Chapter 9

Colin (Day of episode 11)

The introductions had taken longer than he expected, but he had all their names down and they had left for class. The clock said 10:30 but he still didn't want to get out of bed, his everything still hurt and it was probably going to stay like that for quite some time. He forced his sore and unwilling body out of bed "Sheila, can you get the nanites back into combat form, I need some help." He said sitting on the side of his bed. "Yes sir, but if I might protest you need more rest." "And I would love to get some but Maria might want to know I'm alive" he responded irritated. "Sir they know you are alive, I'm actually tracking an incoming drop pod. Landing zone predicted to be within 100 meters of your landing site." She said. "Well when it lands we need to be there. So get those nanites into heavy combat form. We are leaving." He said still in an irritated tone.

The silence was broken only by the sound of nanites moving like liquid across the floor towards him. He stood up away from the table and widened his stance and raised his arms to head level. The nanites slowly made their way up his body, like liquid, if liquid moved against gravity. When they fully encompassed him and he looked like a metal statue for a moment, then the nanites took shape, revealing a heavier looking armor encompassing his entire body. A helmet formed in his hands, he looked at it for a brief moment to ensure it was working then put it on. The click and hiss of the airtight seal pressurizing told him all was in good order. He began walking out when Sheila interrupted "Sir, you might want to notify professor Ozpin or Goodwitch. They might want to know where their miracle is, also you are having something else crash into the ground from orbit." She said overly politely. "Good idea, can I have the location of the closest of the two." He asked, noticing the overly polite tone. "I'm sorry, I won't give you any more attitude." He said apologetically. "Thank you, and Mrs. Goodwitch is to your left, all the way down the hall, right, then the door that says combat arena" she said, overly polite tone almost completely gone.

As he walked down the hall he realized that he looked very intimidating, standing at about 6' 5 with the armor on, not that the armor didn't look scary all on its own. He took his helmet off and held it by his side as he walked. "Sheila change the color of my armor to a greyish white, make me seeable, but not neon bright." He said politely. "Yes sir." She responded, he watched as his armor changed to white, with grey trim, and his visor turned to a nice shade of navy blue. Pleased with the color he continued walking. He entered the large classroom with an arena in the center, professor Goodwitch saw him and he waved. She paused the fight going on right now and walked over to him, putting the entire classes' attention on the man in white armor. "Colin so good to see you up and walking, what are you doing here?" she asked "I have a gift on its way from orbit, just wanted to let you know I'm going to be out for a bit to retrieve it. Don't want to worry you any, also so you can tell . Mind if I watch the fight before leaving." He finished. "Yes but you have to introduce yourself." She said, using this as a sort of 'get back at him' for using her as a messenger. "Hi everybody, I'm Colin. I'm a transfer student from the eclipse." He said waving his hand at everyone. "Back to class everyone, Jaune and Cardin, you can start the fight. "She said turning to Colin "What!?" she said in an angry whisper. "Well, I'm going to be here for a while, might as well learn something. I promise not to blow up the school." He whispered back.

While Mrs. Goodwitch wasn't happy, she wasn't going to kick him out, not like she thought she could. She walked towards the arena angrily, and he smiled and followed. Taking a seat up front next to ruby. "So how's it going?' he asked smiling "Ssshh, Jaune is fighting." The girl in red next to him whispered angrily. He stopped talking and watched the fight. (This is when Jaune fights Cardin during Mrs. Goodwitch's class). About 6 seconds in he knew who was going to win "Sir, the drop pod has landed." Sheila said into his ear piece. He wasn't going to miss anything, so he got up and left. When he got outside he took a deep breath of fresh air, then put his helmet on. His HUD slowly blinked on, the marker with the location of the pod popped up on his HUD. He started the long and tedious walk, taking his rifle off his back and checking its power and loaded status, everything was in the green. The second he left school grounds he was being hunted. He didn't know by what, or from where, but hunted none the less. He just kept walking, then the bushes behind him rustled, he slowly put his rifle on his back and turned to face his attacker. It was large and werewolf-ish in shape, a Grimm. It roared at him and opened its arms in an attack stance, then it charged, closing the 20 foot distance very quickly.

He went into the karate ready stance and threw a right hook. When it connected, the werewolf exploded. He looked down at his hand and smiled, then went back to the search for the drop pod. Not that it was very hard to find, it had a beacon. A couple minutes of walking later and he had reached the pod. Smiling he walked over and opened it, inside were block of metal, gold, titanium, steel, platinum, silver, copper, and a data pad. The nanites turned all the materials into a backpack that was very solid. He grabbed the pad and walked back towards beacon. He set all the messages to play, the first few were of Key's trying and failing to get words out. The third was an actual message. " Hey Colin, its Key's, just wanted to tell you that the ship is stable, we are however not going to be able to pick you up, and in 6 days an enemy battlegroup will be on our position, but the Ascent is on its way. I hope you have a good relationship with your brother. And I love you, please come back soon." The message ended, he plugged a cord into the back of his helmet and the pad then set the pad down on his backpack.