Patrol. Sam wanted to Patrol. It was a nice Saturday and he just wanted to walk around, not doing much more than patrolling after another week's worth of nothing really occurring. Not even operations. They'd gone to school, done normal stuff and were now free again for the next two days. Cortana, however ,seemed to have other plans. She spoke to him, "I like how this one looks!"
"... Cortana... Shouldn't you be doing this with John?" He asked, a hint dumbfound as he stared in the mirror at himself. Instead of armor, Sam had been forced to wear a set of more normal civilian clothes. Or as normal as anything a Spartan wore in their size. At seven feet tall with only fourteen years of life, Sam had been hard to dress up, but Cortana had managed it somehow:Blue jeans, a pair of track shoes and a fairly tight black shirt with some unknown local band's logo on it.
"These may be gifts for him, but... Eh, he doesn't wanna sit still worth a damn," Cortana snorted.
Sam murmured, "And you think I do...?" annoyed. Honestly, he thought, Cortana should really focus more on the Spartan that was the object of her strangely-human affection. Meanwhile, he could very nicely go about doing a patrol without this much fuss about clothing and the likes. He sighed and prepared to remove his clothes. Cortana was about to berate him, but he told her, "Look, boss-lady, I get that you wanna gift John something more civvie, considering where we are, but I ain't one to try out my friend's clothes, even if he hasn't worn'em yet. I just wanna head out on patrol and do my job..."
"Spartans and having fun on patrol seems synonymous..." Sighed Cortana, rubbing her temples, "Alright..."
"Thanks..." He stated, before pulling at the hem of his shirt and lifting it up...
... Just as the door opened and Ruby walked in with jaunt in her step and joy in her voice, "Heya, folks! I came by to see about bringing some cookies to... to..." only to pause upon seeing Sam. Shirtless Sam. Shirtless Sam in the middle of the room. Sam himself, to his credit, turned toward Ruby and gave her a smile and a wave, but Ruby could only focus on a certain set of things related to the man's toplessness. There was a certain tier of muscular between the bodybuilders' overdoing it and a more spindly type like Jaune and Ren. Sam seemed to be exactly at that sweet spot and it made Ruby feel all kinds of warm, seeing all the scars and muscles and abs and...
Honestly, Ruby should've seen this coming since she'd started having a crush, but this was well beyond the scope of what she would have imagined a crush would be. She knew 'crushes' as this cutesy little thing wherein a youngster, a teenager, starts liking someone in their group or class a bit more than they'd like them as friends or even BFFs. What she did not expect, however, was to suddenly go full red-faced at seeing the guy she was crushing on-Wait, wait, wait, woah, hold on a frickin' minute! Was her mind really admitting to crushing on SAM?!
A short squeak, like that of a tea kettle whose pressure was released for half-a-second, escaped Ruby's mouth. Sam, meanwhile, turned to her as she covered her mouth, all while Cortana giggled like a moron. He ignored his friend's chuckling, however, walking up to Ruby and asking, "Hey, Rubes. You okay?" as he set a hand on her shoulder. The girl doubled over and let out a squeak again.
WHYWASHEHOTOHGODSABOVEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!? was all Ruby could really think at that very moment.
Sam blanked as he watched her petal dash out of the place at what was tantamount to Mach speeds. He blinked, scratched the back of his head and murmured, "Did I do anything wrong...?" which made Cortana burst into a laughing fit. The Spartan furrowed his brows at her, then walked to put on his armor. Cortana almost fell over as she laughed, though, much to Halsey's surprise.
As the good doctor walked in, sipping her coffee, she asked, "Did something occur?"
"Ruby saw Sam without a shirt..." Cortana barely managed through her laughter. Halsey blinked and looked back to see Sam in his room, donning his armor, then clicked her tongue and decided it was best not to engage with the matter at hand. She still had research to deal with. Including weapons research, she thought, to bring the Spartans up to snuff when it came to dealing with every possible threat. That and preparing to talk with the Headmaster. By her calculations, he would have gotten to the SPARTAN Projects by now in the files.
... In team RWBY's dorm, Weiss stared, mouth agape, at the ceiling, feeling ever the slightest hint of boredom. She was not sure if she enjoyed the idea of boredom, but she also soon realized that the last few months had been terrifyingly filled with activity for her. From going to school, to the fighting against the White Fang, to the arrival of MCPO 117 and his people and so much more.
She hummed and straightened up on her bed, looking at her hand. She summoned one of her glyphs, a white one, then focused on it. The symbols of the circular glyph danced in her palm. She hummed and focused on them, coursing all her Aura and power into an attempt to utilize the ancient Schnee Power her grandfather, mother and sister were known for.
Her concentration on her attempt to do what she should have been able to do since her youth, or at least something her sister should've trained her more in, the girl struggled to so much as form even the sword that she wished to summon. It was frustrating, she thought. To be unable to do the very thing a Schnee Heiress was supposed to be capable of in order to properly represent her grandfather's ideals.
As she was about to scoff and call it off, the door suddenly opened and slammed shut with the force of a whirlwind, causing her Glyph to vanish and her to yelp as she nearly fell off her bed. She looked over to the door, to see a caped figure with a red hood panting as she held the door shut. The young woman, Ruby, obviously, slammed her forehead against the door hard enough for the wooden thunk to reach Weiss, before she slid down the door and whined, embarrassed.
She curled up in a ball as she turned around from the door and wrapped herself up in her cape. Weiss blinked, confused, then called out, "Ruby?" which garnered yet another terrified sound out of Ruby, a very audible and kind of funny GWAK as the girl jumped and hanged in the air for a good few seconds. Confusion plastered across her face, Weiss jumped down from her bed just as Ruby landed.
Her team leader demanded, "WEISS, WHAT'RE YOU DOING HERE!?"
"... This is our room," Weiss replied in a deadpan, then noted the healthy red blush that almost made Ruby's face fade behind her cape. She blinked, confusion bubbling up in her mind like a bad case of stomach acid reflux, then took a step toward Ruby and asked, "Just what's got you so flustered?" as she walked up to and helped an awkward Ruby to her feet, gently flicking the hood off her head.
Ruby didn't wanna meet Weiss's gaze, embarrassment visible in every single movement or tick of hers. The young woman pressed her fingers together, which caused Weiss's confusion to further elevate. Squinting at her friend with furrowed brows, Weiss asked, "Ruby. We said we'd talk about everything, didn't we? We all promised to each-other that we'd be open."
Ruby sighed, bowing her head in defeat as she almost seemed to be spewing steam from her ears. She looked up at Weiss and told her, "I saw Sam shirtless..."
Weiss blinked. That was it?
"... That's it?" She asked. Ruby's eyes shot wide open at Weiss's comment, while the white-haired heiress seemed to process what this was specifically about. She scratched her chin, then asked Ruby, "And you're too embarrassed to go apologize, I assume?" which, in a moment of absolutely adorable behavior, caused the girl to further shy away, nodding as she ducked under her cloak and hood with a healthy red tint to her cheeks.
Weiss rolled her eyes and snorted, then told her, "I suppose it's only natural you'd gain an interest in boys, especially Samuel. Seeing how close you two are makes it more surprising this did not happen earlier. Well, no, not the shirtless part, seeing as that seems more like something out of those animated cartoons you and Yang tend to watch... Though I'd imagine that was quite a sight for you," with a teasing tone to her voice. She then said to her, "We're going to go apologize now. He deserves it..." and she smirked, "Or maybe you'd like to thank him for the show..." which got Ruby to squeak again.
Taking Ruby by the hand, much to the young girl's squeaky, high-pitched protests, Weiss dragged her to the door and propped it open, only to pause as she saw Sam at the door, helmet slung under his arm and armor on. Sam stood, almost bumping his head against the top of the frame while wearing an apologetic smile. He greeted, "Afternoon, Weiss. Mind if I talk with Rubes alone?"
Weiss smirked, "Be my guest, Samuel." As she let go of Ruby's hand. She sidestepped the man and waved a quick 'ta-taa' to Ruby, who was actively freaking out. The Spartan stepped inside and Weiss closed the door behind her, grinning openly now, only to see Yang approaching. She showed the blonde to be quiet, then come closer so they could both listen in on the conversation through the door.
Yang, to her credit, jaunted up as quietly as she could and leaned her ear against the door, grinning...
... Inside, meanwhile, Ruby's thought process was going at seven miles a second in regards to what Sam would wanna talk to her about. Obviously, probably about seeing him partially naked. Her mind now focused on those thoughts and caused her to curl up in a ball again, trying to hide from Sam. To his own credit, though, Sam spoke to her calmly, "Sorry about... Back at home... Cortana was trying to find gifts that'd fit the Chief and, obviously, John would not sit still to test them. She found me as a good alt and, trust me, it was a bit annoying..."
Ruby nodded quickly. What a strange reaction, Sam thought as he approached her. He took a knee in front of her and put a hand on her shoulder, telling her, "It's alright. No harm done, right? I mean, I hope so."
"I'm alright..." Ruby murmured, embarrassed, "Sorry I barged in without knocking..."
"I just said it's alright, heh," Sam chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. She looked up at him, a little surprised as he offered her his hand. Still blushing, though a little less wary now, she took his hand and stood to her feet, pushing the hood off her head to reveal hair that was a bit ruffled. He smiled warmly at her, which caused her heart to skip a beat, before telling her, "So... I got patrol now. Care to tag along? I might need a partner."
"S-Sure..." She replied, then gave Sam an awkward smile. He smiled back at her, then they started walking to the door... Only for Sam to prop it open and for them to see both Yang and Weiss now trying to act cool about the fact they totally weren't listening in, Yang whistling an off-tune song, while Weiss was checking her nails. Both looked to Sam and a Ruby that now glowed scarlet.
Awkward...
Ozpin's Office...
The Doctor's prediction had been correct. The tone of the message Ozpin had sent to get her to come over told her that he probably read the part she dreaded the most deep within. And now that she stepped into the wide-open hall that was the Headmaster's office, everything felt a thousand miles longer than it had previously been. Ozpin, to his credit, maintained an impassive face, simply staring at her and hiding whatever fury he felt behind his mask.
Halsey, too, stepped forward with little regard. She knew she had nothing to apologize for. She had saved humanity if hindsight was taken into account. Pragmatism, though, could only get her so far. She had answered to ONI and not been this scared, dammit. So she thought as she approached the desk. She swallowed her own spit, cleared her throat and said, "Headmaster..." as she saw the tablet open to the S-II and S-III project files.
The III project files were something she'd managed to acquire through backwater channels, a little supplemental reading material while in prison. What Ackerson had done was, at least in her eyes, much worse than making a force of elites to combat Insurrection and, later, the Covenant. It could have been a defense mechanism, she thought, something to bring to bear when questioned. No... She needed to confront this head-on. It was her mistake that caused the Spartan-IIs to even exist. It was her mistake that caused the Spartan-IIIs to be what they were. Without her work, Ackerson would've had nothing to go off of...
"Doctor," He replied, his voice flat, "Take a seat..."
She did as asked. Just in time, too, as the weakness in her knees made her legs give way. Ozpin quirked a brow at her, having probably noticed this, but he didn't say anything yet. She spoke calmly, much to his surprise, "I see you've read the 'masterpiece'..." And made the air quotes necessary to hint at the sarcasm, "Of the Office of Naval Intelligence and yours truly."
"I have..." He replied, picking up the tablet, "And it's..."
"Horrifying?" Halsey stated as she watched the glare he was giving off as he reread the passages that irked him the most. So she assumed, anyhow. She nodded and said, "It's understandable to think so. Even with the context given of a looming civil strife that would've broken mankind, not to mention the arrival of the Covenant... I will not deny the desperation under which both projects were undertaken, nor the less-than-stellar methods used..."
"A fine way of saying criminal," He seemed to let the mask slip for a moment as he pressed on the word 'criminal', but cleared his throat and continued, tone flat, "The ethical dilemmas of creating such soldiers alone are incomprehensible. To me and to anyone who has the sanity of looking upon this with a human heart, not with just the mind..." yet Halsey could tell he wasn't particularly forthcoming with his own thoughts. Or himself. He seemed hesitant.
Halsey cocked her jaw and clicked her tongue, then leaned on her hands, pressed against the desk as she said, "Mankind's survival begets acts that would otherwise be unthinkable in peace time. I have made mistakes that seem to be self-correcting today, what with our arrival on your world, Headmaster. I will not deny those mistakes, not anymore... But our humanity survived because of them."
"Trying to find some way to conflate your people's survival with the creation of indoctrinated special forces and suicide battalions?" Ozpin replied aggressively, though his tone remained just as flat. The man masked his disdain very well. Ironic that he'd feel such disdain, though, Halsey thought as she scratched her cheek. She needed coffee for this, but wouldn't ask him for it. Would seem to out of pocket.
Halsey crossed her arms to her chest. He couldn't let the irony go to waste here. So, she shot back, "Like you train these Hunters?"
Ozpin's facade actually dropped at that, his eyes shooting wide open. He frowned, then told her, "They're volunteers..."
"Are they?" She asked, raising a brow, "The S-IIIs of Ackerson were volunteers, too, Headmaster."
His voice became a low growl, "Ours at least get to grow up with their families before being given the choice to fight..."
"I will give you that," Halsey replied, feeling a knot in her stomach, "Though, again? Would it be any better in our case if they died to the Covenant's arrival? We may not be having this conversation on ethics if they weren't recruited. The IIs, at least, would've died alone and afraid, never having known they could do so much to change Humanity's fate in front of both foes from within and without. We allowed them to survive."
Ozpin's growl turned into full-on anger as he replied, "You used children! Turned them into war machines!" as he slammed the tablet onto the desk. He stood to his feet and continued berating her, "Stripped them of whatever lives, friendships and histories they had and threw them into the midst of a war they had no place being in! What moral code is there behind that?! If Humanity can't survive without this kind of sacrifice, why should we be alive at all!?" all while Halsey maintained her composure... Somehow.
She replied to him, still sitting, "Aside from dying, perhaps, a horrid death at the hands of creatures that outdo your Grimm and your White Fang..." And she took her glasses off, glaring into his auburn eyes as she scowled, "You're questioning what I've done, but you're doing the same via propaganda, rather than direct involvement, Headmaster. Save perhaps for miss Rose, who was directly recruited by you. Do not come talking to me about morals in the face of foes that are willing to go to extremes to wipe out all of humanity when you do the same, just with magic, propaganda and romanticizing your Huntsmen and Huntresses..."
And, while Ozpin seemed ready to burst once confronted with his own hubris, Halsey continued with a lower voice, wiping her glasses, "I created a Legion of Monsters, but one loyal to Humanity and to the cause of its survival, rebuilding and propagation after two brutal wars, one against traitors and one against a foe so aggressive and dangerous, they burned hundreds of our worlds."
She then glared at him, "Tell me what you fight that necessitates children to be trained against them? The Grimm? Easy kills. Beasts with little to no power beside numbers..."
"There's more to them than that!" Ozpin slammed his hand onto the desk, forming a slight spiderweb crack on the glass due to the strength he put behind it, "There's SO MUCH MORE to this war than just some mindless demons killing countless humans and Faunus!" All while Halsey stared at him without flinching. She put her glasses back on and stood up to be level with him. "You and your people wasted a thousand children to buy yourselves time! And you, you of all of them, created machines to fight against your fellow man, with your sheer dumb luck being that the Covenant came to you!"
"It was a sacrifice I willingly made..." She admitted with sorrow behind her words, "I stole children from the love of their families, not with kind words and promises of heroism, but with the imbued thought that, if they do not fight and do not give it their all together, they will not make it alone where I am sending them. John nearly died on his first mission, had it not been for his teammates. You brought them to you with the promise of a hero's life, of money, you sugar-coated their job in lies of prosperity and sent them forward in a war that's neverending."
He snapped back, "Do not mention sacrifice, Catherine! You've no idea what I went through these past millennia trying to keep humanity and the Faunus in a blissful ignorance of what has come before, that they aren't the first, nor will they probably the last, all whilst training the generations of Hunters that have been, are and will be! I've seen good people die, I've witnessed heartfelt sacrifices for the people they loved and cared for! I create people with the will to fight, I make them from children, yes, but at least I give them a choice! You stole John and the others and used them!"
Looking into his eyes, Halsey saw something... A little more personal behind his words, almost as if this touched him personally. She blinked, then sighed. "An Illusion of choice, Ozpin. Children's minds are easily swayed," She then snapped back at him, "You take them young for the same reason I do. Fill their heads with enough of your ideals and they'll think of them as theirs, but even they don't know what they're fighting for. At least mine knew what they were being made for!"
Watching the headmaster's expression shift from fury to that of stunned silence, Halsey continued, angry, "Blissful Ignorance didn't work in my world. It doesn't work in this one. We all deserve to know what we jump in. And for all you think of me, I would never let my Spartans die for nothing, especially not in this war of however many Millennia it has lasted..." And she then glared at him, seemingly causing him to back down. "So if you do not tell me what the hell I want to know now, more specifically what we are facing aside from the Grimm, we will leave you to it..."
... Ozpin had either played right into her hands, or he had decided that it was better to finally tell someone, especially someone as damaged as him, about his millennia of fighting. Dropping back into his seat and rubbing his face with his hands, he told her, "Sit back down... I'll tell you in layman's terms what we're looking at..." then he took his own sunglasses off and cleaned them.
She listened as he gave her a rundown of the Grimm, of their origins, of Humanity before the disappearance of the Gods, of the Gods themselves, of Salem and the war between former lovers, turned against each-other by the hubris of gods. Effectively immortal, forced to change bodies any time one more being he was put into died and forced to fight the former love of his life...
Halsey nodded, then sighed, sympathetic, "You've witnessed people die, Ozpin... Yes, you have. For millennia, thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, many you probably didn't know... I'm not diminishing their sacrifice, so do not misunderstand... But do you know how much my heart wringed and hurt when I saw another name tag for another Spartan be put onto the MIA list? The MIA List... MISSING In action..." and she watched Oz blink...
She told him, "They do not even get their deserved rest, Ozpin, on official documents. I loathe ONI for what they did with that damned directive of theirs. I'm a monster. I created monsters. I sacrificed my humanity and my very soul to the proverbial Devil for the sake of saving this damned race and when push came to shove, my Frankenstein's creations came through. I am broken because I didn't cry when I saw those name tags pop up. Not even when the bodies were returned to me on Reach. I had turned into something I feared at the age of 18. A creature of naught but science." And she turned away, wiping an actual tear from her eye, not a fake or a crocodile tear.
She did hate what she'd become... Ozpin could see it.
"I don't think I have the willingness to call what I have in my chest a heart. All it is now is something that supplies blood and nothing more. I say that because of my next statement. I wouldn't have spared these children's lives, who would've been summarily ended by the Covenant nonetheless in their campaign of terror, then, thus sacrificing millions and billions, perhaps our entire species were they not stopped... Now, I am not sure if I could make that choice again... Every life is precious. I learned that the hard way..."
Ozpin himself sighed and rubbed his eyes, "Indeed..."
"Thank you for telling me," She spoke softly, "Of Salem. And your shadow war."
Ozpin shrugged, "Since we were airing out our dirty laundry? I figured it best for one of my newest hopes in winning this damnable conflict to learn. Especially since you've been forthcoming with your own beliefs."
"Cat's out of the bag now," She said, garnering a dry chuckle out of Ozpin. She then asked, more as a joke than truth, "I'm going to assume I am not allowed to leave Beacon without an escort now?"
Oz sighed and shook his head, "I'm not going to limit your liberty, Catherine. We need to trust each-other if we are to win."
"Indeed..." She replied, "Feel free to tell everyone else about what I've done. Your lieutenants, I mean. They'll need to learn who they're working with before we make any cooperative plans and masterworks against Salem together..." before she paused, then smiled and snorted, bursting into a little melodious laugh that stunned Oz. She waved it off and said, "Apologies, Ozpin. Gods and their Hubris. Who knew?"
"Indeed," Oz snorted, too, "Well... Shall we get to work?"
She nodded, "Let's begin..."