Chapter 8: Welcome to Beacon Noble 6

Noble Six allowed her mind to wander. A part of her wondering if there was actually some truth to the adage that 'Spartans never die', they just woke up somewhere new every time. She realised that theory might have some weight behind it now, because this didn't feel like Remnant, it was a lot warmer. The smell might have told her something but her nose was incredibly bunged up, along with her head feeling like it was wrapped in cotton wool.

Still, she wasn't going to find out where she was with her eyes closed, so she opened them, and slammed them shut instantly.

It's way too bright!

She groaned groggily, and forced herself to focus, a task that proved a lot harder than it normally did. Still, she had to look around eventually, so she slowly opened her eyes a tiny amount, allowing them time to adjust before she finally set about identifying where she was.

Judging by all of the medical equipment next to the immensely soft bed she was lying in, she was in a hospital of some kind; although it didn't look like any Sickbay or field hospital that she had ever been in. The ceiling was raised high, and there were grand windows that reached up to match them. These were the only details breaking up the grey walls, and they made for a very bright room.

Six shook her head, she needed to get information about where she was. She went to swing herself out of bed only to quickly realise that wasn't possible due to her torso being tightly wrapped in bandages, both her legs and her left arm being in casts. More to the point, even trying to lift her limbs made her feel as if her whole body was made of concrete.

This lined up with what had felt the most painful when she'd been grabbed by that… thing. So that probably meant she was still on Remnant, just in a more developed area.

I still need confirmation.

Maybe there's a call button?

Six scanned around, eventually spotting a button with a female stick figure wearing a square hat on it. Deciding it was better than nothing, she pushed it.

"Coming!" A cheerful voice called from down the room. Soon the sound of walking was heard and Six got a good look at what was probably this place's medic. The woman might not have been admittedly, but she was wearing hospital scrubs and had the similar presence as every doctor Six had ever seen in her life.

Honestly the only thing that made the red head woman look unconventional to Six was the horse's tail in a hairnet sticking out the back of her scrubs, and, considering Velvet's ears, that was normal on this mental planet.

"Welcome back to us dear." The woman said, her kind eyes meeting the Spartans. "I'm Nurse Locatasta, head of Beacon's Medical wing, I've got some health questions I need to ask you."

Beacon, I remember that name, so I guess we really are still on Remnant.

What followed was a brief exchange of fairly standard medical questions. 'Do you hurt anywhere', 'Any discomfort', 'are you thirsty', 'do you mind if I run this test?'

Six answered as honestly as she could, mostly she felt a bit stuffy and bunged up, to which the nurse smiled apologetically.

"Sorry about that, my Semblance grants an enormous boost to healing but you won't feel great for a bit. Usually your Aura would compensate but you're… different. I essentially had to push your body's natural healing to an extreme to patch you up."

"Understood." Six said, before remembering what Velvet had said and adding: "Thank you for attending to my injuries."

"Not a problem dear." She said kindly, before her eyes looked down and she shifted uncomfortably, her tail swishing back and forth in its net. "I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn't been sent along with the others, you were in such a state."

"Are the others okay?" Six asked after rolling her head to either side to look down the medical ward and failing to see anyone else inside.

"Team CFVY are all healed up already." The Nurse explained, shifting a pillow so Six could sit up properly. "Coco had it the worst and she was out yesterday."

"Wait, yesterday!?" Six blurted, eyes wide as she looked at the surprised nurse. "How long was I out!?"

"Three days Miss Six, and could you please stop scaring my nurse?" A new voice said, turning her head she recognised the Headmaster she'd talked to over the phone back in the village.

"I… I apologise, that was unprofessional of me." Six muttered, failing to meet the nurse's eyes as she fiddled with the beds sheet, wishing it was easier to focus.

"It's okay dear, you're hardly the worst injury I've had to see in my day." Locasta said with a smile before firmly looking at Ozpin. "Sir, I know you need to talk to her, but I want to be clear, she's still recovering from serious injuries sustained without an Aura. If at any point I think you're pushing her too hard I will boot you out until she's better, am I clear?"

"Abundantly." He said with a smile.

I don't think medics have that level of say so over superiors in the UNSC, do they?

It's not like we would know. We hardly get wounded all that often.

"Noble Six, we have some things to discuss." He said, settling into the chair next to her bed and placing his mug down on the table next to him. Six did her best to bring herself to attention as she could while stuck in a bed and feeling like crap.

"Sir." she responded sluggishly.

"I don't hold any position over you Miss Six, to be completely honest, I feel I am more at your mercy then the other way around." He said, his eyes locking with Six's. The Spartan stared back, Ozpin's eyes belonged to a determined man, she'd seen it before and she had to respect it. Even though he had nothing to do with the UNSC he still had eyes that had seen something awful and still managed to come out the other side resembling a normal man.

"What do you need to know? I can provide more details on the Covenant, I understand our last exchange was cut short."

"While that would certainly be helpful, I believe that it can wait. Team CFVY has provided me with a summary of all you told them. What I could use is an explanation on some of the strange technology that started showing up a week ago." The Headmaster said, reaching into the pocket of his dark jacket and offering something to Six, which she took from the grey haired man with her one working arm. "We received this from Atlas yesterday, they believe it's something to do with robotics, but their best expert is floored."

"It's an A.I. storage unit." Six explained, looking over the burned component in her hand. "I'd say it's empty or broken beyond repair though."

"So it's safe?" The man asked, to which Six nodded.

"Yes. Even if there were a hostile A.I present, they would probably not pose much of a threat to you without anything to interface with. This isn't all that you've found, is it?" Six asked, looking at the older man who nodded.

"No it is not, if you could, I'd like you to look over what we have recovered." He explained, placing a datapad on the Spartan's lap. The medical casts she was wearing made it a little hard for her to get a good look at the screen but she was eventually able to get it propped up enough to be usable with her one working hand. Once she had it working she saw the open folder was full of pictures of tech she recognised.

"I'll do what I can, Sir." Six said, looking up at the Headmaster who nodded and she sat to work scrolling down the list.

Well, everything looks damaged but so far it all seems to be surface level.

We need to check everything, a leaking reactor would be awful.

Yeah, hey is that SPI armour?

Looks like it… Wow that's a lot of explosives isn't it.

It is. We should probably warn them about that.

That's Emile's full suit isn't it?

Yeah…

That hole is from the sword that killed him.

Yes, the breach seems to have avoided the reactor.

Yeah, but…

We need to check the rest!

Six went as fast as she could, flicking past any image that threatened to bring up unwanted memories. . They didn't bring her anything physical of course, only using images so that she could identify what something was, but she figured if there was a leaking reactor they probably would've started dying by now.

"I think you're safe for now, provided you leave everything you've found alone." She said, looking back up at the Headmaster who nodded.

"Thank you. There is one last thing before I leave you in Locasta's hands; what do you plan to do after you recover? I'm receiving more and more evidence that your story is indeed true. While the existence of Alien life is quite the scientific discovery for the people of Remnant, the fact no one on this planet has ever heard of your UNSC will likely be cause of concern for you. If that is the organisation you belong to, am I correct to assume you have nowhere to go?"

Six nodded, he wasn't wrong.

"What comes next?"

"I don't know." Six shrugged softly. Technically she should try and contact someone from the UNSC, but if this planet hadn't ever heard of them then that was far easier said than done. Failing reporting for duty, her next charge would be the securing of any UNSC assets possible, or at least making sure they didn't harm the locals. "I'd like to inspect some of that gear in person. Just because I think you've avoided any significant damage doesn't mean you're safe. Something could still happen… especially with those explosives you've found. I do not want to think what would happen if you accidentally set any of that off." Six muttered. "After that you can relinquish them back into UNSC… into my custody."

"This school is fairly blast-resistant." Ozpin said, a slight smirk on his face. Despite his friendly smile, she didn't miss how he'd failed to answer what would happen to the equipment they'd found "We are a combat academy afterall."

"Where I trained we practised explosives far away from any of the buildings, and we knew where the detonators were and what would set them off." Six pointed out, getting a small chuckle from the Headmaster.

"I don't doubt it, but please, try not to worry about the explosives. I'll have them moved to fireproof storage immediately." Ozpin said before reaching for his mug. "Anyway, if you're committed to helping us with these things, then it would be prudent for you to be here wouldn't it?"

"Yes, I suppose so… Sir, what are you offering?" Six asked, deciding being direct would be better. She'd never been great at subtlety.

"I'd like to offer you a position at this academy, team CFVY's recounts indicate you have the combat skills."

"Sir!" Locasta butted in. "With all due respect, is it really wise to allow a student without an Aura into this school?! She could be seriously hurt!"

Six was sure the nurse wasn't used to being glared at so intensely by girls with three broken limbs, but she did back up and hastily continued.

"I mean, I'm sure you're a strong fighter, it's just… you've already suffered so many injuries, some of which I'm not even sure how you survived." She explained hastily, looking down at Six's torso.

I can guess what injury she's referring to there.

I'm not even sure how we survived that.

"I'm sure we can work something out." Ozpin said, taking a sip from his mug. "Anyway, it cannot be worse for her health than dropping her onto the streets. At least here she has a roof over her head."

The nurse didn't look convinced so Six decided to speak up.

"If it helps, I wasn't properly equipped when fighting that… Thing." Six explained, trying not to think of the tall creature. "I only had some scavenged guns and no armour, I'm a lot more capable with proper equipment and time to prepare."

She doesn't look reassured.

Welp, I'm outta ideas.

That's helpful.

"It's her decision Locasta, and she doesn't have to make it now-"

"No, I'll attend. I can fight and you need me nearby." Six explained as the Headmaster nodded. "There really isn't any risk."

"Very well. We'll assess your skills soon. If you do well enough you'll be enrolled into next year's classes." Ozpin said, before standing up. "Once you've recovered I'll send Miss Scarlatina to show you to your dorm. It's a bit of an unconventional situation I'm afraid, but I assure you, it will suit all of your needs."

"Yes Sir."

He already had a room set up.

He must have known what our answer was going to be.

Yeah, but how? I don't like this guy being able to read us so easily.

Maybe because it was freakin' obvious what we were gonna do!?

Six shook her head, that line of thought wouldn't help, she'd just have to be careful around the man. Right now, everything still seemed to line up with what she needed.

"Splendid, I'll have a student ID and a scroll set up for you. With them you'll have full access to Beacon's facilities. You'll also need some Lien for more clothes. I'm sure Team CFVY will lend you something, but we do have a uniform here and I suspect you'll want something to wear out of classes anyway." Ozpin stood up and went to leave. "Oh, and don't forget to fix your weapon, it's in a bit of a sorry state right now."

Six nodded even if she wasn't fully sure what he was referring to.

Probably one of the weapons we picked up in the forest, probably not worth worrying about.

I dunno, I haven't seen a standardised weapon since I got here. Individual weapons might be the only option here.

Great, that's seriously gonna limit our options in combat.

I mean, we can check, but I don't think anything says we can't have more than one weapon.

Ozpin was leaving before Six called out.

"Sir, don't you want the pad back?"

"Keep it, I dare say you'll want something to do while you recover." He said, gently waving before stepping out, the doors closing behind him. Leaving Six to stare blankly before a small noise reminded her of the medic's presence.

"I… is there anything you require me to do for my recovery?"

"Just rest for now, in an hour I'll give you another go with my semblance, then tomorrow I'll perform another X-ray. Your ribs and arm were only fractured so they're fine, but you broke both your shins as well as a good chunk of the bones in your feet."

"I understand." Six said, not sure what to do now. Doctors in the UNSC were usually very busy and typically moved onto the next patient as soon as they were done. The nurse looked uncomfortable and Six wasn't entirely sure what to do next, so she was grateful when Team CFVY entered the medical wing.

Six guessed they must have been wearing their academy's uniform, it was… not what she expected. In the UNSC cargo pants, combat boots and a T-shirt had been the standard training uniform, or some variation of such. Perfect for running, climbing, fighting, and moving around. It also was relatively comfortable even when covered in mud.

This set was none of those things. If anything, it was weirdly restrictive looking. Fox and Yatsuhashi were wearing what looked like suits, fancy looking shoes and ties around their necks.

Why would a combat school require you to wear such an easily strangling tool around your neck?

Still, they were at least fully covered, Coco and Velvet were wearing… well the top half looked similar if more open, with more of the white shirt visible. The ribbon tied around their necks was smaller and more likely to break if grabbed… but the legs.

Those are skirts.

Yes, yes they are.

Honestly, Six couldn't remember if she'd ever worn a skirt. If she had, it one hundred percent hadn't been while she was in the UNSC training for combat.

Well… at least it's not restrictive?

Six would concede the articles didn't look like they would inhibit movement, but still she didn't understand why you'd have them. What was wrong with trousers? Then again, maybe they had some weird quality to them, for whatever reason she was struggling to make eye contact with any of the team. All she could do was stare at their legs.

In our defence, it's really distracting.

"Hey you're awake!" Coco said, a grin on her face forming as she walked over to the Spartan. Her eyes then drifted to the nurse. "Locasta, good to see you again, might I say you still lo-"

"I would advise you don't finish that sentence with your girlfriend in the room Miss Adel." Locasta said firmly, instantly straightening up and fixing her with a firm look. Six watched interestedly as Coco's eyes went wide, before looking down at her hands.

"I… yeah I, just…"

"No hugs tonight." Velvet said sternly before turning to look at the Spartan. "Six, you're doing better?"

"Yes. What happened in the village after I blacked out?" Six asked. She was feeling very uncomfortable with the conversation and with how badly her focus was slipping, probably due to whatever medication they had given her. She really wanted to get everyone talking about something that she understood in the hopes she'd be able to follow along..

"I was able to get Ada back online and defended the shelter." Fox offered, tapping the device inserted into his ear.

"Accessibility Dialogue Assistant." Velvet explained when she saw Six's tilted head. "It's how Fox walks around freely, it makes a sonar map of the environment."

"That sounds useful." Six said. Not sure what else to say, she looked at Coco and made sure to focus on her sunglasses and not her stupidly distracting skirt, which made her realise she was wearing her beret and sunglasses with her uniform.

I guess they're lax on how much you stick to it?

"I was fine, just needed a second to get back up." Coco explained as she took the chair Ozpin had recently been sitting in. "I decided to stay and protect you while Yatsuhashi and Velvet helped the teachers take out those Striders."

"Those tall things?" Six asked, wishing she hadn't been reminded.

"Eyup, nasty type of Grimm that just loves hiding in treelines. It's why the village was so squat, they didn't want those things hiding and sneaking up on anyone."

Six nodded at Coco's explanation, that made sense. Obviously the ideal situation would have been walls high and strong enough that the Striders couldn't get past them in the first place, but life was rarely ideal. Whether because of resources or funds, it hadn't been possible. They'd made due with what they had, something Six respected immensely.

"Mostly Vel kicked their shins while Yatsuhashi slashed at them, then Professor Goodwhich finished them off, lookin-"

Coco interrupted herself by slamming a fist into her guts. Shocked, Six looked at Velvet who's ears had folded back somewhat.

"Sorry. Anyway, you'll meet her soon. Point is, she finished the Grimm off then levitated you back inside the village so we could get you treatment." Coco finished up, looking Six over. "Not gonna lie girl, you were a real mess."

"I lived." Six pointed out flatly. "Ergo, it can't have been that bad."

None of Team CFVY spoke for a bit, Six looked at them blankly.

"Sorry, did you want me to die?"

And now their jaws are dropped, dammit what do they want from me?

"No!" Velvet gasped, shaking her head as she finally responded. "Six, don't say stuff like that!"

"Then why did you look so afronted when I said my survival couldn't have been that bad?" Six asked, her head firmly tilted to the side again.

"You came back with broken bones and several internal injuries." Yatsuhashi pointed out.

"And? I came back, that's good for a Spartan. We go MIA all the time."

The silent looks Team CFVY were giving her weirded Six out. Seriously, what more did they want from her? Coming back alive was an impressive feat. It was more than could be said for the rest of Noble.

I do not get this world.