Kuo Kuana Docks, UNSC Thunderchild

November 7th, 1933 Local Time, 2552

A full day had passed since Fairfire and the rest of Onyx Team had braved the jungles of Menagerie and defeated the White Fang. While they hadn't been able to confirm that Vermillion Redwood was among the dead, it was still an undeniable victory based on the casualty ratio alone. Chieftain Belladonna had made a note to congratulate them all on the victory, but the war was still far from over.

I wonder if the White Fang are even going to give up at all. We had those guys dead to rights, but they still chose to fight. Are we just going to have to kill them all? She thought, taking another deep puff from a cigarette. The motions were still largely alien to her since aside from yesterday, she hadn't smoked since the day she had left Emerald Cove many years ago. Still, it offered her something to focus on as she stewed in her regrets.

In spite of the war that she found herself in, her thoughts still dwelled on things that she wished that she could forget. It was nothing that she hadn't thought of before. Was she really some kind of monster deep down? Was her Semblance really responsible for what she'd done, and if it was, was that really a good thing? Did it mean that she wasn't really in control of herself anymore? Or, worst of all, was it all just serving as an excuse to keep her safe from consequences?

Her thoughts were interrupted as she hacked and coughed after breathing in too much of the smoke. Apparently, she wasn't paying enough attention to what she was doing. Mercifully, nobody was around to see her rather embarrassing mistake, since she was all the way up in the Thunderchild's "crows nest." It was a bit like the observation deck of a normal ship, although given the primitive nature of the Thunderchild, it basically amounted to a big metal pole with a little platform near the top for people to stand on.

In addition to providing the perfect place to avoid being social, the view was truly marvelous. From so high up, she could see far beyond the harbor, across rows and rows of quaint little wooden houses and stone-paved streets. Kuo Kuana might have been crowded, and perhaps a bit impoverished, but it was also jolly and beautiful.

"Does it remind you of home?"

Nathan's voice caught her so off-guard that she yelped in surprise as she turned back towards the ladder. "Nathan?! What the hell?! Don't do that!"

He hadn't even climbed all of the way up to the crows nest, but his facial expression was all that she needed to see to know that he was barely holding back his laughter. "Sorry! I thought that you'd hear me climbing up!"

As much as she wanted to complain, he was kind of right, she really should have heard him coming up. Damn, am I really that out of it?

He climbed up the rest of the way and stood beside her, looking out over the railway. "So, are you gonna answer my question?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah, it kind of does…" She half-heartedly answered. Truth be told, she barely even remembered what he had asked her, but after a moment's thought she supposed it did remind her of home; in a distant sort of way. It looked like it, but it wasn't, and she didn't belong here. A statement she was starting to feel might apply to more than just Menagerie.

Predictably, Nathan noticed the disparaging look on her face instantly, and he gave her a dissatisfied scowl. "Alright, out with it, what's the matter?"

"Nothing." She quickly replied, her tone coming across as a bit more grumpy than she'd intended. Despite her desire to end his line of questioning there, her answer was far too quick to be genuine; something she knew he picked up on judging by the flat look on his face.

"Uh huh." Nathan replied, although the doubt in his voice was obvious, it was also readily apparent that he'd expected her reply. "Of course nothing's wrong, that's why you're up here, sulking and brooding while Yu and Meadows raid Stan's rum stores."

Fairfire gave a low chuckle in spite of how terrible she felt, that certainly sounded like something that her squadmates would be up to.

Nathan, however, seemed uncharacteristically steadfast. If anything, he actually looked a little bit annoyed at the fact that she had laughed. "This isn't a one-time thing either, you've been distant for weeks. What's going on?"

Farfire turned away from him, taking a deep breath to calm herself before sighing heavily. She briefly considered coming up with some lie to send him away, but he seemed far too determined to fall for anything like that. Fairfire sighed heavily, bringing a hand up to rub at her eyes. In the end she couldn't work up the energy to tell him off, she was too exhausted. "How can you ask that with a straight face? Everyone on the Dominion knows about it."

Nathan simply stood in silence, the seconds ticking on as she clearly waited for his response. "Yeah, I still have no idea wh-"

"I tried to kill an innocent kid, Nathan. He worked for slavers, sure, but he was our prisoner… and he was just a kid, and I was going to kill him." Fairfire snapped back, stopping to take another deep breath. "And Yu nearly died because of what I did!"

Nathan's eyebrows raised as his frustration gave way to deeper thought. "But, I thought that was because of your Semblance-"

"Was it?!" Fairfire cut him off. "Or is it just some kind of convenient excuse that I've been exploiting so that I don't end up in the Brig where I belong?" Realization flickered in Nathan's eyes, along with a hint of sympathy, but she didn't stop. She didn't deserve his sympathy. The floodgates had opened, and she was distinctly aware that she had started crying at some point. "Why does it seem like I'm the only one who's worried that it could happen again? It's like nobody even remembers what I did!"

"Elizabeth." Nathan interrupted her. She flinched at the sound of his voice, his tone sounded far too calm and forgiving. "It's not your fault."

"And how do you know that?! Even I don't know how my Semblance works, what if it happens again but Yu doesn't survive this time? Or what if it's Meadows, or you, or-" Her ramblings were interrupted as Nathan reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Stop, breathe." He commanded her. She did as he said, and a moment later, he continued. "Do you remember when Winter was talking about that Huntsman she was working with, the guy with a weird name who makes everyone have really shitty luck?"

She shook her head, in her frantic state, she had a hard time remembering much of anything. "What's your point?"

"He can't control his Semblance, like, at all. It's not just his enemies that get hit by it, his allies are affected well, which is why he works alone. It's an incredibly useful Semblance in a fight but… what about once the fight is over?" Nathan said. "My point is, you aren't the only person with a Semblance that can get you into trouble. I don't think that you really wanted to kill that guy, I just don't think that you had a choice."

Qrow. She remembered now, Winter had talked about him while she was training Fairfire how to control a Semblance. He couldn't even stay with his family for long periods of time because of what might happen if he did. Still, the fact that self-harmful Semblances existed didn't mean that hers worked that way. "And what if you're wrong? What if I really am just a bastard?"

Nathan shook his head. "Now that's just bullshit, I've known you for years, and that isn't who you are. And if you don't believe me, then go ask the rest of the squad; hell, go ask Winter! She would've never let you rejoin the squad if she thought there was a chance that you'd go kill-crazy in the middle of a battle."

She mulled over his words for a moment but just couldn't accept it. "Winter doesn't know everything either."

"Winter has been training with her Semblance ever since she was a child. She even went to a school specifically oriented around teaching people about all of this Aura and Semblance crap." Nathan argued. "I'd say she knows more about it than us..." Nathan was silent for a moment, clearly struggling to articulate what he wanted to say. The words seemed to flow into his head and he just couldn't figure out how to get them out. "Liz… You're harder on yourself than almost anyone I've ever met. Everything that goes wrong you find a way to blame yourself for, like there was something you could have done better to stop it from happening, but that's not always the case. You are stronger, smarter, and more skilled than any other Helljumper I've ever worked with… and you got blindsided by a Semblance you couldn't have ever seen coming. It wasn't your fault, if you couldn't stop it, I doubt anyone could have."

She looked back out at the setting sun in the sky, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts that just couldn't be stopped. It was going to take a lot more than a pep-talk from Nathan to clear her mind and figure out how she was meant to feel, even if he did make some frustratingly good points. It felt like a cop-out, however, and a large part of her wanted to ignore Nathan's words, but the look in his eyes was almost enough to convince her. Almost.

"Some Semblances are weapons, like Winter's. Others are like neat tricks that help out in a fight." Nathan gestured to himself, managing to make his own sound more like a cool party trick than something even advanced technology struggled to imitate. "And others have their own set of drawbacks that might make them more akin to a curse… that doesn't mean it's your fault though. You're just as much a victim of it as anyone else."

Fairfire wasn't sure what to say, unable to meet Nathan's eyes she looked out back over the city. Despite his words, she wasn't convinced, but she knew saying that would only upset him further and she didn't want that. Even so, it felt too awkward to just leave him standing there without any kind of reply, so she asked the first thing that came to mind.

"How did you know I was up here?"

"Stan told me." Nathan answered. She glanced briefly at him, and saw that he was looking out at the horizon as well, his features much calmer than before. "He said that you were, 'sad and broody, like those damn teenagers from the Huntsmen Schools.' His words, not mine."

"Grumpy old fart…" Fairfire grumbled with a low chuckle, she was self-aware enough to admit that the old sailor was right. "Alright, fine, I deserve that one."

Nathan chuckled along with her, and gave her a bold smile. "You know, if you're looking for revenge, I bet that Yu and Meadows are probably looking for some backup. I wasn't joking about Stan's rum stash…"

It'd be a hell of a lot more fun than just sitting up here being miserable. She thought. "Well, seeing as you offered… Lead the way, but I get to pick the next 'bar' we raid."

Vytal, Alfred Wilson Planetary Headquarters, Outskirts

November 8th, 0712 Local Time, 2552

When Ilia had been told that not only was she not being arrested, but that she would be able to participate in what the UNSC called "selection," she had been overjoyed. Now, with her face buried firmly in the cold mud of Vytal and pouring rain soaking her to the bone, all without even the light of the morning sun, she was starting to think that perhaps she'd misplaced her enthusiasm.

Not that she had expected the training to be easy, far from it. The White Fang might have lacked the same strict regulations and procedures that the UNSC had, but they did know how to push their recruits hard during training. She'd expected to see something similar from the UNSC, and low and behold, she was right.

The Instructors called their plan "Hell Week," and it consisted of seven days of grueling exercise, little sleep, exams and classes, and war games for the cadets. The Chief Instructor, a particularly mean-looking man called Gunnery Sergeant Moerdani, had given them a fiery speech at five in the morning, shortly after he had woken all of the cadets up by firing blanks into the air, indoors, with his gigantic pistol. To be honest, Ilia hadn't really heard a lot of what he'd said due to the ringing in her ears, but she'd gotten the general gist of what he was saying.

"Over these next few days, we are going to break you down until there is nothing left! Most of you will fail, maybe even all of you, and nothing will bring me more joy than watching you leave my beloved Corps! We do not have room for the lazy, idiotic, and weak, and you will be sent home without a second thought!"

He hadn't been lying either, any cadet could leave at any time, for any reason. All they had to do was head to the parade grounds at the center of the base, and they would be scheduled for a trip back to wherever they had come from. For Ilia, that literally wasn't an option, but she was certain that Moerdani would find someplace suitably cold and miserable to send her if she quit. Atlas, maybe.

A voice yelled down to her, presumably one of the Instructors, judging by how angry they sounded. "Come on cadet, I know you love the taste of mud, but you've got places to be! Get moving!"

Ilia bit back a venomous retort as she pushed her face out of the mud and got back up to her feet, rejoining the rest of the trainees in their run. It was more difficult than she wanted to admit, her legs were already sore, and she was covered in sweat and cold mud, which made her absolutely freezing. She couldn't even use her Aura to warm herself up either, since nobody used their Auras while they exercised, not even Huntsmen. The body was just as important as the Soul was, and any fighter who chose to neglect exercising their body was consigning themselves to an early grave.

I'm probably in better shape than some of these other people, I'm amazed that they're still standing. She realized. All of them were far outside of the base's security wall, running through the forest along a poorly-lit path, so it was hard to see the people around her, but the sounds of labored breathing and the stench of sweat and vomit made it very evident that she was surrounded by people who were just as tired as she was. Amongst them was the occasional instructor, who at least had the decency to participate on the cold and miserable run alongside the cadets, even if it was just so that they could yell at anyone who was lagging behind.

In spite of how miserable she felt, she didn't consider quitting, she'd made it too far to back down now. She'd made it out of the White Fang, and been welcomed into the UNSC, admittedly cautiously, by an old friend. Giving up wouldn't just mean losing the chance at a new purpose that she'd been given, it would mean spitting in the face of that trust. She refused to fail another friend.

She was shaken from her thoughts by a small explosion in the trees a few dozen meters ahead of her, which swiftly grew into a blinding ball of light as at least a dozen flares shot into the air from it. There was also a terrible, deafening whistling sound that erupted from the same direction, which sounded somewhat similar to a firework, but far more piercing and irritating. Some of the cadets screamed, others tripped and fell to the ground, and all of them were blinded by the sudden bright light amid the dark forest.

Ilia covered her ears to protect herself from the sound, squinted her eyes, and kept moving along with a handful of the other cadets. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but the Instructors were still screaming at people to keep moving, so clearly, it was all part of the plan.

At least, that's what she told herself.

Vytal, Alfred Wilson Planetary Headquarters, Command Center

November 8th, 1035 Local Time, 2552

Richard and his staff watched the video feeds of over a dozen drones and helmet cameras as the cadets struggled through their latest exercises. After what was now hours of relentless physical training, their exhaustion was starting to show. Some had already decided that they were not up to the challenge of becoming a Marine, and there was little doubt in his mind that the number of failed cadets would only continue to grow.

If they can't handle the first day of training, it's probably for the best that they get out now. Richard thought. While what the cadets were going through wasn't quite as brutal as the early days of the Spartan III program, the purpose of the exercises was the same. I wonder how well these folks would do if we started throwing them out of the back of Pelicans with vague instructions as to how their parachutes work.

"Ah, there goes another one." Moerdani announced dispassionately as one of the recruits unceremoniously fainted halfway through an obstacle course. "That makes twenty-two so far, on this course alone."

Richard frowned, that was a few too many people knocking themselves unconscious for his liking. The early-morning calisthenics sessions had already resulted in a few pulled muscles and sprains, so having people fall and hit their head was just adding even more injuries to the pile. "It's not that hot out, is it?"

"Not at all Sir, I guess that some of them are just out of shape." Moerdani answered with a shrug. "Urgh… speaking of being out of shape, how about him?"

Richard followed Moerdani's gaze, and that a Faunus recruit had broken off from their three-man team on one of the obstacle courses. They only realized their mistake once they reached a wall that was too high to ascend without somebody to help them. His two teammates, meanwhile, helped each other over the wall quickly and efficiently.

"If he can't work with a team, then we can't work with him, boot him out. Keep an eye on his teammates though, they did well." Richard decided. I wish we had the resources for a larger class. With some extra funding and instructors, we might've been able to turn that moron into a Marine.

Another team of three approached the wall, and Richard immediately recognized Ilia Amitola as the leader of the cadets. Beside him, Mags not-so-subtly directed her attention to his monitor. "Being nosy, Lieutenant?"

She gave him a look of mock insult. "Hey now, keeping track of the recruits is my job. Besides, you're the one who told me to keep an eye on her."

I suppose I did do that. He remembered. Deciding to let Ilia participate in the selection hadn't been an easy choice, even with Mags placing her full confidence in the girl. A part of that was admittedly probably due to his own past experiences, not just with the White Fang, but with the Insurrectionists back in UNSC space. In the end, he'd decided to see whether or not she made it through selection, and if she did, he'd give the thought of recruiting her some further consideration. Sadly, she didn't have much valuable insight into the White Fang's current whereabouts, which would have made trusting her much easier.

He continued to watch as Ilia boosted her first teammate up and over the wall, but as she lifted the second, the woman whom she was lifting lost their balance and fell flat on their back. It was obvious to tell almost immediately that the cadet had the wind knocked out of them, and probably would need some help to complete the course at all, let alone get over the wall.

But, unlike the other Faunus recruit who had abandoned his team, Ilia ran to her teammate's side and helped the young woman catch her breath. She had to be consciously aware that she was losing precious time by doing so, and Richard knew that thanks to Ilia's Aura, she could probably make the leap up the wall on her own. Still, Ilia stayed behind, and after a few minutes, managed to get herself and her teammate over the wall.

A brief memory wiggled its way into Richard's mind, of a young Ben and his own teammates trapped beneath barbed wire and a fusillade of training paint. In that scenario, Ben had made the grievous mistake of leaving his teammate behind, believing that there was no way to complete the course in time whilst also helping his teammate. Ben had to learn that he was wrong the hard way, and it seemed that Ilia had already learned that lesson at some point in the past.

"Well, that's a much better display of teamwork than most of the rest of these cockroaches." Moerdani grumbled. "That kid's the one you knew, right Mags?"

"It sure is." Mags answered, beaming with pride. "I told you all that she's got what it takes."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Lieutenant." Richard said. "This is only day one, she's got a lot more to go through. We'll wait and see how she does."

Mags wisely didn't argue, and instead silently watched as Ilia and her teammate helped their exhausted third member to the finish line, a broad smile on her face.

UNSC Dominion, Foundry

November 8th, 1112 Local Time, 2552

"Okay Curie, I think that'll do it." Ben said, being very delicate as he removed the pair of pliers from the open-access port on Curie's arm. "You can still feel everything, right?"

She outstretched the arm and experimentally made a fist, giving him a small smile as she did so. "Yes, so far. Let us give this a shot."

Ben closed the access port and stood back, allowing Curie to sit back up. He'd been initially hesitant about performing what was effectively surgery on her, while she was still awake, but she had wisely pointed out that he was probably better qualified to install upgrades to her body than anybody else. After all, they hadn't exactly been spoiled for time when they were forced to convert Penny's spare body for Curie's use.

Curie sat up, and flexed her right arm slightly, creating a small seam in the artificial skin on her forearm, which revealed a small cable. It was the same kind of cable that the UNSC used for most short-term connections between electronics, and with it, Curie would hopefully regain the ability to manipulate computers in the same way that she once had.

Ben handed her a datapad, and with a moment's hesitation, Curie plugged herself in. Immediately, her face scrunched up.

"Curie? Are you okay?" He asked, letting more than a few nerves show in his tone, but he honestly didn't care if it was unprofessional. If there was one person in the world who was willing to forgive him for being informal, it was Curie.

"I am, this is just… different, perhaps a bit confusing." She answered. "I have gotten so used to viewing things from a more, well, Human perspective, if that makes any sense."

Ben nodded in understanding, as even if he didn't understand what it was like to be caught in some kind of middle-point between being a physical being and a digital one, he understood that she was feeling a bit uncomfortable. "Go slow, maybe try doing something simple."

She was silent for a moment, before a file-browsing program opened on the datapad, despite neither of them having laid a finger on the touchscreen.

"I suppose that works." Curie muttered. "Now, let's try something a little bit more advanced. I'm going to try downloading something from the Dominion's servers."

There was no visual indicator of what was going on, other than the odd fidget along her arm. After a few moments, the screen turned black, before displaying an error message.

"Damn it!" Curie muttered. She unplugged herself from the tablet and rubbed her temples. "This should be so easy!"

"It's alright. You'll get the hang of it." He said. "Keep in mind, this isn't just a first for you. Not even Penny can plug directly into computers like you used to do."

Curie groaned in frustration and buried her head in her hands. "I appreciate what you are trying to do, Ben, but you could not understand. This should be as simple to me as walking is to you."

She tried to get the cable back under her skin, but he caught her hand in his own to stop her. "Wait. I did lose the ability to walk, remember?"

"I do." Recognition flickered across her face as the memory jogged. He had just gone through his Augmentations, and while he was alive and successfully augmented, he was more badly affected than some of his peers. Of particular note, his balance was completely thrown for a loop.

"And you helped me get back on my feet." He continued. "I recall you telling me something along the lines of 'the only way that you're going to get back on your feet is slowly and steadily, don't expect to be sprinting by tomorrow, be patient.'"

Curie looked a little embarrassed. She was smart enough to see where he was going with this, and he didn't feel the need to insult her intelligence by continuing his lecture.

"Do you want to give this another shot?" He asked. "Or should we try again later today?"

"Later. I want to have a look at this weapon that Set summoned." Curie replied. "If we can figure out how it functions, then maybe we can get some idea of who built it."

After a moment of digging through secure storage cases and half-finished projects, Curie found what she was looking for, a box no bigger than a boot that was labeled "Z-104 Adaptive Weapon Template." The object within was around the same size and shape as the hilt of an Elite's Energy Sword, and to Ben, barely even bore a resemblance to a weapon. It had no buttons, no switches or levers, only a handful of glowing blue lights that dotted it's grey surface.

"Wait, this is Set's weapon?" Ben asked. "Winter made it sound a lot more imposing."

Curie rolled her eyes as she took the weapon from it's box, laying it on a workstation where she could better examine it. "From what Penny has told me, Winter let her paranoia get the better of her. I seem to recall that you tend to do the same, on occasion."

A brief feeling of annoyance passed over him, but he didn't feel a need to defend himself. Curie already knew exactly why he wasn't keen on trusting the Alien. "Do you blame me?"

"...No." She tentatively answered. "Even so, I encourage you to keep in mind that this is the first time a member of the Covenant has willingly cooperated with us. It would be foolish to drive him away now."

He had no real answer to her argument, on the grounds that she was, as was all too-usual, correct. Whether or not they could trust Set, he was cooperating with the UNSC, and better yet, he was providing valuable insight into the inner workings of the Covenant, and even functional examples of alien technology.

Curie continued her ramblings as she worked, and seeing as there was little that he could do to be useful, he opted to just stand by her side and listen. "Set believes that he's tapping into some kind of slipspace-based storage system, and as crazy as this is going to sound, I believe him. He also said that everything he has conjured is a gift from his Gods, and that is where I draw the line on the believability front."

"And you want to know who built this thing." Ben summarized. "Well, it does look a lot like the other things that Set summoned, so they're probably all from the same place. Well, except for Funk."

"Yes, I thought the same thing." Curie said. "I wonder, if Set is accessing some kind of storage system, what else is in there? So far, he has summoned some particularly advanced technologies, not to mention a living being. We do not know who was responsible for all of this, but I am more troubled that we do not know why."

"What do you mean?" Ben asked.

"Think of it as a matter of logistics, Ben. Somebody had to put all of these very complex and presumably costly things into this Slipspace Repository, surely they would not have done so without good reason." She clarified. "Given what we've learned from Set's encounter with his 'oracle,' as well as the Covenant's own evangelical teachings about Shunspace as a whole… I wonder, if this place truly is a prison, what was it meant to hold?"

The most obvious answer sprang to Ben's mind immediately. "The Grimm? There's a lot that we don't know about them."

Curie immediately shook her head. "Regardless of the Grimm's origins, they've been held at bay by a pre-spaceflight civilization for thousands of years. I'm sure that whatever civilization had the technological mind to assemble something as ludicrous as a Slipspace Storage System could effortlessly destroy the Grimm conventionally, let alone contain them."

Ben couldn't help but scowl, sometimes it was frustratingly difficult to keep up with Curie's very fast train of thought. "Then, what do you think it could be?"

A look of muted fear passed over her eyes. "I do not know… nothing good, that is for certain."

Her disturbed expression prompted a familiar protective feeling from him, and he reached out to hold her hand, which he gave a reassuring squeeze. "Hey, try not to worry so much. It's all theories, right? Maybe there's nothing to worry about."

It took her a moment to respond, but she eventually grew a shaky smile. "That is a reassuring thought, thank you."

"Anytime." He said. "Besides, I'm sure that you of all people could think of a way to beat something big and scary like that. And if that didn't work, I could always just punch it really hard."

She laughed heartily at his joke, any mention of what she had been talking about seemingly forgotten as she continued with her work. In his own mind, however, her question lingered on, and lack of an answer troubled him just as much as it had bothered her.