlas, back when she was a student.
"We're here,'' Guhn called from the driver's seat. Ruby turned to look outside the window to see a small building with the word 'clinic' glowing in neon from a window. Overall it was not a shop that screamed 'head of Atlesian robotics right here!' Ruby found herself once again revisiting the idea that perhaps this had been a trap all along. She sighed and schooled herself. It made sense that the doctor wouldn't want her to appear in Atlas, it was too much of a risk, he probably rented out the small clinic to be able to meet in secret. Even if it was a trap, she would deal with it.
Guhn parked the car and the three of them got out and walked to the small clinic. As they walked Ruby could tell that their attention was on their surroundings rather than her. It at least meant that they were serious about being her bodyguards, comforting because it meant that they at least were not part of any ambush that may or may not have been set. At the same time it was disconcerting, if for no other reason than it was unusual, the only people who had ever seen an actual need to protect her had been her own family and her partner once upon a time.
Upon entering the clinic Ruby was surprised with how quaint it looked. Rustic wood paneling covered the walls, which were decorated with various pictures, trinkets and bookshelves.
"Doctor!" Guhn called out.
"Oh-OH! One moment please." Ruby heard a voice from the back say. Penny confirmed through her comlink that it was the voice of her 'father.' Soon enough a young bear faunus with a cybernetic arm and an older man came out from the back.
"Now be more careful, Lily, I love seeing you but I don't like you getting hurt." the older man said.
"Thank you Doctor. I'll do my best!" the girl waved to them as she skipped by. Ruby nodded to her then turned towards the Doctor.
"Hello Ms. Rose"
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A/N: finally done! Seriously though this has taken me a while to get done. Business has been crazy since the whole Coronavirus thing has started. Anyways hope you guys enjoy this one. Some of you may recognize at least one of the OCs I introduced in this chapter if not just understand they may be recurring characters in some of my other fanfictions as well.