Note: Hello everyone! I'm back. Glad to get another chapter out before the end of April. Had a busy month and unfortunately didn't get to do a lot of writing, but I was productive in other ways. Bought myself an art tablet so I can finally learn how to draw. Maybe I can finally make myself some LUBYP and LUDITF art, which I am sure will be of questionable quality. But hey, have to start somewhere.

Content warning to all: This chapter also contains some dark shit in it. The last chapter also contained disturbing amounts of violence, but heads up, this chapter contains more distressing forms of violence and torture. I have tried to avoid writing this kind of material for a long time. It can be super off-putting, but I write a lot by feel, and this is where I feel the story needs to go, so I'm doing it. That also caused me to rewrite this chapter a bunch of times. Hopefully, it turned out okay.

Also, you might be asking yourself: Aren't you a "we"? What is this "I" business? Well, yes and no. I have always used singular pronouns in my normal life. When I started writing fanfiction, fuck, a decade ago, I didn't want to share a lot of my personal information on the internet with strangers, especially not when I was a dumb kid doing dumb kid things. So, I actively tried to hide information about my identity, including how many people were actively involved in writing my stories. Dumb? Yes. Deceitful? Also yes. Look, I was fucking fifteen and very bad at writing and making friends and shit. After all these years, I kept using "we" pronouns out of habit, even as I have gradually been more open to talking about my personal life. It was how I distinguished "writer me" from "normal person me" if that makes any sense. But recently, a friend of mine pointed out that, like hey, it might be kind of offensive to use plural pronouns as a writing gimmick when there are actually people out there who use them, and also misleading people into pretending I'm more than one person is kind of shitty even for a low-stakes thing like fanfiction? So, I've made the executive call to just use singular pronouns from now on. For the record, no, no one ever complained to me or forced me to do this, I'm taking this action on my own because I think it's the right thing to do. Just for clarity's sake: THERE HAS ONLY EVER BEEN ONE PERSON RUNNING THIS ACCOUNT AND THEY HAVE ONE IDENTITY. Apologies if I have offended anyone in the past or the present.

Also also also, thanks to everyone who has joined up on my Discord! You can discuss all the latest LUTIDF happenings there, or just chat away with me or other fans or whatever. I'm expecting, um... A LOT of feedback on this chapter, so I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Link is here: CjAUaGZuBQ

Winter stormed through downtown Vale with a tempered fury. Blake hurried behind her, desperately calling Weiss for the fifth time. Like all other times before, she received nothing. The snowfall was starting again, as if she needed anything else to make this night worse. Terrified, ashamed, and now shivering. There were a dozen eyes on her, maybe hundreds, all recognizing her, and she tried her best to cover her face as if it would do her any good.

"So you have one mission," Winter said harshly, "to stay as far out of trouble as possible, and in your infinite wisdom, you decide to sneak behind my back and associate yourself with the criminal underworld."

"We just needed to ask her a question!" Blake said defensively. Someone rushed up to her to try to get her autograph, but she quickly skirted around them, not even looking them in the eye.

"A question about a subject you have no business in dealing with," Winter challenged her. "And now look at this mess I have to clean up."

"Look, we'll—hi, not now, thank you—" Blake shoved more people out of the way, and kept in pace with the Atlasian soldier. She tried to speak more quietly, though her intensity didn't falter. "We will figure out a way to fix this. We've survived worse."

"You know that I have to tell my father about this, don't you?" Winter groaned. She briefly pulled her Scroll out of her pocket, checked it once, then put it away. "I can't keep your secrets even if I wanted to, and if this gets out what you're doing—"

"Then we will point out how this is not our fault. We were stalked across continents by some nuts cyborg who decided to take matters into her own hands."

"My father partnered with you because you were averse to risk. This is the least risk-averse thing I can possibly imagine."

"You know, you could be at least slightly concerned for my teammates' safety instead of complaining about how unprofitable we're making you," Blake pointed out. Winter kept her eyes ahead on the road, even as Blake moved to block her path. The assassin kept her footing as she moved backward, trying to force the soldier to meet her gaze. "Your sister might fucking die. You might want to give a shit about that."

"Weiss will be fine. She's strong enough to deal with petty criminals," Winter said bluntly. "And if your teammates die, they'll get off easy compared to what I'm going to do to them."

Blake rolled her eyes. "Fuck, what is with you Schnees and murdering people?"

She said that as if she was one to talk. Honestly, finding someone else to blame made the worry go down easier. She had no idea where her friends were or what utter hell they stumbled into. She was fortunate enough to have been concussed during much of her previous encounter with Neo, but the bits she remembered involved lots of pain, fear, and regret. What would she do now that she thought they could be exploited? And Penny was here, too? When Weiss shouted her name in the restaurant, Blake thought it was some kind of prank. Whatever that crazy cybernetic chick was up to, it couldn't be good. That smiling idiot was probably going to get someone killed just by blinking at the wrong person.

Winter checked her Scroll again. "You'd be faster if you looked where you were going."

Blake, curious, shifted position and caught a glimpse of Winter's Scroll before she put it away into her pocket. She saw only the quickest sight of a map, though it did little to soothe her curiosity. "Where are you going, anyway?"

"If you think I don't have a way to track my sister's Scroll, then you're dumber than I thought."

Blake really shouldn't have been as shocked as she was. "How long has that been a thing?"

"Long enough," Winter sighed. "Come along. No sense lagging behind."

Pushing the massive security and ethical concerns out of her mind, Blake followed closely behind Winter, who despite her words, seemed content moving along at a brisk stroll. Blake tried to breathe in deeply the cold Valian air and calm her nerves. Everything would be fine. Yang and Ruby had each other, and they also had Penny. They were all strong Huntresses. They could survive anything the world threw at them. Right?

There was a basement in Perfect Gardens, guarded by a door that was constructed of heavy metal and moved with a billowing thunder. Through that doorway were a dozen wooden steps that creaked with every footstep, threatening to collapse in on themselves completely. Inside, at the bottom of a pit, was a room no greater than ten feet across in any direction. One of its walls was tattered brick, another a thin, popping sheet metal. An unwieldy boiler, a decayed, cylindrical tub, sat in its back, taking up half the available space. A hundred pipes crisscrossed along the ceiling, dripping, rattling, puddles of murky liquid pooling steadily across the floor beneath them. There was mold growing in the corner, its color dark and its musk thick. The only source of light was a single, flickering bulb dangling from a thin, frayed cord, so low as to bump into the head of whoever walked next to it. It was within this rotted hell, abandoned by all, that Yang found her new cage.

She was led down into the basement with her hands behind her head. Her gauntlets had been stripped from her and were currently lying in the atrium. Her eyes were forced forward, and despite all her temptation, she could not look back at her sister, who was being dragged mercilessly behind her. She knew all she needed to: that the teeth of Emerald's knife were pressed firmly into Ruby's throat, and that a single stutter step would spill her sister's blood. It was enough motivation to keep her complacent. Penny directly followed behind her, her limp arms dangling at her sides. Her smile had long since wilted away, and Yang heard her limbs groan as she forced them to keep moving. Each step left behind an inky black footprint, and Emerald would have nearly slipped on them had she been more careless. They were all on edge. It should have given Yang the motivation to escape, but in truth, it only made her dread what worse things would come.

While Melanie and Emerald guided the pair down the stairs, Miltia had other ideas. The younger, dumber twin bounded up into the upper floors, into the chaos that Yang left in her wake, and retrieved a machine gun from her fallen soldiers. Yang didn't realize how long her detour lasted, but she knew it was over when she heard the unmistakable click of a rifle being locked and loaded and aimed at the back of her head.

"It took forever to find the third one."

"Strap them on. We don't want our Huntresses getting any funny ideas."

Something else? Yang wasn't sure what to expect. There was already a gun pressed to her back and her sister was held hostage? How much more compliant could they get? Unless…

"This might sting a little."

Yang felt something snap around her throat, and suddenly, months of repressed trauma returned to her, searing through her like the blaze of the sun. Her eyes shot open wide, her mouth became dry, and she instantly lost her balance, stumbling forward into the puddles on the floor. Her trembling fingers reached toward her neck and clasped something grotesque and familiar: an Aura-Drain Collar.

Not this.

Not again…

Miltia snapped two more collars on Ruby and Penny, but neither reacted; the former was still lost in her trance, the latter not even understanding what she was supposed to be feeling. But Yang knew that she was already screwed. She could feel the twin needles of the collar jammed into her veins, sucking the life out of her. Soon, her strength would fail her. Then, the spasms, and then the dark. She needed to rip it off now before it was too late. Yet, the click of the machine gun stayed her rebellion.

"Okay. Back against the wall. Slowly."

Yang and Penny complied, walking steadily toward the broken boiler until they reached the back wall. They pressed their foreheads up against the greasy surface. Yang could not steady her breath. The collar itched.

"Toss her over there," Miltia ordered Emerald. "We got this now. We're good."

Emerald, slightly cautious, eventually complied. Dragging the unconscious Ruby down the steps was a hassle she was glad to be done with, and the thief merely cast the young redhead face down onto the floor, letting her nose splash in the puddles.

"Ruby!" Yang tried to turn around, but a sharp scream from Miltia forced her back.

"Don't think about it!"

Yang grimaced, forced to turn away from her sister. The twins stood side-by-side, guarding the only exit, while Emerald, exhausted, took a seat on one of the bottom steps, resting her elbows on her knees. Yang tried to stop her heart from racing out of her chest. Somewhat unwillingly, her eyes wandered to Penny, quivering next to her. The poor thing was shaking even harder than she was.

"Get on your knees, and put your hands behind your head," Miltia warned, before redirecting her gun down toward the unconscious Huntress. "Or she gets it."

Yang shut her eyes, every nerve twitching. The only thing stronger than her fear for her sister was her humiliation. She choked down her pride, lowered herself to the ground, and pressed her hands behind her wild, blonde hair. Even still, she waited in terror for the sound of a gunshot to take her sister's life from her.

"Now… you girls have really made a mess of things," Melanie groaned. "Like, do you know how much we were paying those boys? That's a ton of money. Mama isn't going to be happy when she hears this."

"She's gonna be so mad," Miltia agreed.

"And, like, I don't even know why? Like, what are you doing here?" Melanie stated. "We didn't break any laws or anything. We were just chilling. Like, what the fuck?"

"I mean, you did torture that guy, Melanie," Miltia corrected her.

"Bitch, I will…" Melanie groaned and forced down her irritation. She clapped her hands together and tried to find her inner peace. "The point is that you fucked a lot of shit up for no fucking reason, and we're gonna have to do something about that. Oh, and Emerald?" The eldest twin turned back to the thief on the stair. "You can go now. I don't think you want to see this."

Emerald sighed, casually tucking her knife into a holster near her back pocket and rising from the steps. "Whatever. Just… don't do anything to make this worse for me."

The thief calmly walked up the steps, each creak of the floorboards teasing Yang's skull like a knife. She was forced to keep her head pressed against the wall, her eyes shut, listening to her and Ruby's lives being turned into playthings as the last reasonable party in the room abandoned them to their fate. She wondered how much she deserved that. She had ended so many lives just a few minutes ago, and she would never know their names or even remember their faces. Why would she deserve a death with any sort of dignity if she couldn't grant it to others? Hell, it was her fault they were going to die in the first place. If she hadn't given that stupid suggestion to go after Neo…

But then, before Yang's doubts could consume her in full, she heard Penny say something under her breath.

"I'm sorry."

Yang didn't respond, but she heard Penny continue, her confessions coming out sputtered and broken.

"I led you here. I… I overestimated my own abilities. I let you down. This is all my fault."

A switch flipped in Yang's mind. Yes, Yang wanted to say. This was her fault. It was stupid to think otherwise. She may have screwed up by suggesting to come to Vale, and Ruby may have fallen for Emerald's tricks, but they also wanted nothing to do with SPIDER in the first place. They were only in this mess because Penny had to stick her nose in places it didn't belong. Yang wanted to scream at her, to hate her, and beat her down, because God knew it was the only power she had left. However, in seeing Penny's trembling, bleeding body, she couldn't bring herself to even raise her voice. There was something so strange about Penny's face. She didn't seem sad so much as she was confused like she had never even considered the possibility of her own failure. Forced to confront an enemy she had never foreseen, she was breaking right before Yang's eyes. Yang tried swallowing her pride and speaking comfortingly.

"Hey. We're going to get out of this," she whispered. "There are already people looking for us. Once Ozpin knows what happens, he'll come for you."

She knew the twins were listening to her. Mocking her. She didn't care. No matter how fucked up their situation was, Penny didn't deserve to suffer. She had never been great at being a big sister, but she needed to prove she could protect someone, no matter how small or how futile. Penny shuddered. Her green eyes refused to leave the wall.

"Ozpin doesn't know I'm here."

Yang was forced to stifle a gasp.

"W-What? But you said—"

"He doesn't know what I've done. No one does," Penny confessed. "I've been… studying you, secretly, for a long time. I… I intercepted Ruby's communication with her father. I knew you were planning something, and when you asked Ironwood for permission to leave Atlas, I… I knew you were going to go after Emerald. I had to follow you. I thought… if I could watch you, I could…" Penny trailed off. Her mouth twitched. "I stored away in the hold of Winter's ship. I stalked you across continents, all on my own. General Ironwood doesn't know that I disobeyed him. He never even wanted me to speak to you. I… I broke my code to follow him. I let him down. I let you all down. I am so sorry…"

Before Penny could continue, Melanie's voice cracked through the crowded room. "Aww, what's the matter? Feelings hurt?" Yang and Penny became still, and their captives likewise silenced themselves as the eldest twin took charge of the situation. "Oh, come on? Don't stop talking now. I like hearing you squirm."

Melanie's delicate footsteps approached them, and then Yang felt a sharp pressure against her shoulder blade. She gasped in pain as Melanie planted the edge of her bladed heel into Yang's flesh.

"Sad no one's going to come rescue you?" Melanie asked with a sick grin. She twisted her heel back and forth. Yang was forced to stifle her gasps of pain. "Shame. I guess that means you are stuck with us."

Yang kept her mouth shut.

She was forced to confront Penny's revelation in silence—or at least, near-silence. She heard an audible groan from the ground behind her and her heart skipped. Ruby's hallucination was still going strong. It was irritable, enough to cause Melanie to huff and withdraw from her toys. Her heel left a notable gash in Yang's shoulder, left unhealed by her draining Aura, but the pain was nothing compared to the growing anxiety she felt toward her sister's fate. Melanie hovered over the prone redhead, placing her hands on her hips as she looked down at the twitching Huntress in disgust. "Ugh, how do I get her to stop?"

Miltia pursed her lips. "I don't know."

Yang held her breath. Dammit, no…

Melanie tilted her head. "Do you think I can snap her out of it?"

Miltia snickered. "Maybe. With enough force."

No no wait—

Melanie raised her boot over Ruby's stomach. "In that case…" Without warning, Melanie stomped down on Ruby's stomach as hard as she could. Ruby sat upwards, the air rushing out of her with a sickly gasp, and her silver eyes suddenly returned to life, bulging out of their sockets. Her head smacked down into the thin puddle of water. Her hands instinctively grabbed at her gut. Yang screamed at her, but before she could turn around, several bullets struck the wall next to her, causing her to recoil. Miltia kept the gun pointed at her, daring her to turn around and help her sister.

Ruby's eyes tried rapidly adjusting to the dark. She was awake. Was she? That dream… no, wait, where was she? Who was she? Ruby. She was Ruby and… what the hell just happened to her? One moment, she was challenging Emerald, and now… darkness. Cold. Wet. Two standing over her. Twins. One had a gun. Yang. Shit, Yang. She looked hurt. She was surrendering, captive, and Penny—oh god, what the hell happened to Penny? And… ow, what the hell was that on her neck?

"You. Against the wall."

These twins. Ruby had never seen them before. Matching. Perfectly matching. The SPIDER ringleaders? Had to be. One of them had a gun. That was bad, but she was also close, close enough to get caught off guard by a surprise attack. Could she? Maybe, if she… wait, Crescent Rose. Where was it? Ruby quickly reached for the weapon clip on her back hip, but she found nothing. They had disarmed her before they brought her downstairs. Could she escape otherwise? The stairs were right there, past the two of them, but she would be leaving Yang and Penny behind. She couldn't do that. Shit, shit, shit.

Melanie kicked Ruby hard in the side against her ribs while the young Huntress was lost in her thoughts, and she groaned in pain as the twin barked out her order again. Ruby immediately tried to use her Semblance to flee, but her powers refused to activate.

"Against the fucking wall!"

Ruby looked up at Melanie with disdain, but there was little she could do to fight back. She reluctantly staggered up to her feet and inched toward the back wall, keeping her eyes glued to her captors. She slowly raised her hands over her head, and after a few backward shuffles, pressed her heels against the metal wall next to her sister. Melanie grinned, while Miltia aimed her gun at Ruby's torso and silently mouthed, Bang.

"Ok, now that we have some peace and quiet, here's what's gonna happen," Melanie stated.

"You don't have to do this," Ruby pleaded.

"Quiet."

"No one else needs to get hurt. We're sorry for what we did, just… let us go and we can forget the whole thing."

"Forget?" Miltia rolled her eyes. "You murdered, like, all of our guys. As if!"

Ruby didn't have any clue what they were referring to. Murder? Did Penny really go that far? She was so distracted by her predicament that she didn't see the shame on Yang's face. She tried to shake off her doubts and speak rationally, which was difficult to do with the barrel of a machine gun pointed squarely at her face.

"We have money. Influence," Ruby pointed out. "I am sure we can arrange something where we can all benefit."

Melanie and Miltia just looked at each other and laughed. Emerald, however, bowed her head, trying to shrink so as to become invisible.

"Yeah. No way," Melanie stated. "That's not how this works."

"Eye for an eye. That's what Mama always said," Miltia followed. "And we need a lot of eyes."

"Then what?" Ruby asked defiantly. "You won't kill us. You won't let us go. Is your plan just to hold us here forever?"

"Not exactly," Melanie explained coldly. "We have a boat scheduled to pick us up tomorrow afternoon. You three are going to come with us as hostages. Since you are the most famous Huntresses in Vale, I'm sure your schools will pay a very hefty ransom to get back their prized students. It'll more than offset the cost of those worthless, little punks you blasted your way through upstairs. How much do you think the Headmaster of Beacon would be willing to pay for his star pupils, Miltia?"

"I don't know, Melanie," Miltia grinned. "Probably, like, a billion Lien."

"So, human trafficking," Yang grunted. "That's your grand plan? You know that our teammates are looking for us, right? They'll find you, and when they do, they'll bring every Huntsmen in the city with them. You are playing with fire."

"No, no. We haven't started playing yet," Miltia said, her smile turning more sadistic. "We have a lot of time to kill before we leave for Mistral. That will give us plenty of time to have fun together."

Fun. Why did she have to say it like that? Is this what it was like? Being helpless? They thought they knew the feeling well. But now, Ruby just wanted to puke, and Yang felt her heart nearly burst from her chest. They were just toys. Entertainment. They tempted fate just one too many times. What else would they have expected then to die like this?

However, before the nightmare could fully reveal itself, Melanie turned to her twin with a great look of contempt. "What? Are you stupid?"

Miltia took a step back in surprise. "Huh?"

"We're not torturing them, dumbass!" Melanie said bluntly. "What does Mama always say about protecting the merchandise?"

Miltia's face contorted, and for a brief moment, it looked like she was about to cry before she screamed. "That's… that's such bullshit!"

"What's your problem?"

"This is so unfair!" Miltia screamed, stomping her foot like a petulant child. "You always tell me what I can and can't do! You got to play with them two seconds ago! How come I never get to have any fun?"

"It's not about you!" Melanie snapped. "I'm doing what Mama wants."

"You always do what Mama wants!" Miltia whined, stamping her foot repeatedly. "Why can't we ever do what I want?"

"Because you don't make money?" Melanie laughed. "Team RWBY is going to make us lots of money. It's as simple as that."

Miltia pouted. Her sister was older than her by only four minutes, and yet for all their life, she acted like she knew everything. She was Mama's favorite, always put in charge of their operations, always claiming the rights to whoever they set their sights upon. It was a petulance unbecoming of a twin sister, one that Miltia had no choice but to tolerate. Because, unfortunately, Melanie did tend to be right about things. Team RWBY was going to make them money. A lot of it. And that meant they had to treat them delicately.

But then, Miltia's gaze turned cold, and she realized something. "What about her? She's not on Team RWBY."

All eyes on the room fell to Penny, and the young Atlasian's green eyes grew wide with fear.

Melanie paused for a moment, and although she hated to give her sister the satisfaction, she nodded in approval. "Good point." She quickly marched forward, grabbed Penny by the scalp, and dragged her toward the center of the room. Ruby and Yang screamed.

"Penny!"

"Leave her alone!"

Penny had no strength to resist. Her arms stayed limp at her sides as Melanie dragged her, eventually forcing the young soldier back to her knees. Her fingers dug into Penny's jaw, molding her, forcing the Atlasian to gaze up at her madness. Penny knew she was supposed to be defiant. She remembered that, once. Never let the enemy show them you were afraid. But her muscles failed her, like everything else had. She couldn't hide her shame.

"You're a weird little freak, aren't you?" Melanie cackled. "Penny, Penny, Penny. What kind of a freak doesn't even bleed normally?"

Miltia knelt down by Penny's side, jabbing the barrel of her gun into her arm. "Look at all this metal. This is so advanced. We could sell it for a fortune."

"It's so gross."

Penny closed her eyes, trying to force their words out of her mind. It did not work.

"Do you think it hurts when we cut into it?"

"I don't know. Hey, Penny, tell me if this hurts, okay?" Melanie stomped again, crashing her heel into the back of Penny's calf. The blade punctured through the metal and dark bits of oil spurted out from the wound, but aside from a brief gasp, Penny's expression remained unchanged. Ruby winced for her, incapable of doing anything.

"Huh. That did nothing," Miltia noted, clicking her tongue disappointedly.

"Well, maybe we can try this!" Melanie slammed her boot directly into Penny's lower back, hitting her spine as hard as she could. Penny fell forward from the force, face splatting into the puddle, her orange hair dampening in the muck. Yet, she did not cry out. She pressed her lips tightly together, but never once did she scream. Melanie huffed again. "Come on. Do something."

Penny remained silent. A low growl emanated from Melanie's throat, and out of impulse, she stomped into Penny's back again, forcing her back to the ground. Penny remained quiet, and without the use of her arms, simply lay flat on the filthy floor. Yang shuddered, concealing her rage, but Ruby had no choice but to watch as Melanie lifted up her heel again.

"You think you're tough?"

Stomp.

"Why don't you scream for me?"

Stomp.

"Scream for me!"

Again. Again. Again. The heel crashed into Penny's back and came up covered in black fluid, growing duller with each malicious kick. With every impact, Penny twitched and Ruby winced, tears welling in her silver eyes as she watched her classmate savagely beaten. For a moment, Penny's eyes met with Ruby's, and they seemed lost. Hut. Such a far cry from the boastful warrior that charged into the building without fear. Penny refused to look away—until Melanie, sick of Penny's disobedience, roared and stomped hard into the back of Penny's head, forcing her face back into the concrete.

Melanie panted, looking down at the damage. Most of the injuries were hidden beneath Penny's uniform, which was dyed black from the heavy fluid leaking from beneath. Another cut had opened beneath her hairline, spilling out down her neck. If there was a place where the titanium turned to bone, Melanie had yet to find it. She didn't mind. It gave her something to aim for.

"Do you have anything you want to say now?" she asked vindictively. "You had so much you wanted to say earlier."

Penny groaned. Ruby felt something catch in her throat as Penny started to rise.

"I… I…"

Melanie leaned in, her smile quickly returning. "Come on. Spit it out."

Penny twisted her neck to look up at her captor. There was some spark left within her; dwindling, fading, but burning bright enough to power her for just a little while longer.

"I… am Penny Polendina. P-Private… First Rank. Atlas… Academy."

Ruby felt an incomparable dread come over her. Stay down, Penny. Just stay down.

"I am the Living Weapon," Penny hissed. "I… serve my Kingdom… with dignity and power. You… you are… criminal… degenerate…"

Somehow, Penny found the strength to move her arms. Somehow, she began to rise, pushing herself up onto her elbows.

"By my honor as a Huntress… you will not live to see this night through."

Penny pushed herself up to her knees. She was shaking uncontrollably. Fluid was pouring out from underneath her uniform. Her arms were barely holding together; her legs sputtering and creaking. Her hair was matted and filthy. But her green eyes were shining brightly. For the first time since Emerald's attack, she had finally remembered who she was. Ruby saw within her a woman not exactly like any she had seen before. There was no hubris, no shame, no aloofness; not even any courage or power, or fear. Penny just looked human, possessing the same normal, mild, passionless will born from anyone trying to survive. It was a plain rebellion of a woman broken everywhere but her mind, and for just that one moment, Ruby understood more about Penny than she ever had before.

And then, with no words, no noise, no warning, Ruby watched as Miltia calmly placed the barrel of the machine gun against Penny's right cheek.

"No. I don't think so."

She pulled the trigger.

Three things happened. First, a light, bright and blinding like an exploding star. Ruby's vision was filled with white for just a millisecond, and in that time, every detail of the room became crystal clear; the glimmer of Melanie's pearly teeth, the crooked pattern of the mold in the corner, fluid clinging to each button on Penny's uniform. She saw Miltia's smile flicker, and Penny's eyes, greener than they ever were before, shift slightly to see the gun pointed at her.

Then, the sound: a great and terrible bang, louder than thunder. It blasted in the small room and echoed off its own echoes, so strong that it dulled Ruby's ears and left them ringing. The noise too only lasted a second, but Ruby felt it reverberate in her bones, her stomach, down to the tips of her fingers. The silence was even louder.

Then, there was the fall, as Ruby watched, unblinking, unbelieving, as Penny slumped over and collapsed.

The shell casings from the rifle fell into the puddle. Melanie, startled, jumped back and started cursing. Yang screamed and pressed her head against the wall, unwilling to look at any more blood shed that day of her own doing. Ruby couldn't look away. She had to see. Penny. Laying there. Unmoving. Her face had twisted away from her in the blast and Ruby could not see the extent of the wound, but she doubted she had much of a face left at all. She only saw the fluid—the blood—seeping out from beneath Penny's hair. Ruby tried to say something, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't even summon a whisper. She just waited in vain for Penny to move, or to wake up in her bed from this awful nightmare, or even for the bullets to hit her next.

Miltia had no intention of shooting anyone else. She simply stared at the corpse of the Living Weapon by her feet, leaned back her head, and burst out laughing.