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Big Issues

Investigations Part Two

The view of the Vale CCT is picturesque, the tower itself located at one end of a large park in the middle of the Beacon Academy campus. Paved walkways lined with small fields of grass with a couple trees for shade provided the nature next to the technological marvel that allowed for mass communication around the globe. The main square in front of the tower bore the insignia of Vale in the center made of concrete and accented by four small pools of water that surrounded the symbol of the kingdom and separated by the walkways that allowed the students, faculty, and visitors to walk freely to and around the tower and park.

“Wow! I forgot how big the transmit tower looks so close!” Ruby Rose gushes as she follows Weiss Schnee to the tower where they hoped to begin their portion of the mission.

“You should see the one in Atlas.” The monochrome clad girl states proudly.

“That was the first one, right?”

“Correct. Atlas developed the cross-continental transmit system to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with each other. It was their gift to the world after the Great War.”

Ruby couldn’t stop her age from showing. “Oooh, look at me, my name is Weiss, I know facts, I’m rich.” She giggles at the end even as her friend stopped to turn and glare at her.

“Don’t be a pest!” She reprimands her leader. ” Besides, the only reason we’re here is because you like the tower so much. We could have just as easily made a call from the library.” Weiss gestures to the much shorter building relatively nearby at the edge of the park.

“I know, but it’s so cool! Oh! I’m gonna take a picture!” Ruby was clearly excited, whether it was her age or the fact that they were on a mission of their own design was debatable but most would say it was a combination of both. The younger girl reached into her pocket to pull out her scroll but had a slight issue in the retrieval of the devise, she hit her soft love handle and she lost her grip on the smooth surface and it clattered to the ground, bouncing a few times before stopping at someone’s feet.

The person stooped down to retrieve the scroll from the ground and held it out for Ruby to take. “Oh! You dropped this.” She says flatly.

“Penny?” Ruby was shocked to see her other friend from Atlas. The girl in question eyes grew wide in recognition, though Weiss stood silently by and judging the girl for her sudden appearance after having disappeared from the night at the docks last semester… she didn’t have much to go on with experience with the girl either beyond her stilted speech and running into the girl.

“Uhm...”

“Where have you been? We haven’t seen you since that night at the docks.” Ruby starts questioning.

“S-sorry, I think you are confused.” Penny says before a hiccup wracks her body enough to accidently throw the scroll back into Ruby’s hands. “I’ve got to go!” She quickly walks away from the red and white pair.

Weiss turns to Ruby. “What was that about?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” She declares as she begins to follow the redhead with the pink bow in her hair. “You go make your call, I’ll meet up with you later!”

Weiss was left alone, her cry for Ruby to wait fell on deaf ears as the girl was intent on finding out what had happened to her friend since that night. She left out a small growl of frustration before regaining her composure to continue what she had come here to do.

Ruby had finally caught up with Penny on a small landing on a fight of stairs in the park. Jumping in front of the odd girl to force her to at least acknowledge her she tried to plead. “Penny! Where have you been? It’s been weeks!”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding.” Penny says, almost robotically before continuing down the stairs.

“What? Penny…” Ruby was shocked at her friends’ words; it was if they had never met in the first place. Or even worse, like she was a different person from the cheerful but strange girl she had met before. Not wanting to be left behind, Ruby hops up onto the railing to slide down on her well-padded posterior… though the slide was a bit slower than it used to be, likely due to her increased weight and the amount of flesh was pressed against the metal. Still, she had enough speed to hit the bottom and land on her feet, a little jigglier than she was used to in her new, somewhat looser clothes. “Is everything okay?” She asks as Penny continues walking by.

Ruby was getting desperate and scared that her friend was doing her best to ignore the young, rotund reaper. She ran up and grabbed the taller girls’ arm. “Penny, Please, stop!”

Thankfully, that was enough to make Penny stand still but the girl wouldn’t face Ruby directly, keeping her face turned down to the ground.

“Lok, I don’t know what’s wrong. But you have to listen to me. Those guys we fought at the docks, we think they are up to something big. Something bad! I need you to tell me what happened to you that night. Please.” Still the ginger kept her head down. “As a friend.” Ruby pleads, this time managing to get Penny’s eyes to look at her for once.

The girl sighs before taking a quick look around and stepping closer to the hooded huntress. “It isn’t safe to talk here.” She says softly, giving Ruby a small pat on the shoulder. That small gesture and words seemed to fill Ruby with as much hope as it did dread. This really was her friend but what could this girl- who had without hesitation took of dozens of White Fang grunts, didn’t so much as flinch when Bullheads opened fire with their twin-mounted machine guns before turning them to scrap seconds later before actually pulling another Bullhead out of the sky with her swords- not consider to be safe while they were in the middle of the Beacon campus?

Weiss strode confidently through the main entrance of the CCT, her wide hips accenting her natural sway and was further emphasized by her skirt moving with them. She made her way to the elevator without a word and ignoring all of the staff and students in the lobby. The doors opened automatically to allow her entrance and as there was no one else within range, they closed behind her.

“Hello! Welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?” The automated voice rang out from a control panel on the wall to her right.

Despite that she was completely alone, it was a force of habit for Weiss to lean to the left and put a hand on her softened waist. “I’d like to go to the communications room please.”

“Absolutely. Could you please place your scroll on the terminal to verify your identity?” Even Weiss had to admit that the artificial intelligence that handled basic functions of the tower was pretty good at replicating an actual person. Weiss withdrew her scroll from a small pocket in back of her skirt and held it in front of the terminal that communicated with the much smaller device with a series of beeps. “Perfect. Thank you, Miss Schnee.”

Arriving at the level requested, Weiss walked out of the elevator. Aside from the apparently empty desk sitting not too far away, the most prominent thing on display had to be the large illuminated crests of the four kingdoms on the ceiling. The crossed axes over wheat of Vale. The three wing-guarded swords of Vacuo. The Spear over the gears of Atlas. The lamp of Mistral. Below them all were rows upon rows of computer terminals that were set up to allow for some form of privacy when making calls but had no way to hide what anyone was actually doing.

As Weiss approached the desk, a hologram of a receptionist flickered to life, imitating the looks and actions of an actual person. “Welcome to the Beacon Cross-Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?”

Weiss stood straight and proud. “I need to make a call to Schnee Company World Headquarters in Atlas.”

“Absolutely.” The hologram even went through the actions of typing away at the terminal in front of her complete with the sounds of the appropriate buttons being pushed. “If you could head over to Terminal 3, I could patch you through”

“Thank you.” Weiss says, if out of habit than kindness for the AI before walking away to where her call was being set up. The hologram faded away as she walked by as it was no longer needed to remain active.

Weiss could see plenty of students from Beacon making calls, even hearing one of them who apparently came from Signal Academy like Yang and Ruby. It wasn’t easy for many of the student’s families to see their child, brother, sister, or other relation to see the person on the other side of the screen to have put on weight… most notably for the girls as nearly every female was approaching the landmark occasion where they crossed the threshold of doubling their weights from when they had arrived at their appropriate combat schools.

Plenty of families were offering dietary and exercise advice as if a school dedicated to training the next generation of warriors wouldn’t have covered that already. Truth be told, it wasn’t much that the major academies went over as far as diets were concerned… they should have already had that bit of education in their previous training schools. The major academies were more about refining the students’ techniques, providing them with field experience, and having them test their own limits against each other to motivate them to push themselves further.

Weiss found her terminal and sat on the stool with a sigh, and trying to ignore the feeling that the seat was a bit on the small side of her expanding backside as the screen lit up to show the face of a receptionist, she was familiar with from back home with chin length reddish-blonde hair and blue eyes. “Thank you for calling the Atlas- oh, Miss Schnee. Good afternoon!” She greets the heiress, somewhat distracted at first by other work as she ran through her practiced opening lines before noticing who was calling. While the greeting was certainly bright enough, the two of them were at least on friendly terms when Weiss had been home, her face turned unsure as she asked her next question.

“Would you like me to patch you through to your father?” The woman’s face softened to a smile as she continued. “I think your sister, Winter might be here as well.” It didn’t take a genius to realize that the Schnee patriarch wasn’t the most liked man in the kingdom of Atlas… or in much of the rest of the world. But the employees did know about how much the sisters cared for one another… even if the elder one had passed her title of heiress to her sister when she joined the military. Even the strict Atlas military couldn’t keep Winter from Weiss for too long or from showing her affection.

“No thank you, I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me?” Weiss holds up her scroll. “I’ve compiled a short list.” She says before placing the scroll into the slot on the terminal for the direct exchange of data.

The receptionist looks off to the side where her own monitor is displaying the requests. “I see… If you don’t mind, what may I ask is this for?”

“School project.” Weiss answers with a shrug.

The receptionists face turned to worry a bit as she read through the list. “Um, there are some sensitive documents on this list, ma’am.”

“Well then, I’ll be sure to treat them with care” Weiss quickly responds, subconsciously straightening her back to show how seriously she was taking this task.

“Right. Very well, the data is being transferred to your scroll now.” The worried expression never left her face as she really hoped that the transfer wouldn’t cost her the job she had. If anything came of it, she could honestly say that it was on orders from the heiress herself.

“Wonderful. That will be all then.” Weiss was happy to achieved her part of the plan as her scroll indicated that the transfer of data was complete.

“Are you sure that you wouldn’t like me to patch you through to your father before you go?” It may have been the one last chance to remove any repercussions if anything foul happened.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Weiss responds with a forced smile.

“Well then, have a nice day.” She ends the call from her end and her feed ends. As the screen faded to black, it was hard not to notice Weiss’ smile in the reflection fade as well to express her sadness.

Somewhere in downtown Vale…

Penny waited near the fenced off boundaries of a small restaurant with outdoor seating, nervously shifting as she stood there and looking around worriedly. A hand touched her shoulder and caused her to jump and face whoever owned the hand, coming face to face with a smiling Ruby. Slowly, Penny returned a small smile of her own… probably the first one she’d given to anyone who wasn’t her father or Ruby when they last saw each other after the fight.

Soon they were walking down the streets, letting the sounds of passing cars drown out their words from anyone who might try to overhear their conversation.

“I wish I could help you Ruby. But I don’t know anything about those men.”

“Well, what happened to you that night? We were all together and you just disappeared. Were you kidnapped?”

Penny was quick to try to defuse the accusation. “Oh no, nothing like that!”

“Well, where did you go?” Ruby was clearly frustrated at the lack of a clear answer so far.

“I’ve never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far, oh but you have to understand, my father loves me very much.” Penny was quick to cover for her father’s actions. “He just worries a lot.”

Ruby rolls her eyes. “Believe me, I know the feeling.” Her own thoughts turning back to her life on Patch, understanding why the man had such feelings beyond the fact that she is one of his two daughters but they were only things left of the two women he ever loved.

Penny returned a smile at that line, feeling some comradery with the cloaked girl with their overprotective fathers.

“But, why not let us know you were okay?” Ruby was still prying.

“I, was asked, not to talk to you.” Penny replied, her speech becoming notably stilted- more so than normal. “Or Weiss… or Blake…or Yang. Anybody really.”

“Was your dad that upset?” Ruby kind of remembered the scolding from her dad to Yang the day they almost got killed when she went looking for her mother, dragging Ruby in a wagon behind her. Of course, the scolding came after making sure his daughters were safe even with Qrow’s assurances that they were.

Penny shook her head a bit. “No, it wasn’t my father.”

“The AK130 has been the standard security model of Remnant for several years. And they have done a fine job, wouldn’t you agree? Wouldn’t you agree?” The two girls heard the voice as they walked around a corner to a small courtyard where General Ironwood, through a projection, was addressing a small crowd from a small stage that had been erected with what looked to be large storage lockers towards the back. The crowd applauded the General as the mechs in front of the lockers bowed at the waist respectfully.

“But the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation. And fine, that’s just not good enough, is it?” The projection paused its speech as the doors to the lockers opened up to reveal three sleek looking, white robots in each locker. Each of them looking more along the lines of full-body armor that an average sized person could wear rather than an actual robot where the mechanical gears and such could clearly be seen as with the grey models who were still bowing.

“Presenting, the Atlesian Knight!” Ironwood announces as the new mechs step forwards and stomp the older mechs to the ground. “200.” The model number was almost drowned out by the crunching of metal behind him. Once again, the crowd applauds, having gained a few to its numbers in the short time.

“Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary.” The General explains, the robots moving into some cheesy poses at the last part. “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 situations that undoubtedly require, a human touch.”

“Ruby…” Penny seemed to worried, not that the girl in question noticed as she was excitedly staring at the new mechs and trying to anticipate what new weapons the General might reveal next.

“So, our kingdoms greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce, The Atlesian Paladin!” Ironwood’s projection was dropped in favor of displaying the new mech suit that even as a projection, stood nearly three times his height, displayed large guns on its arms that also had hands, shoulder mounted rocket launchers, a fully enclosed cockpit, a pair of widely spaced and articulating legs with large feet, and plenty of sensor pods.

“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!”

Penny watched as Ruby was slumped over with amazement, no doubt being overwhelmed by the technology that she’d want to get a closer look at, if only to satisfy her own curiosity. “Ruby…” Penny began taking small steps backwards. “Maybe we should go somewhere else…”

It was then that Penny saw a pair of Atlesian soldiers pointing at her, one of them pressing on his helmet mounted radio. Penny took that as a cue to leave the scene and ran across the street without looking at the traffic

The action grabbed Ruby’s attention. “Penny?” She tried calling but the girl had already crossed to the other side. “Wait! Where are you going?” Ruby looked back to see the pair of soldiers that Penny had seen running towards her so she turned to follow after her friend… complete with not bothering to look for cars driving by. Luckily, only car went by shortly before she reached that side of the street and she ran into the alley close behind Penny. Unfortunately, the soldiers were close behind her as well.

The alley opened up to another busy street where the girls refused to look for traffic before crossing, again. Though they had no cars to worry about. The soldiers following them, did, though the car stopped just in time to not hit the lead soldier too hard and they quickly followed after the girls again.

Ruby trailed Penny, being somewhat slowed by looking back at the soldiers to track them. She saw her friend run around a corner, not there was much choice in the alley but there was a raised platform with crates on it… which the reaper cut a leg out of as she ran by and causing the structure and its load to collapse in front of their pursuers.

Ruby thought it would be best to make a few random turns to ensure that they could leave the soldiers behind, she didn’t know why they were chasing after Penny but she’d help her friend no matter what. The young girl jumped onto the brick walls of the alley, and with surprising agility for someone so rotund, bounded from one wall to another, grabbing Penny in the process and activating her semblance to rocket the pair down the alley that far exceeded any normal persons running speed.

It was at this point that, despite Penny not growing any larger like she had since she’d last seen the girl, she was still incredibly heavy for her size. That didn’t help any as Ruby’s own weight seemed to slow her down or at least cost more aura to maintain her semblance. The combination of the two forced Ruby into a crash with the ground and tumbling towards the street. Penny was the first to stop as she was the arguably heavier of the two and nowhere near as round as Ruby who rolled out into the street.

The sound of a trucks horn pierced her dazed mind enough for her to stumble to her feet just as the truck was a few yards away. But it was Penny who pushed the softer girl to the side and stopped the truck with her bare hands, the momentum of the vehicle went from horizontal to vertical even as the pavement below Penny’s feet broke from the force. The truck slammed back down onto its wheels, the old man behind the steering wheel sat stunned at what had just happened.

“Penny?” Ruby says as she had just witnessed the feat of strength.

“Are you okay?” Penny asks the driver, who simply nods and grunts. She slowly backs away from the truck, looking at her hands at first but the murmurings of the growing crowd made her close her fists and look around before running away, back down the alley that she’d come from, even shoulder checking Ruby as she ran by.

“Penny! Come back!” Ruby yells as she follows her friend once more, not even noticing the soldiers who had arrived on the scene from another direction who now had to do their civic duty and handle the accident.

A short time later, Ruby finally caught up to Penny near an alley intersection, the ginger looking around nervously to figure out which direction she should run next. “Penny! Please! What is going on? Why are you running? How did you do that?” If Ruby would take a look back at herself, she might take pride in the fact that several minutes of running through the twisting streets of Vale and using her semblance hadn’t even left her winded… as if her recently added weight hadn’t mattered beyond requiring more cloth to cover herself.

Penny was panicking. “I-I can’t. Everything’s fine!” She responds, keeping her fists closed but making no aggressive movements at all, especially with the hiccup that racked her body. “I-I don’t want to talk about it!” Another hiccup.

“Penny, if you can just tell me what’s wrong, I can help you.” Ruby pleads as the taller girl curls in on herself.

Penny turns away, getting antsy. “No, no, no, you wouldn’t understand.”

Ruby extends a hand to her friend. “Let me try. You can trust me.”

Penny turns around and shuffles close enough to be in Ruby’s face, still keeping her hands closed. “You’re my friend, right? You promise you’re my friend?”

“I promise.”

Penny slowly talks and just as slowly reveals her palms. “Ruby… I’m not a real girl.” Ruby looks at her friends’ hands to see the ‘skin’ has been torn away on places to reveal metal underneath. Articulation joints showing.

Ruby stares in surprise at the revelation. “Oh.”

Itazura was crouched low to the ground, looking at the tracks of Grimm. Beowolf, check. Boarbatusk, check. Ursa, check. Beringal… check. For whatever reason, this group of Grimm were traveling together- best that she could guess was due to the intelligence of the Beringals, one of the few Grimm that had actual intelligence without being an older and experienced killer first like the others.

Talon stood on top of a nearby rock outcropping to look above the trees of the forest for any signs of the Grimm. So far there has been little more than some tiny Nevermore, something that the young Huntress removed from the world with ease.

Denko withdrew a flask from inside his vest and took a deep drink from it, letting out a satisfied sigh as the liquid worked its way down to his stomach. Anya was nearby double checking that her gauntlets were loaded, they had run into a small pack of Beowolves and wiped them out, nothing that was difficult for those of their skill and experience. But it was the Grimm coalition that had them on edge, it was bad enough with packs of Grimm normally lead by an Alpha, especially those that attack outposts. But this was something else, most Grimm species keep to themselves but if one of them had the smarts and strength to make the others bow to its will…

One of Itazura’s ears perked up and swiveled, her tail swished to that side and catching the rest of the teams’ attention. An Alpha Beowolf was alone and heading in their direction, possibly the leader of that small pack that they had wiped out earlier. It had seen them and was watching… waiting.

The Faunus drew her weapon from her back- a short, double-barreled shotgun with an oddly shaped stock. Anya activated her gauntlets, the blades extending over her hands and from her elbows as well as along the outer side where they formed a serrated edge the length of her forearm and then some. Talon drew her scimitars from her back, the polished metal gleaming in the sunlight that made it through the trees. Denko never touched his weapon, leaving to stay on his back, instead facing the Grimm with a grin.

“I could do with a warm up before meeting your boss.” The team leader says while cracking his neck and knuckles. The three girls rolled their eyes but lowered their weapons as he walked forwards. Nothing unusual about the one who liked to enjoy his fights, they were content to watch for any reinforcements the Alpha might call.

The Alpha’s ears quirked at the sight of the human who left the safety of the others and not afraid to approach it, not bothering to ready the weapon on his back. It growled a challenge, the response it got was nothing more than a grin growing wider and turning feral. The Beowolf could feel that the human wasn’t afraid, but it had beaten others who felt no fear. It had taught them to feel the emotion before it had killed them. It felt that this would be just another like the others. The three ready warriors behind him were what gave it pause… then it howled long and loud. Soon it heard the sounds of the feet of its brethren running its way along with the others, their growls and howls echoing through the woods.

As the pack arrived into the small clearing, it watched as the human stopped walking, finally reaching for the weapon on its back. Then the Alpha heard its leader approach, staying towards the back of the pack on a small rise. Soon the mortals were surrounded by the dozens of Grimm, their mere combined presence had the effect of drowning out the sunlight, making the brightest lights in the area being their glowing red eyes.

“Ah, crap.” The human in front says. “It’s a Silverback.”

Those words seemed to satisfy the Alpha’s leader, who pounded its chest and gave a guttural roar. Grimm surged towards the three humans and faunus like a wave, one that they met with a roar of their own with weapons in hand.

“Penny, I-I don’t understand.”

Penny pulls her hands to her chest. “Most girls are born, but I was made.” She says softly before turning proud. “I’m the first synthetic person capable of generating an aura.” Then she added sadly as she looked to the ground. “I’m not real.”

Ruby reaches out to take Penny’s hands in her own, opening them up to see what lay beneath the skin before pushing the hands closed and back to the one, they were attached to but never letting go. “Of course, you are.”

Ruby looks her friend in the eyes. “You think just because you have nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?”

Penny’s head cocks to the side as she tries to comprehend what she is hearing. “I don’t, um…” Then she leans in to Ruby’s face with narrowed eyes. “You’re taking this extraordinarily well.”

“You’re not like those things we saw back there.” Ruby finally let’s go of one of Penny’s hands to flip a thumb off to her right, even though it was probably the wrong direction of where the presentation was. “You’ve got a heart.” Ruby pokes the other girls’ chest, creating a surprisingly close sound to tapping on an appliance. “And a soul, I can feel it.”

It took a moment as things caught up to the robotic girl as she took a few breaths before grasping Ruby’s soft shoulders. “Oh! Oh, Ruby!” And the hooded Huntress suddenly found herself pulled into a vice-like hug with her head trapped between Penny’s arms and chest. “You’re the best friend anyone could ever have!” Penny begins rocking back and forth.

“Oh! I can see why your father wanted to protect such a delicate flower!” Ruby manages to say, though somewhat glad that she had some of her own build in padding as Penny had little to none of her own. Even when Yang would give Ruby bear hugs, the older girl had plenty of padding… in her chest, and muscles had some give to them

Almost as suddenly as the hug was given, Ruby was released as Penny stood proudly in front of her. “Oh, he’s very sweet. My father’s the one who built me! I’m sure you would just love him.”

“Wow,” Ruby giggles a bit and glad that her friend was smiling again. “He built you all by himself?”

“Well almost, he had some help from Mr. Ironwood.”

“The General?” Ruby was shocked and confused by that revelation. “Wait. Is that why the soldiers were after you?”

“They like to protect me too!” Was the cheerful answer.

“Pfft. They don’t think you can protect yourself?” Ruby was being sarcastic.

Like a switch was flipped, Penny’s mood shifted towards sadness again. “They’re not sure if I’m ready yet.” Then her tone evens out to be prouder. “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 for the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it’s like in the rest of the world and test myself in the tournament.”

“Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from what? We’re in a time of peace.”

“That’s not what Mr. Ironwood said.”

It was at moment that they heard the soldiers coming closer, their calls to direct each other’s search patterns giving a clear idea of where they were. “You have to hide!” Penny says as she grabs Ruby by the shoulders.

“Gah! Penny! What are you doing? You don’t have to go with them, I can help you!” Her pleas fell on seemingly deaf ears as Penny picked up the doughy girl by the waist, carried her over her head to a nearby dumpster, and dropped her in like a sack of potatoes. The force of her hefty body hitting the bottom was enough to drop the lid.

The lid creaked open a bit thanks to Penny. “It’s okay Ruby, they’re not bad people. I just don’t want you to get in trouble. Just promise me that you won’t tell anyone about my secret. Okay?”

Ruby nods. “I promise.” She didn’t get to say anything more as Penny closed the lid on her to trap her in with the trash, thankfully there was little as the dumpster was apparently emptied recently… though that didn’t mean it didn’t smell.

“There she is!” One of the soldiers’ yells from the end of the alley.

“Salutations officers!” Penny greets them cheerfully.

Ruby carefully cracks the lid open to listen better. “Why were you running? And what happened to the other girl?”

“What girl? I’ve been by myself all day.” Hiccup.

“You shouldn’t cause such a scene.”

“Are you okay?”

Penny holds her hands out for inspection. “Just a scratch.”

“Penny, your father isn’t going to be happy about this.”

“Please, just come with us.”

“Yes, sir!”

Ruby had watched the whole interaction from the safety of the dumpster through the crack of the lid. She was glad that Penny had managed to cover for her and they hadn’t asked too many questions. She smiled as they walked away and disappeared behind a corner. Then a bit of motion caught her eye and squeaking alerted her ears. There was a rat in front of her and she jumped and fell back into the trash, luckily not squishing the rodent under her wider bottom or finding more.

It did give her plenty of motivation to get out of the trash receptacle much faster, though doing so proved a bit trickier than she realized. Jumping up pushed the lid up to smack the wall, the jump was also meant to get her out in a single leap but her feet failed to get proper grip and she slipped a little- leading to her catching her bulging belly on the edge and flopping halfway out. Then the lid came back down to spank her ample bottom as in retaliation for treating it so roughly. It did give Ruby a small jolt of adrenaline to override the wind being knocked out of her and scramble out of the dumpster fully, flopping onto the alleyway on her back.

“I sure hope the rest of the team is doing better than me.” Ruby mutters as she lays there holding her stomach, something that was getting a little harder as there was more belly from one week to the next.

Somewhere in a rundown section of downtown Vale, a motorcycle revved its engine as it tore down the street, its tires squealing on the pavement as it made its turns, before eventually coming to a stop in a dark alley near the drivers target destination.

Yang shut off the motor of Bumblebee as she sat up to remove her yellow helmet and shook her hair out… not that anyone could really tell if she’d have helmet hair with how she let it flow in a wild mane most of the time. She got off the bike, leaving Neptune, still holding onto his knees- as he had been instructed- with a shocked look on his face at how the wild girl drove.

“C’mon, my friends right in here.” Yang flips a thumb towards a nearby building where the sounds of deep bass could be heard thumping through the walls.

“Oooh.” Neptune had to shake his head a bit to get his bearings again now that they weren’t moving a break-neck speeds. “And where exactly is… here?” He asks as he gets off the bike to follow the girl he’d been partnered with for the night.

Inside the nearby building, plain looking on the outside to disguise the club inside, the employees were hard at work making sure that they would be ready for the regular surge of patrons that were due to show up soon. Sure, there were a few early birds sitting at some of the tables and enjoying their drinks and the music but so long as they were paying, Junior was happy to serve them. Behind the bar, the large man adjusts his red tie with pride as he looked over his establishment, clean and pristine after a lot of the club was trashed by a young girl looking for some woman.

It took months to renovate the club, even changing some of the layout a bit since there was so much destruction to his property… not to mention that all of his men had been beaten down with ease by that girl, followed by his top security enforcers, the Malachite twins, then himself who had been punched out of a two-story window. It was still a painful memory of what had led up to that beating… she literally had him by the balls before asking for information that he never had.

He looked up to the DJ, who as his norm was wearing that bear head that made him look ridiculous but he was almost a background at this point. Nearby stood the twins, who were keeping an eye on the place from their vantage point. His men were moving dutifully in their jobs or standing at their posts as they were expected. Then he heard some shouting that soured his good mood.

“Hurry! Close the door! She’s coming!” Two of his boys, clad in the signature black suits with hats and red ties and glasses ran in through the large inner doors to the club and slammed them shut, holding them back with their bodies, acting as if a Grimm was on the other side.

He walked out from behind his bar and onto the dance floor. “What are you two idiots doing?” He shouts. Whatever they were saying was lost as they were talking over each other and the loud music wasn’t exactly helping. But he did manage to hear and see the fiery explosion that opened the doors and knocking the men to the floor. Then through the smoke, confidently striding in as if nothing was wrong, was her. The little girl who had trashed his club months ago. There was only one person he knew who had such a mane of golden hair that practically glowed, even though the smoke.

“Guess who’s back!” She calls out as if she were an old friend of his. Even posing with her hands up and that cocky smile on her face.

His men knew what to do, immediately more than a dozen guns were drawn and pointed at her at point-blank range, not even a Huntsman would be able to get out of that unscathed. The music over the speakers did kind of ruin the mood as the record kept skipping. Then she stopped posing and opened her eyes, not concerned with the firepower leveled at her, but she glared at the DJ who poked his head up from behind his podium and pulled the needle from the record and bringing near silence to the club.

“Yeah, so could you define friend for me?” Some blue-haired boy in a red jacket peeked in from behind Her, drawing her gaze for a moment.

“Stop! Stop! Nobody shoot.” Junior shouts as he strides up to the interruption to his good night and drawing her eyes to him. Apparently, she was looking for him again. He forced his way through his men, who had lowered their weapons but kept them at the ready. “Blondie, you’re here. Why?”

She points a finger at him as she walks forward. “You still owe me a drink.” She states as she grabs his arm and drags the much larger man back to the bar and leaving the boy she came with behind.

Speaking of whom… “Whoa, what a woman.” Neptune was incredibly impressed at how Yang handled the situation, not even a flinch or acknowledging the firearms that were pointed at her face before taking control of the entire room.

That was when he took notice of the twins standing nearby, having come down to deal with the possible trouble maker again. “Sup?” He asks, standing tall and giving them a charming smile.

The twins found no charm and literally walked away from him in sync with their noses in the air. “Hmph! Whatever.”

In a dark alleyway, three claw marks marred the brick wall near a corner, Blake lightly tracing them with her fingers to be sure that they were the real markings that she was looking for and not some of the few scattered around the city that were fakes meant to distract police. Even the angle they were at told her what direction to walk… she had been there with some of the leaders who had started using the marks in the first place during her time with the White Fang.

Silently, she peeks around the corner to see a pair of Faunus being ushered down a certain alley by a well-dressed man, no doubt one of the Fang’s more loyal members who also happened to have their trait more concealable than most as not to attract undue attention… more so than a well-dressed gentleman in an alley might.

“This is it.” She says to Sun who was right behind her.

“You sure?” He had to ask if only to try to lighten the mood a bit. He received a glare for his trouble. “Y’know, I’m just gonna take your word on it.” He raises his hands in surrender.

Blake relents, having grown somewhat used to his antics over the weeks and now months that she’s known him. She turns and unties her bow to reveal her ears while Sun follows and buttons his shirt up. To Blake, the cool night air touching her feline ears was almost made her happy, almost as she remembered why she covered them normally along with remembering the mission she was on right now.

Between her ears and his tail, they had no issue with passing the first check point. A little further down the small maze of alleys, they received their own masks. Simple white plastic with a pair of slits on either side to see through

“New recruits, keep to the right.” Another guard was escorting some of the attendees through a door into a warehouse.

“I don’t get it. If you believe what you’re doing is right, why hide who you are?” Sun had to ask Blake as they stopped a corner where no one was nearby.

The cat girl glanced at the mask in his hand that he had raised during his question. “The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters.”

“Grimm masks. That’s kinda dark.” The answer had killed any good mood that he had left going into this.

Blake leveled her eyes to his own. “So is the guy who started it.”

“Always sunshine and rainbows with you.” Sun says quietly, not doubting that his companion heard him as she walked away as she put the mask on, he followed a moment later.

There was a Faunus in full White Fang uniform standing by the steel door that led inside the warehouse, the pair looking around at the dozens of uniformed people standing in orderly rows on the left side that clashed with the mob of faunus in their everyday clothes on the right. There must have been nearly one hundred full fledged members in this building alone with at least half that number of potential recruits.

This was not something that Blake wanted to see, the White Fang must have been extremely confident that they could hide a rally of this size without the Vale police noticing or even the occasional Atlesian soldier patrols. More guards patrolled the catwalks above them, armed with automatic rifles, though most of their attention was kept to watching for problems outside the windows they did occasionally look down on the crowd, nodding with approval as the masses grew, confidence showing in their steps as the building filled more and more.

A large man with huge exposed arms, armored gauntlets on his arms and hands, and even a unique and stylized mask of his own, walked onto the stage a few minutes later when the stream of Faunus gathering slowed to a trickle. He paced the stage that was set up with a huge banner displaying the White Fang symbol painted in red on the black cloth. “Thank you all for coming.” He greets them all warmly, his deep voice echoing through the building and washing over the murmuring crowd who turned silent soon after.

“For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long!”

Roman Torchwick strolled out from behind the curtain, almost as if her were walking in the park. “Thank you, thank you! Please hold your applause!” He greets the crowd with a smile and a wave, ignoring the agitation that his mere presence seemed to bring to the crowd. At the back of the stage, walked out a very short girl in a white coat wit pink and brown hair.

“What’s a human doing here?” One of the female new recruits shouts out. Others cheered on her question.

Roman turned towards the woman with his ever-present satisfied smile. “I’m glad you asked, Deery.” He turns to address the crowd and began pacing, moving his arms as if he were a conductor. “I’ll be the first to admit, humans are the WORST! Case in point.” He adds as he taps on his bowler hat.

“So, I understand why you would love to see us all locked away…or better yet: killed!”

Sun leans down to whisper into Blake’s ear. “So, is he going anywhere with this or…”

“But before the claws come out… I would like to mention the fact that you and I ALL have a common enemy.” His tone turned from showman to sinister now. “The one’s in charge, the people pulling the strings, the dirty rotten humans that run our kingdoms.” Some of the crowd, mostly from the members side, began cheering on Roman. “Government. Military. Even the schools, they’re all to blame for your lot in life!”

Now nearly all of the crowd was cheering from those words, Blake and Sun share a glance as best they could through their masks as Torchwick takes a small break to bask in the approval.

“And they’re all pests that need to be dealt with. Fortunately, I’m the best exterminator around. No offense to any rodents in the room.” Had anyone been thinking clearly and not giving into the mob mentality, that last addition probably would have been found to be the most insulting thing they heard all day. Too bad there were so few who weren’t openly cheering for the human criminal mastermind.

A snap of his gloved fingers was the cue for the banner to be pulled back and reveal the large mech suit behind it, painted dark grey with the White Fang symbols painted in red on the shoulders. The mere sight of the massive walking weapons platform was enough to rile all of the holdouts into cheering for him, with two exceptions.

“Uh, that’s a big robot.” Sun says to himself, impressed by the metal monstrosity.

“How did he get that?” Blake asks her partner, using the roar of the crowd to cover her voice from the security.

“As some of you may have heard, this right here- “Torchwick knocks on the metal knee of the mech, which was actually higher than his head, showing just how big the mech truly was and how powerful it possibly was even without its weapons. “-is Atlas’ newest line of defense against all the scary things in the world.”

He walks to the front of the stage. “And thanks to my employer… we’ve managed to snag a few before they, uh, hit the shelves. Now many of your brothers have moved down to our new operation in the south east. If you’d rather stay in the city, that’s fine. But if you’re truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you.” Roman pulls a cigar from his coat. “Any questions?”

If there were anyone who hadn’t cheered before, they were now, including the guards. Roman waving his hands to encourage them even more.

“We should get out of here.” Blake tells Sun.

“Will all recruits, please come forward!” The initial announcer calls out, leading to the crowd moving towards a door near the stage where the leader was. This also had the undesired effect of making the pair of infiltrators stand out as they were the only ones standing still.

Description

Big Issues

Investigations Part Two

The view of the Vale CCT is picturesque, the tower itself located at one end of a large park in the middle of the Beacon Academy campus. Paved walkways lined with small fields of grass with a couple trees for shade provided the nature next to the technological marvel that allowed for mass communication around the globe. The main square in front of the tower bore the insignia of Vale in the center made of concrete and accented by four small pools of water that surrounded the symbol of the kingdom and separated by the walkways that allowed the students, faculty, and visitors to walk freely to and around the tower and park.

“Wow! I forgot how big the transmit tower looks so close!” Ruby Rose gushes as she follows Weiss Schnee to the tower where they hoped to begin their portion of the mission.

“You should see the one in Atlas.” The monochrome clad girl states proudly.

“That was the first one, right?”

“Correct. Atlas developed the cross-continental transmit system to allow the four kingdoms to communicate with each other. It was their gift to the world after the Great War.”

Ruby couldn’t stop her age from showing. “Oooh, look at me, my name is Weiss, I know facts, I’m rich.” She giggles at the end even as her friend stopped to turn and glare at her.

“Don’t be a pest!” She reprimands her leader. ” Besides, the only reason we’re here is because you like the tower so much. We could have just as easily made a call from the library.” Weiss gestures to the much shorter building relatively nearby at the edge of the park.

“I know, but it’s so cool! Oh! I’m gonna take a picture!” Ruby was clearly excited, whether it was her age or the fact that they were on a mission of their own design was debatable but most would say it was a combination of both. The younger girl reached into her pocket to pull out her scroll but had a slight issue in the retrieval of the devise, she hit her soft love handle and she lost her grip on the smooth surface and it clattered to the ground, bouncing a few times before stopping at someone’s feet.

The person stooped down to retrieve the scroll from the ground and held it out for Ruby to take. “Oh! You dropped this.” She says flatly.

“Penny?” Ruby was shocked to see her other friend from Atlas. The girl in question eyes grew wide in recognition, though Weiss stood silently by and judging the girl for her sudden appearance after having disappeared from the night at the docks last semester… she didn’t have much to go on with experience with the girl either beyond her stilted speech and running into the girl.

“Uhm...”

“Where have you been? We haven’t seen you since that night at the docks.” Ruby starts questioning.

“S-sorry, I think you are confused.” Penny says before a hiccup wracks her body enough to accidently throw the scroll back into Ruby’s hands. “I’ve got to go!” She quickly walks away from the red and white pair.

Weiss turns to Ruby. “What was that about?”

“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.” She declares as she begins to follow the redhead with the pink bow in her hair. “You go make your call, I’ll meet up with you later!”

Weiss was left alone, her cry for Ruby to wait fell on deaf ears as the girl was intent on finding out what had happened to her friend since that night. She left out a small growl of frustration before regaining her composure to continue what she had come here to do.

Ruby had finally caught up with Penny on a small landing on a fight of stairs in the park. Jumping in front of the odd girl to force her to at least acknowledge her she tried to plead. “Penny! Where have you been? It’s been weeks!”

“There seems to be a misunderstanding.” Penny says, almost robotically before continuing down the stairs.

“What? Penny…” Ruby was shocked at her friends’ words; it was if they had never met in the first place. Or even worse, like she was a different person from the cheerful but strange girl she had met before. Not wanting to be left behind, Ruby hops up onto the railing to slide down on her well-padded posterior… though the slide was a bit slower than it used to be, likely due to her increased weight and the amount of flesh was pressed against the metal. Still, she had enough speed to hit the bottom and land on her feet, a little jigglier than she was used to in her new, somewhat looser clothes. “Is everything okay?” She asks as Penny continues walking by.

Ruby was getting desperate and scared that her friend was doing her best to ignore the young, rotund reaper. She ran up and grabbed the taller girls’ arm. “Penny, Please, stop!”

Thankfully, that was enough to make Penny stand still but the girl wouldn’t face Ruby directly, keeping her face turned down to the ground.

“Lok, I don’t know what’s wrong. But you have to listen to me. Those guys we fought at the docks, we think they are up to something big. Something bad! I need you to tell me what happened to you that night. Please.” Still the ginger kept her head down. “As a friend.” Ruby pleads, this time managing to get Penny’s eyes to look at her for once.

The girl sighs before taking a quick look around and stepping closer to the hooded huntress. “It isn’t safe to talk here.” She says softly, giving Ruby a small pat on the shoulder. That small gesture and words seemed to fill Ruby with as much hope as it did dread. This really was her friend but what could this girl- who had without hesitation took of dozens of White Fang grunts, didn’t so much as flinch when Bullheads opened fire with their twin-mounted machine guns before turning them to scrap seconds later before actually pulling another Bullhead out of the sky with her swords- not consider to be safe while they were in the middle of the Beacon campus?

Weiss strode confidently through the main entrance of the CCT, her wide hips accenting her natural sway and was further emphasized by her skirt moving with them. She made her way to the elevator without a word and ignoring all of the staff and students in the lobby. The doors opened automatically to allow her entrance and as there was no one else within range, they closed behind her.

“Hello! Welcome to the CCT. How may I help you?” The automated voice rang out from a control panel on the wall to her right.

Despite that she was completely alone, it was a force of habit for Weiss to lean to the left and put a hand on her softened waist. “I’d like to go to the communications room please.”

“Absolutely. Could you please place your scroll on the terminal to verify your identity?” Even Weiss had to admit that the artificial intelligence that handled basic functions of the tower was pretty good at replicating an actual person. Weiss withdrew her scroll from a small pocket in back of her skirt and held it in front of the terminal that communicated with the much smaller device with a series of beeps. “Perfect. Thank you, Miss Schnee.”

Arriving at the level requested, Weiss walked out of the elevator. Aside from the apparently empty desk sitting not too far away, the most prominent thing on display had to be the large illuminated crests of the four kingdoms on the ceiling. The crossed axes over wheat of Vale. The three wing-guarded swords of Vacuo. The Spear over the gears of Atlas. The lamp of Mistral. Below them all were rows upon rows of computer terminals that were set up to allow for some form of privacy when making calls but had no way to hide what anyone was actually doing.

As Weiss approached the desk, a hologram of a receptionist flickered to life, imitating the looks and actions of an actual person. “Welcome to the Beacon Cross-Continental Transmit Center. How may I help you?”

Weiss stood straight and proud. “I need to make a call to Schnee Company World Headquarters in Atlas.”

“Absolutely.” The hologram even went through the actions of typing away at the terminal in front of her complete with the sounds of the appropriate buttons being pushed. “If you could head over to Terminal 3, I could patch you through”

“Thank you.” Weiss says, if out of habit than kindness for the AI before walking away to where her call was being set up. The hologram faded away as she walked by as it was no longer needed to remain active.

Weiss could see plenty of students from Beacon making calls, even hearing one of them who apparently came from Signal Academy like Yang and Ruby. It wasn’t easy for many of the student’s families to see their child, brother, sister, or other relation to see the person on the other side of the screen to have put on weight… most notably for the girls as nearly every female was approaching the landmark occasion where they crossed the threshold of doubling their weights from when they had arrived at their appropriate combat schools.

Plenty of families were offering dietary and exercise advice as if a school dedicated to training the next generation of warriors wouldn’t have covered that already. Truth be told, it wasn’t much that the major academies went over as far as diets were concerned… they should have already had that bit of education in their previous training schools. The major academies were more about refining the students’ techniques, providing them with field experience, and having them test their own limits against each other to motivate them to push themselves further.

Weiss found her terminal and sat on the stool with a sigh, and trying to ignore the feeling that the seat was a bit on the small side of her expanding backside as the screen lit up to show the face of a receptionist, she was familiar with from back home with chin length reddish-blonde hair and blue eyes. “Thank you for calling the Atlas- oh, Miss Schnee. Good afternoon!” She greets the heiress, somewhat distracted at first by other work as she ran through her practiced opening lines before noticing who was calling. While the greeting was certainly bright enough, the two of them were at least on friendly terms when Weiss had been home, her face turned unsure as she asked her next question.

“Would you like me to patch you through to your father?” The woman’s face softened to a smile as she continued. “I think your sister, Winter might be here as well.” It didn’t take a genius to realize that the Schnee patriarch wasn’t the most liked man in the kingdom of Atlas… or in much of the rest of the world. But the employees did know about how much the sisters cared for one another… even if the elder one had passed her title of heiress to her sister when she joined the military. Even the strict Atlas military couldn’t keep Winter from Weiss for too long or from showing her affection.

“No thank you, I was actually wondering if you could find some files for me?” Weiss holds up her scroll. “I’ve compiled a short list.” She says before placing the scroll into the slot on the terminal for the direct exchange of data.

The receptionist looks off to the side where her own monitor is displaying the requests. “I see… If you don’t mind, what may I ask is this for?”

“School project.” Weiss answers with a shrug.

The receptionists face turned to worry a bit as she read through the list. “Um, there are some sensitive documents on this list, ma’am.”

“Well then, I’ll be sure to treat them with care” Weiss quickly responds, subconsciously straightening her back to show how seriously she was taking this task.

“Right. Very well, the data is being transferred to your scroll now.” The worried expression never left her face as she really hoped that the transfer wouldn’t cost her the job she had. If anything came of it, she could honestly say that it was on orders from the heiress herself.

“Wonderful. That will be all then.” Weiss was happy to achieved her part of the plan as her scroll indicated that the transfer of data was complete.

“Are you sure that you wouldn’t like me to patch you through to your father before you go?” It may have been the one last chance to remove any repercussions if anything foul happened.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Weiss responds with a forced smile.

“Well then, have a nice day.” She ends the call from her end and her feed ends. As the screen faded to black, it was hard not to notice Weiss’ smile in the reflection fade as well to express her sadness.

Somewhere in downtown Vale…

Penny waited near the fenced off boundaries of a small restaurant with outdoor seating, nervously shifting as she stood there and looking around worriedly. A hand touched her shoulder and caused her to jump and face whoever owned the hand, coming face to face with a smiling Ruby. Slowly, Penny returned a small smile of her own… probably the first one she’d given to anyone who wasn’t her father or Ruby when they last saw each other after the fight.

Soon they were walking down the streets, letting the sounds of passing cars drown out their words from anyone who might try to overhear their conversation.

“I wish I could help you Ruby. But I don’t know anything about those men.”

“Well, what happened to you that night? We were all together and you just disappeared. Were you kidnapped?”

Penny was quick to try to defuse the accusation. “Oh no, nothing like that!”

“Well, where did you go?” Ruby was clearly frustrated at the lack of a clear answer so far.

“I’ve never been to another kingdom before. My father asked me not to venture out too far, oh but you have to understand, my father loves me very much.” Penny was quick to cover for her father’s actions. “He just worries a lot.”

Ruby rolls her eyes. “Believe me, I know the feeling.” Her own thoughts turning back to her life on Patch, understanding why the man had such feelings beyond the fact that she is one of his two daughters but they were only things left of the two women he ever loved.

Penny returned a smile at that line, feeling some comradery with the cloaked girl with their overprotective fathers.

“But, why not let us know you were okay?” Ruby was still prying.

“I, was asked, not to talk to you.” Penny replied, her speech becoming notably stilted- more so than normal. “Or Weiss… or Blake…or Yang. Anybody really.”

“Was your dad that upset?” Ruby kind of remembered the scolding from her dad to Yang the day they almost got killed when she went looking for her mother, dragging Ruby in a wagon behind her. Of course, the scolding came after making sure his daughters were safe even with Qrow’s assurances that they were.

Penny shook her head a bit. “No, it wasn’t my father.”

“The AK130 has been the standard security model of Remnant for several years. And they have done a fine job, wouldn’t you agree? Wouldn’t you agree?” The two girls heard the voice as they walked around a corner to a small courtyard where General Ironwood, through a projection, was addressing a small crowd from a small stage that had been erected with what looked to be large storage lockers towards the back. The crowd applauded the General as the mechs in front of the lockers bowed at the waist respectfully.

“But the kingdom of Atlas is a kingdom of innovation. And fine, that’s just not good enough, is it?” The projection paused its speech as the doors to the lockers opened up to reveal three sleek looking, white robots in each locker. Each of them looking more along the lines of full-body armor that an average sized person could wear rather than an actual robot where the mechanical gears and such could clearly be seen as with the grey models who were still bowing.

“Presenting, the Atlesian Knight!” Ironwood announces as the new mechs step forwards and stomp the older mechs to the ground. “200.” The model number was almost drowned out by the crunching of metal behind him. Once again, the crowd applauds, having gained a few to its numbers in the short time.

“Smarter, sleeker, and admittedly, a little less scary.” The General explains, the robots moving into some cheesy poses at the last part. “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 situations that undoubtedly require, a human touch.”

“Ruby…” Penny seemed to worried, not that the girl in question noticed as she was excitedly staring at the new mechs and trying to anticipate what new weapons the General might reveal next.

“So, our kingdoms greatest minds, in cooperation with the Schnee Dust Company, are proud to introduce, The Atlesian Paladin!” Ironwood’s projection was dropped in favor of displaying the new mech suit that even as a projection, stood nearly three times his height, displayed large guns on its arms that also had hands, shoulder mounted rocket launchers, a fully enclosed cockpit, a pair of widely spaced and articulating legs with large feet, and plenty of sensor pods.

“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!”

Penny watched as Ruby was slumped over with amazement, no doubt being overwhelmed by the technology that she’d want to get a closer look at, if only to satisfy her own curiosity. “Ruby…” Penny began taking small steps backwards. “Maybe we should go somewhere else…”

It was then that Penny saw a pair of Atlesian soldiers pointing at her, one of them pressing on his helmet mounted radio. Penny took that as a cue to leave the scene and ran across the street without looking at the traffic

The action grabbed Ruby’s attention. “Penny?” She tried calling but the girl had already crossed to the other side. “Wait! Where are you going?” Ruby looked back to see the pair of soldiers that Penny had seen running towards her so she turned to follow after her friend… complete with not bothering to look for cars driving by. Luckily, only car went by shortly before she reached that side of the street and she ran into the alley close behind Penny. Unfortunately, the soldiers were close behind her as well.

The alley opened up to another busy street where the girls refused to look for traffic before crossing, again. Though they had no cars to worry about. The soldiers following them, did, though the car stopped just in time to not hit the lead soldier too hard and they quickly followed after the girls again.

Ruby trailed Penny, being somewhat slowed by looking back at the soldiers to track them. She saw her friend run around a corner, not there was much choice in the alley but there was a raised platform with crates on it… which the reaper cut a leg out of as she ran by and causing the structure and its load to collapse in front of their pursuers.

Ruby thought it would be best to make a few random turns to ensure that they could leave the soldiers behind, she didn’t know why they were chasing after Penny but she’d help her friend no matter what. The young girl jumped onto the brick walls of the alley, and with surprising agility for someone so rotund, bounded from one wall to another, grabbing Penny in the process and activating her semblance to rocket the pair down the alley that far exceeded any normal persons running speed.

It was at this point that, despite Penny not growing any larger like she had since she’d last seen the girl, she was still incredibly heavy for her size. That didn’t help any as Ruby’s own weight seemed to slow her down or at least cost more aura to maintain her semblance. The combination of the two forced Ruby into a crash with the ground and tumbling towards the street. Penny was the first to stop as she was the arguably heavier of the two and nowhere near as round as Ruby who rolled out into the street.

The sound of a trucks horn pierced her dazed mind enough for her to stumble to her feet just as the truck was a few yards away. But it was Penny who pushed the softer girl to the side and stopped the truck with her bare hands, the momentum of the vehicle went from horizontal to vertical even as the pavement below Penny’s feet broke from the force. The truck slammed back down onto its wheels, the old man behind the steering wheel sat stunned at what had just happened.

“Penny?” Ruby says as she had just witnessed the feat of strength.

“Are you okay?” Penny asks the driver, who simply nods and grunts. She slowly backs away from the truck, looking at her hands at first but the murmurings of the growing crowd made her close her fists and look around before running away, back down the alley that she’d come from, even shoulder checking Ruby as she ran by.

“Penny! Come back!” Ruby yells as she follows her friend once more, not even noticing the soldiers who had arrived on the scene from another direction who now had to do their civic duty and handle the accident.

A short time later, Ruby finally caught up to Penny near an alley intersection, the ginger looking around nervously to figure out which direction she should run next. “Penny! Please! What is going on? Why are you running? How did you do that?” If Ruby would take a look back at herself, she might take pride in the fact that several minutes of running through the twisting streets of Vale and using her semblance hadn’t even left her winded… as if her recently added weight hadn’t mattered beyond requiring more cloth to cover herself.

Penny was panicking. “I-I can’t. Everything’s fine!” She responds, keeping her fists closed but making no aggressive movements at all, especially with the hiccup that racked her body. “I-I don’t want to talk about it!” Another hiccup.

“Penny, if you can just tell me what’s wrong, I can help you.” Ruby pleads as the taller girl curls in on herself.

Penny turns away, getting antsy. “No, no, no, you wouldn’t understand.”

Ruby extends a hand to her friend. “Let me try. You can trust me.”

Penny turns around and shuffles close enough to be in Ruby’s face, still keeping her hands closed. “You’re my friend, right? You promise you’re my friend?”

“I promise.”

Penny slowly talks and just as slowly reveals her palms. “Ruby… I’m not a real girl.” Ruby looks at her friends’ hands to see the ‘skin’ has been torn away on places to reveal metal underneath. Articulation joints showing.

Ruby stares in surprise at the revelation. “Oh.”

Itazura was crouched low to the ground, looking at the tracks of Grimm. Beowolf, check. Boarbatusk, check. Ursa, check. Beringal… check. For whatever reason, this group of Grimm were traveling together- best that she could guess was due to the intelligence of the Beringals, one of the few Grimm that had actual intelligence without being an older and experienced killer first like the others.

Talon stood on top of a nearby rock outcropping to look above the trees of the forest for any signs of the Grimm. So far there has been little more than some tiny Nevermore, something that the young Huntress removed from the world with ease.

Denko withdrew a flask from inside his vest and took a deep drink from it, letting out a satisfied sigh as the liquid worked its way down to his stomach. Anya was nearby double checking that her gauntlets were loaded, they had run into a small pack of Beowolves and wiped them out, nothing that was difficult for those of their skill and experience. But it was the Grimm coalition that had them on edge, it was bad enough with packs of Grimm normally lead by an Alpha, especially those that attack outposts. But this was something else, most Grimm species keep to themselves but if one of them had the smarts and strength to make the others bow to its will…

One of Itazura’s ears perked up and swiveled, her tail swished to that side and catching the rest of the teams’ attention. An Alpha Beowolf was alone and heading in their direction, possibly the leader of that small pack that they had wiped out earlier. It had seen them and was watching… waiting.

The Faunus drew her weapon from her back- a short, double-barreled shotgun with an oddly shaped stock. Anya activated her gauntlets, the blades extending over her hands and from her elbows as well as along the outer side where they formed a serrated edge the length of her forearm and then some. Talon drew her scimitars from her back, the polished metal gleaming in the sunlight that made it through the trees. Denko never touched his weapon, leaving to stay on his back, instead facing the Grimm with a grin.

“I could do with a warm up before meeting your boss.” The team leader says while cracking his neck and knuckles. The three girls rolled their eyes but lowered their weapons as he walked forwards. Nothing unusual about the one who liked to enjoy his fights, they were content to watch for any reinforcements the Alpha might call.

The Alpha’s ears quirked at the sight of the human who left the safety of the others and not afraid to approach it, not bothering to ready the weapon on his back. It growled a challenge, the response it got was nothing more than a grin growing wider and turning feral. The Beowolf could feel that the human wasn’t afraid, but it had beaten others who felt no fear. It had taught them to feel the emotion before it had killed them. It felt that this would be just another like the others. The three ready warriors behind him were what gave it pause… then it howled long and loud. Soon it heard the sounds of the feet of its brethren running its way along with the others, their growls and howls echoing through the woods.

As the pack arrived into the small clearing, it watched as the human stopped walking, finally reaching for the weapon on its back. Then the Alpha heard its leader approach, staying towards the back of the pack on a small rise. Soon the mortals were surrounded by the dozens of Grimm, their mere combined presence had the effect of drowning out the sunlight, making the brightest lights in the area being their glowing red eyes.

“Ah, crap.” The human in front says. “It’s a Silverback.”

Those words seemed to satisfy the Alpha’s leader, who pounded its chest and gave a guttural roar. Grimm surged towards the three humans and faunus like a wave, one that they met with a roar of their own with weapons in hand.

“Penny, I-I don’t understand.”

Penny pulls her hands to her chest. “Most girls are born, but I was made.” She says softly before turning proud. “I’m the first synthetic person capable of generating an aura.” Then she added sadly as she looked to the ground. “I’m not real.”

Ruby reaches out to take Penny’s hands in her own, opening them up to see what lay beneath the skin before pushing the hands closed and back to the one, they were attached to but never letting go. “Of course, you are.”

Ruby looks her friend in the eyes. “You think just because you have nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?”

Penny’s head cocks to the side as she tries to comprehend what she is hearing. “I don’t, um…” Then she leans in to Ruby’s face with narrowed eyes. “You’re taking this extraordinarily well.”

“You’re not like those things we saw back there.” Ruby finally let’s go of one of Penny’s hands to flip a thumb off to her right, even though it was probably the wrong direction of where the presentation was. “You’ve got a heart.” Ruby pokes the other girls’ chest, creating a surprisingly close sound to tapping on an appliance. “And a soul, I can feel it.”

It took a moment as things caught up to the robotic girl as she took a few breaths before grasping Ruby’s soft shoulders. “Oh! Oh, Ruby!” And the hooded Huntress suddenly found herself pulled into a vice-like hug with her head trapped between Penny’s arms and chest. “You’re the best friend anyone could ever have!” Penny begins rocking back and forth.

“Oh! I can see why your father wanted to protect such a delicate flower!” Ruby manages to say, though somewhat glad that she had some of her own build in padding as Penny had little to none of her own. Even when Yang would give Ruby bear hugs, the older girl had plenty of padding… in her chest, and muscles had some give to them

Almost as suddenly as the hug was given, Ruby was released as Penny stood proudly in front of her. “Oh, he’s very sweet. My father’s the one who built me! I’m sure you would just love him.”

“Wow,” Ruby giggles a bit and glad that her friend was smiling again. “He built you all by himself?”

“Well almost, he had some help from Mr. Ironwood.”

“The General?” Ruby was shocked and confused by that revelation. “Wait. Is that why the soldiers were after you?”

“They like to protect me too!” Was the cheerful answer.

“Pfft. They don’t think you can protect yourself?” Ruby was being sarcastic.

Like a switch was flipped, Penny’s mood shifted towards sadness again. “They’re not sure if I’m ready yet.” Then her tone evens out to be prouder. “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 for the Vytal Festival. I want to see what it’s like in the rest of the world and test myself in the tournament.”

“Penny, what are you talking about? Save the world from what? We’re in a time of peace.”

“That’s not what Mr. Ironwood said.”

It was at moment that they heard the soldiers coming closer, their calls to direct each other’s search patterns giving a clear idea of where they were. “You have to hide!” Penny says as she grabs Ruby by the shoulders.

“Gah! Penny! What are you doing? You don’t have to go with them, I can help you!” Her pleas fell on seemingly deaf ears as Penny picked up the doughy girl by the waist, carried her over her head to a nearby dumpster, and dropped her in like a sack of potatoes. The force of her hefty body hitting the bottom was enough to drop the lid.

The lid creaked open a bit thanks to Penny. “It’s okay Ruby, they’re not bad people. I just don’t want you to get in trouble. Just promise me that you won’t tell anyone about my secret. Okay?”

Ruby nods. “I promise.” She didn’t get to say anything more as Penny closed the lid on her to trap her in with the trash, thankfully there was little as the dumpster was apparently emptied recently… though that didn’t mean it didn’t smell.

“There she is!” One of the soldiers’ yells from the end of the alley.

“Salutations officers!” Penny greets them cheerfully.

Ruby carefully cracks the lid open to listen better. “Why were you running? And what happened to the other girl?”

“What girl? I’ve been by myself all day.” Hiccup.

“You shouldn’t cause such a scene.”

“Are you okay?”

Penny holds her hands out for inspection. “Just a scratch.”

“Penny, your father isn’t going to be happy about this.”

“Please, just come with us.”

“Yes, sir!”

Ruby had watched the whole interaction from the safety of the dumpster through the crack of the lid. She was glad that Penny had managed to cover for her and they hadn’t asked too many questions. She smiled as they walked away and disappeared behind a corner. Then a bit of motion caught her eye and squeaking alerted her ears. There was a rat in front of her and she jumped and fell back into the trash, luckily not squishing the rodent under her wider bottom or finding more.

It did give her plenty of motivation to get out of the trash receptacle much faster, though doing so proved a bit trickier than she realized. Jumping up pushed the lid up to smack the wall, the jump was also meant to get her out in a single leap but her feet failed to get proper grip and she slipped a little- leading to her catching her bulging belly on the edge and flopping halfway out. Then the lid came back down to spank her ample bottom as in retaliation for treating it so roughly. It did give Ruby a small jolt of adrenaline to override the wind being knocked out of her and scramble out of the dumpster fully, flopping onto the alleyway on her back.

“I sure hope the rest of the team is doing better than me.” Ruby mutters as she lays there holding her stomach, something that was getting a little harder as there was more belly from one week to the next.

Somewhere in a rundown section of downtown Vale, a motorcycle revved its engine as it tore down the street, its tires squealing on the pavement as it made its turns, before eventually coming to a stop in a dark alley near the drivers target destination.

Yang shut off the motor of Bumblebee as she sat up to remove her yellow helmet and shook her hair out… not that anyone could really tell if she’d have helmet hair with how she let it flow in a wild mane most of the time. She got off the bike, leaving Neptune, still holding onto his knees- as he had been instructed- with a shocked look on his face at how the wild girl drove.

“C’mon, my friends right in here.” Yang flips a thumb towards a nearby building where the sounds of deep bass could be heard thumping through the walls.

“Oooh.” Neptune had to shake his head a bit to get his bearings again now that they weren’t moving a break-neck speeds. “And where exactly is… here?” He asks as he gets off the bike to follow the girl he’d been partnered with for the night.

Inside the nearby building, plain looking on the outside to disguise the club inside, the employees were hard at work making sure that they would be ready for the regular surge of patrons that were due to show up soon. Sure, there were a few early birds sitting at some of the tables and enjoying their drinks and the music but so long as they were paying, Junior was happy to serve them. Behind the bar, the large man adjusts his red tie with pride as he looked over his establishment, clean and pristine after a lot of the club was trashed by a young girl looking for some woman.

It took months to renovate the club, even changing some of the layout a bit since there was so much destruction to his property… not to mention that all of his men had been beaten down with ease by that girl, followed by his top security enforcers, the Malachite twins, then himself who had been punched out of a two-story window. It was still a painful memory of what had led up to that beating… she literally had him by the balls before asking for information that he never had.

He looked up to the DJ, who as his norm was wearing that bear head that made him look ridiculous but he was almost a background at this point. Nearby stood the twins, who were keeping an eye on the place from their vantage point. His men were moving dutifully in their jobs or standing at their posts as they were expected. Then he heard some shouting that soured his good mood.

“Hurry! Close the door! She’s coming!” Two of his boys, clad in the signature black suits with hats and red ties and glasses ran in through the large inner doors to the club and slammed them shut, holding them back with their bodies, acting as if a Grimm was on the other side.

He walked out from behind his bar and onto the dance floor. “What are you two idiots doing?” He shouts. Whatever they were saying was lost as they were talking over each other and the loud music wasn’t exactly helping. But he did manage to hear and see the fiery explosion that opened the doors and knocking the men to the floor. Then through the smoke, confidently striding in as if nothing was wrong, was her. The little girl who had trashed his club months ago. There was only one person he knew who had such a mane of golden hair that practically glowed, even though the smoke.

“Guess who’s back!” She calls out as if she were an old friend of his. Even posing with her hands up and that cocky smile on her face.

His men knew what to do, immediately more than a dozen guns were drawn and pointed at her at point-blank range, not even a Huntsman would be able to get out of that unscathed. The music over the speakers did kind of ruin the mood as the record kept skipping. Then she stopped posing and opened her eyes, not concerned with the firepower leveled at her, but she glared at the DJ who poked his head up from behind his podium and pulled the needle from the record and bringing near silence to the club.

“Yeah, so could you define friend for me?” Some blue-haired boy in a red jacket peeked in from behind Her, drawing her gaze for a moment.

“Stop! Stop! Nobody shoot.” Junior shouts as he strides up to the interruption to his good night and drawing her eyes to him. Apparently, she was looking for him again. He forced his way through his men, who had lowered their weapons but kept them at the ready. “Blondie, you’re here. Why?”

She points a finger at him as she walks forward. “You still owe me a drink.” She states as she grabs his arm and drags the much larger man back to the bar and leaving the boy she came with behind.

Speaking of whom… “Whoa, what a woman.” Neptune was incredibly impressed at how Yang handled the situation, not even a flinch or acknowledging the firearms that were pointed at her face before taking control of the entire room.

That was when he took notice of the twins standing nearby, having come down to deal with the possible trouble maker again. “Sup?” He asks, standing tall and giving them a charming smile.

The twins found no charm and literally walked away from him in sync with their noses in the air. “Hmph! Whatever.”

In a dark alleyway, three claw marks marred the brick wall near a corner, Blake lightly tracing them with her fingers to be sure that they were the real markings that she was looking for and not some of the few scattered around the city that were fakes meant to distract police. Even the angle they were at told her what direction to walk… she had been there with some of the leaders who had started using the marks in the first place during her time with the White Fang.

Silently, she peeks around the corner to see a pair of Faunus being ushered down a certain alley by a well-dressed man, no doubt one of the Fang’s more loyal members who also happened to have their trait more concealable than most as not to attract undue attention… more so than a well-dressed gentleman in an alley might.

“This is it.” She says to Sun who was right behind her.

“You sure?” He had to ask if only to try to lighten the mood a bit. He received a glare for his trouble. “Y’know, I’m just gonna take your word on it.” He raises his hands in surrender.

Blake relents, having grown somewhat used to his antics over the weeks and now months that she’s known him. She turns and unties her bow to reveal her ears while Sun follows and buttons his shirt up. To Blake, the cool night air touching her feline ears was almost made her happy, almost as she remembered why she covered them normally along with remembering the mission she was on right now.

Between her ears and his tail, they had no issue with passing the first check point. A little further down the small maze of alleys, they received their own masks. Simple white plastic with a pair of slits on either side to see through

“New recruits, keep to the right.” Another guard was escorting some of the attendees through a door into a warehouse.

“I don’t get it. If you believe what you’re doing is right, why hide who you are?” Sun had to ask Blake as they stopped a corner where no one was nearby.

The cat girl glanced at the mask in his hand that he had raised during his question. “The masks are a symbol. Humanity wanted to make monsters out of us, so we chose to don the faces of monsters.”

“Grimm masks. That’s kinda dark.” The answer had killed any good mood that he had left going into this.

Blake leveled her eyes to his own. “So is the guy who started it.”

“Always sunshine and rainbows with you.” Sun says quietly, not doubting that his companion heard him as she walked away as she put the mask on, he followed a moment later.

There was a Faunus in full White Fang uniform standing by the steel door that led inside the warehouse, the pair looking around at the dozens of uniformed people standing in orderly rows on the left side that clashed with the mob of faunus in their everyday clothes on the right. There must have been nearly one hundred full fledged members in this building alone with at least half that number of potential recruits.

This was not something that Blake wanted to see, the White Fang must have been extremely confident that they could hide a rally of this size without the Vale police noticing or even the occasional Atlesian soldier patrols. More guards patrolled the catwalks above them, armed with automatic rifles, though most of their attention was kept to watching for problems outside the windows they did occasionally look down on the crowd, nodding with approval as the masses grew, confidence showing in their steps as the building filled more and more.

A large man with huge exposed arms, armored gauntlets on his arms and hands, and even a unique and stylized mask of his own, walked onto the stage a few minutes later when the stream of Faunus gathering slowed to a trickle. He paced the stage that was set up with a huge banner displaying the White Fang symbol painted in red on the black cloth. “Thank you all for coming.” He greets them all warmly, his deep voice echoing through the building and washing over the murmuring crowd who turned silent soon after.

“For those of you who are joining us for the first time tonight, allow me to introduce a very special comrade of ours! I can assure you, he is the key to obtaining what we have fought for, for so long!”

Roman Torchwick strolled out from behind the curtain, almost as if her were walking in the park. “Thank you, thank you! Please hold your applause!” He greets the crowd with a smile and a wave, ignoring the agitation that his mere presence seemed to bring to the crowd. At the back of the stage, walked out a very short girl in a white coat wit pink and brown hair.

“What’s a human doing here?” One of the female new recruits shouts out. Others cheered on her question.

Roman turned towards the woman with his ever-present satisfied smile. “I’m glad you asked, Deery.” He turns to address the crowd and began pacing, moving his arms as if he were a conductor. “I’ll be the first to admit, humans are the WORST! Case in point.” He adds as he taps on his bowler hat.

“So, I understand why you would love to see us all locked away…or better yet: killed!”

Sun leans down to whisper into Blake’s ear. “So, is he going anywhere with this or…”

“But before the claws come out… I would like to mention the fact that you and I ALL have a common enemy.” His tone turned from showman to sinister now. “The one’s in charge, the people pulling the strings, the dirty rotten humans that run our kingdoms.” Some of the crowd, mostly from the members side, began cheering on Roman. “Government. Military. Even the schools, they’re all to blame for your lot in life!”

Now nearly all of the crowd was cheering from those words, Blake and Sun share a glance as best they could through their masks as Torchwick takes a small break to bask in the approval.

“And they’re all pests that need to be dealt with. Fortunately, I’m the best exterminator around. No offense to any rodents in the room.” Had anyone been thinking clearly and not giving into the mob mentality, that last addition probably would have been found to be the most insulting thing they heard all day. Too bad there were so few who weren’t openly cheering for the human criminal mastermind.

A snap of his gloved fingers was the cue for the banner to be pulled back and reveal the large mech suit behind it, painted dark grey with the White Fang symbols painted in red on the shoulders. The mere sight of the massive walking weapons platform was enough to rile all of the holdouts into cheering for him, with two exceptions.

“Uh, that’s a big robot.” Sun says to himself, impressed by the metal monstrosity.

“How did he get that?” Blake asks her partner, using the roar of the crowd to cover her voice from the security.

“As some of you may have heard, this right here- “Torchwick knocks on the metal knee of the mech, which was actually higher than his head, showing just how big the mech truly was and how powerful it possibly was even without its weapons. “-is Atlas’ newest line of defense against all the scary things in the world.”

He walks to the front of the stage. “And thanks to my employer… we’ve managed to snag a few before they, uh, hit the shelves. Now many of your brothers have moved down to our new operation in the south east. If you’d rather stay in the city, that’s fine. But if you’re truly ready to fight for what you believe in, this is the arsenal I can provide you.” Roman pulls a cigar from his coat. “Any questions?”

If there were anyone who hadn’t cheered before, they were now, including the guards. Roman waving his hands to encourage them even more.

“We should get out of here.” Blake tells Sun.

“Will all recruits, please come forward!” The initial announcer calls out, leading to the crowd moving towards a door near the stage where the leader was. This also had the undesired effect of making the pair of infiltrators stand out as they were the only ones standing still.