"Pulse is stable. Blood pressure still low, but stable. Doctor Vahlen, any readouts?"
"Brain activity is low. Subject appears to be unconscious. Pupils are still dilated. Refill hydration drip, point-nine percent saline. Also refill the nutritional drips,"
Unconscious? Ruby thought to herself. Her thoughts were dull and indistinct, a jumble of incoherent garbled words and pictures. Her eyes were open, though the only thing that she could see was a blinding white light above her head, shining directly onto her eyes. Try as she might, she simply couldn't close her eyes.
There was a vague shadowy outline of a person hovering over her in the corner of her sight. A woman, judging by her voice. She held some instrument in her hands, though Ruby could not tell what it was exactly.
"Prepare DNA sequencer for sample," the woman spoke, in a calm, clinical tone. She brought the instrument down where Ruby's arm would be, and the girl felt a slight stabbing pain for the briefest of moments.
"DNA sequencer primed, Doctor Vahlen. Ready to receive sample,"
That woman – Doctor Vahlen – moved out of Ruby's sight. A machine to her right beeped sharply, before it began to emit faint rumbling noises. After a minute, it beeped loudly three times, followed by a loud sigh from a male doctor somewhere in the room. What are they doing to me?
"Mitochondrial DNA does not match, or even approximate, any of the known samples provided by the United Nations. Doctor, do you think...?"
"It is always a possibility, Doctor Shen. Parallel convergent evolution is not impossible in the infinite void of space, and certainly not impossible when guided by aliens. Or if she was derived from abducted humans. Despite how...human-like...she looks, she is most certainly not from Earth, as the DNA examination indicates. A disturbing possibility is that the aliens had engineered her to be an infiltration agent, but that would not explain why she had been restrained by magnetic shackles inside the stasis chamber that she was confined in,"
Earth? Aliens? Infiltration agent? Dust, what's going on?
"Doctor Vahlen, I'm picking up increased heart rate and increased brain activity from Subject Four," the male voice – Doctor Shen – spoke, in a more animated manner. Sure enough, the beeping on Ruby's left accelerated in time with her heartbeat. The light over her head blacked out for a second when he moved his hand over her face, but then returned with a vengeance. Smarting, she blinked, wishing that her eyes weren't so dry.
"She's responding to visual stimuli. Doctor, she's awake!"
"Then put her back under anaesthesia. Midazolam hydrochloride, five milligrams," Vahlen said offhandedly.
She wanted to protest. To speak out. Where was she? Where was the rest of her team? What happened to Beacon? But her tongue felt as though it were made of rubber, and even her lips could barely move. And soon she felt nothing more, falling into a dreamless sleep.
Ruby groaned and slowly sat up, rubbing her eyes. She did not know how long had passed since she had been put to sleep in that strange room. Or if what had happened was even real. Whatever the case, her entire body felt stiff and tired, as though she had gone for several laps around all of Beacon without using her semblance. Shifting herself over the edge of the bed, she stumbled unsteadily as her legs almost gave way.
"You're awake," yawned an unfamiliar female voice. A sleepy-looking woman was standing outside of the room, a large blocky weapon held lazily in one hand.
The young huntress tilted her head to one side, trying to remember if anyone that she met ever dressed like that. The weapon was unfamiliar; it looked too advanced to be of anything but Atlesian make, but the baggy olive green uniform that the woman wore was definitely not of any kingdom on Remnant. The room that she was in, too, wouldn't have been out of place in Atlas; the walls were of brightly polished metal, and the floor of a dull grey concrete, though there weren't so many lights spread out all over the place. The room that she was in was also extremely cramped; there was only a metal bed in one corner, and a plain metal sink and toilet in another, with little else in it.
Deciding that maybe she was still dreaming, Ruby lifted a hand to her cheek and pinched as hard as she could, yelping in pain.
"Oww. Okay. It's real. She's real. This is all real," Ruby said, rubbing her cheek, "Hey, why are you looking at me like that?"
"It's...well, I guess you've been asleep for ages," the woman muttered, rubbing the back of her head and turning away, blushing furiously. "So it probably makes sense if you don't think any of this is real. But this is real alright. Hey, you know, we've left some clothes in that bag on your bed. How about...putting something on,"
Now it was Ruby's turn to flush a bright scarlet. She did not notice that she had left nothing to the imagination; hastily, she grabbed the bag and threw on the clothes inside with incredible speed. "Tell me when you're done!" called out the guard, who had thankfully turned around and was staring at a particularly interesting spot on the blank wall in front of her.
The clothes were not particularly flattering, though they were comfortable enough to wear. A pair of baggy cloth pants, patterned in chaotic splotches of browns and greens, sat rather high on her, held up by a black leather belt that almost had to go around twice to fit her waist. At least the light olive turtleneck clung tightly to her form, though its sleeves almost hid her hands. She looked curiously at the last piece of the ensemble; a soft black beret, with neither a peak nor a brim, with a brass emblem stuck to the elastic band at its base.
"Vigilo Confido?" she whispered to herself, running a finger over the curious design on the pin. Those were words on the top of the emblem that she could not recognise.
"If you're saying that, then you've probably found the hat. You done in there?"
"I guess. This all feels weird,"
"Ha. Understatement of the year, right there. Central said that he wanted to talk to you and your friends about something-"
"Wait, my friends are here too?!" exclaimed Ruby, dashing towards the door, "Where are they? I haven't seen them since...since..."
"Whoa, calm down there. Let me finish first," the woman gasped, flinching when Ruby crashed against the locked door with a yelp and fell flat on her backside, "They're still asleep, last I checked. Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm...I'm fine. What do you mean, they're still asleep?"
"Damn it, I said too much again. Rookie, get a hold of yourself, girl," the woman cursed under her breath. Taking a deep breath, she said to Ruby, "I'm not allowed to say. As it is, I've already said too much. Anyway, now that you're awake and dressed up, I'm supposed to take you to Doctor Vahlen. She said she wanted to speak with you about something,"
Doctor Vahlen. Ruby pursed her lips, thinking about where exactly she'd heard that name before. She vaguely remembered something about aliens and a lot of bright lights, as well as being laid out on some sort of table. She didn't have much time to think, however, before she was shaken out of her thoughts by the sound of metal grinding on metal as the door in front of her slid open.
"Now, if you'd come with me. Please,"
Stepping out of the room, Ruby glanced around at her surroundings. Wherever she was, it almost appeared to be a prison, with at least a dozen cells almost identical to the one she was in lined up along the sides of a narrow hallway. The only way in and out of the place was a cramped elevator on one end of the hallway, which was half-blocked by unmarked metal crates.
"E-excuse me. What's your name?" Ruby asked the woman uncertainly, now remembering that she hadn't even asked who she was talking to.
"Rookie is fine for now, until Central decides to say that I'm allowed to give my name," she replied dryly, "Now, we're going to be headed up. In the elevator,"
They squeezed past the crates and into the waiting elevator. A quick look at the elevator's control panel showed Ruby that there were only four floors wherever she was at – and all of them were below ground.
"What sort of place is all below ground?" she whispered to herself. The elevator lurched upwards, causing her to almost stumble over from the sudden jolt.
"Just a place that no civilian should ever see. Doctor Vahlen should be inside the first room on the left,"
The 'room', it seemed, was not so much a room as it was a gigantic cavern filled with all sorts of scientific equipment. There was a workbench in the centre of the room, with a rather oversized microscope on top of it, which was being used by a female scientist in a white and green lab coat. Several computer screens covered the wall on the far side of the room, where a number of scientists stood around, discussing the strange images being shown on them. Ruby shivered a little when she registered the uncomfortable chill in the room, courtesy of the stale cold air being blown in from the strongly-built steel vents on the ceiling.
"Doctor Vahlen, here's your...subject," Rookie said, placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder.
"Specialist Vargas. You brought her here, without restraining her, as is protocol for unknowns? Have we forgotten to provide you with handcuffs?"
"S-Sorry, ma'am!" the rookie - Specialist Vargas - stuttered out, bowing her head and apologising profusely. Ruby was stunned; what exactly had she done wrong?
"Never mind. The subject appears to be co-operative. Make no mistake; I shall speak to Major Stonewall about this infraction later. You may resume your original duties now," the chestnut-haired woman using the microscope said crisply. She leant back from the microscope and turned around, surveying Ruby intently.
"Uh...hello?" the huntress said, unnerved by the calculating gaze and cold demeanour of the doctor.
"Ah, yes. Pleasantries. Unnecessary and excessive," Vahlen said dismissively, approaching Ruby. Behind her were two other men, likewise rising from their seats around the workbench. "Ah, come to join us, Doctor Shen, Central Officer Bradford?"
"You know, Doctor Vahlen, it would do you no harm to greet our guest properly," chided the man to her left. His green leather jacket was appeared to have several patches of grease and oil on it, though his shirt and tie somehow remained spotless. He wore a kindly smile on his face, though the bags under his eyes and the deep wrinkles on his face showed that he was very much exhausted. "I'm Doctor Raymond Shen. I assume that you have rested well after last night's operation?"
"Operation? What operation?" Ruby asked.
The remaining man – the one with a pristine olive-coloured woollen pullover, who must be Central Officer Bradford – shared a dark look with Doctor Shen. "You were kept in an alien stasis container for an unknown amount of time. Strike One recovered you and three others from a crashed alien supply ship. By the time that you arrived here, the power cells supplying energy to the life support systems on the stasis pods had almost drained. It took Doctor Vahlen and Doctor Shen the entire night to remove the four of you from those stasis pods and stabilise you,"
"Alien stasis pods? Aliens? A ship?" muttered Ruby agitatedly, scratching her head, "I don't know what you're talking about. And where are my friends?"
"Your friends are likely still asleep, as you were the first one to be treated. They should be awake soon," Shen said, holding up his hands, "Please, calm down. Neither you nor they are in immediate danger. We'd like to ask you a few questions, if you're willing to answer them. First things first, we've checked the records of every single one of Earth's citizenship records, and we could not find any of yours nor your friends' records. I'd like to know where you're from,"
"I...I come from Patch. An island off the coast of Vale," Ruby started to speak. The three people in front of her were looking at her with utmost attention, and she could swear that they were making notes in their heads, "Do the names Vacuo, Vale, Atlas and Mistral sound familiar to you...?"
From the blank looks on their faces, Ruby could tell that those names meant absolutely nothing to the people in front of her. Shen was the first one to respond, clearing his throat before saying, "I assume that the four names that you have said are...continents? Considering that you have said that this Patch is an island off the coast of Vale,"
Noting that the girl nodded her head vigorously after, Shen pressed his fingers to his forehead, massaging his temples slowly. "I think this might need more than a few cups of coffee to get through. Maybe even a few cookies to keep us going. Let's find a place where we can all sit down,"
It only took a second for Ruby to agree wholeheartedly to the offer of free cookies. After all, her stomach felt as though she hadn't eaten anything for years!
"So, let us reiterate over what you've said," Doctor Shen spoke, cautiously eyeing the tower of small platters piling up beside the reddish-black haired girl on the other side of the meeting table. Who knew that such a petite girl could devour so many sugary treats? "You've come from a world called Remnant, which has had some kind of...creature infestation problem. Creatures that you called 'Grimm', which come in various forms, all of which are hostile to humans. And 'faunus', too; which you said the young lady with feline ears – Blake, if I remember correctly – was one. You, and your friends, have been trained to combat these creatures from a young age, in preparation for a lifetime of hunting them down and protecting the general population from the threat of these Grimm. Does that summarise everything?"
"Mmmph-hmm!" Ruby mumbled through a mouthful of cookies. Swallowing, she coughed before saying, "Sorry. I was going to say, yep, that's right!"
"And you were in a night-time field exercise with the rest of your team when you suddenly saw a bright green flash of light. And the next thing that you remember was partly waking up on my autopsy table when I was attempting to stabilise your vitals," Vahlen added, checking her notes, "And now we are here, in the present. I must say, Miss Rose-"
"Ruby,"
"Ruby is it? Well, as I was saying, Ruby, I must say that it is disappointing that what you have said does not give us any further information on the alien threat. But it is very interesting to discover that somewhere in space, there is convergent evolution of this level. Though, I must say, I am disturbed by the fact that for some reason, your...'Remnant Common'...is more or less the same as modern English,"
Bradford groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. "Don't even get me started on that one, Doctor, because it'll give me headaches for days. I'm still trying to wrap my head around all of this. I'll just take it as a gift that we don't have to make some sort of translation book for our guests. Still, that brings us to another problem,"
Bradford fixed Ruby with a disapproving glare. "XCOM is an organisation dedicated to the defence of Earth from the threat of alien invasion. We are the first, last and only line of defence that Earth has, and we operate behind the scenes to avoid any panic from spreading throughout the world. This is a restricted military compound which is known to nobody except those that need to know about it, and you're standing right in it. As much as I'd like to let you and your friends roam free, you have already seen too much of what we do, and what we are,"
Ruby gulped, glancing worriedly at Vahlen and Shen. Vahlen wore a mask of complete indifference, while Shen appeared to be sympathetic to her. What was he thinking of doing to her?
"So here are the options," Bradford continued, taking a deep breath, "You can stay in the prison cells beneath the compound until this war with the aliens is over, and we are no longer required. You would be safe from the aliens, and we will provide for your basic needs for the whole duration of your stay-"
"If the aliens are attacking, then that means people are in danger, aren't they?" Ruby asked, interrupting the officer, who nodded stiffly, obviously not used to being interrupted.
"That's right," Bradford answered.
"Well, that's settled then!" Ruby replied brightly, "I'll help you out! Aliens, Grimm, what's the big difference if they're hurting people?"
It was Vahlen that spoke next, with a deep frown on her face. "While your enthusiasm is...admirable, we cannot simply allow anyone to enter the battlefield without training-"
"But I...we've all trained to be huntresses!"
"-not to mention that your abilities, if they are true, represent completely unknown variables in any environment!" Vahlen continued, raising her voice over Ruby's, "Which may or may not be to our advantage,"
"Doctor, you can't be serious. You're thinking of letting a girl under the age of majority join a paramilitary organisation?" shouted a wide-eyed Bradford, ignoring Ruby's protests that she was seventeen and thus of age by Remnant standards.
"When have I not been serious, Bradford?"
Silence fell upon the room. Shen looked apologetically at Ruby, to which the girl smiled in appreciation. Vahlen and Bradford glared at each other with barely veiled distaste. Specialist Vargas looked shaken, and was inching ever closer to the exit door of the laboratory, likely wishing that she could be anywhere else in the Anthill except for this particular room.
"We have far too few operatives as it is. Those aliens are hitting us harder than we can recover, and our most experienced soldiers are currently all bedridden in that infirmary after that disastrous mission in Japan. As much as I wish my scientific work could assist them more, the reality is that we simply need more personnel," Vahlen spoke flatly, "Experienced personnel are always a bonus. And if what Ruby has related to us is true, then she and her team likely have more combat experience than the rookies that we are able to recruit. I would suggest at least observing what she has to offer, before you pass your judgement,"
"As much as I would like to disagree, her assessment is sound, Bradford. Difficult as it is to believe, perhaps we should allow her to show us what she can do, before we say anything more,"
Bradford opened his mouth as if to argue back, though he closed it and sighed in defeat. "You two are right. We do have too few personnel as it is, and we're getting pushed back on all continents. I can't turn down a single able-bodied volunteer, let alone four,"
"That's if her friends agree to help us,"
"I'm sure they'll agree, once I talk to them. Now, can I have Crescent Rose back? Please?"
"Crescent Rose?" queried Vahlen, "What is that?"
"It's my gun. If...if you found it, that is," Ruby muttered, dearly hoping that these people didn't lose her weapon.
"Hmm. Perhaps it is best that you find it for yourself. Doctor Shen, I believe that you have moved all the salvaged equipment from the crashed ship into my laboratory, correct? If so, then let us head there and see if Ruby can find her weapon,"
"And do not even think about drawing a weapon outside of the firing range in this base, young lady," added Shen, giving her an encouraging smile and nod.
A short trip back down into Vahlen's personal lab, and the young huntress found herself looking into crates upon crates of salvaged equipment. Most were filled with some strange, hard metals, though others were filled with yellow crystals humming with power. There were occasionally heart-shaped things that contained a violently roiling green gas, which Shen said were plasma grenades; and one crate in particular made her eyes glow with excitement, as it was filled to the brim with guns of various shapes and sizes.
After about an hour of searching, only one crate remained, sitting on top of Vahlen's workbench. Ruby held her tongue between her teeth, hoping that the long and flat crate contained her weapon. When the latch fell apart and the lid sprang open, she squealed with joy at the sight of her one and only Crimson Rose.
"Sweetheart!" she said happily, picking up the folded-up weapon and hugging it tightly, "Oh, thank Dust you're still with me,"
"That's...Crimson Rose?" Shen asked, curiously eyeing the red weapon in her arms. It looked innocuous in its folded state, perhaps no larger than a compact assault rifle without a stock. For the life of him, he could not see a trigger or a handle anywhere on the weapon. That was, until the weapon's stock slid backward to reveal a trigger and a magazine, and a scope appeared on top of its body. As quickly as it had unfolded, the weapon collapsed back into its most compact form.
Ruby beamed at him as she clipped it onto her belt. "Yep! This is it. And by the looks of it, there's everyone else's weapons, too. Wait...if our weapons are here...where's the rest of our gear?"
"I am sorry to say that all that there is nothing else that we found on that ship. There were a few canisters of some unknown volatile compounds that we had found, but those are currently in secure storage in the armoury for safety reasons,"
"Very much so. I believe Specialist Kuznetsova had to be treated for third-degree burns after dropping a canister full of red dust and causing it to detonate. Quite intriguing, but I would have wished to analyse that in a more...controlled setting," Vahlen said, shaking her head.
Before anyone else could speak, however, the radio on Bradford's crackled to life. "Uh, Central? This is Night Owl. We've got a situation brewing in the brig. You're not going to believe what I'm seeing on the surveillance cameras," a scratchy male voice spoke through the radio, "I think it's one of the four that you brought in. The blonde one's trying to punch down the door to her cell, and it seems to be working,"
"Copy that, Night Owl. Keep an eye on it and let me know if things get too violent," Bradford muttered back into the radio, glaring daggers at a sheepish Ruby, "We'll be heading down there, on the double. Over,"
Switching off the radio, the officer turned to Ruby. "Well, young lady, it looks it's time for you to talk some sense into your friends,"
A/N
Dr. Shen is 9001% more friendly than Dr. Vahlen. Totally have no objections giving my troops over for MEC conversion, if he's like that! Gene modding by Vahlen, however...
Ruby is incredibly innocent and naive, but is very much refreshing to write after taking the viewpoint of jaded, hardened characters so many times. SO. MANY. TIMES. Makes you almost wish for a nuclear winter. Or a nuclear summer. Or perhaps a strawberry torte for a summer day. Everybody likes strawberry torte. Except cats in bags. But who puts cats in bags anyway? -touched by Sheogorath-
Next: One does not simply cage an angry bear with paper walls!