Chapter 9: Welcome to the mad house Noble Six.
Noble Six was glad that Nurse Locasta shooed team CFVY away shortly after their exchange so she could run her semblance again; not because it was pleasant, but because lying sick in a hospital bed was an easier challenge than figuring out what was wrong with them.
They probably think 'Survival' in and of itself isn't a mark of success on a mission.
Well that's dumb.
They do all have personal shields, they probably aren't used to such extreme casualties.
I mean, yes that's fair… We should… rest, fuck I'm tired.
The experience of being healed by Locasta was interesting, not just because the Spartan had left the experience feeling worse than before it had started. The Nurse had practically glowed, a pink light flooding out of every pore, she had reached down and touched the Spartans fingers poking out the arm cast.
Six had gasped as she felt her bones react, she swore she could feel the broken chunks of ivory melting, fusing and growing, she also felt her headache getting a lot worse as she slumped in the bed. She repeated the process on every broken limb, which felt oddly hot and imobile as she moved to her torso, placing her fingertips on her abdomen and sending a final warming pulse through everything.
"Okay, you're probably going to fall asleep now, remember you can get my attention with the call button at any time, your health takes priority over my sleep." She said, pointing to the button as Six nodded, she wanted to respond verbally, but her mouth just wasn't up to it. Nothing was as she crashed and fell back to sleep.
Six awoke itchy, but overall feeling a lot better. She lifted her previously broken arm and flexed her fingers through the cast, smiling at the lack of pain. Now all she had to do was get it off.
She looked out the window realising it was pitch black outside. The nurse had said she could call her whenever, but Locasta would need to cut the cast off, and that probably wasn't something that should be done when she was half asleep. Still, she was awake now, she had to find something to do.
Looking around, she saw the data pad lying on the bedside cabinet. She reached for it and, after finding the search engine, began scanning through some of the terms she'd heard.
"Grim creatures." Six muttered, typing it in and hitting search.
Oh, it's spelt with two 'm's, okay.
Auraless creatures with no known origin or apparent need to eat, attracted to negative emotions and targeting humans exclusively.
Crap, the Covenant have allies on this planet.
Given how long they've been around they must have some way of dealing with them, try 'Hunter'
That got her some more results, seemingly state sanctioned mercenaries in charge of Grimm elimination.
That's odd, do they still have police or armies?
Another search concluded yes both parties still existed, with Huntsmen or Huntress' helping both out on occasion; but seemingly it was up to the individual's discretion which they helped out and when.
How does this system work!? Surly rogue elements would tear this world apart in seconds?
Well rogue elements did seem to exist, but they typically got dealt with fairly quickly. Overall, it was a system that hurt Six's brain to even think about, how was this in any way stable? With no answer in sight, she skipped to the next thing on her mental list.
Dust was a type of crystal that was embedded with elemental properties… and somehow that made her head hurt less then the previous search. On the bright side, if she pretended really hard, she could imagine it was similar to how the crystals in needlers worked. Obviously it wasn't, but she'd take it.
Next was geography, that couldn't be too weird… Well it wasn't, outside of the one unmapped continent, the world made sense. Grimm kept the populations limited to four 'Kingdoms' none of which still had a monarchy. Still, four names were easy enough to remember, Vacuo was a fairly hostile desert and full of dangerous wildlife outside of the Grimm.
Reminds us of some of the field trips we got taken on during Spartan training.
Next was Mistral, the largest kingdom with the most diverse landscapes, and one of the nastier histories. They along with another Kingdom called Atlas had tried to repress the emotions of their citizens to keep the Grimm at bay, which hadn't worked even before some of the higher class decided they were above those rules.
Six felt her scowl grow, that reminded her a bit too much of her old ONI boss, before she shook her head. She was a Spartan; Duty came before her personal feelings.
Moving on, she jumped to Atlas, The frozen Kingdom which she felt conflicted about. It was a large floating structure, which to some extent she respected as that kept it out of the way of Grimm; however, it couldn't move, and apparently most of its working class lived in a more traditional settlement called Mantle that lay below it.
Why waste time on something like that and not just improving the city that already had established infrastructure? If they lost Mantle they'd starve unless other Kingdoms came to their aid.
I want to know why it's stuck in one location, the view cannot be enough of a justification. If the structure is in danger and can't be moved to safety, then it's not a city anymore, it's a meteor waiting to fall, with who knows how many losses.
Despite the glaring flaws, there was one reason why Six actually liked the sound of this Kingdom; it had the most substantial military and actively used them against Grimm and to protect its borders. Apparently it was criticised for trying to coerce its Huntsmen and Huntresses into military service, but that made more sense to Six then letting mercenaries run wild inside their territories.
Shaking her head, Six moved onto Vale, the Kingdom she was actually in. It wasn't the largest Kingdom, but also not the smallest. It had a decent military, although it wasn't as advanced as Atlas'. Apparently, it was further along in Fanus rights than most, though it still lacked behind Vacuo.
Good, that cuts down on the amount of bigots I have to hurt.
As Six searched around, she was having a hard time processing the discrimination the Faunus suffered over Remnant. She had learned to understand that some people were awful and could get violent over what they thought was right, even if they were blatantly wrong. The Insurrectionists that she'd fought in the past were a testament to how ignorant and violent people truly could be. These bigots, however, didn't make any sense
Superior night vision, extra appendages, water breathing, even flight… Why wouldn't Humans want these people on their side?
Beats me. It's not like the rest of this world isn't any less insane.
There was one other Nation on Remnant, not a full Kingdom like the others, but a nation nonetheless. The continent of Menagerie had apparently been placed under Faunus control following a war that had ended the legality of slavery on Remnant.
They enslaved the Faunus? Were these idiots trying to start a war?
Probably. Whatever they wanted, war is what they got, and by the looks of it, they lost pretty damn hard.
That had been decades ago, the Menagerie of today was a cramped and impoverished nation that was largely neglected by the rest of Remnant. In more than one way, it reminded Six of the disparity in wealth and political power between the Outer and Inner Colonies.
How long do you think it's going to be before they get their own Insurrection too?
Looks like they've already got one, the White Fang. Racial Supremacists, Terrorists, Masters of Guerilla Warfare… Yup, just like the Innies.
Great.
Feeling a bit disappointed with all that she'd learned about Remnant, Six decided to focus on something that she was all but certain would cheer her up. Firearms. Remnant had some interesting guns, and while she could justify her browsing as "research," in truth, she was already preparing a shopping list.
"Oh, you're awake." Nurse Locasta said as she walked into the room, looking over at the Spartan who nodded and put the tablet down.
"Itching from my casts woke me up." She explained as she put the tablet down on her lap.
"Well we better get them off, hold on a second." The Nurse said, unlocking a cabinet with her finger print and freeing a small saw and a couple of perspex safety glasses. She placed one set on herself and another on the Spartan, it was slightly humiliating to need someone else to position them.
That didn't matter however, soon the Spartan was free, immediately she jumped out of the bed; happy to be free of its overwhelming softness and started stretching, testing her limbs. Thankfully the accelerated recovery time seemed to have spared her the normal side effects of long term healing.
"I would advise you to take it easy for a few days." Locasta said as Six dropped down, working the muscles in her arms and back by doing push ups. There was a slight strain there, her body having to readapt to the movement after the days of inactivity, but she found her stride quickly. The exhaustion set on quicker than she would have expected however.
"I can try… Do you have a mirror available?" Six asked, she had to figure out what the damage was. She hopped back to her feet and got more confirmation that her situation was wrong. She should be towering over this Nurse; instead, she was far shorter.
"Yes, it's over there." Locasta said, pointing to the far end of the medical ward. Six walked over, closing her eyes before stepping in front of the mirror and opening them.
This isn't right.
She'd been aware of a few of the changes to her body, the purple hair and reduced muscles had been hard to miss. That wasn't the only change however. Her eyes had not been this shade of burning orange before, even if she knew exactly where it had come from.
It's my Mjolnir's colours, this doesn't add up.
Nothing on this crazy planet adds up.
Yeah but, look at our hair, we painted our Mjolnir that exact shade of purple.
And that's relevant how?
It's not right, something here is seriously wrong.
"It's also too long…" Six muttered, running her hand through her new lavender locks. Back in the forest it had only been a couple of inches long, but now it nearly stretched past her neck.
"Ah, you've noticed your hair." Locasta said sheepishly, approaching behind the Spartan who nodded. "Apologies for that, my Semblance is only meant to speed up healing, but it does sometimes slip out and accelerate other functions. Having longer hair is fairly normal."
Six nodded, unphased as she ran her fingers through it, it was a strange feeling. Like with skirts, she couldn't remember the last time she'd actually had hair of any length. The female Spartans had technically had a bit more leniency with hair length then the males but Six had never cared, she'd shaved it all off and kept it brutally short.
We really need to get it back how it was.
Yeah, we should…
Six tore her eyes away from her oddly coloured hair and instead moved to focus on the rest of her body. It was as bad as she'd expected, her muscle mass was greatly reduced to the point that she could even see her ribs in some places.
No strength enhancements and much weaker bones, crap.
Our Augmentations are gone, aren't they?
It seems that way, damn it, who could do that!?
Scientifically? Nobody. You can't just pull the augmentations out of somebody.
With no answer coming to mind, Six instead focused on the various injuries she'd picked up over the years. Her legs still showed the burns she'd received before she entered the Spartan program, the scar on her cheek from a knife class that had ended badly for her, and even worse for the Instructor she had been training with. She recognised more scars than that but most of them were unimportant, the one she really wanted to check on was under the hospital gown.
"What are you doing!?" A vaguely familiar voice cried out from across the ward, not looking at the voice, Six inspected the nasty plasma burn in her torso. It was smaller than she'd expected.
I guess it was an energy knife and not a sword.
Feeling around on her back did confirm a small exit hole, she had been fully penetrated by the covenant weapon. Her inspection finished, Six turned to look at the speaker, recognising her as the blonde lady who had been on the call with the headmaster. Also behind her was a beet-red Velvet, holding a bundle of fabric up to her face and hiding behind the older woman.
"Well!?" The blonde demanded, gesturing towards the Spartan who struggled to think of an answer that didn't go into details about her augmentations.
"I needed to assess the damage."
"Well assess it in your room, or at the very least put some clothes on! Miss Scarlatina, could you?"
Face a violent red, Velvet moved towards the Spartan, using the bundle she was carrying to avoid looking at the naked girl before putting them on the bed next to her.
"We didn't know your size, so I grabbed an old tracksuit. We'll have to figure out shoes later once we know your sizes… that wasn't the only thing we couldn't judge." Velvet explained, going redder before turning away from the Spartan.
Six nodded, this made sense. She quickly dressed, opening a plastic packet and pulling the undergarments on quickly before pulling the tracksuits trousers and jumper over her head.
"Thank you, Miss Six. May I recommend in the future you employ the privacy curtain?" The blonde Woman asked, scowling as she pointed her… Stick?… towards said curtain.
"Yes." The Spartan said dully. She then just stood there, perhaps Velvet realised she wasn't going to say anything else, so she gave Six a quick introduction.
"Six, this is Miss Goodwitch, the Deputy Headmistress of Beacon. She was on the Scroll with Headmaster Ozpin back in the village. She's here to explain a few things to you."
Six felt herself straighten up immediately, looking firmly over at Glynda who nodded.
"Thank you Miss Scarlatina. Walk with me, I have other things to do today."
"Ma'am" Six said automatically, following the blonde. The older woman hesitated for a moment, looking at her with an odd expression, before shaking her head and stepping off.
"Noble Six, welcome to Beacon Academy. The Headmaster has offered you a position here, but I will be in charge of deciding what that position is." She explained as she marched through the halls, with the bare footed Spartan keeping up easily.
"I understand Ma'am." Six said, looking up at her and asking. "How will you decide this?"
"A combination of Test papers and practical exercises." She responded as they exited the main school building, Six resisted the urge to look behind her and get a better look at the building she'd just left, keeping her eyes locked on the Deputy head. "I will examine your scores and place you where you need to be for your studies. Officially, you're being placed on Team CFVY as a fifth member, however, because of your age you will not be taking classes with them unless they are at your appropriate level."
"How old do you think I am?" Six asked, confused. She'd lost track of exactly how old she was, but surely it was older than the rest of the student body.
"If I were to hazard a guess, I would say you were fifteen or sixteen." She looked back at her, adopting a look of genuine confusion not too far off from Six's own. "Do you not know yourself?"
"I am unsure on the exact number." Six answered. That number wasn't right, but her body was so drastically altered, de-ageing wasn't off the table.
"Well you won't be alone in that regard, it's not uncommon for students from outside major kingdoms to be unaware of their exact birthdate; unfortunate as that may be. Either way, you will be placed based on your competence in the subjects, assuming you meet our base criteria." The Deputy Head finished, stopping outside a grey building.
"Professor, I don't understand, I thought this building was abandoned?" Velvet asked, looking at the recently cut bushes, more worn bricks and one window that looked suspiciously newer than the others, almost like it had been replaced recently.
"It wasn't in active use, however the student dorms operate at maximum capacity, we don't have room for her in the main building so we were forced to improvise." The older woman explained, unlocking the door with her phone before pushing the door open. Six entered to look around her future barracks.
They were… more spacious then she'd expected. The first thing she saw was the plain plaster wall that paired with the linium floor. Six stepped in and felt the familiarity of standing on the rubbery floor, looking around, she saw a large open space with a basic kitchen set up against one wall, a desk and chair against another, an empty wardrobe and a bed. Six walked up and inspected said bed.
This is too soft… again.
We'll figure something out.
Gravel on the mattress?
Shut up.
She then looked up at the walls, spotting the patches that looked less faded. She then looked over to the door on the other end of the wall. She opened it up and felt slightly nostalgic for what was obviously a communal shower set up.
"This was the old changing rooms. We had new facilities built a few years ago so this building has been abandoned for some time." The Deputy Headmistress explained as Six stood in the middle of the room, feeling an odd temptation to turn all the showers on at once; she didn't because that would have been a complete waste of water and also completely pointless.
Instead, Six opened the other door on the far end, inspecting what was obviously toilet stalls and a wall of sinks along one side.
This feels excessive.
"Unfortunately, my duties preclude me from giving you a proper tour at this time. I shall leave you in Miss Scarletina's capable hands for the rest. Your weapon is waiting for you in the workshop, I shall notify you on your tests via your Scroll tomorrow, please have it set up by the end of the day." Glynda explained, pointing towards a white box sitting on the desk. Feeling curious, Six opened it and fished out a small white device, evidently it could open up and get bigger, but right now it was fairly small.
Hmm, more compact than the UNSC models.
Yeah, but we probably can't have Kat hack these to access files we're not meant to have.
The memory of her teammate left her with an odd pang in her chest, but it was one that she was acutely familiar with; Grief. She felt it whenever she couldn't save one of her comrades on the battlefield, but somehow, it felt so much worse than normal. She shook her head and buried the feeling, there was no sense in being sad, there was nothing that could be done for her friend now.
Miss Goodwitch departed with a simple nod, leaving the Spartan alone in her new room with Velvet; who started rummaging around in the scrolls box, pulling out the charger and saying:
"Lets get that charged, then I can give you the tour." She offered, smiling weakly. Six nodded and began searching around for a plug, wondering what this school had to offer.
So far, a lot more… civilian, then Camp Currahee.
We haven't seen it all yet, they've probably got more professional training grounds somewhere… right?
Somehow I doubt that.
