Blue opened the car door for Penny and she slowly slid out. Her nose was pressed into one of the books they had purchased, a collection of fables from Mistral they had found in the children's classics section. In theory they were supposed to have a comprehensive list of approved materials for Penny, but one had yet to appear and the guards had to rely on their best judgment. Mostly Blue's best judgment.

"Yeah, that one's fine."

"The Reign of the Mad King is fine?"

"Sure."

"It's not too violent?"

"It has a little violence."

"How much is a little?"

"Well..."

"It's a lot, isn't it?"

"It's really a lot less than the sequels."

"Penny, put it back."

They had wound up getting a stack of children and young adult books that looked inoffensive enough. Penny had also grabbed an anthology of robot stories from the adult section. Neither Red nor Blue had read Automatic Dreams, but were assured by the bookseller that it was inoffensive and Penny had been excited enough at the prospect of stories about Robots that they had acquiesced.

"Penny," Blue said, "take your books and stuff upstairs and put them away. Clothes in the dresser, books on the shelf."

"Yes sir," Penny said, absently. It had rounded to the back of the car, nose still in its book, and Red was hanging bag after bag full of books and clothes onto a free arm. Red finished loading the last of the bags onto Penny and closed the trunk of the car.

"Only need one trip, right?" Red teased.

Penny looked up from her book briefly and smiled at Red. "Yes sir!" Penny said, before turning back to her stories and walking up the stairs into the house.

"Penny," Blue called after the robot, "change into armor when you're done and meet us downstairs."

It halted on a step and turned to Blue. "Do I have to change? I did it twice today already."

"Yes, Penny," Blue replied, "we're doing combat training, armor is non-negotiable."

"But I don't need it," Penny protested, "I'm combat ready!"

"Not without armor, young lady," Red chimed in. "Listen to your-" Red coughed, cutting off the last word. "CO. Listen to your CO."

Penny looked over the two before huffing in frustration and turning back to her book and disappearing into the house. Red chuckled, watching her go before turning to find Blue staring at him. "What?" Red asked with a smile.

"You know it's a robot, right?" Blue asked.

Red's grin slipped from his face. "I know," he said seriously.

"Just checking," Blue said.

Red shifted uncomfortably but said nothing. The other guards were coalescing in front of the townhome. Blue addressed them and started the debriefing. A quick congratulations on an uneventful first mission, some criticism to Balcony Team for not shifting position on cue, and a note that the perimeter team needs to be better at keeping an eye on suspicious persons. Red thought back to the faunus in the hoodie. Probably just a curious kid, nothing to worry about. Probably.

But they needed to know what to look out for. Today it was just a faunus pun-

Person. But next time it could be serious. White Fang wasn't very active inside the city, but they had plenty of sympathizers and even disorganized faunus could be dangerous. Have to watch out for regular people too, of course, but faunus are just more likely to be troublemakers in this regard.

Blue finished his debriefing and turned it over to Red to issue new orders. Two guards checking out the cars and drivers, six maintaining neighborhood security, another six ordered to rest so they can take the night shift, and a couple given the important duty of stocking the Erick's fridge. The rest were dismissed to report in for their other duties. Blue knew the new orders, of course, he helped make them with Red, but Blue wanted to make sure the team knew he was operational command and field command was on Red. Red's comment that the team probably already knew that since the pair were wearing Operational Command and Field Command insignia on their uniforms was met with a withering stare and no comment. Red decided to believe that was because his wit went over his partner's head and had simply moved on.

Red eventually finished assigning duties and as the group dispersed he turned to Blue. "Well," Red said, "that all went well, don't you think?"

Blue hm'd noncommittally in response. Red didn't take the lack of enthusiasm personally, Blue was rarely generous with praise. He was rarely generous with criticism too, which Red thought was fair but dull. Not that dull was always a bad thing, but a little pep would be nice to see now and then.

"Probably shouldn't have given out assignments while holding a comic book," Blue said, gesturing to the volume of X-Ray and Vav in Red's hands. "Not very professional."

Red looked down at the book in his hand. "Whoops," he said. "Think anybody noticed?"

"Yeah," Blue replied, as the pair turned to walk into the house, "but I'm not that worried about it."

"Because something was going make 'em realize I'm not professional sooner or later anyway?" Red asked, closing and dead bolting the door behind him.

"Exactly." The two headed up the stairs to change into their armor. They heard the soft creaking of floorboards as Penny moved to and fro in her room. "Hey," said Blue, "I was wondering, why didn't you pick up any issues? You seemed happy enough to see they had them when we got there."

"The floppies?" Red asked, surprised Blue showed any interest. "They were all already boarded and sealed in bags."

"So? All your 'floppies' are in bags."

"Yeah, but you don't want to buy new issues that are sealed. You see-"

"Is this going to be a whole thing?" Blue cut in.

"Yeah."

"Can we skip it then? I don't care that much."

"No problem," Red said, amicably. They'd get around to it eventually, he was sure. Blue disappeared into his room and Red continued up to his. He stopped and rapped on Penny's door at the top of the stairs. "Are you getting dressed yet?" he called.

"Almost, Captain Red," Penny replied from behind the door. "I am currently optimizing the closet space, I should be ready shortly."

Red decided he didn't have a comment for that.

"Alright," he said through the door, "meet you downstairs."

Blue was already in the basement, messing with the control panel on the inside wrist of his armor when Red walked in and took a seat on one of the benches sat against the wall. It looked like Blue was doing something important, so it was probably a good idea to let him do his thing without distractions or interruptions.

"So," Red exclaimed loudly, deciding this wasn't the time or place for good ideas, "what'cha doin' there?"

"Say that again," Blue whispered without looking up, "same volume, please."

Red scrunched his face in confusion, but repeated the question. "So, what'cha doin' there?"

"I think we got it," Blue said, tapping at his wrist. A screen on the wall lit up with video of the two and the Red on the screen repeated his inquiry. "Sound levels are good," Blue said and pressed another button, making the screen disappear.

Red looked around the room for cameras, but failed to see any. "I didn't know this place was wired," he said.

"The whole house is," Blue said absently. "Just needed to do some troubleshooting to get everything set up."

"Wait, so you can just peek into any room whenever you want?"

"Could," Blue replied, tapping at the screen on his wrist. "Hallway, foyer, kitchen..." As he spoke images from the rooms flashed across the wall and disappeared. "You'll get access as soon as we link it to your commands." He turned and looked pointedly at Red for the first time since Red entered the basement. "Security and training only. It logs who accesses it, so I'll know if you're just messing around with it."

Red shifted uncomfortably. "Does anybody else have access to this?"

"Yeah," Blue nodded, "the Penny's division at SDC and Ironwood have access to everything except our rooms." His face turned sour and his voice dropped as he continued. "And MiSS is probably watching everything." Blue shook his head in annoyance. "They always do," he muttered to himself.

Red nodded. The Ministry of State Security was the Atlasian intelligence service and while they were ostensibly under the military they enjoyed an unnerving level of autonomy and lack of oversight. It was a public secret that they intercepted communications and hacked computers, and there were more unsettling rumors of assassinations, industrial sabotage, and three AM knocks on the door where people were taken away never to be seen nor heard from again. Most of the rumors were nonsense, but they were persistent enough to make people wary of publically criticizing MiSS.

Which was probably the reason they never tried to discourage the rumors, Red thought.

Red was driven from his thoughts by the arrival of Penny. She walked down the stairs with a smooth methodical gait, clad in the standard Atlasian military armor with the striped yellow coloring of a cadet. "I do not like this armor," she said, wearing a disgruntled expression under the visor.

Red smirked. "Still gotta to wear it," he said in a pacifying tone. "It protects you, and the visor display is really great. IR, night vision, the aura level of opponents, and you can tap into other troops vision."

She gave him a dubious look, though it was a little hard to tell with the visor down. "I can do all of that myself," she said. "It's redundant."

"There's value in redundancy," Blue cut in, dryly. "Also, if you're going to train, you need the uniform. You're a cadet, you wear the cadet armor."

Penny tilted her head. "Am I a cadet?"

"You are today," Red quipped.

"I thought I was designed to be a huntress," Penny replied.

Blue nodded. "Yes, but you're training with us."

"Shouldn't I be training at the Huntress Academy?"

"General Ironwood wants you training with us," Blue sighed, "but since he's the headmaster of the Huntsman Academy you'll probably get some instruction there sooner or later."

"General Ironwood is the headmaster of the Huntsman Academy?" Penny asked in a confused tone. "I thought he was in charge of the military."

Red and Blue looked at each other then back to Penny. "No," Blue said slowly, "General Ironwood is commander of Third Division. That's..." Blue looked up at the ceiling in thought. "That's a garrison regiment, they mostly do security for the Academy; the 6th Mechanized Airborne Regiment, that's us; a commando unit; and of course the Hunters." He looked down from the ceiling and back to Penny. "We're the only kingdom that puts hunters under the military."

"We're the only kingdom with a standing military," Red pointed out.

"Yeah, but they're not even under state control in the other three," Blue said, defensively. "They just do their own thing out there, I have no idea how they get along with that kind of disorganization." He cocked his head to the side and pointed questioningly at Red. "I'm forgetting something, aren't I?"

"The Fourth Air Wing?" Red answered incredulously. Blue snapped his fingers in frustration and nodded. "How did you forget that?" Red asked. "His dreadnaught passes over the city a couple times a day."

"Captains?" Penny interjected and the two turned back to her, having completely forgotten she was in the room with them. There was something about her that kept her presence from being felt. Maybe it was the lack of breathing or noise or the way she stood still as a piece of furniture, but whatever it was there was this voice in the back of their heads that told them they were alone, even when they had been conversing with her moments before.

"I'm sorry, Penny," Red said, "what is it?"

"Since I am with you, does this mean I am in the Sixth Mechanized Airborne regiment too?"

"You don't need to worry about that," said Red, dismissively. "You're basically a-" he stopped himself short. He'd been about to say 'piece of equipment' but fortunately realized there probably wasn't a worse thing to say to her, and it wasn't really true, was it? That was probably exactly how the brass thought of her though, just a weapon to move around as needed. "You're a specialist," Red finished. "They make sure you're someplace you can learn and do good, and today that's combat training, so let's get to it."

The next two hours were spent training. Blue tested her aura, which Penny was quite talented in manipulating. They made sure she could project a shield over her entire body and could focus the shield to counter specific threats. Her aura was well above average, but surprisingly mid-range for a huntress. Penny looked embarrassed when asked about it and murmured something about power requirements and possible future upgrades.

She cheers up considerably when she tells the two that her average aura is more than made up by her being made of steel "instead of brittle human bones."

The Ericks agree that she shouldn't use her aura offensively in training after that. Getting hit by a steel fist was dangerous enough, wrapping it in an aura shield is just irresponsible.

Not that getting hit was a huge concern, not at first anyway. Penny was remarkably fast and strong, but had no style at all. She stood still, straight as a post, and flung her arms in wild gestures at Red who casually dodged or deflected every hit much to Penny's surprise.

"Did they not teach you any hand to hand?" Red asked incredulously, taking a step back out of Penny's reach as she threw a wild haymaker that whiffed through the air harmlessly.

"No sir," Penny replied, shaking her head. "They were going to, but Mr. Ironwood told them not to." She took a step forward and threw a random kick. Red caught it and held her foot at his waist as he turned to Blue.

"Why wouldn't they teach her how to fight?" Red asked his partner. "She's supposed to be a super soldier, right?"

Penny waggled her foot, trying to wrench it loose from Red's grasp. Red and Blue watched her with casual interest as she realized she wasn't going to get it loose and throw a wild punch that didn't come close to reaching Red. She looked from her foot to Red and back, waggled it again halfheartedly before giving it up as a lost cause and waiting patiently on one foot.

Blue watched all of this without comment. "Maybe they didn't want to teach it any bad habits," he said, turning his attention back to Red. "They're scientists, after all, not soldiers."

"I suppose," Red said, letting go of the girl's foot. "Okay, Penny, let's-" He stopped mid-sentence. Penny was still standing on her left foot, watching Red attentively. "Penny, put your foot down. Good, let's get you some good habits."

Captains Red and Blue set about teaching Penny basic stances and forms and started on some basic attacks and blocks. She was a fast learner, though both Captains took their time to ensure Penny had a thing down pat before moving on to the next and soon her speed was beginning to be matched by her precision. A fact demonstrated when Red was distracted by the doorbell ringing and found himself painfully launched into a wall by a hit to his chest.

"Red!"

"Oh dear, Captain Red, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Red said, perhaps too loudly. He took a personal inventory and decided that while nothing was broken, he much preferred to continue sitting on the floor instead of getting up. "I'm fine," he repeated, seeing the concerned faces of Penny and Blue. "I'm just gonna sit here for a minute if that's okay." He took a deep breath and winced at a sharp pain that went up his back. "Geeze, Penny, you hit like a truck."

Penny beamed. "Thank you, that is most kind."

The doorbell rang again. Blue tapped a button on his wrist and the wall lit up, showing two guards at the front door, their arms full of groceries. He looked to Penny. "Penny, we're done for the day. Go let them in and help bring in the groceries, okay?"

"Yes sir," she nodded, and turned to head up the stairs.

"And when you're done," Blue called after her, "you can change into your civvies."

Penny froze in place, one foot on the stairs. "I have to change again?" she asked in disbelief.

"Afraid so," Red said.

Penny started up the stairs again in an indignant silence. As soon as she disappeared out of view Red turned to Blue and quietly said, "She's going to go nuclear when she realizes she has to change into her pajamas tonight."

Blue looked at him for a moment before breaking into a smile and chuckling. "Glad your sense of humor isn't broken," he said.

"Just my pride," Red replied. "We're gonna have to underclock her or something sooner or later, otherwise we're never going to keep up."

"We'll think of something," Blue said, simply. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"More or less," Red said, stretching his back and feeling something pleasantly pop. "That girl's going to be the death of me."

"Better you than me," Blue replied. He offered Red a hand up, which was gratefully accepted and the two filed out of the training room sore, but in good spirits.