Emerald had been through a lot in the last year or two. Fuck, she'd been through a lot the last few months, even before Ozpin wormed his way into her life. Even a few minutes ago, watching Cinder grow a whole Grimm arm through a seizure, didn't suspend her belief whatsoever. It was surprising, sure, but not that surprising. Maidens and Relics and Gods and divorced immortal lovers had all worn out her ability to think too hard about anything.

Yet, somehow, despite all that strangeness, all that experience with the bizarre, nothing prepared her to become face to face with a young woman she helped murder—

And for that same murder victim to look her dead in the eyes and call Emerald by the name of the silver eyed brat she currently hated most in the world:

"Ruby," she said. Or, wait, no—it said (remember, Em, it's a robot, not a person). It shook side to side, body jittering and sputtering sparks from every excited movement. "I missed you so much!"

"Uh…" Emerald replied, shell shocked by both Penny's existence and its (apparently blatant) face blindness. She didn't know such a weirdly specific situation was even possible, much less how to interact with it.

Unfortunately for Emerald, she wasn't given any time to think things out. In the scattered milliseconds that transpired between Penny speaking and Emerald thinking, one thing became undeniably clear:

Robots thought much faster than humans ever could.

Quicker than a blink, Emerald tumbled to the floor. Whatever had knocked her over had collided with her with such force that Emerald's vision turned splotchy. Her active aura protected her from what (for normal people) could've broken a few ribs, possibly even one of her arms.

When she tried to stand, the weight holding her down, restraining her in an iron grip, became impossible to ignore. As her vision returned, the spots in her eyes filling like newly painted strokes across a canvas, the picture she expected to find was a violent one. Being pinned to the ground by the Murder drone, its false face opening up to reveal some dastardly, high tech laser or some shit straight from a bad sci fi movie.

So Emerald had to blink a few more times when her vision returned, and she found the robot doing one thing, and one thing only:

Hugging her. Mercilessly.

While there was no obviously malicious intent in the robot's demeanor (snuggling into Emerald's chest and humming contently), that didn't stop it from hurting. As her aura crackled, bending inwards enough to bruise, Emerald half wondered if this was some fucked up Atlesian torture tactic.

Having enough of whatever this was, Emerald squirmed against Penny's hold on her, and tried to reach for Thief's Respite. Unfortunately, Penny's hugs were too thoroughly engineered to escape without assistance or a more rowdy semblance. Fortunately, that didn't matter, as right when Emerald noticed Cinder reach out with a burning hand, Watts stopped her assailant with a single word:

"Cricket," he grumbled, and Penny's whole body felt rigid against Emerald's skin.

The robot unclamped itself from Emerald's torso, standing up quickly and turning to Watts with unwavering attention. "Cricket online. Awaiting orders," it drawled, voice bereft of any of the fleeting humanity it pretended to have before.

"Just… just stand there. Silently. Please," Watts said tiredly.

It obeyed him quietly (as requested).

Emerald stood up shakily, still sore from Penny's… everything. She glared at Watts (he clearly had something to do with Penny's bizarre behavior, the smug bastard), but she bit down any insults that rose too close to passing through her teeth. While she'd normally love to tear Watts a new one, she wasn't confident doing so in front of Salem would be a good idea. Later, then.

Speaking of the Grimm Queen, she stepped past Emerald without a thought as she made her way towards her throne at the head of the table. As Emerald shadowed Cinder to her own seat, Emerald expected Salem to be angry (or at the very least, annoyed) at both Watts AND Emerald (Watts for failing to leash his robot, and Emerald for being even mildly inconvenient).

So Emerald was surprised when she stood aside Cinder's chair and glanced carefully at Salem—

Only to find Salem smiling. Not the weird, bubbly one she gave Cinder a few minutes ago (and, gods, was that unsettling to watch), but one of the amused ones she'd don when she heard something she found entertaining (like when Cinder had Emerald transcribe every excruciating detail of Ozpin's fiery death under the vault).

"Fun times," Ozpin said dryly.

Emerald almost jumped at his voice, not expecting him to interject while Salem was so close in earshot. He needed to shut up.

"I'm still just in your head, you know. As long as you don't make it obvious, she won't notice." True, but maybe Ozpin should just shut up out of principle, until it was a habit. "Besides, don't you have something more important to worry about?"

Aside from translating for Cinder (now that her voice was ripped up again, gods dammit), Emerald didn't know what he…oh.

Oh shit.

The ultimatum.

Emerald had been so flabbergasted at Penny's confusing intro and her—its—sudden hug/chokehold, that Emerald had completely overlooked Penny being here at all meant Watts was well on the way of pushing his Maiden-bot project.

Emerald glanced at Cinder worriedly. Cinder's human hand tightly clenched the right arm of her chair with a white-knuckled grip. Emerald debated reaching out a hand to gently hold Cinder's shoulder, but decided that was a bad idea to test out in front of Salem's entire inner circle (she still didn't know Cinder's thoughts on PDA, after all).

After a moment to let everyone settle in their seats, Salem began the meeting. "Before moving on with everyone's assignments, I believe Arthur should speak first." She cradled her chin in one palm, drumming her nails against her cheek. She smirked. "I'm sure you all have many questions for him."

Understatement of the century. Everyone in the room looked to Watts with rapt attention, with… varied reactions.

Hazel seemed focused yet largely disinterested (like always). Mercury (the ass kisser that he was) leaned forward with all the enthusiasm of a schoolboy chasing extra credit. Tyrian grinned, glancing between Watts and Cinder with barely contained laughter. And Cinder…

Well, Watts certainly had her attention. And all the consequences that entailed.

"Yes, very well," Watts began. "Most of you were already somewhat informed of my progress. Before this meeting, I'd already had to explain a bit to both Tyrian and Hazel. Mainly so I could test Penny's reaction to two fairly well known criminals in Atlas' criminal database—"

"It thinks I'm a professor!" Tyrian cut in. "How fun!" Clapping his hands, he turned towards where Penny stood by Watts' side. He giggled maniacally. "Oh, the things I could teach it—"

"Tyrian." Salem's smile eroded. "Quiet."

Like a light switch, Tyrian's demeanor flipped in an instant. The upturned edges of his grin drooped until the lips were quivering. "Of course, my goddess," he whimpered. "Apologies, my goddess."

Gods, what a simp.

Ozpin muttered something about 'irony' in response to Emerald's thought, but she couldn't find the energy to fight him on it. Not while she was focused on Watts' impromptu lecture (fuck, he was totally loving this, wasn't he?).

"Anyway," Watts continued, ignoring Tyrian as he prostrated himself on the floor. "The good news is that I've managed to hack into Ironwood's little doll. With a single word from me, its entire system shuts down and is overridden with my own rudimentary AI."

Ah. So that's what happened before when he had said 'Cricket'. But if that's the case…

"Then why wasn't it in control when we walked in?"

It took Emerald far too long to realize she had asked that outloud. She had never spoken up during a war meeting before, not without Cinder's explicit permission. There was a reason Emerald had to stand next to Cinder, instead of sitting beside her. Emerald wasn't a real member of the circle. More like… Cinder's plus one.

Of course, that also applied to Mercury once upon a time. Emerald had been pretty annoyed when she saw Mercury sitting pretty at the previous war meeting, his feet propped up on the table like he owned the place. That attitude fell away the moment he had heard Salem approach, but, still, he could be less of a dick about it. Despite her teasing him about his brown nosing, Mercury's efforts helped him wriggle his way into having a seat at the big kid's table. Lucky him (prick).

But Mercury's position in Salem's circle was irrelevant to Emerald speaking out of turn. Fortunately, Cinder didn't call her out on it, probably just as interested to know the answer herself. And if Salem cared, she didn't show it. In fact—

"That's a fair question, Arthur," Salem agreed. "Why is the puppet still free? Even if only for brief intervals."

"You already know the answer yourself, ma'am. You were the first I told. But the rest of you should know as well, especially for the guidelines both I—and Salem—expect you to follow when interacting with it in the future."

Gods, this was totally about to become a real lecture, wasn't it? Watts spoke over the table like he was a professor describing every detail of his syllabus.

"What makes Penny's design unique is the ability to use aura, as though it were a living thing. And with aura, it has the potential to be a vessel for the maiden's powers. Unfortunately, when I tried testing that capability myself, there were… complications."

Before anyone could ask what he meant by 'complications', Watts snapped his fingers at Mercury and dismissively said, "Boy, make yourself useful and get over here."

If Mercury found his commanding tone insulting, he didn't show it. He simply stretched out of his seat and did as instructed. "Sure, you're the boss."

"Excellent. Now…" His voice fell flat. "Kick it."

Mercury arched an eyebrow, but Emerald didn't have to be observant to see how quickly he went from thinking, 'Why?' to thinking, 'Who gives a fuck?'

Zero hesitation whatsoever, Mercury crouched low as a predator before raising and twisting one leg into a heavy kick. The metal boot struck Penny across its face so hard that it pierced through the skin of one cheek, letting loose a screeching groan as it scraped against the metal underneath Penny's face.

Emerald winced. She knew the skin was as artificial as the rest of its body, but… well, it just didn't look pleasant. Even if the machine barely budged from the impact, Mercury should have held back a bit.

By the seething look on his face, Watts agreed with her. "Did you have to aim for the face of all places?" he huffed as he looked the machine over, scowl only worsening as he took in the extent of the damage. "It doesn't matter what happens to the rest of its skin—rip it all off for all I care—but the face is crucial for urban missions, you buffoon!"

Mercury shrugged. "Hey, you're the one who didn't specify." His lack of remorse only made Watts turn a darker shade of red. "Need me for anything else?"

Watts glowered at him, but waved him off. After Mercury slumped back at the table, Watts continued on.

"As you can see, it didn't use any aura to protect itself. The reason, one I was very disappointed to discover, is that its aura only reacts to Penny's base AI. None of my own programs that I've tested can manipulate it. And if my AI can't use the aura—

Then it couldn't use the maiden powers either! Cinder must have made the connection the same time Emerald did, because her entire posture visibly relaxed, grip loosening from where it held her armrest. Her shoulders dipped from the released tension.

"With that said," Watts went on. "There's nothing stopping me from making my own Penny models. Ones that aren't tainted with Pietro's sentimentality." Cinder's tension rose back immediately. Watts noticed, smiling slightly, but otherwise didn't pause as he kept speaking.

"However, because of technical jargon none of you could possibly understand, replicating the device that allows Penny to synthesize aura is proving… difficult. Until then, I need to closely monitor its aura levels, how it uses it, and overall continue to pry it for any more useful information."

That made sense… for the most part. It didn't explain everything that Emerald had questions about, though.

Fortunately (or unfortunately for anyone sick of his voice, Emerald herself included), Watts wasn't quite finished.

"Which brings us to the part where you all are concerned. Strap in, because this is going to take a bit of context. I will do my best to simplify this enough for you all to understand—namely the uncultured among you."

Cinder shook furiously at his words, but said nothing (not that Emerald thought she had the strength to do so). Emerald's hand once again ghosted the idea of reaching for Cinder, but she stopped herself. It didn't feel like her place to initiate. Not here.

What transpired over the next several minutes was the longest, elaborate, and pedantic tangent Emerald had ever heard. She knew Watts loved lording around his vocabulary at people like a king swinging a scepter, but some of the words spewing from his mouth felt like they were robbed from a language long dead. No one alive should be able to understand half of them, save maybe Salem, since she probably watched an empire or two fall in her time.

"I could tell you the definitions, if you'd like," Ozpin piped in.

…Make that two people.

Though she struggled to follow most of it (especially whenever he used words like 'neuroplasticity' or 'middleware'), she was able to scrap together the general gist of it:

Penny's mind (or core, whatever) wasn't possible to alter directly. Trying to change it forcibly could break it, or damage the AI too much to salvage. Something about the black box Watts had told her about last time she visited, and something about how Penny's core was as complex as a human brain.

Apparently, human minds were resistant to tampering (which seemed completely untrue to Emerald, but go off). And, like a human brain, Penny's mind couldn't repair any damage to its neurons (or… whatever computer parts composed its core).

However, not every system that connected to Penny's core was actually inside of it. The surrounding systems that controlled the rest of its body (eyes, ears, other weird robot shit, etc) were what Watts was able to hack and install new programs on. To trick Penny into trusting them, though, Watts had to fiddle with a very specific system:

Its personnel database.

Emerald got really confused when Watts explained that part, since he dived really in depth into how he hacked it and the technical skill it required. Only a cough from Salem was able to shake him from his gloating and force him to get to the point already.

However, she did get it… mostly.

Apparently, that database had saved pictures and profile information for everyone Penny had ever met. Watts wasn't able to delete the memories associated with those people, but he could swap around the database and confuse her sensors' ability to recognize those people. He inserted himself into her creator's profile, Salem into some Atlesian officer's, and Hazel and Tyrian into two random professors from Beacon (the commentators from Amity, for some reason).

As he reached the end of his spiel, Emerald still wasn't satisfied. She understood easily why Watts needed an identity change (so they had someone Penny trusted) and why Hazel and Tyrian had to (both were criminals with records that Penny may have accessed before). Salem was… well, probably because Salem was too hard to interject into Watts' 'Atlas Resistance' narrative he wanted everyone to pretend to be a part of when interacting with Penny.

Yet, none of that explained why Penny mistook Emerald as Ruby of all people. Neither Mercury nor Cinder needed a change, since they were both listed as Haven students (like Emerald was). And since Penny was eviscerated on television before Cinder telegraphed her voice to the world, it shouldn't think of her (or her posse) as a threat.

Emerald didn't want to interrupt the meeting again to ask about it, but luckily, she didn't have to.

Watts brought it up himself.

"And that brings us to the surprise a few minutes ago." Finally, his eyes met Emerald's. "Frankly, I didn't alter anything for Emerald. Which means my meddling may have… jostled more profiles than I intended. An astronomical coincidence that it happened with the silver eyed girl and one of our assets, but one we'll just have to work with for now."

That… that was it? An accident? Seemed a bit random, but somehow… oddly satisfying. Watts was almost as prideful as Cinder, so watching him admit his failings was always a treat. Hopefully it would help sweeten Cinder's ever souring mood.

"Couldn't you just mess with the bot's head again?" Mercury asked. "Like, it seems easier to swap Emerald's profile back to normal, rather than have her pretend to be Little Red all the time."

"Unfortunately, besides the fact that Penny already thinks the girl is here—and I'm getting so tired of adding more details to explain every damn thing it has questions about—I'm also worried altering it any further may ruin the other changes I've made. Emerald's predicament is proof enough that fiddling with Penny's database too much could alter the others by accident, which would be very annoying if it ruins the work I've already done."

"Ah, I see." Mercury nodded sagely, as though he understood perfectly (Emerald doubted it).

"Yes. But that's the long and short of it." Watts looked around the table, meeting everyone's eyes. "Any other questions?"

After that, Watts answered a few more follow up questions. Mainly what was and wasn't allowed to be said in front of Penny, some questions from Salem about a potential timeline for creating more aura cores, and one last joke question from Mercury.

"Out of curiosity," Mercury asked. "Why 'Cricket'? Does it stand for some convoluted acronym or something?"

At that, Watts gave a half grin. "Ah, no. Bit of fun on my part is all. Seemed an appropriate name for it, better than Penny, at least."

"How so?"

"Because the damn thing never shuts up."

That got a laugh out of Mercury (and flipped Tyrian back to his grossly jovial self), but Emerald didn't find it funny at all. Not that she normally would anyway, but… there was this tense, anger building up. One that she did not recognize as her own—

Ah. Ozpin.

"She's… she's a child," he said simply. "And he… gods, he thinks it's funny what he's done to her. Few things make me truly angry any more, but this…this makes me furious."

Emerald scratched her wrist, trying to pay attention as Salem moved on to the rest of the meeting. She didn't like Watts either, but Penny was just a robot. Basically a weapon with legs and a pretty bow on top. It would be weird to feel sympathy for a machine…

Right?

As the meeting continued, the rest of the topics were discussed much quicker than Watts' bullshit (Emerald could say a lot of things about Salem, but inefficient wasn't one of them). The mission assignments were divided evenly as always:

Hazel was assigned a mission with the White Fang, where he'd meet with their high leader, Sienna Khan, and secure a deal for more operations.

Watts would be staying in the castle to work on the Penny project, but would also be communicating frequently with Lionheart remotely to check up on any more news about Spring (Emerald felt Ozpin lurch at the thought, but he said nothing to her).

And Tyrian was going to track down the Spring Maiden, before Cinder (through Emerald) asked about Ruby (for the umpteenth time in a row). Salem must have been feeling generous, because she changed his mission to track down the Rose girl instead. A mission he was just as visibly excited to undertake (even if he pouted like a child when Salem said he couldn't murder her).

Right as Salem was about to adjourn the meeting, however, Mercury raised his hand for attention, like he was back in the bleachers at Beacon. Salem, still generous (apparently), humored him. "Yes, boy? You have something to contribute?"

"Yes, ma'am. I was thinking…" He scratched his chin, and glanced towards Tyrian. "What if I helped with Little Red?"

Emerald blinked.

What?

Mercury wasn't an idiot. Well, not as much as people seemed to think he was, at least. Despite his lowbrow sense of humor and cocky attitude, he was quick to notice things before others.

He was the first to notice Qrow's arrival during the tournament, and report back to Cinder. He was the first to notice Ruby snooping around right before the rigged fight between the Nikos chick and the ginger drone. But he noticed the little things, too.

Like how Cinder always hid her neck beneath a choker. There was a story there, he was sure. Not one he had any care to pry into, though, he wasn't like Emerald—

He didn't stick his dick in crazy.

He noticed little things about everyone he spent enough time with. Maybe it was something he picked up from his assassin training, or maybe just from trying not to set off his dad's temper after he came home from happy hour. Both reasons pointed towards his deadbeat of a father either way, but hey—at least his old man was good for something.

He could go on and on about the little ticks that showed off how touch starved Emerald was, or how Watts' obsession with being the smartest in the room was from some sort of inferiority complex, but those details weren't really useful to him. The person he really needed to get a read on had one of the most chiseled poker faces Mercury had ever come across:

Salem. The big bad queen of the Grimm herself.

Like, sure, he knew she was feeding into both Cinder and Tyrian's egos to keep them obedient. Always giving crumbs of promises to Cinder for more power and control, and for Tyrian… whatever it is he was into. Probably puppy murder or some shit.

But understanding how she kept her pawns on the board didn't help him understand why she was moving them. He knew there would be a new world order, and they'd be the top dogs, but the details into what that meant were… so vague. Yet, he doubted anyone as methodical as Watts, or as disciplined as Hazel, would follow a plan without some assurances in place.

So, he had to ask himself: if they knew the details, why didn't he? Even when he asked, why was he brushed off, no matter how much he helped them with their little side projects? Answer: because he wasn't important enough to know. And if he wasn't important enough to know, how would he guarantee he was important enough to keep around when all was said and done? Answer: the same way as everyone else:

Make himself important to Salem. At any cost.

Watts was the technical expert. Without him, half their plans so far would have been impossible.

Tyrian and Hazel were both enforcers, each with their own specialty. Tyrian was better at tracking, subterfuge, and under-the-radar assassination. Meanwhile, Hazel was pretty good at actually convincing people that what Salem was doing was justified (which, wow, what a hard sell to pull off). That was just a bonus to his actual brute strength that could overwhelm most huntsmen, even the ones that made Tyrian back off.

Cinder was… well, a necessary evil. Salem needed a young woman to blow shit up for her, Cinder was a young woman who wanted to blow shit up. It worked out for them both, despite the mind games they played with each other…

And Emerald.

Like Emerald, Mercury wasn't essential to Salem's plans. Useful, maybe, but still replaceable for the most part. It was the reason he had been so focused on getting any mission he could, assisting the main lieutenants with anything they were doing—he needed to find a need and fill it before some other lucky schmuck did.

So when Salem briefed them with their assignments, and he was (once again) given nothing to do but twiddle his thumbs, he thought, Well, time to take the initiative.

Salem arched an eyebrow. "You wish to assist Tyrian in his mission?"

The madman in question had a confusing grin plastered on his face. Something split between intrigue and hunger. Mercury would have to be careful with this fucker.

"Yes, ma'am. Might help him get it done faster. After all, she did beat Cinder, and she's one of our best." Cinder growled at his comment, before she had to cough into her sleeve, shooing Emerald away when she tried to help.

Pathetic.

"I see." Salem tapped her nails against the table absentmindedly. "Tyrian, do you have any qualms with this?"

He stood up on his chair and bowed dramatically. "I will do anything you command, goddess. Just say the word."

"Good," she replied, expecting no other answer. "Mercury, prepare to leave the castle. You will be joining Tyrian on his hunt."

Tyrian giggled with violent glee, rocking on his knees as he locked eyes with Mercury. "Oh, it seems we have a date with a Rose, Mister Black." For whatever reason, that line had him cackling on the floor.

Gods, Mercury hoped this didn't take long, not if it meant teaming up longer with this clown in a braid. Hopefully Ruby wouldn't be too hard to find.

After his involvement with the assignment was settled, the room began to clear. The war meeting was over.

Salem always left first; it was rude to walk out before her, in case anyone got in her way (same bullshit power move she did to make everyone wait on her every meeting, but, hey, it worked).

Watts cleared out first after her, ordering Penny (or Cricket, whatever) to follow him back to his workshop. Hazel left quickly without a word, as usual. Tyrian started to leave, but flashed another grin at Mercury as he did.

Mercury went to follow him, see if he could have any sane conversations with the man to start discussing where they should look for the silver-eyed brat first, but Mercury lingered in the doorway as he noticed Cinder still sitting in her chair, Emerald glued to her side.

Emerald was… a lot of things. Dumber than him in some ways, smarter in others. But when it came to anything involving Cinder, Mercury felt like a genius by comparison. Despite her poor choice in women, Emerald was (as Hazel had pointed out) his only friend. By the time they finished conquering the world, he hoped they still had that relationship. But if she didn't step up soon, find a way to cement herself in Salem's good graces…

She would not survive the world that was to come.

Cinder had her wrapped around her finger too tightly. The moment Cinder grew bored, or got a little too pissed off, that thin bond between them would snap in an instant.

Even now, Emerald was trying to reassure the fiery bitch, whispering something to her to try to calm her down, and Mercury saw the way Cinder's hands curled (even the new Grimm one, which was… freaky as hell). Her fists tightly clenched, body shaking all over, skin flushed red—

Anger. Mercury knew that emotion most intimately of all. He could see it in anyone (even Salem, sometimes). His father gave him plenty of practice to figure out the signs. One false move was a beating, or a withheld meal. Often both.

And in that moment, the way Cinder's eye snapped to Emerald's face, the way her hackles raised like she was poised to strike—

All Mercury could see was a carbon copy of his father looking for something—anything—to be an outlet for his rage.

Emerald was… a lot of things. But she wasn't Mercury. So as he left, and he heard Emerald's cry of pain, he knew that unlike him—

She would never fight back.