Disclaimer I do not own RWBY

Chapter 10

"Are you all ready to order?" asked the waiter, standing at the end of the makeshift long table as he took out his notepad. "Just so you know our lunch menu already includes an appetizer and soup."

The entire group had spent some ample time picking out what they wanted to eat, but from the looks in their faces it seemed that only Weiss and Ruby knew what they were going to order.

"Yes, I will be having the gebackener fisch then." said Weiss.

"What's that?" asked Blake, her interest piqued when she thought she heard the word 'fish'.

"It's just some baked fish, Blake." answered Weiss.

"Two more of the same, please." added Blake her eyes glinting hungrily..

"I'll have the maultaschen!" piped up Ruby.

The waiter nodded and promptly wrote their orders down.

This took Weiss by surprise, but it wasn't her choice of food, it was that Ruby was able to pronounce it correctly. She had even got it right down to the accent.

"Ruby, I'm astonished that you know how to pronounce maultaschen properly." said Weiss.

Ruby grinned at Weiss' somewhat sideways compliment, scratching the back of her head, "Yeah it was kinda embarrassing trying to say the names of the food here the first time. But thankfully Penny was here to help me." said Ruby, she then giggled at the memory, "I actually think we spent more time trying to get me to learn how to pronounce every item on the menu than actually enjoying the food."

Weiss was about to comment when Bumblebee butted in, wrapping her arm around Ruby's shoulders and pulled her close as she dropped her own menu to peek over at Ruby's.

"Got any suggestions, Ruby?" asked Bumblebee, "I'm still kinda new to this whole 'eating' thing."

Ruby wasn't sure if the heat that began to rise up from her neck was due to the blush that was growing on her face or the warmth that came from Bumblebee's arm resting across her shoulders.

"Um, I think Penny told me that their Käsespätzle was pretty good." said Ruby, keeping her eyes glued to her own menu.

"I. . . have no idea what that is." said Bumblebee, leaning even closer to search for the item.

"I-it's noodles with fried onions and cheese gratin. . ." mumbled Ruby. With Bumblebee this close to her Ruby could smell Bumblebee's scent, which reminded her of many long hours spend working on the motorcycle. She smelled faintly of freshly changed oil mixed with the sweet scent of soft leather. It was a comforting aroma and Ruby couldn't help but lean into Bumblebee's arm ever so slightly.

"Hmm," hummed Bumblebee, "I guess I'll be having what she said. If Ruby says it's good that's good enough for me." she said.

The waiter nodded and added her order.

"I'll be having what Ruby's having." said Crescent Rose, not even bothering to look at her menu, staring daggers at Bumblebee.

"Is there anything kid friendly on this menu?" asked Yang

"Our bratkartoffeln, which are marble potatoes with sweet onions and bacon, and speckpfannkuchen, which are like large pancakes with bacon are popular with the children." answered the waiter.

"Well anything with bacon has got to be good. One order of each then." said Yang, seeing said items on her menu.

"Yes, miss." replied the waiter writing down her order.

"I would like the fladlesuppe." said Myrtenaster.

"Alright." said the waiter writing down the last order. "Now would any of you ladies like for drinks?"

"Just water for all of us, please." said Weiss.

The waiter nodded, "And anything for desert?"

Weiss shook her head, "We'll order out deserts after we had our meal."

The waiter nodded and closed his notepad. "You orders will arrive shortly." he said and walked away.

"So Ruby, how did you know about this place?" asked Blake.

"Remember a few weeks back when I went to Vale to resupply for Crescent Rose's ammunition?" said Ruby, and Blake nodded. "Well I ran into Penny and it was around lunch time. I was already done with my shopping so she invited me here so we could chat."

Blake simply nodded in understanding, satisfied with Ruby's answer.

They all delved into small talk while they waited for their food and when it arrived their conversation came to a lull as they ate. Comments on how they found the food filled the air, which was mostly pleasant.

"Y'know Weiss, if I knew how good Atlesian food was I'd've gone along with you a long time ago. If it weren't so expensive that is." said Yang, spooning a baby potato into Celica's mouth.

"Yes. Well, that will teach you to dismiss my every suggestion whenever we go out to eat." said Weiss after wiping the corners of her mouth with a napkin. "While this wasn't exactly what I was expecting, it's more rustic when what I normally would eat, but the food is still good."

"Enjoying your meals, ladies?" asked the hostess when she walked up to their table, her smile grew wide as she heard several words of ascent. "Good, good." she said. "Well we have a absolutely delicious pfannkuchen you can order for desert."

This caught Weiss' attention, "That sounds lovely." she said. "We'll have an order of those pfannkuchen."

The hostess nodded. "I'll tell the chefs then." and she walked away.

After they all finished their meals, their desert had arrived, everyone enjoying the sweet, steaming, moist, chewy pastry.

Weiss reveled in the sweet and soft desert, taking her time to savor each bite. It reminded her of her childhood when her sister would sneak her an extra pfannkuchen after dinner when they were younger.

While Ruby, Yang, and the twins wolfed down their own deserts as the steaming hot pastries would allow. All four of them sporting white powdered sugar mustaches when they were through.

"Ruby, you have some sugar on your face." said Weiss, turning to face her and reached out and with her thumb wiped the sugar mustache from Ruby's upper lip. Looking at her right in the eyes, Weiss brought her thumb and slowly licked then sucked the sugar off it, doing her best to put on a show for Ruby. Normally Weiss would have been more hesitant to do something like this back at Beacon even in private let alone, she wanted this. But perhaps it was the fact that they were in public which made her heart race faster. Weiss wiped the small traces of sugar that her own lips had accumulated and gently pushed her thumb in between Ruby's lips. Her thumb went past her teeth and gently drew circles on top of Ruby's tongue, feeling the powdered sugar dissolve.

Once again Weiss' imagination had gotten the better of her and the room seemed to feel much warmer than it had been.

Crescent Rose munched on her pastry dejectedly. During most of the meal she had tried to keep Ruby's attention by attempting to spoon feed her some of her food. Unfortunately since she had ordered the exact same thing, Ruby wasn't all that interested in her offerings.

Glancing over at Ruby at the corner of her eye, Crescent Rose noticed that Ruby had a small bit of sugar smeared at the corner of her mouth. Without even thinking of it, Crescent Rose grabbed her napkin and leaned across the table and wiped it away, surprising Ruby.

"You had a bit of sugar over here." said Crescent Rose pointing at the corner of her own mouth.

Ruby smiled brightly back at Crescent Rose, "Thanks, Crescent Rose. I know I can always rely on you." she said.

Crescent Rose's face colored, "You're welcome Ruby." she said, taking another bite of her pastry and found that it tasted just a little bit sweeter.

Wiping her hands of the sticky sugar from her pastry, Ruby stood up from her seat, "Excuse me, gotta use the little girls room." she said, shuffling behind Weiss' seat, Ruby walked towards the restroom.

After a few minutes, she was washing her hands at the sink, and as she began to wipe off her hands dry with a few paper towels her scroll began to ring and vibrate in her pocket.

Wondering who it was, Ruby took her scroll out, the contact showed Penny's face. Ruby's eyebrow raised curiously. "Why would Penny be calling?" she asked herself as she tapped her scroll open to answer the call.

"Hi Penny, what's up?" asked Ruby.

"Oh! Ruby! He-hello, how are you doing?" replied Penny.

"Uh. . . I'm doing fine. . .?" said Ruby, her voice rising a few octaves questioningly. There was something about Penny's tone of voice seemed off to her and she could help but be unable to shake the feeling. "Penny, are you okay?" she asked. "This is kinda unexpected."

"I just wanted to call and sa–*hiccup!* say hi." said Penny, chuckling nervously.

"Penny are you sure you're okay?" asked Ruby once more. After spending some time with Penny, Ruby had noticed a peculiar trait, a nervous tic if you will, of Penny's. It was that she would always get the hiccups whenever she lied. Now the engineering for giving a robot the ability to hiccup was beyond Ruby's understanding, but so was the science behind creating an artificial aura.

"Actually, Ruby may I ask you a question?" asked Penny, dodging the question.

"Sure." said Ruby after a moment of consideration. It was so strange having Penny act like this, but she might as well play along so she could get to the bottom of this.

"Um. . . Ruby, you wouldn't happen to be in Vale by any chance?" asked Penny hopefully.

"Yeah, actually. I'm here at the restaurant you brought me to a few weeks ago. You know the one called Kleiner Schwan?" said Ruby.

"Sensational!" exclaimed Penny. "That is absolutely perfect. Would you be able to go outside and wait in the nearby alley on the right?" she asked, "Alone." she added quickly.

"Why? Penny are you in trouble?" Ruby asked worriedly, thinking what if someone else had discovered Penny's secret.

"No reason. *hic!*" replied Penny quickly. "Could you please just do it, Ruby." Penny's tone was pleading.

Ruby took a deep breath to try and calm herself down, panicking wouldn't do anything to help. "Okay. I'll head over right away." said Ruby.

"Thank you, Ruby!" said Penny, "Oh and if you could not draw attention to yourself when you go out, that would be ideal." she added then her picture disappeared from Ruby's scroll as she disconnected.

Ruby pocketed her scroll and walked out of the bathroom, still unsure as to why Penny had called her. But knew that Penny needed her help even though she hadn't said it directly.

She made her way casually out of the front of the restaurant, keeping watch at their table out of the corner of her eye. Quickly passing by the cashier and paying for her, Crescent Rose, and Bumblebee's meal before leaving. The moment she was out the door and out of sight from her teammates and their weapons she quickly made her way towards the nearby alley to her right. Once she reached it, Ruby found the alley to be empty. Walking down the alleyway she looked for any sign of Penny, peeking into the dumpster, which happened to be full. She kept on walking into the alley.

Suddenly a a nervous voice came out, "Ruby, is that you?"

Ruby whipped her head towards the origin of the voice to see Penny peeking out of the corner.

"Penny! Why did you call me here? Are you okay?" asked Ruby quick-firing questions, now even more worried since Penny's normally immaculate hair was in disarray. Her pink bow hung loose and to one side.

"I'm fine, Ruby. *Hiccup!* Well, not completely fine to be honest." answered Penny.

"Why are you hiding behind the corner? Penny, if something's wrong you can tell me. We've had this conversation before, the one about friends being able to trust each other? Remember?" said Ruby.

"Yes. I remember, Ruby, how could I forget?" said Penny almost guiltily, "I trust you because you are my most special friend. So please, can I trust you to not overreact?"

"Overreact about wha–" said Ruby before she stopped midway as was at a loss for words when Penny finally stepped out of the corner and showed herself.

Penny's shoulder looked like it had been dislocated, her arm hung limply at her side while Penny seemed to hold it in place with her other hand. Her clothes were ripped in places and she was covered in dirt.

Ruby rushed to Penny's side in a cloud of rose petals. "Penny! What in the world happened to you!" she shouted.

"Shh!" hushed Penny, pinning Ruby against a wall and covered her mouth before she could yell out again, "I did ask you not to overreact, Ruby." said Penny ashamedly, her voice quivering nervously as she looked around to see if anyone was coming.

"Dsh bphid de boind, bnny." Ruby tried to say behind Penny's hand, then pulled it away. "That's beside the point, Penny. How can I not overreact to something like this!"

"I'm not hurt that much." responded Penny defensively, "It's not *hiccup!* that bad. *hiccup!*"

"Penny, how did this happen?" asked Ruby, gingerly running her fingers over Penny's damaged shoulder trying to asses how bad it was.

"I kind of got hit by a train." answered Penny.

"A train?!" yelled Ruby and her mouth was covered again by Penny's hand.

"It was an accident, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings and I got hit. I'm alright though, it's just that my arm got damaged."

Ruby pulled Penny's hand off her mouth once again, "But why did you call me?"

"I need you help to repair my arm, Ruby." said Penny earnestly.

"But why me? Can't you just go to General Ironwood and have him repair you?" asked Ruby, confused by what Penny had just said.

Penny looked away, "I. . . I can't."

"Did something happen, Penny? Is that why you are out here?" Asked Ruby worriedly, wondering what reason could there be for Penny to avoid Gen. Ironwood.

"Not really." answered Penny, "It's just that I don't want him to find out that I got hurt. Mr. Ironwood will get mad, but it's just because he worries about me a lot, like my Father. I don't want them to get worried over me." Penny's tone grew soft and remorseful.

Seeing Penny like this, worried and scared of what the General and her Father would think if they found out sent a wave of ache within Ruby's chest.

"Alright, I'll help you." said Ruby resolutely.

Penny's face went from morose to ecstatic in a blink of an eye, "Oh thank you, Ruby!" and she swept Ruby into a a hug, which even with one arm still managed to squeeze the air out of her lungs.

When Penny finally let go and Ruby was able to catch her breath she asked, "So what do we do now?"

"Well we need to go someplace private and with tools so you can repair my shoulder."

Ruby's brow furrowed nervously, "Are you sure? I mean, I know my way around making weapons and a little bit about motorbikes, but you're. . ." Ruby struggled to find the right words, "you're you! I don't even know where to begin."

"Don't worry, Ruby. I have a complete schematic of my body. I can guide you through the whole process." said Penny grinning widely.

"I guess that could work. I do have some tools back at the dorm in Beacon and if we need more I can grab some from the workshop. Besides I think my team will probably hang around Vale the whole day so we can do it in my room." suggested Ruby.

Penny's grin shrunk, "Did you just say that you're with your team? I had thought that you were here by yourself." said Penny worriedly, "Wouldn't they be worried if you disappeared so suddenly?"

Ruby shook her head, "It's fine. I'll just send them a text that I headed out first to get to a limited time sale. Besides, my friend needs my help and I won't walk away from that."

Penny's grin returned to its previous size. "Thank you, Ruby."

"Now we'd better get going if we want to catch the next airship. Here." said Ruby, unclasping her cloak.

"Um. . . Uh. R-Ruby wh-what are you doing?" asked Penny. This was the first time she had ever seen Ruby take off her cloak and from what she could gather it was a very precious thing to Ruby, though she had yet to learn the full story.

"Well we can't have people see you looking all messed up, and it's faster if we head through the main streets." answered Ruby as she wrapped her cloak around Penny's shoulders, hiding her damaged shouler

"Oh, okay."

"Then let's go!" exclaimed Ruby and she walked towards the other end of the alley in the direction of the airship docks.

"Alright. . ." said Penny, still standing in place, grasping Ruby's cloak, which still held on to some of Ruby's warmth. The scent of fresh roses emanating from it. A strange feeling began to form within Penny's torso as well as her proverbial stomach.

"Penny, are you alright?" asked Ruby, looking over he shoulder to see that Penny hadn't followed her.

"Yes! *Hic* I'm coming, Ruby!." said Penny, jogging a bit to catch up to Ruby.

"Ruby's been gone for a while hasn't she?" asked Myrtenaster as they waited on Ruby before they would call for the bill.

"She sure has." said Yang, watching over the twins as they resumed their coloring. "I thought that she'd be gone for just a few minutes or so."

"Ugh, I'll go check on her." said Weiss as she stood up and walked towards the direction of the restroom she saw Ruby take.

Weiss spotted the sign and walked into the restroom only to find it empty, "Ruby?" she called out.

No answer.

Weiss went and began to carefully open each of the stalls, but found them all to be unoccupied. Letting out a disgruntled sigh, she walked back towards their table.

"She's not in the bathroom." Weiss informed as she reached them.

"WHAT!?" yelled out both Crescent Rose and Bumblebee, standing up at the same time. They turned to each other with a glare because of their simultaneous reaction.

"Where do you think she could have gone?" asked Blake.

"I don't have the slightest idea, but when I find her I will–" said Weiss when she was cut off by the beeping of her scroll. Taking it out, she saw that it was a message from Ruby.

Weiss, I just remembered that there's a limited time sale on the other side of town so I gotta hurry over if I wanna catch it. Don't worry about me, enjoy the day at Vale. If we don't catch each other in the city I'll see you all back at the dorm! Oh! and don't forget to tell the others. Thanks, Weiss! :D

"Was that Ruby?" asked Blake.

"Yes, and according to this she had to rush out for some limited time sale somewhere." answered Weiss, showing her scroll for everyone to see.

"That's weird." said Yang, "Ruby normally gushes on and on about the chance for a sale at her favorite weapons supply."

"But why didn't she take me with her?" asked Crescent Rose, more to herself than the others.

"I guess she probably wanted to surprise you or something." suggested Yang

Crescent Rose seemed pleased with Yang's suggestion as her mind began to wonder about what Ruby was going to bring home this time and what kind of modifications she would make to her. She shivered excitedly at the thought.

"Well there's nothing we can do about it. Weiss raised her hand for a waiter, "Bill please!" Then sat down, "I might as well pay for her food since i'm her partner. Hmph. That dolt, leaving me to take care of her bill like some criminal eat-and-runner." and as Weiss finished her sentence her scroll let out another ring and it read.

Oh and Weiss, I already paid my bill before I left! –The best partner in the world, Ruby~

A small smile crept onto Weiss' face as she read the text. You dolt, I would have paid for you anyway. thought Weiss

"You know, like Ruby said we should enjoy ourselves while we're in Vale." said Yang, "It's been a while since we really got any down time from school."

"I agree, besides there was this bookshop I wanted to check out, maybe even pick up a few books." said Blake.

"So it's decided!" declared Yang. "We're spending the rest of the day in Vale!"

"Are you still doing okay, Penny?" asked Ruby, which to Penny felt like the hundredth time. One hundred seventh time to be precise.

"I told you Ruby, I'm doing fine." answered Penny.

They were now walking through the hallways of Ruby's dorm, Penny still wrapped up in her cloak. They walked up to a door and Ruby unlocked it with her scroll.

"Here we are!" Proclaimed Ruby as she opened the door.

Penny's eyes quickly scanned the room, both in the usual sense as well as in the sense that the scanners within her eyes searched for anything nefarious that could be hidden within the room. Finding none, she stepped in and took the time to appreciate that she was inside Ruby's dorm room. She took note that they had bunk-beds, albeit makeshift ones, which made her wonder what it would be like to sleep in one. But who would she share a bunk-bed with?

Ruby quickly rummaged through her closet and took out surprisingly large toolbox and it slammed on the floor most likely by its sheer weight, a metallic jingle of tools could be heard.

"So. . ." began Ruby, "How are we going to do this?" she queried.

In all fairness, Ruby was extremely nervous in getting started. Like she had stated before she wasn't a robotics expert and she was afraid that repairing Penny's shoulder would be too much for her and that Penny's instructions would go right over her head. What if she did something wrong? What if she did more harm than good? What if she damaged Penny's shoulder even more forcing her to have to go to her Father to be repaired. These thoughts and many others like them flew through Ruby's mind.

"It will most likely take some time to finish the repairs. So I suggest we sit on the bed so you can comfortably work on my shoulder." said Penny, walking towards the bunk-bed on the left and sat at the foot of it, taking Ruby's cloak off and laying it next to her.

"Okay." agreed Ruby, picking up the toolbox and placing it on the floor on the side of the bed. The last time she dragged her toolbox on the floor, Weiss pulled at her ear while scolding her that it was red for hours afterwards.

Ruby sat next to Penny and the two of them sat in an awkward silence. Ruby avoided looking directly at Penny as she wrung her cloak nervously waiting on Penny to get ready so they can begin.

The awkward silence was broken when Penny finally asked, "Are you comfortable Ruby?"

"Uh. . . yeah. I'm comfy." replied Ruby.

"Good. I just reviewed my schematics and the damage report on my shoulder. We can now begin." said Penny as she began to unclasp her overalls with one hand, letting them fall to her waist.

Ruby did not react to this until Penny began to pull off her blouse as well. Her face grew beet red at Penny's actions. "P-P-P-Penny! W-wh-wha-what a-are you d-doing?!" stammered Ruby, covering her eyes as she averted her face from Penny.

Penny was halfway through with taking her blouse off, tilting her head to one side, "What is wrong Ruby?"

"W-wh-why a-are y-you taking o-o-off y-you-your clothes?" Ruby managed to sputter out.

"How else are you supposed to repair my shoulder if I do not take my clothes off?" asked Penny as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Th-that makes s-sense." said Ruby. She had been so focused on just simply helping Penny that she didn't realize the implications that it involved.

Ruby attempted to keep her eyes off Penny as she finished taking off her blouse. But her curiosity got the better of her and she took a quick peek, catching Penny in the middle of taking off her bra and as it fell noticed a pair of small pink bumps on Penny's chest. The blush on her face grew darker and she thought her heart would explode out of her chest it was pounding so hard as she turned her head away once more.

"Ruby, are you alright? Are you feverish? Your face is all red." said Penny.

"I-I'm fine!" squeaked Ruby.

Penny just looked at her quizzically for a moment, "Okay." she said and turned around to face her back to Ruby. "Shall we begin?" she asked.

Ruby gained enough courage to look back up and let out a small sigh of relief that Penny was now facing away from her. She couldn't imagine herself being able to do any sort of work if Penny were facing her. Penny's skin was smooth and milky white, absolutely flawless, taking Ruby's breath away as she traced her fingertips along Penny's back making her way up towards her shoulder. Ruby let out a gasp when she finally reached and saw the full extent of the damage. Penny's shoulder was partially crushed and she could see that whatever kind of material Penny's skin was made of had been torn open, exposing the robotic shell underneath.

Ruby took in a deep breath through her nose and slowly let it out through her mouth, trying to calm her nerves. Her previous thoughts of trepidation filled her mind once more, but after taking in a second breath determination filled her eyes and her face grew calm. She flicked open her toolbox with kick and opened the lid, showing off all of her tools.

I'm doing this for my friend. thought Ruby, trying to steel her resolve.

"Let's do this." she said.

Penny smiled, "Alright, there should be a four no.1 screws that keep the shoulder casing in place." instructed Penny.

Ruby scanned Penny's exposed shoulder, searching for the screws and soon enough she found them. She then fished around inside of her toolbox for the right sized screwdriver and began to unscrew all four of the screws.

"I got them." said Ruby, grabbing a small felt lined cup labelled #1 and dropped the screws into it and set it aside.

"Good." said Penny, "Now the casing should just pop out."

"Okay. . ." said Ruby nervously and placed her hand on the deformed casing and tugged, but it remained firmly in place. "Uhh, Penny? I think it's stuck."

"Well, that is to be expected." said Penny, "You can try to pry it off." she suggested.

"Um alright, Penny." said Ruby anxiously, "Just tell me to stop if anything hurts, okay?"

Penny was about to say that she did not feel pain exactly in the sense that normal girls do, but something made her reconsider telling her that. Instead she opted to say, "Of course, Ruby. I will."

Ruby nodded and grabbed a miniature pry-bar from her toolbox, finding the seam in the shoulder casing she slipped in the pry bar.

Ruby's shoulders were tense as she was about to force open Penny's shoulder. Her hands shook and her palms grew damp as she prepared to drive it in. Removing the screws was easy and essentially harmless, but now that she was actually going to open up Penny's shoulder Ruby hesitated. Her nerves got the better of her and she put down the pry-bar. "Penny, are you still sure about this? You can still back out right now and let me get the screws back in. What if I end up hurting you?

"I'm just not sure if I can trust myself to do this. . ." whispered Ruby, more to herself than to Penny

Penny turned around to face Ruby once more and grasped her hand, "Ruby you don't have to be scared about doing this. I trust you completely. I put my body completely in your care." she said, flashing Ruby the most honest and reassuring smile she had ever seen.

Hearing Penny voice out how much faith she had in Ruby eased her worries somewhat. She was still anxious about the whole thing, but Penny was relying on her to do this and Ruby couldn't let her down.

Ruby sniffed, "Alright, I'm ready." she said.

Penny nodded and turned around so her back faced Ruby once again.

Ruby picked up the small pry-bar from the bed. This time with no hesitation drove it firmly into the seam of the casing and with a small twist the damaged casing popped out. Ruby caught it before it could clatter onto the floor and set it down on the bed.

The whole ordeal had felt somewhat odd to Penny, she was used to the smooth sensation whenever she received her routine checkups from her Father. Having something catch and pop off like that was a peculiar feeling.

"Okay, what do I do next?" asked Ruby. Now that she got a better look at the inside of Penny's shoulder. There were wires that glowed a soft green and other complex micro-machinery extending from Penny's torso to her arm. Some of the wires were disconnected, some of the machinery was bent inwards.

"Do you have a small mirror so that I may assess the damage, Ruby?" requested Penny.

"Right here." replied Ruby, passing a small hand mirror to Penny and with her uninjured arm Penny used the mirror to inspect the damage. "Is it bad?" asked Ruby.

"The damage does not seem to be too extensive. Most of it is minor and I'm quite sure you can easily repair them, Ruby." replied Penny happily.

"If you say so, Penny." said Ruby.

"I'm positive." said Penny encouragingly, "Now do you see those wires?"

"These?" asked Ruby, taking one between her thumb and forefinger and inspected it, twisting it slightly.

Penny froze up as she straightened and suddenly let out a quiet gasp, something that didn't go unnoticed by Ruby. It caused her to let go of the wire she held, leaning back with her arms raised above her head.

"Penny! I'm so sorry! Did I hurt you?" Ruby's voice rose in a panic, terrified that she had accidentally hurt Penny.

"I-I'm fine, Ruby." said Penny, "It was nothing. Really."

This time even with Penny's reassurances Ruby grew nervous once more when she gingerly took a hold of the glowing green wire once more. "So where does this go?" she asked.

Penny looked at the mirror to see which wire Ruby held. She could feel the warmth radiating from Ruby's fingers through the wire, which sent a fluttering feeling somewhere in her torso.

"That one goes to the rightmost port, Ruby." said Penny.

It took a few moments for Ruby to find the port that Penny had been talking about and when she did, with her small, dexterous fingers she deftly and gently plugged it back in. Penny clenched her hand experimentally, but it remained still. She then tried to open open it and spread her fingers. Success!

Ruby saw what had happened and grinned, glad that she hadn't screwed up plugging in a wire. She picked up another one with a bit more confidence this time, "Where does this one go?"

"Right next to the first one." said Penny after taking a short glance at the wire Ruby held. Once again she could feel the same warmth coming from the point of contact with Ruby's fingers and the wire tingling from her shoulder to her head.

Ruby plugged the next wire back in and this time Penny was able to straighten out her arm.

"Penny, what are these things made of anyway?" asked Ruby, toying idly with another wire.

Penny had to take a moment to still herself as her breaths grew shallow, there was even the strange bouncing sensation in her abdomen that she felt sometimes whenever she was with Ruby. Running another quick diagnostic over her torso, she couldn't find anything wrong. Everything was nominal. So why was this happening?

"Oh. Those are a Dust alloy composite created by my Father. They are what allow my to both relay the data sent from by head to my body with my aura so I can both move and use my senses." answered Penny.

"You're Father sounds like an amazing man." commented Ruby.

Penny beamed, "Oh yes. He's a genius among the scientists of the Atlesian military." she said, pride filling her voice. "That one goes to the leftmost port, Ruby." instructed Penny.

"Oh yeah, right. . ." said Ruby, plugging the wire in once she found its respective port.

Penny squirmed in place as Ruby's fingers slid slowly along the length of another wire. A shiver cascaded down her back when Ruby grasped the wire's plug so she could direct it to its port. With the wire back in place Penny could bend her arm. Both the pressure and heat below her abdomen began to slowly grew.

With each wire that Ruby held and touched Penny could feel mind start to grow unfocused as her attention went to the soft touch of Ruby on her wires. She had almost forgotten to tell Ruby where to place the next wire just to revel in the feeling of it being held. She was also curious as to how far she could get the pressure and heat within her body to build up and what would happen.

"Alright, last one." said Ruby happily, knowing now that she didn't have to treat Penny's internal parts like they were some kind of delicate gold-leaf or worry that she would be hurting her friend. Ruby grasped the last wire between her fingers, ready to plug it back into its port.

The pressure below her abdomen had built up to nearly unbearable levels, for Penny it was both amazing and terrifying. And the moment Ruby picked up the last wire of her shoulder, there was a sudden shock and pressure released, like a dam breaking open. Penny's world faded into white, despite her visual sensors saying otherwise. Penny's breath shuddered as she let out a low moan, her head tilting back slightly and her thighs involuntarily squeezed together. She remained like this for what felt like hours, but her internal clock had shown that only seconds had passed.

Penny couldn't understand what was happening. This had never happened to her before whenever she received diagnostic inspections from her Father. Penny was left breathless from the experience, a relaxing warmth radiated from the unidentifiable spot where the unknown pressure had previously built up. This was the first time she had ever experienced something like that.

"Is everything okay, Penny? Did I do anything wrong?" asked Ruby concernedly, a blush formed on her cheeks because Penny's reaction reminded her of something else and sent her mind to places that she didn't want it to wander to.

"E-everything's just fine, R-Ruby." said Penny between pants, trying to alleviate some of Ruby's concerns, "You just took me by surprise, that's all."

"Alright. . ." said Ruby somewhat skeptically, her previous confidence evaporated away as she once more delicately picked up the wire and gently plugged it in.

A wave of sensory information rushed into Penny's head as the connection was restored, almost completely washing away the after effects of what had just transpired. Doing a quick diagnostic scan of the rest of her arm she found that for the most part her arm was still in good condition, it seems that her shoulder had taken a brunt of the damage.

"That's a relief." said Penny.

"What is?" asked Ruby curiously.

"Majority of the damage was isolated in my shoulder and by the looks of it my arm will be able to run at 96.48749% capacity."

"Is. . . that a good thing?" asked Ruby.

"It's small enough to not cause any problems, so all we have to do is repair my shoulder and Mr. Ironwood and my Father would be none the wiser." said Penny, then she looked down, "It doesn't feel right trying to hide this from them. It's just that I don't want them to worry about me all the time. I want to prove to them that I can take care of myself and that I'm not some delicate flower."

Ruby gave her a sympathetic smile, "Yeah, I know what you mean." wrapping her arms around Penny's shoulders and gave her a small reassuring hug from behind, forgetting that Penny was half naked by this point. "There's nothing wrong trying to avoid worrying the people who love you. But promise me if something like this happens again, don't try to hide it because you'll only make them more worried in the end, okay?"

The strange warmth in Penny's torso seemed to spread throughout her entire body and she began to feel better. Placing a hand on Ruby's arm she said, "Thank you Ruby."

They sat like that for a minute before Ruby unwrapped herself from Penny.

"So, are you ready to continue?"

It was nearing sundown and the rest of team RWBY and their weapons in to now walked towards the dorms with more shopping bags in hand.

"I wonder if Ruby has gotten back yet." wondered Weiss aloud.

"Hopefully she has, but if not, you could always send her a text if it gets too late, Mistress." suggested Myrtenaster.

"You don't have to tell me that." retorted Weiss. "I was already planning to."

Crescent Rose lagged behind the whole group, she seemed to have lost most of her energy when Ruby had left seemingly disinterested by what Vale had to offer.

"I, for one, am glad we're back, my arms are getting tired from lugging all these clothes around." said Bumblebee.

"Clothes that I paid for." grumbled Weiss.

"And for that, I give you my most sincere of thanks, Weiss." said Bumblebee, stopping for a moment to give Weiss a short bow.

Weiss huffed, unable to tell if the bow was sarcastic or honest, truthfully she didn't really care. All she wanted to do was get some advanced reading done for next month's topics and maybe even take a nice long hot bath.

"I'm glad too." said Yang, "These two are pretty much tuckered out." said Yang looking at Ember and Celica who had reverted back into their weapon forms and rested on Yang's wrists. She could swear she could feel them vibrating softly, as if the twins were snoring.

"I think we all deserve some time to rest after today." said Blake, Gambol shroud had preferred to stay in her weapon form after she noticed that a guy from the bookstore she and Blake visited had been staring at her and hadn't left since. Besides I want to get into the new volume of Ninjas of Love tonight. she thought.

When the reached their door and Weiss unlocked it with her scroll they had all expected the room to either be empty or with Ruby tinkering with some new accessory she had bought in Vale. But what they weren't expecting was to see Penny who opened the door right before Weiss could turn the handle.

"Oh! Hello Weiss, hello Yang, and hello Blake. It's so nice to see you all again!" said Penny cheerfully, then her head tilted to the side when she spotted Crescent Rose, Myrtenaster, and Bumblebee. "Oh I'm sorry, I don't think we have met before. Salutations! My name is Penny, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

They all just stood there, eyes wide and wondering just why Penny was inside their room. More importantly why did she look like such a mess? Penny's normally immaculate appearance was practically nonexistent, her hair was tousled, pink bow askew, and both her blouse and overalls were heavily wrinkled. Looking over their shoulder they could see Ruby, already wearing her pajamas, standing behind her.

Weiss decided to take the initiative and ask the obvious, "Ruby, why is Penny in our room?"

Ruby herself seemed just as surprised as the rest of them at the other's arrival, having to take a few seconds to gather her thoughts before saying, "Oh you know, we we're just hanging out."

"Yes. *Hic!* Ruby and I were just *hiccup!* hanging out." echoed Penny.

"I kinda wasn't able to reach the sale in time so I was headed back to look for you guys when I ran into her, so we decided to spend the day hanging out." said Ruby, scratching the back of her head.

"I had *hiccup* a wonderful time with Ruby.*hiccup!*" said Penny.

Weiss narrowed her eyes slightly at Penny and was about to say something when Yang spoke up first.

"Hey Penny, you need a glass of water of something? Sounds like you got bad case of the hiccups there." said Yang.

"There's no *hiccup* need for that. I will be fine. But thank you for the consideration." said Penny, "But I really must be going now. Mr. Ironwood might be worried if I stay out late for too long." She turned to face Ruby, "Thank you so much for hanging *hiccup!* out with me today Ruby. I think I can find my way out by myself. Goodbye everyone." she gave them all a nod and walked out into the hallway then left.

Once Penny was gone Ruby piped up, "So, what did you guys do all day?" chuckling nervously.

Yang had a lecherous grin on her face as she grabbed Ruby by the shoulders. "Ruby I can't believe that you actually had it in you."

"Wha-wha-wha-what d-d-do y-y-you m-m-m-m-me-mean?" stammered Ruby.

"You know what I mean." answered Yang, giving Ruby a knowing wink. "I gotta say I didn't expect it to be Penny. I'm proud of you little sis."

"YANG!" yelled out Ruby, a crimson blush on her face, "We didn't do anything like that!" pushing Yang off her and stamped back inside their room and jumped onto her bunk.

Yang simply laughed, "Sure you didn't." she said sarcastically, placing down her shopping bags and took off Ember and Celica laying them down gently on the bedside table.

Weiss seemed lost in thought, ruminating on what exactly Yang had implied. She was no stranger to Yang's innuendos, but this time was different. Her heart sank at the idea of Ruby being intimate with someone else. She glanced up at Ruby who now lay under the covers of her bed.

"Your coffee, Mistress." offered Myrtenaster.

"Thank you." said Weiss accepting the mug absentmindedly, still lost in thought.

It was a quiet sunday in Beacon, the sun slowly rose above the horizon. It looked like it would a nice peaceful morning.

That is until a shrill scream of what sounded like a young girl echoed throughout the school.

Team RWBY jolted awake by the noise quickly sprang into action, grabbing their weapons as they ran out of their room to the source of the scream.

Right across the hall. Team JNPR's room, specifically.

Yang punched the door open with a small explosion. "Is everyone alright?!" she yelled. "We heard a scream."

But when she got a good look of the inside of team JNPR's room the next words that came from her mouth were,

"What the hell?"

Author's Notes: Alright! And so Penny finally enters the picture. Sorry to any Penny fans that she took so long to get the full spotlight, but here she is! This chapter was pretty fun to write and was quite the different experience so at least I was able to try something new. Hopefully it will be a stepping stone to a new world of writing that I never even got my feet wet in. Who knows? I might upload a non-canon side story to this in the future.

Well I hope that everyone enjoyed the chapter and I'll be getting on to working on the next one and it will be up soon before the upcoming semester starts. Remember, if you guys want to see my weekly progress of the chapters, check out my tumblr where I post around noon, Saturday PHT. And don't forget

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