***Special Thanks to Mecharic and TheLandMaster for Beta-ing***

Penny and I spent a good while walking before we finally got to the nearest Expo. These things were scattered all over the city for a reason. Wouldn't make sense for them all to be stacked on top of each other.

By the time we got there it was starting to get late. Ruby wouldn't have had too much time on her own yet, but I knew she'd start to get antsy if I took too much longer.

The Expo itself was basically wrapped when we got there. The soldiers and drones were in the midst of dismantling everything. Easy enough to drop her off without any extra complications. I'd be gone before they even realized what was happening.

"Guess this is you then." I said to Penny.

"Indeed." Penny said, smiling at me warmly. "It was good to see you and Ruby again. Even if we only got to be for a short while."

"That's how it goes sometimes." I said. "But even just a few minutes can mean a whole lot, huh?"

She nodded. "Mhmm~"

We stood there for a moment, and I half expected Penny to take the opportunity to start walking away. Maybe turn back, give a wave goodbye, then go back to her people. That's why we'd walked this far after all. Instead, she stayed rooted in place next to me. Watching as the soldiers and drones continued their work. Didn't mind it at first. But I knew enough to ask:

"Everything ok?"

Penny nodded. "Everything appears to be in order."

"…" I sighed. "What's the issue Penny?"

"There isn't one." She said.

I waited a moment.

Then she hiccupped.

"Right." I said. "So then you should be going back to them, yeah?"

"…Right." Penny agreed, looking down. Still not moving.

"Penny." I urged.

She didn't look at me for a moment. Her gaze seemed to be locked on the ground, studying. Until, rather suddenly she looked up at me. "I want to help you and Ruby."

"…" I sighed through my nose this time.

"That's what friends do, isn't it?" She asked. "I helped at the docks, I want to help again."

"Penny, what we're doing right now is serious." I told her. "We're all going to be in more trouble if you don't go back to your people. You're helping us by going back to them."

"I can help more by staying with you." Penny answered. "I'm built for this, it's what I'm meant to do!"

"Even if you are, we can't have the entire Atlas Military hunting for you, and by extension us, while we do this." I explained. "You need to go to them. I know it might not be what you want, but it's what we need."

"Then why separate me from my chaperones in the first place?" Penny asked.

"Well they weren't exactly being peaceable." I told her. "Whole thing probably could've gone different had they not been obstinate."

"Yes, we wouldn't have become better friends." Penny said. "But we are now, and I want to help however I can!"

"I get that Penny, I really do." I told her. "But this isn't-"

I was cut off by a sharp electronic chime and a buzz in my pants. Normally, something like that would be far less appropriate, possibly dangerous, but in this case it was my Scroll. Penny continued looking at me determinedly, glancing down at where the sound came from. An action I mirrored, before fishing the scroll out of my pocket. It buzzed and chimed again.

I was getting an incoming call.

From Ruby.

"…Oh boy." I droned, tapping the screen until the display changed, showing a connection between my Scroll and Ruby's. "What's up, Tiny?"

"Six?" Ruby asked. "We've got a problem- a really big problem."

And I had a sinking feeling in my gut.

"Talk to me." I reiterated. "What's going on?"

"Well-um-" Ruby stuttered. "After we split up I started going to the next place like you said to, I promise, but something happened."

I could already tell I wasn't going to like how this conversation went.

"I was, like, waiting at a crosswalk, and these three vans went past. And I thought they were normal at first, so I was like, 'ok, cool, I can wait for them to go past.' Then one of them ran a red light, and when they went past, I thought the driver looked kind of funny. So I decided to follow them. And I had to go really far to do it, I'm- like, not even in the same part of Vale anymore. But I followed them all the way to where I thought they were going, and when they got there and they started unloading everything I thought they were just a bunch of caterers and then I thought 'well now Six is going to hate me', but then some White Fang guys climbed out of one of the vans, and they all went inside this hotel-thingie. Then I thought I needed to jump down and stop them, but you said not to do anything without talking to everyone, so I panicked and tried to figure out what to do and now I'm standing here trying to explain everything to you and people could be in trouble and-and-and-"

Ruby spoke her words rapid fire and almost entirely in one breath. I'd have been more floored by that had I not been struggling to process everything else she'd laid at my feet.

"… Ruby, what?" I asked.

Ruby took a deep breath. "Please don't make me repeat all of it, things are bad."

"… Fuck." I swore, my mind now dissecting everything she'd said. "… Fuck, fuck- ok, do you have eyes on them now?"

"What's happening?" Penny asked.

"One of those moments where everything spins tighter than a corkscrew." I told her, before focusing back on the Scroll. "Ruby?"

"I… I don't have eyes on them-" she started.

That's when I heard the gunshots. It was in a strange, staccato stereo, one that was crunched and muffled through the Scroll next to my head. The other was a dull thunder, somewhere off in the distance, over the skyline of buildings and high-rises.

"Ack! Someone's shooting!" Ruby choked.

"Okay, calm down." I told her. "Do you hear me? You need to keep calm."

"I… I-" she stuttered through the phone.

"What's going on?" Penny asked, watching me worriedly.

I looked at her for a moment, then nodded and brought the Scroll down. I tapped at a button that apparently put the device into a broadcast mode. Speakerphone, or something. I lowered the volume enough to avoid being overheard.

"Ruby, listen to me." I said. "You need to stay focused and keep calm. Talk to me, where are you now?"

"I'm…" She paused for a moment. When she came back, her voice was more resolved. "I'm on the upper-side of Vale, on the rooftop next to the hotel they're in… People are starting to panic on the street… I can't see what's going on inside."

I paused, thinking. This was a problem, knew we were going to run into something eventually, but of course it had to happen now. My eyes flashed briefly to Penny. "What can you see? Anything identifying? I got no idea where you're at, talk to me."

There was another pause, and she answered. "I don't know. It looks like it's supposed to be some kind of big party. There were a bunch of people lined up at the door…" She broke away again, before coming back. "The shots came through the roof, so they have to be on the top floor… I think there's, like, a skylight or something. If I can get up there, I might have a better idea of what's going on."

"Can you do it without being seen?" I asked, starting to tap my foot, adrenaline was starting to kick up in anticipation. The moment I had a heading, I needed to go.

"… I think so. It's a bit high, but I think so." Ruby answered, breathing sharply. "… One sec."

There was a sound of crunching gravel, and Ruby grunted. What followed was the speaker of my scroll suddenly erupting into a roar of wind and what sounded vaguely like leaves. It blared loudly for a moment, then began to weaken and slow. As it did, I could hear Ruby straining, the weaker the wind got the harder it sounded like she was struggling, until it suddenly cut out altogether. A *whumpf* echoed over the Scroll, as well as Ruby making a strained *nyeh!* sound.

"M-made it!" Ruby grunted, sounding breathless.

"You doing ok?" I asked.

"Y-yeah. Lot of running…" Ruby trailed off for a moment. "… Ok, yeah, there's a giant skylight up here. I think I can see what's…"

A moment of tense silence passed. I couldn't hear any struggles over the speaker, and it seemed pretty good at picking things up. So at least Ruby wasn't in immediate danger, yet. But the longer she stayed silent the more anxious I got.

"Talk to me Ruby." I urged. "What's going on?"

Another moment of silence. Then…

"There's some kind of party." Ruby hissed. "There's a whole bunch of White Fang down there with guns…oh wow."

"What?" I urged. "Words, Ruby, words!"

"General Ironwood's here!" She hissed, I could hear more gravel scraping. "They've got him pinned down on a stage, or something!"

"Seriously!?" I growled.

"The general?" Penny asked, her eyes widening. "I know where that is! It's the Goudale Hotel! The general helped plan for the charity gala there this evening!"

"Of course he did." I groused, looking back to the Expo. Ever so close, but unfortunately, no longer where I needed to be. My Pip-Boy groaned, as I spoke into the Scroll again. "How are things now?"

"I don't know." Ruby said. "It didn't look like anyone was hurt, but I couldn't see everything… I think I hear sirens."

"Fuck!" I snapped.

Ruby and Penny admonished me in stereo.

I ran a hand down the front of my mask. I'd heard my Pip-Boy before, it had done its thing where it magically knows the location. But I had an alternative I was alright with using instead. "… Ok, ok- I'm on my way, Penny's going to lead me there. I'm keeping the Scroll on and you need to keep me updated alright?"

"I am?" Penny asked brightly.

"What do I need to do?" Ruby asked. "I-I have to do something!"

"Not now." I told her. "If you jump in without a plan, you could risk things getting out of hand.

"They're already out of hand!" Ruby hissed.

"Trust me, it can only get worse." I told her. "Just hold on until we get there. You'll know if you can't." I looked at Penny. "You know where it is, right?"

Penny nodded.

"Then you're getting your wish." I told her. "Give me the fastest route to the hotel possible, we need to be there five minutes ago."

Penny nodded and blinked. Her eyes unfocused briefly, and began scanning the area. I wasn't sure how she went about processing things, but I could see it was happening quite quickly. Her eyes twitched, blinked head moved side to side as she almost seemed to scan the skyline.

"-Route calculated." She said suddenly. "We can be there in ten minutes if we run."

"We'll do it in less." I told her, speaking to the Scroll one last time. "We're coming Ruby, tell us what's happening."

"…Ok." Ruby answered, resolved. "I'm ready."

I was glad one of us was.

Without hesitation Penny turned and bolted down the street back the way we'd come. I followed, hot on her heels. The only thing I could allow to slow us down was her guiding us. No matter what else happened, I had to keep pace.

We ran down the street for a dozen yards, then cut sharp into an alleyway. Immediately, she made a massive leap up to one of the fire escapes there, and practically launched off it. She was up to the rooftop in a blink. I followed after her, arms and legs moving with practiced and synchronous ease. Weeks of having to scale them to get to the rooftops had paid-off there. I couldn't imagine myself doing the same a month ago, Acrobatic Marvel or not. There were few teachers like experience.

I practically flew up five stories in about ten seconds, and scrambled over the edge of the roof. Penny had waited there for me, but was poised to resume her run, which she did the moment I had both feet on the roof. I continued to trail her, pushing Aura into my steps. I could feel the tiles of the roof shifting under my feet as I pushed against them. Probably sounded like someone was hammering as the two of us ran. We reached the far side of the roof, jumped, mantled onto another roof and kept going. We hurdled vents and ducting as we went. None of it slowed Penny down. She moved with precise, snappy, machine-like motions, each probably articulated within a hundredth of a degree with how flawless they seemed. The next roof had us jump an alley, but Penny handled it with aplomb. She hadn't been kidding when she said that she'd charted the fastest route, she was moving like she did.

"C'mon Six!" Penny called. "You need to move faster or you won't make this next jump!"

"What next-"

I stopped dead in my tracks.

The way to the next building was across the street. Not an alley, a four lane street. One of the main avenues through the city.

Penny paused as she reached the edge of the roof, waiting for me. "C'mon, we need to hurry!"

"Uh… Penny, I'm good, but I ain't that good." I told her, as I walked up to her.

She smiled innocently. "Don't worry, I've got this."

I felt my head tilt in confusion. "What do you me- urk!"

The moment I was close to her, she pulled me into another bone crushing hug. She looked up at me with a bright smile as her eyes began to glow.

There was a mechanical sound. A whirring of servos and the clack of metal as something about Penny shifted. What followed was a series of rather strange looking swords launching out of her back. Short, single edged blades with a scoop curve to them. They came to a point, then arced back to form the tip of each blade. They splayed out around Penny, connected to hair-thin wires of metal that glinted in the dim light of the late evening.

"What-" I tried to say again.

The swords arrayed themselves behind her, eight of them total. They pulled into clusters of four, orbiting around a point. They began to emit a high-pitched whine.

Then the air inside them began to glow. A bright, almost neon green.

"Hold on tight!" she ordered.

The air pulsed suddenly.

"To wha-" I started.

Then we shot off into the air like a rocket.

…

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

Ruby lowered the volume of her Scroll. She didn't know what was happening on the other end, but she would get the Courier to tell her later.

Instead, she focused her attention on the chaos unfolding beneath her.

Past the edge of the building, she could see that cop cars were beginning to clog the street in front of the hotel. Alongside them, a few news vans. Inside the hotel beneath her, she could see that the White Fang were beginning to corral people into separate groups. Four of them, each suppressed by at least five White Fang, and that still left at least ten free!

Plus the Knight 200s she'd seen earlier. Which were rather confusingly just pacing the floor. They were combat drones, where was the combat!

Looking at it all, however, told Ruby it was a lot of people. Too many. Ruby wasn't afraid of having to fight. She believed in herself, knew what she could do.

The problem was that there were a lot of other people there. While fighting the White Fang wasn't a problem, trying to keep people from getting hurt would be.

She got the feeling they were a touch late on that front. She could see two people, a woman and a man in Atlas uniforms, kept separate from everyone. The man looked fine, but the woman was badly injured. Had she been shot? Ruby couldn't tell from so high up. The general was being kept almost on the opposite side of the room from them, and had another four White Fang holding him down. Except their definition of the word involved a lot of hitting and the occasional kick. Ruby watched as one of them slammed their foot onto the general's wrist, pressing and crushing the limb, trying to pry a massive revolver out of his hand.

Which they succeeded at, when one of them smacked him across the back of the head, hard enough she could hear it through the glass. She saw the general's aura flare from the hit. Even more disrespectfully, she watched them kick the weapon across the room.

A solitary White Fang trotted over to it, an emaciated and lanky looking man, and picked the weapon up. Regarding it with an almost rabid energy, arm moving in jerks and twitches. Ruby could see him lick his lips as he handled the weapon.

He then pointed the gun into the air and fired.

A bullet flew through a panel of glass a short distance away from Ruby.

"Quiet!" the emaciated faunus howled. Voice dry, snarling. Words spoken in a halting, stilted way. "Quiet!... Or maybe we'll start the show a little sooner!"

Ruby saw the way the White Fang all motioned to the captive guests. Forced the guests to shrink back.

The general struggled to try and free himself. He was promptly struck in the back of the head again. Another sickening sound.

"Right about now, the police will be outside." The Fang, their apparent leader, said. "We made sure they would be. They're a part of this too, don't you worry." Their voice dropped in pitch. "They are a very important part of this. HA!"

There was a squawk from the Scroll beside Ruby.

"Penny… for fuck's sake, warn me when you're gonna do something like that." The Courier said.

"What happened?" Ruby squeaked.

"Apparently Penny can fly." The Courier responded breathlessly.

"No, I can't, they haven't patched it yet." Penny answered. "That was an impulse assisted-"

"It doesn't matter, Penny..." The Courier sounded like he was trying to catch his breath, but they must've still been running. It was an odd sound. "Talk to me Tiny, what's going on."

"I… I don't know." Ruby answered, peering down. "They've got everyone trapped. It looks like they've hurt General Ironwood pretty bad, and his soldiers too… I don't know what they want, but the cops are important, apparently."

"They're trying to keep everyone distracted." The Courier said. "With the general involved, they've just opened a massive can of worms for themselves. Don't-" There was a pause, and a brief rush of wind before the Courier continued. "- know if they thought that part through."

Silence fell between them as the Courier and Penny continued their dead sprint across the city. Ruby listened to the leader of this group of White Fang cackle and rave. He waved the general's gun around like a mad man. He even shot it, once, and blew the head off one of the drones.

"I need to do something." Ruby said, feeling her stomach twist. "I can't… I can't just sit here and watch."

"We're moving as fast as we can, Ruby… How bad are people hurt?" The Courier asked. "Is anyone dying?"

"I don't know." Ruby said, looking down. "Everyone's scared. People could be hurt and I just can't…" Her eyes tracked back to the general, then his soldiers across the room from him. She tried to study them from so high up. It was hard. The man of the duo seemed alright, roughed up, but not as bad as either the general or the woman…

The woman was bleeding.

She was bleeding a lot.

If it wasn't for the sudden and sharp gasps she gave, Ruby may have assumed she was dead.

"One of the Ironwood's soldiers is hurt." Ruby said, trying to steel herself. "She looks hurt really bad."

"How bad?" The Courier prompted.

"T-there's a lot of blood…" A feeling of dread washed over Ruby. "I thought her coat was supposed to be red."

"Is anyone helping her?" The Courier asked, something angry in his voice.

Ruby couldn't bring herself to answer. She was busy trying to steel herself.

She knew what she was going to do.

It was further reinforced, as the emaciated Fang began to stalk across the room towards the two soldiers. The man had said something.

"I'm going in." Ruby answered.

"Ruby-" The Courier started.

"Things are getting worse!" Ruby cut him off. "I'm not waiting for someone to die before I do something." She began to move the Scroll some place it wouldn't be in the way, and prepared herself. She felt her mind begin to calm, even as her heart began to race. Her hands worked in time. Drew her scarf over her mouth as her hood came over her head.

This is what she trained for. To help people, save them.

The White Fang weren't Grimm. They were people, pushed too far.

But they were hurting other people.

She didn't know what she was supposed to be feeling right then. But calm most certainly wasn't it.

The emaciated White Fang struck the man in the face with the general's weapon, which had the wounded woman next to him bark something.

Then the woman found the muzzle of the gun pointed at her head.

Crescent Rose flourished outward, the handle spinning in Ruby's hand as she launched herself upward. The weapon twirled and spun around her, its muzzle aiming into the air. It flared purple, and an impulse of motion slammed through her.

She rode it downward, crashing into the skylight. Her Semblance came alive as she blazed into her fall as a coruscating ball of petals amidst dozens of shards of shattered glass.

The emaciated White Fang snapped up, looking away from the soldiers.

Ruby planted her boot into his face.

Her weight slammed him into the ground as she solidified, glass raining around them.

The hall fell dead silent as she flourished her weapon in her hands, the blade slamming into the floor. She felt her cape billowing around her, flaring.

She scanned the White Fang around her, the gazes of the guests. Looks of surprise, panic, fear.

The White Fang under her groaned."… You're not Crazy Steve…"

"… Hi. The name's Red Hood." Ruby said after a moment. "This is, like, my second time doing this, and I don't have anything cool to say…"

She then promptly flourished the muzzle around to one of the White Fang, cycled the bolt, and fired.

…

"…Shit." I closed my Scroll. "Ruby's gone in."

Part of me couldn't be too upset. Shoe was on the other foot now, I'd been doing the same thing to all of them. Now she wanted to run, and damn me if I was going to be the one to stop her.

But, damn me, I still needed her to wait for me!

After defying gravity just to cross the street, Penny and I had resumed our mad sprint across the rooftops. There were points where she'd use her sword-array-thing to boost herself up ledges she or I might not have been normally able to make. Some of them I was able to make. Others, I was happy she was there, otherwise I might have struggled to make the grade. She wasn't lying about calculating the fastest route either. The way we were zipping past everything I'd have sworn we'd had the wind at our backs.

Didn't change that we were late though.

It would take everything to make sure it didn't become too late either. With how far away we were, it was hard to tell just how fast we were running either. When every second counted, it made each step feel like hell and that we'd already missed the party. Only thing we could do was trust we weren't. Trust that Ruby, having gone in on her own, could hold the line until we got there.

And that we'd be enough when we did.

She'd said we'd be going up against several dozen people. I knew an uphill battle when I heard one.

I tried not to think about it, while we ran. Trying to come up with a plan when I didn't know the area or all the details wouldn't do any good. Would just make me even more antsy than I already was, and I didn't need that.

So we ran, jumped, and in some cases flew, as fast as we could the rest of the way to the hotel.

By the time we got there, the police had already arrived. Ruby had said they were, before she'd jumped in. I counted maybe a dozen squad cars, a couple of larger trucks and vans, meant for what I assumed were riot forces, or similar.

We were coming in from the building's flank, so we could save at least one massive jump trying to cross the street, instead trading it for the one to climb the extra two stories to the roof of the hotel. Even two stories down and behind several feet of concrete though, I could still hear the gunfire. It echoed out the front of the building, off the surrounding ones.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I would take it to mean we'd made it on time, and that Ruby was putting up all the fight she could muster.

Penny waited for me at the edge of the roof, arms open. She'd learned after the first time she did it that I don't do well with surprises. Though my approaching her was less of an issue. When I did, she locked onto me again, and we launched into the air again. We went higher than we had in the past, and I could feel the impulse from her weapons quickly die off. There was a point I swore they'd cut out before we were over the roof. It was a close thing. We touched down just barely on the lip of it, and tumbled forward the rest of the way.

"You ok?" I asked.

"My targeting vector was off." Penny answered. "My array wasn't built to carry more than myself either."

"… I'll just count you as being extremely lucky then." I told her.

We picked ourselves up, and quickly moved across the roof. Penny went for the skylight, while I went for the edge of the roof facing the street. The police were there, naturally, along with a crowd of gathered onlookers, reporters too. I could barely make out men in more tactical uniforms huddled together, near the vans and trucks.

They were making plans to move in. Probably pushed to once the gunfire started…

It might've been my eyes, but I could swear I saw some of the teachers from Beacon down there.

My eyes swept up and away from them, quickly scanning the horizon.

There were Bullheads not too far in the distance. I got the sense they were sailing towards us. Vultures coming to see what had died.

With any luck: nothing yet.

I spun and ran back to the skylight with Penny. The gunfire beneath us was ratcheting up. I skidded to a knee beside her and looked down beneath us.

What was there surprisingly wasn't a complete shitshow.

Ruby was doing that petal-dash thing she could do, and was abusing the hell out of it. There were at least thirty of the grunts, like she'd said there was, but if they'd been organized, they weren't now. Most of them seemed to be trying to get a bead on her, as she dipped, weaved, and dashed around the room, using these stone pillars that sprang up for cover, never staying still. Bullets were flying everywhere.

Except in the direction of any hostages.

She was doing very good to either keep above them, or out of their way. No small feat from the number of them I could see. Though it annoyed me, to see as many guests as there were yet none of them tried to fight back.

It was a mess, but not one smeared with crap.

But it was going to devolve into one at any moment.

The way Ruby was fighting wasn't heavy on the offensive. She was only occasionally able to get off potshots with Crescent Rose, or take a swing at someone who got too close. But most of what she was doing was evasive, defensive, keeping the grunts distracted. They weren't hitting her yet, but that wouldn't last forever. She could only keep running for so long.

Especially if she couldn't see they were trying to guide her. I could see her flight paths growing smaller, more controlled.

They were boxing her in.

I opened VATS, bought myself time to plan.

The general was to one side of the room. At least four White Fang on him, only two seemed concerned with keeping him restrained right now.

The hostages were only loosely being held back by about the same, two or three Fang per group. Armed with assault rifles, shotguns. I spied one to the front of the room, near a massive wall of windows facing the street, holding a machine gun.

A few of the drones from the Atlas Expos were currently meandering about. Acting like there wasn't a pitched fire fight happening. Knew you couldn't trust the damn things.

Most of the White Fang looked to be lacking melee options. Made sense, a sword or ax wouldn't be as good for crowd control in an open room like that. Though why they would think this gala would make for a good target escaped me. They couldn't have seriously thought that attacking a foreign power like this could end any way but poorly for them. But, then again, I'd found a lot of them seemed to be lacking in the brains department, so who knows what they were thinking.

There were only a handful of ways out: an elevator set to the back wall, and what I could assume was a stairwell beside it. There was also a fire exit on the wall opposite the one Penny and I had jumped.

Both the stairwell and fire exit were barred. I had to assume the elevator had been jammed or disabled as well.

Which, again, made no sense. They'd basically put themselves inside a giant cage.

I closed VATS.

"Ok, exits are blocked, they're closing in on Ruby, and the cops are prepping to kick down the door." I told Penny. "This has officially gone from covert to obnoxiously loud."

"What are we doing?" Penny asked, looking at me with literally steeled determination.

"… I have to go in." I said. "Me and Ruby together can keep them busy, but it won't change matters if the hostages stay there." I motioned to her with a hand. "That's where you're going to come in. Do a ten count after I go in, then sneak in after me. You can't be seen, understand?"

She nodded.

A spray of bullets rattled the skylight about a yard away from us. Spiderweb cracks appeared in the glass. Peering down showed Ruby was fine, but she was slowing down.

"Once you're in, you need to open the exits and start freeing the hostages." I told Penny. "The guests will be your first priority. It's going to be chaos once they're moving, so be careful. Then if he hasn't freed himself, you go for the general and his people, got it?"

"Guests first." Penny said, nodding. "General Ironwood would say the same thing."

I certainly hoped he would.

"If we screw up here, people die." I told her. "Including us if we're not careful. Can you do this?"

Penny continued to look coolly at me for a moment, only to smile brightly, confidently.

"I'm combat ready," she said.

"…Good. Glad one of us is." I told her. My eyes scanned the room below one last time. Ruby was running out of time.

I could see they were trying to line up the guy with the machine gun for a turkey shoot.

He needed to go first.

"How far does one of those blades swing?" I asked, motioning to her swords.

"I can extend them to an effective range of roughly twenty meters." Penny answered. "Why?"

I'm gonna use one to swing down and start with that guy." I motioned to the machine gunner.

Penny nodded. Her eyes unfocused a moment, refocused, and she shot to her feet. "This way." She led me to the edge of the building, near the corner of it. Most of her blades then shot down and anchored her into the roof, while she passed one of the blades to me. She then pointed to a spot on the roof. "If you run off the roof at this point, you'll achieve the necessary velocity to break the glass and meet the angle necessary to strike your target."

I looked down at the sword she'd given me, then the spot she'd pointed to.

Girl had literally told me to go jump off a roof.

"… I'll take your word for it." I told her.

I then backed up a couple feet. Enough to build myself a running room.

It ended in me standing there, staring at the edge of the roof. I'd jumped off a lot of them recently. But most of the time, it was to a much closer target. Now I was gambling with physics, and my luck wasn't up to it.

But that wasn't the only reason.

"… Are you ok?" Penny asked, looking at me worriedly. "We need to hurry."

"I know." I told her.

But I couldn't get my feet to move.

"… Are you scared?" Penny asked.

I barked a trembling laugh. The adrenaline was getting to me. "Terrified. I don't get into fights like this anymore. Used to do it all the time. But I got used to fighting smart, clever. Couldn't face someone toe to toe and keep flipping the coin, hoping I'd win…"

Now I was doing it all over again.

This was the first time in who knew how long I'd had to actually stand my ground or people died. No tricks, no ploys, no running. Just me and the meat grinder.

Me, Ruby, and Penny.

A well lit room full of heavily armed terrorists.

And a whole lot of people caught in the crossfire.

Plus some robots wandering around. For flavor.

None of my usual tricks would've helped here anyway. The only plan we had relied on us holding the line long enough to get them out. I was always scared, going into fights like this. Nothing was ever guaranteed, you couldn't tip the scales your way.

Fighting fair was for people with a death wish.

Yet here I was.

I cast an eye back to the skylight. The gunfire was slowing. Ruby was running out of time.

I forced my nerves to steel.

We weren't enough.

But we needed to be.

I turned back to Penny.

She was smiling at me.

"I calculate a sixty-seven-point-seven percent chance of us winning tonight." Penny said. "That's a passing grade, most of the time."

"…"

I smiled back at her.

The steel in my nerves found itself bolted in place.

Funny what a few words can do.

Ready or not, enough or not, we were there.

I hadn't made it through the Mojave by always playing it smart.

My Aura flooded into my legs, and I shot forward. The roof raced past beneath me. Before I could blink, I was over the edge. Gravity took me, and I began to fall.

Then the wire of Penny's sword went taut, and it tried to pull free of my grasp. When it didn't, I fell into a sharp swing. The wind raced past my ears, my heart pounded in them. The world whizzed past me in a blur of dark colors. I arced around the corner of the building, out over the street. I could see the light of the large hall, the light within blazing gold.

I could see the White Fang with the machine gun.

My swing continued to build speed.

The window got closer.

My Aura solidified into my feet and I kicked. They slammed into the glass.

I released Penny's sword and flew through the window like a missile. Glass flew everywhere, a lot of my momentum disappeared on impact.

But I was flying.

The White Fang with the machine gun began to spin around, half way through he saw me.

Then I crashed down into him, planting my foot in his face. My momentum and weight hammered him into the floor and sent us both skidding forward. I leaned back as I did, keeping the pressure on him, treating him like a child might a sled as he skid across the floor.

People's attention flew to me. I could see Ruby, on the other side of the room, mouth and head covered by hood and scarf. She'd just fallen out of her petal-cloud. Had seen what was coming.

I opened VATS. My eyes scanned the room. Shots judged. More time than I felt I'd had in a long time.

It closed

I drew That Gun and fired. Bullets split the air, four of them. Each nailed the head of Fang close to me, a cracking staccato that cut through the air like a knife.

As my sled came to a halt, I put the fifth into his head too. Without missing a beat, I wrenched the machine gun out of his hands and hoisted it up.

"Knock. Knock." I growled.

The White Fang began to scatter.

I squeezed the trigger. Didn't have time to aim. I pointed it high, towards the back wall, away from everyone. It was enough to stun, cause everyone a moment to panic.

Except Ruby.

She launched herself at a White Fang. Her scythe spun in her hands, coming around and hooking them. They were wrenched off their feet and sent flying, crashing into one of the stone pillars. Without missing a beat the muzzle of her weapon swung behind her and fired, the recoil propelling her forward, and the shot nailing a White Fang across the room. She strafed and dodged as bullets flew at her, before weaving behind one of the pillars.

I let off the trigger and followed suit, hopping to the side as I began to fire in controlled bursts. Aimed for Fang that were separated from the hostages, isolated. I managed to clip and nail a few of them, but it was accuracy by volume, none of it meaningful.

The White Fang recovered from my sudden appearance and began to return fire, forcing me to stop trying to suppress them and follow Ruby's lead. I flipped a table and took cover behind it, briefly. The bullets began chewing through it quickly. It only bought me a few seconds.

Seconds enough.

I took a breath and flew out from behind the table. VATS opened, VATS closed. I concentrated fire on a pair of Fang across the room, trying to share a pillar. Nailed them both in the chest half a dozen times each. Then I bolted for one of the pillars myself, dodging one of the Atlas drones.

About which point, I noticed Penny slipping through a hole in the skylight. A sizable one. But with the chaos, she was largely unnoticed.

Except for this one Fang that was already down. Pretty sure he noticed her landing on him.

My finger pulled the trigger again, and about three seconds later the weapon died in my hands. Hadn't counted on it having ammo forever. I began to weave past the pillar.

A White Fang was waiting to meet me, shotgun raised in their hand-

I chucked the machine gun at them, the roughly twenty pound hunk of metal hit them like a bowling ball. Their aim flew off and they stumbled.

My wrist flicked and the Cow Puncher flew forward, my fingers locked into the spiked knuckles. I could feel the power thrumming through it.

The White Fang recovered.

My fist crashed into his face.

A crackle of lightning arced between us that sent the man flying back, steam rising off him.

"Holy shit!" I hissed.

I really should have tested it first.

The Cow Puncher slid off my hand and retracted back into its holder, the power clicking off. In the same motion, I snapped the cylinder of That Gun open, slapping my two improvised Gravity rounds into it.

I hadn't tested those either.

I bolted from the pillar, eyes scanning my surroundings. I locked onto a Fang across the room, distracted with trying to nail Ruby. He made good target practice. That Gun rocked as I pulled the trigger. It fired like normal. The bullet hit him like normal.

Then the Dust-infused projectile erupted, and he back flipped like he'd been hit with a bullet three times the size, then slammed into the floor like a sack of flour.

Dust was magic bullshit.

But boy was I starting to like it.

I re-holstered That Gun, saving the extra bullet, and drew my shotgun.

Several Fang turned their attention away from a group of hostages finally, and opened fire on me. Had to be three of them.

I dove back, scrambling behind a pillar. The bullets hit and rattled off it, sending stone dust and chips everywhere. I could hear Ruby, swinging her scythe. She was giving them more of a hard time than I was.

Another White Fang rounded past my cover. Tried to crack me in the face with his weapon.

I caught it mid-swing, replied with a head butt.

They staggered back.

I followed.

So did the gunfire.

I grabbed the White Fang by the collar and pulled him between me and it.

He caught a dozen bullets before his buddies realized what I'd done. I didn't count on it freezing them for long. My arm stiffened and I shot forward, briefly using him as a shield. Then I kicked him to the floor, used Aura to push myself forward

Another moment of hesitation, before they resumed fire.

My shotgun blared, magnum buckshot nailing one of them in the chest. Opened a lane of fire. But my Aura still flared, then failed. I felt bullets bite me, crash against my armor.

I didn't stop.

Before they could react, I was on them. The one I'd already shot I emptied a second shell into. Broke his aura and tore a gaping hole in them. Which surprised the hell out of his friends. Enough that one of them let off the fire. He was the one to catch my shotgun with a swing to his jaw. Then I barred it behind his head, slammed it into my knee, and cycled my shotgun in the same motion, muzzle angled at the last. I fired before he could do anything, more buckshot tearing into his flank, causing him to hit the ground.

I kicked the feet out from the White Fang I wrestled with, slamming him down into the floor. My boot crashed against the back of his head as I cycled my shotgun again. Fired that last shell into the same White Fang, making sure he stayed down.

My eyes flashed to the back of the hall, checking Penny.

She'd already opened the door, took out a few Fang of her own, then directed the hostages to run.

I turned back towards the White Fang I just fought.

Then I realized, I'd just completely brutalized them in front of a crowd of people. All of whom were watching in a horrified stupor. At me or the situation I couldn't tell, nor did I care.

"… WHAT are you waiting FOR!?" I shouted. "RUN!"

That was enough to spur them into motion. They looked around, realized what was actually happening, and practically broke into a dead sprint.

Then bullets began to bite me in the back.

I dove to the side and spun around.

It was one of the Fang guarding the last group of people. He'd broken away from his group, and his buddies quickly decided to do the same. They could see what was happening. Holding the hostage wasn't going to keep them from getting shot.

I scrambled to my feet, taking stock as I began reloading my shotgun, dashing for the cover of a pillar. The number of people was quickly changing. Most of the hostages were free. The ones that this last group of White Fang were holding were almost the last of them. I could see the general, struggling with the guys on him. He looked to be breaking free.

Then one of the Fang decided to play dirty. He swung his rifle back on the fleeing guests.

VATS opened.

A slug fell into the chamber.

VATS closed.

He began to open fire-

Ruby slammed into him like a wrecking ball. Her scythe spun around her, blade cleaving through the air like lightning. Its arc sent him flying before it whipped and danced its unruly pattern around, catching the second White Fang in the Trio. Right before the third realized what was happening, Crescent Rose shifted, taking its rifle form.

The muzzle was buried in his chest.

Ruby fired.

The White Fang flew back as the equivalent to a 12.7 intermediate round slammed into him.

The crowd ran, none the wiser to what almost happened.

'Good shit, Tiny.'

Now it was just us and the Fang.

I reloaded and bolted across the room to her. She turned, and for a second I thought she was going to hit me. Should've been the other way around, but I'd deal with that later.

"I couldn't wait!" Ruby tried to explain.

"Talk later, fight now!" I snapped, pulling up alongside her. "Penny's got the hostages covered, we need to handle the rest."

"Penny?" Ruby asked.

My eyes swept over the room as I stuck myself with a stimpack. Better to not let the damage get ahead of me.

I counted about sixteen White Fang scrambling to gain control of the situation and failing miserably. Those five Atlesian drones were still wandering around like they didn't have a clue. The four that'd pinned Ironwood were still on him. But I could see the look on his face. He was looking for a chance to change that. And then there were two people still left. A young man and woman. Both wore nearly identical outfits, uniforms. I say near, because the woman's jacket was practically soaked through with crimson, and looking a touch too pale. I got the impression those were Ironwood's people, both of whom had just missed their train to get the hell out of dodge. I didn't think there was anything I could do for the woman either. Stimpack or not, she'd lost a lot of blood. Part of me hoped Ruby hadn't realized that yet.

"We've got 10 to 1 odds here." I told Ruby, keeping my voice low, watching as the White Fang didn't immediately rush into position. They'd survived this far, they knew to be wary. "You pushed us into this, what's the play?"

"I don't know…" Ruby answered, looking around. "I didn't think we'd get this far."

"Welcome to my world." I told her, calmly reloading my shotgun with dust shells. The Ice ones. A safe bet, fire might burn the building down, and I'd seen what the Gravity ones could do if they hit true. Didn't want to bring the roof down on our heads.

I could see the White Fang beginning to get antsy. The standoff wasn't going to hold for much longer. They were waiting to see who moved first. That, or they were planning to open with something big.

"We need to help her." Ruby said, looking briefly towards the two soldiers.

"Ruby." I said, trying not to sound too annoyed.

"She's hurt." Ruby bit.

"She's dead." I told her. "She's lost too much blood."

"You don't know that!" Ruby said, sounding determined.

"I know what dead people, and those soon to be, look like." I told her. "I'm sorry, Ruby, but we can't-"

"You have medicine, don't you?" she interrupted. "Use it on her!"

"It only works if she's actually got enough blood to use it." I snapped. "It doesn't just magic more blood into you."

"You wanted the play, that's it." Ruby said. "We save her."

"…" I growled. "You gotta be fuckin-"

The Fang moved.

One of them at the far corner angled his assault rifle towards the ceiling. It took me a second to register why.

There was a tube under the barrel.

"-oh shi-" I started to say.

Then the grenade launcher thumped, and a hunk of ordinance hurtled towards us.

My hand latched onto Ruby to push her. Only to find her doing the same and pushing back into me.

"Move!" Ruby shouted.

"What do you think-" I shouted.

Then the world broke away around me. I mean that in the most literal sense as well. The world fragmented into pieces as Ruby pushed into me, scattering like dead leaves and fallen flower petals. I felt my body disintegrate, breaking into hundreds of little pieces as they fell behind me. Motion beyond my control took hold of me, and I moved to the side, the way Ruby had pushed me.

I looked down at myself as the motion carried me. I could see… me. But not me. It was like I was staring at a silhouette of my body, color washed completely green. Except for a band of red, hooked around my midsection. Tracing it led back to something I could vaguely describe as Ruby shaped. Still a silhouette, but awash in red instead. Everything else around us was completely blurred with motion, and a cloud of… petals. Definitely some type of petal.

Then the grenade exploded where we'd been standing. The shock wave hit us and passed harmlessly through as we carried on our path. I could tell it had though, because the massive front-facing windows exploded outward. Raining glass into the eyes of anyone dumb enough to look up.

We stopped a dozen feet later, and tumbled to the floor. A brief, stunned second passed.

Then I looked at Ruby. "You can do that?"

"I can do that?" she parroted.

Before either of us had a chance to completely process that turn of events, the bullets started flying. I scrambled to my feet first, opened VATS, and sent an ice-slug at the one with the grenade launcher. The slug didn't actually perform as it had previously, however. Instead of forming into an engine-block sized chunk of ice, it actually held until it reached them, only to then burst into a several inch thick coating of ice. Freezing them into a statue.

Couldn't tell if the outcome was a result of the slug moving faster than it did from my flare gun, or a difference in the makeup. Regardless, he needed to go before he brought the whole place down on us.

Ruby pushed back to her feet and mirrored me. She planted the blade of Crescent Rose into the floor for support and fired, cycling the bolt fast enough you'd have thought the rifle was semi-automatic. But each shot was clean, tight. Credit to her, what she lacked in close-quarters prowess, she made up for in marksmanship. She nailed at least three of them before I had a new shell cycled. Sent another slug flying towards one with an assault rifle.

I then cycled, spun, and shot one of the thugs looming over Ironwood. A smart move, they'd decided we weren't paying enough attention to them. They were trying to divide their attention between Ironwood and us.

Their mistake.

The moment Ironwood saw their focus waning he made his move, practically throwing them off of him. He then grabbed one of them by the collar and slammed them into the wall, cratering the plaster.

"Six-" Ruby hissed.

Spin, cycle, shoot- nail another one and freeze them in place.

Four taken out of play, not counting the three Ruby nailed. Those were now eight to one odds instead.

"You really want to try and help them?" I asked. "Then you better actually have a plan."

Ruby nodded, pulling Crescent Rose up with a flourish. "I get you to them, you help them while I clear the way to the door…" She glanced back briefly to Ironwood. "I think he can take care of himself."

"Noted." I said. "For the record, I don't think we can save her."

"We're going to try anyway." Ruby said.

"…Alright then." I said, gritting my teeth, summoning my Aura back to strength.

Then we charged forward.

The White Fang continued raining fire on us. Multiple angles, but pretty much all of them from the front. Our sprint turned into a strafe as we went. The Fang struggled to try and lead their shots, but I could practically hear the bullets flying past us as we went.

I fired the last two shells in my shotgun, nailing one of the Fang, but only managing to wing another. Though even the one I winged wound up on the ground, arm and weapon trapped in a solid block of ice. I slapped the lever open and began reloading, now with magnum buckshot, but capped it with one of my gravity shells.

As Ruby and I began to close on them, one of the Fang with a shotgun thought it would be a good idea to get closer. Before he even got two steps in, Ruby bolted over to him and swung Crescent Rose at him. The scythe swept low, taking out his legs, before the weapon spun over her arm, planted its blade into the floor, and fired. The muzzle at point blank, the White Fang slammed backward into the floor. Without missing a beat, Ruby had the weapon spun back into her hands, cycled, and was back charging alongside me. Right in time to avoid a hail of bullets spattering where she'd stopped. I wasted my gravity shell on the one responsible, loosening a purple-glowing ball of fire through the air that almost looked more like a tracer-round.

It didn't behave as the five-five-six had before it. Instead of a concentrated burst of force, it instead went off like a concussion grenade. Or perhaps, more like artillery. In either case, a massive and sudden shockwave of force in all directions. Anybody outside 10 ft. was alright. Everyone within those ten feet though? They went flying back like they'd been hit by a car.

The one I'd hit with the slug flew back and smacked into one of his friends, turning them into a cushion.

As Ruby and I began to close on the two soldiers, dodging one of the Atlas drones, I took potshots at some of the Fang. Trying to buy us enough breathing room to actually work.

Then two things happened at once.

Penny burst back through the door at the now near wall.

"The hostages are secure!" she announced, pausing to look around.

Her sudden intrusion got the attention of the White Fang, who up until that point, probably hadn't realized she was the one who'd been responsible for that.

Then there was a sharp, electronic trill in the air.

With a sudden and unexpected sharpness, the drone beside me turned towards the White Fang. Their posture changed, adopting an aggressive stance. Immediately, I wheeled towards it and prepared to pump a shell into it.

Except it promptly ignored me, preferring instead to bolt full speed towards one of the White Fang shooting at us, who promptly changed their attention to the man-shaped missile running towards them at the speed of mach-fuck.

Unfortunately for them, metal doesn't care as much about getting shot.

The effect it had, even with only about five of the drones, was that they stopped focusing as much on us.

"Now's our chance, move!" I said, taking the lead.

I dashed ahead of Ruby the rest of the way to the soldiers. Though they initially tried to push away from us, they couldn't do much while already backed to the wall. Judging by their wounds they'd at least tried to fight. But they'd been completely disarmed…

Though that didn't explain why one of them hadn't taken the gun from the Fang currently lying at their feet. A massive, rather snazzy looking revolver.

"Stay back!" The male soldier commanded, pulling his fists up.

"Bite me, doughboy." I told him. "We're fixing your mistakes as it is."

"Doughboy?" He questioned.

"We're here to help." Ruby said, shooting me a look. "Just keep calm, your friend's hurt."

The soldier looked back and forth between me and Ruby. His partner on the other hand was barely looking at anything. Her breathing was shallow and labored. She was practically sitting in a puddle of her own blood by this point. Her eyes were basically shut, and she was slumping over herself.

I ignored anything Doughboy might have done, and knelt down beside her. My shotgun slid back into its holster as I studied her. I could see the spots she'd been shot, but took a few seconds to get an idea of how far gone she was. I'd been down this road already with…

My fingers snapped beside either of her ears, earning a faint twitch.

She was still in there. Barely.

I pulled a hypodermic from my stash and primed it. Trouble came when I had to tear the chest of her uniform open for a better spot.

"The fuck are you doing!?" Doughboy yelled, suddenly deciding to get physical. It was only Ruby getting between us that stopped him from getting his partner killed.

Primed, I stuck the woman with the needle. It's hard to describe specifically why I did it this way. Normally you could stick yourself with a stimpack anywhere and the effect would work, even if it would be more concentrated in the specific limb. But as I did, I knew I had to slip it around her breast bone, near her heart. Give the stim-fluid a faster chance at circulation. Despite my knowledge of medicine, I'd never done that before. Looking at her, I just knew I had to this time. As the medicine began to sink in, she gave a weak hiss and groan. I could see her body tensing slightly.

But I could also see the hole in one of her breasts begin to seal itself.

After a moment, she began to relax, her breathing steadied, but still weak.

"She's stable." I said, looking back to Ruby and Doughboy, both watching what I'd done with slight amazement. "But she's lost a lot of blood, you need to get her to a medic, stat."

As I stood up, I pried the pistol out of the hand of the White Fang holding it. He didn't give it up easy, so I stepped on his wrist and pried it loose. Even as I did, Doughboy still wasn't moving.

"… You got a brain in there?" I asked. "Move! Fucks' sake, is this where all that money on training goes?"

Doughboy scowled at me, but Ruby let him pass to the woman, picking her up gently out of the puddle. I motioned to Ruby as he did.

"We need to finish things here and go." I told her. "Once these two are out, the police are going to storm this place. We're not going to want to be here when they do."

"Right." Ruby nodded, mirroring me as we looked over the room.

The five drones were keeping the White Fang busy. There'd been roughly fifteen left initially. And each of the drones was managing one assailant each. What armor they had seemed to be enough to last against the sustained gunfire, but I wouldn't count on it for a prolonged fight. But Penny was also bowling her way through them. I could see she'd already taken out a solid pair of them, her swords slashing out around her in wide arcs. Then to the far corner, I could see the general had acquitted himself nicely. The four White Fang that'd restrained him weren't a problem anymore, and he seemed to be messing with his scroll.

Ruby brought Crescent rose to a low-ready, blade behind her. "Ready?"

"As much as ever." I told her, holding up my newly acquired pistol.

She dashed forward as I snapped VATS open. I aimed with the new pistol in my hand and fired. The recoil reminded me of my Ranger Sequoia. Impressive for a gun I knew had to only be firing Dust cartridges. The impact was just as effective, my shot instantly felled its mark.

I broke into a sprint after Ruby, opening and stuttering VATS briefly as I did. I fired a total of maybe six shots, only managing four of them. Running and gunning isn't easy. But even managing four out of six on a gun I was unfamiliar with was impressive.

Ruby reached one of the Fang ahead of me and swung, batting the Fang in my direction. I clocked them on the approach, and they hit the floor without me breaking stride. My shotgun flipped back over my shoulder, and I squeezed off another magnum shell. The shot nailed a Fang right before he'd have sprayed Ruby. She then promptly turned and finished him with a shot of her own, before flipping her scythe in her hand and catching another Fang on the upstroke, knocking them back.

I closed the gap between me and her, and slammed the Fang with the Cow Puncher. Bolts of energy crackled into him, and sent him spasming to the floor, right as one of the Drones sailed over him, tackling and restraining another White Fang, who I took the opportunity to blast with another magnum round.

"Salutations!" Penny called as he flew past us taking out another pair of White Fang with a sweeping strike.

Which wound up leaving only one White Fang left, as the drones restrained the rest of them. He was busy picking himself up, looking completely dazed and confused.

It was only then I'd realized we'd cut through these guys like Abraxo to grease.

Right before either Ruby or I could actually take him down, the general stepped in and slammed him. It was like watching a supermutant punch a tweaked out Fiend, only less messy.

The Fang collapsed to the floor, and the fight came to an end. I could hear the soldiers shuffling to the stairs behind us, and the general approached. I could see the way he was eyeing them. He looked concerned, which I would take as a good sign. A few paces away, he stopped and regarded the two of us.

Then he held out his hand. "My weapon, please?"

He had a surprisingly calm and smooth voice. Almost instantly it brought images of colonel Hsu to mind. Which also raised a few red flags. I didn't need to be making any friends in the military.

I spun the massive revolver by its trigger guard, finger passing over the cylinder release, opening it. Only as I held it out to him did I realize: I shouldn't have had any idea how to open it like I did.

But the General took it anyway, a quietly impressed look on his face. "Thank you. I'm to guess you'd be Crazy Steve then?"

"… Possibly." I answered.

He chuckled at my response, before looking at Ruby. "And I believe you called yourself… Red Hood?"

"The Red Hood" Ruby clarified indignantly, as if it was the most important part of the name.

Again, another chuckle. "You both seem rather young to be professional Huntsmen. You do know Vigilantism is illegal in most Kingdoms, correct?"

"Only if YOU get CAUGHT." I told him. "… ARE you going TO detain us?"

The general seemed to think that idea over for a moment, but then shrugged. "It's not my kingdom, things seem to have turned out alright. I don't see why I should."

Ruby let out a slow sigh that I hadn't known I was sharing. "Thank you."

He nodded. "Though I would advise you both make a quick get-away." He said. "I might not need to enforce the law here, but the police will."

"True." I nodded.

"Six! Ruby!" Penny shouted, running up to us, smiling and looking between us and the general. "Everyone's been safely escorted outside, and the police will be entering shortly!"

' oh, well, guess that cat's out of the bag, if it wasn't before.'

"Thank you, Penny." The general said, returning the smile before looking at her curiously. "But what are you doing here?"

"CHEESE IT!" Ruby shouted.

She then promptly grabbed hold of me and launched us both into the air, turning us into a cloud of petals. Before I could blink, we were both on the roof again.

"I can do that!" She cheered.

"Celebrate later!" I snapped.

We then turned and ran as the Bullheads I'd seen earlier drew closer onto us.

…

The general looked up after the two huntsmen in training.

He certainly was going to have a lot to speak with the Professor about. It would likely be soon as well. All this commotion, there was a good chance some of the Huntsmen from Beacon had been called in for aid.

"That didn't answer my question." The General chuckled to the room of restrained criminals and machines "What are you doing here Penny?"

Only silence answered his words.

"… Penny?"

…

…

My feet touched down on the roof and I skidded to a stop, Ruby landing not long after. I looked back the way we'd come, and could see that the Bullheads hadn't followed us. Either they hadn't seen us or had lost interest. Either would be good as long as they hadn't gotten a good look at either of us. With how tonight had gone, I couldn't be sure.

"We did it!" Ruby exclaimed. "Holy cats that was scary! There were so many of them and I didn't have a clue what we were going to do- and then I jumped on that one guy's head, and you came crashing through the window with a machine gun and were all RATATATATATATA-"

I calmly turned back towards Ruby and fixed her with a steady look.

"-ATATAatatat-at-at-…at." She finished, observing that I had nowhere near her level of enthusiasm. "… I'm in trouble, aren't I?"

"…" I took a deep breath. "… Y'know what? No. You're not."

Ruby blinked. "I'm not?"

I shook my head. "You did what I would have done. Despite the fact you didn't wait for me, you held your ground as long as you believed you could have, and moved in when it was clear things were about to get worse."

Ruby nodded. "That soldier we saved, that guy who stole General Ironwood's gun was going to shoot her."

"It was your call." I said. "You made it, and we wouldn't have stopped any of it if you hadn't been paying attention. So, on the whole? You did good."

Ruby beamed at that.

"Don't let it go to your head, you still fucked up." I told her. "You didn't bother to come up with a plan before jumping in. You need to work on the impulsiveness, and learning to come up with a plan is a start."

"I did, didn't I?" Ruby asked. "I called you, we agreed to do that."

"That's step one." I told her. "What about two through forty two?"

"… Does it really need that many steps?" Ruby asked.

"Depending on what you're doing? Yes." I answered. "The point is, even if it was just setting out goalposts for yourself, you should've had a plan. That way you could've kept on task, rather than get bullied into flying in circles until they could shoot you down."

Ruby pursed her lips before nodding intently.

"I don't want to rain on your parade, you did good tonight." I said. "But you've got some work to do yet. Take it for the good and the bad. At least no one seemed to be dead when we left."

"Miraculously, casualties were kept to a minimum!"

"…"

I wheeled around, looking behind me-

"Oh you've gotta be kidding." I said.

"About what?" Penny asked, standing there like nothing was wrong.

Ruby peaked around my shoulder and I felt her stiffen "Penny!? What'reyoudoinghere!?" She squeaked.

"I followed you." Penny announced. "You're both my best friends, and you're clearly in trouble, so I've decided to help."

"… No." I said, drawing my line in the sand. "Nope, No! We agreed you were going with Ironwood. You were supposed to stay back there!"

"No, you said I was coming with you to help Ruby." Penny said. "You never said anything about staying with the General afterward."

"..." I wanted to argue with her, but of all the people I could argue wording with, she wasn't one of them. "… It was implied!"

"Subtext is confusing." Penny said. "Besides, you're both my friends and I wanted to help!" She put her hands behind her back, trying to appear innocent. "Mister Ironwood won't mind if I spend some time with you guys. He can always send someone to find me if he's worried."

Which is what I was worried about.

A moment of silence passed, before I blew out a breath and looked at Ruby. I had an idea of what the answer was at this point, but I asked: "What do we do?"

Ruby thought on the idea for a moment before answering.

…

We called in an early regroup with everyone. We were maybe an hour or so out from doing it, but the situation demanded it. Unfortunately.

Everyone came back more or less in one piece, the only ones missing were Blake and Sun. Though their circumstances weren't one they could easily cut and run from. However, we certainly had everyone's attention when we approached.

"…Who's that?" Nora asked.

"Salutations!" Penny announced. "My name is Penny Polendina, and I'm best friends with Ruby and Six!"

Another moment of silence.

Then Weiss looked at the both of us. "What is this?"

I chuckled "We kinda… Mighta… Sorta… Accidentally kidnapped her."

"… YOU WHAT!?"