"Sa-lu-tations!" Penny greeted the Spartans excitedly, grabbing Fred's hand and shaking it violently enough to concern him about broken bones, "My name is Penny Polendina! You must be comrades and friends of the Master Chief's! Oh, it's such a pleasure, not to mention a relief, to see you around! The good Chief has been mostly alone for the duration of his stay in Beacon, even with me and my own good friends around! It was quite disheartening to see! Oh, but now that you're here, it will be wonderful, I bet!"
"... Uh-huh... Hello, Penny," Fred nodded, then looked to Chief and switched to single-beam com so she wouldn't hear them and asked "Local?"
"Yeah," He replied with a nod, finally calm as he saw his team-mates there, all of them now with weapons holstered, "We've got a lot to talk about on the flight back. RV point still remains the same, though."
Fred nodded, turning back to the beaming girl and stating, "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise! Uh... Y-You have a name?" She asked awkwardly. Cortana hummed into Fred's com as she beamed quickly-compiled information of the cover story she and John undertook here to their suits' HUDs. He hummed, casting a glance toward John and the AI as he read through the file, then sighed and looked back to Penny, while Kelly and Linda also read the files.
"Fred," He nodded.
"A pleasure, Fred!" She stated
"I'm Kelly," The scout waved, scratching the top of her helmet almost absentmindedly. Penny waved back.
"Linda," Added the Sniper, crossing her arms to her chest. She approached John, looking at the little ginger just as the roar of engines echoed from overhead. Aboard the Bullhead, Chief saw Ozpin, a smile on his face, with Glynda to his left and Ruby to his right, the lattermost jumping from one foot to the other with childlike joy as she saw the Supersoldiers before them.
The smile Ozpin bore was... Weird. Familiar... Even to John. He disregarded it for now, setting the thought aside and watching as the man disembarked from the vehicle and stated "Greetings. I take it you are the Master Chief's compatriots. I am Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon. Welcome." with a friendly demeanor. All three nodded just as Ruby surged forward and started examining them and their kit. Linda watched the little red riding-reaper roaming around them, a smile on her face. She only stopped to laugh with Penny about the fact that they had even more cool people about.
John looked to Fred and the others, then nodded as Cortana seemed to work through the data with them. Fred and the others stood at attention upon the arrival of the Headmaster, while John readied himself for a slew of questions regarding his team. Fred stood before the Headmaster, staring at the man that was only an inch or two shorter in height, then said, "Sir," instinctively, for some reason, surprising even himself.
"At ease, I'm not quite part of the military," Ozpin smiled, "We must discuss this matter further in my office. Chief, if you could rally your squad and miss Polendina."
"Already on it, Headmaster," The Spartan nodded, then waved his team to the vehicle, with Penny and Ruby not far behind, the two giggling like schoolgirls as they exchanged small-talk about the Spartans. Or so Chief could hear. Meanwhile, Cortana was processing the data around her, reading out info and finding out what little she could about the next bunch of arrivals. They were in flight, so that told her enough.
She patched into Vale's Air-Traffic Control communications, listening in as the ATC spoke with the arrivals and departures from Vale's airport, before turning to more direct com lines to Airships and even an unidentified Bogey on approach to the RV point, which Cortana had now relocated to Beacon's Landing Site, sending the updated coordinates via broadband intranet with a secured connection to them.
Beacon wasn't far from the forest. In fact, it'd been a five minute flight back. And indeed, as Cortana had expected, they caught sight of both new arrivals. The first was a massive airship that was offloading supplies onto the deck. The second was, shockingly enough, a Pelican Cortana almost instantly recognized. As did the Chief, when they disembarked.
The crew around it, both the Spartans and the Pilots, held weapons close as they were surrounded by a squad of Atlas troops clad in white and with varying colors of under-suits. Ozpin called out to the men, "Stand down! These must be more of the Chief's comrades. I'm fairly certain the General would like to talk to them as well." And, to that, he actually saw the Atlas troops stand down. He looked to the Chief, then said "Strange to see some of your compatriots landing here."
"Don't we know it..." Murmured Cortana, a smile on her face. The next and final Spartan-II of the team joined the line just as Cortana was sending him the data. All of Blue Team turned to face the man and gasped collectively, staring at him. He turned to them and gave the same gesture that Fred had shown to the Chief. The Spartan Smile. The others answered promptly, with similar gestures, John included and unable to hold himself back.
He walked up to Sam, placing a hand on his shoulder and staring right at where the wound on his MJOLNIR would have been. Placing a hand there, Chief stared at the man, hiding a smile even he couldn't control behind that helmet. The other trio of IIs from the Pelican, Jorge, Daisy and Cal, joined in on the meeting as well, with Jorge slamming an open palm onto Sam's back and Daisy and Cal giving quick salutes to their long-lost friend.
Watching the solemn exchange, Ozpin smiled, while the Atlas troops behind him dispersed and Ruby seemed to be freaking out. NOBLE Team soon rallied up with the rest of the Spartans, saluting them promptly, the Chief himself included. Oz then looked to the giddy Ruby and the awed Penny and said "Quite a sight to behold, is it not? This is a reunion of comrades, ones who have seen much together..." with a most solemn and sad undertone to his whispered voice.
"Quite awe-inspiring indeed, Headmaster..." Penny smiled, then paused and raised a brow, "Uhm... Where shall we house them all, though? I'm... Not sure our little cottage can fit all of them and their equipment."
"I will send for bunk beds..." Ozpin chuckled with melancholy, "We should have plenty of room then."
"Indeed!" Penny beamed, then looked toward where Ruby had once been, "Ruby, dear frie-" And she cut off, tracking a stream of petals toward the heavily-armored, aerodynamic dropship that the other comrades of the Chief's had arrived in, to see the girl swooning over the heavily-armed bird as her crew laughed. Penny, too, smiled again, turning back toward the sight.
Kelly and Linda stared at Sam and Chief as they seemed to speak simply through their actions. Handshakes and more Spartan Smiles followed by Sam bumping his fist into the Chief's own chest-plate lightly. He looked to Fred, whom had also joined the group, then extended his hand, which his old pal gripped and shook firmly. Jorge also looked to the Chief now, nodding to him, then motioning to Noble Team to rally up. Chief whistled loudly over broadband com, though, then said, with as calm a voice as he could muster, "At ease, everyone... We need to head out to Headmaster Ozpin's office. I think we have a lot to talk about," And he turned to the smiling man, who simply nodded.
"Right this way, please, all of you," He motioned toward the tower, then looked to the apprehensive pilots and said, "Please. Your ship will remain untouched, I promise."
Carol looked to her co-pilot, then to Ozpin and shrugged, stating, again, almost out of instinct, "I'll hold you to that, sir," and wondering why she did so.
Ozpin looked over to Ruby and said, "Miss Rose, why don't you and miss Polendina go let your friends know of... Well, all of this..." He chuckled, motioning broadly at the posse of super-powered elite soldiers in Power Armor around him. Ruby nodded quickly, then looked to a paused Penny and took her hand. The ginger girl tensed, then eased back and nodded.
"I will see you all at the cottage, Dylan!" She waved to Chief in particular, which garnered looks from the others.
"Long story..." Cortana transmitted to all Spartans over com, "Hello, all of you, both familiar and new faces. I'm Cortana, Chief's AI... And boy, do I have a story for all of you... But first, I will need all of you to read these files I'm sending you about our little cover story. I'm fairly certain the good headmaster won't get to ask all of you things, but for any that he does, I figure it's best if you know your role in all of this..."
"Roger," replied every Spartan over com as well, their external mics shut off as they lined up into a marching formation. Chief nodded to Ozpin, who started walking. Several pairs of heavily-armored boots thundered against concrete in synch. The Spartan platoon marched behind the Chief and the Headmaster, weapons stowed on their backs and smiles hidden behind heavy armor plating, under-suits and orange-tinted bulletproof glass.
"This will certainly pique the good General's interest..." Murmured Glynda as she looked at the Atlesian air battleship hovering a kilometer or two away from Beacon, to which Ozpin smiled, nodding in agreement. Any students currently in the courtyard found themselves staring directly at an armored wall of titan-like teens, all of them armed to their very teeth and settled in suits that looked beyond anything even modern militaries could conjure.
It'd taken several trips up and down with the Elevator, much to the surprise of the good general, for all Spartans present to be brought upstairs. John and his team, however, were at the forefront of this aligned elite supersoldiers, standing at attention in front of the good General, Glynda and Ozpin himself. Ironwood looked at all of them, then asked with half a mouth, "I... Take it this is your crew?"
"Sir," Chief nodded, "Yes, sir."
"Well, I'll be damned..." He murmured, "Greetings, everyone."
"Sir!" All Spartans present beside the Chief saluted, more out of respect for the rank than the man whom they've yet to know. Carol and her co-pilot, Jimmy, sat in the back of the group, though, hidden from sight and reading the briefing of the cover story. Ironwood found multiple distinguishing features between the armor sets the Spartans wore, but most of them seemed to contain a similar design.
Indeed, they were military. Even the equipment was seemingly standardized. Ironwood spoke, "I am glad to see that, despite what the Chief thought, he was not the last of his people. Welcome to the wider world of Remnant. I am general James Ironwood, of the Atlas military and its eponymous Academy for Huntsmen and Huntresses. I presume the good Headmaster already introduced himself... So... The elephant in the room is how so many of you came about. Chief? Care to enlighten us?"
"Sir," The Spartan nodded, "I believe they made it to the escape pods in time."
"And jettisoned themselves close-by... Curiously lucky," James observed.
"Indeed," Ozpin noted, looking to the Chief, "It may seem preposterous, but I do believe the Master Chief."
"Oz?" Ironwood raised a brow, his voice now low.
"It's fine, James. Like I said, I trust our new hire, even if he is new. The fact that his fellow squadmates arrived can only be a boon for us," The good headmaster stated, surprising even Glynda with the honest assessment. James wanted to say something, to protest, it was clear in his eyes, but he sighed and relented, nodding to Oz. The man continued, "However, there is the matter of all of you being here."
He saw them tense up, then said "We appreciate and welcome more reinforcement for the security of our school, however the situation remains that there are at least two dozen of you on the premises. Two dozen we're not sure we can properly house anywhere but near by the Chief and miss Polendina, if not with them. Before James starts with a series of questions he desired to ask of all of you, I will ask you this first:Would you all be comfortable in sleeping on bunk beds while we either acquire a bigger building to house all of you, or...?"
"We'll be fine, sir," Fred offered a nod, "We're sticking with the Chief."
"Very well, then," Ozpin smiled, nodding to him, then looking to the General and gesturing at him to go on.
"Right..." The general arranged his tie around his neck with his gloved hand, then said, "I fully understand the wish of the Headmaster to keep your force around, believe me, but there is the matter of interaction between our forces. Master Chief, can I openly rely on the fact that our troops and yours will interact on peaceful terms, meaning that they will not cause friction?"
"Sir," The Spartan nodded, "We're all on the same side."
James nodded, smiling, "Good to hear, Chief. Now, I do have some questions for the three others beside you... Let's start with..." He looked over to Linda, then said "You, miss..."
Linda had chosen on her short talk with Cortana to go with a name that was eerily familiar to her. She spoke, "Petty Officer First Class Pravdin, sir." going with her 'family' name instead of the normal one. She made a mental note to ask Cortana what she knew about the name itself:etymology and the likes. She'd've liked to know a lot about it, honestly, since it brought back a slew of old, muddy memories.
"Very well, Petty Officer," James nodded, "What is it you did within Chief's unit?"
"I act as the team's sniper, sir," She answered.
"I see. I presume you can reliably hit shots, considering the amount of equipment on display," He stated, somewhat unknowingly bruising the girl's modest ego. She nodded wordlessly, well aware she shouldn't mouth off to an officer, even one from a foreign military. Instead, she took the hit and watched as Ironwood went on to state, "It's good to know we have a markswoman among us, then. Glad to meet you, petty officer."
"Likewise, sir," She nodded.
"Now..." He looked over to Kelly, "You, miss."
"Sir. Petty Officer second class Shaddock," The scout spoke more softly than Linda, but with the focus and calmness you'd hear from one of the team's most elite. She promptly answered the next question the man was going to ask with little hesitation, "I act as the scout for the team, as well as the bruiser, if the situation requires me to engage in CQC."
"And you're fairly quick-witted, too," Ironwood replied coyly, "Very well. Glad to meet you as well."
"Same, sir," Kells nodded, then looked to Chief and gave ever-the-slightest nod of her head. It was gonna be fine, she figured.
"Now... Last but not least, you," He nodded to Fred.
"Sir. Lieutenant Ellsworth, sir. I am... I guess, you could call me the team's second-in-command," Fred noted rather openly and calmly.
"I see," Ironwood hummed, "Good to meet the three of you as well. And I'm sure I will get to know the rest of the platoon as we go on along, but for now, if you'll excuse me, I have a call to make," and with that, he stepped off out of the place. Ozpin sighed, watching the man pull his scroll out of his jacket and make the call as he boarded the elevator, while Glynda looked over to Ozpin.
"Want me to go after him?" She asked.
"It's fine, Glynda. Thank you," The man stated, then looked to the Chief and said, "Welcome to Vale, everyone. Mister Braun, if you don't mind leading your comrades to your home. I have something I need to deal with, but I will send you a message soon. We may have another mission for you and your teams," before motioning to the elevator. John nodded, stepping toward the elevator with everyone.
After a few more minutes of shifting the Spartans and their pilots from the office to the first floor, the group now marched in unison toward the home of the Chief and his comrade, Penny. Cortana, meanwhile, piped up, "Everyone has the cover of Wyvern memorized now, I think," as she looked over the data that had accrued from their arrival over in Vale.
"Good," John stated. He gazed back, to see Sam, Fred, Kelly and Linda walking together.
"Almost thirty years now, right?" She asked, "Since Sam..."
"Mhm..." Chief noted.
"I'm glad he's back," The AI said, "I'm glad all of them are back... But I don't think they're gonna be the last."
"No... I think we're just getting started," John promptly answered joyfully, the most emotion Cortana had seen him show in forever. She smiled brightly too as she finished sending the Spartans information over the single-beam communication system that linked all MJOLNIR suits since their inception. She also made sure to let them know they should read the briefings on Remnant, its people, its quirks and its history to ensure maximum acclimatization and chances of survival and adaptation grew.
Chief propped open the door of the house and found a sight to behold. Penny and Ruby, both wearing aprons over their respective clothing sets, which, in Ruby's case, was the Beacon uniform, all stained by dough. Fully opening the door, he saw the two girls beaming. Penny greeted cheerfully, "Sa~lu~tations! We're so glad you made it so quickly!"
"Heck yeah! The cookies are still warm!" Ruby cheered, to the surprise of the UNSC Personnel.
After a quick series of thanks, each Spartan had got their own foodstuffs and a cup of warm milk to go with the two-cookie ration they'd received. The girls looked between them, waiting to see what Spartan would be the first one to take his or her helmet off. They'd already seen the Chief without it, of course, but... They saw the Chief nodding to everyone and took that as a sign to go over to Penny's room for the moment. He undid the seal of his helmet and set it aside, despite the usual stigma any Spartan saw in sharing their face with anyone outside the team. Penny and Ruby didn't know it, but to have a Spartan show their face was a great sign of respect and trust...
Sam, of course, followed John, taking his helmet off to reveal a handsome, unharmed young man with short hair trimmed to nearly the skin and a pair of piercing blue eyes. He smiled at John, a familiar face that the Spartan had never forgotten. Following him, Linda showed her face. Short, ginger hair, deep teal eyes and a beautiful young woman's face, even with her own few scars. She beamed at the other two, despite herself. Fred came next, just as handsome as Chief and Sam, but with deep black hair and a few scars of his own. He nodded, narrowing his lips as he smiled.
Finally, Kelly, who was murmuring to herself, undid the seal of her helmet and pulled it off her head, then muttered, "Oh, thank God... My head was killing me..." And she saw all Spartans present and the two Remnant-born girls staring with wide eyes, the two girls rapidly closing the door behind them and bursting into a quiet laughing fit there. Sam snorted, covering his mouth to hide his grin, while Daisy beamed and Cal stared with wide eyes at her. Of course, Daisy had taken her helmet off and was showing her own youthful face... Kelly swallowed empty, then asked "What...? Is...? Is there something on my face?"
An eerie silence filled the room as the Spartans stared at their comrade. Kelly paled for a moment, feeling the tension in the room grow thick as even NOBLE team stared with disbelief, their helmets now off their heads. Most other Spartans had also taken their helmets off, checking each-other's heads and silently questioning what they were seeing. Kelly was getting even more worried...
Until Cal finally took her helmet off, wide amber eyes and twitching, platinum-blonde hair greeting Kelly's eyes first, before the two wolf's ears twitching atop her head. Cal smiled awkwardly, even paler than her usual skin tone and asked in a whisper, "By the Gods, you too?" which got Kelly to quickly raise her free left hand and check the top of her head. Her gloved fingers brushed against something soft and fleshy. Grabbing onto it, she ran her fingers through it and felt it twitch.
"... Wh..." She pulled her helmet up to her face, staring right at the polarized visor... Two long rabbit's ears, colored a deep, dark blue like her short, tomboyish hair poked out from the top of her head, the right flopping slightly. Wide blue eyes stared at the top of her head as she ran her hand up and down the left ear again. She blinked, looked up to a spooked Cal, then back to herself and back to Cal.
"... Well..." John hummed, "I guess that nickname of yours got another reason to exist..." with the most dead-serious face the Spartans had ever seen.
If Chief had joked, the Spartans weren't sure, with that wonderful poker face of his intact and active. Still, all of them found the need to stem the tide of laughter that threatened to overwhelm them. Some failed, though they laughed discretely, like Sam off to Kelly's left, who hid his laughter in his hand and avoided staring. She looked over to the blonde, ramming a fist into his armored shoulder and yelling "This ain't funny!" before wincing as she looked to John and calling out, "This is NOT funny! WHY DO I FEEL THEM!?"
"I don't know..." John replied in a whisper, he himself now harboring a desire to smirk at his old friend's predicament. He cleared his throat, trying to avoid letting out even a hint of laughter, even though he, too, felt the need to, "But I guess you are a Faunus now, Kelly. Both you and Cal," He sighed. Daisy, meanwhile, was having a fit of laughter worthy of her usual antics back when they were being trained.
"... Sister..." Cal murmured, staring at Kelly like a wolf would at one of her own pack.
"... How am I gonna fit these into my helmet?" Kels sighed, rubbing her eyes, then she looked around and asked "Wait! How come the rest of you aren't touched by this!?"
"We don't know," John shrugged.
"We'll figure it out, though... Right?" Fred snorted, looking over Kelly's ears, "... Maybe it ain't so bad? I mean... They're kind of... Oh, what is the term normal troopers and Civvies use... Cute? They're cute on the two of you."
Kelly squinted, glaring daggers at Fred as her right hear flopped about. The CO Spartan averted his gaze, stifling a hearty bout of laughter with nothing but sheer training and his usual skill, stating a simple, "Right, nevermind..." then looking to Daisy as she finally started calming down. Annoyed, Cal slammed a fist into her shoulder to settle her down, garnering a stare of surprise out of her old partner while she glared ICE at him.
"Ah, right..." Chief remembered, seeing Daisy without the little Teddy-bear Chainlet wrapped around her armor's breastplate. He checked his armor's pockets, pulling it out and extending it to the blonde, before stating, "Next time, take more care, Daisy. This is your favorite little trinket if I remember our time during training properly. Which I should..."
The blonde's gaze now softened as she was handed her old teddy chainlet. She smiled at John, then mouthed a silent 'thank you' as she clipped the bear back in its place on her CQC armor. Cal sighed, rubbing her eyes, then whispered, "So... We're all here... We're all alive, somehow. Can I just say that... It's good to see at least some familiar faces? No offense to all of Noble except for Jorge, but..."
"We understand," Carter nodded, "We're Threes, not Twos... Not the same thing or even the same relationship. Trust us, Commander Ambrose told us."
"'Commander Ambrose'?" Kelly looked back to Carter, "We... Don't have a Spartan named Ambrose in the II class..."
"Kurt," Jorge noted, smirking, "Kat gave me some of the black ink to read while we were on the bird over."
"... Kurt was alive and training Spartans?" Kelly raised a brow. The revelation hit the room like a brick hit a window. After a moment of muted surprise and the processing of the situation, the girl sighed and smiled, "Oh, well, that's good to know... Maybe we'll get to meet him here... And the rest of your units, too, Noble Team. A pleasure, by the way."
"Pleasure's all ours," Carter nodded, "Jorge told us a lot about you."
Everyone looked to Jorge, who shrugged and said, "What can I say? I enjoy talking about my family. Trust me, you guys and girls will love Noble, though. They're almost like us. Kurt's done a fine job training both their companies."
"Entire Companies, huh?" Sam looked to Carter. He nodded.
"Well..." John sighed, "That's at least six hundred extra Spartans trained by one of ours..."
Everyone nodded in agreement. Fred said, "It's nice to know Kurt's been busy, even in his state of MIA."
A few chuckled. More nods. The room went quiet as Ruby, her face stuffed with ten cookies, exited Penny's room, bowed and said with a mouthful "mush gow! Weam neess me!(Must go! Team needs me!)" And, with that, she vanished into a cloud of petals, while Penny closed the door behind her. The ginger seemed distraught, even as she bore her usual smile.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but... Your cookies and milk must've cooled down by now!" The ginger stated. Everyone looked to the treats they each had in their hands and the cups of milk. Indeed, they had turned lukewarm only, surprisingly enough. They nodded to Penny, then started eating while she gauged their reactions. Much like the good Master Chief's initial reaction to cookies, his teammates' were positively entertaining and heartwarming... While also being saddening. What child born would not remember having Cookies?
Well, aside from diabetics, Penny figured, since Sugar wasn't exactly good for them. They were the most susceptible to issues regarding the consumption of sugary treats, but these soldiers did not exhibit the signs of diabetes in the least. No change in coloration, no weakness, no nothing of the sort, so why? Why had they not had Cookies ever, in their entire life? Penny would've enjoyed tasting them too, if she wasn't all machine, but they didn't need to know th-
"Penny," Dylan spoke to her, snapping her out of her trance. She looked to him as he asked, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine..." She nodded rapidly, "Ooh! Right! Where are my manners!" She realized, "To the rest of the Chief's comrades, greetings and salutations! I am Penny Polendina, the Master Chief's fellow security officer for Beacon's grounds and liaison of the Kingdom of Atlas to Vale's security forces. It is a pleasure to meet all of you and I hope we will get along!"
Everyone nodded, hummed and agreed... Some smiled at the ginger and she smiled right back at them.
To be fair, Penny was just distracting herself. From her new mission...
She disliked the general's woeful request... But alas, she had to follow orders. A good soldier followed orders, after all.
Didn't they?