Chapter 19: The Start of Something New
Noble Six wanted nothing more than to fall back to sleep as soon as she was in her room, unfortunately, her head was still swimming with thoughts She couldn't stop thinking about her failure to keep the Spartan Laser out of Roman Torchwick's hands.
Sure, she'd gotten most of them (and subsequently had them shipped to the basement where the rest of the recovered UNSC gear was kept) but that didn't change the fact that you could do a lot of damage with a Spartan laser, even if you only had one.
A Spartan Laser could do more than kill a man, it was an anti-material weapon that could destroy practically any aircraft, even in the hands of a novice. While Roman didn't seem like the kind of person to go around shooting down passenger aircraft, he did seem like the type to pawn the weapon off to somebody who would.
It didn't exactly help her ease into sleep that night, but eventually tiredness did overtake her, and she did drift off. Which was good, because she needed answers and she was gonna be damned if she didn't get them.
She was back in the diner, the tacky neon lights beating down on her as she sat in the pink booth, idly looking at the fake black marble columns and walls of the diner, wondering if the rain outside would ever stop and trying to avoid eye contact with the woman sitting across from her.
"So, was I right?" The annoyingly smug voice rang out. Six scowled and the freckled face of the dream woman smiled. That grin was not doing her any favours; or her outfit for that matter.
"I thought you were joking about that." Noble Six muttered, looking at the ginger woman's attire. It looked like she'd gotten stuck somewhere between superhero spandex and pirate attire. Sporting an orange bodysuit made up of many interlinking panels of different shades and sizes. While over those she was sporting a brown pair of boots, a thick leather belt with a sword scabbard, a large tricorn hat on her head, and somehow the most eccentric thing: A jolly roger flag being worn as a cape.
"Hey I… No, I would joke about that. But in this case yes, I am mostly serious with my clothing choices, I think I make an awesome pirate!" The woman grinned, leaning back.
"You've done a good job stealing UNSC property so far."
"Hey, I gave you a Pelican, stop complaining!" The Woman countered grumpily, slumping back in her seat and fixing the Spartan with a glare.
"So what, you can pinpoint me down there, but can't stop dangerous weapons from falling into criminal hands?" Six shot back, her fist clenching under the table.
"For goodness sake. Look I'm working with a System designed to move a capital ship from one empty sector of space to a different sector of equally empty space; It doesn't do precision, be glad I got you on the goddamn ground and not up in the sky."
"I... Capital ships?" Six asked, her head dutifully tilting to the side as she looked at the Tricorn wearing woman.
"Yes." She responded, seemingly glad the spartan had calmed down. "To explain in as succinct a matter as possible, I am the construct in charge of a Forerunner logistics program; code named 'Ostium.' It means something different in the language I was programmed with, but I've done my best to translate for you. Anyway, it was made to allow dimensional travel as a final solution to escape the Flood."
"Flood?" Six asked, her head once again tilting to the side.
"Trust me on this, you do not want to know. None were on board when we came through, so you don't have to worry about them." The woman explained hastily.
"Fine, so, this is a Forerunner world?" Six asked. She still wasn't quite sure what the Forerunners were, but she figured that if she was poking one of their planets, she wanted to know.
"No, colonisation proved unsuccessful." The woman explained. "Anomaly 079 sent her army to wipe out the few who survived, the idiots… Look, I don't want to talk about it."
Seeing the woman appeared to be genuinely upset Six decided to drop that issue to confirm something else.
"You said you were a 'construct,' and that you were programmed. So… I'm talking to an AI?" Six asked, earning a nod from the bizarrely-dressed woman.
"That is your word for my kind, yes. Although if you think about it, 'Artificially Created Intelligence' would make far more sense, just because I'm code doesn't mean that my intelligence is fake."
"I, okay sure. If that's the case, why aren't you rampant?" Six asked, on guard as she asked this. "Smart AI's only last seven years what I know about theForerunners suggests that they haven't been around for a very long time."
"Wow, you meet a girl, and one of the first things you ask her is the age of her code, way to make me feel special." The AI said, smirk on her face as she took a drink from a milk shake she one-hundred percent hadn't had in her hand the second before. At Six's irritated growl she rolled her eyes and added. "Fine, two reasons. One: I'm not like the smart AIs your kind created, I can last basically indefinitely. And Two: Because it hasn't been one hundred thousand years on my end. It's been closer to one thousand. Time mostly passes slower over here, I think it's got something to do with Dust but I never actually finished those studies, it was too boring for words.."
Six nodded.
Okay, we've got everything so far, so now we have a real question to ask.
If we can even trust her.
What choice do we have? She can get in our head whenever she likes, we've got to do something to get her to go.
Fine, let's ask what she wants.
"I want to get out." The AI said simply, causing Six to jolt back in her seat. "I'm in your head while dreaming, are you really surprised I can tell what you're thinking?"
FUCK!
FUCK!
"Fuck." Six muttered as the AI woman giggled.
"Look it's fine, and what I want is simple; I don't want to be where I am." She explained, leaning back to look the spartan in the eye.
"You mean, like; your physical core, you want me to get it?" Six asked, her head tilting again; thrown by the apparent simplicity of the task. She was even more surprised when the woman nodded.
"I've been stuck in the Ostium facility for a thousand years with one monitor to talk to, yes I want to get out! It's made of 400598 individual parts, I know this because I've counted, multiple times!" The AI said with a mad look in her eyes as she leaned across the table, clasping both her hands together. "Please, I need to get out, I-I can't stay here."
Six thought hard. She didn't know this AI, but if she had brought her over she supposed she deserved something.
"Fine, where do I find yo- Why are they back again!?" Six asked, thrown off from her important question by the herd of purple and orange horses charging down the street, their golden horns glinting in the rain.
"Because out of all your pre-UNSC life, the strongest memory you have is a toy Unicorn you used to own." The AI explained.
"Really?" Six asked, looking outside in surprise. It wasn't exactly that she'd forgotten about the toy she'd hung onto, but… was it really the strongest memory she had?
"Yeah, you hung onto it for years as a keepsake; really, it was cute. You'd spend hours pummeling trainees into the dirt, then go to bed and sleep with Mr Glitter Sparkles watching you on the shelf." The AI said, before something appeared on the table.
"Mr Glitter Sparkles." Six muttered, reaching for the toy immediately. It felt comforting in her arms, the soft pattern of his fuzz bringing back, maybe they weren't real memories, but feelings, happy times and warmth radiated off the toy.
Six wasn't sure how long she spent hugging the toy before she looked up at the AI.
"How did you know what he looked like?" Six asked hesitantly, squeezing the plushie tighter, like it might disappear if she relaxed her grip for a second.
"Part of the process of bringing people over to a new dimension was adapting them physically and mentally to fit in the new environment, you might have noticed the hair and eye colour shift." The AI explained, Six nodding at the colour differences. "Well that's the process, the thing is, far worse things could have needed to be different or changed and the brain might have had a harder time accepting something new. So I was given tech that could go inside the brian and help adapt it, like telling it to use a new vital organ or something."
Six nodded, that made sense. It also hit her that ever since coming to Remnant 'making sense' no longer meant the same thing it used to. In truth, she was a little bit uncomfortable about having somebody that she barely knew and didn't trust completely rebuilding her brain, potentially who she even was, but she apparently didn't have too much of a choice in the matter, and she didn't really feel like she'd been violated in any way.
"And this access to the brain lets you see memories I don't have anymore?" Six questioned, causing the AI to snort.
"You don't lose memories like that Six, they're just not accessible to you. But you still have them, anyway I did some digging and-"
"My parents." Six interrupted.
"-I, what?" The AI asked, looking at Six who fixed her with a glare and repeated herself.
"My parents. I want to see my parents. I can't remember them… if you're serious, if you want me to help…" Six wasn't sure how dream crying worked, but she did know she was doing it, her words becoming more incomprehensible as she spoke. "If you can… I fought for years and I can't even… please I just want, I want…"
The AI looked at her with sad eyes before she nodded, turning around and spreading her arms, pictures floating in the air. Six's eyes went wide, instantly she knew who they didn't ask where the seats had gone, or the table, or the walls, just crying at what she was seeing, she knew those people.
"Mom, Dad!" She gasped. The images flashing back, bombarding her with so much she'd forgotten. Maybe she didn't like who she was before, maybe she hated being helpless, but that didn't matter, this was her life before the Covenant, this was why she'd fought.
It was a lot to see. For one thing she understood why she was so short, her mother was tiny! She had brown hair in a messy bob and eyes, she knew those eyes! They were her eyes. Sure they were brown and not orange, but the point stood.
She looked over at her Father, he was a lot taller than his wife, with her coming up to his shoulders. His smile was infectiously warm and inviting. His black messy hair looked out of place with his suit.
Six tried to look at every image she could, so many memories bombarding her, from the local pool and the hundreds of times she'd been down the slides, to the air shows she'd viewed from her Dad's shoulders. To family movie nights. To her Aunt! She had an Aunt!
Six collapsed onto the diners hard floor, trying to drink in as much as she could, scared that soon this would be over and she'd forget everything.
"I… I know this is a lot Six, or would you prefer Be-"
"Six, I- I'm Noble Six." The Spartan cut in, stopping the alien AI. The Alien woman nodded and joined her on the floor. Rocking back and forth before she finally asked:
"So… Will you come and get me?"
Six forced herself to look away from the images of her family to look at the AI. She nodded, words were too much for her right now, but she was committed.
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" The AI cried, divining forward and pulling the Spartan into a tight hug. "I'll send you my coordinates to your scroll. The Pelican I sent you is in the best condition I could get and I, thank you!"
"I'll be over as soon as I can… erm, name?" Six forced out, looking at the construct who thought hard.
"Uuuuhhhh… Good question, I guess if you're good to go by a number, then I can too, call me Seven!" The AI said, beaming as the number spontaneously appeared on her right cheek as she spoke, like a tattoo.
"Okay Seven, I'm on my way."
Six awoke to the sound of loud knocking on her door, and notification messages bleeping from her Scroll. Groggily she forced herself up, blinking in the gloom, standing up to open her door as the knocking turned to banging.
"Six open this door! The rain is insufferable!" Yelled the muffled voice of Coco. Deciding not to anger her friend, Six picked up the pace and opened the door.
"Sorry, I only just woke up." Six explained, stepping aside to let the brunette in, who lowered her sunglasses and stared at the Spartan.
"I can tell, that is one of the worst cases of bed head I've ever seen." She said, gesturing towards the Spartans bed, while holding up a brown paper bag with her other hand. "You missed breakfast, so I grabbed you something, sit down and eat while I fix that mess."
Six nodded, taking the bag and settling on the far too soft bed while Coco sat behind her and began working.
"I swear your hair is growing faster than it should." Coco muttered as she spotted the brush she'd gotten Six the first time they went out in town. "It's like a foot long already!"
"Yeah, I don't know why that is, but erm, I might know a way of finding out." Six admitted, taking a bite of one of the sausage rolls Coco had brought her. Realising Coco had stopped working on her hair Six decided to explain everything that had happened when it came to Seven.
"So, if I've got this straight…" Coco began carefully as she finished pulling Six's hair into a small ponytail. "...You are going to follow coordinates given to you by a figure in your dreams to recover an alien robot who named herself Seven?"
"Yeah, you got anything planned for today?" Six asked as Coco released her hair and let her move again. She stood up and stretched before turning her scroll, holding up the map app, a location marked on an island miles off the kingdom.
"I… Sure, I'll call the team and see if they want to help." Coco muttered, the look on her face implying that she thought she was mad for agreeing.
Six was happy that all four members of Team CVFY had agreed to come with her; not just because she valued a bit of well-equipped backup, but because she still had her doubts about this mission in general. There were still a lot of things that she didn't know about Seven, and she was glad to have the help of some friends who were definitely less mysterious. They'd also taken the time to get the next few days off from Headmaster Ozpin, since unlike her, they had classes to worry about.
Unfortunately, it turned out that Team CVFY lacked a lot of equipment that Six would've considered essential for their mission. That proved to be a minor issue however, as Six still had access to the impromptu armoury in Beacon's Basement. As such, she took the extra time to gather up some gear to fill in the gaps in her friend's loadouts.
Are you sure we should be so flagrantly handing out UNSC hardware to what are effectively Cadets?
I'm not about to ask them to come into battle with me under-equipped when I'm sitting on perfectly good gear. Besides, they've proven themselves trustworthy.
"It still amazes me you don't have some of this as standard equipment." Six said flatly as the group looked (Or in Fox's case, ran his fingers over) the UNSC ear protection she'd offered. The Active Headsets obviously didn't really work for Velvet, but the earplugs just about fit her.
"We have Aura, it's not necessary." Yatsuhashi pointed out as he slipped the package into the Beacon issue backpack at his feet, among things like a portable stove, a canteen, and a multitool.
"Yeah, all of that armour isn't exactly going to do you any favours either, won't it just slow you down?" Coco pointed out, grimacing at the ODST armour Six was wearing. It wasn't a complete set, just the chest and shoulders with the helmet sitting on Velvet's bed next to her. Six scowled in response, partly because of her lasting appreciation for the ODST BDU, but mostly because she couldn't rely on the same things they could.
"And that's great if you have Aura, except… Oh right, I don't." Six pointedly replied. "Also correct me if I'm wrong, but when Aura takes enough damage, doesn't it stop working? You're the one bringing along a gatling gun, you should be the most concerned about the noise."
"Aura can heal the damage to ears when it happens, and stop it from happening in the first place if it's not depleted." Velvet explained, wiggling her larger set as she spoke. "Still, it's a good idea, I've had to fight without my Aura while Coco was firing… it was not fun."
Coco looked hurt but hastily returned to normal, and put the offered protection in her own pack, which was the same as the other's aside from the large cross hair with bunny ears stitched to the side with bronze thread.
"Do you know what we're looking for?" Yatsuhashi asked as he started attaching his sleeping bag to his backpack.
"I have a general idea; Forerunner structures are usually very geometric and huge; usually with floating parts and glowing elements." Six explained. "Trust me, you'll know it when you see it."
"I won't." Fox replied with a slight grin as he carefully felt around his packed bag, committing the location of everything to memory.
"We'll let you know when we see it." Velvet assured their blind teammate, who nodded.
"Okay, who's bringing the food?" Coco asked, looking at her teammates.
"I've got something, although to be honest, I'm mostly bringing these in case we run out of anything else." Six said, reaching into her green UNSC pack and holding out a handful of sealed ration bars. "They're gross and feel disgusting to bring down your throat, but they'll keep you alive. Seriously, everyone bring something with some actual flavour."
"Got it handled." Velvet said with a smile, showing Six the selection of preservable food and snacks inside her back. Six also noticed that Velvet seemed to have had a much easier time organising her new equipment, and considering that she commonly brought rather fragile photography gear wherever she went, was probably not much of a surprise.
"And the cooking gear is spread out among all of us." Coco explained, momentarily lifting the portable stove out of her pack before shoving it back in.
"Good. To be perfectly honest, I was starting to get worried that you guys never really brought enough gear on your missions, I'm glad that I was wrong." Six admitted sheepishly as she began the process of storing all the ammo she wanted in her side pockets. While she was planning to make use of her gravity hammer, it never hurt to have a ranged weapon, hence the M6C/SOCOM pistol that she had stored. As a Spartan she normally ended up with the magnum, but she had a soft spot for the ODST weapon. Actually, she had a soft spot for ODST's in general.
"On a short mission maybe, but on a long mission even I wouldn't go without proper kit… though I do wish I could find some backpacks that aren't a crime against fashion." Coco muttered, looking at the dull grey Beacon issue pack with a look implying it had done her serious harm.
Six decided not to respond and simply settled for placing her last magazine in its spot. She then filled in the rest of the space with a change of clothes, she still didn't own much (Coco's description of the contents of her dresser had been 'Criminally Small') Thankfully, a few UNSC uniforms had managed to make their way to Remnant along with everything else, even if they were a bit baggy.
Soon everyone was packed and on their way down to the Pelican that Seven had gifted Six. Team CFVY was idly chatting about, to Six's surprise, absolutely nothing related to the upcoming mission. Their friends, their extracurricular activities, what was going on for their families back home; basically anything except the fact that they were about to go into combat.
Even the Marines back home seemed a little more focused than them, should we be worried?
They've lived this long, haven't they? Besides, they aren't in the field yet. So long as they aren't talking about doing their nails while they're under fire, I think we'll do fine.
Satisfied that her teammates weren't as irresponsible as she might've thought, Six ignored their ramblings for the most part, and directed her focus to the Pelican. There was some minor cosmetic damage, a fault in the landing gear that caused it to lower slower than it should've, some kind of issue with the Fire Control that meant she'd need to manually aim the guns if they were needed, and a dozen other menial faults.
The biggest thing she was worried about was the starboard-rear thruster. It would've been one thing if it were operating at reduced power, that she could account for when flying, but far worse, it was acting inconsistently. Sometimes it worked normally, sometimes it didn't. There was also the lingering risk that it would spontaneously flame out under stress, and while she could technically fly without it, it would certainly be considerably more difficult.
Sadly, she had neither the time nor tools to properly deal with the issues, and as such would have to content herself with her own flying skill and her faith in the famously reliable bird. So long as she didn't land like a neanderthal or max out the throttle, things would probably be fine. She hoped.
Soon they were onboard, Fox carefully moving himself into a seat while Yatsuhashi helped him with the restraints. Coco sat across from them, studying the UNSC technology with a mix of fascination and apprehension. Velvet followed Six into the cockpit, and took a seat in the co-pilot's seat.
"This is… new. That's the altitude metre, right?" Velvet asked, pointing at a dial on the copilots console.
"Yes." Six answered, surprised that Velvet had guessed correctly, or perhaps it hadn't been much of a guess at all. "Do you know how to fly?"
"My dad flies for his work, he taught me how to fly his plane. This is, uh, different, but I figure an extra pair of hands couldn't hurt." Velvet admitted, shifting about awkwardly. Six smiled and pointed at the chair.
"Well sit down, just going to say it though, do not touch something until I tell you too."
"Yeah, I get it." Velvet said, settling down and belting herself in place. Six nodded before yelling to the passenger bay:
"Okay, is everyone strapped in with their equipment secured? I'm gonna fly as fast as I can, and I don't want any injuries."
A series of calls indicating they were fine came back, and Six smiled, turning the craft on and flying up, the engines roaring to life. Six wondered what Ozpin was thinking right now, he could probably see them from his… tower.
Six smiled, she'd received a few disciplinary marks for buzzing ATC towers in the past. It wasn't something that a pilot was meant to do without clearance…
But…
Six slammed the controls forward, grinning as the craft shot off.
Headmaster Ozpin quietly sat at his office, taking a long sip of hot cocoa as he sorted through the day's paperwork. The Council had a few requests for some Grimm they wanted dealt with, he had to order more stationary…
He leaned back in his chair momentarily and allowed himself a small sigh. Sometimes he felt tired of the monotony of his life. He knew that it was far better than people being in danger, but a small part of him craved excitement.
He got his wish when, without any warning whatsoever, a one-hundred and thirty-eight ton dropship blew past his window at nearly four-hundred kilometres an hour. His windows momentarily shuddered in place as he spilled his beverage on himself and nearly fell out of his chair, but managed to recover.
He stood up and ran over to the window just in time to see Six's Pelican fly off into the distance. He spared a brief look down at his now soaked outfit and shot an angry glare off at the escaping aircraft, before rolling his eyes and allowing himself a small chuckle.
Authors Notes: God dammit this took longer than I wanted. Wish I had a reason beyond I just didn't have the effort, but I didn't. Sorry, hope chapter 20 comes sooner than this one did, but I promise nothing.