"Wow. Why can't we have one of these in Beacon?" Ruby gasped, staring in awe at what was inside the XCOM armoury.
The window in Shen's workshop had only shown them a small portion of the armoury. In the back of the room, there was an entire firing range, stretching on for as far as the eye could see. The racks of weapons that they had seen before, it seemed, were only the ones prepared for use. Dozens of packed weapon crates were stored inside, neatly stacked up all the way to the ceiling high above, their contents marked on glowing green labels.
There were also several large pods on the side of the room next to the entry doors, inside which some large, bulky tracked robots sat, their turrets bowed in their inactive state. Some seemed to have large autocannons mounted, while others bore multiple-barreled rocket launchers and machineguns. One in particular caught Ruby's eye; a pure white one, hovering in place seemingly without any form of rocket engine. And on top of it was a two-pronged silver rod attached to oversized power cells, with menacing bolts of acid green lightning arcing between the metal prongs.
As Ruby leaned over to look closer at the strange machine, it suddenly shook to life. The green lightning intensified into a column of blinding light, only barely contained by a faintly shimmering force field between the prongs.
"Warning. Unidentified personnel detected. Present identification, or be destroyed," the machine droned, in a harsh mechanical voice. A bright red dot was painted on Ruby's forehead, courtesy of the laser pointer on the underside of its weapon. "You have five seconds to comply,"
"Uh...a-anyone, help? Please?" stammered Ruby.
"SHIV unit Omega-Four, override code purple-six-nine-six-five-alpha!" Shen hurriedly shouted out.
"Voice pattern recognised. Welcome, Dr. Shen. Override code...recognised. Weapon systems, powering down. This unit suggests exercising caution around unknown variables. Awaiting new orders," the machine all but grumbled. The green lightning arcing between the prongs of its weapon dissipated harmlessly into the air, though the laser pointer was still trained squarely on the red-haired huntress' head.
Shen sighed in relief, bowing his head to the mortified girl. "I apologise for Omega-Four's...rudeness. We have been attempting to introduce some self-aware programming into our SHIV platforms to increase their combat capabilities, but there have been complications, as you can see. It turns out that despite our best efforts, they have turned out more aggressive than desired. Omega-Four, power down in your docking station,"
"Yeah, no kidding! That...thing...almost shot her!" Yang said, putting a hand on Ruby's shoulder and squeezing gently. "You alright, Rubes?"
Shakily, Ruby nodded, shuffling away from the rather hostile machine. "I'm fine. Thanks, Yang...Dr. Shen. I...that was scary,"
"That was an interesting device," Blake said, her eyes curiously following the 'SHIV unit' as it levitated itself back into its pod, tucking its gun turret in like a bird would when it sleeps. "What is a 'SHIV unit', if I might ask?"
"Ah. It is a super-heavy infantry vehicle. Originally, they were intended to be substitutes for XCOM operatives, should one of them be unavailable due to injuries or fatigue. It turned out to be less than satisfactory, at first,"
"Less than satisfactory?"
"Let's just say that treads do not navigate rough terrain very well. That, and their accuracy against targets left much to be desired. Now, I was certain that Lieutenant Hardcase was scheduled to be here to assist me with your armour fittings..."
A hulking form shifted near the firing range, slowly rising to tower over the nearby firing booths. Weiss gasped when she saw that its silhouette strongly resembled a miniature Atlesian Paladin; including the bulky, thickly-plated legs and arms, and even the off-white paint covering the entirety of its plating. The entire room shook with every thunderous step it took as it approached the group, betraying its immense weight. But as a light shone on where its head should be, the Schnee heiress realised that this was no mere machine.
There was a female human head where she assumed there would be a cockpit or sensor array, with her reddish-blonde hair tied in a messy bun. Though her face remained impassive, there was no mistaking the gleam of intelligence behind her natural eyes for that of a machine. This was a human, integrated into a mechanical shell!
"Officer Bradford informed me that my presence was required in the armoury, Dr. Shen. How may I assist you today?" the woman spoke, with a strangely flat and mechanical tone.
"Hello, lieutenant. I trust that you are keeping well?"
"My biological needs are satisfied, and my servomechanisms are all fully functional. I am ready to serve at optimal levels,"
"Excellent. Should any of your limbs need maintenance, you know where to find me," replied Shen, ignoring the confused expressions on all of the young huntresses' faces, "I did indeed request your presence here, however. These fine young women behind me have volunteered to join XCOM, and need to be fitted for some Carapace Armour,"
Hardcase shifted her legs so that she could face the huntresses and waved enthusiastically – albeit a little stiffly, due to the bulk of her armour. Uncertainly, Ruby and Yang waved back, followed by a reluctant Blake. Weiss, however, crossed her arms and frowned.
"I've seen a few Atlesian Knight models, but I haven't seen anything so human-like, despite all the advances in Atlesian technology. Yet Dr. Shen claims that he still couldn't make fully functioning artificial intelligences. What are you?" asked the white-haired girl imperiously, as if she were addressing a mere machine.
"Weiss!" Ruby gasped, scandalised by her friend's blunt question.
If Hardcase had taken offence at the way Weiss had delivered her question, there was no sign of it in either her reply or her emotionless face. "I am MEC trooper Elizabeth Carson. Lieutenant of the XCOM initiative, Shogun-class. If you are referring to my current chassis, it is the most suitable MEC suit available for heavy lifting that is not currently being repaired or is otherwise under maintenance. In the event that you are referring to whether or not I am human, you may rest assured that I was once entirely biological,"
"What do you mean by 'once entirely biological'?" asked Blake curiously. Elizabeth stared at her for a few seconds, as if to determine whether the faunus was joking or not, before simply grabbing her own left arm and detaching it with a simple twist and a sharp tug.
"MEC troopers are human soldiers that volunteered for cybernetic augmentations," Dr. Shen said quietly. There was a faint sheen to his downcast eyes as he spoke, almost as though he was holding back tears. "The surgical removal of all four limbs, followed by the implantation of neural interfaces on the stubs that remain. It is a steep price to pay for greatly enhanced strength and durability. There is...no way back. It is a permanent procedure, and yet every MEC trooper that has undergone the procedure has done so voluntarily,"
The huntresses fell silent as they processed what had been said. Their expressions shifted from amazement, to shock – and finally, to outrage. The idea that someone would sacrifice so much for so little was almost unthinkable to them.
"Why? Why would you do this to yourself?" shouted Yang, gesticulating wildly. "Actually, why would you even do this to anyone?"
"Dr. Shen is one of the most caring and respectable engineers that I have had the pleasure of knowing," Elizabeth spoke, the loud snap-hiss of the cybernetic limb reattaching itself to her almost drowning out her words. There was an unmistakable fire in her eyes as she glared angrily at Yang, "I had lost an arm to an alien grenade, and he has given me a way to be of use to the other soldiers on this base. While you may think it barbaric to merge man and machine, it offers the maimed a second chance to fight the alien invaders. I demand that you retract your words,"
The blonde huntress clenched her fists in a challenge. "Or what?"
"Rookie Xiao Long! Lieutenant Carson! That is enough. While I know that you are thankful for what I've done, it is not as readily accepted by many others. Let it go for now. And Yang, please try not to pick fights with your own allies. We are short of able personnel as it is without injuring each other,"
"As you wish, Dr. Shen," replied the MEC trooper promptly before Yang could offer another remark, though her icy glare spoke only of unfinished business. "You said that you wished for these recruits to be fitted for their armour. Carapace Armour, if I remember correctly?"
"That's correct. Could you please prepare the scanner so that we can have their sizes correctly assessed?"
"Affirmative. One second," she said, walking up to the shelves of armour and returning with what looked much like a large hoop with a faint grid of red light pulsing in its centre.
"Alright. Hold your arms loose at your sides. Legs a shoulder width apart," Shen said, guiding the hoop over Ruby's head while Elizabeth held it steady. "Keep your eyes shut when we lower this, and don't open your eyes until we say so,"
After scanning all four of the girls, Shen dismissed Elizabeth, giving her a USB stick containing the measurements for the armour to be made. "It will be about five days before the armour will be ready. Until then, I should think that you would all be put through basic training," he said.
"Five days? What takes so long to make those things?"
"Each suit of armour is custom made to fit each of our operatives. This decision was made so that everyone can react and move as fast as they possibly can, which improves the life expectancy of our rookies significantly,"
"Makes sense, I suppose. Still, five days before we can start tearing up some aliens? I'm already getting bored just from hearing that!" Yang whined.
"If you need something to do, I'm sure that either Doctor Vahlen or I could use some help somewhere in the base. There's always things that need to be done, and nowhere near enough personnel to do it. Now, let us proceed to the next part; weapons. I am certain that at least one of you has been looking forward to firing some weapons. Well, Ruby? Are you still with us?"
Ruby nearly jumped when Dr. Shen raised his voice, lifting her hand from the minigun that she had been lovingly petting for the last ten minutes. "Yes! Yes, I am!" she squealed, scampering over to the engineer.
Dr. Shen had to actively resist running his fingers through the hyper-enthusiastic girl's hair like he would to his own daughter. Both of them had a penchant for military technology, though his daughter seemed to have more of an electronic bent than a decidedly unhealthy interest for high-calibre weaponry. Perhaps, he thought to himself, the two of them would be great friends if they would ever meet.
Leading the team to the firing range, he motioned for the team to sit down. There were several weapons on the bench behind the individual booths; one for each subtype of weapons that XCOM operatives fielded on the battlefield.
"So, I'm well aware that you have your own weapons. However, XCOM standard training requires that every recruit be at least familiar with every weapon that we have in our armoury-"
"Does that include the...cannons?" Yang piped up excitedly.
"No. That does not include the cannons. Those are designed for MEC troopers, and would at least shatter every bone in an unaugmented user's arm," Shen said firmly, "That, and the waste heat would likely be sufficient to cause third degree burns to the user's arm,"
He picked up a laser rifle from the bench and flipped off the safety. Immediately, the rifle sprang to life with a hum, an intense red glow shining brightly inside its condensation chamber. "This is the standard weapon that most XCOM operatives use. Rugged, accurate and reliable, our modular beam rifle still has enough power to punch through most, if not all, aliens that we have encountered so far. One elerium power cell provides enough energy to fire off four full-power shots. Yes, Ruby?"
The excitable team leader put her hand down and asked, "How powerful is it?"
"It is likely better to demonstrate it. Observe the concrete block at the end of the firing range,"
Taking careful aim, the doctor fired a bolt of red light from the weapon, shattering the top of the concrete block and reducing it to a cloud of fine dust. The larger chunks left behind glowed a bright orange from the intense heat of the laser beam.
"It is capable of destroying light to moderate cover with little difficulty, but I highly doubt that attempting to hit a target through cover would do much damage, if any. If you need additional firepower or mobility, we can also provide you with a shortened, reduced-weight version of it, or one with improved optics and capacitors for greater damage and precision. Yes, Ruby?"
"Is there a sniper rifle version of this? Sorry if I'm asking a lot, it's just that...THIS IS TOO AWESOME!" she gushed, "A beam rifle? Tell me this isn't a dream! Please!"
"I can assure you that you are not dreaming, and yes, there is indeed a high-precision version of this rifle. Which is what I intend to demonstrate next,"
He then lifted a large, long rifle, with a very large scope prominently on display on top of its sleek frame. The power cell was much larger than that of the standard beam rifle; and when the entire room was quiet, one could almost hear the humming of the heavy capacitors powering the weapon. Weiss cupped her face with one hand in embarrassment when she saw the copious amounts of drool dripping from Ruby's mouth. It was one thing to see a teammate do this in private, over food; and another when facing a superior when on duty.
"Now, I must admit that our firing range leaves much to be desired when it comes to testing long-range weapons," Shen grunted, hefting the rifle up to his shoulder, "And I am not particularly young nor fit anymore. But this weapon, as you can see, is much, much heavier than the beam rifle. And-" he fired, melting the shattered concrete block into a molten slurry and eliciting an awed whistle from Ruby, "-much more powerful, and if I had more room to put targets further away, I could show you its true range,"
Next were two curious weapons. One resembled either a diminutive assault rifle, or an extremely large pistol, depending on how someone looked at it. The other, however, looked like an oddly oversized beam rifle, with a menacing array of red lenses on the end of its muzzle. "These two are close-quarters weapons, designed to give the users a significant edge to mobility. The scatter laser provides our assault troops with unrivalled damage up close, though its lack of accuracy leaves something to be desired for those who prefer precision,"
"Well, that's why I've got you, isn't it, Ruby?" Yang said, grinning as she pulled her sister into a rib-crushing one-armed hug.
"And the rest of the team, Miss Xiao Long. All members of a strike force must learn to support each other. Now, as for the gauss stuttergun – this is a miniaturised electromagnetic railgun, light enough on both recoil and weight for someone to use with one hand, if absolutely necessary. It does, however, have rather poor penetration against alien armour. Perhaps due to the amount of gear that our support specialists carry, these tend to be most popular among our medics and engineers,"
"Light enough to use with one hand? That is certainly something that is always useful," remarked Weiss, looking at the gauss stuttergun with interest. Though the aesthetics of the weapon were somewhat blocky and crude to the heiress, there was a certain appeal to having something that required finesse to use. Doubly more so if she could use Myrtenaster over any of these less than elegant rifles.
Shen then permitted them to fire the weapons to their hearts' content, allowing the huntresses their first lessons in how to handle XCOM's weaponry. However, he could not help but notice that Weiss seemed to be only interested in using the stuttergun with only her right hand. The weapon bucked and jumped about in her grip, despite her best efforts to hold the gun steady.
"Miss Schnee. I'm curious about your reason about why you're using only one hand to use that particular gun," the engineer commented, watching the silvery-haired girl grit her teeth in frustration when the weapon almost jumped out of her hand again. Finally, on what seemed to be the tenth failed attempt, she unsheathed Myrtenaster and drew a ice-blue snowflake glyph in the air with its blade, before blasting the gun's entire magazine through the floating glyph. Orange turned into blue as the metal slugs shot through the glyph, tearing through a target dummy downrange with perfect precision.
Shen stared in disbelief when the target dummy froze solid and shattered into icy shards. He had only provided simple solid tungsten slugs for the gauss stuttergun. By all known laws of physics, there was no way of inducing flash freezing by adding energy, regardless of what kind of energy it was.
Or creating a translucent glyph in mid-air using a rapier, which was now rapidly fading away.
"Hmph. I should have done that to start with," grumbled Weiss, sheathing her rapier and placing the stuttergun back on the bench as if nothing special had happened.
The old engineer made a mental note to speak to Dr. Vahlen regarding Weiss' strange ability to manipulate matter. Perhaps, he thought to himself, this was just an application of the 'aura' that Yang spoke about earlier. But if they could identify exactly how it worked, they would have another edge in the war against the aliens. After all, an alien that was frozen solid was one that could not fight back.
It turned out that despite Emily's predictions that Papa Bear would return to the XCOM headquarters before dinner, Strike One had been bogged down in an extended shootout with the aliens in a Nigerian slum district. It also did not help that there was a terror attack in Egypt within minutes of the force returning to base, forcing them to return to the field despite their exhaustion.
And so it was that Strike One – exhausted, though miraculously unscathed by their enemies – returned to the base by dawn; stiff, sore, and about ready to fall asleep for two days straight. Most had only devoured an high-calorie bar or two before shambling off to their dormitories, ready to fall into the comfort of a soft bed and a warm room after a nice long shower.
But if there was something to be said about Papa Bear, it was his incredible stamina and endless joviality. Spotting the new recruits in the common room sitting on a long couch discussing the previous day's events, the man decided that it was high time that they were properly introduced.
"New recruits!" boomed the man, plodding towards them with heavy, ponderous steps.
Each of the young huntresses stared in wide-eyed apprehension as the hulking mass of tanned muscle approached them, covered only in a damp linen towel. He flashed them a friendly smile and sat down on the small cushioned chair opposite them, causing the poor thing to groan and creak under his weight. The man's size and gait strongly reminded Ruby of a walking Ursa with a shaggy brown mane, though obviously far less prone to attack humans on sight.
"So, what brings pretty young birds like yourselves into my den? The other cubs haven't given you trouble, I hope?"
"I...uh..." Ruby stammered, looking up into the man's eyes. They were a stormy grey, with dark patches around them showing just how long it had been since he last slept; but there was a certain unmistakable warmth in them that was reassuring to the young huntress. "Papa Bear?"
"That'd be me, missy! And forget about my real name, I don't think half the cubs in this room know it, let alone say it properly. Just call me Bear when I'm not on duty. You still haven't answered my question, though. What brings you all to this anthill in the middle of nowhere, hm?"
"I heard that aliens were attacking, and thought that maybe you all needed some help. So we volunteered to join up!"
"Ooh, so you're the four that Central was talking about on the radio. The frozen alien girls who look like humans. Well, I can see that for myself, now. Welcome, by the way,"
"Central?" asked Yang, before she realised who Papa Bear was talking about, "Oh, grumpy,"
"That's the one. Central Officer Bradford. Kept saying things about how the blonde one managed to tear off a prison door with her bare hands – and how she then punched a chunk of concrete wall to dust. It'll take some engineering boys quite some time to fix that damage; but just between us, I say that's a damn impressive feat!"
"Thanks!" Yang said, beaming.
"No worries. So, you all going to introduce yourselves, or do I have to get your introductions from some of the other cubs in here?"
"I'm Yang," the blonde girl spoke, thumbing to herself, "Sleepy snow princess over there is Weiss, the one with the coffee in her hands is Blake, and this here-" she pulled Ruby to her, "-is my sister, Ruby,"
"Well then, I'm sure I can remember those names. Has Central told you yet about what you'll be doing in the coming days?"
The girls looked at each other and shook their heads. They hadn't even seen Bradford after the incident in the prison block, or even heard from the man. It took only Papa Bear a brief look at the girls' blank faces before he broke down into amused laughter.
"Oh, you'll love it. Since I'm supposed to be off active duty for a few days, I'm going to be the one to take you through basic training and conditioning before your first mission. And do you know what that involves?"
Ruby shook her head, hoping that it would mostly involve shooting at targets. Target practice was always fun. Judging by the way Weiss blanched, however, it was likely far less pleasant than simple target practice.
"Getting up at the crack of dawn, and working out till you can't sit straight. I'll be there watching to make sure that none of you slack off. Emily!"
"Papa Bear?" the medic spoke, poking her head into the common room from her dormitory.
"Watch the new recruits for me for today, would you? Three laps around the whole base, making sure they go through every single room. Then an hour at the firing range, beam rifles only, followed by another three laps around the whole base,"
Ruby gawked at him. The whole base? That was going to take an hour of running around, at least, just for a single lap!
"Oh, don't look at me like that, cubs. You'll be doing this for five days, and I'll be making you run more and do more every day. All four of you will be doing this,"
A/N
MeleeSmasher: Soon.
theBSDude: Well spotted, caught, and now corrected. Have a cookie. *Rose petals fly past and cookie disappears* T_T RUUUUBY!
IndecisiveBob: As far as innocence, it's hard to say. They wouldn't be strangers to blood as they have killed Grimm in the past. They have not, however, killed a human - or likely seen a teammate die before. You can see this in the 'PvP' episode where Ruby breaks down after seeing the death of a friend. My take on it is that they would have no objections to killing aliens (as they are more or less equivalent to Grimm, in their eyes), but would have a hard time dealing with their own casualties.
I had originally intended for this chapter to also include their first mission, but decided that it would probably be better off in its own chapter. And so it has been split.
It's interesting to note that Weiss still has her ice glyphs despite not having any dust, and that they still have most of their properties, though in a greatly weakened state. One could say that the dust cartridges are only there to boost the power of what glyphs she decides to use, via Myrtenaster.
Next: First blood. How will RWBY fare when they are inserted into their first deployment as part of XCOM?
As usual, feel free to shoot comments via either review or PM. Feedback is always appreciated.