Strings
There are no strings on her... for now.
Written by Kiersi Burkhart
Directed by Dustin Matthews
Directed by Dustin Matthews
"We have all said things we regret, but please hear me out. I know you thought you were doing the right thing when you left with the Maiden power, but Salem is here now."
— Vine Zeki
As Ruby's team is about to infiltrate the Atlesian Command Center and launch Amity to warn Remnant of Salem's invasion, they have to deal with the Ace-Ops.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Artistic License – Physics: The explanation given by Penny as to how Ruby's Semblance functions makes no sense on multiple levels. The act of Ruby breaking down her body's molecular bonds would not in itself decrease the mass of those molecules. They would still have the same mass regardless of how far apart they are. Furthermore, even if Ruby was somehow negating her mass then she would not able to exert any force on the world around her while using her speed as she was shown to have done in numerous previous episodes.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Penny figures out the scientific mechanics of Ruby's Semblance and deduces that she can take other people with her simply by observing her. When Blake pokes fun at Ruby for not figuring this out sooner, Ruby retorts that Penny figured out Blake was a Faunus before she did.
- Blown Across the Room: When Nora breaks down the door separating Penny from Ruby's team, the door in question bowls the Ace-Ops over and knocks them to the other side of the passageway outside.
- Blow You Away: When Penny first summons her Maiden power, she calls forth wind to blow the Ace-Ops backwards and keep them away from her. Vine decides to go over the wind tunnel she creates, while Harriet manages to just about power through it with her speed Semblance, forcing her to start using further elemental powers.
- Call-Back:
- When Blake comments that Penny was able to figure out Ruby's Semblance before Ruby could, Ruby retorts that Penny figured out Blake was a Faunus before she did, too. This is a reference to Volume 1, Episode 16. Ruby, Weiss and Yang never figured out Blake was a Faunus until she accidentally gave herself away and didn't know she had cat ears until Penny revealed it, having figured it out the first time she met Team RWBY.
- Harriet is only the second character to pick up Penny's sword. Ruby did so in Volume 3, Episode 10 to protect Pyrrha after Penny was felled, but Harriet is stealing it as part of Ironwood's plan to control Penny.
- Can't You Read the Sign?: The Atlas military's control centre has a big poster on the wall instructing people not to bring food or drink into the room. Bill brings a mug of coffee into the room regardless, causing ructions among his co-workers.
- Dramatic Irony: Nora reassures Blake that Yang's team will be fine because their strengths include Jaune's leadership skills, Oscar having grown a lot, and Yang having enough strength to protect them all. She doesn't know that Oscar's already been kidnapped, after the Hound attacked so hard and fast that none of the listed strengths mattered.
- Elevator Buttons Mash: As May's invisible group covertly exits an elevator, Nora impishly selects all the lift buttons, ensuring that two Atlesian soldiers unknowingly sharing the elevator with them are in for a long ride.
- Enemy Mine: Ironwood press-gangs Dr. Watts into remotely hacking Penny's systems. Watts admits he's actually relishing the occasion since it suits his own plans and Penny is what they fell out over in the first place.
- Good Versus Good: Vine and Marrow are still uneasy about fighting the heroes. Vine tries to defuse the fight before it starts by attempting to negotiate and Marrow admits that they were holding back the last time they fought. However, as before, Elm has no qualms about following her orders and Harriet continues to revel in being able to express her open disdain for the heroes, apparently including Penny.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Nora's body is damaged by the amount of lightning she absorbed, leaving a network of scarring similar to Lichtenberg figures covering her body. While the scars are too noticeable to ignore, they only touch the edges of her face, and are mostly neat.
- Guilt Complex: Penny is visibly upset when the Ace-Ops blame her for Winter's injuries, and she apologises to the comatose Nora after the fight is over. However, it was Cinder who prevented Winter from receiving the Winter Maiden's powers while Nora's personal choice to absorb more electricity than she could handle occurred when Penny had no way of knowing about or stopping it.
- Heroic RRoD: Nora absorbs so much electricity to break down the door preventing them from saving Penny, which causes her Aura to shatter and knock her unconscious.
- I'm Not Doing That Again: After taking the pneumatic tube to Atlas, a dishevelled Blake empatically declares she doesn't want to do that again. She then experiences Ruby's Semblance to get past the military's command centre, leaving her even more dishevelled and adamant that she won't be doing that again either.
- Inertia Is a Harsh Mistress: When Penny fights the Ace-Ops, she is able to counter Harriet's speed by calculating where Harriet will be and flinging her arm out to clothesline her.
- Internal Reveal: The heroes have had no idea that Qrow has been imprisoned by Ironwood until Ruby's team is confronted by Ace-Ops; while arguing, Harriet tries to silence Ruby by threating to throw her into a cell next to her uncle.
- Just a Machine: After an unsuccessful attempt to try the human approach of guilt-tripping Penny into returning to Atlas, Ironwood resorts to the technological approach: he forcibly enlists the aid of Watts to try and hack into Penny so that she can be reprogrammed to return.
- Locked Out of the Fight: Right before engaging Penny in combat, the Ace-Ops lock the door to the room Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Nora are in so that they cannot aid her.
- Loss of Identity: Ren and Nora have been together since they were very young children, always protecting each other. However, the situation in Atlas has put so much stress on their relationship that she can feel a huge gulf opening between them. For the first time, she's realised that she has no individual identity and doesn't know who she is without Ren. Weiss advises her to take advantage of their separation into different teams to work on finding out who she is.
- Meaningful Look: The conflict between Ace-Ops and Ruby's team starts with Marrow admitting they were holding back before. When Ace-Ops are ordered to abandon the fight and leave, Marrow pauses to glance back at the heroes, giving them an unsettled, mournful look.
- Nigh-Invulnerability: The barrier that separates Penny and the rest of the team has a good amount of nigh-invulnerability. Even Weiss' Arms Gigas, that cut a Paladin powering through a firing squad half-summoned, can't make a dent in it. Nora has to go to extremes with her semblance, by absorbing part of it and busting it down that she is covered in scars, to prove it's only nigh.
- No OSHA Compliance: Bill ignores the posted rule against bringing food or drink into a command centre that's full of computers and technology. When May trips him up, his coffee spills all over keyboards and co-workers, causing one colleague to begin ranting about Bill's litany of unsafe working practices, including microwaving fish in a communal microwave.
- People Puppets: Pietro can take control of Penny's body from a remote location, which he uses to hack and clone Ironwood's credentials as well as communicate to Penny's companions. Her eyes turn gold for the duration of the remote override. While Pietro only does this with Penny's explicit permission, Ironwood and Watts are trying to work out a way of doing this by hacking her against her will. Pietro has created very strong safe-guards to prevent Penny from being hacked, so Watts ends up requesting Ace-Ops steals one of Penny's swords in the hope that it can help him.
- Post-Modern Magik: When discussing the difficulty with trying to remotely hack Penny, Watts lampshades the story's magic-meets-technology setting by sardonically referring to the magical aspects of Pietro's work.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When the heroes trip a man carrying coffee in violation of regulations that disallow food and drink inside computer rooms, one of his coworkers launches into a diatribe about how inattentive the man is and how he always shows up late, although the heroes leave the room before the entire tirade can be heard.
- Sarcasm Mode: When Watts is trying to figure out a way to neutralize Penny, Ironwood informs him that he trusts he can come up with something. Watts snidely retorts that Ironwood's trust is palpable as the camera cuts to the four Atlas soldiers ready to blow him away the second he tries something suspicious.
- Shame If Something Happened: Ironwood mentions that he'd hate for them to have to "motivate" Watts again. The way he puts his hands on Watts's shoulders and the way Watts flinches at it makes it pretty clear what the "motivation" is.
- Sherlock Scan: Penny has managed to suss out the exact mechanics of Ruby's Semblance, well before Ruby herself did. Ruby can break down herself and others to the molecular level and move them all at quick speeds by negating mass; this enables Ruby to transport her team at breakneck speed past the Atlesian command center and continue their mission.
- Tactical Withdrawal: When the Ace-Ops abruptly abandon the fight and leave, Ruby, Blake and Weiss are suspicious but can't afford to pursue it because Nora needs medical attention and they're deep in enemy territory. Ace-Ops were ordered to steal one of Penny's swords and get it back to Ironwood immediately so that Watts could use it as part of his attempts to remotely hack Penny.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Ironwood uses the threat of torture to force Watts to work with him against Penny, reinforcing his threat by surrounding him with armed soldiers who tirelessly point guns at him while he works. Watts doesn't hide his disdain and makes it clear that the reason he's helping is because hacking Penny will benefit his own agenda, too.
- Visible Invisibility: May's invisibility field is detectable as a slight shimmer, akin to a heat haze. It's more visible in good lighting but still faint and difficult to spot.
- We ARE Struggling Together: When Ace-Ops first confronts Ruby's team, Vine initially attempts negotiation, pointing out they have the same goal to protect people from Salem, who has already arrived. However, Ironwood is hyperfocused on abandoning Mantle by raising Atlas; this requires the Relic of Creation but he needs Penny because only the Winter Maiden can access the Relic's chamber. Meanwhile, Ruby's team wants to get Amity functional to both call for help and warn Remnant that Salem is coming, which also requires Penny because she's a Robot Girl who has the skills they need to obtain access to Ironwood's securely protected launch process.
- Weather Manipulation: When Penny uses her Maiden powers against the Ace-Ops, she eventually summons a mini-thunderstorm overhead to give her access to wind, lightning and hail.
- We Need a Distraction: During the infiltration, the heroes need to sneak past a room full of too many guards for May's invisibility field. Their solution is to trip a man carrying hot coffee so that he spills it on a coworker; the ensuing commotion causes enough of a distraction that Ruby is able to slip past the group unnoticed.
"Well, you know what they say. If you can't beat them, then make them join you."
