RWBY: Just A COG In The Machine

Good Food And Decent People

Isaac walked down the halls with the newly woken students looking at the armored Gear curiously. Most of them thinking that he was a new student or a soldier from Atlas.
Isaac ignored the looks he got as he kept a quick pace to the mess hall to food that was about as rare as a COG friendly stranded.
Isaac entered the building with a wide eyed look on his face.
"Wow."
He said quietly, taking in sights that most would have taken for granted.
The building was crawling with life. Sure they had a similar setup back at Anvil Gate but this, a place where people didn't have to worry about if today was finally the day they would kick the bucket, was rare indeed. A place that actually looked peaceful.
"Ow! Stop!"
A familiar female voice shouted in pain.
Isaac turned his head in the direction of the voice and saw Velvet with her rabbit ears being pulled on while a group of four teens laughed at her expense.
Isaac looked at Velvet's pained and tear stricken face and let out a low growl.
He walked up to the group with killing intent as the other students in the room immediately got out of the way as to not be in Isaac's line of fire.
"Hey dipshit."
Isaac growled out as he was directly behind the armored teen that had been pulling on Velvet's ears.
"What do you wa-"
He was cut off as Isaac kicked the back of the teens leg, making him fall to a knee, making him let go of the rabbit faunus, and wrapped his arm around his neck and pulled out Philips' knife and putting the tip of the blade under the teen's Adam's apple.
"Would you like to explain to me what the fuck you think you were doing just then?"
Isaac whispered loud enough for the group to hear through his helmet.
"Why the fuck do you-"
Isaac put a little more pressure on the blade, making the teen immediately fall silent.
"I will ask again and if I do not get a satisfactory answer I will slowly keep sliding this knife into your neck until you finally die either from drowning in your own blood or from me finally cutting your neck open, which ever one comes first."
The group looked horrified.
"Y-you're bluffing. You wouldn't hurt me. Not with everyone watching."
The teen said, his voice obviously filled with uncertainty.
"Try me."
Isaac said in an uncaring tone before he had a chance to make good on what he said Velvet hurried to Isaac's side and held his arm.
"Please don't hurt them. They learned their lesson. I'm fine see?"
Velvet said with a fake smile as her ears still visibly shook from the pain earlier.
Isaac's eye brow raised under his helmet in curiosity but decided to go along with Velvet's decision.
"You got lucky fuckers. But if I catch you messing with her again I'll be sure to show you how close you were to death today."
Issac let him go with a small cut on his neck as he "lightly" kicked him away.
"Now get outta here before I change my mind!"
The group ran out the doors and Isaac turned to see the whole room looking at him.
"What?"
He called out, immediately making the inhabitants of the room go back to what they were doing.
Velvet carefully stroked her ears with a pained look on her face with red streaks going down her face as she sat at a table nearby. Isaac crouched infront of Velvet.
"Hey. I'm sorry I had to do that. It's just-"
"I know. Thank you. Nobody's ever don't that for me."
"Don't worry about it. You helped me. I'll be sure to return the favor as much as I can."
Isaac looked at Velvet's ears.
"Mind if I try something?"
Velvet nodded.
"Please be gentle. They hurt."
Isaac nodded and drifted his hand to Velvet's ears as the faunus herself closed her eyes and braved herself for more pain.
Isaac carefully rubbed Velvet's ears.
It hurt at first for Velvet but as a minute went by it felt better and she even let herself smile a bit.
This went on till Isaac let go and left the phantom feeling of where his hand was.
Velvet looked at Issac surprisingly.
"How did you do that?"
"I used to do the same thing with my sister when she accidentally pinched her ear too hard under her helmet. Thought it would work on you too."
Velvet nodded in understanding.
"Hey did you get anything to eat yet?"
Velvet sadly looked to her right and Isaac followed her gaze to a turned over tray in the floor that spilled its contents on the tiles.
"Oh. Well don't worry about it. Let's see if we can't get you another one."
Velvet nodded with a smile and followed Isaac to the line.
After some explanations, Velvet got a new serving and Issac got a rather large plate full of food.
"How do you plan on finishing all that?"
"What? I'm hungry. I never had this much to eat before in the fort. We always rationed everything we had."
"Guys! Over here!"
A smiling girl called out with red highlights on the tips of her hair.
Velvet smiled and waved back.
"You know her?"
"Yea. She's another one of my friends, Ruby and her team. I'll introduce you to them."
Velvet said excitedly as she lead Isaac by an arm.
"Hi Ruby."
"Hey Velvet. Whose your friend?"
The red haired girl asked.
"This is Isaac. He's the one we went to go find yesterday."
Velvet explained.
"Hey there big guy. Maybe later we can get to know each other better, if you know what I mean?"
The yellow haired girl said with a grin on her face and Velvet flinching a bit at the sentence.
"YAAAANG!"
"What? I was just messing around."
"Can you please at least act mature around our new classmate?"
The white haired girl said with her arms crossed and unamused at the blonde's actions.
"Oh come on Weiss lighten up a bit."
"Um guys. We haven't introduced ourselves to our new friend."
The red haired girl said.
"My apologies. Our team can be a bit...loud...sometimes."
The white haired girl said with a look of distain as she looked toward her yellow haired teammate.
"I am Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company."
She said with a handshake which Isaac took.
"Pleasure ma'am."
"I'm Yang. If you ever wanna hangout. Hit me up."
She said with a thumbs up and a smile.
"I'm Ruby. Resident team leader."
The redhead said with a friendly smile and wave.
"And our resident black hole for cookies."
Yang said with a laugh.
Ruby did a little pout that reminded Issac of his sister when he wouldn't hand over some candy he managed to get back at Anvil Gate.
He laughed at the little redhead and looked toward the black haired girl with a bow.
"I'm Blake. Thank you for helping Velvet earlier."
Blake said with a small smile of approval as she looked up from the book she had been reading.
"Don't worry about it. Any of those bastards come out to play again they'll see what happens when you mess with the best of em."
Isaac said with a hint of a smile under his helmet as he sat down with Velvet doing the same next to the armored Gear.
"So why do you have your armor on?"
Ruby asked.
"I've had it for so long it feels like a second skin to me. A Gear isn't complete without his armor. Also was told by the headmaster that I'd be doing an initiation soon. Something to do so that I wouldn't be seen like I just walked in and got a place to stay here without any effort."
"Oh so your a new student then?"
Weiss guessed.
"Not quite. I'm going to be acting as the big man's one-man strike force."
Isaac said as he took off his helmet.
RWBY looked at the Gear with mixed reactions, but none of them were negative.
"Hey how'd get that scar?"
"Yea it looks pretty badass."
Ruby and Yang said and were quickly discouraged by Weiss about asking questions out of the blue like that.
Isaac meanwhile reminisced on how he had gotten the old scar while tracing the wound with his fingers.
It was from a bloodmount that had gotten too close for comfort during Hollow Storm.
Velvet looked at Isaac's blank expression and RWBY soon followed her lead and looked at the Gear with sympathy.
"Isaac? Are you ok?"
Isaac stopped touching the scar and turned toward Velvet.
"Yea. I'm fine. Just...reliving the past I guess. To answer your question Ruby I'm not ready to explain the whole story but what I can tell you is that I got it from a battle that did a lot more than scar me and a few of my friends."
Isaac said as he started to eat his food.
Velvet, along with RWBY, was now even more curious about Isaac's origins. He never talked about what or where he was before this. But they all could agree that it had hardened the young soldier into one of the youngest veterans this world had seen.
RWBY observed the soldier as he ate.
Specifically the scars he bore.
They hadn't noticed them earlier but now they could see that his arms were littered with them. It made them think what could have done this to their new friend and made him distant when one scar was brought up.
They group continued to have a few conversations and what Isaac could expect during his initiation, which included Grimm classifications, landmarks, and other features.
Issac was actually interested in how the students prove themselves to be worthy of staying at the academy. Going headfirst into an unknown area with nobody to help you but your fellow trainees while being hunted down by hostile wildlife all the while trying to retrieve a chess piece.
Suffice to say the so called "relic" made Isaac raise an eyebrow and almost made him sigh about people going through all that just to get a simple chess piece.
"Oh well. Not that it could be helped anyway." Isaac thought.
"Will Sergeant Isaac Carver please report to the cliff. Sergeant Isaac Carver."
Glynda called over the intercom.
"Oooo it's time! I can't wait to see your weapons in action!"
Ruby cheered in excitement.
"Calm down Rubes. You'll get more than enough time to look them over."
Yang said as she ruffled her sister's hair.
"So anyone know where I'm supposed to go?"
Isaac asked as he put his helmet back on his head.
"Sure!"
Velvet said cheerfully.
"Thanks. See you girls around. Good to meet you Team RWBY. Hope to work with you in the future."
Isaac said as he gave a a small wave goodbye as he and Velvet picked up their trays and disposed of them and moved out of the cafeteria.
On the way Isaac was preforming functions checks on his weapons and tapping his magazines to ensure that the rounds were in their proper positions and to see if they were indeed full.
Velvet was watching Isaac as he walked autonomously in dead silence with the rabbit Faunus girl staring at him from time to time, wondering how many times he had done this to the point where it looks as if he has done this to the point it's just as simple as breathing to him.
When they arrived Velvet was surprised to find a Bullhead next to Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch at the place where one would find the springs to launch the new students into the forest.
"Ah Sergeant good to see you made it. Are you ready?"
Ozpin asked.
"Prepped and ready for deployment sir."
Isaac said in a now cold and determined tone.
"Alright then. Step inside and the Bullhead will transport you to the base of the cliff, from there you are on your own to make your own way to the artifact, retrieve it, and make your way back here. Questions?"
Isaac remained silent.
"Good. Hop in."
Isaac jogged and hopped and sitting down with his weapon at a low-ready position while looking out the door of the transport.
"Good luck Isaac!"
Velvet called out as she waved at him.
Isaac gave no indication that he heard her as the transport left and Isaac looked out and watched the endless forest where he awoke in this new world.
On the cliff Ozpin was staring at his scroll, watching the young Gear mutter something to himself as he continuously stared out the door of the Bullhead.
Ozpin boosted the volume to listen in and what he heard was interesting to say the least.
"I shall remain vigilant and unyielding in my pursuit of the enemies of the Coalition."
Velvet then listened in with her enhanced hearing, curtesy of her rabbit ears.
"I will defend and maintain the order of life as it was proclaimed by the Allfathers of the Coalition in the Octus Canon. I will forsake the life I had before so I may perform my duty as long as I am needed. Steadfast. I shall hold my place in the machine and acknowledge my place in the Coalition. I am a Gear."
Ozpin and Glynda stared at the Gear with curiosity.
"What do you suppose that is?"
Glynda asked the headmaster.
"I would assume it's an oath. Much like the soldiers at Atlas."
"Yes but that was more morbid than the oath in Atlas."
"Agreed. It seems that the COG's name for their soldiers isn't just a name to match the name of their government. It's a acknowledgement that they are soldiers that are fighting for a purpose bigger than themselves and are ready to give their lives for it."
Glynda sighed.
"It seems like when ever we see him we find out something even worst than the last fact about him. He should be acting as immature as the first, or at most, the second years. Not as mature as a veteran huntsman."
"I know. However all we can do is assist him in making sure he has a place here. After all he needs the rest and at least a place to call home for a time."
Unknown to the professors, Velvet was listening in on the conversation.
She was now more so concerned about Isaac and his origins. No government on Remnant was called the COG or called their soldiers "Gears" as Isaac has called himself numerous times before.
Something wasn't adding up and Velvet was sure to ask Isaac about it as much as she could. She couldn't help him is she had nothing about his past and all she had to go off of was that Isaac had been fighting for so long that his mental state began deteriorating. All she wanted to do was comfort her friend. It seemed that it's been so long since Isaac has had someone to rest is head on. Velvet was determined to be the one to hold him up.

Meanwhile, just as the Gear finished his oath to the Coalition, the transport set down at the bottom of the cliff.
"Good luck out there!"
The pilot called out as Isaac immediately jumped out with this weapon up and ready in a crouched position.
He carefully scanned the area before taking off in a dead sprint to the treeline as soon as the Bullhead lifted off the ground.
In the treeline Isaac accessed his TAC/COM and proceeded to follow the waypoint to where the artifact was located based off of RWBY's account of their own initiation. Only issue was the distance was more than a few clicks away.
Isaac sighed and started to walk.