Chapter 13
"Welcome back to the living Jack."
Jack groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. Groggily, his eyes began to focus on the being that was looking at him from outside of whatever container he was in.
Wait…container.
Looking around, Jack saw that he was inside a container with a glass window that showed him the outside. Slightly panicking, Jack began to move around.
"Be calm." Said the man in front of him. "We'll soon let you out. But in order to do so, I must have your promise that you'll remain calm and that you won't attack me or any of my colleagues. Is that clear?" Taking deep breaths, Jack just nodded. "Swear it." Feeling his eyes twitched, Jack swore to do what the man says. Satisfied, but only a little, the man pressed some buttons and the container began to open. Once it allowed him to do so, Jack got out of the container and looked around him. Upon seeing the room and the uniforms the people wore, Jack relaxed. The design of the room looked exactly like an Atlas medical bay in one of their airships. And the uniforms the people wore, with the exception of the man that he first encountered when he woke up, but that was probably because he was very important, were Atlas medical personal uniforms.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Jack began to relax considerably. Atlas personal must have saved him from those robots that captured him and they brought him here to recover. With luck, Winter might be here to meet up with his soon as well as team RWBY and JNPR. Maybe even Coco too. Looking at the man, Jack began to speak up.
"Thanks for patching me up, sir. I honestly thought, once those robots captured me, that would be the end of me." The man just nodded but kept an impassive stance as he looked at Jack. As Jack looked at the man, he saw that he was far different than any Atlas personal he'd encountered before.
His mask completely obscured his face, leaving only an impassive face that had bright orange eyes that glowed with intensity. The mechanical hand that came from his right shoulder was a bit weird for him, but Jack didn't comment on it. The man wore a trench coat over some armor and his hands were encased in thick metal gloves. His right arm held a cane with a glowing sphere on top, which meant he had to hold the can in a hand grip that was below the sphere. Find the design a bit odd, Jack looked at the man.
"So, when can I go meet with my friends? Are we still in Vale?" The man just looked at his colleagues, who have him a look to tell the boy or else, before looking back at Jack.
"Boy." The man's mechanized and deep voice surprised Jack as well as his accent, which Jack couldn't identify at all, left Jack with a sense of dread for some reason. "You need to listen to what I say and keep calm. If you don't, I guarantee that you'll experience great pain." Shocked to hear that, Jack began to feel something was wrong.
"What's going on?" Demanded Jack, starting to panic despite his best attempts to stay calm. The man just shook his head before bring up his hands in surrender, dropping his cane to do so.
"Jack, you must remain calm. If you do so, I'll try to explain the situation as best as I can. Do you understand?" Swallowing, Jack slowly nodded and tried to use his military training to keep calm. Sighing, the man summoned a holographic screen, shocking Jack as he didn't brought out a scroll or similar device, before pressing something. "This will shock you immensely. I'm sorry to say, but that's not your actual body. Look at your hands." That feeling of something was wrong, very wrong, returning, Jack looked at his hands and was shocked to see that they weren't hands. Just arms that ended with a double-barreled gun with bayonet attachments.
"What! What did you do to me?!" Yelled Jack. Once he heard his voice, he stood still. His voice…it wasn't his voice. It was just a heavily synthesized version of it with a metallic tone to it. Taking a step back, he fell down to the ground on his butt. He didn't feel anything when he touched the ground. Looking at his body, he saw nothing but a thin, skeletal-like body that was covered lightly in armor. Feeling his head, he realized that it was much smaller than he was used. Panicking even more, Jack suddenly went into the air. Turning around, he saw that there were thrusters on his back that allowed him to fly and he had two wing stabilizers that likely helped with flight. Upon seeing all this, he looked at the man before him, all calm and collected. "What the hell did you do to me!?" The man simply raised his hand at this.
"Calm yourself, Jack. I'm willing to help you through this, but I can't if you panic. So please, just calm yourself." Jack, however, stressed from seeing his new body, just flew away, trying to get away from here. Upon seeing the door, he flew over to it, only to be stopped by two men in heavy armor, their multi-eyed optics scared Jack as they gave the men an insect like look and gave them a boost in the fear factor when they're armor already accomplished that with its heavy armor and height. To panicked to care, Jack tried to fly past them, only for them to grab him and hold him down.
"Doctor! Should we sedate him?" Asked one of the guards as they held Jack down, who was struggling to get away from their strong grip. The man just shook his head before bringing up his holographic screen. With a push of a button, Jack suddenly felt his mind beginning to shut down as numerous sedatives began to flood his brain. In only a few seconds, he was knocked unconscious. With the subject incapacitated, the man with the cane looked at everyone.
"Get him stabilized and restrain him further. I'll have to explain the whole situation while he's restrained. And inform 117 about this as well as the captain." Everyone just nodded before they did their assigned tasks. As they did so, miss Burns looked at the man in charge, pity in her eyes. The man ignored it and watched as everyone began to do their duties.
Later
Jack felt some things being injected into his bloodstream. Whatever it was, it energizes him and allowed him to open his eyes. Looking around his surrounding, he saw that he was in the room that he was in before he was knocked out. The same room that he first saw himself as a robot. Starting to panic again he looked at himself and saw that it was the same situation. Instead of flesh, he saw metal armor and wires. Upon seeing this, he tried to rationalize this all to be just a nightmare.
"It has to be!" Thought Jack as he panicked more. "I'm just having a bad nightmare. The robots must have set this up to break me. Try to subvert me to their side. It must be! I can't be a…robot!" As he tried to deny it, the more he felt that wasn't the case. Eventually, he calmed down enough to see that this was indeed real. Looking at his new arms, he began to think about his life now. "I…I can't believe this is happening to me. Why did this happen to me? I did nothing to deserve this." Though he wanted to cry, his new body prevented him from doing so. The only indication that he was sad was him eyes dimming down. As he was wallowing in his grieve, a voice yelled out.
"Have you finally accepted what you are now?" Asked the voice. Looking for the source, Jack found it to be the man from before. As he walked toward Jack, the boy looked at him in sadness. Though the boy wanted to be angry at the man, even blame him for all this, he couldn't for some reason. His mind just couldn't process it. When the man was near Jack, he placed a hand on his right arm. He then looked over the boy, seeing that his body was completely restrained on a medical table. After a minute of observation, the man spoke again. "Well, have you?" Closing his eyes, Jack nodded. "Good. Now let me explain what happened. A few months ago, you were captured by a group of machines that are identified as Mils. The reason for this was because you acquired some info about them, which you transferred into your scroll. That caused them to capture you and turn you into one of them. Why, I have no idea. Perhaps as a sick joke or something." Turning to Jack, he asked if he got all that. Jack, shocked about all this information, just nodded.
"So…you don't know why they did this to me?" Asked Jack, looking at his body.
"No idea." Said the man, stroking his metal chin. "From my encounters with them, the only times that they do this is because they're low on soldiers, they're in the bio-medical corps of Mils, the whims of their commanders, or because they get some personal satisfaction from turning organics into cyborgs. My guess, these Mils are from the bio-medical corps, but it can really be any of them or even a combination of them." He then waved his hand. "I'll need more information in order to understand their reasoning. I hope that the assault teams have acquired some intel from the Mils bases that they've attacked." He then brought up his right hand and touched the gauntlet there, which caused the restraints to be removed from his person. Getting up, Jack looked at the man, who began to walk away and urged him to follow him. With some hesitance, Jack followed him to wherever he was taking him. Once they left the room, it took only a few minutes for them to be among other people and for Jack to be shocked at who was walking among them.
There were the occasional humans walking with them and some humanoids that could pass as Faunas, but the grand majority of the people around him were so non-human that they had to be a different species. One species had a split mouth that had an opening on the bottom with four mandibles that moves when it spoke. Another was small, almost dwarf size, and wore some sort of gas mask connected to a large tank on their back. And a third was a floating, bulbous species that had a snake like head, which looked at him in curiosity. And there were far more numerous and differing species that Jack was amazed at all this.
"Amazed, boy?" Asked the man suddenly, causing Jack to look at him.
"Yes. There are so many differing sentient species here. How is this possible?" Asked Jack as he tried to comprehend all this. "What is going on?"
"All will be explained by the captain of this ship and 117." With that, the rest of the trip went silent as Jack basked in the spectacles before him. Both the aliens and his surroundings. The hallways were similar to Atlas architecture but was more rugged in appearance. The hallways were also thinner than most Atlas hallways and taller, most likely for the bigger species here, which some were over ten feet tall. Eventually, after ten minutes of walking, the two entered a conference-like room with multiple chairs, of varying size, surrounding a holographic table with a large T.V. on the other end of the room, on the wall. Taking a seat, the man motioned for Jack to sit on one of the smaller chairs. He did so hesitantly and looked at the man after he did so, who just stayed silent, obviously waiting for someone.
As they waited, Jack began to consider if this was all a ploy by someone or even the White Fang. To get him to join their side. Now that he was this machine, he had no doubt that people would want to know everything, how he survived such a transfer and the technology in his new body. Not wanting to be dissected, Jack began to consider if he should just run out of this place and never look back. Pondering on it for a minute, Jack concluded that it was impossible as he was sure that the man next to him can prevent him from leaving, not to mention the security soldiers that he encountered before and were surely still lurking in this place. Plus, even if he did escape, who would even believe he was Jack. To them, he was just a machine that needed to be brought to whatever government was close by. Even Winter would bring him to Ironwood before even considering that he was indeed Jack. As he sunk into a deep depression at how his life was ruined, the man suddenly placed his hand on Jack's shoulder.
"Its going to be fine, boy." Said the man looking at Jack, who looked back. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn that the man had a ounce of pity and sympathy in his voice. "We'll try our best to give you a normal life again. As best as we can." Still unconvinced that he and his group wasn't trying to convince him to join their side, Jack just looked to the ground. "You believe that we want the technology in your body?" Snapping back up to the man, Jack starred at him for a moment before nodding his head, causing the man to scoff. "Believe me, once you see the more advanced technology here, you would feel foolish for even thinking of such a notion." Looking at the man again, this time in confusion, Jack was about to say something when a door suddenly opened. The two turned around to see, a human male, in his thirties, walking toward them. He was wearing a light brown uniform that had multiple strips on his shoulders. He had brown eyes and black hair. To top it all off, he walked like a soldier, indicating that he was a soldier of some kind. Stopping at the opposite side of Jack and the man, the soldier turned toward them.
"Hello Jack." Said the man as he looked at the boy. Though his stance was like a soldier, his tone was more akin to a father trying to comfort his son over something that happened to him that was out of his control. "First off, I like to apologize for what happened to you. We would have given you a more detailed security team, but our current commander is a bit uncooperative as of late." The man adopted a frustrated and angry tone at that. He took a deep breath before looking at Jack again. "And I'm also sorry that we didn't get to you in time, though I suppose its hollow because of what happened." Jack looked at his body and nodded in agreement. "No doubt that you're confused at what's going on and have many questions regarding your situation. So please, tell us whatever questions that you have. We'll try and answer them to the best of our ability." Jack just looked between the two man, unsure if he should talk. After a nod from the man that was with him since the beginning, Jack sighed.
"First of all, who are you people? What is your goal? And what were those machines, the ones you call Mils? And why did they do this to me?" The two men looked at each other and nodded.
"All understandable questions." Said the man that just came in. "First of all, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bright Noa, captain of the Ra Cailum, flagship of the Londo Bell special forces group." The T.V. on the wall then showed a logo depicting a black triangle. Inside it was a blue L and two golden bells. With them were the words Londo Bell. "And the man next to you is named Viktor, the head of R&D for the Ra Cailum. Londo Bell's goal is to ensure peace and stability across the sectors while also dealing with any terrorists' groups that jeopardize the safety of innocents. All of this is done with minimal collateral damage as much as possible. If you need to eliminate a terrorist group with minimal collateral damage or as a peace keeping force, we're the force to call on." Jack just starred in shock at what he said.
"Sectors? What are you talking about?" Bright just straightened his collar before explaining.
"Keep an open mind on this, Mr. Jack. This may be quite a lot for you to handle." The holographic table then lit up and showed something. Blinking, Jack saw a big ball surrounded by a broken moon. After a few seconds, Jack realized that it was Remnant and its moon.
"That's Remnant." Bright nodded at that.
"Correct. Its your planet with its, oddly damaged, moon." Said Bright. "Now, here's your solar system." The holographic table then zoomed out to reveal what looked like several planets surrounding a much larger planet. All the planets were in differing proximity of the bigger planet and were rotating in their own speeds. Upon seeing this, Jack looked at Bright.
"What is this? Is this the solar system that you're talking about?" Bright nodded.
"Yes, to give a common man's definition of one, a solar system is a set of planets, along with their natural satellites', that are orbiting around a star, which is the sun. On occasion, some planets have asteroid rings surrounding them and some solar systems have smaller bodies of comets, asteroids, and meteoroids. I could go on, but I'll be going off topic." The table then zoomed out to reveal a swirling mass of bright lights. "And this is a galaxy. All those bright lights you see are solar systems. And each solar system has, at least, one habitable planet."
"Or used to or have never been." Said Viktor. Bright ignored him as he continued.
"I recommend you don't try to guess how many solar systems there are in this galaxy, Jack. It'll take awhile for you to do the math." Jack, however, ignored this and just stared in awe at the galaxy, finding its brightness to be beautiful.
"Its beautiful." Said Jack as he continued to stare at the galaxy. He couldn't believe that something like this existed. It almost felt like a dream. He wished that Winter, team RWBY, JNPR, and CFVY were here to see this. They all would have enjoyed this view. After a minute, he looked back at Bright, who stayed still, giving Jack the minute he needed to gaze the galaxy.
"You said that this is a galaxy. There are more?" Bright nodded.
"Five in total. There used to be more, but," Bright frowned. ", let's just say a terrible event happened that drastically reduced the amount of galaxy there are left." Jack just starred at Bright, wondering what could have caused such an event and if he wanted to know. "I would like to go on, but I have a busy schedule, so I'll give you a short version of what caused Londo Bell to form and then I'll tell you why we're here. Is that fine?" Jack just nodded. He really wanted to know what was going on because he was getting confused at all this. Nodding his head in thanks, Bright went on to explain.
"You see, some million years ago, several species in a galaxy mastered FTL travel and meet up with each other. They formed a galactic government and, since then, they've meet other races and helped uplift other races, all of which joined this government. A few wars were fought during that government's time, but nothing major that could threaten it. There was nothing that could oppose them." Bright then frowned. "That is until a science group found an ancient device that allowed them to travel to another galaxy. When this reached the public, people exploded in excitement. To them, it was the greatest find in all of this government's history. The ability to travel between galaxies was thought to be impossible and too time and resource consuming to even attempt. Yet here was a device that was capable of doing just that. Though a handful of politicians wanted to avoid using it, believing it would unleash unspeakable horrors on them, they were ignored and people began sending teams of scientists and soldiers to the device to get it working. When they did, they began to send people to another galaxy. At first, all was well. Colonies were being established and more and more people were going through the device to another galaxy. It looked like a glorious age was going to happen."
"But then war broke out." Said Viktor, causing Bright to sigh and nod in agreement.
"Viktor is right, Jack. Sometime later, the galactic government of that galaxy found the visitors of the other galaxy colonizing on a world they considered sacred. And it just so happens the people that found them were extremely aggressive and violent. A skirmish broke out with the aggressors winning and founding out the location of where the colonists came from. They then launched an attack on the colony world they came from and things escalated from there. When it was learned that each side had a galactic government, peace attempts were attempted but they ended in failure, thus the first Great War started. It lasted for over five thousand years with both sides taking, retaking, or holding systems constantly. The casualties were enormous. It only ended, thank the stars, when newly elected officials on both sides said that enough was enough and peace talks happened again. This time, they succeeded and both sides were forced to give up territories they taken on the galaxy that wasn't their own. A lot of people didn't like it, but they were also sick of war so the treaty that ended the war passed, though tensions were high." He then stopped to looked at Jack. Though his new body wasn't able to express and facial expressions, Bright could tell the boy was horrified. Both at the amount of dead that must have piled up and also how long the war went on. It must have shocked the boy beyond belief as Bright knew that the last war that was fought on Remnant only lasted for a couple of years and it nearly caused humans on the planet to go extinct. From the Grimm, sure, but it was still minuscule compared to what happened in the first Great War. The boy held his head for a few minutes, trying to comprehend so much death, before looking at Bright.
"How could such a war last so long? And what damage did each side cause to each other?" Bright then looked at Viktor, who then spoke.
"To answer the first question, one side own military forces were so disciplined and trained that they didn't care how many of there's died so long as victory is achieved. Though admittedly war fatigue eventually got to them, the fact that the war lasted for five thousand years shows just shows the stubbornness of that side when it comes to wanting to win a war. As for the other," Viktor then spoke in disgust. "They continued because their "religion"," Viktor then made a noise of disgust at the word religion.," Was in danger. Their religious leaders said that their opponents were an affront to their religion and that they must be cleansed from existence. It was only through the assassination of those idiots' successors, who followed their line of thinking, that the war hadn't continued." Viktor then sighed. "As for the 2nd, a great deal." Viktor then had the television behind Bright show case a planet. It was green and blue, signifying grass and water respectively. "This was a planet before the war started. It was perfectly habitable for humans and, by my calculations, far safer to live than in Remnant." The screen then showed various species of animals that had inhabited the planet. Jack was amazed to see such diverse and strange creatures. And the pictures depicted amazing views of natural monuments. Though he was amazed at it all, he knew that, deep down, that it was all gone, which Viktor showed soon.
With a press of a button, the screen changed from the beautiful planet to a red and black planet. The planet had red, angry looking lines all over it as they glowed violently. And Jack could have sworn the black looked like glass.
"And this is what it looks like after the war." Said Viktor, horrifying Jack with the destruction. He then showed pictures of the surface, which showed the sky was permanently black with no sign of life seen aside from the magma on the surface. "All those things you show, those monuments and species, they're all gone. Lost to war. Simply because the planet held supplies to help continue the war in another sector." Upon hearing that, Jack looked at them, horrified beyond belief that such destruction had happened. And it was all done in the name of war. Getting of his seat, Jack tried to walk, but lost his balance and went to the floor. He wanted to throw up. Just imagining all the death that would have happened with destroying a planet made him sick. Despite the want, though, his body simply refused to do so, forcing him to endure the feeling of sickness. He was so busy looking at the floor that he didn't notice Viktor go over and escort him back to the seat.
"Listen Jack, all that was countless generations ago. All those involved are now dead and the hatred that came after the war, is pretty much gone. The two governments that have been involved in that war are gone. Dissolved to better unite those from opposing sides. And since then, despite quite a few bumps, things have been going well. Racism between different species isn't as frequent as before, economics are going strong, and there hasn't been a war between organic species since." Though Jack wanted to believe him, he noticed something when Viktor said organic species.
"There's been another war, wasn't there?" Asked Jack as he looked at Viktor. "Between organics and synthetics? The ones that turned me to this." Jack then pointed to his body. Bright then sighed before nodding.
"Yes, the 2nd Great War." Said Bright. "To make it short, there was a war between the two governments between a robotic species of hyper intelligent machines. It got extremely bloody, to the point that both governments were forced to dissolve and unite under a single banner. Even then, we would have lost if those machines didn't want peace." Bright then looked at the logo of Londo Bell. "And that was only seventy years ago." Upon hearing that, Jack looked at the two. Though he should have been horrified, he kind of expected this when Viktor said there was no war between organic species and when Bright said the first Great war was the first. Trying to clench his fists, Jack found he couldn't, making him realize that they were gun arms and not normal human hands. Sick of hearing all this death and destruction, Jack slammed his fists into the table, slightly surprised to find it didn't break under the force of his blow. The two men just looked at Jack as he repeatedly slammed his fists into the table. After the fifth strike, Jack finally calmed down.
"I'm sorry." Said Jack. "But how could all this happen? All that death and destruction? Couldn't there be a way to solve all this peacefully?" Bright just sighed.
"Trust me. A great deal of those that participated in that war regretted that peace couldn't have been achieved sooner. That is why Londo Bell was formed." He then looked at the logo again. "To make sure something a war of those proportions never happen again. So far, its been going well. In this task force's lifetime, we've successfully prevented galactic war from breaking out at least seven times and we stopped countless smaller wars as well." Bright then looked at Jack, who was looking at the table. Walking over, he put his hand on the boy's shoulder. "I know my words are nothing compared to all those that died in those wars but let me assure you that we're doing our best to save as many lives as we can. It's the job of Londo Bell. Its bloody and we have to make tough decisions, with us questioning what we're doing is right or wrong, but we're doing the best we can to preserve peace and lives." He then sighed. "Unfortunately, we couldn't have saved you from this." Jack just looked at his body again, hating that he kept seeing metal instead of flesh.
"Who were the things that did this to me?" Asked Jack, wanting to change the topic now. Bright just nodded.
"Right, to answer your question from before. The 2nd great war wasn't against the ones that captured you. More on that later, but those things are still dangerous. They're called Mils. Robotic soldiers created for war. They were created by an ancient alien species. No one knows what happened to them, but they placed Mils on countless planets. Ranging from small security teams to massive armies. It seemed Remnant is filled with the later. Our ground forces are dealing with them as we speak, but its only a matter of time before they activate fully and wipe everyone on Remnant out." He then looked at Jack. "The Mil you faced in that bunker was just a standard Mil commander. Beefed up with special shield, but it should show you just how dangerous they are." Upon hearing that, Jack looked at Bright in shock. If a single commander can take on two experienced huntsmen, and thirteen huntsmen in training, then he dreaded how powerful they are.
"And they're fully activated?" Asked Jack in shock. Bright just nodded.
"Yes. Time, it appears, has taken a toll on the forces here. They're all either in disrepair or just gone, lost to time. Though this has given us an advantage, its only a matter of time before they regroup, and we'll have a real war on our hands." He then looked at Jack seriously. "We need to end them before that happens and to do that, we need to take their commander. The Internecine." The T.V. then depicted a large pillar like construct. "That thing is in charge of all Mil forces on the planet. It does everything, from overseeing production of new Mils to making war strategies. If we take it out, we'll cripple the Mils ability to coordinate with each other." He then looked at Jack's frame. "Which is probably why, they captured you. You took data from one of their commanders. That commander must have data on where the Internecine is and that could spell trouble for the Mils if that fell to the wrong hands. As for why they turned you into one of them, my guess is that they want more soldiers." Viktor just nodded.
"Its most likely that. From the reports, the bases we hit don't have as many forces as previous worlds with large Mil armies. You're lucky that they hadn't finished the process of converting you into a loyal soldier. They would have stripped you of your individuality and freewill if they did." Jack gulped upon hearing that. Though he still wished he was saved before being turned to a robot, he liked the fact that they saved him before he lost his free-will and individuality. Wanting to move past that topic, Jack spoke next about the data.
"So, what about that data you got from me? Anything good?" Asked Jack with hope. If these Mils were willing to take away a person's free-will just to get more soldiers, then they need to be taken out.
"A bit. Important facilities and R&D labs." Said Bright. "Our forces have been busy taking out those facilities along with others. So, I'd say yes. We've haven't been able to find the Internecine though, but its only a matter of time." Jack nodded at satisfaction at that, happy that something was going well.
"So, what about me?" Asked Jack. "I can't exactly go back home. My parents will see me as a freak, my nations will want to dissect me, and my friends will try to destroy me the moment they see me." Upon hearing the sadness in his synthesized voice, Bright patted his shoulder.
"I think we can help with that." Bright then looked at Viktor. "If you want, you can join our mission in taking out the Mils here and saving Remnant. We can help you deal with your new body and, hopefully, smooth your relations with your friends once you meet them again. If you don't want to join, that's alright. We'll just help you get used to that body and your friends. You're help isn't all that required. What's your choice?" Jack just looked at the two men, thinking on what to do. On one hand, all of this seemed to be beyond his level of expertise. He was a huntsmen or Remnant. He was trained to defend the kingdoms from threats, not get involved with galaxy level threats. Plus, he still wasn't sure if he could trust any of these peoples. They were far too nice to be fully trusted. But on the other hand, these Mils were clearly dangerous and a threat to Remnant. If what happened to him was any indication, they'll either kill those that stand in their way or convert them into mindless soldiers for them to send to the slaughter. The fact that they're taking away the individuality of others, made Jack angry. No sentient being deserved to have their individuality taken away, not even the lowest of criminals. And above all, he was a huntsmen, a person dedicated to defending the innocent. And these Mils were clearly a threat to the innocent. Honestly seeing that it would go against his principles if he refused to help, Jack spoke out.
"Alright, I'll help, but only for my planet." Said Jack. "I just want to focus on that." Bright nodded in understanding.
"That's completely fine. We're pretty much focused here, for the time being anyway." Bright then looked at Viktor. "Get this boy to the training area. Get him fully acquainted in his new body and get him familiar with our equipment and tactics. I'll have Irelia help you out." Viktor just nodded before leading Jack away. As they walked, Viktor spoke
"You're sure about this?" Asked Viktor. "You don't know much about us and you all have what we told you. Are you sure that we can be trusted?" Jack just looked at the floor.
"I don't fully trust you guys. For all I know, you could be lying and trying to get me on your side. But these Mils," Jack then shrugged. ", they need to be taken out. There is no denying that. They're a danger to the people of Remnant and I won't let them hurt anyone from Remnant. It goes against the principles of a huntsmen if I did otherwise. So, even if I don't trust you guys much, I'm willing to give you guys a chance." Scoffing a bit in respect, Viktor nodded his head and went the rest of the journey without saying a word. After a few minutes, the two stopped in a large room with multiple capsules.
"Uh, this is the training room?" Asked Jack, confused at seeing the room. He expected it to be a large exotic room with large practice rooms from where people can perform team-building exercises with a section dedicating to one on one fights. This was just a large room with multiple capsules that served no purpose other than cover. Viktor just scoffed before going over to a capsule and opening it. He then motioned to Jack to get in, which he did after some hesitation. After he got in, Viktor began to type on his right gauntlet.
"If you feel a jolt, don't worry. That's what most people feel when they try this for the first time." Said Viktor. Before Jack could ask what he meant the capsule suddenly close and Jack suddenly felt a jolt. Not to unpleasant or painful, but shocking, nonetheless. His vision then went white, blinding him for a few seconds. Once it ended, Jack was shocked to find that he was in a plain of grass and trees. He was currently standing on a large white tile set. Looking around in awe, Jack saw floating rocks all over him and strange birds were flying in the skies.
"Sorry about the jolt. We tried to remove it, but short of removing all your nerves, we can only reduce it to an unpleasant jolt." Jack then looked to see Viktor coming to him in a burst of blue light. He then looked around. "Amazing, isn't it? This is a simulated world based on Harvest, a planet in the Polaris Galaxy. The planet is quite unique. It has a rare element in it that allows the rocks to float in the air in a form of suspended animation. It was just discovered and we're still trying to figure out what causes this anomaly."
"Its amazing." Said Jack, causing Viktor to nod in agreement.
"As much as I think you want to continue gazing the rocks, we're not here to observe. We're here to train." Upon hearing that, Jack got into a fighting stance, ready for a fight.
"Okay, my opponent is this Irelia, right? Where is she?" Viktor just looked at a holographic screen on his gauntlet.
"She should be arriving now." Said Viktor. As if on que, a blue lightning bolt crashed before them. Jack jumped back, but Viktor stood where he was, unfazed at all. The lightning soon went away to reveal a young woman, probably in her late twenties to early thirties.
To say the woman was beautiful wasn't doing her any justice. Her pale, porcelain-like face was smooth and delicate, as if it can easily break if it was touched. Her long, dark blue hair fell down her back like a waterfall. Her slim and, no doubt, toned body was encased in a set of armor that showcased her figure well, while providing amble protection. The armor she wore was similar to the one used by those soldiers that Jack saw, the ones with multiple eyes, but was thinner and more streamlined for a female. Perhaps it was even thinner for her. On her head she wore no helmet, rather she had a headgear that floated on top of her head, surprising Jack. Upon opening her eyes, she revealed that her eyes were a similar color to her hair. They looked stoic and uncaring, like Winter when she meet new people, but his time with the experienced Atlas specialist made Jack learn how to distinguish that small bit of emotions in people's eyes whenever they're being stoic. Despite the fact the woman looked stoic, Jack saw that, within deep in her eyes, she had nothing but pity and sympathy for him, something that Jack could understand.
"This is Irelia." Said Viktor as he spoke up. "I believe you're acquainted with her." Upon hearing that, Jack looked at Viktor in surprise, wondering why he said that. He then looked back at Irelia before racking his memory for any woman that looked remotely like her. It only took him a few minutes before he got it. Upon remembering, Jack was stunned as she was the woman that announced Sona way back during the ball.
"You're that woman. The woman in the ball." Said Jack, stunned beyond belief. When Irelia nodded her head, he then thought of the implications of this. If she was here…,then that meant that Sona was also with these people, along with Xayah and Ahri. As he tried to process this, Irelia looked at Viktor, her blue eyes showing little emotions.
"Viktor." Said Irelia, crossing her arms over her chest.
"Irelia." Said Viktor, tapping his cane a bit. The two starred at each other with Viktor looking at Irelia's eyes. The two stared down at each other for a few minutes before Irelia spoke.
"I take it you're here to help me train the boy?" Though she said it stoically, Viktor noted that it had a hint of annoyance, something he ignored.
"Yes. I'm to help him familiarize with his new body and to help him with more advanced tactics that can help him use his body more effectively." Irelia nodded upon hearing that. She showed a bit of emotions, showing sadness, before going back to her mask of stoicism.
"Then let's begin." She then looked at Jack, who finally stopped thinking at the implications of her, and her group at the ball, being with Londo Bell. She then placed a hand on Jack. "Ask you're questions later. I'll answer them to the best of my ability." Upon hearing the motherly nature she said it, Jack looked at her in shock. Irelia just smiled a bit before walking away. After she made a fair amount of distance away from them, she turned and faced Jack. "We'll start off by engaging in a sparing match. To try and figure out where we need to start first." With that the back of her armor opened up and out, to Jack's surprise, several large blades that began to float around Irelia's head.
The blades, though they looked like normal steel, left Jack uneasy. Just looking at them and at how sharp they looked, made him think they can do damage to him quite easily. Trying to gulp, but finding he couldn't, likely because he was a cyborg now, he got into a fighting stance, one that was poor for his new body, readying himself for a fight. After getting away from Jack, Viktor looked at the two combatants.
"You can begin." Said Viktor. With that, Irelia rushed toward Jack, her blades following. Looking at his opponent, Jack let out a roar, which came more like a bird shriek, and charged. Upon seeing that, Viktor sighed.
"Big mistake." Said Viktor. He then proceeded to watch as Irelia beat the boy down in submission. Rather quickly, he noted.