The elevator ride back down to the main hallways of Beacon Academy was nothing short of tedious for Winston. Not only was he forced to remain in close contract with four young women whose very presence was a mockery of everything he stood for, but their incessant talking was absolutely torturous for him.

The one with the white hair who kept on talking down on him like a noble, Weiss Schnee, annoyed him the most. Not only was she dressed like an aristocrat with her immaculate white dress and disgustingly pale skin that could only be acquired by someone who lived in luxury thanks to the labor of others, but her arrogant attitude was something that even a hardened Krieger like him found difficult to ignore. The insults she whispered to the other girls in the elevator about his 'weird' looks and 'creepy' attitude were nothing new to Winston; he had heard similar comments when working with civilians in the past. No, what was inexcusable was her blatant disregard for her leader's authority and anything her teammates said that went against her arrogant opinions. When one of his new teammates confirmed his suspicions that she was indeed an aristocrat, from quite the powerful family too, everything the heiress did suddenly made a lot more sense.

As much as Winston disliked Weiss, he did not completely write her off as an inevitable casualty just yet. The only saving grace that he could find about her was the scar that ran down the left side of her face and across her eye. Clearly the aristocrat was no stranger to pain and quite willing to continue to fight despite coming so dangerously close to death. Weiss' fighting spirit must have been quite strong too, because whatever had left that scar on her had done nothing to humble her lofty behavior. She had potential, although her frail frame and snobbish attitude certainly made it hard to tell just how far she could go in a real fight.

Another problem Winston didn't look forward to dealing with was the tall blonde, Yang Xiao Long, who had either been looking at him like a prized meal to be consumed or a piece of garbage stuck to her foot since he had first walked into Ozpin's office. Her appearance made her conflicting gaze all the more confusing to the Krieg guardsman. She had the purple eyes of a Cadian, muscular physique of a Catachan, and her clothes wouldn't have looked out of place in a brothel or on a Slaaneshi cultist. The only good thing he could say about the blonde's equipment was that her boots looked far more practical than what any of his other temporary teammates wore, even if they did have those same ridiculous stilts attached to the heel.

Her choice of clothing wasn't much better than Weiss' though, as not only did Yang's tan jacket leave her stomach completely unprotected, similarly to how her pathetically short pants let the majority of her legs exposed to any enemy attacks, but the little material she did wear did look thick enough to deflect a knife. The girl clearly knew what armor was and the purpose it should serve, yet she seemed insistent on wearing as little of it as possible. The idea that anyone could be so blatantly stupid was maddening, yet somewhat excusable once Winston remembered the blonde was still a cadet. He figured that she would either realize the error of her ways after having a few valuable lessons beaten into her or when her lax uniform cost her a limb. If she lasted long enough to learn how costly of a mistake she was making, Winston was sure that Yang would become a valuable asset to Remnant.

Winston felt insulted that he was forced to associate with both Weiss and Yang, whereas Blake Belladonna, the quiet black haired girl, earned his distrust for a completely different reason. Winston could tell from the way she distanced herself from him in the elevator that she was the most experienced member of Team RWBY. The way she behaved made it even more obvious, speaking only when necessary and looking at any potential threats like him with suspicion. It was clear that she had acted as a soldier in some capacity before being accepted into Beacon as a cadet, and this alone was enough to make Winston value Blake's presence in Team RWBY almost as much as Commander Rose's.

The only complaints Winston had about her was how her choice of apparel made it painfully obvious that she was more accustomed to ambushes than prolonged combat. The contrasting black and white clothing she wore would easily blend into whatever shadows she chose to conceal herself in, and Winston could tell from the steely look in her eyes that she had more than enough discipline to wait until all her enemies had fallen into a trap before eliminating them. An ambusher, assassin, or whatever the girl branded herself as would do themself no favors if they advertised themselves as such as blatantly as she did. The same could be said about the ridiculous heel stilts she wore should she find the need to make a hasty retreat and end up tripping over herself because of them. The bow she wore over her lead looked equally pointless, but Winston gave that flaw the benefit of the doubt as the sturdy looking accessory could potentially serve the same purpose as the emergency rope he always carried with him. Despite the obvious problems that such a delicate combatant would face outside of a fight rigged in her favor, she still seemed to be the only one that truly belonged in an academy meant to train future huntsmen, huntresses, or whatever Remnant's PDF called themselves.

That of course left Ruby Rose as the last member of Team RWBY he had yet to appraise. The short haired and energetic team leader was strikingly different from her teammates, and that was even before taking her juvenile traits into account. Winston had never seen a human with silver eyes like hers before, nor had he met a cadet with so much overflowing energy and naivety. As much as he wanted to discredit her for her young age, presumed inexperience, and hesitation in taking command over her subordinates, he felt that she would make a good commander if given the opportunity to grow. Maybe it was his own personal biases, or how the small black haired girl was the striking image of a commissar, albeit one wearing a ridiculous dress similar to Weiss that at least sported a few knives for self-defense, but Winston found her to be the only member of Team RWBY he didn't hold any contempt towards.

There was a lot to be said about how overeager she acted, as well as how she could somehow talk for a minute straight without needing to take in a single breath, but despite her flaws the rest of her team seemed to follow her regardless. Even if they complained about Commander Rose's 'underserved' position underneath their breath like Weiss, they still let her take charge of them. The silver eyed girl would certainly have a lot of room for growth, both as a leader and in the more literal sense of the word, as Winston was certain she was only a centimeter or two taller than he was, if at all.

Overall, Team RWBY was a disaster, but not unsalvageable. Their only saving grace was their vast room for improvement, and Winston was already thinking of ways he could help them reach their full potential. While he had no obligation to help them out or incentive to do so, it did at least give him something to focus on in the long elevator ride back to Beacon proper. There was only so much one could learn from staring at a couple of poorly dressed cadets in an elevator after all, just like there was only so long any group of people could keep themselves from doing something incredibly stupid…

And as if to prove his point, one of them, Yang, couldn't just leave him alone to think for the entirety of the painfully long elevator ride. Winston flinched the moment he felt her hand grasp his shoulder and instantly turned around to brush her off.

"Don't touch me." Winston coldly told her, finally deciding to participate in whatever conversation he had been ignoring until then to avoid any other similarly unwanted acts.

"Easy there, tough guy." Yang teased as the Korpsman took a step away from her. "I just wanted to make sure you were paying attention. You haven't said anything for a while."

"Is that a problem?" Winston asked, failing to see how ignoring Team RWBY's gossip was worth mentioning.

"It would be nice if we could get to know you a bit more." Ruby sheepishly chimed in.

Winston briefly considered his commander's point before giving her an answer. On one hand, he would prefer not to waste any time talking to his new squad until after he familiarized himself with Beacon's terrain. On the other, there was little he could say without going against Ozpin's rules. If only Ruby wasn't directly in command of him, he could outright refuse her order. Winston let out a small sigh upon seeing no other option but to convince her to rescind her order for both of their sakes.

"I don't see how knowing each other would help us fight more effectively." He droned in the hopes Ruby would see how pointless her demand was.

"Well, I for one agree with our new teammate." Weiss stated matter of factly, her approval of his action flooding him with disgust. "Just because we will be helping him for a while doesn't mean we have to be friends with him."

"Wow. Real subtle, Ice Queen." Yang muttered in disbelief before turning her attention back to Winston. "Sorry about Weiss. She's still learning how not to act like a spoiled princess."

"Hey! I am not spoiled!" Weiss shouted.

"You have nothing to apologize for, Cadet Yang." Winston shrugged. "All aristocrats are like that."

The Schnee heiress glared daggers at Winston for his slander, the guardsman in question caring little about what the arrogant brat thought about him. Instead, he was far more focused on Blake and the small nod of approval she shot towards him. It seemed that he had more in common with her than he first thought.

Weiss was about to defend herself from the definitely undeserved slander directed towards her, but Ruby quickly put a stop to that by stepping in between the heiress and Winston before either of them could react.

"Stop fighting! We're supposed to be a Team!" She exclaimed, quickly backing down once she realized everyone's attention was on her.

"Uhm… we really shouldn't be arguing before our first day of classes, right?" Ruby asked, looking towards her sister for some support.

"I guess my little sis has a point." The tall blonde agreed, playfully bumping her fist against Ruby's shoulder.

"Anyways, we've all had a day to get to know each other already." Yang gestured towards the other girls in the elevator with her. "I think we should get to know you first since we haven't seen you around before."

Winston shifted his hands around in his pockets a few moments before looking towards Ruby as he gave his answer.

"Do I have to?" He asked, his voice barely louder than a whisper and still as hollow as before.

Weiss, unable to resist pouncing on the opportunity to embarrass someone who was quickly becoming as much of an annoyance to her as Jaune, spoke up. "What's wrong? Is the fake soldier scared to talk to a couple of girls?" She teased.

"I am not a fake soldier, and I am not afraid to speak." Winston said, the gray lenses of his gas mask boring a hole straight through Weiss' triumphant smirk.

"Alright, that's enough for now, Ice Queen." Yang said, shoving the heiress aside before she could start a fight with their newest member.

"Stop calling me that, Yang!"

"Whatever you say, Snow Angel." The blonde shrugged, letting out a chuckle as said 'angel' sulked away to the nearest corner.

Ruby once again tried to jump in and tried to salvage the situation. "Sorry about that, Winston. Do you want to talk to us now or do you maybe want to wait until you get to know us a little bit first?"

"What I want doesn't matter." Winston told her. "If you give me the order, then I will have no choice but to do as you ask, Commander Rose."

Ruby blushed a little at Winston's unexpected response, but quickly collected herself to give him an answer. "Uhh… no, that's not an order."

She also wanted to ask why Winston thought she would order him to do something as simple as talk to her and the rest of her team, but thought better of it. Ozpin did say 'he had been through a lot', whatever that meant. Maybe she could ask Blake once Winston wasn't around. Blake might know what their newest member was talking about since the headmaster did say she would be able to sympathize with him the most.

"I would prefer not to say anything more than I have to, Commander Rose." Winston monotonously answered.

"Maybe later then?" Ruby asked, dejected but hopeful that she might be able to make one new friend in the near future.

"Perhaps. I still need to collect my lasgun from the docks and perform a few maintenance rituals on it, then I'll need to familiarize myself with Beacon's facilities afterwards." Winston informed her.

"Oh, would you like me to show you around Beacon?" Ruby asked before the excitement of seeing her teammates' new weapon completely overwhelmed her.

"I can also help you work on your weapons if you'd like me to! Rifles, pistols, shotguns, snipers, custom beauties: I'm a bit of an expert when it comes to guns of all shapes and sizes!" She proudly announced, practically bouncing around the elevator with excitement.

"I… I see." Winston said, as intrigued as he was concerned by Ruby's enthusiasm.

Yang carefully took the guardsman aside so she and the other members of Team RWBY could have a quick word with him while Ruby started to ramble on about her favorite types of weapons, completely oblivious to how no one else was listening to her.

"Yeah, my sister has a thing for guns in case you couldn't tell." The blonde said with a smile as she looked back at said sister. "Do you mind letting her go with you while the rest of us have a little chat?"

Yang's smile quickly faded into a scowl as she turned her attention to Weiss.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" The heiress said defensively. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"And that's what we're going to be talking about while Ruby shows you around Beacon." The blonde sighed.

She turned to Blake and gave her a pleading look. "Do you mind helping me out a little, partner?"

"Gladly." The quietest and one of the more likable members of Team RWBY, in Winston's eyes at least, replied.

Just as he was starting to entertain the idea of using his last remaining Krak grenade to break his way out of the elevator to avoid another tortuous minute with the cadets he had been stuck with, his salvation came at last as the elevator doors opened to reveal his freedom. The Korpsman did not hesitate to start marching out of the elevator and towards his waiting lasgun. It took Ruby a moment to realize that Winston had left without her just as she was starting to explain how she made her own weapon with the help of her Uncle Qrow. She quickly darted after him in a flurry of rose petals to catch up.

With those two gone, that left Yang, Blake, and Weiss alone in the elevator. The former two only had to give each other a single look before they took a spot on each side of Weiss and wrapped an arm around the shorter girl. The heiress had just started to protest against whatever they had planned for her as they lifted her up and dragged her off, doing their best to hold back their laughter as Weiss shouted at them the entire way back to their dorm room.


Without the other three cadets to pester him with their constant talking and suspicious looks, Winston thought he would be able to collect his lasgun in peace while Ruby accompanied him. Once again, his expectations had been crushed in a matter of moments.

"So… how long have you been in Vale?" Ruby asked, unable to bear the silence between them any longer.

"Few days." Winston curtly answered.

"How do you like it so far?" She followed up, curious to hear a little more from her new teammate.

"What I like doesn't matter." Winston monotonously replied.

"Oh…" Ruby was downtrodden after hearing his answer, but her expression quickly lightened up as something else crossed her mind. "Why don't you tell me what you think about Vale then, if you're okay with that?"

Winston let out a low sigh as he considered what to tell her. Having to entertain the juvie that was somehow determined to be his commander wasn't what he wanted to do, but at least it was better than dealing with the aristocrat. If it had been anyone else trying to bother him with pointless questions, he would have just ignored them. Unfortunately, Ruby was his leader, and refusing to answer her was an unimaginable crime in Winston's eyes. He had to tell her something, so it might as well be the truth.

"There's too many open spaces, far too many lines of sight, and I have not seen a single troop garrison anywhere." He informed her.

"Everything looks so strange too. So… different." He added, thinking back to when he first gazed upon the world of Remnant from the safety of his downed saviour pod.

"Really?" The little red huntress asked, fully intrigued by Winston's sudden talkativeness, though slightly put off by such a cold, militaristic opinion.

"Yes."

Winston might've said more, but before he knew it the locker he stored his beloved lasgun in was already in sight. With his most valuable possession moments away from accompanying him once more the Korpsman instantly set about to reclaim his weapon. He spent far too long without the reassuring weight of his beloved lasgun, and for the first time since arriving in Beacon, he dropped all pretenses of professionalism and sprinted towards his weapon as quickly as his legs could carry him. Neither Ruby's startled cry at his sudden burst of speed, the shouts of the students he had to shove aside to reach his precious piece of Munitorum issued equipment, nor the tendrils of pain coursing through his injured leg could stop him from reuniting with one of his most treasured belongings.

Unfortunately for the determined guardsman, there was one obstacle in his way that not even a determined soldier of Krieg could force his way past, and he had not been stopped from a lack of trying. The door standing between him and his lasgun refused to open no matter how desperately he tried to pry it off its hinges. It didn't take a tech priest to figure out the locker had been sealed, and Winston had no one to blame but himself for believing Ozpin wouldn't have taken precautions against his beloved lasgun from being tampered with. The only thing he could blame the secretive Inquisitor for was failing to give him the means to access his weapon.

Of course, that implied that Ozpin intended for him to reclaim his weapon without needing to prove himself worthy of it first. The Inquisitor did assign him to a bunch of cadets, so Winston didn't find it too hard to believe that he needed to prove worthy of wielding his lasgun before he could start showing the old man that he was also worthy of serving on the frontlines again.

…although there was also the chance that Ozpin, or rather the drunk who had been there to help store Winston's lasgun away, simply forgot to tell anyone he sealed the locker before falling unconscious somewhere, preferably head first in the nearest latrine. Considering how said drunk was one of the Inquisitor's most trusted confidants, either option was possible.

Winston was only just starting to entertain the idea of blasting the locker's hinges off with the laspistol hanging from his side, its freshly charged power pack more than capable of doing the job in a few lasbolts, before Ruby caught up to him and broke him away from such heretical thoughts.

"Forgot your password?" She asked sympathetically.

"Password?" Winston muttered back.

It was then that he noticed the electronic keypad scant centimeters away from the handle he had come dangerously close to prying off. Just one look at its glowing screen was enough to tell Winston that the locker was protected by a machine spirit… and that made him dearly regret how he had violently tried to assault it in his quest to retrieve his lasgun.

Winston clenched tightly onto something tucked underneath his trench coat without thinking and whispered a prayer of forgiveness in a feverish frenzy. Only once he had finished uttering what little of the Litany of Percussive Clemency he could remember did he notice his commander was scrutinizing him far more than he would have liked her to.

"Whatcha doing?" Ruby asked, still studying him far too closely for Winston's liking.

"Trying to undo a mistake." Winston told her, leaning away from her as he did so.

Ruby got the hint and shyly backed away from him as she apologized. "Oops, sorry."

"Anyways, we can probably find a professor who can help us open your locker." Ruby suggested. "Maybe we could even ask Ozpin and-"

"No. This is my problem. I need to be the one to fix this." Winston insisted, fearing what Ozpin might do to him for committing such blatant tech heresy.

Ruby wasn't convinced, but was more than willing to give her new teammate a chance to try and figure things out on his own. "If you say so…"

Winston hardly heard her, as he was too focused on trying to figure out how to coax the machine spirit guarding his locker into allowing him access to his lasgun despite his previous transgressions. What little he had learned from working as a tech priest's assistant during transit in-between deployments only gave him a basic understanding of machine spirits and their fickle nature in relation to giving humans access to the wonders of the Omnissiah and all the technology the mechanical aspect of the Emperor controlled. Despite his elementary knowledge of machinery and computers, Winston could at least tell the keypad on the locker somehow controlled the door's locking mechanism from what little of it he could see. The other obvious details he could gleam from a simple glance were the six empty spaces above the keypad that looked ready to accept whatever buttons he pushed, as well as the name he had given Ozpin engraved at the top of the locker.

That last part definitely had to be a recent addition, meaning that Ozpin certainly intended for him to be able to open the locker on his own. The only question was why wouldn't the Inquisitor tell him the code to access his lasgun… unless he was being tested, in which case everything made perfect sense.

All he had to do was determine what the right six digit code was and, with the lightly abused machine spirit willing, he would finally be able to access his lasgun after having been separated from it for far too long. If only he knew what Ozpin set as the password. Whatever it was, it had to be something important that no one else could easily guess…

Winston instantly entered in the only possible code that made sense out of the million potential answers, as there was only one number that both he and Ozpin could possibly find any importance in. He barely had to think at all before coming to an answer that was so painfully apparent that he was tempted to beg the locker's machine spirit for forgiveness once more.

Four eighty-three, two seventy-four. That was the numerical part of the serial number given to him from the day he was born, the identifier that marked him as an official member of the now ruined Death Korps 483rd Siege Regiment, and, as a green light of approval from the locker's machine spirit showed, the password to his locker.

With the same amount of reverence that an Ecclesiarch would have shown the Golden Throne the Emperor rested on, Winston carefully opened his unlocked locker and slowly retrieved his lasgun from within. He gently pulled the strap attached to his precious weapon around himself and slung his lovingly maintained lasgun over his back before closing the locker with the same level of caution, this time with the confidence of a guardsman ready to face anything the galaxy could throw at him now that he had his trusty lasgun within reach.

"Huh, I guess you didn't need any help after all." Ruby commented as Winston turned to her.

"I now have everything I came to Beacon with, Commander Rose." Winston informed her. "Please lead the way to our next destination."

"Right. I'll show you to Beacon's workshop and-" Ruby was about to lead the way immediately, but something Winston said felt off to her.

"Wait, did you say that's everything you own?" She asked, a mix of wonder and pity tingeing her voice as she stared at her new teammate's battered uniform, kitbag, and the few weapons strapped to his body.

"Yes. It is a lot, but everything I have is important to me." The guardsman answered.

Ruby wanted to say something to console him, but couldn't find any words after seeing how little Winston seemed to care about owning nothing more than what he could carry. Instead, all she did was lead him in awkward silence, silently wondering what else she would learn about her mysterious new teammate and hoping that she would get a chance to inspect his weapon while they worked on it.


While Winston and Ruby were continuing to run a few errands on their own, the rest of Team RWBY had finally managed to enter their room. They would have reached it sooner, but as Weiss had been doing her best to fight against Yang and Blake's attempts to carry her, it took them a bit longer than it ordinarily would have. By this point, the heiress had finally stopped resisting, if only because she knew there was no point in struggling against the taller, stronger girls when she could instead use that time to prepare a few choice words once they let her go.

Her patience was eventually rewarded when her teammates unceremoniously dropped her on her bed, giving the heiress one more complaint to raise against them.

"What do you two think you are doing?" She indignantly asked them.

"Hoping to ask you the same question, Princess." Yang fired back, Blake nodding in agreement behind her.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Weiss replied, still not seeing why her teammates were angry with her when they were the ones who strong-armed her.

Yang let out a sigh as it became painfully obvious that she wasn't getting to Weiss without having to spell things out for her. "You were being a jerk to Winston before even trying to talk to him."

"So?" Weiss challenged.

Yang balled her fists in anger at the heiress' lack of self-awareness, but held back from doing anything they would both regret. Blake, on the other hand, had no such reservations or intentions to give Weiss anything to use against her.

"This is why the Schnee family has a bad reputation." She remarked. "Their business practices are just as bad as their personalities."

Weiss gasped at the accusation, although she made no attempt to deny it. "At least I'm not the one pretending to be a soldier just to earn some sympathy." She grumbled.

"That is why you're acting like such a jerk?" Yang muttered in disbelief. "You think you can say whatever you want about someone just because they might be lying?"

"Do you honestly think our new teammate is a soldier?" The heiress asked. "Don't tell me you actually believe everything he says when he won't even talk to us without Ozpin forcing him to."

"I hate to admit it but you've got a point, Princess." Yang lamented, unable to refute the heiress.

Blake, however, was quick to disagree. "Winston wasn't lying about being a soldier."

"And how do you know that? Do you have any proof for us?" Weiss inquired with a smirk, thinking Blake wouldn't be able to give her a reason.

"Yes, I do." The black haired girl calmly told the heiress. "Some of my neighbors fought in the Faunus Rights Revolution."

"The Faunus War? What does a couple of crazy old men have to do with Winston?" Weiss asked.

"It was the Faunus Rights Revolution, not the Faunus War." Blake quickly corrected, with no small amount of venom directed towards the heiress. "And the people you are calling 'crazy' are men and women that are just as old and kind as my parents."

Yang let out a whistle as she watched Weiss shrink down under the anger radiating off of her partner. "Wow, you really do have a way with words, Princess." She joked. "So, did your neighbors kind of act like… you know…"

"Keep to themselves, hate talking to strangers, and are little strange?" Blake finished testily. "Just like how Winston and a lot of faunus that get mistreated by the Schnee Dust Company act?"

"Hey, none of that slander has ever been proven in court!" Weiss shouted defensively.

"You said it, not me, Blake." Yang reminded her partner, raising her hands up as if to plead her innocence..

Blake let out a sigh as she calmed down. "I'm sorry, but those people were nice to me. I don't like it when I see someone making fun of anyone that reminds me of them."

"Looks like we're on the same page." Yang announced. "Now, I might not entirely believe our new teammate is as much of a soldier as he says he is, but we don't know enough about him to tell if he is or isn't telling the truth."

"That doesn't mean we should start risking our extra credit and bully him just to prove a point." She continued, both Blake and Weiss groaning as the blonde brawler finally revealed her real reason for defending Winston.

"Really?" Both of them asked, surprised that they were finally able to agree on something for once.

"Okay, just because I really want that extra credit doesn't mean I'm okay with you being a jerk to people, Princess." Yang playfully admitted. "I might let you do that to Vomit Boy, but at least he has it coming."

"Hello, Snow Angel." A certain blonde haired fool greeted as he walked into Team RWBY's room, the rest of his team trailing behind him.

"Wow. That's some great timing." Yang murmured as she did her best not to cringe at the wannabe Casanova's latest attempt to swoon her teammate.

"Can you bother someone else right now, Jaune? We're in the middle of something important." Weiss said in an attempt to scare away the sad excuse for a human being that was trying to flirt with her.

"Oh, uh… sorry." Jaune said, quickly backpedaling as he realized barging into another Team's room without any warning might not have been the best of ideas in retrospect. "I guess I'll just go and-"

"Oh, are you trying to figure out who the guy with the creepy old armor like some sort of zombie soldier is too?" One of Jaune's teammates, an exceptionally bubbly and energetic red headed girl, asked.

Neither Blake, nor Weiss, nor Yang were able to give her an answer. They were all too shocked to hear that someone who hadn't even met Winston yet was trying to figure out who he was, even if the red head's description of him was as outlandish as it was accurate. Unfortunately for them, the stunned expressions that sprouted on their faces did little to hide the truth of the matter from Jaune or the rest of his team.

"Wait… do you mean Nora isn't the only one that has seen the creepy guy with a gas mask and covered in bandages?" Jaune asked as he started trembling with terror, desperately hoping that the answers Team RWBY could provide him were not the ones he was too afraid to hear.


Special thanks to Tireless Traveler for beta reading this chapter!


Author's Corner:

Tension between the Team is already starting to build, and Winston's first day with Team RWBY isn't even finished yet. Team RWBY is already having their own suspicions about their new teammate, but whether or not they act on them is something only time will tell.

I want to say more… but I honestly can't think of anything worth mentioning right now.


Comments:

Santiago.M.G: I'm interested in reading this story... even though this Krieg acts too much of a person for me. I mean, a Krieg with personal opinions?

Here's everyone's friendly reminder that Kriegers are not Servitors. While the DKoK might act like they are lobotomized pawns devoid of free will and questionable sentience, they are not. They are still human like anyone else in the Imperium of Man, but their sense of self-preservation and loyalty are royally frakked.

Magos-Arviel-Dealek: I'm loving this, it's good to see someone take a more human approach to a krieger… (I'm too lazy to add the rest)

Ah yes, the second common view of the DKoK. I'm personally of the view that, while Kriegers are not purely organic Servitors, they are not normal either. What little information I could gleam from the W40K wiki gave me a few common personality traits of the typical DKoK soldier to work with, namely their: suicidal loyalty, hatred of all royals/aristocrats, sense of superiority over other Imperial Guard regiments, and absolute hatred of heretics.

Some people might not think much of these traits. I think there is a lot of potential here beyond the DKoK's typical memeish portrayal, especially when you also include what life in a death cult and high casualty rates would do to someone.

holandia1103: Well I gotta say I loved the initial introduction though I would've assumed he would introduce himself with his serial number first out of habit but this is still a pretty great read. Also I have to say this take on a krieger is miles above what I've seen here before done with DKoK, this guy actually acts pretty close to what assume he would act like as a krieger

Hey, when a supposed Inquisitor tells you to do something, you're not really in a position to refuse. Not if you intend to keep on living, that is. As for my take on a Krieger… I don't think he's all that unique. All I've done is make him act incredibly mellow compared to the usual stereotypes while adhering to the same character traits.


As always, thank you all for reading and I hope to see you again in the future.