Thank you for the positive reception! It means a lot to me. I hope not to disappoint your expectations, updates will be about once a week unless I have other things on, but I will say in advance when I do.
(-o-)
TIME: 0600
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
Location: Mother of Invention, en route to sidewinder.
An alarm went off quietly, rousing Ruby from her slumber. She rolled over slightly, trying to go back to sleep, but the alarm continued, so she sat up and shook her eyes. Suddenly, the room was filled with bright light.
"Good morning, Agent West Virginia." Came a robotic, yet clearly female voice from somewhere or another. Ruby nearly jumped, having completely forgotten about the whole thing. She waited until her eyes had stopped hurting from the harsh light, then opened her eyes. The room was the same as she recalled it.
"The Director requested I wake you at this time, oh-six-hundred hours. I am the Artificial Intelligence designated as 'F.I.L.I.S'. It is a pleasure to meet you. He requested I informed you that your armour has been delivered to you, as well as instructions on how to don it. It should be to your left."
Ruby looked, and sure enough, dozens, if not hundreds, of small metal pieces lay on the floor in a pattern, yet still looking like armour. She figured the pieces must slot together. The armour was between her and the door, facing her, with a small paper booklet lying on top of it, which was titled 'instructions'. It didn't take a genius to figure out what it was for.
"Please note that at oh-six-hundred and thirty hours, Freelancer New York will arriving, to escort you around the facility and introduce you to training. Please try to be ready in time. Have a good day."
Ruby stood up, groaning in annoyance. Basically, the computer had said 'you have half an hour to figure out how to put on this armour, no time for showering or anything else. Good luck.' She walked over to the booklet, and started reading through it.
(-o-)
TIME: 0629
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
Location: Mother of Invention; Agent West Virginia's Dorm
Ruby groaned in annoyance as she finally fitted the last piece of armour on, and it clicked. She picked up her helmet, which had luckily come preassembled, and put it over her heard. Luckily, it's size meant it wouldn't impair her vision. The black visor suddenly whirred, and her vision became much clearer, several weird holographic… things, showing up in the corners.
Huh, a heads-up-display. Useful. She looked down at herself, and had to admit, the armour looked AWESOME. It was a terrific shade of red, and while it was quite loose on her, the design was marvellous, and it held itself up almost weightlessly. If it wasn't for the helmet, she wouldn't be able to tell the difference.
Well, that isn't entirely true. Since she put it on, she had felt two things. One; her aura was strangely muffled, almost inaccessible, and two; she felt stronger and faster than she had before. She was broken from her thoughts by a knocking at her door. She checked the time in her HUD, and sure enough, it read 06:30. That had taken a while.
"Uh, come in." She said, unsure of how to respond. The door slid open and a figure in tan armour similar to her own stepped through. They were almost a foot taller than she was, and was gazing intently at her. She didn't need to see behind their visor to see than. She stood at attention, saluting as best she could. They chuckled.
"So, you're the new recruit, huh?" The man asked rhetorically. His voice was somewhat gruff, but also friendly and cheery. "No need for the formalities with the other Freelancers, only around the Director. After all, we're just one big family, and we're your equals. Anyway, my name's York." He continued.
"Agent West Virginia, sir." She replied politely. He might not mind her dropping the formalities, but they came very unnaturally to her, so she knew she needed practise. No time like the present.
"So, West, huh? Why'd you pick that?" He asked, and Ruby shrugged. He chuckled again. "Well, come on. We've got some things to attend to before breakfast. And believe me, once you've seen the cafeteria, you won't want to be late. The food's pretty bad if you're there early, but it somehow gets worse."
The man, York, turned and left her room, Ruby trailing behind him. The door slid closed as they both exited, and York turned and headed down the corridor, leading her through a labyrinth of identical dull, grey stretched of hallway with practised ease. The two walked in an awkward silence, Ruby bursting with questions, but not sure if she should ask them, while York merely looked… contemplative, striding purposely through the halls with his mind clearly elsewhere.
After agonising minutes of silence, they arrived at a small room, with the same dull colour scheme as the rest of the building. One of the walls, however, had been removed, leaving a large glass pane, which looked down onto a spacious room.
"This is the observatory, where you can watch any training or matches going on." York explained. "Although this particular one is for scheduling matches. Normally us Freelancers aren't allowed in here, but today I have the Director's permission. There are a couple other ones, though. Hell, most of the ship's rooms can see it."
Ship? Ruby thought.
"Today, you get to schedule one of your own matches." He said, walking over to a small pedestal and beckoning her over. On top of the pedestal was an electronic device similar to the one the Counsellor had shown her yesterday. There was a list of twelve names on it.
"They're organised in ranking, from top to bottom. Pick anyone, and you get to fight them about lunch time."
Ruby studied the list, then noticed a board on another side of the room. It showed the top six Agents from the list, a leader board, she guessed. She decided she should try to get on the leader board to show her potential, so she reached out and tapped the name 'Washington', who was ranked sixth, on the pedestal. The other names disappeared, and Washington enlarged, with some weird blue lines spreading in a pattern, before underneath a message appeared.
It read 'Match Confirmed', with the time '1030', showing up under 'time'. The was also a section for date, which was strangely concealed, each of the digits being replaced by an X. It read XX/XX/XXXX. How utterly useful, Ruby thought sarcastically, scoffing mentally.
"Great!" York exclaimed, patting her on the shoulder. "Now let's go eat." He continued, with a hint of eagerness in his voice.
"That's all we needed to do? I thought you said 'things', not 'thing'!" Ruby protested jokingly.
"Yeah, well, one of the main things was helping you put your armour on, but you seemed to get that fine."
"There was an instruction manual."
"You would be amazed by how stupid 'brilliant' or 'strong' people can be." York joked. "Take Wyoming for example. It took him three hours to get his on the first time, with an assistant helping!" Ruby snicked slightly, York laughing loudly. York turned a corner, leading into a huge, open room with tables.
The room was completely empty, and he gestured for her to sit down. By the time she had, he was already at her side with two trays of food.
"Wha-" She started, only for him to cut her off with a hand.
"Don't ask, don't tell."
Ruby took the hint, curious as to what he could be hiding. She took off her helmet and looked down at her food, which was a bowl of porridge, an apple, a banana, a steak and a… milkshake? It was a shake of some time. She sipped it, and it tasted disgusting. The rest of the food was okay, and she did manage to force the shake down.
York removed his own helmet, revealing a somewhat handsome face, with short brown hair and a strong jaw. He held himself confidently, and was smiling lightly.
"Normally, there'd be three four others sitting here, but Wash is still in bed, and North, South and Carolina are off on missions." York explained. "So it's just you and me."
"Wash? You mean Washington?" Ruby asked.
"Yep, same way most people will probably call you West. It's just so much easier. And also yep, he's the guy you're gonna be fighting. This'll be interesting to say the least. I'd give you a heads up on his fighting style, but that'd be cheating."
"Okay. So, do you mind telling me a bit about yourself?" Ruby asked.
"Like… what?"
"Oh you know, name, hobbies, likes and dislikes, and dreams for the future. That kind of thing."
York chuckled. "We aren't really meant to talk about our past lives in the project. Sorry, kiddo."
"Hey!" Ruby protested at the nickname.
"Well, anyway, when we finish eating I'll show you around the facility."
(-o-)
TIME: 0700
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
Location: Mother of Invention armoury
'So, this is the armoury." York concluded. Ruby's eyes went wide under her helmet, and she started dashing all over the room to study the weapons. There were easily several hundred different weapons, from strange little balls to huge sniper rifles. She felt a pang of pain in her chest when she remembered she no longer had Crescent Rose, but pushed those thoughts from her head.
"What does this do?" She asked, indicating a weird metal thing that fit into her hand neatly. The shape was wrong for a grenade. York snatched it out of her hand and tenderly placed it down.
"That's an energy sword, very volatile. It got damaged when we retrieved it, and they haven't finished repairing it. When they have, they'll probably send it to a sim base."
"Sim base?" Ruby asked.
"Bases for simulation troopers, the soldiers who got the lowest training scores, worst tactics and physically capabilities so low they are puffed from a ten foot jog. They're… how do I put this lightly… live target practise. They usually don't last very long, if you get what I mean." Ruby widened her eyes in shock, trying to comprehend the thought of using other humans as target practice. It was cruel. York apparently expected her reaction.
"Sick, isn't it? They fight a fake war with equal equipment and numbers so it doesn't go anywhere, and use freelancers get sent in to… practice. Then the dead soldiers are replaced, and the cycle continues." He said wistfully. "Oh well, I guess it is what they signed up for. The cruellest thing we could do would be to let them know it's a fake war, many would be shattered, and no matter what we do, some time or another a freelancer's gonna kill them, even if they quit the army. Don't worry though, you rarely have to visit sim bases unless you ask to."
"Good. I don't think I could bring myself to kill the innocent like that."
Ruby felt York raise an eyebrow, but dismissed the feeling, having no proof of such an action as he was wearing full body armour. She turned back to the weapons, studied the specks of each of them. Some she had no idea about, but she could figure out most just from the design.
'I'm sure you'll get to pick a weapon or two to be your own once you're ranked." York commented, noticing her careful studying of each one. "Most are pretty basic, but a few have special features. For the most part though, we just use standard guns. Much easier to learn and use efficiently if you don't have to worry about avoiding certain buttons. Much more reliable too, less likely to jam and easier to find ammunition for."
Ruby nodded, continuing to examine the rifle she was holding. It was strange, being semi-automatic, but still being designed to fire several bullets at once. Why not make it fully automatic? She shook her head, moving slowly to the next one, her excitement draining more and more as she realised how basic all of these weapons were. All they did was propel projectiles, and the projectiles were more interesting than the actual guns.
They definitely weren't dust infused, causing her to wonder how they fired. She shrugged, knowing she would figure out fairly quickly after she used one. Maybe they used a chemical of some kind? But that wasn't sustainable, and meant it would be deafeningly loud, with a lot less kick. At least, in comparison to what Ruby was used to.
"What's the firing agent?" Ruby asked curiously.
"That what?" York asked.
'You know, the thing that propels the bullet out of the casing."
"I have NEVER heard ANYONE call it a 'firing agent' before." York chuckled. "But to answer your question, gunpowder."
Ruby blanked, remembering the history of Remnant: gunpowder had been tried before they found dust, and it was very inefficient, and almost useless. Maybe they had found a way to amplify it's power?
"Okay. Thanks." Ruby replied simply, placing the rifle down and reaching to pick up the next gun, only for York to stop her.
"We can't spend all day in the armoury. I still have to show you around the ship."
"Aw…" Ruby whined. York shook his head and lead her out.
(-o-)
TIME: 1020
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
Location: Mother of Invention training room
York had lead her around for most of the day, and she was beginning to see a sense of order in the design (although she knew she would still get lost… frequently), only for York to cut the tour short, leading her into the 'training room', where he had told her she would be fighting Washington shortly. Sure enough, her clock read 10:21. She was still getting used to the heads-up display… it was somewhat annoying, although too useful to turn off.
"Agents West Virginia and Washington, please report to the training floor. Your match will begin in – Eight minutes and twenty three seconds." Came the voice of F.I.L.I.S over a speaker. Ruby was already at the training floor, so she didn't bother budging.
"Welp, I'll go and join the crowd to watch you. Best of luck, West." York said, strolling away. Ruby looked up in confusion, only to notice dozens of soldiers in identical white armour behind a glass panel, and in a different… panel… room… thingy, there were two figures in white armour, one with a helmet that seemed to be entirely visor and a dull yellow, and behind them, the Counsellor and Director.
Ruby gulped nervously. She was never really good under pressure, so she tried to ignore the dozens watching her, instead mentally preparing herself for her fight. Her opponent, Washington, walked through a door on the opposite side of the room, and from the concrete floor, a small platform sprang up on both sides. Each held a single staff-like weapon, cackling slightly with electricity on each end. Ruby picked hers up and twirled it, as the slab below retracted.
"Good luck." Washington said, and Ruby was so shocked she nearly dropped her weapon. He sounded EXACTLY like Ozpin.
"All Agents accounted for." Came F.I.L.I.S's voice. "Round one: Pugil sticks training. Beginning in five…"
Ruby turned to face her opponent, who wore grey armour, and held the … Pugil? Stick awkwardly in his hands, clearly not an expert with the weapon.
"Four…"
She started to walk towards him, circling him slightly, and he responded in kind.
"Three…"
Ruby braced herself, adjusting her stance and grip.
"Two… One… Round begin."
Ruby ran forward, crossing the ten metre gap in a few seconds, swinging the stick at Washington's head. Washington ducked under the blow, staggering back as he lost his footing. Ruby immediately capitalised, following up by spinning with her momentum and striking again. It made a satisfying 'crack' against Washington's armour, and he was flung back.
Ruby stood where she was, politely allowing him to stand back up and regain his balance. A sense of etiquette was only fair, as there was no honour in fighting a downed opponent.
Washington shook his head, before running at her much slower, attempting a predictable strike, which Ruby blocked with her Pugil Stick. It was like an electrified quarterstaff, she realised. Wash jabbed at her chest, and Ruby rolled forward and under his arm, sweeping the weapon at his feet. Caught by surprise, her was tripped and Ruby athletically jumped to her feet next to him, as he began to stand up.
Not wasting time, Ruby connected the end of her staff with Washington's face, and it broke of, sending him flying.
"Round one – over. Point awarded to West Virginia." F.I.L.I.S announced. Washington stood up uncertainly, clearly dazed, and tossed his staff aside. Ruby followed suite. Washington shook his head and took a boxing stance.
"Beginning hand-to-hand combat. Round two beings in five…"
Ruby quickly took her own fighting stance, and the two once again circled each other.
"Four… Three… Two… One… Round begin."
The two faced off for a few seconds, before Ruby sprang in, kicking at Washington's head. He ducked the blow and tried to kick her leg from under her while she was off-balance, but she predicted the move and leapt nimbly over it, landing on her back on the ground and vaulting up, kneeing him in the stomach as she did so. Washington let out an 'oomph', and clutched his stomach reflexively, only for Ruby to kick him in the head, knocking him to the ground. He made no sign of getting back up any time soon.
"Round two: over. Point awarded to West Virginia. Now resetting the floor for lockdown paint scenario."
Already? That guy clearly wasn't good at fighting, she thought to herself. She was flung out of her thoughts, however, when dozens of large, concrete blocks rose from the ground in rows. A smaller platform rose in front of her, with a pistol and two magazines of ammunition on it. Ruby picked up the pistol, loading one round into it and wondering what to do with the other, tapping it to her thigh distractedly. Her decision was made, however, when there was a faint click and it attached itself. Cool, the suit was magnetic.
Ruby cocked her pistol and waited for the round to start. She heard a faint groaning from the other side of the room, which meant Washington was probably still on the floor. Ruby shook her head, she really hadn't kicked that hard. It was kind of pathetic for someone in a set of kick-ass armour to be taken down so easily.
"Round Three in five… four… three… two… one, round begin." F.I.L.I.S announced.
Ruby moved forward, taking cover behind one of the pillars. She peeked around the corner, rolling diagonally to be behind another one. She figured this was some kind of paintball exercise, they wouldn't have them shooting each other with really guns… right? She hoped not.
She once again rolled forward, only to hear a strange 'pew' of a gun firing. There was seriously no other way to explain the noise, it was such a pathetic noise for a gun to make. She looked behind where she had rolled, to see a glob of pink… stuff, had hit the floor. Had she been any slower, it would've hit her, she assumed. Her head darted around the corner in time to see Washington take cover behind a pillar, two in front and one to the right. Like a knight in chess. She chuckled at the thought, she really had spent too much time around Ozpin if she thought in chess terms.
She moved quietly up closer, but didn't go for the pillar he had been behind, knowing any competent opponent would've moved. Instead, she scanned to the right, and was rewarded with the sight of him dashing quickly across a gap. She took aim and fired, the glop of pink clipping his shoulder slightly, and there was a slight grunt of surprise. He rolled out of the pillar, firing three shots in rapid succession at her, forcing her to duck behind the pillar.
He was fast and accurate, she had to give him that. In that split second, he had fired off three shots that would've hit her in the chest, head and neck.
She ducked back out of cover, firing a retaliation shot at where he had been, but he completed his roll. She quickly moved to a different pillar, only for him to come around the corner as she did so. She reacted slightly faster, ducking his shots and spinning, kicking the gun out of his hand and feeling very grateful for the acrobatics training Blake had made her sit through.
The gun spun into the air, and Ruby stood up, shooting him in the leg as he tried to back away, before pressing the gun against his visor.
"Checkmate." She said simply, firing. S tiny glob of pink expanded rapidly on impact, covering his entire helmet as he jerked into an awkward position and moaned in pain.
She looked up at the scoreboard on one side of the room, which showed she had indeed won the point that round. She had been afraid that because she had kicked him, maybe it wouldn't count. She was glad to see anything went.
"Round three complete. Please return to your starting positions for the next round."
Ruby walked back to where she had started, and the same tiny pillar rose again with another clip of ammo, to replace the one she had used. She quickly swapped the clips, and waited.
"Round Four in five… four… three… two… one… round begin."
Ruby began using the same strategy, rolling from cover to cover, only to almost immediately be hit in the chest by a shot from Washington. She yelped in pain as the goo sprouted on her chest, almost completely disabling her movements, as she was flung back into a pillar. She rolled awkwardly to the side, dodging the three follow up shots, only for a fourth to clip her right foot. It REALLY stung… she stood awkwardly, barely able to move and hissing in pain, her flexibility extremely limited.
She spun the corner, gun raised, only to be hit in the face… no, visor, but Washington."
(-o-)
TIME: 1130
DATE: XX/XX/XXXX
Location: Training floor
"Match complete. Final score is – six – four, advantage West Virginia. The match goes to West Virginia."
Ruby stood panting, collapsing onto a nearby wall. Washington had put up an excellent fight, the last few rounds dragging on four about ten minutes each, and she saw Washington growling in frustration at having lost. Ruby was bruised all over, although the goo had all faded from her armour. The doors at the side of the room slid open, and York walked in. At first, Ruby thought he was coming for her, but he walked over to Washington and had a bit of a heated discussion with him.
She looked up to the glass panes, and saw the other Freelancers turning to leave, the Director and Counsellor discussing something. She turned back to York, and tuned in on their conversation.
"Come on, let's go greet North and South when they get back from their mission. Then we'll find something to cheer you up."
An unfamiliar Freelancer in white armour walked over to her.
"I presume you need a bit of a hand finding your way around still? I remember when I first got here." They said with a strong British accent, giving her a hand up.
"Yeah, I do… Thanks…?"
"Wyoming." The man supplied. "And think nothing of it, you can't help being new." He turned and began leading her through the halls.
(-o-)
"Counsellor, please update the board." The Director commanded, and the Counsellor touched some buttons. The names 'North Dakota' and 'South Dakota' switched places on the leader board, and 'Washington' was replaced by 'West Virginia'.
"That is all. Dismissed."
"I thought you said the mission was a success, sir!" South spat out, removing her helmet.
"One of the mission objectives was stealth. Your carelessness revealed our intention and made our next mission more difficult. They'll be ready for us. Dismissed." The Director shot back, and South stormed out of the room.
(-o-)
Thank you for reading! As you have probably figured out, this takes place at about the same time as episodes 2-5 of season Nine of RvB.