Chapter 1
AN: Just a minor grammar update. Trying to get my ass in gear and start writing this story. Writer's block and mild depression are sons of btiches.
0946 Local Time
Day 1, August 23, 2022
10 km outside Mosul, Iraq
Mission: Operation Sandblast
It was a warm, sunny day in the desert terrain of Iraq. To the Marines and I racing down the road in a small convoy of Light Recon Vehicles, it was just another day on the job, but one that would hopefully led to the end of the current conflict. As the convoy came around a shallow turn into a long straight section of cracked road, the Team Chief, Master Sergeant Adams, came over the radio to update his fellow leathernecks. "All right Marines! The orders came down from the Colonel. Operation Sandstorm is going ahead full throttle. We've been assigned to first set up on a ridge two klicks outside the city and provide sniper support and act as forward observer for artillery strikes as our forces enter the city. We'll be leap frogging forward with them as they move farther into the city and clear out insurgents. Sound good?"
"Oorah, Master Sergeant!" The rest of the Marines acknowledged enthusiastically. Each Marine in the three vehicles began last minute checks of their equipment. In the middle vehicle, I chamber checked my personal weapon, a Noveske Gen IV Infidel AR-15 with a skeletonized body and modified to be select fire. I had bought the rifle a year ago and hadn't let it go since, and because I was considered one of the best marksmen and snipers in the Corps by my superiors, the higher ups allowed me to carry it, provided I pay for the ammo and such. It also helped that the DoD was looking to replace the old M4 with a weapon that utilized a larger caliber round. Why they wanted to spend billions for a new weapon system when they could just rechamber the rifles we had for a lot less bunce was beyond me, but as long as I gave performance reports about my rifle, I could use it in the field. Chambered in .300 AAC Blackout and equipped with hybrid sights allowing close quarters and long distance target acquisition, the rifle was more akin to a heavy hitting assault rifle than a customized short-barreled rifle. I turned to the rest of the Marines in the vehicle and opened my mouth to speak when a massive boom in front of us cut me off. Turning forward, I saw the lead vehicle being thrown into the air, engulfed in a plume of brown dust.
A trail of white smoke lead perpendicularly to the side of the road where two figures seemed to have crawled up from a wadi hidden in the sand. The first had already fired off his payload, while the second had lined up a shot on our vehicle. As the rocket sped towards us, I only had time call out a fear choked warning of "RPG!" before a bright flash of light filled my vision followed by darkness.
1125 Iraq Time
Day 1, August 23, 2022, presumed
Unknown Location
Mission: Locate Friendly Elements
The sounds of birds calling and leaves rustling greeted me as I awoke violently with a sharp intake of breath. "What the fuck! What was that? Where am I?" I looked around myself hurriedly before scrambling to my feet. Standing tall at six foot four, I spun in a circle taking in my surroundings. I was in the middle of a clearing in a deciduous forest, which was definitely not anywhere near Iraq. 'What the fuck?' I wondered before taking a deep breath to calm myself down, smacking myself upside the helmet as well. "All right Marine, calm your ass down. Check your gear, and then get your ass moving. Ain't the first time you've been stuck out in the middle of nowhere. Stow that shit and get going."
I pulled the rucksack from my back and knelt down to double check my supplies. Along with the standard kit load out, my hardened laptop was also packed in along with a rugged external hard drive containing anything and everything that interested me. There were a few more personal effects from home as well as extra ammo and a few extra pieces of medical gear thrown in for flavor. Tucked away in an inside pocket was the last little bit of extra fun I had packed in. Wrapped up in an old Western style leather thigh holster was something… special that I kept for those situations where I needed to hit hard in close quarters and the M45 just wouldn't cut it. The fact that it was my mother's only made me carry it more. Satisfied that all my kit was squared away and stowed properly, I reached for my rifles. Except my hands only closed around one.
"Where the fuck is Mjolnir?" I angrily looked around for my "heavy marksman's rifle" which in reality was a sniper rifle. Throwing the ruck back into its place, I retrieved my Gen IV from the ground and slipped the quick release harness over and around my shoulder and neck. I then made sure my M45A1 was strapped where it should be on my right thigh, and checked that my survival knife was in its sheath on the right side of my tactical vest. Making sure a round was chambered in both weapons, I began moving towards the edge of the clearing, eyes peeled for my rifle. After a moment of searching, I found it leaning against the far side of a tree, along with another, much longer rifle case.
"Why aren't you in your bag, Mjolnir? And what is Odin doing here? I left it back at base…" I trailed off as I quickly strapped my Falkor Petra, affectionately called "Mjolnir", to my ruck before moving towards and opening up the other rifle case. Inside was my other pride and joy, a Desert Tech Heavy Target Interdiction anti material rifle, chambered in .50 BMG. Affectionately engraved with the name Odin, the Alfather of Norse mythology, the AMR (along with a healthy dose of advanced ballistics and Science!) had allowed me to reach out and touch targets out past two miles, with my longest kill confirmed at 2.3 miles.
Resecuring the rifle back in its case, I then attached that as well to my rucksack, moving things around to keep it balanced. The weight was getting close to being too much, but nothing I hadn't dealt with before. I removed my helmet for a moment as I began listening for running water, one of the easiest ways to make your way out of wilderness. Follow the water and you'll find civilization.
1943 Iraq TimeDay 2, August 23, 2022 presumed
Unknown Location
Mission: Locate Friendly Elements
I was sitting at the camp I'd made in a shallow cave pondering my situation. I'd come across a dirt road a few hours ago and decided to fall back into the tree line to set up camp. Far enough away that I wouldn't be spotted, but close enough to hear if someone was taking the road to… wherever. Now I was staring into the fire, too many thoughts swirling in my brain to pin down anything in particular. I considered moving on, but the sky had become overcast and the clouds looked like they were going to open up any minute. I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard the faint sound of hoof beats coming from the direction of the road. Grabbing my rifle and slipping the sling on, I made my way towards the tree line. Stopping in the shadows before I reached open ground, I saw a cloaked figure with shiny gold greaves riding a white horse. 'Why do they look familiar?' I watched as the figure stopped her horse and dismounted, moving to kneel at something on the ground and offering an apple? That's when I saw another figure rise from the grass a few meters away from the rider before jumping the wood fence and coming to a stop in from of them, who still hadn't noticed. The new figure was a dark skinned woman with… green hair. 'Dark skin? Green hair? Emerald? From fucking RWBY?' I was so caught up in my revelation that I almost missed the fight between Amber and Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald. The fight that led to so much destruction. It was Amber's cry of pain that finally brought my swirling thoughts to a halt, coming to one final conclusion.
'This is Remnant. I'm in RWBY…. And Cinder is right there about to fuck up every thing with that creepy bug Grimm. Time to fix that.' Shaking my head and steeling myself, I made the decision to save Amber and moved forward to engage. Breaking the tree line, I crouch walked through the talk grass as quickly and quietly as possible. "I need to fucking hustle.' When I was within speaking distance, I rose out of the tall grass to a kneeling position as silently as possible. 'Would be damn easier if I had my ghillie with me.' I took aim and with a quick squeeze of the trigger I shot the creepy bug in Cinder's hand, and the hand itself, before it could touch Amber, who had been forced to kneel on the ground. Standing up fully, I switched my aim to the two standing behind Amber, who had let her go in shock. I advanced forward as Cinder screamed in pain clutching her ruined hand.
"US Marines! Drop your fucking weapons, back up, and get on the fucking ground!" I ordered with a bark. Neither of them moved, just staring at me with shock all over their faces. I shifted my aim slightly and sent two rounds through the air between their heads. By then, Amber was dragging her way towards me. "I said get on the fucking ground. I won't aim to miss again." This time, Emerald scowled at me, before holstering her weapons and her hands away from them, all while moving towards Cinder and kneeling next to her. I scowled at the fact she didn't completely listen to my commands, but I was confident in my ability to tag her before she could bring her weapons to bear again. That and I had a feeling she was going to have a change of heart by the end of things. Mercury just kept glaring at me. Wasn't so sure about the little prick, though. I kept my rifle switching between the two, and as Amber reached me I placed myself between her and them. "Stand down kid. Keep playing stupid games and you'll win a stupid prize."
Emerald spoke up, "Merc come on, we need to get her out of here." Mercury looked towards her then turned back to growl at me. "I'm going to fucking kill you." The idiot took a step forward towards me, the look of anger on his face being replaced by shock when the two rounds I fired a split second before bypassed his Aura and blew through his shoulder.
"Better men than you have tried and failed." Despite not showing it, I didn't want to shoot a kid. 'The show never says how old they are, but he looks like a kid. Still, didn't expect the rounds to bypass his Aura like it wasn't there. Interesting.'
"Damn it Mercury, we need to go now!" With that, Emerald threw a familiar cylinder that immediately began spewing smoke and cut off my view of them. The smoke cleared fairly quickly, and the only thing that remained was the blood on the ground.
"Shit. Looks like they took off." I turned towards Amber who was slowly getting up, as if she was massively exhausted. 'She probably is since I'm betting her Aura is down and she used a lot of that Maiden Magic.' She had already removed the arrow from her shoulder, and that arm hung limply at her side, blood flowing somewhat freely from the torn wound. "Well that was an impressive display. Sorry I couldn't help sooner, but navigating these woods quietly ain't exactly easy." I let my rifle drop to hang from its sling and helped her up. She leaned on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around her waist as I drew my .45 in my right hand. "C'mon, my camp is this way. I'll get your wounds tended to and you can rest up there while you explain how the hell those three got the best of you, Fall. And more importantly, where the hell on Remnant I am."
Elsewhere
"Oz, Amber was attacked. From what I can tell, someone stepped in before she got hurt too bad, and it looks like he's giving her a hand."
"Very well. Follow them and make sure his intentions are noble."
"Gotcha. I'll contact you later."
2025 Iraq Time
Day 1, August 23, 2022, presumed
Remnant
Mission: Protect Fall Maiden.
Amber stared at me over the fire like I was insane. To be fair, what I'd just told her sounded like total bullshit but it was true. I had told her who I was, vaguely what I did, as well as dropping the bomb that I wasn't from Remnant yet knew who she was and basically revealed enough information to prove I could only know it because I'd watched in on an internet show. That or I was a spy for Salem. Ya know, either or.
"I already know what you're thinking. No, I don't work for pale and creepy. If I worked for Salem, why would I have stopped her from getting your powers?"
"I guess that's true, but you could be working for a third party." Her posture relaxed slightly as she seemed to accept that I didn't work her enemy. "Still, you saved me from what sounds like a terrible fate, so thank you."
"You're welcome. Besides, what kind of man would I be if I let pretty girls get their souls ripped out?" I cracked a grin that grew wider when I noticed a faint blush dust her cheeks. "Now, I'm guessing you'll want to get a hold of Ozpin, let him know what went down? While you do that, I'm gonna take a leak."
I got up from the log as she shook her head at my vulgarity and retrieved her scroll from the saddlebags. Her horse had run off at the start of the fight, but had managed to find it's way back to her once the violence had stopped. I moved out of the light of the fire, walking casually away so as not to tip off the person who'd been observing us since a little bit after we'd reached the camp. They were good at concealment, but not good enough. That and I could faintly smell alcohol. 'Looks like I'm meeting Qrow. Hopefully we get along, he was a badass.' I keep my eyes out to see if Qrow had repositioned to keep my in sight or if he was moving to get to Amber. As I dropped into a crouch and circled back around to where I'd seen him, I saw he did neither. Turns out he was just peeking around his Tree of Concealment and watching Amber. 'Dude, rookie mistake.' I slowed my pace even more and drew my M45 as slowly as possible. I was maybe two feet away from the Huntsman when he took a slug from his flask. I took that opportunity to bring my pistol up to bear and cleared my throat. To his credit he didn't jump, instead stiffening a bit. He relaxed a second later and turned to face me, raising his hands up when he looked down the barrel of my gun.
"Uh, hey."
"Rule number five, Qrow. Never sneak up on a heavily armed Marine. It won't end well for you." I stood and holstered my weapon, gesturing Qrow to get up. "If we're having this chat, let's go do it by the nice warm fire."
"How the hell do you know my name?" He stood as well, before backing up towards the fire. 'Guess we're playing this game.'
"I know a lot." He was silent for the few seconds it took to reach the camp and I saw Amber look up in shock when she saw Qrow, who was starting to glare at me
"How do I know you're not working for the enemy?" He began reaching for his scythe/sword thing and my hand shot down to my gun. Before we could draw, Amber jumped in between us.
"Qrow, wait. He knows what I am. And he wants to help."
"How the hell do you know that too?"
"Strap in, Branwen. Like I said, I know a lot."