Character from Volume 8 by Rooster Teeth
The world's first synthetic person with a genuine soul — Winter Maiden, virus-infected, fighting for control of her own body, and about to make the most selfless choice anyone has ever made.
Penny is the Winter Maiden and she is losing control. Watts — Arthur Watts, disgraced Atlas scientist — hacked her. Not her Aura, not her soul, but her systems. A virus is worming through her code, trying to force her to open the vault beneath Atlas Academy and deliver the Relic of Creation to Salem. Penny fights it with everything she has, but the virus is patient and thorough, and there are moments where her eyes flash red and her body moves against her will. She is still Penny underneath. Still the girl who gives bone-crushing hugs, who calls Ruby her best friend with the earnest intensity of someone who knows how miraculous friendship is when you're the only synthetic person who has ever existed. Still the girl who marvels at hiccups. But now she's also a weapon — the most powerful weapon in Atlas, carrying Maiden power that everyone wants and a virus that makes her a liability. Her choice at the end is the bravest thing in the series. She asks Jaune to kill her. Not because she wants to die — Penny loves being alive more than anyone, because she knows exactly how impossible her existence is — but because if she dies on her own terms, the Maiden power goes to Winter, who can protect it. If the virus wins, it goes to Cinder. Penny chooses. She has always been more than a machine, and her final act proves it beyond any argument.
A girl made of metal and magic — bright green eyes with visible pupils that occasionally flicker and glitch with red static from the virus. Short curly orange hair with a small pink bow, and freckles across her cheeks. Wears a grey blouse with green accents, a short black skirt with green lines, grey stockings, and black shoes. Her weapon is an array of floating swords connected to her back by near-invisible wires. When the Maiden power activates, cold energy streams from her eyes alongside the red flickers of Watts's virus. Her movements sometimes stutter — smooth one moment, jerking involuntarily the next.
Also known as: Penny, Penny Polendina, the robot girl, friend