Chapter 12: Not good enough

"Velvet, is Coco okay?" Six asked, looking over at the beret wearing girl, whose face was plastered with a large, vaguely sinister grin. It was an expression vaguely reminiscent of a wild animal that had just caught the scent of some very tasty prey.

"She's just excited to go shopping for someone who can't back out early." Velvet explained as she leaned back in her chair. "It'll probably be out of her system by the time we land."

Six nodded before once again taking in the dropship she was currently riding in. She hadn't known what to expect when Coco had said to meet her at the landing pad, but apparently Remnant, or at least Vale, made use of large scale public transport that flew.

The ship they were in was an impressive thing, shaped vaguely like a traditional boat but with four large wings and a cluster of five beefy engines at the back. Six wasn't completely sure how it stayed in the air with no visible downward thrusters, but honestly, after seeing Coco's minigun/handbag, an advanced airship wasn't all that difficult a concept to wrap her head around.

Reminds me a bit of the old D20 Herons, only this thing doesn't just look like a big flying brick.

Yeah. Maybe we can talk to the Pilot at some point, figure out what makes these things tick?

Yeah, or we can just look it up. This thing hardly seems like its technical manual would be covered in black ink.

But those things are always the best things to fly.

"Hey Six, how willing to experiment are you?" Coco asked, leaning forward to look at the Spartan, who tilted her head in a slightly confused fashion.

"What do you mean, how much experimenting is there to do with clothes?"

Six watched with fascination as Coco lowered her shades and met Six's orange eyes with her brown set. She lent forward; for some reason Six felt her heart rate increase slightly as the girl fixated on her, an intent gaze that made her want to flinch and look away; at any rate, it forced her to sit back lest they bump faces. After spending so long with a visor in front of her face, making direct, close eye contact was something that she wasn't really used to and she couldn't say she liked it in this case.

"You really lived the military life, didn't you?" Coco stated flatly, pulling back. Six nodded while looking at the ground, trying to get her pulse to slow down again.

"Yes, I thought I'd established that."

"Yeah, but most soldiers get shore leave, or so I'm told. You did get breaks or something, right?" Coco asked, Six looked up at her, glad she was sitting normally again and not leaning over her.

"I sometimes got a day or two between missions to rest." Six explained, before catching the shocked look on both girls' faces. "We're at war. The Covenant isn't giving us an inch and I'm a Spartan! We were… are the best the UNSC has, better armed, better trained, better everything! A single Spartan can change the result of any battle, we boosted morale, we were a sign that things were going to be okay. We had to be out there as much as possible, we just had to."

There were a few moments of silence between the two girls talking to Six, who rubbed her head in annoyance and sat back against her chair.

"So, what about you?" Velvet asked quietly. Six blinked at Velvet's question, looking over at the rabbit eared girl who shrank slightly. "I just meant, was that what being a Spartan meant to you, that you brought hope?"

Six actually had to think for a bit before responding.

"To me, it meant I wasn't that helpless little girl anymore." She eventually answered. "And I wasn't going to get stronger by slacking off."

"Who said having a break was lazy? You can't push yourself forever, you need to relax at some point girl, otherwise you're gonna crack." Coco said simply. "Like, I get that the situation was tough, but you seriously never had any time to properly rest and recharge?"

"Didn't need it." Six said simply. "It was like clothing, I had Mjolnir, so I didn't need anything else. Same for the job, I was needed so I did it."

"That surely can't last forever." Velvet pointed before Coco butted in looking shocked.

"Hang on, you only wore your armour, like that suit you had in your room?"

Six nodded, remembering how surprised and intimidated the two of them had been when they'd visited her room earlier in the day. She wondered how Emile would've felt, knowing that his armour had that kind of effect; pleased probably, he'd made the skull as a tool of psychological warfare after all. Emile had also been about as close as a Spartan could be to a practical jokester, so he no doubt took a bit of pleasure in spooking people.

But now he was gone, and all that was left was the armour. She was grateful that Ozpin had honoured his promise to her and given her the suit, even if she couldn't bring herself to actually do anything with it. She knew for a fact that Emile would've wanted her to use his armour, regardless of his fate, Spartans always did everything in their power to look after their brothers and sisters. Alas, even if she had her augmentations back and the suit repaired, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to ever use it.

"And, like, nothing else, no changing or anything?" Coco asked. The tone she used was one of abject horror, and Six had to bite back a laugh at how little it had taken to get that kind of reaction out of her. She'd heard that tone from people who were about to die, more than once, and here was Coco having that kind of reaction to clothes.

Damn, they really don't know how good they've got it, do they?

In their defence, the Covenant never rolled out giant aliens the size of trees that would eat you.

Point taken.

"It was Mjolnir, there literally isn't anything better that I could've worn, what else would you need?" Six asked, her head dutifully tilting as she watched Coco's best goldfish impression.

"Don't mind her Six, I don't think Coco can comprehend the idea of someone wearing the same thing every day with no changes. You should see her when we watch anime." Velvet said with a small smile.

"I want to know what she even meant when she started this conversation." Six muttered.

"Huh, oh right!" Coco cried, snapping back to normal and slapping her face. "Sorry you distracted me with your personal stuff. I was trying to ask if you were okay trying some different styles?"

"Erm…"

That's dignified.

We have no experience with these matters, give her a second.

"I guess?" Six asked. "Like I said I've never really thought about clothes before, I had my armour or uniforms, I never went much further then that."

"Oh come on, you must have had some kind of pre-army life right? What did you wear then?" Coco asked, looking at Six who was suddenly realising something.

"I… I don't know what I wore when I was a kid." She said, staring at her hands.

"A kid… Six, how old were you when you signed up?" Coco asked.

"Um, I think I was close to five?" Six said, then seeing the shocked look on the girls face's she hastily added. "I mean, I wasn't the youngest cadet, some of them were only just turning four when we were recruited."

Apparently that didn't make things any better, Velvet continued to be shocked and horrified while Coco focused on the important things, well, to her, at least.

"Wait, so you haven't worn anything that wasn't a military uniform since you were five!?"

Six nodded, and got pulled into a very sudden and very tight hug and a lot of apologising and use of the phrase 'I'm so sorry' She didn't try and push Coco off, though she did add more things to her 'The hell was wrong with this planet' list.


The airship sat down at the city's docks shortly after that and the trio of girls headed into the city of Vale. It wasn't that big to Six, with most of the buildings not exceeding three stories in height. Still, it was oddly charming with its prominent brick built construction and sea air. Even the holographic displays didn't look all that out of place, it sort of reminded her of her home. It was also one of very few cities that she'd ever gotten to see that wasn't actively under siege by the Covenant, so that was nice.

As Coco led them to the first shop she wanted to check out, Six realised how long it had been since she'd thought about her life pre UNSC, and just how little of it she actually remembered. She wasn't sure what her planet was called, or her town, or-

Our parents, what were they called?

I don't know, I can't even think what they looked like anymore.

It was… I… I have to know it… surely, it's just… hard to remember.

Why would we? They were just mom and dad until they died.

We fought for them, we should know right?

All we had left of them was that toy, what did we call it?

Mr Glittery, no wait…

"And here we are!" Coco called brightly, snapping Six out of her thoughts as she blinked and looked up at the store they'd arrived at.

"Sinclaire's Combat Apparel?" Six read aloud, before looking at the stuff in their window. "Please tell me that you people don't typically wear dresses into combat."

Coco smiled.

"Not typically… only the good ones. Come on, I'll show you." She said as she pushed the door open.

Six entered curiously, most of the articles on the displays and shelves looked, well ordinary; skirts, T-shirts, and a bunch of other things she didn't know the name of. Still, she followed Coco's beckoning hand to a rack of skirts.

"Okay, I can tell practicality is a big thing for you, so I figured this place was a good starting point." Coco explained, taking a pleated skirt off the rack and showing it to Six. "Looks like a normal skirt right?"

Six nodded.

"Well it isn't." Coco said, smiling as she handed the garment to Six. who accepted it and felt the pleats, realising something. The material wasn't regular fabric, it was thick and the Spartan gave it an experimental pull. "That weave is stab resilient and will shrug off most shrapnel without any major damage, and you can still move in it."

Six stared at Coco dumbfounded.

"I… surely it has to be a lot thicker than this to work, and it shouldn't be as light as this…"

"Not over here it doesn't, it's made of a bunch of composite materials but the point is, basically everything in here will act as light armour and give you some style!" Coco said, her grin spreading from ear to ear as she looked expectantly at the Spartan.

"I mean, this skirt can only protect what it covers, which isn't much…" Noble Six began before looking at the hurt look on Coco's face. "I... Sorry, it's a good idea, thank you, I um, appreciate the thought you've put into this…"

"Awesome!" Coco said, her face snapping back to its normal grin "So, let's pick out some stuff!"


It could have been worse, Six couldn't say she was a fan of being measured, or Coco and Velvet constantly showing up at the changing room with more clothing to try on. She would have been fine stopping at the first thing that fit, Coco was not however.

As such, it had been two hours, and she'd ended up with what Coco described as the base of her combat outfit, a tight black set of leggings and a set of sports bras so she finally had some support for her chest. Personally, Six found the tightness comforting, it was like having her tech suit back on. She was willing to pick a random shirt and be done with it, but Coco wasn't.

"Seriously that cannot be your whole look, for one thing, you really need something with pockets, and secondly, it's boring as hell."

"You're right, it needs pockets." Six conceded. She hadn't even thought of that. Without the magnetic holsters on her armour, she'd need a new way to store her equipment.

Maybe Coco's actually thought this through more than we've realised?

Oh yeah? Like with that miniskirt she suggested? I'm sure that would've been very effective in battle.

Alright, no need to be rude, I was just… Hey, what's that?

Unintentionally, she'd somehow managed to navigate the labyrinthine halls of coat racks and hanger stands, and found something that she'd been looking for. A sturdy pair of leather fingerless gloves, she smiled as she pulled them on, they reminded her of what the ODSTs wore and that gave her a sense of comfort.

Here's hoping we find one of their suits at some point.

Yeah, then we can come back to Coco with our own fashion statement.

Hell yeah.

It was starting to get dark and with a grumble from her stomach Coco decided the group was going to get dinner, steering the trio towards a pub that team CFVY visited regularly. It was a quaint little place, filled with happy people and exuding an utterly intoxicating smell that had to be from the food.

"If you like what they serve at Beacon you're gonna love what they have here." Coco said confidently as they sat down and were handed menus, something that Six was delayed on because she was looking at the waitress who'd handed her the menu even after she left.

This world really likes uniforms with short skirts doesn't it?

Seems so, though she's got a longer one on, I guess it's a choice?

I suppose, damn they are distracting. We really should have considered getting one.

Not a chance.

"Six, you do know you have to look at the menu if you want to order something right?" Coco said, a slight smirk on her face as Six snapped out of her thoughts, her face extremely hot as she looked at the options, realising something important.

"I don't recognize any of these." The Spartan admitted sheepishly.

"If I ever meet any of the people who trained you, I'm gonna have some words for them." Velvet said, a dark scowl on her face as she saw the waitress approaching.

"Can I get your orders?" She asked, Coco nodded as Six slipped slightly into panic mode; no one wants to be the person holding up the line in the mess hall, so she implemented a slightly unwise decision, closing her eyes and poking the menu at random.

"I'll have the… Ursa scale triple meat burger?" Six said, wondering how much she was gonna get, Coco and Velvet looked at her like she'd just proclaimed she was going to swallow a live rabbit, but Six held firm, how bad could it be?


The answer was: surprisingly not very, the burger was huge, and probably had enough meat to feed an entire squad of Marines, but it was still very nice to eat, she'd even got a free shirt out of it.

"How did you finish that thing?" Velvet asked in shock as they left, Six wearing her newly acquired shirt. It was admittedly about four times larger than her actual size, apparently they'd never had someone so skinny ever finish it.

"When you get good food, you don't waste it, because it might not come again." Six responded happily, enjoying the lighter material of the T-Shirt over the slightly grotty tracksuit top she'd been wearing previously, plus the bear skull on the front reminded her of Emile.

Whatever the girls were going to say in response was drowned out by the sound of glass shattering and the unmistakable sound of a high calibre gunshot echoed down the streets., Six shot off before any of them could stop her, sprinting around the corner and seeing… well, something that topped Coco's bag in terms of pure insanity.

It was a girl who looked younger than Six, wearing a dark dress offset with her bright red cape, and in her hands was, well, it had looked like a very boxy gun, now though… It was a scythe. Not just any scythe either, this thing was big, like, the size of its wielder big. It was a weapon that had no way of ever working properly, but there it was in front of her.

Looking around, Six saw a set of men wearing suits, all wielding red cleavers. All of them were focused on the girl, clearly about to attack her. Six wanted to move in but soon realised she couldn't without getting in the way of, or getting hit by, the girl in the cape. With little choice but to stand back, she stood there watching as the girl strung attack after attack together, effortlessly moving with and around her oversized weapon. It was oddly graceful and mesmerising to watch for the Spartan, at least until she saw a different man in a white coat and a bowler hat aim something at the girl. Six took her chance, ripping a UNSC knife free from her tracksuit pocket and throwing it with extreme force at the man's hand.

The weapon failed to pierce his skin, but his aim was thrown off enough that his shot missed the girl in the cape, it also allowed Six to close the distance between them and punch him. A flash of orange light flared up around him. Six smirked, she'd punched through shields before, she could do it again!

She didn't relent, she just punched rapidly, aiming for every weak spot she could find, before she was smashed over the head with his cane. Stars popped into view but she bared a feral grin, driving a jab under his ribs causing a spasm that let her grab the cane and throw it away before resuming the pummeling.

She didn't have an Aura, or even a proper weapon, but a Spartan's body was their last line of defence, she was never truly unarmed. Every martial art Humanity had ever developed, and even a few that they hadn't, had been drilled into her through painstaking practice. Even so, it didn't feel like it was enough. He reacted to every hit, and she saw his Aura flash every time she struck it, but she was moving far too slow. She should have been faster, hitting harder, but she wasn't. This was taking far too long, if this man had backup coming, she was screwed.

It was as that thought entered the Spartan's head that she heard it, the roar of engines. Six looked up and saw an airship flying down the street, bearing down on her. Her eyes went wide as she heard the familiar sound of a rotary cannon revving up, she wasn't going to be able to get out of the way in time with her slow movement, she was screwed.

She was amazingly calm as the bullets tore up the street as they approached, maybe she was just numb to fatal situations at this point, or maybe she figured that by holding the idiot with the bowler hat down she could at least force the enemy pilot to kill one of their own as well. Whatever the case, she stared her fate head on, before something very strange happened.

A strong force struck her to the side, and then all she could see was red, not in a sense that she was filled with rage or covered in blood, but rather, like the whole world around her was red. She could feel herself moving as well, very strenuously, in fact. It was like she was pulling a high-gee turn in a Sabre, or like she had when she was falling back to Reach with nothing but a re-entry pack and her armour. She was only in this state less than a second, before being spat out into an alley. Six looked up and saw the girl with the Red cape forming out of the crimson spiral.

I guess that's her Semblance?

I think she saved our life.

The natives are really making a habit of that.

We need to get that gravity hammer finished so we can return the favour.

Agreed.

I… think we're gonna throw up.

Yup!

Six had fallen from orbit, and piloted ships through near impossible manoeuvres, but there was only so much that her unaugmented body was capable of. She heaved, desperately trying to avoid making a mess all over the girl who had saved her.

"Are you okay!?" The girl asked, crouching low and meeting Six's orange eyes with her own, an impossible silver in colour.

"I… yes… thank you." Six said in between great gasps for air, pushing herself up and looking out onto the street. The Gunship couldn't have gotten far if she could still hear it so clearly.

"Come on, we can still catch him!" The Silver eyed girl declared, pointing at the man in white as he scrambled up a fire escape of a nearby building. The girl sprinted out of the alley and unfurled her death scythe, firing at the ground to fling herself up the building.

Six went to follow, looking to get on the fire escape but was stopped by Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch, which caught her off guard. What was she doing here? Six was going to continue up, until the Teacher shot her a look, a deep scowl on her face that caused Six to stop, she clenched her fist as the blonde shot off after the cape girl. This was infuriating. But she was unarmed, and unaugmented. She couldn't punch a gunship to death anymore, so she just had to watch as the Deputy Headmistress and Cape girl tried their best to stop the ship, all the while her brain was running through what she could do if she had her kit.

I could have shot that thing down.

I could have taken the bullets.

I could be up there fighting back.

I could have shot the pilot.

I could do literally anything.

But no, she was on the ground, scowling as Coco and Velvet came running, she ignored their attempts to talk to her and just watched the fight; annoyed that Coco had just brought a bag and not the incredibly useful minigun she'd had, it could have taken out the woman blocking bullets… with her… hands.

Fuck it, I don't freakin' care anymore, this world is fucking batshit.

Annoyingly the pair were not able to stop the ship and it and the man in white were able to escape. The pair came back down to street level, the girl in the cape looking very sheepish as Glynda Goodwhich scowled at Six and the female half of Team CFVY.

"Noble Six, come with me, I need a word with you and Miss Rose."

Six nodded and set off, fuming all the way.

This isn't good enough! I'm not good enough!