The first thing they saw as the doors of the bullhead opened was a massive hangar room, filled with various equipment and vehicles. A squad of marines jogged past as the four new soldiers exited the bullhead.
"Look at all of this, Yang!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly, waving her arms around everywhere. "They've got Scorpions and Sabres! There are so many of them as well!"
"Alright Ruby, calm down," laughed Yang. "We don't want you dying of excitement before this whole thing even starts."
"But Yang, there's so much tech and everything!" said Ruby, turning to face her sister. "Ooh look, they even have the latest model of the Warthog!" She gestured excitedly to a vehicle which had a turret mounted on the back. "I heard- Ack!"
Ruby flailed as a hand suddenly clamped her mouth shut.
"Stop embarrassing us," said Yang rolling her eyes, but the blonde had to admit that she was in awe of all the technology and vehicles around them as well.
"Sorry," was Ruby's muffled reply.
Yang released Ruby and the brunette straightened out her RSMC t-shirt and tried to compose herself.
"We're meant to be badass soldiers in a badass secret super soldier project, try and act like it," said the blonde with a wry grin.
"I can be a badass and a dork at the same time you know," said Ruby with a pout, causing Yang to smirk.
"Yeah, you keep tellin' yourself that," bantered Yang as she took a look back towards the other two soldiers who had exited the bullhead with them.
The raven-haired one, Blake, had a neutral look on her face, whereas the energetic ginger girl, Nora, seemed to be more enthusiastic (not quite on Ruby's level, though).
"Ahh, you must be our last four agents!"
Yang turned back around to see a spectacled man with pointy green hair standing in front of them. Yang noticed that the man did not exactly look like military personnel.
Once he was sure that he had all four soldiers' attention, the man smiled and spoke up again.
"Welcome on board the Pride of Atlas!" declared the man dramatically. "My name is Doctor Oobleck, and I am the counsellor and head psychiatrist on board."
Yang almost didn't catch what the man had said, he spoke so rapidly. Before any of the others could get a word off, Oobleck turned and began to walk towards a hallway, motioning for the agents to follow him. Nora was the first to follow, a gleeful bounce in her step. Yang and Ruby looked at each other and the younger sister smirked as Yang raised an eyebrow, before following the eccentric man, Blake right behind them.
"Your fellow agents are already in the armoury getting equipped," explained Oobleck as they maintained a brisk pace down the corridor.
"We're already going on a mission?" asked Ruby curiously, who effortlessly kept up with the Doctor, opposed to Yang who was lagging behind slightly. Speed had never been her strong suit.
"No, no, no, not yet," said Oobleck, not looking over to the group behind him. "This is only to prepare for a training simulation to determine where you rank."
"Rank?" Blake spoke up for the first time since they'd gotten off the bullhead.
"Ah, ah! No more questions yet, General Schnee will explain in further detail once we arrive at the armoury."
The quintet walked a little further before Oobleck made a left turn towards a door. It opened, and for the second time that day, Ruby gawked in awe.
To their left was a massive rack of a variety of weapons, and on the right, there was a bunch of lockers, and hanging from four of them were different coloured suits of armour.
Yang saw Ruby's awestruck face and rolled her eyes, laying a hand on her sister's shoulder. "C'mon Rubes, not again."
It was then that she noticed that there were 8 other individuals in the armoury, a few of them staring at Ruby and Yang. The blonde felt her cheeks flush, and she shook Ruby's shoulder when she didn't respond.
"Ruby, there are other people in the room, please don't embarrass us…"
Ruby finally snapped out of it and shot Yang a sheepish look. "Oops…"
Oobleck spoke up again. "You four, please get suited up in your pieces of armour." He handed the four of them Scrolls.
Yang looked down at the screen in front of her; a picture of her armour was on display. It was bright yellow, with orange stripes down the arms and legs. She whistled approvingly, before making her way over to the locker which had her suit of armour on it, as well as some sort of jumpsuit, which would presumably go underneath. As she started to change, she was worried about how heavy the suit seemed.
However after she had finished putting on her body armour, it actually felt surprisingly light. Then she looked down to the bench where her helmet lay. It was yellow like the rest of her armour but had a red stripe on top. As she put it on, she jumped in surprise as a HUD suddenly flickered to life. On the top of her HUD was a bar, perhaps her shield level, on the upper left there was a radar with yellow spots on it.
She turned around to look at Ruby, who had been changing on the bench opposite her and saw that she was kitted out in crimson armour, with a black trim.
"Looking good sis!" said the younger sister cheerfully, her voice slightly muffled by the helmet, but it was mostly clear, so there was probably some sort of amplifier.
"You too," said Yang with a nod and a thumbs up, before turning to see the other two in their armour. Blake was decked out in all black armour, whereas Nora was wearing tan coloured armour with pink stripes.
"Now agents, if you may follow me towards the others," said Oobleck, making Yang jump, as she had forgotten all about the Doctor.
'Hopefully, he wasn't watching us change,' thought Yang with a shudder.
The four of them made their way over to the main group of agents, and at that moment, the doors to the armoury slid open and a tall, white-haired, moustached man walked into the room. The way he carried himself demanded respect, so this must have been the famed General Schnee.
"Agents," said the General firmly, and when the newcomers saw the others stand at attention, they thought it would be best to follow suit.
"At ease," he said after a short pause, and Yang relaxed her stance, as did the others.
"Now, seeing as we are all here, I suppose I must explain more about this project. " The white haired man gazed around at the agents in front of him with piercing blue eyes, and Yang felt just a little unsettled.
"As you all know, these Faunus extremist groups have been growing in size and number, particularly the group known as the White Fang."
Yang bristled at the mention of the group. There wasn't a day that went by that she didn't think about her platoon, the friends and comrades that she had lost in the ambush… She tried to shake those thoughts in her head as the General continued speaking.
"Consequently, due to the strain this rising insurrection has had on our forces, the RSMC has seen fit for Project Dust to be authorised. The armour that you are wearing has been enhanced by dust."
The General paused shortly, and Yang took the opportunity to whisper to Ruby. "I only thought Dust was used for power…"
"Dust powers your suits, which is why it feels lightweight when you put it on," explained the General. "In addition to that, it powers your shields, as well as increasing the durability of your armour, should your shield be neutralised in any way. Also, depending on the type of dust applied to your suit, you will also have a certain… ability, if you will."
Yang raised an eyebrow, impressed. This project could really crush the rebels once and for all.
And maybe her friends would finally be avenged.
"Now, I have personally handpicked you for this Project, so I know that you soldiers are some of the best of the best. Make sure that my faith in you is well placed."
Yang looked around at the others and noticed a white armoured agent straighten up after the General had spoken. Interesting…
"I shall now leave you in the capable hands of Doctor Oobleck, who will explain how this training simulation will work," said General Schnee, gesturing towards said Doctor, who stepped forward from the General's side.
As the General nodded at the agents and turned to leave, he offered some parting words.
"Welcome to the project."
Whew okay, I was planning on fitting in Yang and Ruby meeting some of the other agents, but I shall leave that until next time as here seems a pretty good place to stop.
And yes, I have shamelessly ripped off some of the Halo vehicles, don't hate on me plz xD
I've decided to only introduce fact files for the remaining characters once they've been introduced properly.
Anyways, until next time,
-PLG