Missing in Action (Noble Six Reader x RWBY)

Part IV: No Time

I’m at Emerald Forest now. I recall Ozpin’s words after his introduction. I walk through the forest, waiting to be attacked. I must kill a pack of Beowolves. Three Ursas. One scorpion-like Grimm. And some sort of bird-like Grimm.
I walk for a few dozen minutes, finding no Grimm. “Where are th-“ Suddenly, a low growling comes to my ears. “Nevermind.” Three Beowolves come out from the bushes. “Three verses one? How unfortunate… for you.” One throws itself at me and I sidestep. I need to save ammunition. It hits the ground, and I bring my armored fist into its bone-like helm, crushing it to smithereens. I heard feet hitting the ground, going faster each second. Without looking, I threw myself forward. Behind me, two Beowolves slam their heads together. They seem dazed and I run at them, drawing my knife. I put it in one of their eyes and stomp the other’s head in. Both dissipate and the other one already disappeared.
I hear my coms go off, “Due to the size of the pack, you will need to either kill another pack or at least three more Beowolves.”
“Copy that.” I walk further into the forest, searching for Grimm. I pull the DMR from my back and point it forward. A few stomps come from twelve o’clock. Suddenly, a bear-like Grimm appears from the trees. It stands on its hind legs. I take my DMR and fire a third of my clip in between its eyes. Each bullet strikes home and it slowly falls to the ground with a thump.
The Grimm dissipates. “You still have two Ursas left to kill.” I only nod this time and keep walking. I throw my DMR back on my back.  I should save my DMR’s ammo for a bird.
POV Ozpin
“Excuse me, Professor?” I hear Ruby’s voice call.
I look to her, seeing her stand near me. “Is it something of importance?”
She hums, “A little. I was just wondering why Noble Six’s initiation is so harsh?”
I sigh. “That time of knowing will soon come.” I pause and look back to the screen. “For now, just continue watching Noble Six’s ability on the field.”
“Alright.” she says, begrudgingly.
POV Noble Six
I had come across another miniscule pack of Beowolves and two Ursas. One of the Ursas starts charging me. “If you successfully dispatch these Grimm, you will only have three units left.”
I bring my Assault Rifle out and charge aa well. I immediately start firing shots into the bear’s stomach. I feel a Beowulf hit my legs, almost causing me to fall. Instead, I hold my ground. The Ursa is lower, but jumps when it gets closer, intending to smash me with its body. I take my Assault Rifle and use the butt of it to slam it onto the Beowulf. It draws back and I dive out of the way. The Ursa hits ground and a yelp echoes throughout the forest. I see some black smoke rise from underneath the Ursa. I swiftly run up onto the Ursa and get out my knife. I plunge it into the Ursa’s neck. I bring it out as it dissipates. I hear quick footsteps to my left and duck. I slip off the Ursa while the Beowulf tumbles. I fire the rest of my clip into the Beowulf’s head. It couldn’t take it and turns into a black smoke. I throw my magazine to the side and put in my last one.
“Damn.” I put my rifle onto my back and retrieve my knife. The last Beowulf runs at me and I sidestep, whilst lowering my knife. The Beowulf runs straight into it, slicing the top of its mask and cutting a line into its back. It tumbles into smoke. “Last one.” It charges me like the last, but swings its arms. I slip under one arm and drive my knife into its leg, causing it to almost fall. I get behind it and fling myself at it. It falls and I jump onto its back, continuously driving my knife into the neck while it falls. When it hits the ground it dissipates. I get off of it and put my knife into its case.
“Beowolves and Ursas successfully neutralized.” Ozpin’s voice announces over the coms.
I hear a noise from above me and see a feather flying toward me at high speeds. I dodge to the right as it strikes the ground, impaling it. I bring out my DMR. I start shooting one wing over and over, dodging as feathers come, until my clip runs out. I attach my second last clip into my rifle. It opens its mouth and shrieks. I fire another third into its mouth as it gulps down bullets. It starts falling to the ground. It flies past me and runs into several trees and branches. A thin line of smoke rises as it falls.
“Nevermores are no more!”  I hear a voice over the coms shout.
“Yes. Ruby is correct.” I continue walking through the forest, searching for the scorpion. “Only a Death Stalker stands.” I hear a squeal over the coms as well. I search for a long time for the Death Stalker. Eventually, I come by a cave. I walk into the cave, noticing it ends abruptly. Yet, I continue walking, thinking I see white in the brown soil.
“The hell?” I notice medal behind soil and dirt. I wipe the dust and soil with my armored hand. “What the hell!” I reveal a medal structure. I wipe more of the dirt away. Slowly, I make out a Forerunner-like structure.. “This isn’t right. It can’t be.”
“What’s wrong?” Ozpin voice rings in my ears. I develop a fist and punch the structure.
“Dammit! Why couldn’t she be wrong?” I pause, punching the structure again. “Now… I have to take care of them, now.”
Ozpin voice continues speaking in my ears, but I don’t hear it. I remove the rest of the soil. “(Y/N)!” Ozpin’s voice demands in my ears. I didn’t think he would say my name. “B312, I order you to complete your task and come back!” he barks.
I stare at the white wall I revealed. “Yes sir.” I say after some time.
***
I reach the stage, later on that day. “Noble Six, due to your courageous and impressive skills shown in your combat, you are now permitted to attend this academy. Later on, come by my office to get an official schedule.” Ozpin announces to me and the entire school. For some reason, I have a feeling my schedule is going to deal with something else. “Furthermore, there will be no classes to attend today. Go off and use the day to its fullest potential. You’re all dismissed.” Everyone seems happy about the news. “And B312, sorry about announcing your personal identity. I had to get your attention.” He says after most of the students leave.
I hesitate, “It’s fine. After all, I’ll need to learn to listen to you.”
“Yes. For now, I will take my leave. Judging by the fact that two teams are still here, I presume you have a celebration of sorts to go to.” I nod and he leaves.
I feel someone charge me full force and I actually fall over. A red cloak is atop me. “Yay! You did it!” Ruby squeals in my ears.
“Yea. You did very well.” I hear Blake announce.
“Agreed.” Pyrrha says.
I pick Ruby up, “Do you put the same amount of effort in the bed?” Yang says. I stand and set Ruby down in front of me.
I look around to see everyone’s face being red and staring at Yang. “What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Umm…” Jaune starts, “didn’t you just hear Yang?”
“Yes. What of it?”
“Aren’t you embarrassed?” Weiss asks, or rather shouts.
“No.” I pause, “Why would I be?” I notice the smirk on Yang’s face go to a frown.
“Don’t mind them.” Pyrrha says. “But more importantly, I have a question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“Who’s (Y/N) and what’s B312?”
“I had the same question.” Ren announces to me.
“I was hoping it wouldn’t come down to this.” I pause, “(Y/N) is my real name and B312 is my code number.”
“Code number?” Weiss asks.
“It doesn’t matter.” I say quickly.
“Anyway!” Ruby shouts, “Lets do something! How about we buy some cookies!?” For some reason, I have a feeling that was not a suggestion.
“Ruby...” Weiss says in an exasperated tone.
***
I go up the elevator of Ozpin’s tower. The door opens and Ozpin greets me. “And what pleasure do I owe you?”
“You know why I asked you to come here.” he announces to me.
I chuckle. “I need to tell you of something. The reason why I believe I appeared here instead of some other planet.”
“If that’s the case, sit down.”
I do as told. “So, a few nights ago, I came to the conclusion a parasite lives here.” Ozpin raises his eyebrow. “This parasite is unlike anything that you or I have seen. It attacks the nervous system and steals the host’s body. Needless to say, they are a threat to everyone.”
He stares at me before leaning on his hand. “I see. And why did you lose yourself at the sight of the metal within the cave?”
“That… that was because it was a Forerunner structure. Meaning, this was a Shield World that was lost due to a Flood invasion. Yet, why is this planet inhabited by humans and without parasites?” I start talking to myself. “Were they sealed off? If so, how? Was the structure the only one?”
“B312.” Ozpin starts, catching my attention, “That structure has no parasites, I assure you. I have personally explored the structure.” I start to speak, but Ozpin cuts me off, “But! That doesn’t mean we’re in the clear. Recently, we discovered another of these… Forerunner structures as you call them somewhere else. This was the main component as to why I allowed to stay here. If you are willing, I require your help. For some impossible reasoning, I have a feeling that this structure isn’t safe. Now, I have no idea how well you are against these parasites, but you could very well be our only asset against these things.”
The way he says certain words make me think he knows more about this topic. “I'll gladly do it. Although, I am in dire need of ammunition. Is there any substitute for 7.62x51mm NATO, .50 caliber magnum rounds, and M118 7.62x51mm FMJ type bullets?”
He just stares at me for a moment. His eyes don’t reveal confusion or shock, but curiosity. “Unfortunately, I do have bad news, but also good news. Bullets such as yours do not exist here. Although, I could try and make your weapons use bullets that we do have. But that would take modifications on your weapons that could result in it not meeting your satisfactions or completely destroying the weapon by chance. You see, I have a friend who specializes in fixing, redesigning, and creating weapons. You have two choices: deal with the small amount of ammo or having my friend redesign your weapons.”
“Before I make my choice, I would like to meet him.”
***
The past week went by slow, as I was waiting to meet the blacksmith. Today, I would finally meet him. Currently, Ozpin and I wait for his appearance at his own shop. According to the clerk, he was running late today. “It seem we have gotten unlucky. Now, we must wait.” Ozpin announces to me. I sit down in a random chair. As I sit there, my mind goes to last night. The dream I had in particular. Or… the lack of one. Recently, Cortana had been… glitch-y for a lack of better words. Everyday, she had contacted me and yesterday, it stopped. I wonder if something happened.
Suddenly, the door bursts open, revealing three gentlemen. “Would you shut up already!” the smallest of the three commands. All of them are at least six foot besides the small one. He’s most likely five foot. The one in front, the smallest, has a scar on his right eye. The one in the middle has some odd looking clothes on and the last one just looks very plain. I stare at them, not moving.
“Or what? You gonna fight me again?” the one in odd clothing screams.
“How many times must I kick your ass to shut your mouth!?”
“Sorry-“
“Both of you shut up! We look like idiots in here.” the plain one says a little bit in a normal voice. I glance at my side, noticing Ozpin’s not sitting there. Where’d he go?
The two others look downward before going up to the clerk. “Our guns in yet?” the smaller one asks.
“S-sorry, but no.” the red-haired female stammers.
“And why is that? We’ve waited two months now!” the odd one chimes in.
“I-it’s only been a w-week.” I notice the clerk’s eyes are fearful.
“She’s not wrong.” the plain one announces.
The smaller one glares back at him and then peers back at the clerk. “Okay. We can do this a few ways,” the odd one starts walking toward me, “you can either give us our stuff or we do whatever the hell we want to you and this store.” The odd one reaches me and starts poking my helmet. “Which is it gonna be?”
“I want this suit of armor!” the odd one shouts back at his friends. The clerk who’s terrified, stares at me for a few moments. Her eyes plead me to do something.
“Trust me, you couldn’t handle this.” I announce.
“What the fuck!” the odd one screams and jumps back.
I stand to my full height. “I would like some peace and quiet, you know. So, now we can do this a few ways, you can either get out of here and never come back or you fight me. Which is it gonna be?”
The odd one just stares at me, but the smallest one walks over to me, “You think you can scare me?”
Once he reaches me, I say, “Yea.” as I put my fist into his face, causing him to fly backward into the plain one.
“Can’t we have one normal day in ‘ere?” I glance at the now open door to see someone new. He has a beard and moustache covering his lower face completely. He has a black apron over a brownish red shirt with long black pants. His eyes are hardened as he looks from me to the two idiots laying on the ground in a heap. “These three again? This is the fourth time this week.” he mumbles to himself. “Okay, I told you three if you came here one more time to cause an uproar that I’d kick you out and ban you. But to come here and find that someone else had to deal with you in my own store, that crosses the line. You three are banned and your weapons will be an item for selling as payment for all that you have done.” He goes to the smaller one and picks him up and throws him out of the store. Literally. I look at the odd one and he runs. So does the plain one.
“Thank Oum.” the clerk announces.
“Alright, you got my apologies. These three have just been trying to ruin my business for who knows why. By the armor, I assume you’re the one Ozpin talked to me about?”
“Yes sir.” I say.
“Where is that old man anyway?”
Suddenly, footsteps come from behind me and Ozpin seems to appear from nowhere. “Right here.”
“Ah! Ozpin, good friend, it’s been so long since we talked in person. Sherry, could you fetch a few teas for us?”
“Of course!” the one I now know as Sherry announces. “You’ll be out back, right?”
“Yes.” He points to a door at the back of the store. “We’ll be going out there.” He then starts walking over and opening for us. I glance at Ozpin and he nods. I follow and walk through, Ozpin close behind.
We reach the space to find it the more known landscape for a blacksmith. The blacksmith motions to a few chairs. Ozpin and I both sit down quietly. “So, Spartan B312, I’ve heard a lot about you. You could probably guess from who.” the blacksmith begins. “Anyway, you can call me Jack.” He grins widely. “Now, down to business. You’re here to transmogrify your weapons munitions from what I heard. As Ozpin already told you, there are no such existent ammo such as yours. But from what I understand, your ammo seems to have more strength and bullet penetration. Our bullets lack that, but gain strategy over efficiency. We use dust for everything, munition-wise.” I listen to him intently as to soak in every detail. There are two,” he raises up two fingers, “I could do. One, I could just change your weapons to make them take dust crystals. This would sacrifice power for strategy. Or, I could take a few bullets of yours and see if I can make copies of them. Although, I highly doubt I will be able to do this as I specialize in weapons themselves, not the munitions they take. What do ya say?”
“What are the chances that you’ll break my weapons in the process of the procedure? And will I still be able to use my previous bullets?” I ask.
“Well… to answer the first question, it depends to put it simply. There are many cases where it could go wrong or right. And for the second question, I could, but it might risk breaking the weapons.”
“Lastly, what would this cost? I’m not exactly rolling in lien or anything like that.”
“Don’t worry, B312. I’ll handle any expenses.” Ozpin announces.
“No, no, no! You don’t have to pay anything! It’s on the house. You protected my precious shop and Sherry!” Jack says. As if on queue, Sherry comes out with some glasses on a platter. She walks over and gives us each one.
I remove my helmet and place it on the ground next to me. I take a sip of the tea, finding it good. “Jack, I ask of you to see if you can make copies of my bullets and if you can’t, make it so where I can use both dust crystals and my bullets.”
“Consider it done.” After Sherry served us, she went back inside. “If you would, just lay your weapons over there.” He points to a random spot. I walk over there and place down my DMR, Assault Rifle, and Magnum where he told me to. I walk back and sit down in my chair and we have idle chat.
***
Some time past and Ozpin and I went back to Beacon Academy. Jack said it will probably take around a month to finish redesigning my weaponry. Although, I still have my looted energy sword.
Once we arrived at Beacon, Ozpin told me not to worry about classes unless I wanted to. Instead, I asked to speak privately with him.
Currently, I sit in front of him. “So, what is it you want to speak about?”
“I need to talk to you about that Forerunner structure. Although, I can’t do this without more than a sword, I must get there before the White Fang or someone else opens the tomb. I’ve never fought them myself, but from what I’ve heard, they are nothing to mess with.” I answer with.
“Yes.” He nods. “We most likely have two weeks at maximum.” He looks down as I see his expression harden. “I’ll try to think of something, until then, do whatever.”
I nod and stand, going back to the elevator. I go down and go back to my dorm.
***
One week had past and the urgency of the tomb heightened. Ozpin had to call Ironwood to station more troops there. Other than that, nothing happened.
***
We hit the two week mark and now worries grew. The White Fang hit the tomb hard. Most of the troops were either seriously wounded or dead.
During class, I got a call on my Scroll. Ms. Goodwitch told me to answer it because she somehow knew it was me. It was nothing but five words. ‘Come to my office. Now.’ Knowing about the Flood and White Fang threat, my mind races.
“So, what is it, Noble Six?” Ms. Goodwitch asks me. I don’t respond and only stand. Ruby asks me what’s wrong as she sits next to me. I sprint out of the coliseum at full speed.
I reach Ozpin’s tower quickly. I go up the elevator that takes too much time. I go to his desk before the elevator even fully opens. He’s using his hands as a brace for his head and he’s looking down. “(Y/N)…” he starts, “we ran out of time. They opened the tomb last night. You have to go there, now. Otherwise, we don’t stand a chance. Luckily, I heard from Jack that your weapons are done, but one of them fell apart as he was working on it. You’ll be taking an aircraft to Jack and then immediately go to the tomb. Unfortunately, by the time the aircraft could take you to the tomb, it’ll be night. I was able to get Ironwood to send an aircraft directly to my tower.” As if on queue, I hear the sound of said aircraft. “Go! Before it’s too late!”
“Understood.” Instead of going back to the elevator, I jump through one of the windows. The aircraft is directly below the window and I land on it. It floats down and I jump off. The door opens and I get in. “You know where you’re going?!” I shout.
“Sure do.” the pilot responds.
“At top speed. We have everything but time.” I urge him.
“Yes sir!”

***

My apologies for taking so long to upload. Just a lot of stuff happening at once is all. No time and such. Almost 3700 words for this one. Hope you enjoyed it!