Note: So, did some chapter planning. Turns out Chapter 100 is going to be another huge milestone for this story. Not gonna tell you why, but it's something people have waited a long time for. But that's the future, and right now, we are just kicking off the Vault of Sin arc, and all of the revelations to come. Including one in this chapter. Enjoy.

"Goddammit, Weiss."

Blake hissed, clutching at her shin. She drained excess Aura into the damage on her leg, hoping to heal it quickly. It wasn't more than a scratch, but it stung like hell, and its circumstances didn't sit well with her. Weiss clasped her hand over her mouth, flustered.

"I'm so sorry, Blake. It was an accident," she promised.

"Yeah, I know," Blake groaned. The old Blake would have held a grudge. She didn't have that in her anymore. "Just… fucking watch those things, will ya?"

The other injuries in the team were more severe and attracted most of the attention. Ren and Pyrrha were huddled closely around Jaune, the former resting his palm on the gash on Jaune's shoulder. The fabric of his hoodie was sticky with blood, and Ren had to force his hands underneath to get a grip on the wound. Jaune hissed in pain as Ren charged his Aura, trying to jumpstart the healing process. Jaune's Aura was weaker than most, and Ren felt it move like more a trickle than a flood. Pyrrha's heart ached as she saw Jaune squirm in pain, her only form of help gently squeezing his hand and whispering soft assurances into his ear. Team CFVY were concerned with their own. Yatsu had taken the most direct hit, and Velvet desperately tried to quell the bleeding. She wrapped a heavy bandage around his thigh, creating a tourniquet above the injury. It was an inch deep, and Yatsu was unable to put any amount of weight on it. The normally stoic giant whimpered as Coco applied a disinfectant to the gash, laying back and trying to imagine he was anywhere else.

Coco grumbled under her breath. Fucking Penny… this place was already a deathtrap, and now their own ally was drawing first blood. Rescuing this woman better be worth it, or she swore there would be hell to pay.

Within the bedroom—or whatever crevasse the Fables excused for a sleeping area—Ruby kneeled beside Penny, checking over her injuries. The mechanical whirring she heard earlier was the android in the middle of repairs. She was attempting to reconnect the circuitry to her severed leg and stem the flow of oily fluid that spouted forth. Penny didn't seem to mind the pain. Ruby knew she was tough, maybe even indestructible. Still, when Penny smiled at her, there was a flash of pain behind her perfect teeth.

"I apologize sincerely for attacking you," Penny said quickly. "It was not my intention to injure."

"It's okay. We'll live," Ruby promised. She glanced over her shoulder toward her teammates and hoped they wouldn't hold any ill feelings.

"I… also apologize that you have to see me like this," Penny admitted, embarrassed. "This is not exactly my best state."

Ruby sighed. There was nothing she could do to help. The technology, she now understood, was millennia beyond her understanding. All she could do was provide meager comfort.

"You're going to be fine, Penny. We're here to help."

Penny laughed nervously. "It might have been more helpful if you arrived three hours ago, unfortunately."

"What happened to you?"

"Well, it is slightly complicated," Penny explained. "If you are here, I assume you understand the nature of this Vault. Either Ironwood or Ozpin provided the sufficient details, correct?"

"Sort of. Whatever they could," Ruby admitted.

"I've been attempting to reach the innermost chamber for several days now," Penny stated matter-of-factly, dismissing her injuries as almost an inconvenience. "Food is not an issue for me, nor is maintaining a steady power supply. The technology within this Vault is functional enough that I can siphon its power to keep my systems operational. Yet, I've been unable to make any progress beyond the outer perimeter. You are quite fortunate you did not choose to move toward the center of the Vault. That is where it is the most active."

Ruby felt the tension rising in her chest. "Where what is the most active?"

Penny scrunched her nose. "Honestly… I am not really sure. I've been internally referring to it as the Maiden."

"The… Maiden?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Correct. It just… came to mind when I first saw it," Penny admitted. "I have never been one for naming things. In my past life, I owned a pet dog. I named him Mr. Barks. It was very uncreative—"

"Penny, focus." Ruby tried to politely refocus Penny on the task at hand. "The Maiden. What is it?"

Penny shrugged. "It is difficult to say for sure. It is some sort of artificial lifeform that freely roams the halls of the inner Vault. My current hypothesis is that it is an ancient security system: a guardian built to ensure no one trespasses into the more valuable sections of the Vault. It is quite vicious. In my two encounters with it, I was not able to damage it to any noticeable degree. I fear that it is made of quite an advanced amount of Fable technology, more than I am capable of damaging."

An ancient security system. Of course. The Fables wouldn't like anyone pilfering their treasures, and instead of guns or bombs or standard, boring traps, the Fables would get abstract with it. Even in life and death, they had to maintain their bizarre aesthetic choices. Even with Penny's advantages, it seemed like she was unable to make a dent. Ruby did not broach the topic of Penny's knowledge of her Fable origins. Right now, she had to strategize.

"What does it look like?" Ruby asked. "What are its weapon capabilities? Is there only one of it?"

"In reverse order: I think so, many things, and it is hard to explain," Penny confessed. "My first encounter with it was close to the entrance. After assessing its abilities, I attempted to circumvent it by coming here. It was waiting for me, suggesting that it is able to navigate the Vault very efficiently. Judging from the marks I left on its exterior, I believe it is the same entity."

"And that… did this?"

"Its second attack caught me by surprise, as you can see," Penny said, dejected. "It is as if its entire body is made of weapons. The blade was so sharp it created perfect incisions across my wires, which is actually useful for repair. I am theorizing a new strategy for our next encounter. In the meantime, I would recommend not going after it. You are… squishier than I am."

Ruby swallowed her fears and looked out toward the branching corridors connected to the sleeping chambers. Within one of those, this… Maiden lurked. Waiting for them. It chilled her knowing that if they had taken a wrong path, they might have stumbled upon this beast without realizing. She guessed their usual Team RWBY bad luck and decided to take a day off. Still, despite the horror that she now knew waited deeper inside the Vault, fortune shined upon her. If it only dwelled in the interior chambers, that gave them an easy escape route. All they had to do was retrace their steps, and luckily for them, they had remembered to mark the way.

With Blake able to put weight on her leg, she, Weiss, and Yang hurried by Ruby's side. They grimaced at Penny's injuries, though they felt blessed they had located her so quickly.

"How is she doing?" Yang asked fearfully.

"She'll survive," Ruby said determinedly. "Penny, are you able to move?"

"My rockets are still functioning," Penny said with a nod. "I'll be slightly unbalanced, but if necessary, I can maneuver."

Ruby sighed. She could wait for Penny to finish her repairs. It would certainly make escaping less of a pain. It wouldn't hurt to give Yatsu and Jaune time to recover either. However, she knew that wasn't a real option. The longer they stayed down here and the more noise they made, the greater the threat of the Maiden loomed. She wanted to finish this mission as quickly as possible before their universal bad luck realized it made a mistake.

"Okay. We give it five minutes, and then we are out of here," Ruby announced. "We head right back the way we came, get to the entrance, and leave this place behind. Sound good to everyone?"

"Sounds good to me," Yang stated. Weiss and Blake nodded in eager agreement. Finally… a fast mission. It was too good to be true.

Far too good. Penny, bewildered, stared at her companions with a blank expression.

"I'm not leaving."

Ruby stammered. "W-What?"

"I cannot abandon my mission," Penny said strictly. "That's not an option for me."

Yang gasped. "Penny, what the fuck are you talking about?"

"We need to get out of here before we get killed," Weiss chastised her.

Penny frowned. "I thought you would have been briefed on my mission. I am to obtain the Holy Grail from the Vault's inner chamber. The General's instructions were clear: either come back with the Grail or do not come back at all."

Team RWBY growled. They gasped. Was this really happening to them?

"Penny, who gives a shit about what Ironwood thinks?" Blake asked bluntly.

"I do."

"Then don't! Just stop caring! Tell him to go fuck himself and choose not to throw your life away!"

"That is a very Team RWBY answer, isn't it?" Penny said almost accusingly. The android wasn't capable of contempt, but there was something that could be mistaken for venom behind her words. "I do not have the luxury of dismissing the needs of my headmaster. Not anymore. My previous attempts at disobeying Ironwood have left me on metaphorically thin ice. I cannot let him down again. The consequences are…" Penny briefly looked away. When she returned, her narrow, green gaze was rigid with determination. "I am not abandoning my mission."

"Penny, look, we can figure something out," Ruby pleaded. Part of her wanted to tell Yang to pick Penny up and drag her out the front door herself, but she held back on the command. "If you are afraid of Ironwood, we'll find a way to protect you."

"I am not afraid of the General," Penny said defensively.

"You sound afraid."

"You wouldn't understand. My loyalties to Atlas are bigger than me. It isn't something I can just refuse like all of you."

"Penny, be reasonable," Weiss said, striking a gentler tone than the others. "I have some idea of what you are going through—"

"I am taking that Grail," Penny said forcefully, cutting through the protests of Team RWBY. "That is final."

Ruby bowed her head in frustration. Yang sighed, considering herself whether to forcefully move the android to safety. Weiss awkwardly glanced at the floor. Blake made her opinions known.

"This is fucking ridiculous," she grumbled. "You stupid Atlasians and your dumb fucking loyalty. Why the hell would you even call us for help if you weren't going to listen to anything we said?"

Penny's rage softened. Her head tilted to the side, staring silently at Blake and her strange words. She spoke bluntly.

"I didn't call you for help."

The other shoe dropped. Ruby's heart skipped.

"What… what do you mean?"

Penny repeated herself. "I didn't ask any of you to help me. What are you talking about?"

What were they talking about? How could she not know? Blake and Yang exchanged nervous glances.

"You called us… you sent out an SOS," Ruby said, becoming more fearful with each passing second. Penny looked at her like she was a lunatic.

"Ruby, be rational. If I was going to call for help…"

No.

"…why would I ever ask for you…"

Wait. Stop.

"…a group of amateur students who wouldn't be allowed here in the first place…"

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

"…unless the General let you?"

Ruby sunk to her knees. She dug her fingers into her scalp. Her heart beat wildly out of control. The panic overwhelmed her. The truth overwhelmed her. Her teammates, having come to the same conclusion all at once, felt the inescapable dread set in. From across the chamber, Coco watched them anxiously from behind her sunglasses, growing more suspicious by the moment as the horror spread among them.

This wasn't happening. This was not fucking happening…

Every night before bed, General James Ironwood would look himself in the mirror and wonder what happened to the man he used to be. He would curse his age, his sagging flesh, and his lack of willpower.

No more. When he woke up this morning and looked into the mirror, he saw someone worthy of respect.

Ironwood sat behind the desk in his office, waiting. He knew he could distract himself with a book, but there would be no point in immersing himself. It was only a matter of time before his guest arrived, and he wanted to be ready. The wine glasses were already set upon his desk. He selected a bottle of fine Mistran red, dry and slightly sour. He polished the glass with a handkerchief. His fireplace cackled. He waited for the elevator to his room to finish rising, and when the door finally opened, he saw a furious Professor Ozpin step out on his carpeted floor.

"Oz. Right on cue."

"Have you lost your mind?"

Ozpin's words were harsh, but Ironwood did not react, continuing to polish the wine bottle with slow, steady strokes.

"Whatever could you mean by that?"

Ozpin gritted his teeth, his cane swinging in his balled fist as he marched toward Ironwood's desk. "You sent Penny to the Vault. After everything we've worked toward, you intend to throw it all away in a blind, shortsighted pursuit of power."

"Accusations are unbefitting of someone of your stature," Ironwood said plainly.

"It's hardly an accusation when it's true," Ozpin chastised him. "We agreed: the Holy Grail is never to be moved from its place in the Vault. Succeeding would be stabbing me in the back, but sending Penny Polendina to her death? Do you not care for anything anymore?"

Ironwood merely laughat at the suggestion. He motioned to the chair across the desk. "Have a seat, Oz. Have a glass. We're celebrating."

"Celebrating?" Ozpin scoffed. "What? Me having to clean up your mess?"

"Celebrating the removal of a nasty thorn," Ironwood said distastefully. "Although you have made that slightly more difficult. Only slightly. I was going to have charges brought on Team RWBY for trespassing on government property, but you gave them clearance. At least give them the chance to break the law before you keel over before them."

Ozpin shook his head. Of course, Ironwood knew his plans the moment he enacted them. He wasn't expecting the General to be blind to this betrayal. But his blasé attitude about everything unsettled him. Still, he followed the General's instructions and sat across from him, waiting impatiently. "What are you talking about?"

Ironwood smirked. "Come now, Oz. You are supposed to be the great mastermind. You really cannot piece it together." Ozpin reacted with little more than a sneer, so Ironwood rolled his eyes and uncorked the wine. He poured himself a steady cup as he explained himself. "The most consistent problem for you and I has been Team RWBY. You have clearly shown yourself incapable of delivering a swift and effective punishment. So, I did what you could not do, and I cut out the infection. I took the great, rebellious spirit of Rosaline, and as we speak, I am crushing it." He poured Ozpin a wine as the headmaster watched on suspiciously. "And you played your part as well, to a degree. Yes, sending Team RWBY directly to the Vault eliminates some options for us later on, but cleaning up the survivors is not a principal concern. In the end: Team RWBY and their little allies are right where they are meant to be. Everything is proceeding as expected. So…" He finished pouring the wine and extended the glass to his lifelong friend. "We celebrate."

Ozpin stared at the glass in disbelief. He processed Ironwood's words carefully, shaken that his fellow headmaster was capable of scheming such a dangerous, potentially disastrous plan. He refused the wine.

"You wanted to send Team RWBY to the Vault," Ozpin said slowly.

"No. I wanted Team RWBY to send themselves to the Vault," Ironwood stated confidently. He leaned back in his chair, smiling gently. "See, Oz, I've been thinking for quite a while about how to resolve our little RWBY problem. Once they took out Jacques, it was clear they had far too much influence to be left alive. But how could we touch them with my benefactor and Rosaline acting as barriers? I had to think creatively… like you, in fact. And I came up with quite an ingenious solution. You see, there's this wonderful concept called: reverse psychology. It's simple really. Team RWBY are not masterminds. They aren't geniuses. They are teenagers. Stupid, gullible, easily manipulated teenagers. They are so sworn to this empty rebellion against authority that controlling them is incredibly simplistic. If I tell them to do something, they will refuse. If I tell them not to do something, they will rush toward it with reckless abandon. I wonder: how many warning signs did Ruby Rose discard as she was desperate to save her friend?"

"But into the Vault?" Ozpin questioned him pointedly. "If they get to the Holy Grail—"

"They won't. They can't," Ironwood claimed. "You know that as well as I do what happens to everyone who goes down there. Huntsmen far more talented than them have ventured into those depths. They won't get far… most of them, anyway."

"You intend for them to die."

"See it clearly now? Picture this," Ironwood said, imploring his friend to use his creativity. "Team RWBY and Friends discover their ally is trapped in a dangerous situation, one their archenemy tries to keep secret. They rush headfirst into the trap, eager to help, only to get ambushed by forces they don't understand. Rosaline, well… we know what will happen to her. If killing Rosaline was easy, you would have done it by now. The Schnee? Maybe she'll survive. She has talent. But the others? Without a clue, without specialized equipment or Semblances… they'll get torn to pieces. Young students, barely trained, killed one by one in front of our innocent rosebud. Each of those pesky thorns plucked away. And poor Ruby, who is powerless to save those she cares about? It will tear her apart."

"And she'll blame you—"

"She'll blame herself," Ironwood said confidently.

"She'll know you tricked her."

"And it doesn't matter. Not to her. That's the thing about the psyche of this child that you haven't grasped yet. She holds a weight upon her shoulders, a tremendous burden that she makes herself carry. Yes, I set the trap, but she is the one who carelessly sent her friends into it. She's likely beating herself up right now, cursing herself for her foolishness. When she watches Belladonna and Xiao Long get their guts ripped out, or your precious prodigy have her head removed from her shoulders… will she really be thinking of me, the person who told her not to bother in the first place? No. However wrong it might be, Ruby Rose will hold herself accountable. And of course, she is." Ironwood's smile widened. "That's the best part. You see, Ruby will survive. All alone with nothing but a demon inside her mind, she will stumble out of that Vault. Broken. Beaten. Vulnerable. When Winter discovers she schemed to endanger her sister behind her back—or, Gods forbid, her sister perishes because of Ruby's recklessness—all of that protection will get stripped away. I specifically told her I had nothing to do with this operation, and Ruby would vouch for me. She'll be removed from her family. Her friends. Her loved ones. She will see herself as an absolute failure, never able to trust herself again. And, at her lowest point, when she's most broken, where does that path lead her? In whose arms will she collapse in when no one else is there for her?"

Ironwood raised his glass, victorious. "Wild mares need to be broken before you ride them, Oz. They need to see the foolishness of having power they can't wield responsibly. By the end of this week, you will have an obedient Rosaline host at your fingertips, whether you deserve it or not. Like I told you before: You just need to give them enough rope to hang themselves with."

Ironwood sipped his wine, but Ozpin just looked at him with disgust. He was so smug, so confident in his plan's success that he couldn't see the obvious flaws staring at him. Ozpin just shook his head, his fury only growing stronger.

"No. You are completely wrong," he insisted. "This is a stupid person's idea of a smart plan."

Ironwood pulled the glass away from his lips. His smile did not fade despite receiving an insult. "It is a plan. More than you have been able to provide."

"Oh no. Not at all," Ozpin grimaced. "If you actually had come to me with this scheme of yours, I would have told you how to fix it. Tricking Team RWBY into endangering their own lives is one thing but in the Vault?"

"It's quiet. Secure. No trace of our involvement, and guaranteed to succeed."

"Except it isn't."

"It is."

"If they get their hands on the Grail—"

"They won't. They aren't even interested in the Grail. You said it yourself: Ruby isn't going to start tearing down Kingdoms. She'll be too distraught to consider revenge. It isn't in her nature."

"Even so, that is a horrible gamble," Ozpin claimed. "Even a fraction of a chance is more than we should take."

"See, that's the degree of caution that prevents us from getting anything done," Ironwood sighed. "I'm tired of being cautious. Goodwitch is on patrol at the Vault. If she sees Ruby emerge with the Grail, tell her to take it by force. Unless Rosaline has Blossomed, it shouldn't be much of a fight."

"And what about Penny?" Ozpin said forcefully. "This is how I know you didn't think this through. If you wanted to use Penny to lure Team RWBY to the Vault, that's understandable. But you know what you didn't have to do? Actua,lly send Penny there. You could have simply recorded her voice, stashed her somewhere safe, and then sent RWBY off to die all on their own. But no—you decided to risk Penny's safety for this grandiose plan of yours, throwing away billions of Lien, years of research, and priceless, rare Fable technology in the process. If you had run this by me, that is the first thing I would have told you to do."

Ironwood merely shook his head. "Oz, my friend. You really don't get it. I want Penny in that Vault."

Ozpin recoiled in disgust. "You… what?"

"Penny has been a thorn as well, unfortunately," Ironwood said contemplatively, swirling around the red wine in his glass. "She's been disobedient. Destructive. She has hardly proven she is worth the massive investment we made into her, in terms of temperament or strength. She needed to learn discipline, and her skills needed sharpening. So, I gave her a final task to prove herself to me."

"You're… you're insane," Ozpin gasped.

"Why? This is what we built her for, is it not? To fight the ancient and indestructible?" Ironwood shrugged. "If Penny survives, then I receive the Grail. It likely needs to be moved anyway, given Glass is familiar with its whereabouts. If she fails… well, I suppose the Grail is safe and sound where it is. Clearly, Penny's skills were overestimated, and it's better to pull the plug early than try to stabilize a failing project. Either way, I view the outcome as successful."

"Penny dying is not a success!" Ozpin said furiously. "She is our best hope at having a consistent, reliable defense against Grimm, against Rosaline! If she dies—"

"Then she'll be replaced," Ironwood said plainly. "We always knew Penny would be the first, not the last. It will take time to recover, yes. But there are more Fable ruins to plunder. Our research on Penny this past year will make duplicating our success even easier. I even have a suitable replacement in mind."

Ozpin's gaze narrowed. "Ciel?"

Ironwood said nothing.

"Really? You'd do that to her?"

Ironwood glanced away for a moment. Only a moment.

"I saw potential in Penny long ago, the same I see in Private Soleil. I arranged for Penny's accident," he stated calmly. "I can always arrange another."

Ozpin's knuckles turned white clutching his cane. This… this was too much for him. He knew Ironwood could be a desperate man, but this callous disregard for consequences… it reminded him of the General's younger days. He was far more arrogant then, guided by rough ideas of martyrdom and victory at any cost. Ozpin had done well to shape him into a more refined thinker. Careful. Noble. Precise. He could see now that he had failed. There was something rotten inside that man; that for all his talk of order, stability, and protection, he cared only for the quickest route to power. It left a bitter taste in his mouth, one that not even the wine could ever wash away. He stood up from the chair.

"This is pathetic. Especially for you."

Ironwood's smirk faded. "Is it really?"

"Yes. It is foolish. It is weak. It is—"

"Weak?" Ironwood's anger flashed, and suddenly the General was standing up, slapping both of his hands against his desk. "Would you like to discuss weakness, Oz? Let's talk weakness." He pointed at his fellow headmaster, circling around his desk with heavy footsteps. "Weak is cowering before the media as if a single bad word hurts as much as a bullet wound. Weak is refusing to brainwash Weiss Schnee like her sister because you are afraid of seeming cruel. Weak is letting a group of teenage girls walk all over you without any consequences, because you think that you are so above all conflict that their disrespect doesn't matter. Would you like to know the truth about yourself, Oz? You act like you have all of this power, but it's all merely perception. For all of the strings you claim to pull, you are a woefully inefficient puppet master. You don't have the guts to do what is necessary to keep power, so you lie and give empty threats to scare those who don't know any better into believing that you are more of a man than you truly are."

Ironwood stepped directly up to Ozpin, shoving their faces close together, forcing the ancient headmaster to look him in the eye. He could see Ozpin's lips trembling. Pathetic.

"No one respects you, Ozpin. No one fears you, not truly. You let your students walk all over you, acting like it's all some great plan to win their trust when you simply don't have the courage to stand up to them. You won't kill who needs to be killed, and you have the gall to question me when I take action. You are such a coward that even when it came to killing Summer, I had to be the one to pull the trigger. If Rosaline does awaken and come groveling back, you better pray that she is blind, deaf, and stupid, because she will see right through your façade just like she always has. You are weakness, Ozpin. Don't you dare walk into my office and pretend to be anything else."

Ironwood pointed toward the elevator, his breath stinking of alcohol.

"Now, if you aren't going to drink… get out of my office."

Ozpin wanted to scream. He wanted to strike Ironwood's head with his cane until it was purple and bloodied. He searched for the right words to say, but he could not find them… at least, none that would be effective.

Silently, in defeat, Ozpin turned and left Ironwood's office. The General took his wordlessness as confirmation. In the end, he knew he would be proven right. For the sake of Atlas, for his future… he had to be.