"Kill me…" Nora groans as she sprawls over the cot in the medical room of Beacon Academy, "Just kill me now… This is worse than that time I swallowed Lightning Dust powder…"
"Wha…?" Ruby asked, lying down on the neighbouring bed in a medical gown, "Seriously…?"
"Yes, we were thirteen years old." Ren explains, sitting on the bed nearest to the window and meditating with his eyes closed, "It's why she's forbidden from being responsible for buying Dust."
"Hey, I promised to never do it again…" Nora laughed before coughing, "It hurts to laugh…"
"Why aren't you hurt too?" Ruby asked, wincing as she turned her head to look at Ren, "It's like every muscle is sprained…"
"It does, but one can push past the pain. It is but an illusion of the mind, one that can be conquered." Ren said as he inhaled deeply before slowly exhaling, "I can recommend several Mistralian techniques of meditation if you wish."
"Does it help with the pain?" Ruby groaned.
"No, but it will allow you to act despite the pain," Ren replied as he repeated his breathing exercise.
"He's pretty zen, isn't he?" Nora asks Ruby, "Every time I try I just end up napping. Hard to believe we're the only ones here."
Ruby agreed. Out of fifty students, it looked like only four were accepted to train to be a Pilot. It was hard to believe that she was one of them, even after they had gone through the surgery for the augmentation process.
She can feel the electrical socket at the base of her neck that would allow her nerves to be hooked up to an AC to reach its full potential. Convincing her dad over the phone to sign the contract was hard enough, it took a whole day even after the NEST Inc. lawyers and doctors insisted everything would be safe.
"Ugh, where's the other girl?" Nora complained, "Why isn't she here with us?"
"She's got her own augments already." Ruby explained, "You know, those glowing eyes? Those are part of Sentinel augmentations. It's crazy stuff, I hear they replace a lot of body parts with tech."
"That's insane!" Nora exclaimed before wincing from pain, "But also pretty metal… Hey Ren-?"
"No." Ren immediately declared.
"You didn't even hear what I wanted to ask." Nora pouts.
"Is it because you want glowing eyes?" Ren asked with a sigh, "Ruby, can you explain to Nora what the process involves?"
"Oh yeah, I saw a video about that…" Ruby recalls, "So you see the eyes are surgically removed without damaging the stalks and the corneas cut out before-"
"Ew." Nora cringed, "Ugh, nope, nope! Getting that image out of my head… Repressing now…!"
Ruby chuckles a bit at her disgusted reaction, "Yeah it was pretty gross, you should've seen Yang's face when I got her to watch the video with me. I didn't think a human could have that shade of green!"
The two laugh before coughing again from the exertion.
"This really sucks…" Nora complained again, "But if this means I can fly around with a giant grenade launcher, it's gonna be worth it!"
"Make that four…" Ruby pointed out, "You know, because of the extra arm and shoulder mounts?"
"Ren, did ya hear that?" Nora pesters, "Four grenade launchers!"
"Gods preserve us all…" Ren sighed with a fond smile, wincing as he lost his focus.
Before they could continue, the door was suddenly kicked open, startling them all as their team members came barging in with Yang at the head.
"There's my baby sister, how's it going?" she asked cheerfully with bottles of soda in hand, "Jeez, you all looked like messes. Brought you guys some stuff to drink, but it looks like you can't even sit upright."
"I feel like a mess…" Ruby jokes, "And I'll pass on the soda, thanks…"
"So this is what being augmented looks like?" Blake asks, eyes gazing over them, dressed in gowns with gauze and bandages underneath covering fresh surgical scars, "I guess it's even more painful than it looks?"
"Besides feeling like I pulled every muscle in my body? It feels like that time I got blown up from tinkering with Lightning Dust bullets." Ruby said, "My nerves feel funny."
"Like pop rocks." Nora joined in.
"I… don't think I want to know what that feels like." Pyrrha winces before setting down a gift basket on a table, "Here, I wish you all a speedy recovery."
"Snacks…" Nora drools, "Throw me a muffin, I don't think I can move my arms…"
Yang obliges, picking one up from the gift basket and throwing one with perfect accuracy as Nora catches it with her mouth, letting out muffled cheers in celebration.
"Don't speak with your mouth full," Ren warns as Nora scarfs down on it.
"The 'tingling' is likely the neural interface entangling with your biological nerves." Weiss explains, "It is a similar process that Sentinel augmentations use. Only far more advanced, allowing 10% less lag between electrical signals, and capable of sustaining up to 15% more G-force than an average NEST augmented Pilot."
"Yeah, but I'd rather not get my eyes pulled out." Yang gags, "Ruby showed me a video the other day. Can't believe you people would go through that."
"That allows for a more efficient interface with the AEGIS network, allowing a near seamless link with the scanners of an AC." Weiss huffs, "No matter how disturbing it may appear, Sentinel augmentations are at the end of the day, far superior."
"Are all these necessary though?" Pyrrha asks as she looks at the condition of her teammates, "Can't one Pilot without surgery?"
"It is possible. The White Fang have AC Pilots, but they don't have resources for augmentations." Blake said before adding quickly, "From what I heard on the news."
"She is correct." Weiss nods, "However, in practice, it is a difficult and impractical feat. Augmentations allow for one to both withstand the G-force exerted from high-speed movement without straining Aura and seamlessly pilot a mechanical vehicle without the lag of manual controls. All data has shown that compared to an augmented Pilot, unaugmented personnel suffer between 50 to 75% loss of combat ability."
Jaune who had been silent in the corner suddenly spoke up with interest, "Wait, so technically someone can be just as good without augments?"
"Hey, there's our fearless leader!" Nora yelled, "Didn't see you there, then again the only thing I can see right now is the ceiling. Can someone turn my head?"
Ren does so, stretching out his hand and pushing Nora's head a little enough so she can catch Jaune in her line of sight.
"Ow, ow, be gentle." Nora winced in pain from the slight movement before smiling, "Hey, feeling relieved you ain't lying in bed like the rest of us?"
"I…" Jaune was hesitant to reply, "I can take the pain if it means I could be a Pilot."
"There's always next year, isn't there?" Pyrrha asked, trying to cheer Jaune up before wondering.
"Yeah, and while I'm held back a year, the rest of you would be out being heroes," Jaune mutters, sounding somewhat bitter.
"I am curious how you got rejected, Miss Nikos." Weiss changed the subject, no longer interested in the previous one, "I am aware they were not necessarily testing for combat skills, but what did they ask you specifically in their interview?"
"Me?" Pyrhha looked embarrassed before answering, "Well, I didn't get past the first question. They asked for my motivation, but when I told them my answer, that Raven person appeared… dissatisfied."
"It was the same for me, and possibly for the rest of you?" Weiss asked the other new Pilots-in-training who agreed, "I see…"
"So they wanted to know what made you tick?" Yang asked before joking, "Was that a psych eval or an interview?"
"I told them I wanted to learn how to be a Pilot and a Huntsman because it felt like the role suited me." Pyrrha continued, "I'm a skilled fighter, so it made sense for me to fight to defend people."
"And the rest of you?" Weiss asked, looking over the others in the room except for Yang.
"...I wanted to fight for those oppressed," Blake speaks up after an awkward pause where everyone hesitates.
"Nora and I wished to prevent the tragedy we experienced from happening to others." Ren followed suit but didn't elaborate much on that.
"I…told them I wanted to be a great hero like my father and grandfather." Jaune hesitantly answered, but for some reason looked away when answering.
"Huh, all that sounded pretty much the same." Yang noticed, "Must be something else then?"
"Perhaps…" Weiss muttered before tucking that away for future contemplation. A program in her internal timer notified her that she had spent necessary allocated time for team bonding already, and must now focus on other matters.
"Before I leave…" Weiss takes out a stack of books from her bag and slams it on a table next to Ruby's bed, "Your study material for the day. I will visit at the same time for the rest of the week until you recover. Just because you are recovering does not mean you can slack off. As team leader your performance reflects ours."
"Yay…" Ruby sighed at the sight of books. As everyone else said their goodbyes and left, she wondered to herself. If all their motivations were very much alike, as Yang said, then what made her stand out? Why was she chosen?
"W-well, I'm pretty Miss Ayre remembers, you signed my applications after all." Ruby nervously laughs before answering, "I- I always wanted to be the hero. You know, like in the stories. Fighting bad guys, saving people, doing it in style."
Raven looks at her unimpressed as her nervous enthusiasm falters and then looks at Ayre, who is simply smiling and nodding.
"Yes, quite a unique reason for wanting to hop into a war machine designed for mass destruction. Don't you think so, Raven?" Ayre asked, turning to her partner who scoffs.
"Never heard that one before…" he admits before addressing Ruby, "Why?"
"B- Because, mostly because of my mother." Ruby says, her nervousness fading slightly as she becomes a bit sombre, "She… I grew up hearing about her stories, the things she'd do on missions, along with my dad and uncle."
"And then she died…" Raven said bluntly, startling Ruby as Ayre sighed, "About a decade ago… One final patrol… Is that how you want to end up?"
"I… don't want to die, sir. I don't think anyone would want to." Ruby gulped from how intensely he was glaring at her. It was the complete opposite of when she first met Ozpin, "But being a Huntsman sometimes means sacrificing for the greater good."
"And what's the greater good…?" Raven asked, "A thousand lives…? A hundred…? A dozen…?"
"I…Even if it's a single person-" Ruby answered but Raven cut her off.
"And if it's none at all…?" he asked, "If you die… before you can set out and save even a single person…?"
"I mean, that doesn't sound very statistically possible does it?" Ruby tries to hide her fears by cracking a joke but Raven doesn't look amused.
"Two years ago… Hazel Rainhart, Third Year Beacon student… Died during a training exercise against live Grimm… Not a single life saved." Raven recalls, "Happens all over the world… What makes you so special?"
Ruby hesitates to answer, and Raven's finger hovered over the reject button before Ayre suddenly interrupted.
"I have records of your grades from Signal, Miss Rose." Ayre speaks up, displaying her Scroll tablet, "It's said that for the first year, while your aptitude for weapons theory was excellent, your combat skills were subpar compared to the average. Many failing grades before it suddenly rose thanks to intervention by your uncle, Qrow Branwen."
"Oh yeah, I was trash before he started training me." Ruby quickly answered, grateful for the intervention.
"During that year of failures in combat lessons, did you ever feel like giving up?" Ayre asks, taking over the questioning, "It must have been disheartening."
"I mean, yeah it was." Ruby admitted, "But honestly, I never really did consider giving up. I really wanted to be a Huntsman like my mom was. To be a hero."
"And why?" Ayre asks, "I am aware of your insistence on wanting to save innocents. But is there something more to that?"
"..." Ruby pauses to think to herself before answering, "I guess… It would've been because I felt like it's where I belonged."
"...Belong?" Raven asked, his interest somewhat peaked as Ruby continued.
"Fighting Grimm it just makes me feel… Not exactly alive, but like it's where I should be. When I'm there it makes me feel happy, knowing that every Grimm gone is one Grimm that won't be hurting another person. I'm not good at explaining it, but it just feels like where I'm supposed to be." Ruby stumbles over her words as she tries expressing feelings she never considered before, looking up back at Raven, more confident than before, "I… don't think I'm special. I don't want to be. I just want to do what I do best, do what I like. Fighting monsters and saving people, whether it's as a Huntsman or Pilot."
"...It's not a pretty job." Raven says after a pause, "Grimm aren't the only monsters… Humans… Faunus… They can be worse… Will you kill those monsters?"
"I… I'll find other ways." Ruby said, somewhat taken aback by the question, "I don't want to kill people, I just want to stop them if they're going to hurt someone."
"If you can't…?" Raven asks.
"I'll find a way." Ruby insisted.
"If you can't…?" Raven asks once more.
"I'll find a way." Ruby repeats herself, sounding more confident, "No matter what. I think we have enough problems with Grimm trying to kill us, we don't need to do their jobs for them. So I'll find a way."
"..." Raven stares into her silver eyes for any sign of weakness before sighing and turning to Ayre, "Fine. You win…"
"Does that mean…?" Ruby doesn't dare to hope until Raven taps the button on his tablet,
"We'll see how far that takes you, trainee…"
"She's your favourite already…" Raven muttered as they watched three of their four trainee Pilots in the medical room of Beacon Academy doing simple exercises to get their bodies used to new movements. Ren was doing simple stretches while Nora was on the bed lifting a dumbbell, and Ruby was squeezing a grip strengthener with some difficulty.
"Relax, I won't treat her any different." Ayre assured, "She simply caught my eye. What surprised me was that you were surprisingly against her."
Raven remained silent as he stared through the window into the room, at Ruby, "She's young…"
"So are the rest." Ayre reminds me.
"Not as young as her…" Raven muttered, "The rest are old enough to be Huntsmen… Old enough… No idea what Ozpin was thinking…"
Ayre's smile falls as she looks at her partner with sympathy, "This is about her? She reminds you of Ziyi?"
It was before Watchpoint, before their contact with one another. After Rubicon and their time in Remnant, Raven had told her about the things he did before her. A 'confession' of sorts. Amongst one of them was mentions of a young Pilot, Little Ziyi.
A child forced to fight to defend her home against the corporate mercenaries invading her home for resources, Raven being among them.
"…" Raven looked distant. He had only learnt about how young she truly was after the mission… She was as old as Ruby was at her death. A gruesome death, where she spent her last moments cursing Raven with her dying breath.
It was one thing for Nora, Ren, Adam, and the first batch of Vanguard Pilots. They were all seventeen, the minimum age for Huntsmen-in-training. Back in the Sol System, it was the common age for enlistment on various planets and corporations. He signed up for Jupiter Wars around that age as well. But fifteen was still a child in his eyes.
"You've seen her determination." Ayre reminds, putting a comforting hand on Raven's shoulder, "She wants to fight to help people, more than anything. I say we give her the means to do so and survive. One can't fight the harsh realities armed only with conviction and resolve."
"No, you can't…" Raven agreed, "But let's see if she truly has what it takes…"
"This is it." Ruby gulped as she slipped into the slim flight suit they were each given, custom-made to fit them specifically. A black bodysuit that was to aid in interfacing their augments with the AC mechanisms, as well as resisting extreme G-forces on top of their Aura and augments.
Honestly, it felt embarrassing how tight it was, but it was overcome with how excited she was for their first lesson. Finally, after a week of sitting cooped up in a room with doctors running tests on them every day to make sure they were fine, were they getting some action.
She exits the changing room last, having arrived at the latest of the group and finding everyone already prepared.
"Hey guys! You're all ready?" she asked in excitement.
"So this is what we'll be wearing as Pilots." Ren muttered as he tugged at the skintight suit, "It's remarkably flexible yet it appears quite durable."
"Yeah, these things can take a low-calibre bullet." Ruby gushes, "Impact and heat resistant in case of shrapnel or energy weapons. They say they're trying to make suits like these cheap enough to mass produce for infantry in the Atlas Army."
Weiss scoffed as she raised her arm and observed the suit she wore, "The SDC Sentinel Corps possess flight suits of higher technology levels and quality. The seventh generation of suits is made of non-rigid titanium-based compounds that allow for quadruple durability and resistance. Add to that a prototype Electric Dust-based gel compound layer, and it allows for a near-perfect 1:1 synchronisation. And design-wise, it's much more appealing."
"Yeah, yeah, we get it. SDC stuff is better." Nora makes a hand gesture that resembles a yapping mouth behind Weiss' back, before hiding it behind her once Weiss turned to glare at her, "Hey I'm just saying, all that tech's not gonna be much good if you can't afford it."
"Yeah, I'd go for one as well but just the techsuit alone is like millions of dollars, and that's not getting into the Sentinel. It's like three times the cost of what NEST sells." Ruby chuckled awkwardly as she remembered the prices, "With NEST, at least I can pay it off eventually."
"Then enter a contract with the SDC and they will provide one for you in exchange for service." Weiss suggested, "Now unless you wish for us to be late for our first day, I suggest we hurry."
They agreed on that and started heading for the hangar where their classes would take place. It was a new building in Beacon recently created, located near the landing pads where transport Bullheads and other shuttles would land.
"You gotta admit, the suits aren't bad from a certain angle." Nora teases, a red flush on her cheeks as she walks behind Ren with her eyes glancing down.
"Ew," Ruby said, her cheeks burning bright red. Despite that, she had to admit that the suits did leave little to the imagination, and everyone was quite well-built. She distracts herself with thoughts on the schematic of weapon units wielded by ACs until they arrive at the large open hangar, and Ruby's jaw drops at the sight of ACs lining up the walls, each at least ten metres in height with technicians in visibility vests and safety helmets working over them.
"T-those are Loader models." Ruby whispers in recognition, "General Purpose Light Bipedal ACs. They use them to scout for and collect resources in Grimm territory and light escort duty."
"Good to see you know your stuff, trainee." a voice gets their attention and they find Raven approaching them along with a young Faunus with red hair and bull horns, wearing a similar coat but with red sunglasses and a katana at his side, "The name's Adam Taurus."
"The Adam Taurus?!" Ruby suddenly screeches before her hand slaps over her mouth, "Y-you're the pilot Ravager! The Dragonslayer! Your AC's CHAINBREAKER, Heavy Tetrapod AC!"
"A fan, eh?" Adam chuckled before approaching her and offering a hand, "Put it there, kid…"
Ruby excitedly moves to shake it before Adam suddenly slaps her hand away. She looks up and finds she is glaring down at him through his glasses with a frown.
"...Is what I'd say if we're friends. We're not. Now get down and give me twenty!" Adam suddenly roared in her face, "And no Aura or we'll double it, and add laps around the hangar!"
"Y-yes, sir!" Ruby says but was screamed at again.
"SIR?! I am not a 'sir'! I work for a living!" Adam screams inches away from her face, "I am Assistant Instructor Taurus! Or just Assistant Instructor! That is what you will address me by, for the rest of your three years here, am I clear Trainee Rose?!"
"Y-yes, si- Assistant Instructor Taurus!" Ruby stumbles over her words in panic.
"I'm not seeing any push-ups, Trainee Rose!" Adam yells once more and Ruby immediately drops to the ground, doing as he ordered.
"Trainees…" Raven greets them as he steps up towards them, "Meet Assistant Instructor Taurus… He'll be aiding me as his title suggests… Scream at you so I don't have to… Adam?"
"Yes, sir." Adam smirked at Raven before screaming at the rest of them, the volume startling Nora but both Ren and Weiss appear unfazed, "Now listen up, Trainees! Welcome to Practical Piloting Skills 101, or as I'd like to call it, the worst days of your miserable lives. Let me establish the pecking order of things real quick. There's you at the bottom of the totem pole, and then there is the dirt on that foot of that AC over there!"
He points behind him at an AC that had recently returned to the hangar and was undergoing cleanup,
"Then there is the equipment you'll be using!" Adam yells, jabbing a finger at the suits they are wearing, "Then there's the technicians! The other Assistant Instructors! The Instructors themselves! Am I clear, Trainees? Or are there any questions?!"
"No, Assistant Instructor Taurus!" everyone calls out including Ruby in between her push-ups.
"Good! Adam said before looking at Ruby, "That's enough, Trainee Rose. Get up, all of you follow me. We're going to start your first lesson."
Ruby starts getting excited once more and she can't help but blurt out, "We're getting our ACs?!"
Adam lets out a loud laugh before stopping and turning back, "Tell me, Trainees, what's one of the most important aspects of being a Pilot?"
"Er… Skills?" Ruby tried to answer.
"Too broad of an answer, another twenty push-ups." Adam said and Ruby gulped before dropping down again, "Any other shots?"
"Is it… Combat experience?" Ren tried his shot.
"Important, but not what I'm looking for and still too vague of an answer. Join her for twenty." Adam orders and Ren does so, "Wanna give it a try, Trainee Valkyrie?"
"Lots of ka-boom!" Nora guessed.
"Twenty push-ups," Adam said without hesitation, Nora shrugs as if she knew that was coming, getting down for her pushups.
Adam approaches Weiss next, "And what about you, Trainee Schnee? Does your fancy AI have an answer for this?"
"...Statistically, any answer I would give would result in me joining them for ten pushups." Weiss realised, "Or am I wrong?"
Adam smirked, "Feel free to join them then."
Weiss drops down and joins them for the push-ups as Adam paces in front of them.
"One of the most important aspects of a Pilot is how quick they respond." Adam says, "You gotta be ready to gear up and deploy halfway across the continent into the thick of things within the hour. Be it bandits with stolen MTs, or Grimm hordes, you need to be ready for rapid deployment. That's what makes a Pilot an effective combat force, besides our sheer firepower. And to do that, you need to familiarise yourself with your equipment."
"So… familiarising ourselves with ACs?" Ruby asks as Adam looks down at her, giving him a hopeful smile.
"Another twenty push-ups!" he ordered as they all groaned.
"What you wear is a standard NEST-issued tactical flight bodysuit used for aerial combat." Adam explains now wearing a fully-kitted version as they stand in a section of the hangar with tables full of various equipment before them, "Before you begin learning to fly, you all need to learn how to get ready to fly. Can anyone tell me the components before them?"
Weiss raises a hand but Adam shoots her down, "Except for the one with the computer in her head."
Weiss lowers her hand and Ruby hesitantly raises hers, "Trainee Rose, proceed."
"Uh, okay." Ruby squeaked before clearing her throat and picking up a helmet with a polarised, "This is the FCH-3, third-generation combat helmet with hardened uplink modules that translate data from an AC's sensors to give the Pilot information throughout a sortie."
She then picks up the harness on the table filled with equipment, "This is a pilot's harness equipped with a life preserver, emergency radio, flares, med kit and two days' worth of rations."
"Outstanding, Trainee Rose." Adam nods in approval, "Looks like someone did their homework. Which of you can now tell me the most important part of this set outside of the bodysuits?"
Ren raises a hand, "The helmet, Assistant Instructor?"
"Another right answer." Adam picks up his own customised helmet with the Mistralian numerals of the number two plastered on top of an old emblem number thirteen, "This piece of gear is not just to make sure your squishy parts are kept in, it's the second most vital component for AC combat right behind the AC itself. None of you can fly and fight while behind fifteen inches of hardened metal alloy carapace, can you? The first lesson is how to dismantle your helmets and put them back together. Can you tell me the purpose of this exercise, Trainee Lie?"
"So that we can understand how to repair and maintain our helmets." Ren assumed.
"Correct. By the time I'm done with you, all of you better treat this piece of gear with the same respect you give your eyes and ears because that's what they are! Now watch and learn, I'm only going to show you once." Adam said as he set his helmet on the table and began to dismantle it with skills obtained from years of drills and practice, explaining the critical components in his own way.
"Now this part's always tricky, watch your fingers and make double sure the battery's removed. Never cross the red and green wires. Trust me, the last time I saw someone forget, they almost lost a finger…" Adam lectured as he performed the procedure with a screwdriver and the students mimicked his actions.
Raven watches this all from the corner of this section, silently observing. Adam was focused on his helmet and did not bother to check if any of the students were catching up or understanding, letting them sink or swim with bare minimal guidance just like how Raven himself used to treat them. Yet he was slowing down dismantling his own helmet and putting it back together to give them a chance, as Raven knows he can do it in less than a minute.
He watches the students and notices none of them seem to have a problem with catching up; even Nora to his slight surprise was using her tools carefully and precisely. He supposes that's to be expected given her own custom-made weapon was a grenade launcher and she likely made her ammunition herself. But both she and Ren stumbled now and then though, due to their unfamiliarity with the device.
But the ones that were excelling were both Ruby and Weiss. The latter was expected, given AEGIS aid, something he disliked. She didn't appear to be paying attention to Adam's lecture, doing it at her own quick pace without listening.
Raven's attention was more tuned in towards Ruby, who didn't have such an advantage yet appeared to be matching her speed seamlessly with Adam, even if he was slowing down for his audience to register and understand. and without hesitation in her movements.
Suddenly Weiss finishes putting her helmet together and stands up, "Assistant Instructor Taurus, I have completed the dismantling and re-assembly of the FCH-3."
Adam pauses in his demonstration, looking at Weiss with an annoyed expression.
"...And? Was there a race I wasn't aware of? Some kind of contest?" he asked with a voice dripping with sarcasm, "Were you expecting a medal? Tell you what, since you finished early, and you clearly love races, why don't you give me laps around the entire hangar until we're done?"
"...Yes, Assistant Instructor Taurus," Weiss said, but they could see the slight twitch in her lips as she obeyed his orders.
Twenty minutes later the lesson was completed with all the pieces and components explained and everyone had their helmets reassembled for inspection.
"Sloppy work with the transceiver, but I'll give points for effort." Adam relents roughly as he inspects Nora's helmet, "A passing grade, Trainee Valkyrie."
Next came Ren, "The wirings a mess! Were you trying to make a crochet with them, Trainee Lie?"
"No, Assistant Instructor." Ren shakes his head as Adam berates him, slamming his helmet down.
"The visor's loose as well, not properly tightened. A passing grade." Adam said before approaching Ruby, "And what do you have to show us, Trainee Rose?"
He picks up her helmet and looks over it, both inside and outside. Through this, he doesn't say a word as Ruby sweats nervously while staring ahead.
"...Are you familiar with this piece of equipment, Trainee Rose." Adam asked, "Because it's either that or you somehow had a trained technician do this job while I wasn't looking."
"S-somewhat." Ruby gulped, "I'm very interested in Pilot equipment, Assistant Instructor. I looked up and understood everything I could dig up. A-and your demonstration helped me understand it better."
"...Outstanding work, Trainee." Adam admits as he slams the helmet down, "Now last and possibly least…"
He takes Weiss' helmet, which had returned from her lap and waits expectantly for her results. Adam simply looks over it before putting it down,
"Perfectly assembled and reassembled. As expected of a drone." he scoffed, "Maybe it would be more impressive if you didn't have your robot mommy holding your hand, Trainee Schnee."
Weiss looks annoyed at Adam's casual dismissal of her performance before walking back to where he stood, "Now you know how to make sure you don't go into sorties blind, good job, that's the bare minimum. We'll be going over the rest of your kit tomorrow, and I expect you to take care of them because we'll be inspecting them every week. Treat them like you would your own children, because if I find so much as a hairline crack, it's two weeks of latrine duty! Am I clear, Trainees?!"
"Yes, Assistant Instructor!" they all sound off.
"Good. Now I expect a report tomorrow summarising every part of the FCH-3 you learnt today." Adam yells, "Since I'm a nice guy, I'm letting you all off easy since this is our first day. Recovering from augment surgery is a pain in the ass, but you can expect things to be ramped up next time. And that's not even getting into the hell Instructor Raven is going to put you all through."
Adam points a thumb back at Raven who was sitting and observing through the entire class, never speaking a single word since their arrival but they could feel his gaze on them through the lesson.
"Dismissed Trainees. Get to your other classes before I stick you with more assignments," he ordered and they sounded off again before leaving. Once he was sure they were out of sight and hearing range, he turned to Raven with a wide smile, "God damn I love this job. How did I do?"
"You were really into it…" Raven said as he stood up, "Expected you to throw them into ACs on their first day like I did…"
"Well I would, but Ayre's orders. Besides, practically none of them had MT training." Adam shrugged, "At least Ironwood made sure his first batch knew the basics before they arrived."
"How long before we get them into the simulators…?" Raven asked, even though he already knew the answer, it was more of a test to his old student.
"I'd say… Another week of practical lessons." Adam responded, "Looked to me like they could keep up. We'll give them a test by then, to see if they really learnt anything. Planning to run them through the Wall? I can get a betting pool up and-"
"No…" Raven shakes his head, surprising Adam, "I got another thing planned for them…"