Sorry for the delay, you should probably re-read the previous chapters to remember what's going on.

Some clarifications: The incident Sun was referring to takes place before this story, and is not in the show. The grimm attack was the preliminary attack that happened a few months ago, which was beaten by back the staff and students at beacon and had very few casualties. As for Weiss and Alyss, well, it relates to the end of Chapter 39.

"Really?" Weiss asked incredulously, laughing. "You actually threw him at Pyrrha?"

"Yup! And look, everything worked out." She pointed toward the happy couple on the dance floor. "Seems like they're having a great time."

Blake took a sip of water. "So what have you been doing?" she asked. "Alys seems preoccupied with whatever program she's participating in, but so far you haven't said anything about yourself."

Weiss looked at her hesitantly. "Do you really want to know? Let's just enjoy this night, relax, talk with some friends…"

"Now you've really made me curious," Yang said. "Come on, you can't just say that and not tell us."

Blake looked at Weiss, an eyebrow raised. "Did you really think we'd say no after hearing that?"

Weiss sighed. "Of course not." She cleared her throat and shifted a little in her seat. "Well, I've been doing some research. Research about the things they're doing to Alys that they won't fully reveal even to me, research about the odd Grimm attack a few months ago, and research about what happened to… her."

There was a moment of shocked silence.

Yang leaned forward. "What do you mean, what happened?"

"I really shouldn't have said anything," Weiss groaned. "Look, I don't have anything conclusive, but do you really think that she would just do those things out of the blue? After all the years that you knew her and lived with her? What changed her? What made her become what she is now?"

Yang looked a little pale as she slumped back into her chair, her hand gripping Blake's hand, her knuckles turning white.

"Weiss," Blake growled, her eyes narrowing.

"I'm sorry, I've said too much," Weiss apologized, quickly backtracking. "Look, let's just—"

An agonized howl interrupted her. Blake and Yang scrambled out of their seats and scanned their surroundings while Weiss slipped her hand into her pocket. People began to scream, the students milling about the dance floor as they rushed to get away from something.

A strange, stiffly enunciated voice cut through the noise.

"Oh dear. Why is this human so fragile?"

A few minutes ago, Penny had been dancing on the ballroom floor, alone.

Her being alone wasn't unusual, of course. Her father had always been rather protective of her, so her contact with other people had been limited to her personal guards and the scientists who constantly maintained and upgraded her.

But, after looking around at everyone else, she decided that she would at least try to interact with others. After the disappearance of her friend, it might be time to make a new one. She didn't have much hope that she would find someone as nice as Ruby, but maybe this way she'd be a little less lonely.

She turned to the red and blue-uniformed guards behind her. "I would like to dance with a partner."

They looked at each other.

The blue one cleared his throat in the awkward silence. "That wouldn't be a good idea, Penny."

"Why?"

"We're under strict orders not to allow you to interact with anyone past the point of verbal communication," the red one said.

Penny tilted her head. "Oh, yes. I remember now."

Penny wanted to tell them that she been in contact with people before, that she had hugged Ruby and everything had been fine. But she understood that it would only bring further trouble upon herself, especially if what she had heard about Ruby was true. Her father had tried his best to keep information about such things secret from her, but she still heard whispers and rumors from other people.

Penny didn't know why Ruby would do those things, but she was sure that Ruby had a good reason and that Ruby would explain everything once she was back.

After all, even though she had been gone for a while, Ruby was still her friend.

"Then I will go find people to talk with, if that is okay with you two."

They nodded. "Talking is fine, Penny."

Permission given, she walked back onto the dance floor and tried to approach the nearest group. But they took one glance and drifted away from her, avoiding eye contact. Recognizing that they didn't want to speak to her, Penny moved on to the next group, hoping that she would have better luck with them.

But they all had a similar response to her advances, a small bubble forming around Penny as she walked through the crowd. Her robotic movements and the impression she had given when she spoke disturbed most people enough to make them to unconsciously avoid her. The guards flanking her and staring people down with their faceless visors didn't help either.

She stopped at the punch table, feeling a sinking sensation where her synthetic heart lay. No one likes me, she decided. I am not making friends by staying here. I wish Ruby were here. Should I leave? Is that impolite?

A small beeping sound caught her attention, making her turn around suddenly, her head tilting as she located the source of the noise. The people around her involuntarily flinched at her abrupt movement.

Penny ignored them and looked toward her two bodyguards, both of whom were in the process of pulling out their tablets and reading the notifications that had appeared on them.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

The two guards looked at each other hesitantly. The blue guard spoke up. "It seems that there's an emergency, Penny. We need leave now. Can I trust you to find Ironwood and stay by his side?"

"Not a problem," Penny replied enthusiastically. "Leave it to me. I'll protect Mr. Ironwood!"

They looked at each other and shrugged. "Then go," the red one said. "We'll be back as soon as possible."

After glancing back at Penny, the pair immediately ran toward the entrance. Penny waved until they disappeared from her sight, then turned around to find Ironwood. She saw him off on the other side of the room, a tablet in his hand as he spoke orders into it.

She began walking toward him, only to be obstructed by two of her fellow students.

"Hi," the green-haired one said. "I'm Emerald."

"I'm Penny," the synthetic being automatically replied. "It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"I noticed that you've been alone all night," Emerald said. "Why is that?"

The order she had been given momentarily warred with the desire to finally talk to someone.

"I'm not supposed to be in physical contact with anyone," Penny responded after a moment. "My father said so."

Emerald made a sympathetic face. "That doesn't sound too fair. Did he say why?"

Penny shook her head. "No, and no one seems to like me either. I don't have any friends here."

"There, there," Emerald said soothingly, patting her shoulder. "I'll be your friend. I don't mind if you touch me."

"Really?" Penny gasped, grasping Emerald by the shoulders. "You'll be my friend?"

Emerald gave her a strained smile as she gritted her teeth, the bones in her shoulders making creaking and grinding noises. Mercury chuckled softly behind her.

"Yes, Penny. You're my friend now."

"Sen-sational!" Penny cried out, pulling Emerald into a full-bodied hug.

Emerald let out an involuntary moan of pain as her ribcage cracked. She bit down on her tongue as Penny tightened the hug, a small glow of green aura flaring around Emerald for a moment before fading.

A sheen of sweat was visible on Emerald's face when Penny finally pulled away, but Emerald still maintained her smile. "You want to learn a secret method for making friends?"

"A secret method? I sure do!"

"Just give someone the same hug you just gave me," Emerald told her. "It's a sure-fire way to get someone to like you."

Penny nodded to herself. "That makes sense," she agreed.

She should have realized it earlier. She had hugged Ruby when they became friends, and after that she hadn't had the opportunity to hug anyone else.

Did that mean father didn't want her to be friends with anyone?

"Thank you so much for the advice," Penny said to her. "I'm going to go hug someone right now!"

"Yeah, you go do that." Emerald watched as Penny ran off into the crowd of people, looking for someone to hug. "Hey Mercury, pop my shoulders back in."

Mercury raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"That dunce dislocated my shoulders," she hissed. "Pop them back into place before someone sees that my shoulders aren't aligned and I haven't moved my arms for the past minute."

"Wow," Mercury said, whistling appreciatively as he mercilessly wrenched on her shoulders. "This'll be good."

Emerald wobbled a little from the pain, forcing her to lean on Mercury until she could stand on her own. The two of them watched as Penny finally selected her victim, the android cornering the unfortunate boy and picking him up with a manic grin on her face.

Penny noticed that things weren't going as expected when the person she was hugging began screaming in pain. She immediately set him back down onto the ground where he collapsed into a heap at her feet, his limbs flailing as he attempted to scoot away from her. His arms were broken and bent backwards, his chest area deformed.

Penny took a step back, her face creased with worry, but she was still caught in the spray of blood as the boy coughed onto her, his lungs perforated by his broken ribs. His screams turned into gurgles as he choked, his expression a rictus of pain as his eyes begged for mercy.

People began to scream, and others began to shout for paramedics.

"Oh dear," Penny said worriedly, realizing something was wrong. "Why is this human so fragile?"

She had hugged Ruby without a problem, and Emerald didn't have any problems with her hug. Why had this person snapped so easily?

"I think he's leaking," she commented to no one in particular.

A wide circle had been formed around her and the bleeding boy on the ground. Some of the students were running toward the exits, while the others surrounded Penny with scared but determined expressions on their faces.

"Get away from him!" a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes shouted at her.

Penny nodded and stepped away from the puddle of blood staining her shoes. The people who had stayed behind immediately moved to form a barrier between her and the boy on the ground.

"I'm sorry, I think I did something wrong," Penny apologized.

"Yeah you did," a faunus girl with a bow covering her ears said. "What just happened, Penny?"

"U-um," Penny stammered. "I just wanted to hug someone and make friends with them."

"Crushing someone's ribs and possibly killing them is not how you make friends," the nearby blonde said disbelievingly. "That wasn't a hug, that was attempted murder."

"I only hugged him," Penny insisted. "I didn't know that he would break so easily."

"Don't you know your own strength?" Weiss asked.

"I hugged Ruby"—Blake growled—"and she didn't break," Penny reasoned.

Weiss nodded to herself upon hearing Penny's statement. Yang opened her mouth to say something, but a purple glow surrounded Penny before they could respond. Penny struggled a little before realizing what was happening, then slumped, her chin resting on her chest as she stared downwards.

Glynda Goodwitch pushed through the crowd, her riding crop glowing in her hand. She paused for a moment to look at Penny with an unreadable expression before turning to the crowd and speaking.

"Settle down, everyone," Glynda said sternly, a scowl on her face. "You three, you seem to know this girl. Come with me. All students not involved with keeping the boy alive need to leave. Now."

The crowd began to disperse, the sound of quiet conversation building as students streamed through the main doors. By the time the paramedics arrived, the only people remaining were a few of the victim's friends that stubbornly remained by his side.

Yang half-heartedly kicked around a few of the balloons on the floor as the trio watched the paramedics load the boy onto a stretcher. Glynda observed the procedure impassively, only turning to the girls after the ambulance had left.

"Why is it that you three are always involved something or the other?" Glynda scowled. "Come, you need to tell Ironwood what you saw."

The girls followed Glynda obediently—Penny floating along in a purple haze with them—as she quickly led them through a series of doors and down a short hallway. As they stepped into an office, they could hear someone shouting at the two red and blue uniformed guards.

"—matter what, you two were not supposed to leave her side! I don't care what kind of break-in was occurring, you should have stayed!"

"Sir, our comrades were screaming for help," the red one pleaded.

"We thought she'd be more obedient," the blue one complained.

"Neither of you have any excuses for what you've done," Ironwood snarled. "You idiots have ruined her future."

He took a deep breath, attempting to calm himself. Reaching into his white overcoat, he pulled out his flask and took a swallow before recapping it.

Glynda chose that moment to announce her presence by clearing her throat. "Resorting to alcohol to fix your problems, James?"

Ironwood spun around, an array of expressions dancing across his face before settling into despairing resignation. "Glynda." he said, acknowledging her. "You two, leave us. We'll discuss this issue later."

The pair of guards saluted the general before jogging off in the direction of the Cross Continental Transmit Tower.

Ironwood stared at Penny. He looked decades older, the streaks of gray in his hair more pronounced, his cheeks looking sunken and gaunt. Penny on the other hand looked mostly confused and a little uncomfortable as she floated a foot above the ground, her cream-colored dress now decorated with droplets of blood that were turning a darker shade of red as they dried.

"So?" Glynda inquired, finally breaking the silence. "We have a limited amount of time before the authorities come to apprehend Penny."

"I'm really sorry about what happened," Penny offered. "I-I—"

"It's not your fault, you don't know your own strength," Ironwood interjected. "I shouldn't have let you come here in the first place. My own ego blinded me to the possible risks of letting you interact with others."

Glynda looked at the girls. "Do you three believe she did this out of malice?"

A bit of fire entered Ironwood'd eyes as he glared at her. "I know she didn't—"

"I asked for their opinions, not yours," Glynda snapped. "Penny knows the names of these girls, so I presume that they've spoken to her before. What do you three think?"

"I-I don't know," Yang admitted. "We met her a while back in the city, where she helped us out with some stuff. I don't think she's evil, but I haven't talked to her that much."

"It's the same thing with me," Weiss agreed. "I don't think she's a bad person."

"Maybe a little lonely or crazy, but not evil," Blake added.

Ironwood sighed, his eyes closing for a moment. "Thank you," he murmured.

Glynda released Penny, keeping a careful eye on the android even as she gently set her onto the ground. "Then I'll leave the decision up to you, James. Just remember that anything that occurs is on your head, not mine. What are you planning on doing?"

Ironwood's face hardened. "I'm going to call in some favors, make some excuses, and get the police off our case." He turned to Penny. "Whatever happens next, just know that I'm doing this all for you. This is the only way I'll be able to… save you."

Glynda nodded to Ironwood and turned to the three girls. "Your presence is no longer needed here. Thank you for your opinions." She looked at them intently. "I trust you'll remain discreet about this discussion."

"Wait, what?" Blake exclaimed. "You're letting her get away with attempted murder?"

Ironwood ignored Blake and walked toward the exit, Penny walking next to him with a questioning expression on her face.

"This is wrong," Blake said, watching as the pair left the room. "What's going on here? What aren't you telling us?"

Glynda folded her arms, her eyebrows raised. "I'd advise you to keep your nose in your own business, Ms. Belladonna."

Yang immediately clamped a hand over Blake's mouth before she could make a retort.

"I advise you three to return to your dorms for night," Glynda continued. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other matters to attend to." Her purple cloak fluttered behind her as she strode out of the room.

The door swung shut.

"My own business?" Blake exploded.

Yang squeezed her arm. "Let it go, Blake. They must have a reason for doing this, and they clearly don't want to tell us anything. We just have to believe that what they're doing is for the greater good."

"I agree," Weiss said. "We weren't going to get anywhere if we tried to argue with her."

"I still think this is messed up," Blake scowled. "Killers need to face justice." She paused, taking a deep breath and running a hand through her hair before exhaling. "But it seems like I'm not going to get any answers at the moment, so I might as well drop it."

"Good decision," Weiss agreed. "Come on, let's go. Team JNPR was still there when we left, so let's see if there's anything we can help them out with."

Jaune was standing to the side, his hands stained with blood as he talked with his teammates.

"—and I couldn't heal him; those injuries were way too severe. All I could do was try to keep him alive."

Pyrrha rested a hand on his shoulder. "You did the best you could, Jaune, and you were a lot more useful than the rest of us."

"You kept him alive long enough for the ambulance to arrive," Nora added. "I think you did a pretty good job!"

Ren nodded sagely.

"I just wish I could have done more," Jaune lamented. "What would we have done if one of you got injured out on a mission, away from Beacon? Well, I guess I could keep you alive long enough to call a hoverjet, but still…"

"Hey look, there's team..." Nora paused. "W…uby? Is that how you say—"

Ren covered Nora's mouth, a placid smile on his face nodded toward the remaining three members of team RWBY.

"Hey guys," Jaune greeted them. "I can't believe Weiss's visit and this dance just got ruined by… whatever just happened. Actually, I'm still not sure what just happened."

"Who was that girl?" Pyrrha asked curiously. "And why did she just crush that poor boy? It looked like she was… surprised when she hurt him."

Weiss look at Blake, and Blake looked at Yang. Yang sighed.

"Well, we sort of know that girl," Yang answered. "Her name is Penny. We met her during the incident at the docks when Roman and the White Fang were trying to steal the Dust shipments."

"You know her? Why didn't you tell anyone she was dangerous?" Pyrrha gasped, shocked.

"She hadn't hurt anyone at the time," Yang said, giving Blake a pointed look before the faunus could say anything. "She helped Blake, Sun, and R-ruby"—she stumbled over the name—"out at the docks, knocked out some White Fang members and brought down an airship that was trying to get away with some Dust."

"So, she's an ally? A friend, I suppose? Do you know why she did this?"

Yang shrugged. "It was apparently an accident. She couldn't control her own strength and she… just squished him, I guess."

Blake interrupted her. "What Yang just said was what"—she lowered her voice—"Glynda and Ironwood told us. We can't trust them, not after they just let Penny go."

Yang looked around furtively. "And for the record, we didn't know anything about this. If anyone asks, we thought they were taking Penny into custody."

Jaune stiffened. "They let her go?"

Weiss shook her head. "Not exactly. It seems like Ironwood's going to go pull a few strings and try to get the charges against Penny dismissed. But yes, he and Penny are evading the authorities at the moment."

Yang cleared her throat. "Anyways, she seemed like a sweet, nice girl when we first met. Blake can tell you more about her, I wasn't there at the docks when Penny fought."

"She's incredibly strong," Blake admitted. "Strong enough to anchor herself to an airship and then to the ground before pulling the airship out of the sky."

Nora squirmed out of Ren's grasp. "Don't you think that means she might have actually not been able to control her own strength?" Nora asked hopefully.

"Maybe," Blake said reluctantly. "But there's a reason why courts and justice systems exist. If she really is innocent, she needs to be put to trial."

"But what if she's some sort of super-soldier?" Nora continued excitedly. "Maybe she's in some sort of super-duper secret project where they can't let people find out about her!"

Weiss shifted a little.

"Wait a minute, she was the person doing that awesome robot dance, right?" Jaune suddenly asked. "I think she was alone for most of the night. I saw two guards following her around everywhere, and she never danced with anyone."

Ren spoke up, startling most of the group. "Perhaps the guards were preventing her from interacting with others," he said quietly. "Or perhaps we are thinking too deeply about this, and they were merely there for her own safety."

"That's still a little weird, isn't it?" Yang asked. "Two guards in uniform and everything? Just for herself?"

"Just who is she, anyways?" Weiss questioned. "The more we talk about her, the less I'm sure I even know anything about her."

Jaune looked at her. "Wait, you never talked to her tonight? Wasn't she supposed to be your friend?"

"She's not a friend, she only helped us at a convenient time," Blake argued. "Maybe an ally, at the most."

"Wow, that's cold," Nora commented.

Blake narrowed her eyes.

"But if she was alone, the three of you could have said hello, maybe asked her how she was doing," Pyrrha said gently.

Weiss grimaced as she unconsciously smoothed out her sleeves. "Then I'm sorry, it was my fault. I was too busy catching up with my team…"

Pyrrha looked startled. "No, no, I didn't mean to place any blame," she said quickly, backtracking. "I was just voicing my thoughts. I'm sure you're not the only ones who were here tonight who know her. Anyone could have talked to her."

"Anyone, huh?" Weiss said speculatively. "Did you guys remember how the guards said something about some sort of incident occurring? A break-in?"

"Something so serious that people were dying and they had to leave Penny," Yang breathed.

"An outside party influencing her? Could be a possibility," Blake agreed. "Something to look into."

"I guess it's time to do some investigating," Nora said excitedly. "Where should we start?"

"Wait," Pyrrha said cautiously. "Before we dive into this situation, maybe we should tell Ozpin first and see what he says about this."

"I think he would just tell us that it's classified information," Blake said bitterly.

"It wouldn't hurt to ask," Jaune said. "Let's start from there."

Weiss yawned. "You guys can start tomorrow morning," she said tiredly, rubbing at her eyes. "I need to leave in a few hours. I can't miss my flight."

Yang nodded. "Yeah, it's been a long night. Let's take some time to think about this and we can meet up tomorrow."

"You're right," Jaune agreed reluctantly. "We've got lots of new information to think about. Catch you guys later, then. Have a safe flight, Weiss."

"It was nice seeing you again, Weiss," Pyrrha added. "Hopefully we can sit down and chat under better circumstances the next time we see each other."

Nora hopped onto Ren's back. "Bye, Weiss! Say hi to Alys for me! Come on Ren, let's go."

Ren smiled and obliged her, waving to the rest of them before trotting off in the direction of their dorms. Jaune and Pyrrha soon followed, their arms linked as they walked away.

Weiss stayed in their room that night, sleeping on the bed that Blake had kept neat and clean throughout her absence. It was a small gesture, but Weiss was especially touched. It almost made her feel guilty about the things she wasn't telling them.

She left quietly the next morning, trying not to wake the other two. Despite her efforts, Weiss was sure Blake had heard her, judging by the twitching of her ears, but Yang had remained asleep and was snuggling with the faunus.

It was only after Weiss had left Beacon did Blake and Yang realize that they had forgotten to continue their earlier conversation with her. For a few days, Yang's mind was filled with thoughts of Ruby, but she told Blake she was fine until she believed it herself.

Note:

Oh gosh, there are so many PMs I need to respond to. I'm sorry for being mostly dead to the world for the past few months, my muse wasn't cooperating.

Review, PM me any questions. Hopefully my writing has improved too, I'm doing a lot of analysis and practice.

I'm really sorry, I know a lot of you wanted Ruby action, but I needed to keep things updated on the Beacon side. We will return to our regularly scheduled Ruby content in the next update.

THANK TO MY EDITOR POZSICH FOR HIS AWESOME WORK, GO CHECK OUT HIS STORIES!