The next day, the initiates of Atlas Academy were woken up early.
The sound of a trumpet blared out a tune, stirring everyone awake. Sarcelle blinked, bleary eyed, and looked towards the source. It was Flynt, standing next to Winter. Several students gave him dirty looks and he shrugged with a small smile. Of course, Sarcelle could guess that she had made him do it, and judging from the smirk on her face, she absolutely did.
Maybe she thought it was funny, a reference to military cliches from movies. The particulars didn't really matter. Winter explained, "Rise and shine, initiates. You have one hour to get dressed, have breakfast, and report to the designated meeting area, the location of which has been sent to your scroll." Then, without another word, she left.
Most everyone was slow to rise, except Penny, she looked bright and happy as always, declaring, "Good luck today!" to everyone, and while some people thanked her, the majority just grumbled about having to be up at the crack of dawn, as if that wasn't something to be expected.
Sarcelle, for her part, was drowsy and desperately wished to go back to sleep, but didn't vocalize her complaint. Instead, she gathered up some of her clothes from her luggage, woke up Enigma, and then headed into the showers, with Enigma hovering around outside of the shower stall she had claimed.
When she finished, she dressed in the privacy of the stall (having had Enigma drop her clothes from overhead after having held onto them with a mechanical arm that retracted into him after the fact), and then returned to the barracks. Penny was there, although a lot of people had already left, the orange haired girl was nodding along to something Neon was saying with a bright smile on her face.
Sarcy was intent on walking past them to finish her final preparations now that she was dressed in her usual outfit, all she needed to do was put on her limb enhancers. Of course, Penny noticed her first, "Sarcelle! I see you're prepared for initiation! Are you excited?"
The diminutive blonde frowned slightly, "Not prepared yet." Then, she reached her bed and opened her suitcase, where she had been keeping her limb enhancers. Then, she started to put them on.
Neon was curious, tilting her head slightly as she watched Sarcy put the pauldrons on. She even leaned forward slightly when they each let out a HISS and attached firmly to her arms, "What's that? Some kinda fancy armor?"
Sarcelle figured that she should have expected that question. They were, after all, not exactly at mass production levels yet, "Limb enhancers. They make it to where I can keep up with the average huntsman-in-training in spite of my… difficulties."
Enigma continued the explanation, "Sarcelle suffers from a condition known as being 'immunocompromised', as a result she needs to utilize technology to make up for the physical deficiencies she experiences."
Neon nodded along, "Ooh. Some fancy tech stuff! Well, you might be able to keep up with the average trainee, but I bet you won't be able to keep up with me and my roller skates!"
Sarcelle regarded her for a moment before she pointed up to Enigma, "I can't, but he can."
Enigma's lens extended out as he examined Neon, the girl looked more confused than anything else before the lens retracted, "Total weight combined with variable speed of roller skates and possibility of human error confirms. I am combat ready." Sarcelle smirked and crossed her arms while Neon pouted.
Penny gasped at Enigma, "Friend Enigma said my line!" Sarcy had never heard her say it before, but apparently it was something Penny said too. She stood up and placed her hands on her hips, "I, too, am combat ready! Initiation will be of no issue to us!"
Sarcelle hummed and nodded, "Then we should get something to eat." She needed to eat, even with her limb enhancers there was no way she was going to be able to do well without a full stomach. Maybe in time she'd be like those Hunters who could live without eating for days at a time, but at that moment she wasn't anywhere near that.
Fully dressed (and armed) and with Flynt joining them on the way out, the group made their way to the mess hall. They didn't have a lot of time to eat and chat, so they just enjoyed their meals in silence. Sarcelle thought she'd had the best waffles in the world when she had her mom's Arc waffle recipe, and… she had, but Atlesian waffles weren't bad.
When they finished eating the group then made their way to the briefing room they were directed to with the rest of the hopefuls. There were over a hundred of them in total, which might not seem like that many, but when you shove them all together in one room, even if it was fairly spacious, things tend to get… crowded.
Which is to say, Sarcelle was standing in a corner with Penny, Neon, and Flynt on her right, left, and in front of her. Honestly, being surrounded by people that she knew was the only acceptable option at that point. Sarcelle tried to focus on the table against the wall opposite the door that was projecting a holographic map above it.
Winter was standing at attention next to the projection, and once everyone had gathered she began to speak, "Today you will be going on your first, and in some cases only mission. You will be split into groups, randomly picked by our computer system, and then sent out to an abandoned mining town. Scouring the town, you will find one of fifteen safes. Your objective is then to find the combination for your safe, hidden somewhere within the cave, then return to your safe and open it. Then, you will head to one of the marked exfils and your initiation will be complete. Are there any questions?"
"Why are our teams being randomly chosen?" one person asked.
Winter regarded the asker for a moment before answering, "You will not always have the luxury of choice when it comes to your squad, even as an independent huntsman. Know that the squads aren't unchangeable, squads changing is not an uncommon occurrence, often squad bonds simply don't forge."
"Are we allowed to fight other students during initiation?" asked another person.
Winter nodded, "You are, in fact, you're expected to. One of the greatest dangers you'll face in the field is other people, so you need to be prepared to fight at all times."
Sarcelle had a question, but she seriously didn't want to speak up in a room filled with her peers. That was just too much pressure for her heart to handle.
So instead, she whispered the question to Penny and had her ask. Penny, once she heard the question, grinned and nodded before raising her hand, "Oh! Professor-Specialist Schnee! Will there be any Grimm?"
Winter, again, nodded, "The mines will play host to Grimm, they and other students will be your primary obstacle. I expect the Grimm to be of little concern for any initiate worth their salt. You are all hunters-in-training, Grimm are inferior in intelligence and skill."
Finally, it seemed, there were no more questions. Winter looked at the table and pressed a button, "Now, we will begin team randomization."
That was when Sarcelle activated her semblance, because the last thing she wanted to do was end up on a team with three strangers, or worse, with Irene. Call her petty, because she was, but she had the ability to set this straight, and so she would. Manipulating the algorithm and selection process was easy, and when the first selection came up, it was exactly what she wanted.
If Winter knew what happened, she didn't say anything, instead she read off the names, "Sarcelle Arc, Penny Polendina, Neon Katt, and Flynt Coal. You will be known as Alpha Team temporarily. Your permanent name and leader will be selected based on performance after the fact. Now, make sure everything is in order and then head to the hangar.
Penny, Neon, and Flynt all seemed pleasantly surprised. Sarcelle did her best to not smirk as they all left together. Only once they were out of the crowded room and walking down the halls did any of them speak, Flynt specifically, "Man, that's some crazy luck. We coulda ended up with some assholes instead of people we're already cool with."
Neon was in agreement, "Yeah! Now, if we all pass, I can show you guys my favorite clubs down in Mantle! Are you guys good at dancing? I bet I could dance circles around all of you." Her voice was laced in amusement but it was clear that she believed those words, and Sarcelle wasn't going to oppose her on that.
Penny was, herself, overjoyed. She had once heard the phrase 'over the moon' before, and while she was not literally over the moon, she felt it applied. Neon's words just made Penny's smile grow, "Sen-sational! We can all go dancing! I've done a lot of research on the topic!"
Sarcelle hummed, "I've never danced before." Neon gasped in shock before Sarcelle looked back and rolled back the sleeve on her dress shirt, showing her jumpsuit, "Immunocompromised, remember? My sisters love dancing, poor Jaune always had to be their dance partner." Then, she looked forward again.
Neon remembered, "Oooh, right right. Jaune, huh? That's your brother?" Sarcelle nodded and Neon grinned, "Is he cute? Think you could introduce me?" Once again it was very difficult for Sarcy to tell whether or not Neon was joking.
So, as she always did, she answered completely straight, "Objectively speaking I believe you'd find him… attractive." It hurt her to say that about her brother, "He's clumsy and hapless, but he's my brother." She smiled, thinking back on her time with him, "He's going to Beacon. I can only imagine what his initiation will be like…" She had heard that Headmaster Ozpin was something of a… strange man when it came to how he ran his academy. She'd have to ask Jaune once the day was done.
Flynt responded as they all reached the hanger, "I hear it's crazy. The Headmaster launches everyone off a cliff and has 'em grab some 'relic' or something. I heard that one year it was those cheap things people make of popular people. Somethin' Pop? I dunno."
Sarcelle knew exactly what he was talking about, and as they were directed to take seats on the Atlesian Bullhead they were to use, she voiced it, "Low quality statuettes. They were probably used for their cheap quality and cost." She checked her saber, which had been clipped to her side. She saw a place where she could open the inner-workings of the device and hummed, doing so. There, she found a slot that looked like it was meant for a dust crystal. She could guess what adding one would do, and it was a good thing she had a few of them in her satchel.
It was a small satchel, meant almost entirely to carry ammo for her revolver and dust for use in battle. Robyn had suggested it, and she wasn't one to ignore advice from someone as skilled and experienced as her. Inside of the ship they found a singular soldier waiting there for them, and to his credit he didn't look too uncomfortable. As the team settled in, silence reigned over them for a few minutes. Eventually, the soldier broke the silence, "I've flown with a lot of teams to initiation and I gotta admit, a lot of them don't look fit to fight a kitten. You guys, though? You look like you might actually make it."
Neon spoke up with a grin, "Thanks! Put money on us, I bet you'll win the pot!" The man seemed like he was considering it, and Sarcelle couldn't bring herself to be surprised at the idea that the soldiers bet on which teams would succeed and which would fail. It just made her more determined to actually succeed.
The flight wasn't very long, Sarcelle counted about thirty minutes based on what time her scroll had. They soon touched down just outside the mining town and were ushered out before the ship took off again. The town itself was larger than one might have initially anticipated. Sarcelle had expected a small ramshackle affair, but it seemed that it was more like a proper township. Not quite the size of Domremy, but that was to be expected. Domremy was the largest non-capital city in Vale, and while no Argus, it was still decently sized. Big enough that all of the initiates could wander around and not run into each other.
It was just like a book she'd read once, but less life or death, mostly. Sarcy hummed, "Well…" Her gaze swept around the town, the largest building was only three stories high, and few were completely intact, "The first thing we need to do is locate a safe. Then we'll have to make our way to the mines…" She fished out an ice dust crystal and inserted it into her saber, igniting it and found it glowed blue, "Interesting…"
Enigma chimed in next, "Scanners are picking up heat signatures within the town. The other initiates have already begun their search." That was all they all needed to hear to get moving.
Sarcelle went first, leading the others while looking around carefully, brandishing her blade in preparation for someone to engage with them. She was anxious, she'd admit that, but she tried to keep her mind clear. If she approached this like she approached working on a project, then she was sure she could pull through.
As they were walking into the city, Sarcelle got a strange feeling that she was being watched. She furrowed her brow and looked around, the feeling didn't seem to be coming from anywhere in particular so much as all around her…
Then, as quickly as the feeling arrived, it vanished. Sarcy frowned slightly, but given that nobody else said anything and Enigma hadn't reported any aura or heat signatures nearby, she figured it was nothing. She was just nervous and imagining things.
Eventually, they reached a juncture, two different paths they could take to find a safe. Flynt hummed, "We should split up, two go right and two go left. If we run into anyone, we can make noise or use our scrolls."
The others didn't see a problem with that, so Sarcelle took Penny and went right while Neon and Flynt went left. Sarcy and Penny went down their path, keeping their eyes open as they tried to remain vigilant. Eventually, they reached a building that looked relatively intact and looked around. Penny spoke up, "Sarcelle! There is a very high likelihood that this building contains a safe. We should-"
She was abruptly cut off by the CRACK of a rifle, Penny got hit in the arm yet didn't seem to care, instead pushing Sarcelle into the building. She was quick to retreat into the building as well, although she bore a frown as she shut the door, "Other students!" she declared, although Sarcelle was no longer focused on that.
Maybe it was to distract from the fact she'd just been shot at, but she suddenly found herself focusing on Penny herself. Specifically, the fact that her arm was sparking, "Penny… What's that?" She asked while deactivating her blade and clipping it to her side.
Penny looked at her wound and her eyes widened, "Th-That? Oh! Well- That is just my prosthetic arm!" She hiccuped, interrupting her before she continued, "Although my aura blunted the shot it still damaged my prosthetic somewhat!" Once again, she hiccuped. Sarcelle couldn't help but feel that the hiccuping was strange, but she couldn't for the life of her guess where they came from.
Sarcelle bought it, but she couldn't let Penny walk around with a malfunctioning prosthetic, "Okay…" She looked around, "The second floor of this place didn't have many windows, let's get up there and I'll take a look at it." Penny looked uneasy, but the two plus Enigma made their way up regardless.
When they found a room where the window was covered with a curtain, and facing away from the direction they'd been shot from, Penny finally said, "Sarcelle, you don't need to fix my prosthetic! I am perfectly functional-"
Sarcy shushed her, raising an index finger to her own lips, "You fed me soup, remember?" She smiled shyly, "I'm returning the favor." Penny fell silent but remained apprehensive as Sarcelle placed her hand on Penny's arm and used her semblance to push her will into the 'prosthetic.'
She could have never anticipated what happened next.
Sarcelle sharply inhaled as her senses were suddenly almost overwhelmed. She felt not just a prosthetic, but an entire presence! This was not like any machine she'd encountered before. She felt not just the technology, but something else…
"Sarcelle! She's…"
"W-Why does this feel so strange?"
"I hope she doesn't…"
"...I'm… I'm afraid…"
She felt everything Penny felt, all encompassing emotion that the girl never expressed outwardly. Worry, Anxiety, Fear… It was as if a flashbang of emotion and technological presence had filled her mind, then it began to ebb into something else. Something so absolute and so unique that Sarcelle could not mistake it for anything other than what it was.
Penny's whole being, everything she was, aura and all. It washed over her, she could have drowned in it, and she would not have even minded. Yet, it was also a shock, enough of a shock to get her to cut off her semblance as she gasped and staggered. She almost fell over, were it not for Penny's steadying hands.
Sarcelle blinked, her eyes wide, "P-Penny, you're…" Her whole body felt warm, she still felt traces of the other girl on her. A lingering touch that went much deeper than her skin, "That… I…" Her face was red hot, and she found she only had one thing she could say, "You're… You're an android…"
Penny looked more expressive than she ever was normally. Panic and fear, sadness and woe, yet a glimmer of something else. Sarcelle was never good at reading emotions, but for some reason it was so, so clear with Penny at that moment. So clear that she held a glint of hope in her gaze, even as she worried said, "S-Sarcelle, I'm sorry- Th-They told me I was supposed to keep it secret, but I couldn't. I-If you hate me, I-"
Sarcelle cut her off as she responded with a sudden bright smile, "Penny, this is amazing! You're an android, yet you have a soul, an aura! This is groundbreaking!" Penny had often seen Sarcelle talk with such brightness and energy when it came to her technical projects in the past few days, but now all of that energy and zeal was directed at her, "You're simply wonderful! I must learn more!"
Her hand went on Penny's arm and she investigated it while Penny's eyes were wide and her tear manufacturing technology kicked in, sensing her mood. It was rudimentary and did not have much in the way of true 'tearyness', but it did make them shimmer as if she were about to cry, "S-Sarcelle, y-you… you truly find me that interesting? I-I'm not… strange?"
Sarcelle shook her head, "If by strange you mean absolutely marvelous, then yes, you are strange." She beckoned Pod, and Penny's receptors felt the girl and her machine begin to repair her arm, "I have so many questions."
When Sarcelle looked at Penny again, she found the sight she was greeted with most curious. Penny was smiling shyly for one thing, averting her gaze and placing a hand on her cheek. She was blushing as well, which Sarcelle knew shouldn't have been possible, but it was just another mystery to add to Penny, "Are you well, Penny? Your arm should be better."
Penny giggled and looked away, "Oh, Sarcelle. I-I'm doing sen-sationally!" She still couldn't quite meet Sarcy's gaze, "I-I am grateful and feel… some strange feelings I have never experienced before. I don't know how to describe them… I must ask my father, later…" A strange, strange sensation that could only best be described as fluttering that Penny knew was something that had to have been built into her intentionally, but to what end? "You are truly a wonderful friend. C-Can you please not tell anyone? If Uncle Ironwood or Father found out, they would no doubt be upset. Not to mention Specialist Schnee…"
Sarcy nodded and smiled slightly, "Penny, I hacked into the Atlesian military database. I know how to keep secrets. I only got caught after I got careless." Never before had she felt so at ease with someone, it was a strange feeling, but Penny seemed to combine all the pros of machines with all the pros of humanity, with none of the downsides! At least, for the moment, "Our little secret, I promise."
Penny stared at her for a few moments as she thought it over, not that she was going to reject keeping it a secret. It was more like she had never experienced what it was like to keep a secret before. Eventually, she grinned, "Wonderful! We are truly best friends, keeping secrets together! If anyone asks, we will tell them I am Penny Polendina, a one-hundred percent human girl!" She hiccuped and smiled sheepishly.
Sarcelle hummed, her hiccuping as a result of telling a lie was interesting. Was it intentional? She wouldn't put it past Atlas for wanting to have a way to tell if someone like Penny was lying, not that Sarcelle thought Penny was the type of girl to lie a lot. Looking around, Sarcy said, "Right, we should keep moving and see if we can find a safe."
Before they could get moving, however, Sarcy's scroll went off. She fished it out and saw the call was from Flynt. She answered, and his face filled the screen, he looked a bit nervous, "Hey, Sarcelle, Penny! We found a safe, but uhh…" The sound of a gunshot in the distance caused him to flinch a bit as he gritted his teeth, "So have some other guys. We're gonna need some backup here, there's four of em."
Sarcy nodded, "We're on our way!" Enigma grabbed their location through the scroll before Sarcy hung up. The two girls and their faithful floating robot ran out of the building, they left by climbing out a window at Penny's suggestion so that they wouldn't alert the team that had shot at them earlier.
Luckily, if that team had seen them, they chose not to to engage two initiates who were leaving the area they were in, because they weren't accosted as they hurried towards the gunshots. Once they were approaching, Enigma declared, "Four aura signatures, readings indicate that two have sustained damage. I will mark them upon our approach."
The first thing they noticed was Neon skating down the street in her rollerblades. She was literally running circles around one of the initiates, a girl who was wielding a rather simple rifle. The sound of Flynt's trumpet blared from inside what looked to be a townhouse, causing the glass of the windows to break as another initiate was thrown out of it. He wielded a broadsword, a quick glance was all Sarcy needed to see that it was primitive, "Penny!" Thinking on her toes, she looked at the other girl, "Go help Flynt, there's supposed to be two more."
Penny looked around before responding, "My combat capabilities will be somewhat limited in such a confined space, but I will make every effort to succeed!" Her back opened, and that was when Sarcy saw her swords, a marvelous assortment of floating blades that were controlled by a set of strings. Yet, Penny kept it down to just two swords and jumped into the house via the window.
That left Sarcelle to deal with a guy wielding what looked to be a broadsword. Very primitive indeed, but he was much taller and stronger than her, with brown hair swept to the side, a small portion of it was highlighted blonde. He had wing ear-clips and wore armor that looked a lot more futuristic, yet his sword really threw the whole thing off. Maybe he had some hidden trick?
One way or the other as he scrambled to his feet, his gaze hardened as he looked at Sarcelle, "Aren't you a little too scrawny to be a huntress?" He brandished his sword, "It's not too late to give up and go home."
Sarcy hummed, "You're right." She unclipped the handle of her saber and activating it, the hum of the energy blade's activation caused the boy's eyes to widen. She held the sword in both her hands in the stance that Winter had taught her, "It's not too late for you to give up." She probably should have been more afraid of fighting her first real opponent, but this was a person, not a Grimm. She was trepidatious, of course, but she had advantages, all she had to do was use them. So, she bit back the fear and readied herself.
Enigma followed up, "Enemy is a graduate of Lighthouse Academy, undoubtedly skilled. His odds of success? Forty percent." Enigma wasn't really supposed to have the capacity to sound snarky, but he somehow managed it through his robot monotone. It was enough to make Sarcy smirk and decide that she'd need to upgrade his vocal capabilities at some point in the future.
To his credit, the boy didn't seem to visibly get agitated. Instead, he raced forward and raised his sword for a downward swing. Sarcelle responded by bringing up her blade and blocking the strike. No doubt the strength in his swing would have caused her no small amount of pain before, but now? She found she could handle it.
As their blades locked in a clash, the antenna atop Enigma's head sank into his form before being replaced with a small turret that shot out a red laser. As much as Sarcy's opponent seemed to want to press the advantage using his strength, the laser that burned into his aura caused him to break away. As he stepped back to prepare for another attack, Sarcy followed her training and thrust forward with her saber, catching her opponent in his stomach before he was able to bat away her weapon with his own.
Neon was skating around her opponent as they kept trying to line up a shot. Eventually, though, Neon moved in, brandishing her glowstick nunchucks as she smacked them on the side of the head with them. As they staggered, she began to strike at them over and over again while skating in a close circle, the poorly equipped student unable to do anything other than jump out of the circle she was trapped in.
When she jumped out, she turned onto her back and fired off a round from her rifle before it shifted, splitting in two. The girl brandished two swords, one of which had a gun barrel under it, and prepared to engage as Neon closed in on her again. She swung at Neon's head, but Neon quickly ducked and smacked her opponent in the stomach with her nunchucks. The enemy swung again and this time fired a shot with her rifle, causing Neon to miss a beat and lose balance, although luckily she got far enough away to focus on regaining her balance.
Sarcelle, meanwhile, had put some distance between herself and her opponent. She shifted slightly as her mind ran through possible tactics. She told herself that if she treated this like she treated working on a machine, maybe she'd be able to keep her cool and think up something useful. He wielded a broadsword and seemed to have nothing else, but that could have easily been a deception tactic. Sarcy's semblance told her that there was some technological source within his gauntlets, but she couldn't see what it was.
Instead of taking any chances, she began to make a plan. Short-circuit whatever was in his gauntlets, use a ranged strike with her sword, press the advantage and shift into a staff. Follow up with Enigma's laser, conclude by sweeping the leg, and finally finish off his aura. Physically he would recover within the day, although whether or not he got into the school would depend on if his team could salvage a loss like this.
Provided her plan worked, at least.
She projected her semblance outward and caused his gauntlets to begin to short-circuit. His surprise and worry caused him to drop his blade as if that were the thing causing the problem. Sarcelle slashed outward, sending out a wave of ice-blue energy that clouded the air with icy mist and upon connecting with her opponent, caused ice to begin creeping up his armor. Following up as quickly as she could, her weapon shifted as the saber vanished and the hilt extended out into a staff.
Then, she stepped forward quickly while Enigma fired another laser at her opponent, connecting with him while he was still trying to reconcile with everything else that was happening. Sarcy followed up by sweeping her staff out and knocking her opponent off his feet.
So far, her plan had been working perfectly, however, her opponent had another trick up his sleeve. He threw out his hand with his palm extended outward and a pulse of kinetic energy caused Sarcy to stagger backward, she would have lost her footing had Enigma not caught her. It must have been his semblance, something she forgot to factor into her plan.
As he staggered to his feet, he grabbed something else off his side, an Atlesian military grade pistol. Several dust rounds were fired out, and it was only thanks to her limb enhancers that Sarcy was able to dodge most of them by jumping out of the way. One shot managed to connect with her side and she yelped in pain as she hit the ground.
Before she could scramble up to get back in the fight, Neon finally seemed to get the upper hand on her opponent. Enough smacks with her nunchucks and enough spinning in circles caused her enemy to finally get worn out and fall to the ground, her aura shimmering. Neon then switched and, all while muttering 'Never miss a beat' under her breath, skated towards Sarcy's opponent. The boy's eyes widened as he shifted in preparation to shoot at Neon, but Enigma zapped the pistol out of his hand.
All it took was Neon connecting her nunchucks with the boy's face to jerk his head to the side and cause him to fall back again, aura shimmering. At the same time, the other two members of his team were defenestrated, being followed by Penny and Flynt. The boy, who seemed to be the leader, threw up his hands, "Alright, alright! Look, we'll go somewhere else! J-Just pretend this didn't happen, okay?"
Before anyone could respond, the boy and his team fled down the street, in the direction that Sarcy and Penny had come from. Sarcy watched them leave, "Well, bye." She was going to let them leave anyway, there was no reason to keep them there, nor was she mean spirited enough to want to break their auras to make sure they were truly disqualified.
Penny's swords were resting at the small of her back now; collapsed, they looked like just one blade. Sarcy had no idea how the tech for that worked, but she knew she'd be able to figure it out later. Flynt looked a bit out of breath but overall no worse for wear, "Man, those guys fought hard. Everyone alright?"
Neon grinned as she put away her glowstick nunchucks, "Yep! That was fun! I missed a beat, but I got it back right away." She smirked, "Sarcy here did pretty good too! What was that thing you did to his hands?"
Sarcelle hummed, "My semblance allows me to manipulate technology, I just short-circuited whatever he had in his gauntlets. It might have been some kind of blaster…" She muttered and rubbed her chin, it was only Enigma whirring and clicking that seemed to bring her back as she blinked, "Right. We need to find that safe."
The others were in agreement, and the best place to go seemed to be the house they'd just had a brawl inside and outside of. Making their way inside, they began to scour the building. Evidence of the fight that took place was all over the place in the form of damaged walls, damaged furniture, and turned paintings, although all of that stuff could well have been in that state before. It didn't take them too long to find their quarry, hiding behind a slightly tilted painting was a safe labeled with the number seven.
Penny clapped her hands and bounced on her heels, "Sen-sational! We've found the safe! Now we just need to find the combination in the Grimm infested mines!" She felt that wouldn't be too hard, it might even be fun! After all, what was there to worry about? She's combat ready!
However, Sarcy had a different idea.
Sure, they could go into the Grimm infested cave and they could risk another group going for the same code, but why? Why would she do that, why would she do any of that? Instead, she gestured to Enigma, "Enigma, deploy your precision laser." Enigma did so obediently, using the laser he had used prior and beginning to cut a careful square around the edges of the safe, the beam was smaller than it was before.
Penny gasped, "Sarcelle! We are supposed to go into the caves and find the combination! Isn't this cheating?" She was always told that following the rules was very important, and yet at the same time she was told to try and not be too rigid by her father. Winter and Uncle Ironwood seemed to disagree, but Penny valued what her father thought as well. Overall, she was very conflicted.
Flynt chuckled, "Chill, Pen-Pen, chill. They said we needed to retrieve the folder, they never said we weren't allowed to do it in some other way than bravin' the caves. My pops always said you gotta work smarter, not harder."
Neon was in agreement as she placed her hands on her hips, "Yep! Why do all the boring stuff in the caves when we can get the party started back in Atlas? Strike up the band and hit up the clubs!"
Sarcy was glad the other two backed her up. Penny didn't put up any argument, she just nodded with wide-eyed concern. The Technomancer waited until the cutting was complete and Enigma had pulled back the safe's front, letting it collapse to the floor, before she spoke. She reached out and grabbed the folder, "Objective complete. Now let's clear this level and go home." She tossed her head back to the door.
The group began to leave, although as they exited the front they found they weren't alone. Instead, Irene was standing there with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face, she was flanked by the one Sarcy remembered as Ciel along with a man as tall as Irene. He had dark blue eyes, fair skin, and long dark blue hair styled into low pigtails. He was wearing jeans, a light-blue shirt, and a vest. He rounded everything off with segments of armor, blue shoulder pauldrons with yellow highlights along with a partial duster attached to his hip. He also wore asymmetrical gloves, the left one was longer than the right one.
The final member of their squad was just a touch shorter than Irene and the other guy. He had light brown skin, light brown eyes, and short, straight gray hair. He wore black glasses with yellow lenses, a white suit with beige and wheat accents, and knee-high beige boots. The suit jacket was very low collar, revealing the fact that he wore no shirt underneath in spite of Atlas' cold climate. Sarcelle thought he looked rather snappy, but the low-cut on the suit jacket was a bit much.
Irene bore a smug smirk on her face, "I knew I'd find you here, Sarcelle. You're far too intelligent to allow yourself to be tethered down by the constraints of the mission parameters, just the same as I." She splayed her fingers out towards herself in some posh gesture of what Sarcy was pretty sure was superiority, "Good show, your intellect matches your beauty." Sarcy's face ignited a bright red and she hid it behind the folder in her hands.
She didn't catch Penny's eyes narrowing slightly.
Ciel spoke up, "Irene, should we not try to take their folder? We could beat them and fulfill our objective rather than risking getting disqualified by not finding a folder in time." To emphasize this, she tapped the digital watch she wore on her wrist.
Irene shook her head, seeming disinterested, "No." That got both teams looking at her, Irene's team looking annoyed.
The blue haired boy frowned, "Irene, aren't we supposed to be fighting other students? That's part of the test and they're right there! Are you telling me we should just let them go?" The white haired boy fixed his glasses and closed his eyes in frustration, but he didn't say anything, it was clear none of her team was happy with this.
Yet, Irene didn't budge, speaking instead as if her reasoning was obvious, "I will not devalue my own merit by taking from another team! I can do this without needing to take from them, and to do otherwise would be proving that we are naught but vultures!" There was no hint that she was doing this out of the kindness of her heart, but rather she was doing it out of her own twisted pride.
Sarcy and her team took their bickering as an opportunity and, after exchanging a few looks, beat a hasty retreat. None of the other team seemed to notice them leaving, at least not until they were too far away to pursue.
While they were walking towards one of the extraction points, Neon hummed, "Well that happened." Everyone else uttered agreements and then she added, "She certainly seemed into you, Sarcelle. What's that about?"
Sarcelle's face heated up all over again at the mention, she rubbed the back of her neck while she tried to think up a response, "A-Ah, well… I-I'm not quite sure myself, honestly…" Irene had certainly seemed interested in her from the start, she even took Sarcy being sick in stride and just told her they could meet some other day. She was still unsure about that, but she sure seemed nice on the surface.
Penny, in a rare display of negativity, huffed, "I do not like her. Not at all. She's very rude." She crossed her arms and pouted while they kept walking, and Sarcy couldn't find it in her to object, Irene was polite but in a very rude way. She wasn't sure how that was possible, but Irene pulled it off.
Flynt was about to say something, but then the ground began to tremble and caused everyone to pause. It was subtle at first, and Sarcy thought that maybe it was an earthquake, but then several large Grimm burst from the ground. A loud explosion was heard somewhere further away, signaling the arrival of even more Grimm. Each one was long and segmented, with a pair of clawed legs on each segment and a durable looking shell. The largest of the four was as long as a two-story house and almost as wide! As the team watched the biggest one flailed, smashing into a building and sending it down. The centipede Grimm screeched as Flynt called out, "Centinels!"
The other three weren't nearly as big, but they still were large, as long as a truck and as wide as said truck's bed. They all screeched, and the whole team took a few steps back, with Neon asking, "Uhm… what do we do?"
Sarcelle grimaced and held the folder up to Enigma, out of the bottom segment of his mechanical form emerged a grasper arm that took hold of the folder. She wasn't going to admit that she was terrified, this was one of the first times she'd ever seen a Grimm up close, and with her few days of training she doubted she was going to be useful. Yet, she had to try, because she knew Jaune was trying too. If she failed, she knew she'd be letting him down, letting her family down, and that was the last thing she wanted. Imagining seeing them with disappointed, downcast, or Brothers forbid, pitying gazes, was a major motivator for her.
For so, so long, her life had been constrained by the circumstances of her birth, and it was pitying gazes that she was greeted with so often, even by her own parents. She couldn't let that happen again, never again. She couldn't let fear conquer her, even if she was weak, she knew she had to try. With shaking hands, she took her saber off her hip and fished out a fire dust crystal, moving as fast as she could to change out the spent ice dust crystal, "It's simple..."
Once she finished replacing the crystal she quickly activated the now red saber just in time for the beasts to begin skittering towards them, "We do some bug fixing." That line would have probably sounded cooler if her voice hadn't cracked while she was saying it, but she could be embarrassed later.
Everyone jumped out of the way of the oncoming Centinels, and Enigma followed up with, "Target verified, commencing hostilities." Once again his antenna was replaced with a laser as he started to sear into the Centinels as they passed by him.
Neon recovered from dodging the quickest, cracking her glowstick nunchucks and activating the ice dust within, causing the ground to begin to freeze over. Two of the Centinels lost traction and swerved, crashing into buildings, one on the left side of the street and the other on the right. One whipped its body as it did so, managing to smack Neon in the process, sending her flying backward.
Flynt, who was standing further back, was quick to raise his trumpet and blow into it towards Neon. The force of the wind was enough to slow and eventually completely stop her from being sent backwards. She landed back on the ground and grinned back at him before racing forward with her immense speed, dashing towards the Grimm that had sent her flying while it was still recovering. In a rainbow blur of speed, she smashed into the segments of the beast while it was trying to right itself, slowly covering it with ice and pinning it to the ground.
Following up with this, Flynt duplicated himself using his semblance and blasted a thunderous technicolor wave of sound that would have made Sarcy cover her ears were she not in a fight. The two Centinels that were still charging ahead were beginning to slow, the small one struggled the most while the large one continued almost unimpeded!
That was, it remained unimpeded until Penny jumped into action, her weapons leaving the small of her back and multiplying above her. They began to spin in a circle above her head, a green energy forming within them before a large beam shot out towards the giant Grimm. It slammed head first into the beast, starting a power struggle as the Grimm attempted to push on despite Penny's assault.
Sarcy's gaze darted around, looking at everything that was going on. Enigma clicked and whirred a few times, and Sarcelle nodded before running forward. The smaller Grimm were mostly occupied, so she focused on the large one. She looked at Flynt's sound waves and slashed out towards them, sending a flaming wave of energy that, when it connected, laced the waves of sound and air with flame. The beast screeched in pain and was clearly slowing down, but it hadn't given up yet.
Before Sarcelle could move to attack it directly, the final small one that had crashed into the building closest to her began to move, causing her to stop and turn towards it. She swore, it didn't take a genius to know that having it reenter the battle had the chance to make things worse. So, she turned and hurried as fast as her enhanced legs could take her towards it. She was far too small to face it directly, so as it righted itself she did the most insane thing she'd done since breaking into Atlas' databases.
She leapt into the air and landed on its back just as it was righting itself. It was wide enough for her to run on, and she did just that, running forward towards its head. It started to move, wriggling as it began to charge towards Flynt's stationary form. Sarcelle's eyes widened, and acting on instinct, she raised her saber and plunged it into the armored segment she was on top of, towards the middle of the beast. The saber cut into it like a hot knife through butter, causing the beast to screech in pain.
Sarcelle yanked the blade out and grimaced as she saw bright green acid beginning to spill out of the wound she made. She jumped over it and hurried forward, ignoring the sizzling at her feet while thanking the Brothers for aura's existence. The beast had paused due to the pain just long enough for her to reach its head. As she arrived, it began twisting and writhing, almost causing her to lose her balance until suddenly she felt a weight at her side.
Enigma was at her side, keeping her balanced with his body. She managed a smile and reaffirmed her promise to give him some much needed upgrades later. Then, with Enigma also firing right into the things open mouth with his laser, she raised her blade and let out a yell, "Die already!" then plunged her blade down into the beast's head. It let out one more powerful screech, but the saber's burning heat killed it quickly. As it started to fade into smoke, she jumped off the corpse and looked to see how everyone else was doing.
Neon had killed the Centinel she was trapping with ice and had moved on to fighting the larger one. Flynt had run out of breath and was taking large gasps of air in order to recover, but the last small Centinel had been thrown backwards and killed by the force of his attack. Penny stopped firing her beam even though the giant Grimm was still alive. She then raced forward and tackled the giant Grimm head on, grabbing the beast by its mandibles while her blades flew forward and stabbed into its head, keeping it from biting her.
Sarcelle knew this couldn't last, so she thought on her feet, "Flynt, play a tune! We need to get that thing off the ground!" Then, she looked towards Penny, "Penny! We need to get it into the air somehow!" Finally, she looked at Neon, "Neon! Uhm- Hit it really hard! We need to get it into the air!"
Everyone, to their credit, moved into action without hesitation. Flynt took a deep breath before blowing into his trumpet and sending as strong a wave of wind and sound as he could muster towards the Grimm and Penny. Neon raced toward and began to spin her nunchucks around a few times before smacking them towards the beast's head in an uppercut just as Penny let go. As the Centinel was forced to raise its head and leave its body exposed, Penny clenched her fist and reeled back, her fist glowing green with aura. Then, she delivered a hard punch with all the force of aura and robotic strength that sent the beast flying into the air.
Sarcelle took her saber into both her hands and closed her eyes, pumping every bit of aura she had into her weapon. Then, she realized she would probably only really have one chance to say something she'd wanted to say forever and have it be cool, in her mind at least. She muttered, "Go beyond…" Then, her eyes flew open and she pointed her saber towards the airborne Grimm, "PLUS!" The blade responded to her aura and unleashed a massive beam of fire and energy towards the Centinel, "ULLTTRRRAAA!"
The beam of brilliant red energy flew into the air with force only possible because Sarcelle had poured her whole being, literally, into firing it forward. It crashed into the beast and promptly exploded into a massive ball of fire that turned the overcast sky a brilliant red, making it day for just a few seconds before the beam finally banished, the sword retreating back to its normal state. Sarcelle was breathing heavily, she couldn't really believe that she had just done what she did.
Yet, the proof was in front of her, what remained of the giant Centinel fell to the ground, nothing but smoking ash that rained down on the city, making Sarcelle glad she had her respirator on. However, she couldn't dwell on that for very long, as suddenly she was hit with a massive wave of exhaustion.
She began to stumble forward, at least having the wherewithal to turn off her blade before she fell forward, her eyes starting to flutter closed. However, before she could fall completely, someone caught her in their arms. Sarcelle felt herself being moved, and when she opened her eyes she saw she was being carried in a princess carry by who else but Penny Polendina, who grinned down at her with an overjoyed expression, "Sarcy! We did it!" The exuberant grin on her face was, in Sarcy's opinion, worth the exhaustion and probable sickness she'd get from this.
Sarcelle reached up to her mask and slowly took it off, lowering it just so she could smile weakly up at Penny, "Yeah… Yeah we did."
They all began walking towards the exfiltration point, although from what they could see there were Atlesian ships in the air, more than was necessary for initiation. Neon wondered aloud, "Wonder what they're all here for? Ah, it doesn't matter!" She grinned, "That was amazing! We really kicked ass!"
Flynt chuckled, "Yeah, too bad there's no crowd to ask for an encore, that was a real jam." Then, he looked at Sarcelle, "I'm not gonna lie to you, I wasn't sure what to expect from you. I sure as hell didn't expect that, those were some high class pyrotechnics."
Sarcelle's smile brightened a bit even as she closed her eyes, "Yeah… I honestly had no idea if that would work. I was kind of just… making things up." That elicited a laugh from everyone else, which in turn made Sarcy begin to giggle, although a cough cut it off. She raised her mask and put it back on while they continued to walk to their exfil.
When they got there, they were greeted by a Bullhead waiting to escort them back to Atlas, although there were far more soldiers this time than there were previously. Penny wondered why, but she didn't ask them directly, she knew that she could always ask Winter and Uncle Ironwood later.
Sarcelle, meanwhile, was far too tired to ask questions. She had expected to be set down in a seat, however she received a shock when Penny just sat down, keeping Sarcy in her lap. Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked at the other girl, Penny just grinned at her, "You're far too tired to sit upright on your own right now! I will keep you secured."
It was hard for Sarcelle to ignore the fluttering in her chest, but she tried her best and just nodded. She shut her eyes and hoped the blush on her face was completely covered by her respirator and didn't go up closer to her eyes.
Of course, it did, and Penny noticed. Yet, she also had no idea what it meant. It was something she was going to need to do research on, because she was pretty sure that meant Sarcelle was sick. Yet, she couldn't feed her any soup yet, not until they got to the mess hall.
When they got back to Atlas Academy, they exited the ship and began towards an auditorium, a different one from before. By this point, Sarcelle was able to walk, although she did have to learn on Penny for support. She had never quite felt as exhausted as she did at that moment, luckily the auditorium they were in had seats. Rows of movie theater seats that were colored dark blue and gray like much of the rest of Atlas.
The full number of fifteen teams had succeeded, and the room was filled with the members of those teams. Sarcelle saw Irene and her team as well as the boy she had fought earlier and his team. It didn't take long before Ironwood and Winter appeared on stage, with Winter holding a scroll tablet in her hands. Ironwood walked up to the podium as a large holo-TV screen appeared above him, "Congratulations to all of you for passing initiation. With your teams formed and your performances observed, I and the rest of Atlas Academy's staff have determined who would be best to lead each team and along with that information, the name of your teams."
He began to call up groups by name. Most of them Sarcelle didn't know nor did she have the energy to try to remember their names. She just idly listened while struggling to keep her eyes open.
Penny, of course, memorized all of them, yet she didn't need to try very hard to do that. Although she fought to avoid her lips turning down in a frown when Irene's team stepped on stage. Ironwood read their names, "Irene Watts, Kobalt Rivers, Ivori Frost, and Ciel Soleil, you will form Team IRIS, led by… Irene Watts! Congratulations." Their initials and portraits appeared on the screen as the names were read out.
Based on what Penny knew about facial displays of emotion, the only person who looked happy with this was Irene, who held a sense of smugness about her. Ivori and Kobalt bore frowns while Ciel remained stoic, not showing any joy in response to the news. They all stepped off, and next up it was their team's turn.
Sarcelle had to admit that she felt her skin crawl, standing in front of this many people was something she had never thought she would have to do. She shuddered and just hoped they would get through it quickly. Luckily, Ironwood got straight to the point, "Sarcelle Arc, Neon Katt, Flynt Coal, Penny Polendina. You will form… Team Snowcap! Led by…" The letters 'SNCP' appeared on the screen along with their pictures, "Sarcelle Arc! Congratulations."
Neon hopped in place and grinned, "Woo!" She patted Sarcelle on the back, "Team Snowcap for the win!"
Flynt grinned, "Hell yeah, I can jam to this."
Penny hugged Sarcelle, "Sarcelle! You will make a wonderful leader, I'm sure of it!" She smiled at the other girl.
One might have expected Sarcelle to act shocked or to protest, yet she just blinked a few times before nodding. Then, she nodded to the others, "Thanks guys." Together, they all walked off stage, their barrack information had been sent to them, so had their luggage, as they would discover. Sarcy wasn't really sure what to think about being assigned the leadership role, maybe she should have been stunned and shocked, but she was just too tired to care.
Maybe she'd be shocked later, but at the time she didn't really mind that much. She doubted she'd be a good leader, but who was she to judge General Ironwood and the Atlas Academy staffs' decision? They knew better than her, so why try to fight it?
When they got to their barracks, they found their luggage neatly propped up against the wall that had three ornate full-sized windows from roof to floor, revealing the beautiful view of Atlas they would have for the rest of their tenure in the school. The room was rather spacious, colored in much the same colors as the rest of the school, dark blue, light blue, and white. Two sets of bunk beds were built into the wall with a ladder in the middle allowing access to the upper two beds. Along the other side of the wall were four small desks and chairs for each member of the team. Sarcelle would have used her semblance to ask Enigma to remind her to bring in another desk so she could work on her projects without cluttering everything, but she had such a small amount of aura left at that moment that she decided she'd just try to remember it when she woke up the next day.
Sarcelle and Flynt claimed bottom bunks, Sarcelle for the most part because she was too tired to try to climb the ladder. Penny claimed the one above her, and Neon claimed the one above Flynt. Yet, Sarcy was the only one that sat on her bed, moving to prop herself up against the dividing wall that split the two sets of bunk beds. Flynt looked at everyone, "So… you guys wanna go get something to eat? I'm starvin' after all that action!"
Penny and Neon both nodded. Sarcelle did too after she yawned and took off her respirator, "I'll… catch up with you guys. I've got a phone call to make." She started to fish out her scroll.
Neon tilted her head and placed her hands on her hips, "Oh? Who ya callin'?" She seemed genuinely curious, although she didn't waste the opportunity to smirk and teasingly ask, "Got a boyfriend you're tellin' the good news too?"
Sarcelle's face filled with disgust as she shook her head, "Ew, ew, disgusting." Not at the boyfriend thing, she wouldn't have minded one of those, but rather the person she was about to call being anything other than who he was, "No, I'm calling my brother. Based on the time of day, he should be finished with his initiation at Beacon."
Neon seemed a bit disgusted in herself, "Oh! Oh, okay, forget I said anything." The look on her face drew a laugh from Flynt and a giggle from Penny, the three left Sarcelle to find Jaune on her contact list. She crossed her legs while she was looking, when she found him she gave him a call while Enigma floated down and rested on her lap.
She wasn't exactly sure what she would say but she knew she was going onto a bunch of emotions in her heart. Things that she hadn't expressed out loud, or really understood for that matter. She still hadn't entirely wrapped her head around everything that had happened that day, her chest hurt from how heavily she'd been breathing, her hands were shaky, and her limbs overall felt incredibly heavy. Exhaustion, exhaustion like she'd never felt before and never expected to feel prior to around a week ago, and yet… she didn't dislike it.
It took a couple rings but Jaune answered, he looked as exhausted as she did, although Sarcy couldn't tell where he was. He was clearly sitting down, but was it on a dorm bed or a hotel bed? "Hey, Sarcy." The smile he gave her was a weight off her chest, "I made it! I'm a huntsman-in-training now, I'm even leading my own team! How'd it go for you?"
She smiled tiredly, "I did it, Jaune. I…" She was suddenly hit by a wave of relief and a realization that she had finally made it, after so many years of dreaming. Tears welled up in her eyes and began to stream down her face, she sniffled and wiped her eyes, "W-We did it. Y-You remember when we were little?" His smile grew and he seemed to have tears in his eyes as well as he nodded, "W-When you'd sit in my room with me when I was sick and we'd play pretend by just… talking. We'd be a pair of s-super cool huntsmen and kill all the Grimm and save the world."
Jaune nodded, "C'mon, Sarcy…" He rubbed his own eyes, trying to keep them dry, "My team's gonna come in here and see me crying then they're gonna get all worried." In spite of his words, his smile just grew, "You remember what we used to say?"
Sarcy chuckled softly and managed some dramatic flair to her voice, "Beware, creatures of darkness! We are here! I, Sarcelle, bearer of the torch of hope!"
Then Jaune followed up with similar bravado, "And I, Jaune! Humanity's shield and protector of sisters!"
The two shared a soft laugh as Sarcy wiped under her eyes, "I never… I never thought I'd actually get to be a huntress, b-but… You know how much that stuff meant to me right? We were kids, but…" She took a deep breath to try and steady herself, "...You know I had my days, days where I… Where I didn't think I could make it. I wanted the pain to stop, even if that meant…" She lowered her gaze for a moment and moved past that without saying it, "I'd never tell anyone but you, and you… You'd make it better."
She giggled, "God, I sound like a sap… I'm glad Verte can't see this…" Jaune laughed too, but didn't say anything yet. Sarcy finally looked back up at him, "I guess the point I'm trying to make is… I did what I did for you because I remembered that and… and I think that what you did for me, every day, is the kind of stuff only a hero would do. I… I hope the rest of the world can see that too, someday soon."
Jaune laughed softly and looked away as he wiped his eyes again, "Darn it, Sarcy…" He looked back at her, "I hope you know that I only had the courage to even come to Beacon because of you. You always believed in me and encouraged me, even if it meant encouraging me to 'borrow' Crocea Mors." He grinned, "When I was feeling down because Dad was telling me I couldn't do it, or Mom was giving me those sad looks, when I didn't think I could do it… You'd always show me one of your inventions, or play some games with me and make me feel better. That… I know it might not seem like it, but having you there to support me really did mean a lot." His smile grew, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, if I'm a hero 'cause of all those things, then, Sarcelle…"
"You're a hero too."