Chapter 20: Evaluations

June 30, 2682; 0511 Hours

Earth, Sydney

Ivan awoke rather early, even by his standards. He was used to getting up around 0300 hours, but his time at Beacon and on his Liaison duty had softened his sleep schedule slightly. He was awake at around 5 A.M., which was a strange experience for him, given the circumstance. He blearily wiped the sleep from his eyes, his back popping as he rolled sat up from his position on the couch. Ivan didn't even need to look to see what was to his right.

Next to him laid the sleeping Winter. She had reluctantly accepted sleeping in Ivan's room on the first night she stayed, but Ivan woke up the next morning to find Winter asleep on the couch. Over the past week since Winter had started staying with Ivan, he had had come to accept that she wouldn't ever stay in the bed he offered, and would sleep on the couch anyways. He relented after the second attempt, but decided to simply sleep on the couch as well in a rather childishly funny form of protest.

As Ivan sat upright, Winter slowly awoke as well. "Good morning…" She said, yawning. Ivan smiled as he saw Winter, with her disheveled ivory hair falling past her shoulders. Ivan smiled as she sat upright, prompting Hans to lazily walk over to her, nuzzling her leg. "So…" Winer began, moving closer to Ivan. "What did you have planned for us today?"

Ivan's smile faded slightly. "I've actually got that psych evaluation today." Ivan said.

"Wait… what?" Winter asked, unaware of this. "When did this become a thing?"

"It's standard procedure for all torture victims or prisoners of war." Ivan explained. "I'm due in Sydney at noon."

"That's still seven hours." Winter said, smiling.

Ivan smiled. "I suppose it is…" Ivan said, thinking. "I really don't know what we could do… any ideas?"

Winter smiled, resting her head on Ivan's shoulder. "Going back to sleep?" She asked, a small yawn escaping her lips.

"Works for me…" Ivan agreed, unsurprised to find that Winter simply refused to move from her rather comfortable resting place on Ivan's shoulder. Ivan simply smiled, resigned to his fate, and fell asleep with Winter's arm wrapped around his waist and a content smile on her lips.

XXXXX

June 30, 2682; 1231 Hours

Earth, Sydney (UNSC Domestic Clinic)

Ivan sighed as he sat in a rather uncomfortably cushioned chair in the UNSC Domestic Clinic's Active Duty Ward. He wasn't the only SPARTAN who was here, since there were a few small operations requiring the… fine touch of a superhuman warrior. The office he was in was rather sparsely furnished, having a pair of chairs, a desk, and a large office chair behind the desk. There were a few stock paintings that Ivan could've sworn he'd seen in just about every stock photo of a model home, along with some potted plants from various UEG planets.

The doctor before him was a fellow member of the UNSC Military, but he was assigned a rather cushy job on Earth, working as a Military Psychiatric Advisor and Counselor. His official rank was 2nd Lieutenant, and he had obviously seen some sort of combat before, as he had some rather vicious-looking scarring on his neck and cheeks, but he seemed more than amicable. "So, Ivan… I've read over the reports of what happened on Remnant." The Psychiatric advisor, Doctor Soloman, began. "You've certainly seen a fair bit over the past year or so."

"I have…" Ivan responded, adjusting himself slightly as he attempted to fix his posture in the chair he kept sinking into a bit.

"It says here that you restrained yourself from killing both Emerald Sustrai and Mercury Black, despite them being openly hostile to you." Soloman said, his dull green eyes looking towards Ivan's blue ones, taking note of the cybernetic one. "Most people don't have that kind of restraint, and it's even rarer among SPARTANs."

"I couldn't bring myself to kill either of them." Ivan explained, shrugging. "Everyone deserves to be forgiven, to a certain length."

"So you don't harbor any ill-will towards either of them?"

"Now I never said that." Ivan said, flexing his arm involuntarily. "Emerald and some bull-Faunus took my arm off and destroyed my eye. Do I hate her? Yes. Do I want to kill her? Not at all. I'm fine with letting ONI handle that part."

Soloman nodded, reading over a small portion of a report rather quickly. "Tell me about your time at Beacon."

"Not much to tell, really." Ivan said, shrugging. "I hid who I was for seven or so months, the truth came out, Covenant Storm invaded the planet, we repulsed them, and now Remnant's a UEG Protectorate."

"What about these four girls that you've spent most of your time with on Remnant?" Soloman asked.

"RWBY?" Ivan asked, smiling. "They're… They're all great… I just- I wish I could've been straight with them when I first arrived."

"You feel guilty about lying to them?"

"Yeah…"

"Even though your orders made that a part of your mission?"

"I followed the orders, even if it hurt to watch them treat me differently for the past few months."

"How do they treat you differently?" Soloman asked. "How did they treat you before?"

"Well, I was just a normal student to them at first… albeit a really tall student. They treated me like an actual person. There were no orders, no reports, no uniforms… just normality." Ivan shrugged. "When they learned that I was a SPARTAN and what that entailed, they started being a bit more… distant, I guess. Less joking around, less enjoyment, and more and more escalation of problems."

"Problems?"

"The Grimm attack during the Vytal Festival, Mercury trying to frame Yang for attacking him, Atlas and the UEG butting heads over Remnant's airspace…" Ivan began. "I just can't help but feel like it's only just getting started."

"You must really care about those four." Soloman said, a small smile betraying his otherwise neutral expression.

"More than you could imagine…" Ivan said, smiling. "They've gone to incredible lengths to… be heroes for the sake of it. I… It kinda reminds me of me, I guess. I joined the Marines because I wanted to be a protector, fight the good fight, and all that. There isn't much for us to fight anymore."

"You mean that we're at peace?" Soloman asked, nodding.

"Exactly." Ivan affirmed. "Not long ago, we were nearly wiped out as a species. That was a time when there was actually a fight to be had. I didn't want to sit around and not join up. I wanted to… just maybe… actually make a decent impact."

"Being the youngest officer of your rank in the SPARTAN Corps is certainly one hell of an impact, Colonel." Soloman said. "Same with saving countless people on Remnant. But I do understand what you mean. You like being on Remnant because there's actually something threatening humans there. There's actually something to fight against."

"Yeah…" Ivan said.

Soloman gave a comforting smile, and it had a sense of knowing behind it. "I understand what you mean… How about this, Mister Chesnokov? Go a bit more in-depth with what happened on Remnant. Start at the beginning."

XXXXX

June 30, 2682; 1543 Hours

Earth, Sydney

Ivan sighed as he stepped back through the familiar door to his home, smiling as he saw Hans with his paws on Ruby's lap, happily panting as the red-haired huntress gave him the attention he wanted. Weiss had a broad smile on her face as she doted over the happy German Shepherd. Yang had her arm draped around Blake's waist, her head resting on her shoulder as Blake read her purchased book. Ivan was rather surprised. He knew Blake was an avid reader, but it looked like she had powered through half of the 1400 page book within a week. Winter was an entirely different story.

The white-haired specialist had her hair tied in its familiar lopsided bun, and she was sat at the island in the kitchen, watching with interest as Sergei explained the parts of an M6D Magnum. It was truly surprising how well Winter and Ivan's father had hit it off, with Sergei instantly taking a liking to the admittedly imposing-looking Specialist. Ivan knew how rare it was for his father to show anyone his carry piece, but it appeared that he made an exception. Upon hearing the door slide shut, Winter looked up from the half-assembled magnum, smiling. "You're back!" She said, making her way over and pulling the taller SPARTAN into a hug. "How'd your psych eval go?"

Ivan ignored the smile that Sergei was giving him as Winter hugged him, choosing to address the girl before him. "Went well." He answered, his smile still present. "I'm cleared to return to duty."

"Good to hear." Winter said, her smile not faltering for a second. She leaned up, planting a quick and chaste kiss to Ivan's lips. Much to Ivan's irritation, Sergei waggled his eyebrows. It took all of Ivan's willpower not to roll his eyes. "Any plans for us tonight?" It was only after she said it, that Winter realized just how easily her words could be taken out of context.

"Good lord! Get a room you two!" Sasha said from her position on an armchair. She had decided not to sit in it normally, but to rest her head on one armrest and dangle her legs over the other. She was watching a news story with mild interest. Unsurprisingly, the story was about the signing of the Remnant-UEG Merger Agreement, which had gone through just the day before.

"Isn't it past your bedtime, Sasha?" Ivan asked, shooting his sister a sly grin.

Sasha merely made an indignant huff, earning a smile from Sergei and Ivan. "Idiot…" She muttered to herself.

Ivan still had a grin on his face as he walked over to the unoccupied end of the couch, Winter at his side. He sat down on the end, Winter sitting on his right. She rested her head on the SPARTAN's shoulder, sighing contently as she sat down. After a week of Winter staying with him, Ivan had grown far more confident around her. He still made the occasional slip-up, which Winter found rather adorable, but he was certainly improving.

Ivan paid little mind to the news story on the television. Considering that one of the men who wrote up the agreement was his own father, there wasn't much that he didn't know about it. Sasha had chosen to sit up, and had a look on her face that was rather tell-tale of the desire to ask a question. After a few moments of working up the courage, she asked her question. "Hey Blake…" She began, drawing he onyx-haired girl's attention.

"Hmm?" Blake hummed, looking up from her book.

"I was wondering… why do you always have that bow on?" Sasha asked, drawing a cocked eyebrow from Blake. "It's just… I never see you without it."

Blake looked down to Yang, whose head was resting in her lap. Yang gave her girlfriend a nod and a smile, which did wonders to ease the knot forming in the Faunus' stomach. Blake reached up, removing the bow from her head. As she pulled the strand of fabric from her head, she let her ears stand upright from their position, flat against her head. Her ears twitched slightly as they were finally able to react to ambient noises. "Oh… wow…" Sasha said, surprised to see a pair of cat ears resting on the top of Blake's head. Honestly, she found them rather cute, but she had a sinking feeling that Blake wouldn't appreciate such a comment. "Why did you hide them?"

Blake shrugged. "The Faunus are the targets for a lot of prejudice and mistreatment on Remnant, so I started wearing the bow to protect myself. I kept wearing it here to keep unwanted attention away." Sasha nodded in response.

"I guess that certainly explains why you asked so many questions about how the agreement would affect the Faunus…" Sergei commented, stepping into the living room. Blake nodded in response, looking towards him. "And your reasoning is exactly why I was pushing so hard to get this damned thing signed. Nobody should have to hide who they are just to get by on a daily basis. The things I've heard about the mistreatment of the Faunus is absolutely outrageous, and I'm certainly glad that this agreement was passed."

Blake smiled. "I'm glad it passed too… I just hope it doesn't wind up creating more problems."

"I certainly hope so too…" Sergei said, sighing. "I'm also happy that you're comfortable enough around us to not wear the bow." The older man let a small smile cross his lips. "I had my suspicions."

Blake smiled. She found it almost impossible to believe that just a year ago, she was a new student at Beacon, refusing to let anyone close enough to show who she really was. Now, she sat in the living room on a completely alien world, populated entirely by Humans, and found herself completely comfortable with not only the team of three other Huntresses that she had come to think of as family, but the genetically-enhanced super soldier as well. The more she thought about it, the more appealing it sounded for Remnant to officially be joining the UEG.

XXXXX

July 6, 2682; 1753 Hours

UNSC Guardian, Deck 3

Ivan smiled as he strolled through the metallic halls of Guardian, which was on its way back to Remnant, Winter walking alongside him. He had spent the last week on Earth with his team, who he had come to think of as family. Unsurprisingly, the time seemed to pass a bit too quickly for his liking.

The last few days that they shared on the UEG capital world were relaxed, spending most of their time simply lounging around the house or strolling around the city. Weiss had spent a fair bit of time shopping around, finding UEG clothing to be rather appealing. Ruby, surprisingly, was completely inseparable from the Heiress. Ivan had noticed that, ever since they arrived on Earth, Ruby and Weiss seemed to be spending every conceivable second together, with Weiss seeming far more relaxed and amicable than usual. Ruby, naturally, was still her normal ball of energy.

He and Winter had spent most of their time together as well, simply enjoying the time away from the politics and turmoil of Remnant, not having to worry about any Grimm attacks or angry superior officers. Blake and Yang spent every waking moment together as well. Ivan was rather happy to find that Blake was comfortable enough around his family to remove her bow whenever she was in the house, a comfort that she was obviously still not used to experiencing.

Their return to Guardian was rather strange, with Ironwood seeing Winter practically glued to Ivan's side. Either he had no idea what was going on, or he simply did not care enough to bring it up.

Ivan felt the familiar lurch of a ship leaving the Slipstream beneath his feet, knowing that their journey back to Remnant's system had finally come to an end after the two day trip. After a few moments of walking, Ivan felt a strange tingling sensation from his Neural Implant. At first, he attributed it to his implant reconnecting to the Remnant Defense Force's communications network, but the jolt of searing pain that pulsated through his head a moment later proved him wrong.

Ivan visibly winced, grinding his teeth together as a searing pain ran the length of his spine, emanating from his Neural Implant. He let out a pained groan, earning a look of concern from Winter. "What's wrong?" She asked. "Are you alright?"

Ivan sighed, pushing the slowly-lessening pain into the back of his mind for a short while. "I just had some of the worst bio-feedback I've ever felt…" Ivan commented, massaging the back of his neck.

"What?" Winter asked, unsure of what the SPARTAN was talking about.

"My Neural Implant just started trying to burn a hole through my spinal cord…" Ivan said, wincing as another, shorter jolt of pain reverberated through his mind. "That only happens when a communications network goes into complete overload."

"What would cause the network to do that?" Winter asked, looking concerned.

"No idea…" Ivan began, sending a quick command to his Implant. "Captain, what's going on?" He asked, connecting his Implant's communicator to the ship's bridge.

"Remnant's communications grid just went fucking bonkers." The Captain of Guardian responded, obviously feeling the same thing that Ivan was. "Wait one." He said, putting the communication on hold.

Ivan sighed, feeling his Neural Implant finally start filtering out the junk data that was being pumped into it. He was amazed at the amount being filtered through the communication systems, several dozen terabits of information every few seconds. "What's going on?" Winter asked.

"Remnant's comms grid is going nuts, and it looks like anyone with a Neural Implant just felt it." Ivan responded. "Waiting on the Captain for an actual report of what's going on."

Almost as if on cue, the Captain re-opened the communication with Ivan. "SPARTAN, you and Team RWBY need to report to the Bridge immediately." He said, his words sounding incredibly serious.

"What's going on?" He asked.

"Vale is under attack." The Captain responded. "Groundside Defensive Grid has gone down completely and the White Fang are hitting targets all over the city. All orbital assets are to prepare for a combat insertion into Vale."