Dust to Dust:

Jaune was taken from his family as a young man due to his unique genome. Captured by unseen people, he was turned into a test subject for Project Oppenheimer. He's finally escaped the facility, but now he must recover his past and the means by which to save himself from the people who relentlessly hunt him.

0-0-0-0

It was dark.

Like always I supposed.

I felt my battered conscious stir, and to my displeasure, the aches and pains the permeated my body stirred awake along with it. There were voices, muffled by the heavy steel walls of my little "life pod" as the scientists called it. It was my home, the real one being gone from my mind for what might've been years? Months? I don't know, I could've arrived here yesterday for all I knew.

When all you get to do is sleep and look at steel walls and talk to scientists, the mind tends to run on autopilot for too long. The voices came closer, and I heard the muffled chirping of some command console outside. There was a hiss of steam and the steel wall that faced me began to slide away, revealing one way, bulletproof glass that only let me look at my own reflection.

I was young, so I hadn't been here too long. Blonde hair, blue eyes, so I could've looked a little worse I suppose. My skin could use a little color, probably from the lack of actual sun for so long. My fine tuned ears finally caught some conversation from the outside now that the heavy steel door was out of the way.

"-My god man! You've kept him here how long?" asked an outraged voice from the other side.

"Precisely as I said Joseph, this subject was the perfect candidate for Project Oppenheimer. Think of the sheer magnitude of what this project could unleash!" came a familiar, refined voice from the other side.

"All I see is a dangerous superweapon Arthur!" the name was said punctuated with disgust. "Not to mention the basic human rights we've violated!"

"Sacrifices must be made for the greater good, you of all people should know that." an aged voice quipped to my side.

"Silence Merlot! Do not think I haven't heard of your dealings with these so-called "modification" of yours!" the first voice replied, snapping in anger.

"And do not be so presumptuous to think I do not know of you and your daughter, Joseph!" the aged voice spat in disgust.

"You leave her out of this, she is just a child like he is! What you have done will never be-"

"Dr. Polendina, please, if you do not wish to continue this project then you are free to leave and tinker with your toys." the refined one (Arthur maybe?) answered smugly.

Dr. Polendina growled. "This isn't over, just you wait when Ironwood gets word of this he'll-"

"Ironwood knows, Joseph. He greenlit this project." Arthur interrupted, smug satisfaction oozing out of every word.

"Wha-? No! James would never advocate for this! You're lying Arthur!" Polendina said in disbelief.

"Ask him yourself now that you seem to have so much free time, Merlot and I have work to do. Guards, escort Polendina out of the facility." there was the sound of a small scuffle as I imagined Dr. Polendina did not take too kindly to being removed.

"Get-! Get your bloody hands off me! I will report you to the General! I- Subject 7! I will return for you, so stay strong!" Polendina shouted, voice carrying off into the distance.

Subject 7? Three guesses as to who that was. He'd be back? To what? Get me out of here? As nice as that sounded I wasn't sure how well I'd be adjusted to life outside of this little pod. What with being trapped in it for so long.

"Apologies Subject 7, Do not worry, today's tests will commence without err." Arthur answered, tapping lightly on the glass window.

I felt machine humming above me and braced myself. The interior of the pod was swathed with lights in red, blue, green, yellow, white, every color of the rainbow danced around me like some disco-tech from hell.

Then the pain started.

Like always, it exploded out through my heart. Currents of pain curling and speeding down and around my body in precise rivers, almost as if they were tracing a pattern around me. Then, of course, the actual agony started as- well, it was hard to describe in words. But the closest I ever got to articulating it -now there's a word for you- was "imagine being stabbed from inside out by an army of small gremlins".

It felt like jagged glass was being pushed through my skin. The pod inside desperately feeding my artificial aura boosters, nutrients, and the occassional painkiller to prevent me from going into shock. Crystals, beautiful, luminescent crystals erupted from across my bare body reflecting the colors inside the pod. White crystals and blue crystals and green crystals, all the colors on the spectrum turning me into a tormented chandelier.

The crystals began to glow in the neon lights, each one their respective color, before their were sudden discharges of energy. Blasts of fire that warmed my skin, currents of lightning that made me shiver, and torrents of ice and water that sprayed the pod's walls. Slowly, the machinery from above quieted their hum and the lights began to dim, the agony of the crystals across my body lessened as they retreated back into my skin.

I mean, I assumed they did? Or maybe I just created them? I don't know, I'm just guinea pig here. There was a soft clapping from the other side which was accented by a victorious chuckle.

"Impressive Subject 7! Most impressive. You are maturing at an exponential pace, even breaking our highest projections. You have made me so proud, you know that?" Arthur praised, like always, before the steel shield began to return locking me in darkness.

That was my life in a nutshell. Wake, tests, sleeps, wake, tests, tests, sleep, wake so on and so forth. The pod must've kept me hydrated and nourished somehow, or else I assumed I'd just be dead. You know, I'm not really all that smart of guy but for a man in my situation I feel like I'm pretty observant.

Well, I had a rough day today so I think it was time to take a nap...

0-0-0-0

You know how I said I wasn't all that smart of a guy? Yeah, well, even I could figure out something wasn't quite right when I woke up. Barring the screaming and general sounds of mayhem around me, I heard the distinguished Watts swearing as he raced around my steel pod.

His words were mumblings to me, but I could at least hear the urgency in his voice. And with it, the sounds of destruction were closing in on us. A thundering explosion shook the pod and rattled my internal organs which promptly signified I was most likely fucked. There was a flurry of gunshots from what might've been 100 feet, or three inches in front me depending, but what caught my attention was another sound.

Roaring.

Like a sort've, bestial roar? Wasn't there something about that I should know? It was something important, was it a guy? No, closer but not quite. An animal then, but that didn't feel right either. I heard Arthur growl a single muffled word that sounded like "Gim".

Right, right. That was it, these "Gim" fellas were nasty business if I remembered correctly. Who knows, maybe Dr. Polendina hired them to help me get out of here, but then again they didn't sound too friendly. There was crackling inside the pod and for a moment I wondered if we were going to do another test, but something about this whole situation didn't exactly scream "scientific discovery."

"Subject 7? Are you awake?! I'm sorry, but your vitals are holding steady for now. That fool Merlot has ruined everything for me, for us! I am so sorry my subject, I am so sorry to have failed you. But remember, you are my pride and joy! I am going to have to put you under for a little bit, but don't be scared I am coming back for you! Trust me, trust the doctor!"

"Ugh, doc?" I wheezed out, too unused to using my voice ironically.

It didn't matter all that much anyway, the pod was flooded with a white gas that made me really tired and really cold. Everything was going dark, it was all slowing down even the sounds of battle seemed so distant.

I was drifting away...

I was...

I...

0-0-0-0

Power surge detected

Life pod coolant malfunction

Vital signs are optimal

Releasing occupant

In

3...

2...

1...

My first breath was not a pleasant one. I gasped like a dying fish and promptly coughed my lungs out when it proved a little too much for me to bare. Is it possible to feel like your lungs have passed their sell-by date? Because mine did. Anyways, with me sucking down air like an asthmatic I barely even noticed the steel door to my pod had released itself.

The actual steel door, not just the one that blocked me from the outside. It hissed and whined with a metal groan as it pulled itself to the side, and for once in my life I was dumbfounded.

I was free.

I could leave.

This was it!

I took my first step into my new life.

And promptly folded like a bad hand. I hit the ice cold metal floor with a thud and a groan, turns out I wasn't used to working my legs too much anyhow. I gasped and struggled to rise on my shaky knees but it was no use. Instead, I opted to crawl around on all fours for the time being, as I tried not to think how pathetic I looked naked, cold, and crawling around.

It was dark thankfully. But not too dark that I couldn't see anything. I was in a lab, I think considering I had never actually seen one, but the scientists always called it a lab so why not? Not like anyone was around to refute me. I crawled around the floor, looking for anything to help me until I found what appeared to be a small metal box with a handle on it.

There was a clasp which I opened to reveal its contents. Inside was a flare gun with a single flare, a pair of boxer shorts, and some kind of unfolding crutch? Crutches? Whatever I'd take them. I got dressed in what I could and shoved the flare gun into the waistband of my shorts lone ranger style, before awkwardly standing up on the pair of crutches.

The metal walking sticks clicked against the cold floor as I made my way down the battle scarred hall. This place was a goddamn mess, the janitor should be fired for leaving this place in such a state of disrepair. Claws marks, gunshots, bullet casings, blood stains, debris there was stuff everywhere! Sloppy, and unprofessional.

I continued walking down the hallway until I came into a larger room. In it, I saw a single blinking button that I walked up to and pushed with a white hand. The button blinked once more before suddenly I was face-to-face with a large holographic screen.

A man's face took up almost the entirety of it. He was perhaps middle aged, with a bushy mustache and a grey overcoat. It must've been a pre recording as I could hear the faint sounds of fighting behind him.

"Subject 7, if you are viewing this then you are alive, and I thank my lady for that. Dr. Merlot let his experiments run wild and it destroyed our base here in Mountain Glenn, you are in Vale right now Subject 7. I'm sorry, but I couldn't extract you at the time so I had to put you in cryo freeze to keep you alive. I-I do not know how long you've been frozen by the time you wake up. But, if this recording is still working then the transmitter must've sent out the distress signal. Stay where you are, a bullhead -a flying machine- should be there soon. Stay safe, and do not venture out on your own. This is Arthur Watts, signing off."

The program blinked out. I felt a little nettled at the fact he felt the need to define what a bullhead is despite the fact it was common knowledge, but, on the other hand, I really had not clue how or why I knew what a bullhead was, just like how I was unsure how I was able to speak properly. Hell, sometimes it just felt like a mixing pot of emotions and memories and background information stirring around in my head. So, I just choose to go with it. If it ain't broke don't fix it right?

So, I guess my next move was to wait here. Alone. And cold. And, kinda hungry now that I thought about it. Maybe there was a kitchen around here somewhere.

Several hours of searching led me to believe that no one in this goddamn facility had the capacity to eat anything. The plus side is that my legs were running a little better now, I was no track star but I could at least move to only one crutch now.

"Keep it tight boys, we got the distress signal from in here." echoed a voice from one of the hallways leading to this main... room?

"Hi guys!" I shouted, voice amplifying the sound and causing it to echo around.

"For fuck sak-! Keep your voice down!" came another, female sounding, voice from down the same hallway.

"Ugh, sorry?" I said, voice still echoing down the hallway.

"Just shut up, and wait there!" came the first voice, now much closer.

It was only a few more moments before a team of four people entered. 1 girl and three guys, all of which were geared with weapons and armor that seemed a little tacky in my opinion. I mean come on, who really needs a shotgun crossbow that big?

"So, ugh, hi there. Welcome to my home?" I said, shrugging a shoulder.

"Alright man, we got your distress call we've come to get you out of here." The leader, I assumed, said putting a hand on my shoulder. He was a tall, brunette man with a large scar down his cheek. It looked pretty damn cool.

"Your scar looks cool dude." I said, pointing at it.

Scar-man seemed to consider saying something but just settled for a look of confusion and disbelief before shoving me along down the hallway. It felt like ages following these guys around before, finally, we got some sort of loading dock? A hanger maybe? Either way there was a large bullhead waiting there which I was shuffled inside.

As we sat down the scar-man looked at me strangely. He seemed to want to say something but it was like he didn't quite have the words for it, eventually his female friend patted his arm and turned to me.

"You wanna explain why you were so deep in Mountain Glenn kid? And, ugh, why your kinda naked?" she asked, shooting me an inquisitive look.

"Oh, yeah, funny story really. I had been trapped there for a super long time as a test subject, Subject 7 I was called, before, I don't know, someone dropped the ball or something and the whole thing came crashing down. But, anyway, I got frozen to prevent me from dying and I just now woke up. I pressed this cool little button thing which played some weird message before telling me you guys were on the way."

All four of the occupants stared at my with deadpan expressions.

"Oh yeah, and I can manipulate dust particles as well. Wanna see?" I grunted and strained as the familiar stinging feeling came back. Remember the small army of Gremlins? Yeah well, it took a bit but before long my arm was covered in tiny spires of red, blue, and yellow.

The other occupants didn't quite take it so well, with scar-man leader-guy pulling out a scroll and calling someone.

"Ugh, Ozp-ahem, Ozpin," he said, voice cracking for a moment. "We, ugh, got a really big situation..."