Sent To Protect and Serve Humanity

Chapter 52: Malfunction

3rd POV

Atlas Academy was such a sprawling structure for just about anybody. Easy to get lost in without a guide. Hard to navigate if you're unfamiliar with the maze of halls and corridors.

Fortunately for Wellington, she did have a guide to this maze. Perth and the girl had always been close thanks to their similarities in heritage. It was something to bond over for them.

Together, they would navigate the halls of the academy, hand-in-hand, receiving the odd stare from the occasional student or staff. However, they wouldn't care. In fact, Wellington was more busy staring at Perth's neck, analyzing a peculiar bruise-like mark on him.

"Hey, Roo?" She spoke up, interrupting some unheard rant of his.

"Yeah, Kiwi?" He responded, looking down at her with a curious gaze.

The girl would gesture to her own neck as she spoke. "Are you okay? You've got a bruise on your neck." Her curiosity turned to genuine worry.

Perth's eyes widened as he placed his free hand over the bruise, a bit flustered now. "Oh, erm... that was just a little something Yang gave me- but you don't have to worry about it." He awkwardly chuckled and rubbed his neck.

Wellington frowned. "Did she... hit you?" She held his hand a little tighter, using her other hand to dig through a small bag at her side.

"Of course not!" Perth answered resolutely. "When- uh..." He searched for the right words to use. "When someone l-loves a person a whole lot... they give them these..."

The repair ship paused and produced a tan band-aid with a cute little teddy bear on it. "C'mere."

The Australian destroyer would sigh and come to a stop. He would lean forward as the New Zealander tiptoed up to place the little band-aid on his hickey, carefully massaging it onto his neck. She would giggle and hug his waist as he rubbed the band-aid.

"All better, Roo?" Wellington looked up to him with a toothy grin.

"Thanks, Kiwi." Perth smiled and gently pat her head. "All better."

They would once again hold hands and continue down the hall, set on reaching their destination.

______________________________________

Nearby, the control room for the training modules was rather empty, save for those currently looking over the virtual simulations. These people had taken over the control room for the time being to implement the final improvements for the modules.

Watching a series of fights in the virtual grounds of a modified Amity Arena, Oscar, Onwards and Courageous intently watched the monitors. Sitting nearby with his laptop, Valorous would quietly type away as he inserted new lines of code into the simulation, several cables and terminals hooked up to his device. At the main terminal, Resolute and Spring both took detailed records of the fight between Teams RWBY, (C)RJN, and Winter.

"So, hear about those riots?" Courageous turned to the boy she sat with. "The ones in Mantle." She was a bit uninterested in the training, opting to focus on the destroyer instead.

"Ja." Onwards replied, briefly nodding. "They're all against Schnee." He said with a hint of venom against the name, not particularly against his partner whom he watched.

"You say Schnee like you aren't getting married to one." The frigate rolled her eyes, leaning back in the chair and kicking her feet up.

"What?" The destroyer turned to her with a baffled expression.

"Don't even, Onnie. Don't even." She waved her hand in his face. "Everybody knows Weiss would legitimately kill someone over you." A shrug followed. "Probably Velvet, too. You should see the way they glare at other women who are even near you, aside from your sister and me."