Ok, so just to be clear, this is a futuristic military AU, mainly inspired by CoD:AW and Masterpick's story, Guns n Roses. He helped me edit this and he's been beta reading this for me, so huge thanks to him. Go check out his page, he's a great writer.
But anyway, I hope you enjoy this new story!
Ruby Rose's eyes slowly fluttered open as she was woken from her dream by a series of yelling and loud clunks. A voice startled her as it broke through the daze she was currently in.
"Is everything alright, Miss Rose?" the voice asked, calm and strangely welcoming.
She looked to her right to see a grey haired man giving her a warm smile. She recognised this man as General Ozpin.
"Yes, sir. Just fine." she replied quickly, not wanting to ruin her calm and relaxed vibe she was trying to give off, not wanting to seem unfit for Beacon, evident by the sweat on the inside of her palms. The older man nodded and gestured behind him. Ruby was in a large car, something that seemed like a big transport truck. She had just been transported from Patch to Vale. The city and the kingdom.
"Well, you might want to get moving. I'm sure you'll have a lot to do today." he suggested.
Ruby just nodded and shuffled over in her seat to swing her legs out of the door and pushed herself up and out of the vehicle.
She took note of how beautiful Vale was on the way here, the vast, rolling hills that she passed on the way, but they were nothing compared to Beacon, the large military base that stood only a few miles away from the main city.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Ozpin asked, noticing the look of awe on the young girl's face. Ruby was amazed at how pretty the base was, even if it seemed a little boring.
"Y-yes! It's amazing." she said, sounding a little too excited. Ozpin began to walk forwards and Ruby followed.
They had just gone through the main gate, a large wall of 3 foot thick concrete, reinforced with iron rebar, with a split in the middle, held in place with a number of magnetic locks, among other kinds. Before them was the main road, an asphalt path that led down to an open area. Ruby gazed to the right of the road, eyeing what would have looked like a soccer field, if not for the soldiers following the commands and routines of a holographic trainer.
Each of those soldiers glinted with frames along their arms and legs that didn't resemble any military equipment that Ruby immediately recognized. Even when craning her head to study them, she still couldn't grasp what exactly she was seeing. That is, until she turned to her left.
"Whoa…" Ruby's eyes widened, recognition dawning in them as she gazed upon two soldiers about to start an obstacle course. Their arms and legs were attached to a sort of metal exoskeleton, all the beams of which ran to their backs to a central harness that appeared to be like a hard backpack. Even their hands were lined with the skeleton, and judging from the way they moved- a certain spring in their steps, with much more force than what should be there- the suits were powered on. Every time one of them moved, the suit responded with a metallic, electrical buzz or whir. The user provided the input, the suit provided the raw strength, and the backpack on their backs provided the power.
All of a sudden, one of them turned, and with a running start, leaped over a wall, the first obstacle of the course. No hesitation, and with seemingly no effort from the operator. He just… jumped. Ruby knew exactly what they were: Exo-Suits, or just Exos as she'd heard. Here they were. Right in front of her.
"Wow. They're amazing." Ruby gawked, still walking, too busy watching the trained soldiers bounce around the course. She had seen such devices in videos on the news but never thought she'd be able to see one up close.
"Those are our exo-suits. External frames that are fixed to our soldiers, and aid them out in the field. With them, our men are capable of the most amazing physical feats. After we get you settled in, I could show you around that sector of the facility, if you like." the general offered.
Ruby's eyes lit up as she nodded enthusiastically. "That would be great!" she yelled with excitement. She quickly recoiled and jumped back, shocked that she let herself have a small outburst like that, especially in front of her superior.
The older man just laughed, amused by her fear. "Don't worry, Ruby. I'm not as strict as others. You don't have to be so formal." Ozpin told the young girl.
Ruby relaxed and sighed in relief. "That's good to know."
"Indeed. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but you do have a sister enlisted here, do you not?" Ozpin asked, knowing he was right but he still asked anyway.
Ruby's head snapped up and her eyes lit up, once again. "Yeah. I actually forgot all about Yang." she said quietly, blushing.
Ozpin just nodded as they continued walking. "Your sister is a wonderful soldier, I must say. She has been with our spec ops unit for a while. Coming on three years. Yes, Miss Xiao Long is one of our best." he added, with an unusual sense of pride.
As they strolled down the main road, a soldier in a small electric cart rolled past but stopped in front of Ozpin. It was silent and the tires rolled smoothly along the ground.
A man with long blonde hair, slicked back and into a cow lick popped his head to the side and looked back at the general.
"Need a ride, sir?" the blonde man asked.
Ozpin looked at Ruby who just shrugged. "Of course. Ruby, this is Dusk. He's a specialist of ours, here at Beacon." Ozpin said, gesturing to the blonde man in the car.
"This another recruit of yours?" Dusk asked teasingly. Ruby clearly took it as mockery and frowned, feeling a little down with her welcome to Beacon.
"Relax, Ruby. He's just kidding." Ozpin said, comforting the smaller girl.
Ruby nodded and reverted back to her usual, happy self, her smile returning to her face as she let her gaze drift upwards to the beautiful setting.
"Hop in." Dusk instructed, nodding his head towards the back of the car he was in. Ozpin opened up the door and gestured to the back seat. Ruby climbed in and was surprised to see another person in the back seat with her. It was a boy, about the same age as Ruby, if not a few years older. He had golden blonde hair and was wriggling about in his seat and playing with a small bracelet on his wrist.
"Hi. I'm Ruby." she blurted out, without even thinking.
The boy was caught off-guard by the sudden introduction. "H-hey. My name's Jaune." he managed to stutter.
Dusk laughed from the front seat. "If a girl saying 'hi' startles you, then I don't know how you're gonna be a soldier."
Dusk began to move the small cart forward after Ozpin got in the front seat. They headed down the wide path and arrived at a small gate. A few drones passed overhead and stopped in front of the gate, scanning the vehicles and people who wished to pass through. A man in a large mech-like suit stood tall at the gate, waiting for the drones to finish so he could personally inspect the vehicles. He came to the cart that Ruby and the others sat in and stopped. He eyed Ruby cautiously through the mask that covered his face. The suit encased his body, raising his height to about 8 feet tall. He had thick armor plating that slid over his shoulders and around his stomach from the back, but rested on his shoulders and back while not in combat. There was a small minigun that rested on the suits upper arm, sliding down to replace the suit's hands when firing. The face mask had a clear, bulletproof visor and a thick metal plating that covered from the nose downwards. It stood tall over them and made Ruby feel like he could wipe out an entire attacking force, should the base ever be attacked.
"Let them through!" he called out to the drones. They must have had a camera so the operator could tell whether to open or close the gate. "Sorry for the hold up, General." he apologised quickly, stepping to the side, almost diminishing Ruby's fear of him attacking them.
Ozpin nodded and Dusk drove through the gate. There were about eight large residential buildings, almost resembling those of Atlas. She had never been to the kingdom but she had seen documentaries and pictures. The tall, pristine white structures towered above the clean roads below, giving off a certain intimidating look.
"And this is where our soldiers stay." Ozpin pointed out.
Ruby thought for a moment before asking "So, will I be able to see my sister any time soon?"
Dusk stopped the cart in front of one the buildings and exchanged glances with Ozpin. Dusk nodded and Ozpin turned back around to face Ruby.
"Dusk can take you to see her after you settle in." the older man told her, exciting Ruby.
Dusk handed Ruby a radio. "Let me know when you want to get going." was all he said to her before gesturing for them to get out of the cart.
"Your belongings should have already been delivered to your rooms. Your doors should be unlocked and your keys will be on the table." Ozpin said, before turning around and returning to the cart and getting back in, driving away with Dusk.
Ruby and Jaune stepped inside the large building and looked around. They were surprised to see only rooms. There was a long hallway to their right and all the way at the end was a staircase. The two began to walk down the long corridor.
"So. What's up?" Ruby asked, trying to make conversation. "So… where are you from?" the young girl asked. Jaune shrugged off the question and asked his own. "I don't really want to talk about it. So where are you from?"
"I'm from Patch. I was in the local military back at Signal." she answered.
"So, where are our rooms?" the girl asked. Ruby laughed at his awkward response.
"I'm pretty sure our rooms are on the top floor." he informed her, looking down at the floor to avoid eye contact.
"How do you know about my room?" Ruby asked suspiciously. Jaune laughed nervously before Ruby nudged him with her elbow.
"I'm just kidding. All new recruits rooms are on the highest floor." she said, hearing Jaune let out a sigh of relief.
They kept on walking for a while. Ruby idly hummed to herself and counted along the numbers on the doors. At every one ending with a zero she skipped a little, trying to keep her blood pumping or some other reason she didn't quite understand herself. After counting almost a hundred doors, they came to their rooms. They were right next to each other. Jaune put his hand on a pad on the door and it beeped before the locks released and the door opened.
"That's weird. Ozpin said the doors would be unlocked." Ruby stated. Jaune shrugged.
"Doesn't really matter." he said, brushing it off. "Well, see you around, I guess." Jaune said before entering his room and closing the door.
Ruby placed her hand on the door pad, just as her new friend did. It beeped twice and Ruby heard some sort of electronic lock inside the door release with a click, echoing through the empty hallway. As she swing the door open, her eyes narrowed at the sight of how small the room was. It couldn't have been any bigger than ten feet wide and fifteen feet long. A cubby had been cut into the wall and adorned with bedding, compact enough to resemble a standard cot. Ruby turned around, frowning at the beige coloring of the walls with no paintings or pictures. Everything was… plain. However, her expression perked up at the sight of the holographic screen on the wall and the wooden coffee table where a small bottle sat. Ruby crouched to look at a small plastic card with her picture on it, sitting atop her suitcase against one of the walls. Her new Vale ID, complete with numbers and codes that would serve as her keycard and proximity badge.
Ruby changed clothes, grabbed Dusk's radio and exited her room, locking the door behind her. She bounded to the end of the hall and down the many flights of stairs before reaching the bottom. She stepped outside the building and reached for the radio Joker gave her. She pressed down the button and spoke into the device.
"Dusk? I'm ready." she said briefly, waiting for a response.
Dusk pulled up in front of her in a matter of seconds.
"Let's go find your sister, then."