0200 Hours
Six Months after the Fall of Beacon
The cold air blew across Melanie's face as she opened her eyes. The first thing she felt as she woke up besides the wind was the cold metal seat she was strapped into. Melanie looked up and saw that she was definitely not in her bed, but in some kind of downed plane. She slowly got up out of the seat, unstrapping her restraints. Looking to her left and right, she saw that it was some kind of military aircraft, and that the rear fuselage was missing. She was about to make her way out of the plane, when she heard someone calling for help.
Melanie made her way towards the other person inside the broken aircraft, who was also strapped in. The figure was in a black uniform with red accents. She could also make out a patch just below the left shoulder with a Nevermore on it. Melanie stepped across the aisle, noticing that it was struggling to get out of the seat. She got down and undid the restraints.
"Thanks" the person said, rising out of their seat. The figure stepped forward and gave Melanie a soft hug, as the latter realized who it was.
"Oh shit, Miltia you're alive." Melanie said as she breathed a sigh of relief as she hugged her sister back.
"Thought the same thing about you Melanie." Miltia replied as broke the hug and grabbed her gear from under the seat, fishing out a scoped Karabiner 98 in the process. "You got your stuff?"
"Yeah" Melanie nodded and grabbed her own pack, consisting of rations, some ammo, and a Browning Automatic Rifle strapped to it. She threw it onto her back and walked towards the opening in the back. Miltia followed close behind, carrying her rifle in her hands.
"Hey, you're okay right?" Miltia asked
Melanie quickly patted herself down, looking for any cuts or holes. When she couldn't find any she simply nodded. "Yea, you?" Miltia did the same and gave a thumbs up.
They both stepped out of the plane, looking around at the plane and the landscape around them. Melanie could make out that the plane they were in was a downed C47. The front was partially buried in dirt and the wings stuck out like broken toothpicks. On the fuselage was some sort of painted on Grimm rune. "So uh...we were shot down?" Melanie asked "Then where is the rest of the Platoon"
"They must've jumped" Miltia mumbled, still groggy from the crash. "We must've been knocked out"
"Not everyone made it" Melanie said, gesturing towards the pilots, both slumped over with black mist emanating from their bodies, much like it would from a dead Grimm.
"Do we uhh, bury them or something. You know I don't like touching dead bodies."
"Ew, like no. Let's go" Melanie gestured towards a burning village in the distance, unclipping her BAR from the pack as she walked towards the sounds of gunfire and the glow of the flames.
"R-right" Miltia stammered out, putting on her helmet and tucking the headpiece in a little space jutting out from the side
"You still got that thing?" Melanie asked, letting out a chuckle
"Well yeah, you know i've always liked it" Miltia replied, acting slightly defensive "You still got yours right?"
Melanie rolled her eyes and pulled the flower pin out of one of her uniform pockets, slipping it onto her helmet "You really insist we gotta wear this stupid shit."
"Well yeah, gotta know you're okay."
"Whatever." Melanie finished adjusting the pin and started walking forward again.
As the twins made their way towards the battle, they could see the details of the engagement more clearly. This battle was rather one sided, as whatever unit they were part of were making quick work of the village's defenders, as the defenders' armed with hunting rifles and farming tools could not stand up to automatic weapons fire. However, streaks of tracer rounds could still be seen as the villagers repurposed anti aircraft guns to target the infantry force storming the settlement.
Melanie watched the battle unfold as she and her sister started to hurry closer to the edge of town. She couldn't help to think about how much of a help the automatic rifle she was holding would have been back when she and her sister worked at the club. She imagined emptying the magazine into a certain Blonde girl's chest. A smile crept across her face as she focused on the thought.
"Hey sis, what are you thinking about?" Miltia interrupted her daydream, noticing the unnatural smile on her twin's face as they started to run to the edge of the town.
Melanie blinked a couple of times and then turned to her sister "Oh, nothing really." she said, dismissing the question. She then started to go back to her daydream, which was again interrupted by yelling. "Ok, what the hell is i-" she started to raise her voice, turning to her sister before realizing that the yelling was coming from a man clad in a similar uniform, except that the markings below the insignia on the shoulders signified a higher rank. He looked to be in his forties, with a poorly shaven beard and sunken, blue eyes.
"Holy hell you two aren't dead!" the man yelled, trying to make himself heard over the sound of gunfire. "You!" he yelled, pointing at Melanie. "Hop in that foxhole and lay down some suppressing fire!" he turned to Miltia as he cleared his throat "And you, get your ass into that house and take up overwatch, we need you to blow these fuckers brains out once they pop their heads up!" he turned back to Melanie "That hairpin on your helmet makes you look like a retard, corporal!" Those that could hear the platoon leader yelling let out a short laugh as Melanie shot a glare at her twin, who was making her way to her position.
Miltia pushed the door open as she stepped into the small two story building which used to be someone's house. The short haired twin hurriedly stepped over the body of one of the village defenders, revolver still in the hands of the lifeless corpse. She chose to ignore it as she climbed her way upstairs and smashed out a window at the top of the stairs, setting her rifle onto the windowsill and peering into the scope. She could see figures of the villages defenders falling back past the square as the 20mm cannon let out bursts of white hot shells towards their lines. Miltia then inhaled deeply and zeroed in on the man firing the flak cannon. With a soft squeeze of the trigger, a 7.92mm round sailed out of her rifle and made a hole right between the man's eyes, the flak cannon going silent as he slumped over. A woman of average height ran to take the man's place, only for Miltia to put a round into her chest. The short haired twin grimaced a bit as she saw the woman clutch her chest for a few seconds and then fall to the ground.
"Good shooting!" Melanie heard the platoon leader yell as the men around her clambered out of the hastily dug trench and charged towards the town square. Melanie was about to join the rest of the platoon when the platoon leader stopped her. "You're staying back, got it? We need someone to lay down fire." the Staff Sergeant ordered.
Melanie nodded and repositioned herself in the trench, letting out bursts from the BAR as the soldiers around her charged forwards towards the square. The platoon in front of her charged ahead unimpeded, only to be cut down in almost an instant by a swordsman in the square. Her amused expression turned into that of horror as the realization of what just happened hit her.
"Huntsman!" Was all Miltia heard over the radio as the sword wielder dodged and weaved through gunfire, cutting down any soldier that stood in his way with relative ease. Miltia let off a shot from her rifle, but it only seemed to graze the man as he drove his weapon into the radioman's stomach. She fired again, only for the bullet to seem to deflect off the man's head as his aura crackled for a split second. The man seemed to ignore it as he disemboweled a soldier trying to bayonet him.
The huntsman turned towards the edge of the village, seeming to notice one of the raven haired girls taking pot shots at him. He surged forward, ignoring the few survivors of his attacks, which were now being picked off by the village defenders. Miltia grabbed her radio, placing it close to her face. "H-hey, you see this guy?" she said into it, with audible panic in her voice.
"Of fucking course I see him, blow his head off or something!" Melanie exclaimed into hers as she got up out of her trench and aimed the BAR at the man. Before her sister could respond, she charged the man.
The huntsman smirked and thumbed what looked like a trackpad on his sword as the weapon transformed into a Gladius with a small barrel on one side. He fired a short burst at Melanie, emptying the weapon's small magazine.
Melanie dove to the side, allowing the rounds from the huntsman's weapon hit the wall behind her. She quickly got up, raising the BAR and emptying the rest of the magazine into the Huntsman's stomach, seeking to deplete his aura. She then followed up with a kick to his face.
The unnamed huntsman staggered back from the bullets before grabbing Melanie's foot and throwing her down onto her back. She quickly got up and tried to reload her weapon, only to have the huntsman swing his gladius at her throat before she could finish. Melanie quickly dropped her weapon and went for a roundhouse kick to the man's hand. This caused him to drop his weapon, but he still managed to cut the back of Melanie's thigh, who staggered back in pain. She let out a yelp she fell back onto the mud.
Both the man and Melanie tried to regain their footing, but Melanie regained hers first, landing a kick to the Man's face as blood gushed out of his now broken nose. The huntsman groaned in pain as he staggered back, but before he could react, the long haired twin followed up with a flip kick to the back of his head, sending him prone onto the ground.
"That, was like actually pathetic." Melanie remarked, trying not to react to the fresh wound on her thigh as she reloaded her Browning Automatic Rifle and finished off the man with a round to the back of the neck. She then fell to one knee, clutching her thigh as she grit her teeth in pain.
"Melanie are you okay?" Miltia called out as she rushed out of the house she was in and to her sister's side. "Hey lemme see…" she continued, trying to get a good look at her sister's wound.
"You don't have to act like you're my mom…" Melanie rolled her eyes and seethed in pain as what was left of their unit made their way back towards them. The platoon leader was nowhere in sight.
"We're retreating! It's total FUBAR here, that asshole that you killed butchered everyone else and we got reports of more of them heading here." He called out as himself and a few others made their way towards the twins.
Miltia helped Melanie up as they made their way to the remains of the platoon and out of the still burning village and back into the countryside.