Chapter 4: Another brick in the wall

We don't need no

Education

We don't need no

Thought control

No dark sarcasm

In the classroom

Hey, teacher

Leave them kids alone

I was more animal than human, running on pure instinct and fear.

I tore through the facility, barefoot and wearing nothing but a pair of stained white pants. In my blind panic, I accidentally ran right into a scientist.

"Wait…!" He yelled before an arc of purple lightning exploded from my hands and slammed into him.

His skin charred off almost instantly and the smoking remains were thrown back into a wall as I tore off in the opposite direction.

I turned at the end of the hallway and saw it was torn off, exposing the outside world. It's almost exactly as I remember it, a gloomy and rainy desert as far as the eye can see, but this time it's filled with thousands, no millions, screaming people, too far away to pick out individually.

Several ginormous Beowolves roam through the crowds, breathing fire onto the hordes and laughing.

"Why did you do this!" Someone yelled behind me, I turned to see Olivia standing behind me in the hallway.

I tried to open my mouth to tell her that I couldn't have done it, but my tongue was glued to my mouth.

"Why did you do this!" She repeated as she slowly morphed into the Faunus girl from the airship.

She suddenly, the Faunus girl grabbed my head and dug her fingernails into my scalp.

"Stop running!" She yells into my ear as I desperately try to squirm away, her fingers digging into my skull and…

...and I sat bolt upright, smashing my forehead into something squishy that let out a scream. Suddenly I felt two metal objects hit me from either side of my head and I screamed in pain.

"What the fuck are you playing at!" Olivia screamed, having been awakened by the ruckus.

"S'there a fire?" mumbled Trevor, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

I blinked a few eyes and saw Fred sitting on the floor near my bed clutching his nose. Near him were the two trash can lids that he smashed my face with.

"What the fuck was that for man!?" I asked as I massaged my head.

"I was trying to wake you guys up early, but then you headbutted me." he said clutching his nose.

"Well, mission accomplished," I muttered darkly as I got and stretched. Meanwhile, Olivia looked at her clock.

"You nitwit, it's 6:00, I Would have had us up an hour ago." She scolded Fred.

"Breakfast isn't served until 7:30 though." Trevor stated, still groggy.

"I know, we need to stretch and run and warm up our bodies." Olivia answered.

"To what, sit in a musty ass classroom for eight hours straight?" I asked.

"No, we also have self-directed sparring as part of our course." She said, beginning to look exasperated.

"At, like, 5 in the afternoon." Trevor added, making her glare at him and start to turn red.

"Yeah, thank god you're not a team leader." I said smugly.

"Thanks, Nick." said Fred from the floor.

"Shut the fuck up." I calmly told him.

"Oh." he said in a small voice.

"You know what you assholes can…" She started before someone started hitting the other side of our wall.

"Shut the fuck up...please just shut the fuck up!" a muffled voice yelled.

Olivia looked at us all and growled before grabbing one of her suitcases and going into the bathroom to change.

"But I gotta pee." mumbled Trevor before he fell back asleep

"I hate school." I mumbled as I walked into the dining hall for lunch with Trevor and Fred at my side.

"You've only had three classes so far." Trevor pointed out.

"And you slept through all but the last one, which you just didn't show up for." Fred added.

"Well, I still have to wear the uniform." I said tugging at the collar as we got into line.

We received our subpar lunches and walked over to the table where Olivia was chatting with a redhead wearing some kind of crown. They were sitting with Ruby and her sister as well as some other people I didn't know.

Ruby, seeming to smell my fear, turned and smiled as soon as she saw me.

"Nicky!" she said as she jumped up and waved her hand in the air.

"Don't ever call me that again." I deadpanned as I sat down.

"Aww." She whined as she sat back down.

I spent the majority of lunch picking at my food while the conversations washed over me, menial and boring shit like books and board games and war assaulted my ears and drilled screws into my patience until...

"Are you gonna eat anything Nick?" Trevor asked out of the blue.

"I'm not hungry." I tried to deflect.

"You didn't eat breakfast either, you have to get something in your system if you're going to survive sparring." Trevor stated

"But-" I started before he cut me off.

"Eat." he demanded, pointing at me with his fork.

I grudgingly picked up my sandwich and took a bite, slightly exaggerating my movements to satisfy Trevor. I hoped I didn't get sick from this, this day sucked enough without vomit being involved.

Throughout my years I have gotten to be quite the connoisseur of dirty looks. But standing in front of an entire class of warriors glaring at me while the teacher messed with my new scroll was an entirely new and, dare I say, exquisite flavor.

"So what seems to be the problem again Mr. Nick?" Mrs. Goodwich asks.

I groan and repeat myself for the umpteenth time.

"When I was setting up my scroll last night it said there was a 'critical error in gauging aura'." I said.

"And you didn't think to report this to the headmaster or myself?" she questioned, annoyed.

"Oh I did, I just didn't feel like it." I answered, the class muttered annoyance behind me.

"Well we'll have to do a physical gauge until we get this fixed." she said as she pulled out a small device with a needle on the end that3 she slammed into my back without warning.

"Holy Fuck!" I yelled as I jumped around, sparking some laughter from my classmates.

"Language Mr. Nick, now let's see...oh dear." She finished in a small voice, I heard several gasps behind me too.

"What?" I said as I turned around to look at the giant screen.

Displayed on it, bold letters read 'Warning device is not meant for use on creatures of Grimm'.

I whipped back around to see several students drawing their weapons and many more backing up.

"Hold on, I'm not a-whup!" I exclaimed as I was lifted from the ground in a purple sphere.

"I'm sorry Mr. Nick but this is for your safety and everyone else's." Glynda said.

"Why me?" I cry as she floated me through the door.

"Is this really necessary." I ask as I sit in a medical gown, my right arm chained to an examination table while my entire left arm is covered in sensors and needles.

"Yes." Ozpin deadpans as a lady in a lab coat walks in.

"This is fascinating, quite possibly the breakthrough of a century." She babbled, half to herself.

"What is it?" Glynda asked.

"Well I found his aura, but it's built completely different from normal aura," she answers.

"So...that means?" I asked impatiently.

"It appears your 'aura' is fundamentally a giant battery for potential energy, while normal aura comes from the internal source of your soul, yours can absorb external energy and redistribute it at will." she explained excitedly. "Because of the nature of it, it has no defensive capabilities meaning one hit and he's out."

"I can heal though." I corrected her.

"Really, how effective is it?" she gasped

"Pretty fucking effective, I mean, me and a buddy used to steal cop cars by blowing my head off and waiting for the-" I started before the scientist interrupted me.

"Wait a minute, he would blow your head off, and this happened multiple times?" She restated in awe.

"Yeah, but it'd heal up after a minute or two, I'm sure many hunters have that shit happen to them." I said.

"I'm positive the destruction of the brain is a death sentence for literally every creature on this planet Nick." Glynda informed me, her eyes narrowed with annoyance.

"Listen, are you sure this isn't just a super-strong aura?" I asked

"Considering you're littered with telltale signs of postnatal genetic engineering, I'd say no." the scientist deduced.

"So somebody made him, but why?" Ozpin mused.

"Well it's obvious, isn't it" the scientist stated.

"What?" Ozpin asked, confused.

"An immortal killing machine with an ultra-powerful aura that can recharge in seconds, that's a super-soldier if I ever heard of one" The scientist stated.

"Ah, yes that's it," Ozpin said, flustered, "listen nick do you remember who made you and what you were meant to do"

I started to panic on the inside, memories started to push their way up, I could taste blood in my mouth and without thinking I desperately blurted out:

"No!"

Everybody in the room gave me a weird look, somewhere between surprise and pity. After a second Ozpin cleared his throat and spoke up.

"Is he cleared for combat." he asked the scientist.

"Yes"

"Well then unchain him and send him off, Ms. Glynda and I have much to discuss." He said as he walked out the door.

"Have you ever felt cursed?" I asked the scientist as she gave me a blank stare.