Author's note: Just some basic stuff this week.
At night, Ruby entered her workshop again, only to run into three bandits, who were just about to leave with some of her inventions. When the men saw her, they stopped in their tracks, and Ruby felt time slow down again, and she made two clones of herself.
"Stay!" Ruby shouted, immobilizing the bandits just as they dropped what they were carrying. Her clones went to pick the explosives out of the air, and put them down safely. Once everything was secured, Ruby's clones disappeared again, and Ruby let the bandits go.
"Sorry, we didn't know this was yours," one of the bandits said.
"We'll go now," another bandit said, and the trio wanted to walk away, past Ruby.
"Wait," Ruby said as the men were past her, and all three froze.
"Look, we're really sorry," the third bandit said and asked, "What's so important about these, anyway?" Without a word, Ruby walked over to pick her handgun off the table, loaded a magazine of gunpowder bullets, and waited, with the bandits getting increasingly nervous as they looked at her.
"These aren't your typical guns," Ruby said finally, right before a King Taijitu broke out of the ground behind the bandits. The men turned around in panic and aimed their right hands at it, preparing to fire lime green energy blasts at the black head. Ruby fired one bullet, breaking off one of the Grimm's fangs. Another bullet gouged out one of its eyes, and three more killed it. She put the safety switch back on, put the gun away and grabbed a hand grenade, pulled the pin and threw it over her shoulder. The white King Taijitu head appeared behind her, and the hand grenade landed in its mouth. The bandits turned around just in time to see the Grimm torn to shreds by the explosion, and their ears rang from the sound.
"Alright, we're sorry, really," one of the bandits said, "We just thought this was an old shooting range, and wanted to get some guns."
"Don't worry, I figured as much," Ruby said, "I just needed you to understand that these explosives and guns are much stronger than what you're used to. However, I think you can have some of these. Well, once you know how to handle them safely." She walked up to the bandits and used Mentor to teach the bandits how to safely handle weapons.
"Thanks," one of the bandits said.
"You're welcome," Ruby said, "Now wait here, I've got something good." She walked away and brought back two claymore mines, and handed them to one of the bandits, before bringing two more. After she handed the bandits a total of three pairs, the men looked at the devices.
"I think I've seen them before," one of the men said and asked, "What are those?"
"Claymore mines," Ruby answered, "Anti-personnel devices originally developed by Mistral during the great war, although they have since found use in protecting areas from Grimm. They used to be remote-detonated, but can also be outfitted with motion sensors, and I added aura sensors to ensure that only Grimm set them off. I also reduced the motion sensors' range, so that more Grimm will be in the kill zone by the time they go off."
"That sounds really good," one of the bandits said and asked, "So, where do you think we should put them?"
"They're fairly loud, so I'd say at least half a block away," Ruby answered, "That way, you'll know when they go off, and can prepare in case some Grimm survived."
"Amazing," one of the bandits said, "Thanks." The trio walked away, making sure not to jostle the claymore mines too much, just in case, and Ruby turned around to continue her experiments. She moved the steel sheet wall aside to reveal a concrete wall with a door in it, leading into her workshop. She created three clones and sent them all away with Bubble Teleport, and they all filled a large bucket with water, sent it back to her and disappeared. She then fused into Opal, created two clones, and reverted back to Ruby, Emerald and Sapphire.
"Yesterday was a bust, wasn't it?" Emerald asked and put one of the buckets onto a bar stool.
"Yeah, sorry about that," Ruby answered, "I went a little overboard, and my aura broke. But don't worry, that won't happen again." She took another bucket, and put it on a bar stool as well.
"Let's hope it doesn't," Sapphire said, took the third bucket, and put it on a small end table. With the buckets prepared, Ruby checked the Atlesian Knight's battery one last time to make sure it could handle its job tonight as well, and when she saw that it still had enough juice, the trio got into position.
"It won't," Ruby said, "Anyway, let's get started." Emerald and Sapphire assumed their positions and used Natural Sanctuary, while Ruby folded her hands and focused on the bucket of water on the end table. A series of silver-white symbols appeared around her wrists and the bucket, and water droplets rose up before crystallizing, merging with the ambient aura and the concepts of purity and calmness.
"Here it comes," Emerald said and drew her guns, ready to kill the misshapen Grimm as soon as it manifested. However, instead of the familiar mass of blackness, the Grimm had the shape of a clam, with a thick, white bone shell covering its entire body. The Knight activated when the light-water-dust crystal appeared, and went to put it into a crate.
"Emerald, kill it," Sapphire said, and Emerald fired at the Grimm, only for her bullet to bounce off its shell and hit a wall. When the Knight reached for the crystal, the Grimm clamped down on it and crunched its arm, though the machine continued undeterred. Ruby used Puppeteer on her scroll and gave the Knight the order to drop the crystal, run away and self-destruct once it got far enough.
~o~
Penny did one last night-time flyover of the city's industrial district to ensure that there were no overly dangerous Grimm present, when her scroll picked up a warning from a nearby Atlesian Knight 200, which had been ordered to self-destruct. She compared the assigned routes of every single unit in the city to her current location, and realized that there were no matches.
"That is highly unusual," Penny thought, landed on a nearby building and used her semblance to hack the Knight's visual feed, to find out where it had been. When she finally found what she was looking for, the Knight exploded, exactly three seconds after she received the warning.
"Penny, you've changed your course," Ilia asked over communicator and asked, "Is everything alright?"
"No need to worry, I am fine," Penny answered, "But I found something… peculiar. I will investigate this further and tell you what I find out."
"What is it?" Ilia asked. For a moment, Penny contemplated redefining her parameters and mark Ilia as hostile, but realized that Ruby would be upset with her, so she chose a different solution.
"My apologies, Ilia," Penny answered, "I do not currently have enough information to make any decisions on the matter. However, I do promise to tell you when I find out more." She cut the communication and flew down to the street where the Knight had detonated, and started looking around. She found a black smudge on the pavement where the robot had detonated, with scraps littered all around the area. However, she also heard footsteps, and a quick scan of her database revealed their origin. Ruby walked around the corner and paused when she saw Penny.
"Hey Penny," Ruby said and asked, "And, on a nightly stroll? Me too." She yawned and stretched her arms.
"Ruby, hello," Penny said and answered, "No, I am not. I was making sure that there were no dangerous Grimm in this district, when I got a warning that a Knight was about to self-destruct. However, no Knights were assigned to patrol this area at this time, so I got curious."
"I see," Ruby said and asked, "That's weird, isn't it?"
"Well, I suppose it is not quite curiosity," Penny said, "I am programmed with the military's protocol for handling dangerous situations, which was recently updated and now requires all members to investigate any situation they deem unusual, regardless of orders they received from their superior."
"I actually meant the Knight," Ruby said and chuckled, "But the new protocols sound useful, too. Definitely better than how they would've acted before."
"I see," Penny said, "Yes, the Knight being here was also unusual. Due to that, I hacked it and reviewed its visual feed, and it showed me exactly what happened. It was destroyed by a Sabyr in Solitas, then one of your clones appeared and repaired it, before bringing it here, where another clone reprogrammed it. Also, my biometric scanners show that you are not currently in need of sleep."
"Oh. Well, I guess I can't hide things from you," Ruby said and asked, "Did you tell anyone yet?"
"You can not, no," Penny said and answered, "But no, I have not yet told anyone, as doing so would have clashed with the way you handled my hiccups back in Atlas. However, I will have to know more about what you are doing, as I have seen that it results in the creation of Grimm, and as per the rules restricting my decision-making, I am authorized to terminate any individual found in alliance with the Grimm. I am not going to hurt you, but depending on what you do, I would be allowed to."
"Oh, right, that," Ruby said and explained, "Well, I'm making dust. Follow me."
"Alright, lead the way," Penny said and followed Ruby back to her workshop. When Penny saw the weapon testing site, she scanned everything, and immediately noticed enough safety violations to get the place shut down.
"And this is my workshop," Ruby said, opened the door, noticed Penny staring at the room and asked, "What do you think? Penny? Do you need to recharge or something?"
"No, no I am fine," Penny answered, "I just needed to clear my visual field. There was quite a bit of… clutter obscuring it."
"What kind of clutter?" Ruby asked.
"Warnings, for the most part," Penny answered, "According to my scans, this building is a death trap."
"Don't worry, it's safe. Look," Ruby said and kicked an empty food can against a wall.
"Ruby, I must advise you to stop this," Penny said and asked, "Now, how were you making dust?"
"Alright, fine," Ruby said and answered, "I'll show you. It's a bit of a process, though. Actually, hold on, I have an idea."
"What kind of idea?" Penny asked.
"We'll fuse, and then I make Firefly share Safezone with you," Ruby answered, "That way, you can use it whenever you want."
"That sounds like a great idea," Penny said, and they fused into Firefly. The fusion's silver eyes scanned her surroundings, and she shared Safezone with Penny, then the fusion split up again.
"Alright, now let's get to the dust," Ruby said and fused into Opal, who waited for a bit, while Ruby explained to the others what had happened, and then created two clones of herself. Penny watched as the clones all reverted back to being another person.
"A new face, hello," Penny said, "I do not believe we have met before. I am Penny Polendina, an artificial intelligence tasked with facilitating peaceful social interaction, and currently enlisted in the Atlas military."
"I'm Sapphire, hello," Sapphire said, "I used to be a pirate."
"Now with that out of the way, let's get started," Ruby said, and both Emerald and Sapphire used Natural Sanctuary, while Ruby folded her hands. Water droplets rose from one of the buckets and crystallized, merging with the ambient aura and positive emotions. Penny carefully scanned the entire spectacle, analyzing what exactly was happening.
"Here it comes," Emerald said and drew her weapons. As the first full light-water-dust crystal formed, a black mass appeared, resembling the creature from earlier. Emerald shot it, but the bullet bounced off the Grimm's armor and hit a wall.
"Allow me," Penny said and set up a Safezone. The Grimm immediately started taking damage, and due to the Enchantment on the winter maiden's powers, the damage was greater than normal, quickly killing the Grimm.
"Thanks," Ruby said, "Anyway, I'll keep going. We've still got more than two buckets left." She emptied the first bucket, then the second, and the third, and Penny's Safezone kept killing all the clam-like Grimm that manifested.
"That was very insightful," Penny said, "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Ruby said and asked, "But, can you keep this between us for the time being?"
"Of course," Penny answered and asked, "But why? Surely your friends would like to know you have this kind of resource available."
"Well, yes," Ruby answered, "However, they'd also worry about me, since I don't need to sleep any more, as long as my aura remains active. So, for the time being, at least until things have calmed down, please don't tell anyone about this."
"Understood," Penny said.
"You're a maiden, right?" Sapphire asked, catching everyone's attention.
"I am, yes," Penny answered and asked, "Why do you ask?"
"Then, can you make crystals?" Sapphire asked and explained, "The captain before me, Rosemary, was the fall maiden before she died. She could manifest her powers as crystals, and would make weapons for us whenever our normal ones got damaged too badly and we couldn't get them repaired right away."
"Well, I can certainly try," Penny answered and held out her right hand, only for a sword made from green crystals to manifest in it.
"Yes, that," Sapphire exclaimed excitedly, "That's what I'm talking about. We all had weapons that looked like this. Well, her aura was black, so they were black, but the structure and everything is the same." Looking at the object, Ruby started to think, and especially considering the maiden power's new ability to boost damage against Grimm, she had an idea.
"Penny, give me that sword," Ruby said, and Penny handed her the weapon. Ruby took it and focused on a nearby Alpha Beowolf, then used Wolfpack to send a single spectral wolf after it. When it hit the Grimm, she smiled, her suspicions proven correct.
"What is it, Ruby?" Penny asked, "Did you find out something good?"
"I did, yes," Ruby answered, "In short, Sirena used one of her semblances, Enchantment, on each maiden's powers, to make those who hold them deal more damage to Grimm, while making it impossible for them to use these powers to help Salem. And since this crystal is a manifestation of your maiden powers, holding it counts, too. Meet me at Baker's Bakery tomorrow at ten, I have an idea."
"Understood," Penny said, "But I would suggest you go to bed now. It is getting rather late, or early, and your friends might wake up soon."
"That's why I want to meet you again tomorrow," Ruby said, "Also, don't use Safezone before then. We'll use the meeting as excuse for why you can use that now, so people don't get suspicious." Ruby handed the sword back to Penny, then fused with Emerald and Sapphire, and Opal reverted back to Ruby. Penny headed back to the military's camp and gave Ilia the sword, and explained that the matter was not something she needed to concern herself with.
~o~
In the morning, while Ruby was away to take care of some personal matters, Oscar and Zwei made their way through the wild portions of Vale's agricultural district to try and find something they can use, since food was still a problem. After killing a pack of Creeps, the duo came across a sounder of pigs eating some of the plants that had grown in the filth. Zwei howled, extending the effect of his semblance to all nearby allies, and the pigs stopped eating and focused on the newcomers.
"Hello," Oscar said and held up his hands to show that they were empty, "We don't mean any harm, really."
"Well then, what do you want here?" One of the sows asked and stepped forward, positioning herself between the newcomers and some smaller pigs.
"We were looking for stuff," Oscar answered and tried to not show how scared he was, "We need to get at least some of the greenhouses operational again, so we can grow food more efficiently." Hearing that, the pigs calmed down a bit.
"And what will you do then?" The sow asked.
"We'll grow food," Oscar answered, "And since we won't need everything we grow, you can have what's left over. You know, peels, shells, and other things humans can't eat."
"Will you come after us, too?" The sow asked.
"No, we won't," Oscar answered, "We just want to rebuild this city, and then people can move back in, and everything can go back to normal."
"But then people will keep us locked up again," the sow said, "I won't go back into that place."
"You don't have to, really," Oscar said, "I'll do what I can to keep you safe, I promise." The pigs considered for a moment, murmuring among each other.
"Well, good," the sow said, "We'll help you. But we want our share of the food, and we won't go easy on anyone trying to harm us."
"Sounds good," Oscar said, "We'll be sure to send Zwei with whatever group comes to talk to you, so you'll know they're here in our name."
"I'll do my best to help, too," Zwei said.
"So, if people come here, and he isn't there, the people are enemies?" The sow asked.
"Well, mostly," Oscar answered, "There are two people, both with silver eyes, who can use his semblance as well, who may come to you for their own reasons. But anyone else isn't with us."
"We'll keep that in mind," the sow said and asked, "Now, what do you need?"
"Any building where crops were grown," Oscar answered, "We already have two that we can reach quite easily, but they're damaged, so we need parts from other facilities to repair those two."
"I see," the sow said, "Wait here until we're done eating, then I'll show you the way."
"Got it, thanks," Oscar said, and he and Zwei stood around awkwardly, just watching the pigs eat the plants for a few minutes, until nothing but stubble was left. Most of the animals walked away, and the sow showed Oscar and Zwei one of the crop growing facilities.
~o~
Ruby arrived at the bakery half an hour early, and seeing the building in such utter disrepair, decided to do something about it. She fused into Opal, created two clones, and each clone reverted back to one of the fusion's constituents.
"You've got pretty good at this," Sapphire said, and she and Emerald activated Natural Sanctuary.
"Thanks," Ruby said and used Repair to fix the bakery. Stones were pulled back into place, the signs were bent back into shape, and the glass reassembled itself, and by the time Penny arrived, the building was mostly back in working order.
"Hello Ruby," Penny said and asked, "What is it that you wanted?"
"Hi Penny," Ruby said, handed her a gun attachment and answered, "Here, this. I'd like you to make a blade like this out of your crystals, so that the police can use it with their pistols."
"Understood," Penny said and took a look at the attachment.
"Actually, hold on," Ruby said, took the attachment back and removed the blade from the piece connecting to the gun, then handed the blade back to Penny.
"This looks a lot easier to make," Penny said, held out her hands and focused, and created several blades with holes in two places.
"I thought so," Ruby said, "I'll go and modify the attachments, and explain everything to the police."
"Alright, I'll go and have Ilia help me make more of these, then," Penny said, handed Ruby the blades and flew away again. Ruby fused with Emerald and Sapphire, and Opal reverted back to Ruby, who used Petal Burst to get to the police station to start modifying their bayonet attachments.
Author's note: Ruby keeps helping the bandits. Yay.
Penny takes "think fast" to a whole new level, analyzing weeks of video footage in three seconds. Also, marking people as hostile has some bonuses. For example, she's allowed to lie to them, and doesn't get hiccups. But it also causes any other android to attack the target on sight, regardless of their orders, so marking Ilia as hostile would be a really bad idea, since she'd demolish all the Knights.
Zwei's semblance evolved, so now he can extend it to others as well.