Note: Back in Chapter 29, Adam remembers being told that there would be lots of grimm nearby the White Fang camp "just in case". That line is very relevant to last chapter and this one.
"The final tally: 20 White Fang dead and 23 captured. Six White Fang unaccounted for, including Adam Taurus. Eight soldiers dead. Two Huntsmen dead."
"Nothing happens without losses, Ozpin. You know that as well as I do."
"That is no excuse to become numb to those losses, James."
"My intervention is the only reason your losses weren't total!"
"Your intervention directly resulted in several of those deaths from friendly fire, as well as the escape of those Fang, because you made no effort to coordinate or work with us."
"You would have locked me out if I'd just asked! And that would have resulted in your underwhelming, too-small strike force, students and all, being swallowed up by the grimm."
"We could have beaten grimm and Fang alike with proper planning, but you were so sure that you, and no one else, knew the right thing to do that you couldn't be bothered."
"That's rich, coming from someone who never mentioned the Atlas military hardware he's been holding on to."
"People are not hardware, James."
"You don't deny it, then. Penny is at your school."
"And your Project Lamplight is a girl with silver eyes named Ruby who bears a striking resemblance to Qrow's long-dead niece named Ruby."
"…Alright. You say you want me to be more open. Fine. But I expect the same of you. Cards on the table, here and now."
"My office, two hours."
"Agreed, on one condition. Penny will be there."
"As will Ruby."
"I accept your terms. I expect some honesty, old man."
"Don't we all."
The mood aboard the Bullhead was bleak. Yang was wallowing in a toxic mixture of sorrow and rage, Qrow was draining his flask with terrifying speed, and Penny, no matter how many soft reboots she conducted, could not get her subroutines to reinitialize and find something, anything, to do or say.
Neither Weiss nor Blake were up for making the situation better, so the five of them were in increasingly awful moods with every klick the Bullhead took them back towards Beacon.
The spires of the school were coming into sight when Qrow's scroll rang. He took the call, muttered a series of affirmations, then hung up. "Penny," he said.
"Yes, sir?"
"The headmaster wants to talk to you in his office."
Penny died a little more. "Yes, sir."
"What I wanna know," Qrow said, "is how the Atlas Military knew what we were up to. We kept our OPSEC tight. No one except for me and Glynda knew any mission details until we were in the air."
Analysis thought it was getting closer to answering that, and Penny reduced its resource allocation by half, because higher consciousness thought it might understand too and was terrified of what the answer might be.
The Bullhead landed at Beacon. Its passengers debarked, though this took them an inordinately long time. Penny took herself to the Emerald Tower, leaving her teammates behind. They didn't say a single word as she left, unless she counted a new bout of anguished tears from Yang.
Step by step Penny made her way towards the headmaster's office. The physical approach was the same as ever. The feel of it was worse than ever. Penny was reminded of the times she'd seen her peers removing bandages. It was a necessary operation, yet tugging away the bandage inflicted pain that made the person reluctant to continue pulling. That was how she felt: she knew there would be discussions and possibly revelations at the headmaster's office, and knew some of them would be necessary, but that knowledge made it harder to proceed.
When she arrived, she expected Professor Ozpin to be deep in paperwork about this latest episode. Instead, he was standing by one of his enormous windows, half resting on his cane and staring out into the distance.
"Penny Pallas, reporting as ordered, sir," she said.
"Thank you, Miss Pallas," said Professor Ozpin quietly. He continued staring, but gestured vaguely at his desk with his spare hand. "Feel free to take a seat."
Penny wasn't more comfortable sitting, but she accepted the offer, on the grounds it would make him feel better. He gave no indication that it did, continuing to look out the window.
It was some time before he reacted. "There it is," he said without elaborating. He turned, walked to his desk, and sat down. "Miss Pallas, in a few minutes, General Ironwood and Ruby will be coming here."
"How do you know that name?" said Penny.
"Qrow told me," said Professor Ozpin. "He's an agent of mine. And that means I have a question for you. Did you ever discover any of your memories?"
"No sir," said Penny, surprised but with that answer stored and ready.
"Do you know where Ruby came from?"
Penny gave full attention to Thesaurus to carefully craft her reply. "I, Yang, and Qrow believe Ruby to be Ruby Rose, who was thought to have been killed by the grimm eleven years ago, but who appears to have been abducted instead. I cannot speculate as to how she got from Patch to the Atlas Military, but she must have been in Atlas for some time to acquire the weaponry and training she possesses now."
"I see," said Professor Ozpin. Penny wondered if he did. "In that case, I have one more question for you. Do you wish to remain at Beacon?"
"Of course," said Penny almost by reflex.
Professor Ozpin nodded. "Remember that you thought that. This conversation is likely to be confusing and intense. I recommend that whatever is said here, you remember that you had this opinion first, and you take time to reconcile that opinion with what will be said."
"I don't know what you mean, sir," said Penny.
Professor Ozpin was quiet for a moment. "I expect you will be pressed to make a decision in the meeting that comes," he said at length. "I beg you to commit to nothing in haste."
Penny nodded in acknowledgment but said nothing.
Two minutes later there was a ding at Professor Ozpin's door. It opened, and in walked Ruby alongside a tall, uniformed, dark-haired man. Penny knew this to be General Ironwood without knowing how she knew that. Trash's fault, maybe.
"Ozpin," said the General with a nod.
"James," Professor Ozpin replied with a matching nod. "Please, be seated. I would offer you coffee, but I know you don't take it this late."
"Sometimes I feel like I should," said the General. He approached the desk, but did not sit. He looked instead at Penny, and Penny had the brief sensation that his eyes could penetrate her likeflesh and see her underneath. She wished he would look anywhere else.
"Penny Polendina," he said.
"I'm afraid you have mistaken me for someone else," said Penny. "My name is Penny Pallas."
"There's no mistake," said the General. "I saw you many times as you were being built. I saw you before and after your face and hair were given to you. I know you just from a look, and I know what lies beneath what I see. You are Penny Polendina, no matter what you're calling yourself now."
"Take care, James," said Professor Ozpin. "That logic can apply just as readily elsewhere."
The General seemed to steel himself as he looked at Professor Ozpin. There was briefly a blue light in the middle of his eyes. "Where, exactly?" he said.
Professor Ozpin looked at Ruby, who shrank back behind the General. "Like with Miss Rose here. Summer Rose was a good student and a good friend. I knew her as well as I knew anyone. Ruby here is the very image of her." He shifted his gaze to the General. "Right down to her silver eyes."
The headmaster and the General stared at each other for a good ten seconds, sharing a nonverbal exchange Penny had no hope of understanding.
"How did Penny get to Beacon?" the General asked.
"I don't know," said Professor Ozpin.
The General banged a hand against his leg. The sound reminded Penny of Mercury's kicks; it made Ruby spring backwards. "Ozpin, we said we would be honest!"
"She arrived in an unmarked, unaddressed shipping container," said Professor Ozpin coolly. "With no notes, no return address, nothing. Just a lost, amnesiac girl."
"Is that so." The General's hand relaxed. He cycled a deep breath. "In that case, I was too harsh. I thought... well. I'm still surprised you didn't contact me about Atlas military technology going astray."
"Even now," said Professor Ozpin, gesturing and looking at Penny, "with her in the room, you are not dealing with her like she has agency."
"Fair." The General clasped his hands behind his back as he took to face Penny head-on. "I called you Penny Polendina because that is the name of your father."
"My father?" Those were words Penny had been waiting months to say.
"Yes. Your father is the best scientist in all of Atlas. When the Atlas military held a competition for its next great weapons project, Pietro and his proposal for Penny–you– won the competition. That's how I've known you since before the first piece of your metal body was forged." He smiled. "I'm so glad and relieved to see you again."
It was, as far as Penny could tell, true. Penny didn't know what that meant.
"So you're who Ruby made friends with in Vale last semester," said the General. "And you're the one she keeps going to see down here at Beacon. Tell me, did you two go to the dance together?"
"Briefly," said Penny. "The dance was overstimulating, though. We didn't stay long."
"I understand," said the General. "I even relate. My rank requires that I go to plenty of social functions, but I look for any excuse to retreat from them."
He stepped back so that nothing was between Ruby and Penny. Penny found her eyes drawn to Ruby. "It's heartening to see the two of you coming together like this," said the General. "That was the hope, you know."
Both Penny and Ruby reacted with noises of surprise. Professor Ozpin made no reaction at all.
"Oh, yes," said the General. "Ruby, do you remember the doctor who helped you so much in building your gear and equipment? And how he was also working on cybernetics? He would talk to you all the time about his big project. Well, that big project was her. As you grew, we modified what we were doing with Penny to make her a superior companion for you. We wanted you to work together.
"And Penny, you have knowledge of how to fight with fifteen different weapons and styles, don't you? As we developed your body, but before your mind was fully formed, we ensured you'd be about the same size as Ruby when she was full grown, so we used you as a test bed. We trained your body with weapons ideas and equipment trials for your own sake, yes… but also for weaponry that Ruby might use when she was ready. The two of you have been linked together long before you knew it. Atlas' greatest war machines."
Penny felt herself teetering into crisis.
She treasured what she felt for Ruby, and what Ruby felt for her.
But if that was no more than fulfilling the demands of others? If this light of her life, her shining silver star, was nothing more than her carrying out someone else's program?
Had Trash triumphed over her after all? Had she been a puppet all along?
"People are not machines, James," said Professor Ozpin quietly. "Let alone war machines."
The General raised his right hand. "People can be both."
"Is that why you felt within your rights to de facto adopt Ruby and weaponize a child? And how did you happen to come into the girl?" said Professor Ozpin, leaning forward as light danced in his eyes. "If I find out it was your agents who…"
"No, gods no," said the General, shaking his head vigorously. "I would never."
Professor Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "Never?"
"Someone else abducted her," said the General. "The enemy. They were studying her. My men found the research lab and raided it. We found her, with no records or notions of where she came from, and her too young and traumatized to tell us."
"Is that so?" said Professor Ozpin with a look at Ruby.
Ruby snapped into a stiff posture Penny had never seen her adopt. "Yes, sir," said Ruby crisply. "My earliest memories are all in Atlas. I don't know what came before. I don't even…"
She swallowed. "I didn't recognize the name 'Summer Rose'."
"That is a great tragedy," said Professor Ozpin, but he seemed to accept the situation as the Atlesians had described it. "So," he said mildly, "when can I expect Ruby to pay a visit to her family?"
The General gaped at Professor Ozpin as if the headmaster had just spoken in a defunct language.
"Before, you and she didn't know about her family," said Professor Ozpin. "Now you do. She is still a minor, and she is part of a family that has been missing her for a decade. Has been grieving her for eleven long years. Don't you think it's time to salvage those bonds?"
"No, it's not time," said the General. "The battle is coming, you have to know that. After tonight for sure, if you didn't before. The enemy is here."
"So the state of emergency is more important," said Professor Ozpin.
The General hesitated only a beat, then said, "Yes."
"The trouble with unilaterally-declared states of emergency," said Professor Ozpin, and for the first time he leaned forward and looked more intense, "is that they tend to outlive the emergency."
"At least I've recognized there is an emergency," said the General heatedly. "If that battle had involved only your usual minimum force, you would have lost them all." His eyes fell on Penny. "Penny included. The enemy had contingencies in place you weren't ready for, because you didn't know her hand was in play. You didn't think she could be involved with the White Fang- only I did, and I was right. You and Penny are lucky I followed my instincts."
"What enemy?" said Penny, curiosity and alarm both rising within her. "You keep saying 'the enemy', but the way you use it implies more than just the White Fang. What other enemy is there?"
Penny wouldn't say this for fear of implicating Ruby, but Ruby had spoken this way in the past, had referenced an amorphous, undefined enemy. Her eyes made her a target for 'the enemy'. Penny hadn't understood that before, not knowing what was significant about those eyes; recognizing now that Ruby's eyes were weapons, she thought she understood better, except for the nature of an enemy that would fear those eyes.
Roman had been right, Penny realized. He'd warned her of a larger conflict and advised her to get out. Penny didn't understand the dynamics in play, except to know that they frightened her.
The General didn't help her understand, because after a glance at Professor Ozpin, he clammed up and simply said, "Classified."
Penny was starting to really hate that word.
"The current danger isn't enough to keep Ruby isolated, I don't think," Professor Ozpin said. "Especially not when some of that family is right here at Beacon. Why, I daresay it'll take all my guile to talk Qrow down from personally storming your ships once he's gotten over his shock."
"It's not just about the logistics," the General insisted. "It's about maintaining focus."
Professor Ozpin looked at Ruby. "How would you rate your ability to focus on the enemy right now?"
"Uh…" said Ruby, and despite maintaining her imitating-the-General posture, she swayed in place like she wanted more than anything to run away. "Classified?"
Professor Ozpin arched an eyebrow at the General, whose eyes narrowed. "Why are you so invested in this?"
"The mental health and well-being of my students and citizens is my concern," said Professor Ozpin. "Including Ruby's family, and Ruby herself."
"Ruby is not a citizen of Vale," said the General.
"Remind me," said Professor Ozpin as his indulgent attitude vanished, "where was she born, and to whom. Remind me where her birth certificate is registered, and the name on that certificate."
The General's tone was no more accommodating. "Don't you see how that logic applies even stronger to Penny? When in reality they are both by rights part of the Atlas Military?"
"You would need a regiment of lawyers to make that stick," said Professor Ozpin. "And a second regiment to excuse your treating a child as military property to the exclusion of her family."
There was a long moment, over fifteen seconds, of cold silence between the two men. Penny had never been more uncomfortable to be witness to a conversation.
"Penny was built by the Atlas military, for the Atlas military," the General said at last.
"She is a student of Beacon Academy," said Professor Ozpin. "She made that choice."
"Knowingly?" said the General, looking at Penny again. "Did you know what you were giving up when you made that choice?"
"I believe I had sufficient information at the time," said Penny- and she hiccupped.
"Don't try to lie to me," said the General. "It won't work. I know how you were built better than you do."
Penny felt a spike of panic being driven into her core. "I made the best decision I could with the information I had! I had no memories of Atlas at all."
"There," said the General smugly. "If you want to talk about choice, how about that? She made an under-informed choice. We should give her a chance to make that choice again."
"How many times has Ruby been given any choices?" said Professor Ozpin, looking and sounding enormously weary.
The General flushed. "It appears we're at an impasse."
"So it would seem," said Professor Ozpin. "Except these situations are not equal. They rhyme, but are not the same."
"Even so, it doesn't look like we can go any further now." The General took a step back, unclasped his hands, and spread them wide. "But I hear what you're saying about the importance of family. In fact, I have a promise to keep in that vein. I promised Pietro that if I ever found Penny, I'd make sure they could call and talk. I'm prepared to make good on that promise, for both their sakes."
"Pietro?" said Penny.
General Ironwood looked at Penny steadily, unwaveringly, as he said two words which tipped her world upside-down.
"Your father."
Penny's subroutines careened out of control; she felt like she had facts and couldn't make them do anything for her.
"And it's okay for Penny's focus to be compromised by family matters, but not Ruby's?" said Professor Ozpin wearily.
"Penny talking to Pietro would focus her," the General said.
Professor Ozpin sighed heavily, but didn't explain what that meant; Penny was more adrift than ever. "Were you planning to have that call happen now?" he said at length.
"Hardly," said the General. "We're into the morning here, which means it's even earlier in Atlas. I'll arrange it with Pietro and we'll try in the near future."
"Keep us informed," said Professor Ozpin.
"I will," said the General. "Now, I believe we both have a lot of cleanup to do, and our subordinates need rest."
"Interesting word choice," said Professor Ozpin.
"I'll be returning to my ship," said the General without engaging with the headmaster. He looked at Penny. "Would you mind walking us to the docks?"
Penny gave a nervous glance at Professor Ozpin, but he was blank as a fresh sheet of paper. But General Ironwood had information for her, maybe… "I can do that, I think."
"Excellent," said the General. He took a deep breath and looked at Professor Ozpin. "This day may have gotten rough at times, but let's not forget the good done tonight. We struck a crippling blow against the Fang, and we've brought back people we thought were lost."
"It's a matter of perspective, I suppose," said Professor Ozpin, and Penny couldn't tell if this was agreement, contradiction, or some strange mixture of the two. "You may go."
The General about-faced and walked for the door. Without signal, Ruby followed on his heels, which reminded Penny she was supposed to go with them, too.
Normally Penny had no trouble talking to Ruby about whatever occurred to her. Her electronic brain was too full and too confused to manage that now. The General knew the way back to his ship. He didn't need an escort. What was this about? She didn't know, and he gave her no clues. The elevator ride and walk through the Emerald Tower proceeded in eerie silence, broken up only by tuneless humming from the General.
Things changed when they were out of the tower and walking for the docks. "I'd like to say thank you," said the General.
Only by following his eyes could Penny determine the General was talking to her. "What for?" she asked.
"For taking care of Ruby," said the General. "Those times you met her. She could have met anyone down in Vale, including some… less than savory characters. Instead, she met you. I'm typically not a big believer in destiny, but this sort of thing could give me faith."
Ruby was looking back and forth between Penny and the General. Her mouth was squeezed tight and she was frowning. She didn't seem to understand any more than Penny did.
Or maybe she understood it and was disturbed. Penny could never tell; those things looked the same to her.
"Just look at us," the General said, sounding cheerful and energetic despite the hour. "The two of you working together, like I'd always hoped for you. I can't tell you what a relief it is. I've dreamed of the good that would come from you two as partners. For a time, I'd thought that dream was lost. Now, I have hope again."
They'd gotten close to the General's ship– a Star Streak-class airship, Tactical noted distractedly. He paused within arm's reach. "You can come with us, you know."
Penny would have been less startled by the airship exploding. "I beg your pardon?"
"Come with us," the General said. "You belong with us. With Ruby, with the people fighting the same battle you're fighting."
Penny looked back and forth between Ruby and the General. Being able to spend more time with Ruby was tantalizing; a part of her tried to lurch in Ruby's direction. But something was wrong, off; higher consciousness had picked up on something no subroutine could detect.
Penny couldn't define it, but it felt like danger.
The panicked look on Ruby's face meant a lot to her, too.
"Respectfully, sir," said Penny, "I don't know what battle you mean."
"That's fair," said the General. "Hopefully, we'll be able to tell you soon. I have your scroll number, after all. I'll notify you when I've arranged the call with your father."
Another thing that Penny thought would make her happy but was causing her confusion and dismay instead. What was wrong with her? What was wrong with this night? Why was everything three times as complicated as it needed to be?
"One more thing," said the General. "Thanks for contacting Ruby and keeping her up-to-date. That gave us the opportunity to track you into the forest and divine Oz's scheme. If you hadn't kept in touch with Ruby, Atlas wouldn't have been able to intervene, and things would have gone much, much worse."
As guilt crushed Penny beneath its weight, the General boarded his ship. Ruby followed him obediently.
Penny couldn't stand to watch it fly away.
"Things are going poorly in Vale."
They were small, innocent words, harmless on their own, but context is everything. The words resulted in one non-judgmental grunt, one insane giggle, and one condescending hmph.
"The Vale Branch of the White Fang has been seriously damaged, almost destroyed, and it can expect no more support from the rest of the organization. Apparently, some bridges were burned too soon, with nothing to show for them. The Fang didn't even die properly- the grimm I'd stationed to either support or sanitize the Fang managed neither."
Another round of very similar noises resulted.
"A golden opportunity is being squandered before our eyes. I will not permit it. I've worked too hard to create this opportunity to let it slip by unexploited. We will have to amend the plan to compensate. And so, I have tasks for each of you.
"Hazel, Cinder's team needs a replacement patsy. You will go to Anima on that recruitment trip we discussed. Demand a viable candidate, recruit them, and pass them on to dear Leonardo to fold the patsy into Cinder's team."
"Yes, Your Grace."
"Tyrian, the Vale Branch needs reinforcements to do anything useful, and you are uniquely equipped to get them back on track."
"I live to serve, my Queen."
"Watts, you will go to Vale as well to provide support on the scene. We will evolve the plan further once we know where we stand."
"As you wish, Your Grace."
Salem, Witch Queen of the Grimm, stood at the head of the table and gauged the sincerity of her servants. What she saw must have satisfied her. "Very well," she said. "You are all dismissed."
As the three men took their leave of her presence, she called out. "Oh, and Tyrian?"
The whipcord of a man turned and bowed obsequiously. "Yes, Your Grace?"
"The White Fang reported the presence of a young woman, possibly a teenager, with silver eyes." Salem's inhuman eyes glinted with malice. "I'm given to believe the two of you have met."
Tyrian's face lit up in glee and anticipation. Salem's smile was smaller and more restrained, but no less cruel.
"Should the two of you meet in Vale, be sure to give Ruby Rose my regards."
"Thy will be done," Tyrian said, and laughed.
From somewhere within the castle, there was a howl.
Next time: Temptation
