Chapter Text
REBOOTING
P19.EXE
SYSTEMS: GREEN
CIRCUITS: ONLINE
COOLING SYSTEM ACTIVATED
HEATING SYSTEM ACTIVATED
AUDIO PROCESSOR ACTIVATED
CHECKING BODY…
HEAD: GREEN
TORSO: GREEN
LEFT ARM: GREEN
RIGHT ARM: GREEN
LEFT LEG: GREEN
RIGHT LEG: GREEN
ALL SYSTEMS GO
LOADING…
LOADING…
LOADING…
The first thing she saw was a bright light. She blinked a few times, registering the whirring in her head slowly picking up speed. Her skin felt cool, the heat from her core not yet having seeped into the rest of her body.
“...nny…”
She moved her fingers, feeling them slowly flex under her.
“P...ny”
Then her feet, still encased in cold metal. Oh. She still had her rocket boots. That was good.
“Penny!”
Penny shot up, systems sputtering and her audio processor still blinking in and out. It felt like she was swimming in static. Panicking, she turned to her left - expecting to still be wreathed in flames, plummeting from the sky -
“Penny - “ A hand held hers, sweaty palm on top of her left wrist. “You’re okay. You’re safe.”
Penny looked up, a familiar smiling freckled face looking back at her.
She was sure her internal circuits stopped, freezing in shock.
“...Dad?”
Pietro Polendina smiled sadly, nodding.
“Dad-!” Penny tried to leap out of her seat to hug him, but was roughly yanked back, slamming into the side of the operating table. “I - what’s -” Looking down, she could see where her leg was stuck.
Wrapped tightly around her left boot, was a familiar purple device, blinking slightly. The gravity handcuffs. Looking to her side, she could see that her right boot was in the same scenario. Her pain receptors sputtered, still coming back online, but she was vaguely aware of an ache in her side from where she had hit the table.
In short, she was stuck.
“Dad - where - what is going on?” Penny frantically asked, looking from side to side. “Where are we - what happened to Amity?”
“Amity’s fine, honey.” Her dad finished. “Maria and I landed in the tundra, and Atlas sent ships to pick Amity up.”
“Oh.”
Wait - Atlas ships?
Penny’s eyes slowly moved down to the hand over hers - or rather, the hands, as her dad’s hands were handcuffed together with the same purple gravity cuffs.
Which meant -
“We are… back in Atlas?” Penny whispered, praying it wasn’t true.
Her dad, however, nodded.
Penny was frozen for a few seconds. She couldn’t speak. She didn’t want to speak - no, she wanted to scream, howl at the top of her lungs because she was back, she was back here, at the one place she never wanted to see again -
“Penny - calm down honey.” Her dad reassured, sadness palpable in his voice. “Count to ten - slowly. Run some problems.”
Penny did, running a few simple math calculations in her head like she always did to calm down, numbers popping up at the corners of her vision. Slowly, her system stopped screaming critical mass, and she felt like a weight off her chest had been lifted.
“...Dad-”
The door slammed open, and her dad was pulled back, his chair roughly pushed aside. Penny wanted to yell out, scream for help, but she was rudely unstrapped from the operating table instead, cuffs slammed back onto her hands. “Make any movements, and we’ll scrap you again.” Someone hissed. Penny, too frazzled to even register what was happening, blanked, limbs going slack, systems buffering and restarting like they always did when she got stressed. “And don’t even try and think about using your Maiden powers either.” The person interjected.
Her powers - That’s right!
Penny reached deep into herself, trying, fumbling, begging for the familiar sensation of the Maiden’s powers, the comforting hand of Fria. Calling down ice, fire, lightning, anything.
But her powers stayed silent.
Penny began to struggle anew, firm hands on her shoulder tightening. “Cut it out!” The person snapped.
“Let - me - go!” Penny screamed, reduced to kicking and clawing at her captor’s unrelenting grasp. “Let me out-!”
Penny stopped.
They had stopped in front of a window, her reflection drawn and tight with disbelief.
Because instead of the yellow skies, black silhouettes of the Grimm, mountains in the distance -
She saw stars instead.
Endless, twinkling stars, the broken moon seeming so close, Penny could touch it.
And instantly, she knew she was trapped. There was nowhere for her to run. Because even if she got free, the only thing waiting for her would be space.
Because Ironwood had won. And Atlas had fled.
“...What did you do.” Penny breathed.
There was no reply from the people behind her.
“What. Did. You. Do?!” Penny whirled around to face her captors -
-And was greeted with the tightly controlled face of Winter Schnee, blue eyes downcast. “We did what we had to.” She replied quietly.
Penny took in the rest of the Ace Ops staring at her, each one looking away. In guilt? Sorrow?
Triumph?
“...I trusted you.” Penny hissed, turning back to Winter, hurt she had never experienced before blooming in her gut. “I TRUSTED YOU!!” Snarling, she lunged for Winter, Elm and Harriet struggling to hold her back. “I THOUGHT YOU WOULD MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICE!!”
Winter turned away, unable to meet Penny’s gaze. “...I did.” She replied quietly.
Penny went limp, gazing at her old friend. “No.” She said, shaking her head. “You did what the General thought was right.”
The hall was silent, the only sound being from the city below them.
“...You’ll see soon enough.” Winter hissed, all traces of humanity gone. “Come on Ace Ops. Let’s take her to the General.”
This time, Penny didn’t resist, letting herself be hauled through the halls of the military base. Absentmindedly, she watched the doors to the jail cells blur past her, wondering which one her father was behind. Which one she would be put behind.
If they would keep her alive at all.
When they reached the large steel doors, Penny perked up a bit, only vaguely registering Winter showing her badge to the guards in front of it. The door slid open, and she was dragged inside.
The office looked a lot like the one at Atlas Academy, round and with a large table in the center. Only instead of a headmaster’s desk, there was what looked like a very official steel desk. And behind it, a large wooden chair, tall and imposing.
But not as imposing as the figure who sat on it.
“Hello again Penny.” General Ironwood said, mouth turning slightly upwards in his best imitation of a smile. “It’s good to see you again.”
His voice was gentle. Too gentle for a man who had left thousands of people alone to die.
Despite lacking a stomach, Penny felt like she was going to be sick.
“...You’re probably very confused.” Ironwood continued, taking her silence as the cue for him to keep going. “I don’t blame you. This is probably very disorientating.” Still, Penny remained silent, biting her lip and feeling metal underneath. “Tell me, what was the last thing you remember?”
Penny considered not telling him, but as she looked around the room, with it’s heavily fortified walls and the Ace Ops plus Winter looming down her back, she realized that turning the other cheek may not be the best course of action. Besides, he had to know already. “I sent Amity up,” Penny started, a note of bitterness in her voice. “And then I fell.”
Ironwood leaned back in his chair, folding his hands. “And why did you fall?” He asked.
By the tone of his voice, Penny was pretty sure this was a rhetorical question.
“It was like my limbs had stopped obeying me,” Penny mumbled. “And I had to go somewhere-”
“The vault?” Penny turned to see that Vine had stepped forward. “And get the Staff of Creation.”
Penny nodded slowly, starting to put the pieces together, gears in her head whirring and popping from the strain. “And then I blacked out.” She finished.
Ironwood nodded, lined eyes quirked upwards in slight sadness. “So it worked then.”
“...What worked?” Penny asked, not sure if she wanted to know the answer.
Ironwood gestured to Marrow, who walked forward with a long and narrow black case in his hands, tail tucked between his legs. Ironwood opened it, to reveal a sword. One of Penny’s swords. Specifically, the one Harriet had taken at the control center. Dangling from the side, was a cord, with a remote hanging off of the end.
“Why… do you have that sword?” Penny asked tentatively.
Ironwood didn’t reply, gingerly taking the sword and it’s remote, and closing the case.
“Why do you have that sword, Ironwood?!” Penny snapped -
-Only for a sharp, swimming pain to erupt in the back of her head, gears feeling like they were corroding. Penny shrieked with agony, stumbling back, hands flexing against the handcuffs. Her whole body felt like it was submerged in static, and it felt like knives were being driven into her circuits, demanding things of her in words she couldn’t understand -
And just like that, it stopped. Penny, who had fallen onto the floor, slowly lifted her head, red vision clearing, shaking as her internal workings tried to correct themselves.
It was just like what had happened at Amity.
“...What-” Penny shuddered once, twice, trying to stand. “What did you do to me?!”
Ironwood, expression still unchanging, put the sword back in its case. “What I needed too.” He replied, voice too gentle for the look on his face. “Atlas needed you, and you weren’t coming. So… I made you.”
Made you.
The implication of what Ironwood had done sunk in, Penny’s eyes widening in shock and disbelief. “No,” She whispered. “You wouldn’t.”
Ironwood didn’t move.
“The instructions were for you to go to the vault, get the Staff, and self terminate.” Harriet interjected. “After you crash landed at the Schnee manor, you made your way to the vault, got the Staff, and -”
“NO!”
The room went silent, all eyes on her. Penny sunk back down to the floor in disbelief that again, she had died again, arms wrapped around herself in a pathetic imitation of comfort. “No - you’re lying.” Penny stuttered, shaking. “You’re lying!!”
Quiet.
“I’m sorry Penny.” Ironwood sighed, finally looking away. “It had to be done.”
Penny didn’t move, voice box cutting out as she tried to scream, or cry, no tears escaping her eyes. She didn’t cry - she couldn’t cry. She wasn’t built to cry, she - she -
“Why?” Penny sobbed, head in her hands. “Why did you bring me back?”
Ironwood looked at Winter, who exhaled, stepping forward. “...The Maiden Powers were supposed to go to me.” She started. “But when we recovered your body, we found that somehow, the Maiden powers had… stuck.”
Penny looked up, thoughts screeching to a halt. “...Stuck?” She mumbled. “Wha - what do you mean?”
“They hadn’t gone to anyone else.” Ironwood interjected. “They were still stuck to you.”
“Because I am a robot.” Penny finished.
“Precisely.” He replied. “Somehow, we had created our first permanent Maiden.”
Penny was silent, thoughts racing. The power was still in her? That didn’t make any sense. She had died, right? Been scrapped, self terminated. And not to mention, she couldn’t even use the powers at the moment. Had Ironwood done something to mitigate them?
“So then… what do you want with me?” Penny asked.
Ironwood stood, making his way down from his high desk, and coming up next to Penny, leaning down so they were face to face. “You were the protector of Mantle, once.” He said, placing a gloved hand on her back. “And now, you can be the protector of Atlas.”
Penny looked up, wide green eyes meeting cold blue ones.
“Protect it from what?” She breathed. “You?”
Ironwood’s face darkened, brow furrowing. “From anyone who seeks to destroy Atlas from within.” He replied, standing up, looming over her. “Anyone.”
Penny caught the nervous glance Marrow shot Winter’s way, but ignored it, standing up to face him.
“And if I say no?” She rebutted.
Ironwood looked back at the black case on his desk. “Penny, I don’t believe you have a choice.” He said. And Penny knew he was right, the ability to hack and control her sitting readily on his stupidly high desk. And even if she did try and break free of her programming, her father and Maria would still be stuck on this stupid floating chunk of rock.
She was trapped.
“If you ever want to see the light of day again, you’ll do what he says.” Harriet growled. “The world will survive with one less Maiden.”
“You mean you will survive with one less Maiden.” Penny countered. “You are no heroes - you are cowards.”
Harriet sneered, making a move to seize her, but Ironwood held up a hand and Harriet froze, like a well trained dog. “This was for the greater good.” Ironwood said somberly, like a priest reciting someone’s last rites at a funeral. “And I’m sorry you can’t seem to understand that.”
And any remaining respect Penny had for the general just shriveled up and died.
He waved his hand again, and Vine and Elm advanced forward, grabbing her arms and hoisting her up. “Take her to her holding.” Ironwood ordered. Vine and Elm began to drag Penny out, but she pulled back, causing them to stop.
“James, I mean this in the worst way possible,” Penny said, anger that she had never felt before surging in her wiring, circuits heating up.
“Go to hell.”
Ironwood scowled, and the door to his office slammed shut behind him.
The holding room was sparse, save for a single charging station at the corner of the room. Other than that, there were no windows. No furniture. Just herself, all alone in a kingdom that hated her, with a general who didn’t even see her as human.
But instead of dissolving into crying, Penny held onto the anger that had bloomed inside her back in Ironwood’s office.
She was done being a tool.
And by heaven or hell, by the Gods themselves, Penny was going to get out of here.