UNSC Project Freelancer Vessel
Mother of Intervention
Weiss sat at the end of a long metallic table in a cold, rectangular room. The only warmth came from Ruby's cloak that she had folded over in her lap. Her eyes were dry and her cheeks were more sensitive to the still room air than usual.
What was going on?
Before she could wrap her head around this question however, the only door to the room slid open and a dark-skined man in a dark grey uniform came in with a thin file under his arm, which he then gently placed on the table in front of him.
"Hello miss," the man greeted calmly, "my name is Aiden Price, I'm the Counselor to UNSC Project: Freelancer. I understand that you and your friend have been through a great ordeal, but I still need to question you if that's all right." Weiss nodded, barely meeting the Counselor's eyes as he took a seat opposite her. "What is your name miss?"
"Weiss Schnee."
"Interesting name. Where are you from initially?"
"Atlas."
"The colony, Atlas? I was under the impression that all the civilians were evacuated from Atlas since the Siege of Atlas Moons." Weiss' demeanor changed almost instantaneously at that statement. The Counselor might've actually said later that her eyes went from dead to alive if he were not a professional.
"What do you mean?"
"The planet Atlas and it's orbiting moons have been put under military quarantine since the UNSC victory against the Covenant there a little over a decade ago. I assume you are...16?"
"17"
"Then it is possible that you were born on Atlas; but that still means that you left Atlas when you were maybe 5 or 6 years of age. Where do you live now?"
"I...don't understand. Planet Atlas...you mean we're not on Remnant?"
"Remnant. That is not a place I'm familiar with. Is it in the Milky Way at least?"
"No. I don't even know what a Milky Way is?"
"I see..." the Counselor lied. "Can you please tell me-"
"Wait!" Weiss said suddenly, a hand raised in the air, stopping the counselor in the midst of his words. "I'll answer any questions you have, but please tell me how Ruby is doing!"
"Ruby, your friend right?" Weiss nodded once. "She'll live, I have her medical file right here," he explained simply, tapping the file folder on the table. "But, something is...interfering with the doctor's progress."
"Interfering?"
"The doctors noted that your friend's skin rapidly regenerated whenever an incision was made. This made it harder for them to remove the bullet, even though they did manage to fully remove it. Also, the tissue around her eye regrew after the bullet was removed but her actual eye seemed to be permanently damaged in some way; described in the file to be akin to a cancer-like infection. Did your friend inherit the ability to regenerate by any chance?" Weiss had to think about this before answering.
"You mean her aura was affected by the bullet?"
"Aura?"
"Yes, aura: the manifestation of one's soul. You don't know this?"
"No, I can't say I have."
"Hunters and huntresses train to use their auras for both defensive and offensive purposes through our individual semblances. The absorbing of force from an impact and healing are almost subconscious abilities as a result of our training." Weiss then had a horrible thought. "Wait, you mean that Ruby's aura is actually interfering with what the doctors are doing?"
"Perhaps. This talk of auras is definitely something no one has even heard about, so medical personnel most likely won't know how to deal with it." Weiss was silent at this, and the counselor could see the worry in her eyes. He rubbed his chin in thought before announcing out loud: "Director, this may take some time. Would you kindly send food and water to the interview room?"
The Freelancer agents had nothing to do after debreifing, so it wasn't long before they all ended up in the common area in front of a TV showing them the conversation between the Counselor and the new arrival Weiss.
"Poor girl," said York, "she and her friend end up in the crossfire and they didn't have a choice in the matter."
"I heard the younger one in the red actually put up a good fight," said South Dakota, "those two can't exactly be here by accident if they can put up a fight."
"Like you wouldn't do the same thing in their shoes sis?" North asked, partially criticizing his younger sister at the same time.
"What we do know is this," said Carolina, taking charge, "one of them just lost an eye and the other is scared and frightened. Yes they are experienced in combat to a certain degree, however the two of them also don't seem very experienced with fighting fellow humans all that much."
"But they are experienced," C.T. pointed out in the back of the room, examining the red box and the crystal white rapier closely, "and they possess technology that neither we nor the Covenant have at their possession."
"Hey! Careful with that!" Washington exclaimed at C.T. "We have no idea how either of those things work. Besides, something like that could have security features to prevent other people from using it."
"This tiny thing?" she questioned back, waving the red box back and forth above the table, "something the size of a matchbox can't have something that sophisticated; not unless its actually a lot bigger than it-" A small and minuscule *bip* registered to everyone's ears and C.T. had to take a sudden jump back as the red box unfolded into Crescent Rose's Scythe form before landing on the floor as all the other agents got to their feet. "I didn't do anything! I swear!"
"At ease, C.T." said Carolina, slowly walking over to Crescent Rose, "we know you didn't do it on purpose. But I'm pretty sure you listened to our fill during debriefing. If you had you would've known what that thing really was, despite it's size." With that, Carolina gingerly picked the red scythe off the carpet and gently laid it next to the sword.
"Hey, Carolina," North spoke up, having retaken his place on a couch in front of the television, "how do we turn the volume up?"
"With the remote of course."
"I know that, but where's the remote?"
"Uh...brother," said South.
"Yeah sis?"
"It's right there...on the armrest...right next to you...within arms-reach."
"Oh."