RWBY: Just A COG In The Machine

Crash Course

The pair had finally risen from their comfortable position as their day progressed.
Isaac accompanied teams RWBY, JNPR, and CVFY into Vale so that he could do some shopping for more ammo and clothing.
Ammunition was pretty simple as the weapon stores Ruby and Coco shown Isaac held provided similar bullets when Isaac popped a round out of a magazine as to show what type of rounds he was looking for.
Luckily Coco was able to pay for most things Isaac was looking for, Coco's famed berets and glasses apparently sold very well. By the end of Isaac's shopping trip for ammo he had a very large case on his back that the store provided. The teams were amazed from this as usually only Yatsuhashi or Yang could lift that amount without breaking a sweat. When questioned about how he got so tough Isaac simply shrugged and replied "Warfare will do that to you." and kept walking with his items.
RWBY looked at each other, they had all been debating on when they should directly ask Isaac about his past, but lacked the proper moment to do so.
They knew he was a soldier, but from where? Atlas has the best soldiers around and even they couldn't produce a soldier as strong, or equipped, as Isaac was. Then there was the matter of the Gear's mental issues. Grimm were bad sure, but to be so close to the edge Isaac was, and at his age, there had to be something more.
"So what do you guys think?"
Ruby asked the rest of RWBY and JNPR that lagged a little to have a small conversation about their blue armored friend.
"Well it's obvious he has been through something really bad, if these past few moments Coco has told us are anything to go by."
Blake said.
"That's another thing. He's built like a rock. I've heard of villages outside of the Kingdoms that have it pretty rough from the constant attacks but I haven't heard anything about them having a guy like Isaac."
Yang added.
"He also said he was in a war. One that hurt him, on a physical and mental level, and killed his friends. As far as I know there haven't been any major conflicts on Remnant for decades aside from the Grimm but from Isaac's descriptions, the enemy he fought was organized and used weapons."
Ren said.
"All the more reason I say we should get him to talk. Everything he has said doesn't make any sense."
Weiss said, with her arms crossed and a serious expression on her face.
"What if he has a good reason not to tell us everything?"
Jaune thought.
"Yea. Like Blake."
Nora said with her usual cheery tone. The cat faunus sent a dirty look in the girl's direction.
"Sorry."
The hyper ginger apologized sheepishly.
"Whatever the reason is we can handle it. Right? I mean it'll help in more ways than one."
Ruby said.
"I'm sorry what? How?"
Jaune questioned.
"I know what she means. She means that it'll help us see what's wrong with Isaac and how we can help, if at all, and it'll clear up some holes in Isaac's life that we've been thinking about."
Pyrrha explained to her leader.
"Oh right. So when exactly are we going to go about doing this?"
Jaune questioned.
"How about tonight after dinner? Usually everyone gets done with their homework and other things by that point."
Ren suggested.
"Then it's settled. We will question Isaac tonight and see if he is who he says he his."
Weiss said in a determined tone.
"Weiss. Think you can word that so it doesn't sound like we are going to kidnap him and interrogate him?"
Yang asked.
"Quiet you."
The heiress snapped with a glare.
The rest of the trip went without a hitch.
Isaac spent plenty of time seeing the sights of the city and planned to go back later if he had the time. It was nice to be in a peaceful city for once. It made Isaac think of what Sera was like before the war as he was far too young to remember anything before Emergence Day. Perhaps the survivors of Sera will build something similar to this now that the war was finished.
Who knows now.
Isaac was dead. The only thing he could do now was hope for the best and pray that his sister does her best in this new found peace that they had fought for.

The day hit a slow point when the teams returned back to Beacon.
Isaac had removed his helmet while he finished sorting his ammunition then spent time drawing a Ursa in the journal, that currently rested on his lap, for a new entry after the ammo was sorted.
A sudden flash broke the Gear out of his trance and he snapped his head up to look at the origin of the distraction, a reflex of having explosions go off on a near daily basis, to find Velvet with a small brown box camera.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I just wanted to take a few pictures of your weapons and you. I wasn't trying to disturb you or-"
Isaac moved over and hugged the rabbit faunus with his right arm, his left arm holding onto the pencil and journal so it would not fall off.
"Calm down. Now, I have a good idea why the photos of me but why my weapons?"
Isaac asked.
"Well this camera is my own weapon, Anesidora. I take a few photos of another weapon and I can create a replica of that weapon."
Velvet explained.
"That's right I never seen your own weapon. That's actually pretty cool. I can very much see the advantages of having something like that."
Isaac praised, making the rabbit faunus blush with a smile on her face.
"Well let me help you out, how about I give you a run down on the Lancer and the Gnasher."
Isaac said, closing the journal and grabbing the shotgun and the rifle from their resting places near him.
"Ok so can you make the copies immediately or do you need some time?"
Isaac asked.
"I can do it now, I just need a good understanding of the weapon to make the process go a bit faster."
"Ok then let's start at the basics then."
Isaac said, going into his trainer mindset. Back at Anvil Gate he was tasked to train the more inexperienced Gears for a large portion of the weekdays, if he was not on a mission, so he took a similar stance when training Velvet.
He taught her the basics about a Lancer such as how to hold it, reload it, disassemble it, clean it, and, the best part, the chainsaw bayonet.
Of course Velvet's hologram copy from her camera did not require cleaning, reloading, and other lessons about the weapon, but Velvet accepted Isaac's class nonetheless.
Velvet held her weapon as if she was about to fire it while Isaac inspected her firing stance.
"Square your shoulders up, move your elbow closer,"
As the Gear instructed he physically moved the rabbit faunus into the correct position. Velvet blushed at how close the Gear was to her and in response Isaac gave her a smile before continuing.
He forcefully tapped the end of the barrel of the copy Velvet had created in order to simulate the recoil of a Lancer firing.
"Alright, that's pretty much your stance for firing."
"It feels a bit uncomfortable."
Velvet said, getting out of the stance to make herself more comfortable.
"It's always like that till you get used to it. We were taught that armor is all well and good but if your stance is wrong then you either leave a unprotected side out as an easy target or you won't be stable enough to take the recoil of the weapon."
"You sound like you have some experience with that."
Velvet said, making the the copy of the Lancer disappear.
"Yea. When my sister, Natalie, enlisted and was assigned to me, I helped her out anyway I could, as would any good NCO. She was a little rough around the edges and would occasionally pay for it when she didn't listen to me out on the range or some other thing I was trying to teach her."
Isaac smiled at how Natalie nearly dislocated her shoulder from firing a Gnasher due to her ignoring his advice. She rarely, if ever, ignored his opinion on those types of things ever again soon afterward.
Velvet held onto Isaac's hand with her own for a moment and let the Gear enjoy the memories a little longer.
"Hey mind if I ask you something?"
Velvet asked.
"Yea."
"What's it like under that helmet of yours?"
Isaac smiled a bit before letting go of the rabbit faunus' hand and grabbing the helmet that had done its job of keeping Isaac's head on his shoulders for so many years.
"Give it a try."
Isaac said, holding his helmet out.
"Really?"
Velvet said, amazed that Isaac would give her his precious helmet.
"Sure, just don't be surprised if it doesn't smell great."
Isaac said, smiling as Velvet took the helmet and put it on.
Contrary the the color of the glowing blue eye pieces, Velvet could see through the helmet without a blue tint. However the helmet did block her peripheral vision to a great extent, making Velvet wonder how the soldier managed to walk around without this being a visual issue to him.
Isaac was correct about the smell though. It smelled faintly of sweat and gunpowder. But that was a given as Isaac wears it almost everywhere.
"Some Gears like it. Some didn't. But we can all agree that the filtration system inside is great for dust and gas."
Velvet took off the helmet with care and gave it back to the Gear.
"Why didn't your soldiers constantly wear them?"
"Well as you saw the thing blocks your peripherals a lot and that takes time to get used to and has killed a lot of Gears in the past. So a lot of veteran Gears would rather take their chances and would rather see the enemy then have the protection, and other features, the helmet offers."
Isaac said.
"So why do you wear it?"
Velvet asked.
Isaac was clearly a tough soldier and had been through a lot. So why would he continue to wear it when his more experienced peers neglected the equipment.
"Because, as the old saying goes, I'd rather have it and need it than need it and not have it."
Isaac said with a smile.
"Heard that one from-"
Coco opened the door to the room.
"Hey guys we. Oh."
She stopped herself as she saw the two sitting close to each other.
"Am I interrupting something?"
Coco said with a sly grin on her face.
"No!"
Velvet shouted, knowing what Coco was implying with her teasing.
"Well what's up?"
Isaac asked.
"We got a mission from the Headmaster."