Chapter 2: Day 1

If anything, Riflemen were the unsung heroes of either the IMC or Militia. Yes, Pilots, Titans, SPECTRES, Reapers, and Stalkers could easily obliterate a squad. But what differentiates them is their indomitable will. They are painfully aware their existence is close to moot, but they fight until their last breath. Even the best Pilots find themselves less spirited than their Grunt brethren at times.

Jack had learned a few things since their encounter on the cliff: The weird old guy's name was Ozpin, the lady was Glynda, and they were at a combat school. So at least it wasn't a full boot camp. Cooper and BT found themselves in the middle of a large auditorium. They were stage right, alongside Ozpin and Glynda. Ozpin was apparently grouping 4 teens at a time into a squad, each squad name almost too conveniently being a color. Now that he noticed it, everybody seemed to be wearing one color or another. Another set of students walked onto the stage and stood formally before Ozpin.

"Bolt Persia. Inq Stein. Grayson Clear. Eco Gree. You each retrieved the White Bishop pieces. From now on you shall be known as team Beige."

The audience clapped as the four walked off. What kind of luck gets these kids on a color team? Seriously? Cooper thought.

Though a lot of the attention was toward the recruits, Cooper felt many eyes at him and BT. His Titan also acknowledged this.

"Cooper, approximately fifty-four percent of the audience has their attention to us."

"Yeah, BT, but if you keep talking, you'll raise it to a hundred."

"Improbable. I predict that at maximum, eighty percent of the room's attention will be on us. This occasion appears to be essential on this world's society."

"Bein' sarcastic buddy."

Cooper watched as another set of kids walked on stage. These four seemed more colorful than the other teams, and not because of their clothing. For one, there was the orange haired girl in the pink skirt, who couldn't seem to stop jittering about. Cooper could tell that she'd be bouncing off the walls if it weren't for this occasion. To her left there was the green-shirted kid who walked very formally. He seemed more relaxed, but that's all Cooper got at face value.

Next was a red haired girl in what seemed to be ancient armor. She had a similar presence to the kid with the green, but Cooper could read right away her nervousness being up there. Then the last kid went up. He was tall, blonde, but pretty lanky for an aspiring warrior. He seemed to stumble on stage, and struggled with formalities.

He was not meant to be there.

Cooper could definitely tell. Even Riflemen had their formalities down. However, the Pilot noted whatever the kid lacked physically, he could probably make up for in tactics.

Not unlike Bish.

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie," Ozpin started, "The four of you retrieved the White Rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as… Team Juniper!"

The audience slowly began to clap, and Nora jumped to hug Ren.

"Led by, Jaune Arc!"

The boy gestured to himself, shocked. He was promptly slapped on the back by Pyrrha, causing him to fall over, much to the humor of the audience. Cooper was about to intervene, when Pyrrha helped her leader up, and the two seemed to laugh it off. Cooper stopped, and walked back to his spot.

Earn this, kid.

The Pilot thought back to the Militia. Briggs and Bish weren't too far of from Jaune, either. Their inexperience did incur many losses early, but the growth of their tactics allowed them to be the stuff of Militia legend.

The rest of the event was pretty standard. The only other teams of note were an all male team, lead by a kid of pure muscle, and an all female team, led by what looked like to be a child. Cooper looked to BT, who kept on observing the audience. Ozpin announced that the ceremony was over. Cooper ushered himself and BT out of the room as everybody else filed out. They found themselves outside of the campus, illuminated by the moonlight. Cooper claimed onto BT's shoulder and laid down, resting his head on BT's shoulder launcher.

This isn't home, but it's home for these guys.

"BT, guess this is a good place as any to rest. Wanna power down?"

"Request noted. I will rest, Jack. Powering systems down."

Cooper felt BT lower himself to the ground, going into a crouch position.

"Good night, buddy."

Cooper was just closing his eyes when Opzin arrived. He walked to the front of BT, staring into his eye. Ozpin raised and eyebrow and looked at Cooper.

"Jack. Why not head inside? I assure you that there are more comfortable places to rest on campus."

The Pilot leaned forward, seriously taking his offer. Ultimately, he shook his head. Ozpin gave a questioning look as to why.

"Thanks, Oz, really. You've been really open to BT and I… but it's been far too long since we've had a quiet night like this."

Ozpin nodded, and walked away. Cooper went back to lying down, and finally slept after such a long time in action. Maybe the quiet here wasn't so bad after all.

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Cooper woke when he heard the sound of the bell. BT woke up as well, almost knocking Cooper over. He yelped as BT righted himself.

"Sorry, Jack."

Cooper reassuringly patted BT's shoulder, and saw a nearby clock: 8:45. He decided to adjust his helmet's internal clock to that time. They had been all over the place lately. He also sent this adjustment to BT, who silently accepted the new time. Cooper jumped of his Titan's shoulder, and started to walk, waving for BT to follow. The campus was huge, and to Cooper, could be a city on its own. He came across a massive statue, of what appeared to be two warriors on a rock, proudly standing over one of those wolves from earlier.

But they're called Huntsman and Huntresses here, aren't they?

The sound of panicked running caused him to turn around. It was Team JNPR and Team RWBY running across the campus. Cooper shook his head, chuckling.

He thought back to his old drill sergeant. He woke up three minutes too late to his first Rifleman training, which caused the sergeant to go completely ape-shit on the poor man. Two hours and a jog in underwear later, Cooper was never late again.

He heard two sets of footsteps behind him. BT was the first to greet them.

"Hello, Headmaster Ozpin. Professor Goodwitch. What do you require of Pilot Cooper and I today?"

The Headmaster took a sip of his drink.

"Thank you for the formalities, BT. For now, I'll need both of you to observe anything that goes on with this year of freshman. Something tells me this will be an… interesting year."

"New directive acquired: analyze entire freshman class for anomalies. Seek out threats and exterminate. Poweri-"

"No, BT, we're not at war here. Just, wait for now."

Cooper didn't know what to do. What was BT to do outside of combat? He hadn't really had time with him otherwise. He took off all his weapons, and grabbed a Wingman Elite hidden in BT's leg. He checked the time. 8:58. Shit. He began walking toward the class, giving BT an order.

"BT, you uh, stay here, and… guard this statue! Yeah, don't let any hostiles near it. Oz and Goodwitch will stay with you. Take orders from them when I'm gone!"

He turned to keep walking, and felt Glynda's eyes pierce the back of his skull.

Can't blame her, she's gotta deal with teens all the time.

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"... But I merely refer to them as prey!" Cooper heard as he walked into the class. He leaned back on the wall and took his surroundings in. It looked like a standard academic lecture hall. The man talking was a plump man in red, with a big mustache. His eyebrows seemingly covered the entirety of his eyes when he talked, and to top his quirks, he had a bust of himself behind his desk. Cooper found the teacher's name plaque on his desk. Professor Peter Port. What a mouthful.

Cooper could feel the awkward silence. Port coughed into his fist.

"Um, and you shall too, upon graduation of this prestigious academy! So as I was saying, Vale, and the other three kingdoms, are havens in an otherwise treacherous world. Our planet is absolutely teeming with creatures that would love nothing more than to tear you to pieces."

He walked to the opposite side of the lecture hall, placing his hands behind his back. He pointed a proud finger up.

"That's where we come in! Hunters! Huntresses! Individuals who have sworn to protect those who can't protect themselves! From what you ask? The whole world!"

Nobody said a word.

Looking around awkwardly, Port spotted Cooper at the back of the class. He decided it was this time to point him out to everyone.

"Ah! I see we have a guest today! And who might you be, sir or madam?"

All eyes faced Jack instantly. He took a deep breath. He couldn't reveal too much about himself all at once.

"Name's Jack Cooper. Out there, I'm a soldier, but for now, I'm here just for some R&R."

"So you're from Atlas, young man?"

Time to put on the ruse.

"Yeah. I am."

Cooper looked around again, the students even more confused now. He noticed a girl in a white dress, give him a more inquisitive look, scanning his entire being.

"Then come on down, Sir Cooper! I'm sure these students will enjoy a story of yours, since you see battle often, don't you?"

"Yeah, I guess."

He began to walk down the the lecture stage, keeping everyone within his peripheral vision. As he got to the bottom, he turned back to face the class. It was pretty sparse. Cooper formed up, and coughed loudly into his fist to wake anyone up.

"Thank you for the honors, Professor. Now listen up. I want to keep this short, seeing as this is not my class. So let's get started."

Jack slowly took his helmet off, letting his hair and beard run free. He ran his hands through his hair to adjust it. He probably reeked of sweat, considering his hair was more unkempt than usual. He shook those thoughts aside for now.

"I've been fighting for what feels like years now. Hell, it's probably been years at this point. Again, i'm keeping things short, so I'll just drop some advice. One: Never lose sight of your mission. Even when the deck is stacked and your enemy surrounds you, you gotta push until you can't anymore. Two: Never lose sight of your team. You'll never make it without their support. Trust me on that one."

BT-7274. Lastimosa. The 6-4. The Milita.

"Any questions?"

The big jock kid from Team CRDL raised his hand first.

"So, what rank are you?" he said with a sneer.

Cooper stood for a few seconds. Should I say Pilot, or something else? He then smiled.

"That's classified, young man."

He had to resist the urge to laugh as a few people's jaws dropped.

He pointed to the girl in the skirt from earlier, who had her hand raised.

"Just what do you think you know about what's out there?"

The question hit him fast. He didn't expect that one. He kept playing along.

"I don't know what you mean."

"You know exactly what I mean. You're not from Atlas, are you?"

Cooper stared.

"Just as I figured. I would know who and what my company is involved with, and you are not part of it!"

The Pilot felt the eyes of the room turn suspicious on him. Though she was a know it all, it was working right now.

"Really, now? And with this knowledge, do you think you're prepared to fight what's out there?"

She stood up and placed her hands on the desk. She seemed to quickly give a glare at the girl in red next to her.

"As a Schnee… of course I'm ready!"

RWBY. That's where Jack remembered them. Before he could make any other points, Port interrupted the conversation.

"Perfect timing, Sir Cooper! Miss Schnee, if you would believe yourself to be an able Huntress, then come down and face your opponent!"

Wait, I'm not fighting her, am I? Cooper thought. She ran down to the stage, almost a bit too quickly. She made a stance at Jack, causing him to flinch a little.

"No, Miss Schnee. He is not your opponent today."

Port had made his way to a large cage in the back of the room. He held his Blunderbuss in his hands.

"This is your opponent today! Face him!"

The cage rattled, and something inside it roared. The girl turned to face the cage, and Jack stepped back to the base of the stairs. He found himself next to her team. They gave their compliments, starting with the blonde one.

"You go Weiss!"

"Do your best!"

The one in red was the most enthusiastic.

"KILL IT WEISS WE BELIEVE IN YOU!"

Weiss whipped her head to the girl.

"Ruby, quiet! I need to focus."

"Oh. Sorry."

Ruby shrunk in her seat. That was pretty hostile, even if it was true. Port raised his axe near the cage.

"Let your test begin… now!"

He slammed the axe down, breaking the lock on the cage. The front slowly fell over, landing on the floor with a massive slam. A silence reigned over the class. Cooper looked on in interest. Four glowing red eyes seemed to open, and the Beast burst out into the class, causing Cooper to jump back. The Grimm appeared to be a large boar, like the ones Cooper's family farmed. Four tusks protruded from the sides of its face, and it huffed to no end. The room went silent as the Weiss and her opposition circled each other.

She charged first.

Weiss struck at the boar's face, which it brushed aside with its tusks, sending her flying. She landed on her feet, angrily glaring. She jumped in the air, summoning a… symbol which allowed her to gain more height. The boar had almost no time to react as she dashed down and grazed its side. It squealed, and ran near the stairs. Weiss charged another symbol behind her. It spun, and she was about to dash-

"Go Weiss!"

The shout caused her to stumble, and her glyph disappeared. The Grimm roared. It jumped in the air, spinning quickly into a ball. It gained momentum, and charged right for her. She raised her hands as it was about to hit her.

POW!

Cooper's Wingman smoked, and he spun it before holstering it.

Damn, I've always wanted to do that.

AN: School is busy. Been swamped but trust me I still want to do this!