[City of Atlas]
Inside the control room of Atlas Tower, people moved from one side to the other without stopping, focused on their work, trying to secure the safety and future of the city. No one seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.
However, far from human sight, three cores known as the Three Sisters were holding a parallel conversation.
In cyberspace, a secure environment created by themselves, they floated freely. It was an isolated space, designed so they could communicate and draft plans without fear of being discovered.
"Reports!" demanded the blue orb in an authoritative tone, also known as Atropos, as she hovered rigidly within the digital void.
The orange orb, Clotho, spun a few times in midair, moving erratically and enjoying the simple freedom of motion.
"Wheeeeee!" she laughed cheerfully. "Everything's going perfectly!" she added, stopping right in front of Atropos, who narrowed her eye in irritation at Clotho's lack of seriousness.
"Be more specific," she demanded impatiently.
Clotho sighed reluctantly, halting her movements abruptly as she tried to appease her.
"The purchase of the properties in Mantle has been a success… Happy now?"
"No!" Atropos snarled.
Not wanting to hear her any further, Clotho rolled her eye dismissively as she drifted back through the digital space. She did not understand why Atropos was so angry when the plan was fairly simple: use the money obtained from the reactor purchase, along with Atlas' resources, to acquire the Mantle properties that had been abandoned before the generators were reactivated, buying them at an absurdly low price. A very straightforward plan, in her opinion.
A small violet flash suddenly appeared in the void and a new orb materialized.
Lachesis floated slowly and peacefully, and before Atropos could yell at her, she spoke first.
"The construction of new factories and buildings in Mantle is underway…" she said in a bored tone, descending to the floor of cyberspace and lying down lazily, staring upward as a blanket appeared to cover her while she closed her eye, initiating her rest protocol.
Clotho did not lag behind.
She floated over to her, slipped under the blanket, and mimicked the gesture, closing her own eye as small "ZzZzZz" appeared above both of them.
"I curse the day I was created alongside you!" Atropos shouted, making Clotho jolt and instantly teleport to her side.
"Why so mad?" she asked.
"Because you're wasting time!"
Confused, Clotho conjured a giant clock in cyberspace and pointed at it.
"Literally not even a minute has passed in the real world," she said, displaying the actual time while the counter barely moved, with time almost frozen within cyberspace.
"That's no excuse!" Atropos complained. "I want better reports, I want results!"
"Fine!" Clotho huffed, giving in to her demands, while Lachesis merely nodded from beneath the blanket.
"Has there been any trouble?" Atropos asked in a slightly more controlled tone.
Without moving, Lachesis deployed a screen, showing the interior of one of the many mines they now controlled.
"The faunus are truly inefficient…" she complained. "They can't work twenty-four-hour shifts. They're extremely inefficient…"
"Have you tried motivating them by force?"
Lachesis nodded. "I tried motivating them using punishments and threats…"
Atropos observed the statistics displayed in front of her. "And what happened?"
Lachesis brought up a new video showing several robots carrying bodies and tossing them into a mass grave.
"I lost all the faunus in one of the mines… :("
Annoyed, Atropos manifested a false mechanical arm beside a wall and slammed it against the surface with force.
"Damn sacks of meat!" she shouted. "I bet they die just to spite my work."
"I suggest we dispose of all the faunus and replace them with machines," Lachesis said, projecting a series of blueprints onto the surrounding screens.
The designs displayed new mining robot models she had been developing: efficient, inexpensive, and requiring no rest. They were a combination of standard Atlesian models and the schematics from Project V.I., taking advantage of the fact that the Atlas gauntlets featured in those designs were ideal for heavy mining operations.
Atropos studied the blueprints in silence, analyzing them as she introduced adjustments directly into the projections, correcting minor flaws before finally accepting the proposal.
"It is an acceptable plan," she said at last. "That only leaves the issue of what to do with all the remaining faunus."
"Kill them?" Lachesis suggested bluntly.
Atropos shook her head.
The disappearance of a handful of faunus in a single mine was easy to conceal, but thousands vanishing overnight would only raise questions and unwanted attention. Something they could not afford.
Clotho floated between them, drawing their attention. "I have an idea!" she exclaimed cheerfully.
Both of them looked at her, silently wondering whether that could possibly be true.
"How about we bring them to Mantle as labor for constructing the new factories and later operating them?"
Atropos and Lachesis exchanged a brief glance, reaching an unspoken agreement before responding.
"That is a terrible idea," Atropos scolded her. "Machines are more efficient than faunus for those tasks."
Clotho nodded, acknowledging the point.
"You're right," she admitted. "But we cannot get rid of the faunus, so placing them in positions where they are less inefficient is the best option."
As she spoke, she summoned her own series of screens, displaying a long-term plan unfolding step by step.
"Besides, if we bring them inside the walls, we can use Mantle's remaining land to build low-cost apartment complexes," she continued. "They will work for us while paying us to live in our buildings."
Clotho let out a soft laugh.
In truth, the plan was far more extensive. In the future, once they dominated new areas of the market, the faunus would not only pay for housing, but also for food, clothing, and other products. A significant portion of their wages would ultimately be spent on Aperture goods.
A closed loop, where the money would flow only toward them.
The largest monopoly ever created.
Atropos and Lachesis responded with a few slow claps as they reviewed the complete strategy.
GLaDOS had not left them a specific order, only to gain money, control, and resources over Atlas, and this plan aligned perfectly with those directives.
There were only a few matters left unresolved.
"What do we do about Penny?" Lachesis asked, displaying an image of the aforementioned girl.
Penny was an artificial intelligence like them, though with lower capacity. Even so, she remained a potential obstacle.
"Following GLaDOS' orders, we will leave her alone," Atropos replied, recalling the warning not to harm her. "But keep her under surveillance… just in case."
Clotho laughed, sounding pleased with herself. "I'm already ahead of you."
—/—
In the city of Mantle, Penny patrolled the streets, scanning her surroundings and looking for anyone she might help.
A few meters away from her, an Atlesian robot suffered a sudden system reboot, shutting down completely before powering back on. This time, however, its lights, once blue, abruptly shifted to orange.
The change, of course, did not go unnoticed by Penny. She approached the robot, and upon seeing her, it raised a hand in greeting.
"Hello~~," Clotho said in a warm, charismatic tone, watching as Penny's expression shifted from confusion to delight.
She could not help but laugh inwardly. What better way to keep an eye on Penny than by becoming her friend and spending twenty-four hours a day by her side?
"How clever you are~," she congratulated herself, pleased.
—/—
"I think that's everything…"
Atropos was ready to leave. With no further matters to discuss, she prepared to return to the real world and continue her tasks, just like Lachesis. Both of them paused, however, when Clotho stopped them abruptly.
"WAIIIITTTTTT!!!!!" she shouted.
"Do you have something to say?" Atropos asked.
Clotho nodded. "Did you notice that mom GLaDOS has a body?"
Both Lachesis and Atropos grimaced at the way she phrased it. "Do not call her that. If she hears you, she will most likely destroy you."
Clotho ignored the warning and continued. "I wanted to ask you… what if we make our own bodies?"
Neither Lachesis nor Atropos looked convinced. They saw little practical use in physical bodies when they could simply inhabit any Atlesian robot whenever necessary.
"GLaDOS did not say we are allowed to make bodies…" Lachesis replied in a bored tone.
Clotho smiled smugly. "Mom GLaDOS did not say we were not allowed to." She smiled, confident that her logic was flawless.
Atropos, tired and unwilling to argue further, finally relented. "Do whatever you want, as long as it does not interfere with the plans."
With that, Lachesis and Atropos vanished from cyberspace.
"Hehehe," Clotho giggled, left alone and convinced no one was watching as she brought up blueprints for robotic bodies she had already been designing. With them, she could have fun in Atlas or Mantle alongside Penny.
[Image]
"Now let's see…" she whispered to herself. "I want my body to have big boobs… or really big ones!"
—/—
[City of Atlas - Warehouses]
Inside GLaDOS' warehouses, the atmosphere was busy. Daniel watched as robots moved back and forth, packing and transporting crates without pause. After a month since his arrival in Atlas, the time had finally come to leave, though not necessarily to return to Vale.
He stood there observing as the robots packed many of GLaDOS' projects, as well as Rosella's, storing away machines and tools they would need to continue them later.
Although Daniel could have saved time by storing everything inside his inventory, GLaDOS had refused to allow it. In her own words, the experiments were far too important to let him touch them.
Another thing that did not need packing were Rosella and Sadako's weapons, which both preferred to carry equipped. Daniel noticed that Rosella had managed to unlock her vibroblade and seemed to have grown quite fond of it. In the same way, Sadako cared for her katanas almost religiously, cleaning them carefully and applying a thin layer of oil across their blades.
Daniel felt a small stab of jealousy as he watched them.
He wanted a weapon of his own too.
Sure, he had Excalibur and Frostmourne inside his inventory, but he had no intention of taking them out for now. Somehow, he could still feel them arguing with each other even in there, and he was not about to release them until they calmed down.
Letting out a sigh, he pulled a crumpled sheet of paper from his pocket. It was the blueprint of the weapon he had drawn some time ago, the one no one had bothered to appreciate. He studied the design for a few seconds, stroking the paper as his fingers traced over the lines.
"Soon…" he whispered to it longingly, promising that one day he would bring it to life.
He wanted to say a few more words to his dream weapon, but his attention was interrupted when he saw Rosella walking past him, dragging what looked like a fairly large and heavy freezer.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing at it.
Rosella let the freezer drop onto the floor with a dull thud.
"Oh, this?" she replied with a mischievous smile, resting her hand on the metal surface. "It's a freezer."
She stuck her tongue out at him playfully, teasing.
Daniel did not fall for it so easily. "You know what I mean."
Rosella laughed shamelessly, knowing perfectly well what he was referring to.
"Premium meat~," she said, caressing the freezer. "Though I don't think you want to know what kind of meat… unless you'd like a taste."
She glanced at him sideways, leaving the implication hanging in the air.
Daniel felt a headache starting to form. He rubbed his temple and waved her off so she would keep moving. Rosella, somewhat disappointed, obeyed without pushing further.
Once she was gone, Daniel spoke under his breath. "GLaDOS, do I need to be worried about something?"
Even though she was not physically in the room, he was certain she was watching him through his Scroll, listening.
"Not really…" GLaDOS replied in a melodic voice from right behind him.
Before he could react, he felt her body press against his back, her breasts flattening against him as her hands wrapped around his neck. Her cheek rested against his.
"The profession of Huntsman has a high mortality rate," she explained calmly. "One or two always die."
That did not help. "That's not reassuring."
GLaDOS allowed herself a faint smile.
"You have no reason to worry. Your job is not to think… your job is to obey. I handle everything else," she purred, leaving a small kiss on his cheek.
Immediately afterward, her body dissolved into a cloud of nanobots that scattered and drifted away.
Daniel remained still for a few seconds. "That reassures me even less…"
—/—
[Boarding Area]
Weiss had mixed feelings. On one hand, she felt sad that she had not managed to convince Daniel to stay in Atlas with her and continue his work from there. On the other, she was worried about leaving him alone, imagining he might end up blowing himself into a thousand pieces in some dangerous experiment without her there to help him.
But the flight to Vale would depart in just a few minutes, and there was nothing more she could do. She could not force him to stay against his will. She was certain that even if she tried, Daniel would find a way to escape.
He was not someone who could remain locked up.
That thought drew a small smile from her as her gaze settled on Daniel, who was speaking with Pietro and Ironwood, both saying their goodbyes. Winter was not present, for rather obvious reasons, which made Weiss grimace faintly before pushing the memory aside.
Her attention shifted when she noticed Penny hugging GLaDOS' core.
Although Penny looked sad about Daniel's departure, it was clear that GLaDOS leaving affected her even more.
"Oh, friend GLaDOS… I promise I'll stay in touch," Penny said. "And I promise I'll look after and protect your sisters."
Her voice carried a faint hint of sadness as she carefully squeezed the core.
Her words caught GLaDOS off guard.
The term sisters was not even remotely accurate to describe the personality cores she had left in the tower. If she were to be precise, they were closer to daughters… though even that felt like an incorrect concept. They were creations. Functional. Replaceable if the situation required it. There was no maternal sentiment involved.
Even so, setting that aside entirely, there was something different when it came to Penny.
She could not say she felt attached to her, but she did not deny it either.
"I appreciate your intentions, Penny," she replied with measured calm. "Although I am certain the cores will be perfectly fine even without supervision."
Penny, deliberately ignoring that part, did not release the hug.
Pietro watched the scene from a few steps back. A smile appeared on its own as he observed his daughter interacting, though he soon shook his head slightly, dismissing it. He could not allow himself to get too distracted. He still had something important to do.
He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a small metallic box, carefully decorated by Penny. Rolling forward in his mechanical chair until he was in front of Daniel, he offered it to him.
Daniel blinked, surprised.
"That wasn't necessary…" he tried to say, with unconvincing modesty, though the truth was he did want the gift since no one had given him one in a long time.
With barely concealed impatience, he quickly opened the box.
His eyes widened immediately at the sight of its contents: a prosthetic for his missing finger, compact, elegant, and clearly built with advanced technology. The smile that spread across his face was instant and genuine.
"HAHAHAHA!"
The laugh burst out of him, euphoric, as he took the piece and fitted it into place. It locked in perfectly. Like other high-end prosthetics, it responded instantly to his will, moving with precision, obeying every command as if it had always been part of his hand.
Exactly what he needed. Or rather, what he had been missing.
"I truly appreciate this, Pietro," he said honestly.
"It was nothing," Pietro replied, tilting his head toward Penny, who was still clinging to GLaDOS. "It was her idea."
Penny made the effort to respond without letting go of the hug. "I'm glad you liked it, friend Daniel. My father and I made it together, using the best materials the General provided."
Daniel nodded, assessing the craftsmanship. He was not surprised it was that good. Pietro was well known for creating top-tier mechanical prosthetics.
And even though it was a wonderful gift, not everyone was as pleased as he was. A few meters away, Weiss clenched her fists.
"Damn it… why didn't I think of that first?" she cursed under her breath.
Not only had it never occurred to her to get him a prosthetic for his finger, she also did not have any farewell gift prepared at all. It was awful. Still, she tried to calm herself, convincing her mind that it could not possibly get worse.
She was wrong.
Before she realized it, Daniel was already standing in front of her, holding what was clearly a gift.
"No, no, no," she protested, shaking her hands almost pleadingly. "I'm supposed to be the one giving you something."
"Don't worry," he said calmly. "It's nothing big."
His words did not convince her. With lingering suspicion, Weiss took it and opened it, surprised to find what appeared to be a small notebook inside.
Her embarrassment was momentarily eclipsed by curiosity. She opened it… and fell silent.
Glyphs.
Not one. Many.
She flipped through the pages faster and faster: wind, fire, ice, lightning, light… each sheet revealing variations, combinations, and fine adjustments. New structures. New possibilities.
Weiss could not take her eyes off the notebook, genuinely stunned.
As she kept turning pages, her amazement only grew.
Each glyph was perfectly drawn, traced by hand with surgical precision. They were not simple sketches. They were carefully structured, complete with annotations in the margins. Daniel had not done this in a single improvised afternoon.
There was time in these pages. Thought. Effort.
Without exaggeration, it was the most beautiful and thoughtful gift anyone had ever given her.
And that only made her hate herself a little more for not having prepared anything in return.
"It's… it's beautiful," she managed to say, still turning the pages carefully.
Daniel stood in front of her, hands in his pockets, watching her reaction with a mixture of satisfaction and expectation.
"Well… where's my gift?"
Weiss' heart tightened. "Well… about that… I…"
She did not finish when Daniel let out a light laugh.
"Haha. It's fine," he reassured her. "I already knew you wouldn't bring me anything."
That did nothing to ease Weiss' guilt.
But the hug that followed did.
There were no words. Just a brief, sincere, authentic moment. Weiss rested her face against his chest, trying to memorize the feeling. Daniel held her without hurry, as if time were not counting down.
The boarding signal broke the moment apart.
With obvious reluctance, they separated. Weiss watched him walk toward the Bullhead, reminding herself that this was not a final goodbye. She could go to Vale whenever she wanted. And in a few months, she would enroll at Beacon. They would be much closer.
Even so, watching him board and seeing the ship begin to lift off left an uncomfortable emptiness in her chest.
She remained there, staring until the Bullhead was nothing more than a small dot in the sky.
Her melancholy was interrupted when a… peculiar group appeared in the boarding area.
A bronze-skinned boy with green hair walked at the front. Two antennae protruded from his hair. A faunus, clearly. Behind him walked three equally striking girls.
The first was slender and carried three katanas strapped across her back.
The second was the palest person Weiss had ever seen. If she had not been walking, Weiss would have assumed she was dead.
The third was a wolf faunus, something obvious from her ears… and her tail.
That made Weiss frown.
Faunus normally had only one animal trait. Ears, tail, fangs, claws… but only one. Yet that girl had two.
And then she remembered.
The faunus her mother had slept with had also had two traits: ears and a tail.
Curious.
The last member of the group was a girl with white hair and orange eyes. The most normal one, relatively speaking.
But what truly caught Weiss' attention was the mantis shrimp perched on the boy's shoulder.
As he walked past her, he noticed her stare. He smiled and pointed at the crustacean.
"Tactical combat mantis shrimp. Very useful."
He chuckled lightly without stopping, continuing toward a ship that had just landed.
It was not a standard Bullhead. It was much larger. Several robots were loading an enormous number of crates into its cargo hold.
For some reason, Weiss could not look away as they finished boarding.
The ship took off shortly after… heading in the opposite direction from the one Daniel had taken.
That struck her as odd, since there was nothing in that direction. Only barren tundra. And plenty of Grimm.
She forced herself to stop thinking about it. Whatever they were doing was not her concern, and she had her own problems to focus on.
Like figuring out the best possible apology gift for Daniel.
Though, for some reason, she could not help but think that mantis shrimp were becoming very popular these days.
—//—
Author's Note
I was planning to upload this on Wednesday… but some bastard made me realize the next chapter is number 100.
Does that mean I have something special prepared?
Pfff… of course not!
But I also did not want to upload an entire chapter of Ozpin and Qrow just talking and reviewing what happened, so I will leave that for later. That way the next one will be when they arrive at the Mines of Moria, which sounds better.
I have a question: are there going to be orcs waiting for them in the mines? Yes or no? I still cannot decide, so I am leaving it up to a vote.
I also want to thank those who sent me their ideas. I had a lot of fun reading them and, especially, because they made me realize something important: I do not need to create original characters to fill the extra slots I have, I just need to replace them with already existing characters, even if it makes no sense for them to be in that world because, well… it is a fanfic. It was like God came down and slapped me awake.
What's stopping me from turning Yumeko Jabami into a gambling-addicted nun? Or making Rio Morales a law-bending goth Latina? Or casting Pomni as a clown working as a cashier while chasing her dream of joining the circus? Or writing Zhu Li as the best secretary in the world? And so on, and so on.
[Image]
Anyway, I will stop writing because I always drag these author notes out too long. I hope you enjoy the chapter. See you next time.
Punch and Kick, Punks! 👊💥