So I decided it would be best to update this story as soon as possible, so here it is. The next chapter of the Praesidium Initiative. Enjoy!
It was the next day. Ollie got up early in the morning, like he always had the past decade and a half. All the other's were asleep so he decided to leave them be and go out for a morning stroll. He slid off of his hammock that hung from the ceiling and landed with a soft, almost inaudible thump. Slipping on a hoodie and pulling on some pants, he walked out the door. On the way out, he slipped his Magnum into his belt, along with a couple clips of ammo. He then noticed that one of the bunks was empty, namely, Blake's.
Walking down through the halls and out onto the foyer Ollie stepped outside and into the crisp morning air. The sunrise had the skies painted several shades of red and orange, and gave the Spartan a somewhat peaceful feeling he had not felt in a long time. He decided to go for his typical morning jog. A quick 10km warm-up, 50 push ups, and 50 sit-ups, though decided to forgo the chin-ups. After sit-ups, he decided to hit the firing range. He did have his Magnum with him, and he could always machine some more rounds in the workshop and black powder was easy for him to make.
Finding the room labelled "Firing Range" Ollie walked in and grabbed his Magnum from his belt. He brought the firearm to bear and started firing away. All of them went straight through the bullseye, except one, which was off by about a nanometre.
"Shit, looks like I'll have to try again."
He smirked with satisfaction as he got it on the second try.
Blake Belladonna had been having trouble sleeping. She felt like everything was weighing on her. First the arguments with Weiss over the White Fang, and Torchwick, and now having a potentially racist, super strong new fifth teammate, she wasn't feeling like sleeping at all. So she got out of bed early, and decided that today would be a nice day to take a comforting walk. She walked by the firing range and heard several loud gunshots from the room. As she started walking again, the door opened and out walked Oliver Auburn, her new teammate.
"Oh, hey Blake. I know we haven't been properly introduced or anything, but I wondering if I could have a chat with you." He said in a disturbingly flat voice.
Blake gulped.
"What is it?" She asked shakily.
"Is everything alright with your team?" He asked.
Okay, she wasn't expecting that, but she'll roll with it.
"Yeah! Everything is fine. Why do you ask?" She said with a bit too much mock enthusiasm.
"In my line of work, reading people is key, so I need to know. Is everything all right? Ozpin's filled me in on all of the Torchwick drama that's happened, and it isn't pretty. Are you holding up fine?"
Blake gave off a bit of a sigh. There was no holding anything back now.
"No, things aren't going well. Everyone's been acting so despondent. Weiss refuses to talk to me except for class stuff, Yang hasn't been around at all. Ruby has been taking everything the hardest. She hates seeing her friends fight, and we're trying to keep everything to a minimum, but she isn't improving."
"I see. Anything else I should know?"
"Can I tell you a secret? Only Teams RWBY and JNPR, along with Professor Ozpin know."
"Sure, what is it?"
"But can you keep it?"
"I've kept so many secrets, my brain might as well be a vault. Go ahead."
"I- I was a member of the White Fang. I left a while ago, but that doesn't change the fact that-"
It was at this point that Ollie shushed her. "None of that matters now, you are who you are, and they are what they choose to be. Did you choose to be a freedom fighter for all Faunus everywhere? Yes. But did you choose to be a bloodthirsty murderer? No."
This put her a bit at ease. "It still doesn't change the fact that I killed people. Weiss hates me for it. My organization killed dozens of members of her family. They committed daily acts of violence against her family and company."
Her teammate just gave her a calculating look, then responded.
"But do you feel remorse?"
"…Yes."
"Then that's all that matters. The White Fang are terrorists, but that doesn't mean they can't turn back. You are living proof of that."
She visibly relaxed.
"But can I ask you a question now?"
"What is it? Fire away." He said, masking the concern in his voice. She better not have been ruffling through my stuff.
"What is your opinion of the Faunus?"
Good, Thought Oliver. This one's easy.
"I don't really think much of them, but I don't think that much of humans either. We're all living creatures, right? We are all fundamentally the same. You just have cat ears, and we don't. What's the real difference? It's stupid. Really goddamn stupid. All in all, Faunus are cool. I've met some really nice guys, and some assholes, but then again, almost all my human interactions are the same. None of it matters really. It's all about you as an individual, not as a race or as a whole."
Blake let out the last of her worries in one big sigh of relief.
Oliver just smiled. "We should get back to the dorm before the other's worry or jump to conclusions." He said.
"Yeah, let's."
And for the first time in weeks, Blake smiled.
Right before Ruby left to look for Blake, she walked in the door with Ollie, and she was smiling. That was the first time Ruby had seen her do that in a while. The very sight of it brought the spring back into her step. Ollie smirked. All in a day's work.
Class was uneventful, as always. The only fun part was sparring. The arena was set, and one by one, the combatants stepped up to take the stage. Some lasted longer than others, until the last one. Team fights. 4 people would challenge another 4, and there would be a large test of teamwork, fighting style, and combat display. However, today would be different. In the rotation today was the school bully team, Team CRDL. To the stronger teams, they were mostly pushovers, but they could hit you hard if you were unprepared. And today, they had their eyes set on someone to hit.
"OI! Tin-man! We challenge you! Get your ass down here so we can kick it!" Yelled Cardin, the leader of the team.
Ollie just frowned and leaned back in his chair. Blake just looked across at him and shook her head. He had his armour on, but he only had his Magnum on him. He held fast.
"What, you super soldiers cowards or something? I bet you all you special commandos are all pussies, with no skills." He sneered. That was it. He would not have stupid arrogant assholes like him slander the name of his brothers and sisters who had died for him and humanity.
He rose from his chair and nodded at Glynda who just opened the doors for him. He walked out onto the floor saying nothing. He cracked his knuckles menacingly.
"The fight shall be between Team CRDL, who is currently #5 on the standings, and Oliver Auburn of Team RWBY, sitting at #3 on the standings. The battle will commence in 3… 2… 1… FIGHT!"
The four fighters leapt forwards at the Spartan. Idiots.
Oliver rolled to the side and caught the first guy, Dove Bronzewing by the leg and threw him into the ground. Cardin himself took a swing with his mace, which was easily dodged and countered with a jab to the face. Armoured fist met face as a hard crack was heard, followed by a thump as Cardin's mace hit the ground. Sky Lark tried to come in with a dashing slash of his Halberd, but was also dodged.
His footwork is sloppy. He's on the cusp of tripping over himself.
Pulling out his Magnum, he fired all six shots into Sky's back at point-blank range, pummelling his Aura into near nothingness. Russell Thrush, the supposed "fast guy" of the team charged forwards in a reckless dash, before having his legs swept out from underneath him and thrown backwards, only without his daggers.
"Did you really think you were the only one who was good with knives?" Said the Spartan, flipping the stolen weapons in his hands. Ollie charged forwards at speeds upwards of 40 kph. The first slash knocked the recently reclaimed mace out of Cardin's hands, followed by a flurry of slashes and a vicious kick that took him out of the battle. Dove had recovered by now and took a slash at the Spartan, who tanked the blow with his shields, and scoffing when the shield meter displayed it at only 80% integrity. No power in his swing. He's acting out of desperation.
He easily caught his next swing, and wrested the weapon out of his hands and smacked him up the head with the handle of the blade. Dove threw a pitiful right hook, which was blocked. He kept punching and kicking, but Oliver blocked all of his attacks.
"You call that a punch? This is a punch." And he was sent flying.
Realizing that all his teammates were down, Russell scrambled for and grabbed one of his daggers, and blasted a stream of fire dust right at the Spartan, engulfing him. The blaze filled up half the arena, burning everything. Sensing that the heat around the occupant was too high, Ollie's Mjolnir suit vented coolant to counteract the fire washing against his shields. Russell had a smug look on his face when he saw his "aura" steadily drop, until he saw a silhouette of a man walking through the fire. Out of the inferno walked Oliver Auburn, a glowing shield around him.
He rushed forwards, punching Russell hard in the gut. The blow would've knocked him out of the fight, but Ollie threw another punch, aimed right at his jaw. The powered punch connected, and it sent Russell flying back several feet. Finally, the soldier grabbed his Magnum from its place on his waist and dropped the empty magazine while sliding in a new one. Lining up the final shot, he pulled the trigger. The single shot impacted Russell right between his eyes, shattering the last of his Aura. Sighing, Ollie holstered his pistol and just walked right out the door. He winced a little at the burns he had sustained. It's nothing compared to plasma.
Back in the dorm, he started to dress his burn wounds. He wrapped the bandages around the sensitive areas and applied some burn cream. As he was applying his bandages, Team RWBY walked in. It was then they had never realized what he looked like without his armour on. His skin was ghost white, as if he had barely seen the light of day. He had short brown hair, and he had the beginnings of a small beard growing. But what caught them off-guard were his eyes. A dull blue. As if there was no life in him. His irises looked… broken. As if they had been torn apart then put back together. There were long lines of discoloured skin that went up and down his arms. Looking at him, he seemed… broken. That's when they noticed his burn wounds.
"Hey, why are you burnt? Your Aura should've blocked that, or at least healed it by now." Asked Weiss, looking over the man suspiciously.
"Oh, it's nothing. I've had way worse." Like being gutted by an Elite with an energy sword.
The girls just looked at him worriedly, before carrying on with their activities. While they did what they did, Ollie did a mental scan of the girls of Team RWBY.
They are obviously suspicious of me now. I gotta keep things under wraps until things die down. I also have to talk to them, seeing as they don't really know me yet. I got off smoothly with Blake, and she seems to be feeling a little better now. She and Weiss seemed to have the biggest disagreements, so maybe I'll talk to her next. She does seem to be the most difficult of the four, and the most untrusting. I avoid performing any UNSC procedures around her. When the time comes, I'll tell them. Now just isn't the right time. Maybe in the future. Maybe.
And so he just settled down and played guitar. He played for a good long while, letting the notes wash away the hard thoughts of the day.
That took me too long. I'll be updating my other story soon, but I'll try to update this one bi-weekly. Anyways, have a wonderful rest of your life!