Hey guys! RGQC back here with another chapter for all of you to enjoy! And a happy new year! First of all, what are your thoughts on Alpha's new frame on the CN servers? What do I think about it? Well, it is about time, and she looks so cool! She is definitely Vergil's daughter with that Ōdachi at this point! (Even more, thanks to Alpha sitting on a chair emote.)

Enough about me. Let's get to the comments! And we have a few to address!

Zekken182: I agree! The amount of content released on the CN servers excited me for it once it came to global. However, that might take a year and a half. Yup. It was eventually going to be evident with the hints. Glad it worked out.

Williamni123456789: Yup! That is precisely what I was going for, in fact. I wanted to show Luna's mindset, which is somewhat the opposite of her sister's. This personality of hers will change once she discovers Lucia's origins. And no. No one's getting replaced. The Brothers were referring to Lucia as she is the brother's replacement for Dr Kurt. All aboard the Lucia hype train! Choo! Choo!

Gadget boy: Yea… Atlas is not a perfect place. Racial discrimination as well as class tensions. But the same can be said with the other kingdoms. None of them are perfect kingdoms. All of them have their problems to deal with. Well, here is an entire chapter for you! Enjoy!

SolSparda369: Happy new year! Oh, you better be excited about what I have planned. It shall be good!

CrazyHappyRuby: Glad you enjoyed my fic, and here's the next chapter! As for your question about whether Lucia would join Luna if she leaves Atlas. It depends. If the sisters are unaware of their origins, a fight will break out between them. I don't believe Atlas would allow one of their androids to leave like that. And Lucia would work with them.

If they know each other well… Conflicting Loyalties would affect Lucia's decision, especially if Luna has good reasons to leave. She might side with her sister or, at best, try to convince her not to abandon humanity just yet. As for whether I would add Alpha's new frame into the story? It's a maybe. And yes. She hot.

Triscythe59: And I wish you a happy new year as well!

One more thing, for those wondering where's the next chapter on the 1st of Jan, frankly, I don't know what happened, but apparently, it is considered an update for getting rid of a chapter (I removed the Author's notes as I make the story feel cluttered.). Not sure why but this should clear the confusion away.

And we're done with the comments. So, let's get this show on the word.

Like always, I do not own any of RWBY or their content. They all belong to their respective owners. Nor do I own any content belonging to Kuro Technology and their series Punishing Gray Raven.

Lucia POV

Hours have passed since I presented my skills to the students of Beacon. That also includes the likes of team RWBY and JNPR. At the moment, I found myself back in Ozpin's office alone as we discussed some details of my stay in Beacon. Ironwood wasn't present as he had already departed back to Atlas for work which I have no business knowing yet.

Across Ozpin's table, I sat stone still with optics, following the headmaster of Beacon as he poured himself a mug of hot chocolate. I always thought that the drink in his cup was coffee. It turns out to be hot chocolate instead. Frankly, it has been months since I had anything to eat.

The next few days might be an excellent opportunity to test this body's ability to consume food.

I watched as Ozpin sat back on his chair before he spoke to me. "Ms Lucia, how would you describe your first experience in Professor Port's class?" He asked me. I won't deny I sort of expected Ozpin to ask that kind of question.

Honestly, though, I still wonder how Professor Port's stories are supposed to teach everyone Grimm Studies. To be frank with everyone, including myself, his self-absorbed traits affect my ratings of him. If only he had taken his lessons more seriously and lectured his students about the Grimm instead of telling stories and boasting about his feats. Calculations have concluded that there is a high percentage of exaggeration involved. Then I would like him more and not have my doubts.

"It is engaging to be in a different atmosphere compared to the silent ruins of Mount Glenn or the sounds of machinery in Atlas. Beacon feels alive compared to the environments I have been through." I described my thoughts before a slight frown appeared on my face. "However, Professor Peter Port has shown to be more interested in sharing his stories instead of taking his role seriously to teach his students in Grimm studies."

Was it blunt? Yes. It was. Yet Ozpin doesn't seem bothered about my brutal honesty about his professor. In fact, Ozpin appears to be more intrigued at how constructive my answer was according to my optics reading his expressions.

"How interesting…" Ozpin muttered as his eyes met mine. Before Ozpin or I could say anything else, we heard a ding from the elevator before it opened up to reveal team RWBY walking it.

Upon witnessing team RWBY, in a second, I disabled my emotion suppressors as both Ozpin and I stood up from our seats to greet our newly arrived guests.

[Emotion suppressors disabled.]

My stern expression faded and became softer as Ozpin spoke to welcome his students. "Thank you for coming, team RWBY. How was your dinner?" Ozpin asked as Weiss was the first to respond.

"It was satisfactory, headmaster Ozpin."

"Uh, yea! What Weiss said." Ruby was next before Yang took over.

"So, headmaster Ozpin, what did you call us after dinner for?" Yang earned a glare from Weiss.

"Show some respect to Headmaster Ozpin! Yang." But before Yang could retort, Ozpin raised his hand as he chuckled at his student's banter.

As for me, I just watched as team RWBY noticed me. "Oh! Its Lucia! Hello!" Ruby gave a bright smile as she waved enthusiastically at me. "What are you doing here?" She asked as Ozpin took back the conversation.

"I believe Professor Goodwitch had mentioned it before, but just in case, I'll explain it again," Ozpin said as he looked at me. "Lucia will stay with us for a couple of days before she returns to Atlas. Until then, I wish to request that all four of you are to be Lucia's guide during her time in Beacon and Vale. So do spend the weekend getting to know her."

As Ozpin explained his request to team RWBY, I could see from their faces that they weren't expecting to become my guide. I saw it coming a long way despite it being difficult to read what Ozpin thinks. Thankfully it is way easier to read team RWBY's expression.

Ruby was ecstatic to have another potential friend to hang out with besides her team and JNPR. It is strange, though. She mentioned that she had friends still in Signal academy, yet throughout the entire story, we never hear anything from them. It might be Ruby making it up or she had forgotten about them. Unlikely as it is, it's still food for thought.

Weiss was giving me a strange look. Data indicates from her facial expressions that she was still surprised to see another person from Atlas here. Another thing of note was a hint of enthusiasm. How strange coming from Vol 1 Weiss.

Yang was much easier to gather what was going on in her thoughts. She was undoubtedly amazed, as did everyone else, with my skill with Benizakura during my demonstration. If my memories and data from Father are accurate as they are, Vol 1 Yang is known to be emotional. Especially if she gets frustrated or lets her anger blinds her.

[There is an 89.3652% chance of Yang Xiao Long challenging Lucia Alpha in a spar in the next three days in Vale.]

[Yang Xiao Long's likeness to beat Alpha in a spar.]

[0%]

Ooof. Though that's to be expected. But it is the trying that count and learning from it. Who knows, she might surprise me.

Now for Blake Belladonna. Readings indicate caution and a hint of fear. I guess it makes sense… How I was made to fight must have heavily reminded her of her awful Ex. I remembered it like it was yesterday when people first discovered Adam's abusive relationship with Blake and how it was confirmed.

People started calling it animal abuse. It was funny at first. But now that I found myself in Remnant? Well… That will probably be seen as a racist remark. System indicates that her cautiousness was because of my Atlesian origins. Understandable.

Once Ozpin had finished his explanation and their new task, I took the opportunity to add my thoughts to the ongoing discussion. "As your headmaster had said, it would be my pleasure to get to know all four of you better. Rest tonight, team RWBY. I'll see you in the canteen tomorrow morning for breakfast."

Ruby, understanding that I would be seeing them again for breakfast tomorrow, started hopping on the spot like a motorboat from sheer excitement. "Right! But uh," I watched as Ruby shrank for a moment as her team, Ozpin and I watched her.

"Can I see your weapon first before we go?"

Upon hearing their leader's request, Weiss gave herself a facepalm while her sister chuckled and shook her head. And Blake rolled her eyes. Unknown to everyone except me, her lips twitched slightly upwards. Glancing to my right, I could see Ozpin's eyes on me as both of us let out an amused chuckle.

Ah, how adorable and innocent Ruby was. I… hope to ensure she keeps much of her naivety despite hiding her loneliness and pain underneath a smile. This is a promise to you, Ruby, you will never be alone, and I will do all I can to end this war and prevent more pointless deaths. I will stop the fall of Beacon before it happens with all I can.

That's a promise.

Closing my eyes for a second before, after chuckling with Ozpin, I opened them as my hand reached back to retrieve Benizakura in its sheath. "Very well then, Ms Rose. I accept your request. Just be gentle with it."

I said with a smile as I held out Benizakura towards Ruby, who squealed like a child in a candy store as she grabbed Benizakura.

Ruby is still technically a child right now, right?

[Current biological age of Ruby Rose is 15 years old]

Ah, thank you, Hud.

Everyone in Ozpin's office watched Ruby giggle with excitement as she unsheathed Benizakura from its sheath. And like it always did for me, it crackled with crimson energy as team RWBY marvelled at my katana. I'm proud of my work on it.

"Wow…" Ruby muttered with awe as stars showed in her eyes. Even more, so that both Ozpin and I can see the rest of team RWBY leaning in at the sight of Benizakura unsheathe.

"It's beautiful." I heard Ruby mutter as she looked directly at me in the eyes. "Did you make this yourself, Miss Lucia?" And I respond with a nod.

"Yes, I did, Ms Rose. Used the best materials I could find in Atlas to improve it." I explained with pride at my work as Weiss raised an eyebrow at me.

"What do you mean by you improving it?"

"My sword looked much different from what you see right before you. All I will reveal for now is that it has a unique quirk that I'm sure that Miss Rose here would love." I giggled as I placed my finger on my lips. As much as I would like to talk about Benizakura in detail, there's a time and place. And currently, it's neither.

"Perhaps in the future, I'll reveal its secrets. But not now." I continued as Ruby gave me a pout before brightening up instantly.

"Then can you at least tell us the name of it?" Ruby gave me a pleading look, and wow. She looks so adorable and makes me want to squish her cheeks! Cough. I can't fall for her cuteness! I can't! But Benizakura's name should be fine…

"Benizakura," I said as all of team RWBY blinked. Then, taking a glance at Ozpin, what I got from him was a raised eyebrow filled with interest. One advantage of Atlas is that its libraries contain the history of current Remnant and how Mistral used to speak what could be their version of Japanese before the Universal language was implemented throughout the four Kingdoms.

I suspect that the man who stood beside me was responsible for it. Then again, perhaps he did not. The whole of Remnant does have the tradition of naming children after colours after their version of World War One.

Shaking my thoughts off, I explained to team RWBY behind Benizakura's name. "It means Crimson Cherry Blossom in old Mistrian."

"That's so cool!" Ruby's smile grew brighter. "Benizakura is an awesome name from such an expertly crafted katana!" She then began to do several test swings, much to Weiss's exasperation. "I mean, the weight distribution of it is almost non-existent! And I've never seen such a katana like that! So how did you do it?" Ruby rambled on before asking me.

Well… when I upgraded Benizakura a while back, I did use my father's nano-assembler to help me out. Because of that, Benizakura's edge is a molecule thick and can cut through pretty much anything if I swing it hard enough. It is also made with alloys that cannot manufacture the traditional way. Thus, it's lighter and stronger than anything made so far in Remnant.

Yup. Father's tech are cheat codes on Remnant at this point.

Now, how to explain it to Ruby… Oh, I know!

"It's a trade secret, Miss Rose." I giggled before Ruby gave me the puppy dog eyes with a pout! And no, Ruby. No matter how you try to play me with your cuteness, it won't work. "But perhaps in time, I'll talk more about how it's done."

I extended my hand out as Ruby sheathed Benizakura and passed it back.

Keeping Benizakura on my belt, I watched as Ozpin dismissed team RWBY away with Ruby waving me goodbye. Which I happily retort back. And once they disappeared, I could feel my emotions fading away.

[Emotion suppressors enabled.]

"That was quite fascinating to watch it play through." I heard Ozpin muttering before I turned my body to face him. "I still find it interesting that you name your katana Benizakura. Care to enlighten me?" Ozpin curiously asked.

"Mistrial's culture can be fascinating. Upon further investigation, I learned of Mistrial's past language and figured to have it named in their language." I explained as I looked at the windows. "It is getting late, Headmaster Ozpin. I should head to my designated room to prepare for the next day. We can continue this another time."

I said as Ozpin nodded. "I understand, Lucia. Have a good day." I waved Ozpin goodbye before I left his office.

Does he honestly believe I am alive? He's not wrong to say, but I still wonder about his intentions. From what I gathered, Ozpin's intentions are for me to become something more significant than a weapon.

And while I thank him for his efforts. It has no place for me until the shadow war against Salem is over.

[Primary Objective is still in effect.]

[Fulfil Father's last request and end this secret war.]

[Upon competition of Alpha's objective, Alpha is free to pursue personal goals.]

Elsewhere…

Days had passed since Lucia had gone on her mission, and Watts recently came up with a theory that should improve the effectiveness of Atlesian Knights.

The idea is for Luna to gain control and coordinate a squad of Atlesian Knights in a midst of a battle. It took time and effort, but eventually, Luna managed to develop a private network. And the results were staggering.

In tests approved by General Ironwood, the Atlesian Knights began to cover each other in firefights, coordinate more effectively and perform tactical retreats to a better position. A thing unheard of by everyone in Atlas.

Soon it was discovered that their systems began to function more effectively when in proximity to one another. Watts also found that outlying protocols and situations from one knight were off-loaded into unoccupied memory cores of other knights.

Further investigation proved that the network Luna developed allows for total synchronisation between her and the Knights. And with it, the Atlesian Knights are almost, if not frighteningly, more intelligent compared to those not part of her network. Some were even showing signs of sapience when connected to Luna's network.

However, once disconnected. They will lose their sapience. This intrigued Watts and Pietro together, and both agreed to collaborate on figuring out the extent of their sapience. With Penny assisting when she could.

However, there was an unexpected catch. Luna had shown to undergo extreme system stress in the process. This, as a whole, results in Luna experiencing system overload that gets increasingly severe the more prolonged the network remains active. Ironwood concludes that such a local network would benefit Atlas in improving their knight's efficiency in combat.

Practical-wise, it was too risky to implement it without overloading Luna in the process. So, until they could find a solution, Watts's theory would be on hold for the time being.

At the moment, Watts was in Luna's room with his eyes staring at a console next to her pod, and on the screen displayed a possible solution. A creation made by the man who took him in and recognised his potential.

Dr Kurt Erhard.

More prominently, the Construct Programme. A highly advanced android frame that eclipsed everything that Watts thought was possible. Its power eclipses all known Atlesian understanding of robotics with its designs. That and its ability to allow for the integration of the human or Faunus mind and soul into its systems. Thus, Cybernetically augmenting them to the level beyond prosthetics.

That kind of strength alone, if applied correctly despite its ethical issues, would allow for the advancement of the general's Special Operatives Unit. However, Watts did have to admit one thing. He does not know how or why his mentor created such tech despite years of peace.

Luna brought this up and concluded that Dr Kurt made these frames as a contingency plan for the future. For what exactly remained a mystery for now. Even so, Watts had spent considerable time studying the frame in detail and made a solid conclusion.

Retrofitting Luna with a construct frame would boost her overall strength dramatically to the point that she could go toe to toe against Lucia in a one-to-one fight. However, even he is not blind to the fact that he is working with experimental technology, which can cause unintended side effects.

That is part of why he and Pietro agreed to hold off on retrofitting their android creations until the frames proved safe enough to implement. And speaking of Pietro, both of them were made aware by Ironwood that some of their mentor's nanomachines had been leaked and found themselves under Dr Merlot of all people, even more so when Ironwood told them that Merlot managed to Grimmify them.

Many details were still unknown about what this Grimmified nanomachine could do at the moment, but evidence from Lucia proves it dire. This got Watts to urgently request that Merlot be dealt with quickie before it got out of control. Ironwood agrees. But politics had proven to be the main hamper from any immediate action.

Nevertheless, from what Watts had heard so far, Ironwood had been in talks with Vale's council members to no avail. Until something else happens, Altas cannot act without violating international borders.

How bothersome.

Shaking his thoughts away, Watts returned his attention to the screen, for there was much to do.

Lucia POV

The following day after resting at my designated dorm room, I found myself walking through the hallways of Beacon alone to arrive at their cafeteria. Team RWBY will be there so I can track their exact locations via their scroll. It had been months since I'd eaten something ever since I found myself in Remnant, and I must admit.

I am looking forward to tasting the food again.

Eventually, I arrived at the cafeteria with a somewhat gothic appearance. Students could be seen walking in their teams or by themselves, simultaneously giving me curious looks alongside gossiping. It looks like the rumours about me spread all over the Academy.

How expected of them.

Ignoring their curious gazes, I walked past them before pushing one of the doors open to see Beacon students in their uniforms, all enjoying their food. At least, that was until I showed up. Then, as if I was a beacon of light, every single student stopped whatever they were doing and turned their heads towards me. All 150 students in this cafeteria.

Ignoring the looks given to me by every student here, my eyes began to search for team RWBY and JNPR since they usually were close to each other. It only took half a second, but my optics soon spotted Ruby and her teammates and friends. All eight were confused about why everyone had stopped eating and were distracted right before the little rose spotted me.

"Lucia! Over here!" She yelled out with her hands waving to me as everyone else turned their eyes on her. Poor Ruby. Probably realising that she had attracted everyone's attention, I watched as she shrank down to her side of the corner while I shook her head.

"So much for trying my best to remain hidden…" I internally rolled my eyes as I made my way through the countless students until I arrived at where team RWBY and JNPR were sitting.

[Emotion suppressors disabled.]

"Morning Lucia!" Ruby was the first to greet me as I waved back at them.

"And good morning to you, Miss Rose." I greeted her as Ruby shook her hands in front of herself. Ruby's cheeks were glowing red as if to drive it in that she was embarrassed by getting addressed so formally.

"Lucia, please just call me Ruby. Calling me miss makes me sound old." Ruby muttered as I giggled.

"Very well, Ruby. If that's the case, just address me as Lucia." I said as I turned to face JNPR, who gave me curious looks. Well… Mostly Ren and Jaune. Pyrrha looked like she had a question in her mind, while Nora looked like she was about to blast off her chair.

"Care it introduce me to them?" I asked despite already knowing them. But it is not like they need to know that. Weiss shook her head and spoke up.

"That won't be necessary. I'm sure they can introduce themselves." She said as Jaune was the first to introduce himself.

"I'm Jaune." He said as Pyrrha waved her hand at me in a friendly manner.

"I'm Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos."

Nora then leapt to my face as she began her introduction. "I'm Nora!" Nora proclaimed as she grabbed Ren by the shoulder and pulled him to her. "And this is Ren!"

"Hello." A good old Ren and Nora. Nora is much more active than expected for an introduction, but we all have ways of introducing ourselves.

I smiled back at JNPR and formally introduced myself. "I believe you've all known my name from yesterday, but I'll repeat it again. My name is Lucia." I gave a bow to all four of them. "It is a pleasure to meet all of you, Jaune, Pyrrha, Nora and Ren."

"Are you a Huntress?" Jaune then wondered. "Your demonstration yesterday kind of shows your skill with your sword-"

"IT WAS AWESOME!" Nora yelled out suddenly and interrupted Jaune. "You killed a Boarbatusk with one hit! And that punch! I wanna do that!"

"Looks like you got a fan, Lucia." I heard Yang chuckling in the background.

"Oh, please." I waved off Nora's compliment. "Boarbatusk are insanely easy to kill with their suicidal tendency to charge at you. Suppose they leap at you, even better, as you all no doubt had seen. It's the elders that you should watch out for."

"If I may ask Lucia," I heard Pyrrha calling me. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Where did I learn to fight? Well… I can't exactly say that I was programmed with it and my creation as a war machine…

Accelerating time in my head, I thought of a suitable answer. "Let's just say I spent much of my youth training my body and skills in Atlas," I explain vaguely enough to quell Pyrrha's curiosity when suddenly, I receive a loud ping in my system.

[Alert! Detected projected trajectory aimed directly from behind!]

Did someone attempt to throw something at me from behind?

Without batting an eye or moving my body, I tilted my head to the right as an apple flew past my head and landed on my conveniently adjusted hand. Then, as if to further proved that someone threw an apple at me, I detected a subtle gasp in the background as team RWBY and JNPR were surprised that I casually dodged someone throwing an apple at me.

Another Hud popped up when I turned my optics onto the brightly red apple in my hand.

[Red apple. Made in Vale.]

[Calories: 57 Water: 86% Protein: 0.3 grams Carbs: 14 grams Sugar: 11 grams Fibre: 3 grams Fat: 0.3 grams]

"Did it seriously just tell me where it was grown and calculate the nutritional content inside it?" I was bewildered by the strange addition of this feature. Besides that, this is an excellent opportunity to have my first taste of food in months.

"That happened," Ren muttered as I shrugged and bit into the apple. And wow. They weren't kidding about this construct frame's ability to imitate the human body! I can taste the sweetness of the apple, the crisp texture as well as the juiciness of it! I was lost in thought and could have cried from eating again after months.

I have a secret to maintain, and seeing me crying over a piece of apple would confuse them greatly and attract unwanted attention.

But I have never been so ecstatic about something since I found myself in this body in so long! And I can't wait for Luna and Penny to upgrade their frames and a chance for all three of us to enjoy the tasty food together as sisters!

Ah, pardon my enthusiasm.

"If nothing else, I'll be right back with breakfast," I said as I walked off to grab a portion of food for breakfast. And talk about a variety of available to everyone. Scrambled eggs, pancakes, sandwiches, salads, and I could go on forever. All I could say was that it was a straight-up buffet.

And who am I to deny free food since I can finally taste it again?

[Bio energy converter activated.]

Huh. That explains everything.

When I returned to Team RWBY's table, I had a pile of food on my tray. Much to the awe of everyone that saw it. I bothered to calculate how much I could consume efficiently, and this was a result.

"Are you going to eat all that?" Weiss was dissatisfied with the amount of food stacked on my plate. Is she judging me for eating this much? Then again, this is Vol 1, Weiss. Now how do I explain it to her?

Ah, I know how!

"I'm a big eater," I said as I sat down next to Blake, who shifted away from me slightly. Weiss gave me an unconvinced look as Yang giggled in amusement.

"I'm starting to wonder where all that calories are going, Lucia. I mean, she is eating more than Nora! And that's impressive for her size!" Yang gave a compliment as I happily devoured my meal in peace while the other team members of RWBY and JNPR gave me flabbergasted looks.

Nora took it as a challenge and began eating as much as I did. I am confident that Nora will regret it later with a bloated stomach.

[Testing of Bio consumption feature confirmed.]

[Data recorded and saved for review.]

Those were what my Hud read as I bit into a ham sandwich and tasted another explosion of flavour long missed. Oh, how I missed eating food…

"Ruby," I heard Jaune call out to his fellow leader, "What did professor Ozpin call you last night for?" He asked as Ruby hummed excitedly.

"Ozpin wants us to be Lucia's guide in Beacon. And we were considering visiting Vale to introduce her to some sights there today." Ruby explained as Nora pouted.

"Aww… I wanna join in!" Nora then points at Jaune, who is about to swallow his breakfast. "Can we go with them, please?"

"It should be fine; I'd love the chance to talk more with Lucia." Pyrrha nods with a smile while Ren silently supports Nora's suggestion.

"Well, if they're ok with it, I guess we could come along. Is it ok?" Jaune muttered as Ruby smiled.

"Sure! The more, the merrier!" She cheered as I finished my sandwich. I suppose if JNPR wants to come, it should be fine. Assuming they don't drag themselves into a mess. Then again, since I'm in Vale, I should be able to track Torchwick and, more accurately, use his scroll to track Cinder down.

And once that happens, well…

She's not going to have a good day.

After breakfast, we all began to leave the cafeteria and head for the docking bays when I noticed something was off. Blake was noticeably lacking behind everyone, and her eyes were mainly on me. And even though it is subtle, her expression tells me everything.

She's starting to suspect that I am more than I appear.

[Notice. High probability that Blake Belladonna suspects Lucia's mechanical origins.]

[Recommend confronting her before the situation gets worse.]

I should confront her. But doing that now would attract attention from her and everyone else. I need to find a situation in which I could face her alone. My optics narrowed slightly as my system began creating possible solutions as to what to do. During that time, I began to talk to the others and get to know them in detail.

Though I had to hide certain parts of my identity and create half-truths, they weren't wrong. But revealing them would violate Ironwood's order not to disclose my mechanical origins. While I'm sure team RWBY nor JNPR would not be bothered with having a construct as a friend. It might cause side effects. So, until that order recedes, half-truths will remain the ideal way of telling information about myself.

"I see…" Weiss hummed after asking me where I worked in Atlas and why she hadn't heard anything about me. "That explains much."

"It does." I hummed as Jaune chose to ask me next while we waited for the Bullhead.

"This might be a strange thing to ask, but do you have any siblings, Lucia?"

Siblings huh? By the definition of siblings, I would count Luna and Penny as my sisters. My family. Not by birth or code. But by choice, since all of us are sentient machines with aura. "Yes, I do,"

I said softly with a smile while everyone else was busy paying attention to me. "I have two younger sisters. We didn't have the same parents, but we still see each other as family."

"They were adopted?" Ruby innocently asked as I shook my head.

"More of the other way around," I sheepishly admitted. "They adopted me into their family." My eyes slowly closed as I remembered Penny dragging Luna and me for family time together as we watched the night as stars danced in the night skies.

"Sound like you loved them," Pyrrha commented as I slowly nodded. They are my family in Remnant. And as much as it pains me, I have been suppressing any thought of Earth. I can't go back, no matter how much I want to.

I…

I hope Sarah's ok there… I missed my dear little sister…

"I do… Both of them are all I have left…" I mumbled with a sigh as team RWBY and JNPR glanced at each other. A soft huff soon escaped my lips as a Bullhead flew in and landed on one of the landing pads. We quickly boarded it, and before long, it took off and headed straight for Vale.

Eventually, all nine of us arrived in Vale, and if I were to describe it, it reminds me of Europe in the Renaissance/early modern age. At least from the books I read. Nevertheless, it was a sight to witness compared to the show. Further analysis of the city of Vale indicates its total land mass of about 397.1 square kilometres.

However, as the histories say, most of the outlining settlements are either heavily defended or destroyed. The most well-known settlement was Mount Glenn which I visited not too long ago. Despite its small land mass, the total population are in the millions. All cramped together into different specialised districts connected by bridges or roads.

[Reconnaissance required to track down Roman Torchwick.]

[Proximity to him will allow for the hacking of his scroll to commence. Therefore, 98.65% of Torchwick will have contact with Cinder Fall.]

[Once data is collected and Cinder Fall's current position is available. Report to the General her suspicious involvement with Torchwick.]

[Notice. CCTs' cybersecurity levels are poor. A new alternative option is available.]

[Alternative option: Gain direct access to Vale's CCTs network and track Cinder down.]

Wow. Way a go, my system. Already offering suggestions to me to track down Torchwick, huh? Well… it makes sense. I can't stay in Vale forever, thanks to Ironwood's worry about my existence leaking out.

With the limited number of days available to me in Vale, I should begin searching for clues to where Cinder is.

Where she is, however, is a different story. My eyes narrowed for a second stopping Cinder from enacting the Fall months later would help Ozpin's group organise. Alternatively, finding a way to integrate myself and Luna into Ozpin's group will benefit humanity as a whole. I should not, however, forget about Merlot and his unknown partner.

Both threaten Remnant's safety, and much of Remnant had changed thanks to my father's existence changing the past. I should expect things not to go as the show says they should.

Contingency plans are required. Calculations suggest that Merlot would no doubt try to experiment with this abominable vile of Grimmified nano-machines. I do not know what happens when that stuff comes into contact with humans or me. That thing... I believe his victim was dead at that point.

Soon, the Bullhead landed in Vale, and we all began walking through its streets. It was less crowded and more open compared to Atlas. RWBY and JNPR started to tell me about the famous sights in Vale, and I sometimes acted like a tourist, especially when it came to pastries and cakes.

Tasting such sweet treats again almost made me shed a tear from sheer joy. Thankfully, my emotion suppressors stopped me from crying from eating a slice of cake. Anyways, we soon found ourselves in Vale's city square. A small park with trees and the middle features a raised platform that serves as a stage for gatherings and announcements.

The very same place where Ironwood introduced the Atlesian Knight-200 in Vol 2. I glance my optics at my feet for a second as I activate X-ray filters. I could see the exit tunnel leading to Mount Glenn beneath our feet for a split second. Frankly, they should have covered it up with more than just 4 meters worth of concrete and soil.

No wonder an explosion from a train opens it up.

"For a city square, it seems small, don't you all think?" I asked as Yang spoke to answer my question.

"Yea, I find it strange that Vale had such a small city square. You'd think they would make it bigger." Yang said as she rested her hands on the back of her head. After some time dillydallying here, we left the city square and continued our walk-through Vale until we stumbled across several Vale police officers on duty.

While I didn't know it at the time, father does have some data that Vale's police used to be under Xiong Family's influence. The most significant criminal syndicate in the City of Vale before Roman Torchwick's rise to power. After some interesting events and the death of their leader in a gang war, they started losing most of their influence in Vale and with the police.

They still exist, but their influence is insignificant compared to Roman's right now. In fact, Junior is the former leader's son. How interesting.

"Sooo…" I heard a voice calling out as I turned my head to see Ruby. "What do you think of Vale so far, Lucia? You have been quiet for a while." Have I? Huh. I guess I've been thinking about much since we began.

"I've been enjoying this trip so far," I admit. "Vale feels more alive compared to Altas. The food's great, new places, new faces." I said with a smile as everyone looked happy at my comment. Well, almost everyone. Blake was still staring at me whenever we were not paying attention to her.

"It's lovely seeing Humans and Faunuses get along here better in Atlas. It could be better, though." I voiced out my thoughts. "I never liked how the people of Atlas are so deeply seeded prejudice against Faunuses." I huffed as everyone looked surprised at me, even Blake.

"Whatever the reason might be, all that racism is pointless on the larger scale of things."

For someone like me who grew up in a place where we have harmony between the races, seeing one here rubs me the wrong way. Even more so when, by pure logic, such distractions against over race are pointless and weaken the front against the Grimm. Like seriously, the fact that Humans and Faunuses can interbreed tells us that we are more alike!

But nooo… he looks funny. Hurr Durr, they look different; therefore, I must hate them!

Absolute fools. All of them.

Pardon my frustrations.

"But enough about what I'm saying. I can address it another time." With haste, I turned and walked off while everyone looked stunned at my thoughts. Even Weiss seemed flabbergasted at my views.

Pausing for a second, I turned my head. "What are you all waiting for? Come on, let us go to the shopping centre. I want to see what I can buy there." A smirk appeared on my face as everyone hurried after me.

Oh, when that day comes when my Identity is eventually revealed to them, I can't wait to see their reactions. But till then, let us continue! There's got to be something in Vale I could get for Penny and Luna.

Somewhere in the ocean…

Merlot watched as his creation fought against the hundreds of Grimm he managed to capture throughout the years. Usually, he would have continued with his experiments, but things had changed upon witnessing how strong a particular android infiltrated one of his facilities.

An Inspiration stuck, Merlot.

What if he were to create something similar? With it and his serum, he could make what could be the strongest being in existence! Giving them the strength and ferocity of Grimm and the intelligence of a human! His 'partner' is already working on one of his own, and tests so far have been fascinating.

But unlike his partner, who built his from scratch, Merlot had plenty of test subjects to work with. Sure, most of them expire rather quickly upon exposure to his serum. Still, the one that stands before him is his first and finest creation, even more so when he realised that he had destroyed his subject's survival instinct which shouldn't be possible.

But he did it. And Merlot named him BPB-26

Merlot watched as BPB-26 danced around the various Grimm set against him. Fire erupted from his whip sword as it slashed and burned everything near him. BPB-26 occasionally used his whip to grapple a Grimm and slam it against the others. But that wasn't the only weapon he had.

He wields a hand cannon/shotgun hybrid gun in his left hand and uses it against any Grimm that gets close. There were occasions when BPB-26 would kick them down onto the ground before pointing his shotgun to its face and pulling the trigger.

With the results showing much promise, Merlot ramps up the test. And unleashed his mutated Grimm upon BPB-26. Yet, BPB-26 did not falter at all. Instead, he just laughs at them.

"And now! For the climax!" BPB-26 rushed into the thick of battle as parts of his body began glowing blood red. And without hesitation, unleashed hell. Every attack, every strike, began to hit harder and faster. BPB-26 also disappeared into thin air in the midst of combat before reappearing a second later with fire and dead Grimm everywhere.

All in a blink of an eye.

Merlot smiled with delight at the results. Indeed, according to his partner's intelligence network, things will get very interesting in the future. It appears that Atlas has been in talks with Vale recently. No doubt about his location.

Let them come. By the time they arrive, they will serve as the perfect test for BPB-26.

And the meantime, he shall look into acquiring more test subjects. Perhaps Huntsman and Huntresses this time? It would be fascinating to record the results of exposure to his serum on those with aura.

And we are done with this chapter! Now not much has occurred besides some key plot points building up, and I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter! As you can also probably tell, I'm cutting back on how many words I write per chapter.

Now, this shouldn't affect the story's pacing but just a heads up if it seems shorter compared to the previous chapters. (Minus omakes.)

Next, we have Lucia hanging out with team RWBY and JNPR in Vale. Sure, there isn't much action, but it will be nice diverging away from the action once in a while. That and we have Lucia eating food again and Blake getting the sussy on our construct protagonist.

Makes sense, yea?

Then we have Watts. For those who play PGR, you will immediately recognise what he is doing now. I also added his thoughts on his mentor; the Construct frames themselves as well as his views on Merlot.

And Merlot's not been idling by and has made something new. I'm sure some of you can tell who he is.

One more thing, I'm probably going to set a poll up later with somehi good choices for renaming ts story. So do vote on it, and I'll pick the best as this story's new name. If you have your own suggestions, do PM me about it.

With that, I have nothing much to say either than a request for you to follow and favourite me if you enjoy this story! Do also leave a review of what you think of this chapter, as I enjoy reading it and giving replies to it!

And with that, I will see your wonderful people in the future!

RGQC out!