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Rebounder 1904:
Twisted ~ It will follow the story until/unless I find a situation in which a Spart would change the ouctome, i.e. an actual fight or anything Spartan training and equipment would help in.
Top Hat:
Twisted ~ According to the Halo and RWBY Wikis respectively, Noble Six is six feet nine inches, and Jaune Arc is six feet one inches. I thought the latter was a couple inches taller than he is, and made a minor mistake. I will have it corrected prior to this update, thanks for the point out.
The classified bit was a misstep but only slightly. While they were technically classified as far as I know, they were still well known. Enough that Marines and ODSTs could gossip about them, but still far from what would be appropriate for people to make movies on. If I am mistaken, I will simply treat it as Six being out of touch.
Not a chest stab. Lower abdomen. Mild correction, that, with its own issues. Kind of a lucky stab sort of thing, but you are right. I will address it soon. Thanks again.
And I would be more than happy to give you access to the Doc for edits and lore checks if you wish, just toss me your G-Mail (or equivalent) and I'll do so.
Guest-0001:
Twisted ~ Read the above, guest. I also edited the chapter, so Jaune is the only one mentioned, as he is the tallest.
Review Response Note:
I always do these, the length depending on Review. I try to respond to all but the 'Good work' ones and similar. Apologies if this offends, it's just my style. ANs after this one will always be at the bottom of the chapter, after the Supporter section and Review Responses.
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"Uh, sir?" Six turned, looking down at Ruby as the others packed up camp and he stood, watching for threats warily with his rifle in his hands. She was holding a small box, and bit her lip nervously in what Six supposed a Marine might find cute. "Your, uh, side. You're hurt, and it looks bad, and I have medicine and I don't want you hurting, so I-"
"Plasmas sword impalement." Six cut her off, turning slightly in respect, "Missed my vital organs, and is cauterised. A disinfectant and a bandage would serve the purpose, the injectors won't last forever."
"Um, okay. I don't know what a plasma sword is, but…" She held up the box to him, "Do you want me to bandage it? I'm not very good, but I have basic first aid training. Unless you'd prefer to do it yourself, I mean."
He almost refused, falling back to old habits, when he heard Carter's voice echo in his head, "That Lone Wolf stuff stays behind you." Chuckling quietly, which thoroughly confused the poor girl, he stepped past her and sat on a rock, laying the rifle against it with the business end resting in the dirt and his hand on the butt of the gun, "If you wish to do it, by all means. It is good practice, after all, and my armor will prevent any complications."
"Uh, okay?" She half-said, half asked, setting the box down and fishing out a small, spraying bottle with a brown label on the front labeled 'Emergency Disinfectant' and smaller words he didn't care to read, and a bandage roll. "This should take care of it, and let your Aura hel the rest."
He muted his speakers and lifted his left arm while she worked, choosing to address Dot while she bandaged his side with a pursed lip, "Dot, do you have access to your satellite?"
"Negative, Noble Six. I have been disconnected with the main server for my systems since the explosion. I am currently running on your MJOLNIR's suit's power supply and using what information I have stored on it. Should you wish for me to have more robust information reserves, I will need a server base."
"Damn." He un-muted his speakers and looked down at the girl, finishing up wrapping the bandage around his torso in a way that wouldn't tear if he turned in his armor, "I don't have 'Aura', Ruby. I never have in my life, and likely can't."
"Oh…" She said, sounding sad for a second before shaking her head and smiling brightly like many medics he'd seen do for dying and wounded soldiers, "Well, you'll be fine anyways. I'm sure of it, the stab doesn't look that bad."
He nodded, standing up after she finished packing up the supplies and hefting his rifle effortlessly, watching them all hoist their packs on their backs while he didn't have one, "Do you have an extra pack? I can carry one as well."
"You're hurt, nameless blue stranger~!" Nora said brightly, shrugging like that explained everything and starting to walk. He looked to the others who all shrugged or shook their heads as well, and then followed behind them, head on a swivel and eyes on his radar for anything bigger than a squirrel. "When are you going to introduce yourself? Or do we need to point guns at you~?"
He almost laughed, shaking his head instead and following behind them, "My designation is Spartan B312, code name Noble Six." He said simply, Ruby and Nora both giving him an odd look, turning and raising their eyebrows at him, "What? That's what I was ordered to go by."
"But what's your actual name?" Jaune asked, turning his head slightly to look at him from the corner of his eye, "Not, like, a code phrase or anything, your real name? The one your mother gave you."
"I don't have one." He said simply, the four stopping in the middle of the path and turning to give him strange looks.
"It would appear you have confused them, Noble Six." Dot helpfully supplied, annoying the Spartan slightly.
"How do you not have a real name?" Ruby asked quietly, confusion as clear in her voice as it was on her face, "Everyone has a name, how do you not have one?"
"I don't need one." He dismissed simply, shrugging lightly and striding past them, "I go by Six, usually, or Spartan. Either works, since I really don't think you'll see any other Spartans on this planet. There were never very many of us, and now..."
"'And now' what?" Jaune asked, falling in step beside him, a hand resting on his sword's pommel at his waist and looking at the Spartan, "What do you mean? Did something happen?"
"Classified. Mostly, anyways. Most of the Spartans I know of are dead now." Six shrugged lightly, sighing audibly when the blonde merely raised an eyebrow, "Killed in Action, unofficially at least. They died defending Reach, our home…"
"The Grimm." Ren muttered, not a question but a statement. A wrong one, but that was a correction the Spartan elected not to make, instead letting it hang. Not a lie, not the truth. It was his assumption to make, really, "And you were orphaned young, so you have forgotten your name…"
"I was… adopted, I suppose. All the Spartans were. By a scientist, who asked us for help. We agreed to it, and she made us stronger and faster than a normal soldier could ever be." He sighed almost wistfully, if a four-or-so ton killing machine could do anything wistfully, "Three hundred of us, and for all I know I am the last on this planet…"
"A last remnant on Remnant?" Ruby started quietly after a second, giggling behind him for a few seconds before Nora joined him, followed by Jaune quickly. Only the Spartan and Ren remained quiet as they walked on, until the others calmed, "I… am sorry, though. You lost… three hundred people close to you? Were they… actually family, or…?"
"They were my brothers and sisters." Six said simply, reaching up to tap his helmet, "Each one bled with the others and for the others, and died doing their duty." 'I should have died doing it as well…' "Some are alive, I think, and probably still fighting. Just like me."
They were quiet for a long time, walking through the woods, Six in the lead now while Jaune looked at a map and talked quietly with Ruby. Six grimaced when he spotted a small town down the road, the buildings marred with burns, gouges and blood, and raised his rifle, sinking into an easy half-crouch, stopping in the path and turning his head, "Alert."
They all looked up at once, stepping past Six in apparent horror, and he sighed when they stepped into his firing line thoughtlessly. Then he growled in outright agitation when the group took off, into the village, and Jaune dropped the map as he went. Six plucked it from the air easily, folding it easily and sliding it into the hardcase at his leg before standing fully and fast walking into the village.
He could see them arguing, Nora leaning over a man leaning against a small wall in the center of what looked like a road. The Spartan stopped at the gate, stepping through and snapping his rifle left and right, looking for the slightest hint of ambush, before he walked slowly into the road, head constantly turning as he approached the group's back, kneeling when he stood behind Ruby, the hem of her skirt just barely under the bulk of his shoulder, "Report."
She 'eeped', turning to look at the kneeling soldier for a second before she understood what he wanted, "Oh, um, we found a Hunstman. He's hurt really badly, though, so… I don't know how to help him, none of us do. We're going to make a litter and carry him, hope he makes it."
Standing, the Spartan put the rifle on his back and drew his Magnum, stepping past the girl and kneeling on the man's other side, Nora looking up at him with clear concern. The man looked up at him, clearly exhausted and almost gone, and the Spartan reached down and cupped his chin, "What happened here, sir? Are there still hostiles in the area?" He looked down at the wound, the stab obviously human inflicted to him. A sharp, thin blade, probably a sword. "Who stabbed you?"
The man tried to speak, only managing a slight grunt and groan, and Ruby slapped him on his helmet, surprising the Spartan, "He is hurt, Six! He needs help, not… not an interrogation!"
"I was trying to make sure it was safe, so we could treat him, Ruby." Six grunted, shaking his head lightly and sighing, "Nora, dig in your pack and get a pillow and some blankets. Ruby, I need your first aid kit. Jaune, Ren, overwatch with Nora, I'll need Ruby to assist with the treatment." Six looked up, gauging the time as best he could with the sun on the foreign planet, "If it looks like it will be dark within three hours, then-"
"Six…" Nora muttered, making the Spartan turn to look at her, and then the man below them, "He's…"
"Dead." Six confirmed dryly, leaning back from the body and shaking his head before standing, "Bled to death. Nothing we could have done, even if we'd known we couldn't have done anything for him without fresh blood packs matching his BT."
"How can you possibly know that?" Jaune demanded hotly, stepping closer to him with his hand on his sword, "We could have stabilised him and gotten him to Mistral!"
Six leaned down, pressing his visor close to the blonde, and spoke lowly, "If we'd gotten here three hours ago, I could have field dressed his wounds and we could have carried him, he would have survived for one day. Will we reach Mistral at the speed we can move while carrying and tending to a wounded, dying man?" The blonde hesitated and Six leaned back, stepping past him and replacing the Magnum on his thigh, "Even then, he would have almost certainly died in the hospital there, for the same reasons. As for how I know this…" He turned to them again, shrugging slightly, "I have watched plenty of soldiers bleed out, I have the timing down to a sense. It's… something you get used to."
Retrieving the map, he handed it to Ruby and she took it, though she did so with an uncomfortable look, "We have to bury him first."
Six almost argued, almost told them that there were probably dozens of corpses around them under rubble or behind things or in buildings. Almost left them too, heading out on his own and following the path until he found someone who could direct him to somewhere that would help him contact HighCom. But he sighed instead and nodded, turning and walking towards a sturdy looking tower, "There may be enemies out there, I'll get up high and give you cover while you do it. If I say to run, do so, I'll cover your retreat and follow."
"Okay, Six…" Ruby said quietly, almost defeatedly, making Six pause. He considered saying something, but chose against it after a moment. There was no reason to try and make the girl feel better. She'd be fine anyways, in a day or two, or she wouldn't. Neither outcome was his business.
An hour later, Six looked down at Ruby waving up at him, gesturing for him to come down, and he nodded. Stepping from the top of the three story tower, he heard several yells of alarm before he slammed into the paved ground, sinking to a knee heavily before rising easily and adjusting his rifle, looking at them for a second before asking, "Are we prepared to move?"
"Uh, yeah… We should have a few more hours of daylight, so we want to get as far as we can." Jaune said slowly, looking at him for a second before turning and leading them down the path. Six waited for them to head out, taking the rear position once again, head swivelling as they walked in constant watch.
Ren slowed, walking next to Six for several seconds before speaking, "Where do you come from, exactly? You told us some of your story, but not where the story happened, and we're all curious about it, I'm sure."
"Nowhere any of you would recognize." Six evaded simply, eyes narrowing behind his helmet, "I don't see why it matters, really."
"It matters because people we barely know have already killed-" Jaune paused, almost flinching, and Six understood before he even continued. "Already taken two of our friends, because… Because we just let them in, didn't question them. We won't let it happen again."
Six was quiet for several moments before he spoke again, "My home is a place called Reach, my adopted mother a scientist named Catherine Halsey. My teammates were named Jorge, Kat, Carter, Jun and Emile, and all of them died in front of me, one after another. Some died protecting me, or because of me. Others…" he thought of Kat, and the Elite in the Phantom, "Others because of bad luck. I almost died as well, in the end." He turned to Ren, voice hard and gestured at the woods around them with his off hand, "Then I woke up in your camp, here." Left unsaid was that it was off the planet, of course, but he had a teasing feeling that idea would never cross their minds. "I understand suspicion, but I can do nothing about it right now. Best to keep moving on."
No one responded, and the rest of the day passed in relative silence, though Six noted that all except Ruby were tense, likely because of him. He resigned himself to it. Spartans faced that enough, and he was no different.
They'd learn, after the first fight. Everyone always did appreciate a Spartan after the first time they saw them in a fight.
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That night, they were sitting at the campfire quietly, Six sitting cross-legged on one side while the others sat clustered together on the other. A pot hung on a metal tripod, and Ren was leaning over it, cooking their meal for the night, when Six elected to gather some information at Dot's insistence, "Who did you lose?"
Jaune was the first to answer, after several seconds of silence, "My… My partner, Pyrrha. She was killed fighting the one that destroyed our Academy, trying to… Do something, I don't know."
"My sister lost her arm, and my friend, Penny, was killed by someone named Emerald…" Ruby looked incredibly sad for a moment, smiling forlornly at him, "She pretended to be my friend, and I thought she liked me… But she killed her anyways… And I feel like… I don't know, like I failed to see it coming, because she was my friend."
"She was an infiltrator, like I used to be, once upon a time." Six dismissed readily, shrugging when she looked at him in surprise, "She was trained to do what she did, Ruby. You are in no way at fault for it, I doubt you were ever trained to see that manner of attack coming."
"He's right." Ren agreed, stirring the food and turning to look at her, "I didn't notice it either, am I at fault for Penny's death? Jaune didn't either, or Nora, or anyone else. Even Beacon's staff seem to have failed to see her as what she was."
"No one did." Nora agreed, reaching over to hold Ruby's hand. Six flexed his own twice in thought, looking at the sign of affection, before he turned his visor to the fire, "You lost your team too, Six. Are you okay?"
"Yes." He said immediately, staring at the fire and refusing to meet her eyes, "I am, and they were, soldiers. Fighting is what we do, and dying is what happens when you fight."
"That doesn't mean you're okay though." Ruby argued, the Spartan turning his visor towards her. She smiled slightly at him, "It's okay not to be okay with that, you know?"
He turned away, standing in one fluid motion and hefting his rifle, "No, it is not. Not for a Spartan, at least. Ours is not to question why, ours is but to do and die."
"I thought the saying was do or die?" Jaune muttered from behind him.
"Not for a Spartan." He said shortly, thinking about Jorge and walking away, "I'm going to do a patrol around the perimeter, don't wait up for me. I'll be back in a few hours."
"I think we made him mad." Nora quipped, sighing tiredly and flopping onto the ground.
"I think he's just hurting inside, and I don't think his 'mother' was a very good one." Ren offered, shaking his head and checking the food, "The stew is done."
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Six kept walking through the forest for several hours, eyes roving the forest around the campsite as he patrolled, mind lost in memories of Noble Team, trying to school his emotions and bring them under his power again, "Your heart rate is elevating and I am detecting indicators of high stress, Noble Six. Are you well?"
"I'm fine, Dot." He snapped quietly, shaking his head as though it would dislodge the AI.
"I am detecting multiple factors that would lead me to believe that to not be the case. I recommend that you-"
"Dot, stop talking until tomorrow. That's an order." The AI fell dutifully silent and Six nodded, continuing his plodding through the forest, and trying to forget Reach and Noble. He looked to the stars, standing in a very small clearing, and grunted.
Not a single constellation he recognized…
Just that shattered moon.
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Twisted ~ So, does this count as angst? I think it might. Eh. Apologies. I have to give RNJR and Six things to bond over short-term, so they want to stick together, and this makes sense. At least to me.
Anyways, thanks for reading, please consider leaving a Review and visiting my Youtube channel, the Temple Walkers. We are shortly going to have our rented studio back, and will be building our own shortly after that. Let us know what you want to see, and let me know what you want to read!
