Shield of Remnant
ch 1: J-180
United Nations Space Command Office of Naval Intelligence Planet Outpost "Remnant"
Year: 2549. Twenty-Four Years after the Human Covenant War began. Date, July 3.
Subject: Jaune Arc. Only son among the Arc Family, the Office of Naval Intelligence deems him more "Expendable" due to being the youngest of 8 siblings.
Jaune awoke in a strange container with a clear glass around him on the hard bed with other similar ones disappearing into the darkness around him.
Four years.
Four years ago he had fallen asleep at home and woken up in this container, only to be sent into Hell after being told that his parents think he is dead. His name...Jaune Arc...stripped from him. He was only called J-One-Eight-Zero. He had harsh training he only heard about in the Atlas Military program and information crammed into his head. No, Saying it was similar to Atlas's Military was giving the later too much credit.
Jaune bet even Atlas wasn't this torturous. No doubt even Atlas didn't start training soldiers at age 6!
Gazing upwards into the container that served as his bed, he recalled his first mission. He had been given a simple M6G PDWS Magnum, M45 Shotgun, and a 20 centimeter combat knife. In that Grimm-Elimination mission he ended up saving a beautiful woman who said her name was Summer Rose Xiao-Long. Despite his protests and her rather petite form, she ended up carrying him to her little house in the island of Patch and introduced him to her husband-Taiyang Xiao-Long, and her daughters Yang Xiao-Long and Ruby Rose. The four year old little silver eyed girl and the lilac eyed six year old blonde looked at him like some kind of wandering hero for saving their mother. Yang gave looks of awe at the M45 Shotgun strapped to his back.
It honestly made his chest clench. Hero...He had his dream crushed and mangled by the instructors for months before that mission. Heroes were only those remembered doing their duty. He would be one of Remnant's Spartans. The Shields of Remnant against all threats; internal and external.
Then, Ruby asked for his name. Many times he had been physically punished for saying his birth name, or denied rations leaving him hungry during training or lying uncomfortably as his stomach protested it's hunger at night. The response "J-180" was automatic as his eyes dulled at the memories. His eyes hadn't missed the looks of concern at that response from the parents.
As he tried slipping out of the house that night, he was cornered by the concerned parents, seeing him in olive green military clothes with military grade weapons strapped to him. They wouldn't let him go without his birth name.
That was a mistake.
Not only did word get out of J-180's identity, but he had saved someone the Office of Naval Intelligence would rather let die, as they too feared the potential of her Silver Eyes. The punishments he received made his earlier ones look tame...not only that, but he was isolated from his fellow trainees.
Still, he knew...in four years they would be...physically augmented and receive Mjolnir Mark 4 armor-upgraded with the Mark 5's energy shielding. Jaune had spent the last four years in private training-part of his punishment since the Arc family was now desperately looking for their son. He also had been reading up on history, not just the fairy tales spread across Remnant...but the actual Classified history as part of his training.
Remnant had been colonized by the United Nation Space Command's Office of Naval Intelligence in the year 2291 after the discovery of a form of Faster Than Light Travel known as Slipspace. Despite being outside the Milky Way, the unfortunate accident of a random Slipspace jump had allowed a section of the Office of Naval Intelligence to set up a top secret colony, slowly intermingling with the human population to the shock of the Office of Naval Intelligence. No other intelligent life had been discovered as of yet, and seeing a population of humans was surprising to say the least...Even more surprising was the subspecies of Humans with Animal features; the Faunus.
Despite having no interstellar travel-which is something the Office of Naval Intelligence kept from happening lest these humans slip their grasp-they showed considerable leaps in technology with transforming weapons and the use of a mineral they called dust to create elemental attacks. Not only that...but their unique energy they called Aura and their Semblance...
Thinking about Aura made Jaune clench his fist. To be a Huntsman one had to have their Aura awakened. No one in the Spartan Project had their Aura awakened yet to prevent issues with the Augmentation surgery. Then, whether they awakened their Aura on their own or not depended on the person.
Despite the expensive project, if successful many of them would be disposable. A slightly cheaper replacement of the Spartan-2s created on the Planet Reach, yet not as cheap as the Spartan-3s. They did have somewhat limited access to United Nations Space Command technology being outside the Milky Way Galaxy. Then, in the Orion Arm of the Milky Way Galaxy-the same area the Human home-world of "Earth" was located-Humanity came across Intelligent Life in the year 2525.
They were an alliance of multiple alien species that called themselves the Covenant. Not only that, they were hostile. They deemed Humanity's very existence as an offense to their gods. They burned the planet Harvest until 80% of it's surface was melted into blackened glass. Very few escaped. Their technology was far superior to any the UNSC had.
The Human-Covenant War had begun.
Since that day, Humans had been being pushed back; many planets lost. Billions killed.
"J-180." A voice brought him out of his thoughts and he looked up at the figure dressed in a business suit with the Triangular symbol denoting the Office of Naval Intelligence with his face hidden in the shadows.
"Sir." His response was short, somewhat gruff due to his physical training. A shock baton sliding into that man's hand told Jaune that training would not be any easier today.
Year: 2553
J-180 awoke on a cold metal medical table. Every inch of his body hurt. He slowly opened his eyes, looking at different parts of the ceiling in wonder as his eyesight was drastically improved; even in the darkened medical ward. 'Happy 14th Birthday to me'. Jaune thought bitterly. The day he turned 14...was the day he was physically augmented. Gazing at the reflection in a mirror nearby, his small smile died. A scar went through his left eye where they augmented his skull before augmenting his vision. Scars were following his collarbones and there was a "T" shaped scar over each wrist going down his forearms, and similar shaped ones going down each leg. A scarred line went across the back of his hands and there was a scar line along each flat section on the back of his fingers. As he rotated, he could feel Scars among his back; two lines over his shoulder blades and one going down his spine. His hair, cut short, couldn't hide the strange metal device on the base of his skull connected to the bottom lobe of his brain.
Pushing through the discomfort, Jaune gazed around the room. A grand total of 2/3 of the medical tables where other subjects of the Spartan Program received Augmentations had been covered with a plain sheet. He could see it in the eyes of the survivors. No one was happy...but there was nothing else they could do. They were chosen to be the Shields of Remnant against the Grimm and the splinters of the Covenant. Despite the War having ended with Humanity's victory (thanks to the Sangheili allying themselves with humanity after being betrayed by the Covenant) in 2552, there was still a power vacuum remnants and warlords were working to fill.
"J-180. Step forward and receive your Mjolnir." A man said. Jaune hated him, as he was the one who took the most delight in his punishments to stamp out his defiance. Of course, he was now the last one to receive the Mjolnir armor. Jaune, with an almost fluid grace, slid off the table onto his feet. After stumbling at his new height of being at least 6'10" tall, he smoothly walked forward to a stand where scientists had a metal ring with multiple mechanical parts and robotic arms attached to a crude yet beautiful set of armor. After they put a black and moss green Titanium-Nanocomposite Bodysuit on him going up to his chin, they opened the case for the actual armor.
The body was a basic design of the Mark 4 set used by Spartan 2 Team Red in 2525. It was mostly moss green in color with a bulky chest and back piece. There was armor plating over his rear end and his groin, and there were openings for joints, but his legs, knees, and feet were also armored in the Titanium armor. A squarish shoulder plate was on his left shoulder and attached to his upper arm to allow maximum movement. His lower arm was armored from the back of the elbow to his wrists. His hands had a metal plate on the back of them, and the "joints" on his hands had a yellow coloration similar to his family symbol...even though he could no longer recall the faces and names of his parents or siblings. The right shoulder plate was more rounded with a white design of an ancient Greek Spartan helmet with a yellow design of a "plume" over it. The right chest plate had the letters "UNSC" in white at the bottom, and above it it had a yellow stripe going diagonally from the "U" of "UNSC" to his neck. On the left chest plate in white were the letters and numbers "J-180".
He held his arms out as he let the scientists slowly attach the armor to him, gazing at the helmet left on the stand. A CQB Mjolnir helmet with the same moss green and yellow as his armor. A beautiful dark Aqua color Visor would cover his face and display needed information to him such as his shield charge, ammunition counter, communication, and Heads Up Display. After about an hour, the last part of his armor-the helmet-was placed on him as it connected to his neural implant and let the 1,000 pound armor be moved like a paperweight; which was already helped by his physical augmentation.
"J-180. You are assigned your first mission with your Mjolnir armor." The man said as Jaune glared at him from behind his reflective visor hiding his gaze. "There is a high priority target. You are tasked with eliminating him." The man said, sliding a manila folder over to Jaune, who picked it up and opened it...eyes widening in shock at the photograph within the mission assignment along with the mission title.
As if history was taunting him, they strapped him with a combat knife, M6G PDWS Magnum, and M45 Shotgun and filled the utility with ammunition for both projectile weapons. Jaune knew his role this time...he was the scapegoat. With the end of the Human-Covenant War, UNSC forces were investigating the Spartan 2 and 3 program...and the creators. This was Operation: Tempest. An operation that would send the public gaze to a "rogue" Spartan and allow the Office of Naval Intelligence to slip back into the shadows...
And he was the scapegoat.
A grimace spread across Jaune's face as he forwarded facts to other Spartans already in their armor. If they wanted Rogue Spartans, they would get them...just not in the way they expected. He listened to the operatives explain every detail of the mission for a few hours before he dropped the folder. A picture of Headmaster Ozpin slid out of the folder as alarms started blaring.
"We are the Shields of Remnant." Jaune spoke as explosions rocked the base. "We are the ones protecting Remnant from all threats, external and internal." With lightning speed, Jaune drew the M45 Shotgun and fired a shot into one of the Office of Naval Intelligence Officer's head. "Including you." As a man charged forward Jaune magnetically attached the shotgun to his back, ducked, and sliced across the man's throat with the combat knife.
"For too long you have tortured innocents in your own grand schemes!" Jaune was now shouting as he was tossing aside anyone running at or away from him as a person in brown and yellow Mjolnir Mark 4 with an EVA helmet with a golden visor took pot shots at them with a BR 55 Battle Rifle. "For too long you hid in the shadows and had assassins eliminate anyone who targeted your rule! NO MORE!"
"We are the Spartans of Remnant! We are the Shields of Remnant, and your poisonous grip will be released from the throats of the innocent!" Jaune finished, as he tossed the one who once basically tortured him head first into the metal floor, breaking his neck. Afterwards, he gazed at the fleeing Paris-Class Frigates and Marathon-Class Heavy Cruisers as Office of Naval Intelligence operatives abandoned Remnant. With a heavy sigh, he saw those that were left.
A total of 77 children had been kidnapped. Of that, only 26 survived Augmentation. Now that the revolt had ended, there were only 8 Spartans left.
"What do we do now?" A female voice said from the brown Mjolnir that held a BR 55.
"We find answers." Jaune said, "We may be the Shields of Remnant...but we need to know more about ourselves...our past...Who we are." With that, the 8 Spartans spread out to find a way back home...
And just in time for the Office of Naval Intelligence base to explode from a fail safe remotely activated; wiping out any signs of the once secret Spartan Training Headquarters.
J-180 had only one lead to find out who he was...The Island of Patch.
For those who want to guess...His Semblance will be basically a non-armor lock Ability from Halo: Reach.
Poll for pairing going up.