Ch. 47 The Start of the Investigation

Penny is standing alone near some patio furniture outside a two story building. She is nervously looking around, up and down the street.

Suddenly a hand grabs her shoulder and she jumps slightly away. But when she looks at who's hand it is she slightly relaxes.

Ruby gives her a big smile and takes her hand off Penny's shoulder. And Penny gives her a genuine yet small smile in return.

"I wish I could help you, Ruby, but I don't know anything about those men" Penny holds her arms up slightly to show she doesn't know anything.

Ruby looks at her friend and tries to find some answers. "Well, what happened to you that night? We were all together, and then you just disappeared! Were you kidnapped?"

"Oh, no! Nothing like that!" She reassured Ruby.

"Then where did you go?" Ruby motions with her hands as she asks.

Penny looks at Ruby and then down at the sidewalk. "I've never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far, but..." She quickly looks at Ruby's face. "You have to understand, my father loves me very much! He just worries a lot"

Ruby slightly rolls her eyes. "Believe me, I know the feeling"

They both grin at each other as they now have something more in common.

"But why not let us know you were okay?" Ruby questions.

"I... was asked…. not to talk to you. Or Weiss. Or Blake. Or Yang. Or Alabast. Anybody, really" Penny explains as they continue walking.

"Was your dad that upset?" Ruby wasn't sure why Penny's father would have asked her to do that….. until she remembers that they did cause a lot of destruction at the docks and all their lives were at risk. Alabast even got stabbed…. She wonders how they can just pretend like that didn't happen. But it comes with being a Huntsman right?…. right….?

"No, it wasn't my father..."

Before Penny can continue, and before Ruby can remember that night more, the girls both hear the sound of megaphones announcing something.

So they turn around a corner and look look at the platform in the center of a plaza where the holographic image of James Ironwood is seen before six AK-130 Androids, who are in turn standing in front of two large metal storage cases with the spear-and-shield emblem on their doors.

James Ironwood is the Headmaster of Atlas Academy AND a General in the Atlesian Military. He is like Ozpin in the way that he is cleanly and sharply dressed. He wears a white overcoat with a gray undercoat, black sweater, a red necktie and a white glove on his right hand. His suit pants shared the same color as his overcoat and are tucked into silver boots accented in gray. He has black hair and gray patches near his temples. He also has a strip of metal over his right eyebrow.

Ironwood, as a hologram, is giving a speech to a crowd of people below the stage.

"The AK-130 has been a standard security model of Remnant for several years, and they have done a fine job. Wouldn't you agree? Wouldn't you agree?" Ironwood asks the crowd and they clap.

The clapping of the gathered audience causes the drones to take a jerky bow.

"But... the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation, and 'fine'... Well, that's just not good enough, is it?" He rhetorically asks as the metal containers behind the drones begin opening up.

"Presenting... the Atlesian Knight-200!" Ironwood says as the doors to the cases roll up, and six new, bulkier, shinier automatons stand at attention before knocking their obsolete predecessors down to the applause of the watchers.

"Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary" He motions to his left and right where the robots flex and pose as a demonstration.

"These models will become active later this year, but they won't be alone! Now, the Atlesian Military has always supported the idea of removing men from the dangers of the battlefield. However, there are still many situations that will undoubtedly require... a human touch" He smirks after putting his arms behind his back and standing tall as he looks at the crowd of citizens.

——————

"Ruby..?" Penny nervously says and takes a step back.

But Ruby is too into Ironwoods speech and demonstration to move away now.

——————

"So, our kingdom's greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce... THE Atlesian Paladin!"

Ironwood's hologram disappears after he finishes talking and he is replaced with the hologram of a robotic white behemoth, featuring hinged piston legs, large guns for hands, and a rectangular head, standing at least twice as tall as the Knights below it. But this is just a hologram so it is obviously scaled down a bit.

Ironwood continues his speech, he just isn't shown on stage anymore. "Now, we couldn't have them here for you today, but these mechanized battle suits will be seen defending the borders of our kingdom within the year!"

"Whoa…." Ruby looks at the machine with wide eyes and admires the way Atlas makes their weapons. "Alabast is going to freak out when he learns about these 'mechs'. Pfffft! He could barely stand it in the video games…." She laughs into her hands.

"Ruby? Maybe we should go somewhere else" Penny takes another step back and her heel gets close to the street behind her.

At the side of the stage, two armored soldiers see Penny, pointing her out and calling in backup. Penny backs away and then breaks into a dead run and crosses the street, which snaps Ruby out of her weapon-awe-induced stupor and she goes after her friend.

"Penny! Wait! Where are you going?" Ruby asks and then looks behind her and sees soldiers chasing after her friend, and realizes Penny's situation.

Penny turns down an alley with Ruby hot on her tail.

A soldier gets to the crossroads of the alley and then catches a glimpse of Ruby's cloak turn a corner. He motions to his partner. "Down here! She went this way!"

Penny and Ruby run across the street with the soldiers following them.

*HOOOONK!*

A car stops just before it runs over a soldier. The soldier slams his fists on the hood of the car and looks at the driver. But he ignores this and continues running after the girls.

Penny goes left down another alley with Ruby behind her. The red cloaked girl looks at a high stack of crates on a flimsy support at the corner of the alleys. So she shifts Crescent Moon into its scythe form and easily destroys the support as she runs past it which causes the wooden boxes to come crashing down. Blocking the soldiers path to at least buy some more time for their getaway.

Seeing Penny right ahead of her, Ruby leaps into the air and lands on the alley wall, ricocheting off to grab Penny around the middle.

"This way!" Ruby shouts. She grimaces before the two disappear in a flash of red and rose petals.

Ruby runs as fast as she can while still holding onto Penny. But Penny weighs WAY more than Ruby had anticipated. But she is able to get away a fair distance before the strain is too much for Little Red.

Penny and Ruby fall to the ground. Penny hits the ground hard first and comes to a fast stop. But Ruby isn't as lucky. She hits the ground and bounces much farther than Penny. She ends up rolling to a stop in the middle of a street.

Ruby slowly sits up and holds her head in a daze.

She doesn't notice the large truck coming up from behind her until the honking is too late of a warning. She stands up just as she's about to be hit, but from out of nowhere, Penny pushes Ruby out of the way and holds her palms out.

As soon as the truck impacts Penny's hands the ground underneath and behind her crumbles and cracks into pieces. And the From Dusk Till Dawn truck is lifted up slightly into the air by Penny's strength alone.

Penny sets the truck down immediately and the old man shopkeep stares in awe at the crumples in his truck's hood. Ruby also stares, but at the truck and the broken pavement.

"Penny..?" Ruby uncertainly calls out to her friend. Some fear clearly visible on her face.

"Are you okay?" Penny asks the shopkeep.

The old man nods, clearly scared out of his mind. "Uh-huh…"

Penny backs out of the pavement rubble and looks at Ruby only to see the terrified expression of her friend. Bystanders murmur to each other in an attempt to understand what just happened.

In her panic, she runs from the Atlas soldiers still chasing her down and bumps into Ruby, knocking the poor girl out of her stupor.

Ruby, now out of her shock, runs after her friend. "Penny! Come back!"

the people look at the destruction Penny caused with her bare hands and the soldiers find they lost their target. They can't get past the citizens and don't see Penny anywhere in sight.

Penny gets out of an alleyway and frantically tries to find another direction to run in. "Um... Uh..."

Ruby catches up to Penny and frantically starts asking questions. "Penny! Please! What is going on?! Why are you running? How did you do that?!" She points behind her with both arms where the accident happened but faces Penny

"I-I can't!" Penny hiccups. "Everything's fine!" She hiccups again. "I-I don't want to talk about it! *Hiccup*" Penny nervously and quickly responds. She holds her closed hands to her chest tightly and backs away from her friend.

"Penny, if you can just tell me what's wrong, I can help you!" Ruby pleads.

"No! No, no! You wouldn't understand..." Penny turns around and folds her arms across her chest and keeps her palms facing her body.

"Let me 'try'. You can trust me" Ruby continues to try and get Penny to open up to her.

Penny let's her arms go to her sides but keeps her hands clenched into fists. She turns around. "You're my friend, right? You promise you're my friend?!"

Ruby calms herself down and responds in a soft and reassuring tone. "I promise"

Penny brings her fists in front of her and holds her palms up as she stays silent for a few seconds. "Ruby... I'm not a real girl"

Penny opens her hands fully and shows Ruby. The skin, or artificial skin, has been peeled off. And beneath the artificial skin is metal. Penny states sadly at Ruby face.

Ruby.exe has stopped working for a bit. She is so shocked by her friends secret she finds it hard to find any words. But she does say something. "Oh…"

But then Ruby reboots and her brain starts functioning and forming words together again. "Penny, I-I don't understand..."

"Most girls are born, but I was made" She looks down at her palms. "I'm the world's first synthetic person capable of generating an Aura" Penny turns her head to the side sadly. "I'm not real..."

Ruby grabs Penny's hands gently. "Of course you are. You think just because you've got nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?"

"I-I don't... um..." Penny leans in close to Ruby's face. "You're... taking this 'extraordinarily' well"

"You're not like those things we saw back there" Ruby taps Penny's chest. "You've got a heart, and a soul. I can feel it!"

"Oooohh…. oh! Ruby!" Penny can't hold back and brings Ruby into a hug and rocks back and forth in excitement as her first friend accepts her true self. "You're the best friend anyone could have!"

"Aggh~" Ruby groans in slight pain. "I can see why your father would want to protect such a delicate flower!"

Penny releases Ruby and goes back to her overly cheerful and happy self. "Oh, he's 'very' sweet! My father's the one that built me! I'm sure you would 'love' him!"

"Wow" Ruby giggles. "He built you all by himself?"

"Well, almost. He had some help from Mr. Ironwood" Penny says with a big smile across her face.

"The General?! Wait... Is that why those soldiers were after you?" Ruby exclaims as some pieces fall in line and fit together.

"They like to protect me, too!" Penny tilts her head.

"Kgah" Ruby scoffs. "They don't think you can protect yourself?"

"They're not sure if I'm ready yet... One day, it will be my job to save the world, but I still have a lot left to learn. That's why my father let me come to the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it's like in the rest of the world, and test myself in the Tournament" Penny clenches her fists.

"Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from what? We're in a time of peace!" Ruby states.

Penny tilts her head to the other side in confusion. "That's not what Mr. Ironwood said..."

"Check down here!" A man shouts.

Penny grabs Ruby's shoulders. "You have to hide!" She lifts Ruby above her head effortlessly.

Ruby struggles and starts shouting. "Penny, wait! What are you doing? You don't have to go with them! I can help you!"

Penny throws Ruby in the trash and lifts the lid so she can still talk. "It's okay, Ruby. They're not bad people. I just don't want to get you in trouble. Just promise me you won't tell anyone else my secret. Okay?" She gravely stares at Ruby.

"N-Not even Alabast?" Ruby uncertainly asks.

"Especially. Alabast" Penny states.

Ruby looks into Penny's eyes. "I-I promise". She lowers her head into the garbage as Penny lowers the lid down, but Ruby lifts it a little to peek at the scene outside.

"There she is!" The male voice shouts again.

Penny moves away from the dumpster and salutes the soldiers. "Sal-u-tations, officers!"

"Why were you running? And what happened to the other girl?" The man asks as he looks around the alley.

"What girl? I've been by myself all day!" Penny hiccups loudly and then smiles.

The man stops looking around and puts his right hand on his forehead. "You shouldn't cause such a scene"

A second soldier runs up to them. "Are you okay?" He asks.

Penny holds up her injured palms. "Just a scratch"

The first soldier shakes his head. "Penny, your father isn't going to be happy about this…."

"Just come with us" The second soldiers asks, but it's more like he is telling.

"Yes, sir!"

Penny walks away with the soldiers as Ruby sadly watches her friend leave. That is, until a rat screeches from below her feet, causing the young Huntress to fall and close the lid on herself.

——————

*Vvvvvvvrrrrrrrrmmmmmm!*

The sound of a motorcycle echoes through the empty streets.

A yellow and black motorcycle turns the corner of a street quickly and parks in front of a building.

A blond girl takes her yellow helmet off and shakes her hair loose.

Some music can be heard in the air from where she parks.

Yang points her thumb at the building next to her. "Come on, my friend's right in here!" She hops off her bike.

Pyrrha watches Yang get off the bike. "That was…" She herself gets off the bike. "….exhilarating! Definitely not like the Bullheads or cars" She stands next to Yang and looks at the bike.

Yang smirks. "Y'know, Alabast actually also has a bike. It's not built yet. And it's back in Patch…. But he's got one!"

"Do you think I should get one?" Pyrrha asks. "Although, I doubt my parents would let me buy one, that's not even talking about riding one…" She rubs her elbow.

"What are you talking about? We're almost 18! We can decide some things on our own…." Yang notices the look on Pyrrha's face. "…. But listening to our parents is also important!"

"Cool..." A disoriented Neptune says from a small side cart as he tightly grips its sides. He shakes his head, somehow perfectly fixing his appearance, and gets off the cycle, looking around worriedly. "And, uhm, where exactly is... here?"

Yang mentally thanks Neptune for saving her from the quickly failing conversation with Pyrrha. "Where my contact is!"

The music grows louder as the three enter the building. Pyrrha and Neptune quickly realize what the place is as the get inside. The loud music, the low lighting, the randomly moving spot lights, the giant dance floor with a bar not too far away.

They were at a club.

And judging by the henchmen all over the place along with the location, it's a shady club at that.

It's currently empty as henchmen are moving boxes here and there all over the place.

"Hurry, close the door! She's coming!" A henchman shouts.

A second henchman joins the first and they close the doors. They keep the doors closed by pressing their backs against the door.

"What are you two idiots doing?!" Their boss, Junior, shouts from behind the bar as he fixes his cuffs.

Before the henchmen can explain-

*BOOM!!*

An explosion opens the doors and sends the henchmen flying forward.

"Surely there was a better way to get in" Pyrrha quietly says.

Yang ignores her friend and walks through the smoke and enters the club. "Guess who's back!" Yang smiles.

She continues to smile and pose as eight guns are pointed at her face with angry henchmen behind each gun.

This doesn't faze Yang. But she glares up at the recording studio where the track is messing up until the frightened bear-headed DJ takes the needle off the record and retreats back under the table.

Neptune and Pyrrha walk in.

Neptune looks at the guns pointed at Yang. "Yeah, so could you define "friend" for me?"

"I would also like to request your definition on that" Pyrrha adds. But she is clearly less flinch and jumpy than Neptune.

"Stop, stop! Nobody shoot!" Junior shouts and then makes his way through the crowd of his henchmen as more of them aim their guns at the new arrivals. Junior straightens his tie. "Blondie, you're here! ...WHY?"

"You still owe me a drink" Yang says and pushes Junior back towards the bar.

Pyrrha follows behind Yang.

"Whoa-ho-ho-ho, what a woman..." Neptune comments. Then he notices two women stand on either side of him. "Sup?" He coolly greets them.

""Hmph"" The twins lift their chins into the air and walk away from him. Clearly unimpressed.

The twins, Melanie and Miltia Malachite walk away and up towards the dj area.