OK. So this is my first story on fanfiction. I wanted to give writing a story a try, so here it is. I'm not really sure what will come out of this, but I guess we'll see. I came up with this idea in my head one day and it wouldn't leave. So I just had to put it on paper (metaphorically). I was kind of inspired by Roses Born Of Dust, another Halo/RWBY crossover. You should go give it a read, in my opinion its really good. However I wouldn't be doing this without my good buddy GeneratedName. Without him then this fic wouldn't even be happening. He's my beta, he helps me with ideas, and he motivated me to do this. So at LEAST a quarter of this story belongs to him. He is a writer as well, and a damn good one at that. You should all go check him out. You will regret it if you don't. I'm not sure how often I will update. Between school, hobbies, and just life in general I don't have too much time to write. Also considering i'm trying to keep this a secret from my family doesn't help. I could let them know what I'm doing, but the teasing and possible judging that would follow just isn't worth it. But there is an easy way to make me update more. You like my story? Review and tell me that. You feed my ego, I'll give you more chapters. I need motivation to keep this going. If you don't tell me that you like what I'm doing then I will just think that what I'm doing is a waste of my time and stop. So please review and tell me what you think of my story. I want 100% HONEST opinions. However I will not accept flame. You don't like my story? Then tell me why. Constructively criticize it. Also I'm going to attempt to put in some romance. But since it's my first story I'm only going to try one and it's just to see how it goes. But if it ends up being bad then I'm just going to go back through the story and delete it. Also I have the story all planned out for the most part so I wont stop this story because I don't know what to do next. Though just a note this story will be following canon for most of it, but i will be putting in my own parts here and there and I have ideas about how to make it more my original. Make no mistake though it will be following canon for about half or three quarters of the story it wont be following canon for all of it. I will put in my own parts to make it interesting. But enough of my blabbering. Without further ado, I present to you, Remnants Reclamation. Hope you like it. P.S Midori is for the green colour.

I don't own Halo or RWBY. That's the only time I'm saying it.

Remnant's Reclamation

Mary Midori didn't like flying. She didn't hate it, but she didn't like it. It was always unsettling, as if she was going to fall out of the sky at any second. If she had the choice of a long car ride or a short flight, she would pick the car every time, but unfortunately for her, today it wasn't an option.

She had been a huntress for 4 years now. She graduated from Beacon and quickly became successful huntress, but with being a successful Huntress came harder missions. Of course, difficulty was not an issue, and she even liked the challenge.

She was currently on her way to a small town a fair distance away from Vale with her team, said team being composed of Zach Quillflow, Ryan Krupt, and Stacy Drake. Their destination was named Solitude, thanks to a lack of nearby settlements, as well as its general distance from Vale. However, while this gave the town a fair bit of autonomy, it came with a steep price, with the Creatures of Grimm doing their utmost to exact that price in blood. Solitude had recently called for help, requesting aid due to an over-sized Deathstalker terrorizing the town. However, while the town's defenses could have dealt with an ordinary Deathstalker, this one was different. It was reportedly smarter, vanishing into the wilderness every time the town's defenses started doing damage to it, only to re-appear once again several days later to kill once more.

Fortunately, the townspeople had reportedly found the cave the Deathstalker had been running off to, using a remote-controlled drone to track it to its lair when it fled. Emboldened by this find, the people of Solitude decided to go on the offensive, and promptly called for hunters to deal with it. Mary and her team had accepted the job and were heading to the town to find out the exact location of the creature's cave and eliminate it, so that the people of Solitude could finally rest easy, knowing that the over-sized scorpion would no longer be battering down the town walls in the night.

"Are we there yet?" Mary called up to the pilot, her face slightly green.

"Almost. ETA is in approximately 5 minutes." The pilot of the Bullhead VTOL transport responded. Mary nodded, somewhat relieved by that news. From the seat beside her, Ryan looked over to her, a pitying expression on his face.

"I really don't understand your problem with flying. I mean, you don't get motion sickness, so why do you look so nauseous whenever we're in the air?"

"Its unnatural! People weren't meant to fly like this." Mary answered, looking around the compartment for support, but finding none.

"That's true." Stacy replied, "We weren't meant to fly. But guess what? Everyone does it, and most people don't have a problem with it. But those who do it's usually because of air sickness. I bet very few people dislike flying just because we weren't meant to."

"I agree. It's most unnatural for people to dislike flying for such a specific reason." Zach chipped in, his fox ears twitching slightly as he spoke.

"Whatever. I don't like flying and that's that." Mary said, throwing her hands in the air exasperatedly.

The compartment was silent after that, the occupants knowing from experience that their teammate was not at all pleasant to deal with when angry.

A few silent minutes would pass before the pilot broke the silence.

"We're approaching the town of Solitude. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like there's enough room to land a Bullhead within the town wall, so I hope you guys remember your landing strategy! I'll come back and pick you up tomorrow, once I've refueled at the nearest airbase. Good luck with that over-sized bug!"

"Thanks. I hope you have a safe flight back." Zach was the first to reply.

"Of course you do. Who else will fly Huntsmen for half price." The pilot answered, causing the huntsmen within the craft to chuckle. Then, the aircraft slowed to a halt and began to hover, its doors sliding open and causing wind to ruffle its occupants' clothes.

Solitude looked like it had seen better days, that much was clear from the start. Mary's team quickly leaped out of the Bullhead, before watching it wheel around and zoom away in the direction of the nearest airbase. As luck would have it, they were greeted almost immediately by a pair of armed guards, clad in ill-fitting, torn uniforms. Several brownish blots on one of the man's uniforms showed that it had been covered in blood recently, which, when coupled with the placement of some of the tears made Mary wonder if the person who stood in front of her was the first owner of said uniform.

"You the huntsmen from Vale?" The older of the two spoke, his voice parched from overuse.

"That we are. We're here to-"

"I know. It's about damn time you came. A few more weeks and there likely wouldn't have been a village to save. Speaking of which, our mayor wants to have a word with you. Fuchs here will escort you to his residence." The older guard gestured towards the younger, who stepped forward, trying and failing to look tough. The red-headed boy clutched a carbine as if it were a full-size rifle, standing in an awkward imitation of a real soldier. A kitchen knife was taped to the end of his gun, sufficing as a crude bayonet.

"Right this way, Ma'am." The boy said, his voice cracking as he spoke. How old was he anyway? Mary gave voice to her thoughts a few moments later.

"I'm only fourteen, Ma'am, but don't worry! I can still fight!" The boy gave her what he thought was a jaunty smile as he replied.

As luck would have it, the Mayor's residence was on the opposite end of town, meaning that the team got a free tour of Solitude, their impromptu guide answering their questions regarding the state of the settlement. Several times they had to be redirected thanks to rubble from the past few attacks still blocking the streets, the small town lacking the manpower to clear it out. As they kept going they passed a store that had been converted into a makeshift hospital, the original having been destroyed several weeks before. Looking through the cracked window, Mary saw that the interior was filled with wounded men and women, all of whom were covered in bloody bandages.

Something deep within the impromptu hospital caught her notice, and her eyes widened slightly as they came to rest on a row of tarps, the white sheets covering what were once people, but were now simply corpses awaiting cremation. Her heart clenched as she saw that one particular body was smaller than the rest, the figure underneath it being similarly small, and Mary knew at once that it was a child under those blankets. Stacy followed her gaze and sighed sadly.

"This town is in pretty bad shape. Even worse than I thought it would be." She said.

"Unless we end these attacks, it will only get worse. If things continue like this, the town will be bled dry." Mary said.

The team continued onward, seeing more re-purposed buildings deeper within the town. Houses, shops and public buildings had been converted into barracks for the fighters, safehouses for the non-combatants and children, quarantined hospitals to prevent the spread of disease, and storage centers that contained food, spare parts, ammunition, repair tools and supplies, and so much more.

Finally, the team arrived at the mayor's house. Fuchs knocked on the door, which was opened by an old man, who looked to be in his late sixties. He wore a grey suit with a white tie, while his wrinkled face was adorned with a grey mustache.

"Are you the Huntsmen I hired to kill that damn Deathstalker?" He asked, noticing the Huntsmen behind the young guardsman.

"Yes we are. Are you the Mayor?" Mary asked in return.

"That I am. Please come in, we have much to discuss." The mayor replied, ushering them inside. Fuchs took that as his cue to leave, and the young boy ran off, presumably with the intention of returning to his post.

The mayor led them inside to a big, open room with a long table, around which sat multiple chairs.

"Please sit down." Everyone sat down, Mary and the mayor at the heads of the table, while Mary's team sat around her.

"So. Where would you like to begin?" The mayor asked.

"Let's start from the beginning." Mary replied, and the man took that as his cue to speak.

"Very well. It all started about a month ago. Everything was normal, people were going about their daily routines, the Grimm were still attempting to rip down our walls, and our defenses were holding them off well enough. Thanks to us being near the Atlesian border we were able to get our hands on some advanced tech, which meant that the bigger Grimm stayed clear more often than not. One day though, a lone Deathstalker came out of the woods and into our town's killzone. It was clearly different from others of its kind though. For one, it was bigger than normal, bigger than even the ordinary Elder Deathstalkers we normally see in the wilds. In addition, its tail was blood red instead of gold, and it lacked the moss and greenery that normally grows on such old specimens of their kind. It was just clean bone armor, and as we soon found out, it was much, much stronger than normal. Even our biggest guns just bounced off that thick plate, and before we could do anything the beast had begun to attack. However, instead of going for the town gates, it targeted our defenses first, and pretty quickly opened up a breach. Then it went for the main gate. It broke through easily, and led a horde of lesser creatures into the town, killing everyone in sight. We were able to mobilize and repel the initial horde, but the Deathstalker just turned tail and ran for the woods. We would have given chase but the attack had drawn even more Grimm to our town, and since then we have been under constant attack. So far, we've been able to keep them out of the town proper, but every time we start to make progress in rebuilding our defenses the Deathstalker comes back! Since the attacks started that thing's been back four times, and each time the damn bug opens up another breach. Therefore, I decided to pool together the town's resources to hire a team of hunters to kill this monster. That's where you come in." The mayor said as he finished his story.

"You guys must be pretty damn tough to have survived all this time." Ryan whistled.

"I agree. How is it that your town hasn't fallen yet?" Stacy said.

"Well me and everyone else in this town believe in one thing. If we're gonna die, we're not gonna die lying down. We'll fight until the last man." The Mayor replied, drawing out a small, holdout pistol from a holster on his hip. It was a pitiful weapon, useless against all but the weakest of Grimm, but its presence gave weight to the old man's statement.

"That is an excellent way of thinking. It is better to die with honor on the battlefield than to starve to death in a bunker." Zach commented.

"Well said Zach. Now, if I remember correctly whats been attacking you isn't an ordinary Deathstalker, rather, it is some sort of Ancient Grimm. These things are at least as old as Goliaths, and are just as intelligent, if not more so. But moving on, what do you want us to do about it?" Mary asked.

"Before we talk business, we're gonna talk about getting paid." Ryan spoke before the Mayor could answer.

The mayor looked slightly crestfallen by the new subject. But he quickly put on a neutral face and spoke.

"As promised I have gathered your payment from the last of our towns funds. Once the deed is done come back here and I will-" Mary cut him off.

"It's alright sir. No pay is necessary." The mayor looked like he was going to object to this, so she quickly continued; "From what I've seen you're going to need all the money and resources you can get. Between healing the injured and fixing the damage you're probably going to be bankrupt by the time this is over."

"Thank you ma'am. You are very thoughtful." The mayor looked at her and smiled, relief clear in his eyes.

"Mary! What the hell-" Ryan started before Mary stood up and grabbed his ear, starting to pull him out of the mayor's house.

"Send the Deathstalker's cave location to my scroll. We'll be in touch." Mary said as she continued to painfully drag Ryan out behind her. Stacy and Zach stood up and followed their cursing teammate. Mary only let go once the team was outside.

"Ow, that really hurt." Ryan complained, rubbing his ear.

"Suck it up baby." Mary replied, a disappointed look on her face.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You know that we don't do this stuff for free, right? We put our lives on to line to get paid. We're not a damn charity!" Ryan demanded.

"If that were true then we wouldn't be huntsmen, we'd be mercenaries! But we're not mercenaries, and as HUNTSMEN it is our sworn duty to protect humanity from the Grimm. Look around! Don't you think these people need the money? We can always find another paying job, but do you honestly think these people will be able to survive without the ability to purchase food? What about medicine? Shame on you!" Mary scolded her teammate in response.

"And you wonder why you're so poor." Ryan muttered.

Mary's face contorted into rage. But before she could permanently injure Ryan, Stacy smacked him upside the head.

"You know that's not true! And she's not poor! They're just going through some financial trouble!" Stacy almost screamed at him. Behind him, Zach looked on in disapproval.

"Ryan, you know the reason why Mary and her family are low on money is because they had to pay for her son's surgery for treating his CHD (Congenital Heart Defect). No matter how mad you might be there is NO reason to bring something up like that unless your being serious about it. And don't you think that these people will need the money more than you will?" The fox Faunus added.

"Okay, okay, you guys are right. I'm sorry. My apologies to everyone. Especially Mary." Ryan apologized, a sheepish look on his face as he rubbed the back of his neck.

Mary, still slightly upset that Ryan had brought the subject without compassion slapped him upside the head once more before giving her response.

"Apology accepted, but don't think you'll be so lucky next time. Now, let's see where that monster is." She brought out her scroll, noticing a message from the mayor, and smiled as she saw the data.

"Okay. Got the location. It's 10 kilometers due south of here. You guys ready to go?" Mary asked.

She received a series of affirmatives as everyone pulled out their weapons. Stacy's weapon was a curved sword infused with ice dust, allowing her to freeze her targets, while her semblance allowed her to heal injuries, both her own and those of others, at a rapid rate. Ryan, meanwhile had a hammer, it's handle capable of separating into a chain, allowing it to become a heavy flail for longer ranged strikes. His semblance, meanwhile, increased his physical strength as he grew angrier. Then there was Zach, whose weapon consisted of a long metal pole, its end covered in rotating spikes, allowing Zach to easily tear apart the insides of any Grimm he strikes. His semblance, meanwhile granted him he ability to run and jump faster than any ordinary human by strengthening his legs, making it all too easy for him to land a killing blow. Finally, Mary's weapon was a sniper rifle capable of transforming it into a double-edged blade. Her semblance synergized perfectly with her weapon, allowing her to see weak points while active, allowing her to bring down even the mightiest of Grimm with a single, well-placed shot.

As they walked to the town gate, the surviving townspeople lined the streets, cheering them on. The guards up on the walls saluted them, before opening a small sally port beside the main gate, allowing them to exit single-file. Outside the walls lay one thousand meters of open land, covered in tree stumps, but lacking any living trees. At the end of this open kill zone, the forest began, and their safety was no longer guaranteed.

Mary looked back at the town they had left behind, which was only now starting to fade into the distance. Giving the defenders a final wave, she led her team into the forest.

"Alright. Let's go." Mary said before she and her team set out for the Ancient Deathstalker's cave.

Nearly an hour passed before the team arrived at its destination. Fortunately, ten kilometers in an hour was little more than a brisk jog for the group, none of the huntsmen having even broken a sweat.

"That was quick enough. Reminds me of my early morning jogs back in Beacon." Zach commented as he stretched out. Beside him, Ryan sat down on a conveniently placed rock.

"I say! I don't think there was anyone else in Beacon that happily got out of bed at six o'clock in the morning to run himself ragged." The sitting Huntsman commented.

"Six o'clock? I'm insulted! I got up at four!" Zach replied.

"That you did. I agree though, it was pretty fun once I got used to it!" Stacy added. Ryan simply shook his head.

"Alright, enough chit-chat! I would prefer that we maintain the element of surprise." Mary said, stopping the conversation in its tracks.

Ten minutes passed as the huntsmen split up, searching for the entrance to the Deathstalker's cave. It was Stacy who found it, and soon the team converged on her position

The cave itself was embedded in the side of a small cliff, its entrance yawning wide open. Several Grimm corpses in various states of evaporation were strewn about the entrance. Clearly, Stacy had been busy.

"That's a big cave." Ryan muttered as he approached it.

"...Yep." Stacy replied, leaning against the stone by the cave's entrance.

"...It must be a pretty big Deathstalker." Ryan continued.

"...Yep." Stacy deadpanned.

"...So what's the plan boss?" Ryan turned to Mary, who had just arrived on the scene. She thought for a few seconds before giving her answer.

"We have to draw it out. If we go in there, we'll be fighting on its terms, and that means we're as good as dead. We need to get it into a open area where we have the space to dodge its attacks, giving us the ability to hit it from multiple directions at once. However, that means someone has to go in there, get its attention, and then lure it out. Anyone volunteer?"

Stacy thought for a moment, before speaking.

"I volunteer Zach."

Zach looked at her for a moment, before nodding.

"I do believe I am the best choice, given my Semblance." He said, although there was a barely noticeable amount of fear present in his voice.

"Very well. Zach, don't take any unnecessary risks. Just get in there, get its attention, and draw it out. No heroics, understood?" Mary cautioned.

"Don't worry. Trying and failing at being the dashing hero is Ryan's job." Zach replied, a smirk on his face, as he began to walk into the dark cavern.

Pulling out his scroll, Zach quickly turned it around and activated its flashlight feature, the bright light allowing him to see as he proceeded deeper into the pitch-black cavern. He tried his hardest to keep his breathing even and his thoughts calm, knowing that too much fear would attract any Grimm in the cave to his position. However, as he proceeded deeper into the darkness, his heartbeat intensified, and sweat began to appear despite the cool air of the giant cavern.

Zach's teammates were not idle as he proceeded into the dark abyss, as Mary immediately began to issue orders.

"Stacy! I want you above the cave. When it comes out, freeze its legs to the ground. I want it totally immobilized. Ryan, I want you to hide in the bushes right beside the cave entrance. When the Deathstalker is frozen I want you to try and pulverize the joints on its tail to prevent it from using it. The fewer weapons it has the better." Mary's teammates nodded, and assumed their positions, ready to strike. As they did so, Mary pointed to a row of bushes several hundred meters away from the cave opening.

"Meanwhile, I'll be positioned at the base of that tree. I'll try to hit any weak points in its armor. Hopefully, I can kill it quickly." Mary smiled, before heading off to her designated sniper perch. Now, the waiting began.

-Zach

Zach strode through the darkness, his scroll light, while dim, providing enough light that his faunus traits could take over comfortably. He couldn't see any signs of a Deathstalker in the cave, but he kept his guard up. It was certainly an old cave, Zach noted absentmindedly as he strode deeper inside, passing enormous dripping stalactites and stalagmites, his second set of ears twitching as every droplet fell to the ground.

'Stay calm, fear will attract Grimm and the mission will fall apart. I cannot allow that to happen!' Zach thought. He did not like being Deathstalker bait, but he spoke the truth when he said his skills were best suited to the task.

After a few more minutes of walking, Zach turned a corner into a big open cavern. He took his scroll out and shined it around the cavern, slowly looking around, seeing nothing but-

Right in front of him what he thought was simply a boulder suddenly glowed a bright red, its hateful eyes opening, and coming to focus on the foolish being that dared invade its haven.

Zach nearly had a heart attack then and there, his calm evaporating as cold fear shot through his body. He began to back out of the cavern, keeping his eyes on his foe, waiting to see what the monster would do. However, it did nothing, choosing instead to simply fix him with a cold, calculating stare, hissing as it did so. Man and monster stared at each other for what seemed like hours, but was in fact barely more than a minute. In the dim light, Zach began to look over the ancient Grimm's body, looking for any possible weak points in its defense that his team could exploit. It was a big creature, easily the size of a Goliath, with no moss growing on it, but the Mayor's description had failed to highlight some key differences the creature had from an ordinary Deathstalker. For one, it's body was completely covered in white bone armor, with no black visible, not even on its legs or belly. The armor itself extended all over the legs, with slight grey patches indicating the presence of joints, although they looked just as well armored as the legs. Even the tail was covered in thick chitinous plate, the stinger joint being encased in hard white to the point of being inseparable from the body.

"I don't suppose you'll just let me leave now, would you?" All trace of composure was gone from Zach's voice as he spoke.

The Deathstalker roared at him in response, causing Zach to scream and run off back the way he came. He could hear the tapping of the Deathstalkers eight legs chasing after him, but he couldn't look back, not when he had to keep his eyes on the ground to keep his footing on the uneven cave floor, which made the chase all the more terrifying. Even worse, Zach had a phobia of Deathstalkers ever since he had fallen into a pit of juveniles back during his initiation at Beacon. He still occasionally had nightmares about that incident, about the tiny Grimm crawling all over him, over and under his clothes, stinging and tearing into him all the while. Had Stacy not happened along to pull him out of the pit, he would have surely died. As it was, he had been too weak to attend his first week of classes at Beacon. Now though, he would trade anything in the world to replace the monster behind him with one of those juvenile scorpions from that pit.

He eventually made it back to the entrance, running out into the light. The sudden transition from pitch-black to bright light blinded him temporarily, causing him to shut his eyes in pain, but he kept running regardless. However, with his eyes shut, he didn't see the rock in front of him until his foot hit it, causing him to tumble to the ground. Before he could get up the Deathstalker was upon him.

Just as it was about to plunge it's stinger into his back, a shot rang out. The Deathstalker roared in pain as a bullet pierced one of it's eyes, and paused, allowing Zach to scramble out of the way of the incoming stinger blow.

By then Zach's eyes had adjusted to the light, and he had gotten up and turned to face his enemy, weapon ready.

"Now would be a good time for some back up!" He called out to his teammates, knowing that they had to be somewhere nearby. Though they might have sent him to attract a over-sized form of his worst nightmare, he knew they wouldn't just leave him there all alone with only Mary covering him with her sniper rifle.

Suddenly a blue light came from behind the monster, and it's eight legs were frozen to the ground. Then, Zach saw Ryan burst from the bushes and sprint towards the monstrous Deathstalker. As he ran, he brought out his hammer, shifting it into its flail form. With a furious expression on his face, Ryan leaped into the air, flail twirling above him at speeds that, were it not for aura, would have shattered the wielder's wrist. With a loud battle cry, Ryan slammed the flail into the Deathstalker's tail, intending to pulverize the appendage's joint. However, instead of crushing chitinous armor and driving the shards into soft flesh, the spiked head glanced off, continuing along its path to strike Ryan's face. While the man's aura absorbed the otherwise lethal strike, it was nonetheless enough to send him falling down to the Deathstalker's armored back.

Faster than the man could blink, the monster's tail shot forward, punching clean through his weakened aura and into his heart.

The three surviving huntsmen froze as their friend died, watching in horror as the Deathstalker lifted its tail into the air, Ryan's body still impaled upon it, before flinging the corpse away. The body that was once Ryan slammed into a tree with a dull 'thunk!', and slid down, trailing red as it did so.

As soon as the monster emerged, Stacy had encased its legs in ice and jumped off the ledge above the cave, intending to assist her teammate. However, when she saw the Ancient Grimm's tail plunge into her friend's heart she froze. Then, as the Deathstalker flung Ryan away, she sprinted towards his body, hoping in vain that he could be healed.

Zach's reaction, meanwhile, was the opposite. As Stacy panicked and hoped in vain, he screamed out in anguish, sadness, and above all, anger. He charged at the Deathstalker, staff at the ready. He ducked under its claws and stabbed at its face, intending to lodge his weapon into one of the beast's eyes. However, as he was doing so, the monster had used its tail to destroy some of the ice holding its legs. Using its freed legs to lift its body, the rest of the ice began to splinter, before shattering entirely, freeing the beast from its temporary prison. Before Zach could land a damaging blow, one of the monster's legs kicked him away, although Zach's aura absorbed the blow, and he quickly got to his feet once more.

As her icy handiwork shattered, Stacy got to Ryan's body. Had she been in a sound state of mind, she would have accepted his death, but in her hysteria she refused to give up.

"Ryan! Ryan! Y-y-your going to be just fine. Okay. Your g-going to be just fine. I'm going to heal you up, we're going to kill this thing, and then we're going to go h-home." She choked out, desperately activating her semblance as tears ran down her face. However, it was useless, and though Ryan's flesh began to knit together, his heart had been destroyed utterly, and he had lost far too much blood. Not even her semblance could save him. After what seemed like an eternity, she stopped trying. Still crying, she closed her teammate's eyes, and stood up, intending to avenge him. Just then, she heard a noise coming from some nearby bushes. Moments later, a Beowulf burst into the open, rushing straight at her. Of course, even in her distraught state Stacy was more than capable of dealing with a lowly Beowulf, and she promptly sliced it in half. However, Beowulves never hunted alone, and the creature's pack-mates began to howl, the sound doubtlessly drawing even more Grimm into the battle.

Eyes widening in horror, Stacy realized that the battle was lost.

"Zach! We've got more Grimm incoming! We need to get out of here!" She shouted to her partner, who was still desperately trying to avenge her friend.

Mary's heart nearly stopped when she saw her teammate die. She knew immediately that he was dead, but found cold comfort in the fact that he didn't suffer for long.

Her team's careful plan had fallen apart, and the incoming horde of Grimm meant that they couldn't stick around for long. With that in mind, she leaped down from her perch and ran towards her teammates, intending to give the retreat order. Up ahead, Zach finally managed to lodge his weapon in the monster's eye, and the beast cried out in agony as the spinning blades did their dirty work. Several feet away, Stacy finished off the last Beowulf in her immediate vicinity, although more were doubtlessly on the way. Temporarily freed up, she screamed once more at Zach in an attempt to snap him out of his rage. Evidently, her teammate heard her, as he successfully disengaged, using the opportunity to look around.

His observations proved fruitful, as he promptly spotted and gutted a Creep that was sneaking up behind him. More Grimm began to pour out of the surrounding flora, meaning that Zach and Stacy were quickly surrounded. Mary redoubled her efforts to reach them, but more Grimm leaped out at her. She killed them, but where one died, two more took its place, and she was forced to watch as her two remaining teammates fought alone against both Ancient and juvenile Grimm. To their credit, they held out for a few minutes, but then Stacy made a fatal mistake. In avoiding a strike from the Deathstalker's stinger tail, she leaped right into the path of a Beowulf's strike, the force of which sent her sprawling to the ground. Her weapon slipped out of her hand, and the Grimm converged on her, hiding her from Mary's view, but doing nothing to hide her agonized screams. She screamed for Zach to help her as she was ripped apart, but there was nothing the man could do. As he tried in vain to reach his teammate, the Deathstalker struck, impaling him through the heart, just like it did Ryan. Moments later, he was dead as well.

At that sight, Mary stopped running and dropped her weapon in shock. She couldn't believe that her three lifelong friends, who had fought and survived for so long by her side, were dead. In a matter of minutes, she had been reduced to the sole survivor of her team. With nobody left to help, Mary turned and ran, the horde of Grimm hot on her heels, the Ancient at the head of the pack.

However, even in her exhausted, hysterical state, she was easily capable of outrunning the horde, and had soon left them in the distance. However, she didn't stop, knowing that Grimm could sense negativity from far beyond visual range. Eventually, her legs gave out on her, and she collapsed to the ground. Thunder growled up above, and the first few drops of a rainstorm had begun to fall. Exhausted as she was, Mary knew that if she didn't find shelter, exposure would surely finish what the Grimm started.

However, as she tried to stand, she found that her legs could no longer support her, the exhausted appendages giving way beneath her. Without her legs, she was reduced to dragging herself along the ground, desperately trying to look for shelter. However, no such shelter was in sight, and pretty soon the exhausted huntress gave up, unable to drag herself any further.

She lay there, in the dirt, with raindrops pattering down all around her, waiting for the end. After all, her friends were already dead, and she would almost certainly join them soon, so why bother running?

Then, she thought of her son, who waited for her back in Vale. The baby boy wasn't even old enough to speak, and if she died now, she would leave him without even a memory of his mother! That thought alone renewed her will to survive, and she slowly, miraculously, staggered to her feet, leaning against a nearby tree. Then, she remembered her scroll, or more specifically, that she could use it to call for evac. However, as she opened it, she saw that she had no signal. The Solitude relay tower was evidently out of range. Sighing, she activated her distress beacon anyway, hoping that a passing aircraft might be able to pick it up.

With that in mind, Mary's next goal was to find shelter, which came in the form of a nearby cave. Using her Scroll as a flashlight, Mary descended into the darkness, out of the rain. However, after about two minutes of walking, she heard an all too familiar howl coming from outside the cave. The Grimm had found her, and now, unless the cave had another exit, she knew she was trapped. Unable to go back the way she came, she proceeded deeper into the cave, moving as fast as she could while leaning against the wall for support.

Eventually, the downward slope of the cave leveled out, the narrow passageway opening into a large cavern. As Mary looked around, she noticed that her scroll was not the only light source any more. Shutting off her scroll to conserve battery, she began to make her way towards the light, hoping that it was an exit. Slowly, the light grew brighter, but as she rounded the final corner, she saw that it was not an exit, but simply a glowing white metal wall. Curious, she approached it, and saw a blue panel shimmer into being just in front of the glowing surface. For a moment, she just stood there, wondering what to do. The panting of Grimm behind her made the decision for her, and she pressed the hologram, hoping that it was a door of some sort. Fortunately for her, the wall slid open, revealing a sterile, white hallway. Behind her, the Grimm noises grew louder, and she turned to see a group of Beowulves rounding the corner behind her.

Keeping her eyes fixed on the Grimm, she slowly backed away into the hallway, hoping that they wouldn't see her. However, just when she thought she would get in without alerting them, one of the Beowulves turned and spotted her, causing her to freeze up once more. For a second, unarmed huntress and Grimm stared at each other, but that moment soon passed, and the Beowulf charged, its pack following right behind it. Mary didn't waste any time as she quickly turned and ran down the hall. The Grimm pursued, but the door slammed shut before they could enter the hallway.

Sighing in relief, Mary leaned against the wall, listening to the Grimm trying and failing to break down the door. Then, after a few moments, the sounds disappeared, replaced by buzzing and the pained cries of dying Grimm. That caused her to freeze once more. Something else was in the cave with her, and whatever it was, it was more than capable of killing Grimm, and for all she knew, it would come for her next. However, regardless of what lay down there, Mary knew that she could only go deeper into the strange facility she found herself in.

After a few minutes of walking, she came to an intersection, three different doors presenting themselves to her, each with their own blue button. She eventually picked the door on the left, and pressed the button there. The door opened with a chime, and she gasped in shock.

Right in front of her were six flying metal machines. Their bodies were grayish-white, and each one stared at her with a single blue eye. Beneath the eye lay a pair of robotic arms, and the curved chassis clearly held some sort of weapon. However, instead of attacking, the machines simply floated past her, turning right and heading out the way she came. Once they were out of sight, Mary breathed another sigh of relief, before proceeding into the room, secure in the knowledge that whatever inhabited the facility was not yet hostile towards her. With that in mind, she took stock of her surroundings.

The room she had found herself in was mostly empty, although tucked away in the corner were a few glass-topped containers, one of which held a strange item suspended within. As Mary approached, she saw that it was some sort of rifle, with a long, split barrel and had a small scope on the top. In the center of the gun lay a glowing orange cylinder. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she touched it, and when no alarms blared, she picked it up and looked down the scope, noting how light the weapon was, despite its large size. Then, with a smile on her face, she decided to try test-firing it. Pointing it at the container she found it in, she pulled the trigger, and a bright orange beam struck the container, causing it to disintegrate in a burst of orange light, while the gun bucked slightly in her hands, its recoil disproportionately low.

Mary was shocked, to say the least. There was no technology she knew of that was able to do something like this, as not even the Atlas military had anything capable of completely disintegrating a solid metal target. She wondered who had made this and why they kept it secret. After all, this kind of technology would help massively in the fight against the Grimm, and would certainly make its inventor very rich. However, she soon dismissed that thought from her mind, and continued to test the weapon. After five shots, the orange cylinder popped out and clattered to the ground, vanishing in a burst of light, but several seconds later another such cylinder materialized where the old one had been. Evidently, that was the weapon's ammunition supply.

Then, Mary noticed a small button on the side of the weapon. Shrugging, she pressed it, believing it to be some sort of fire-rate selector, but instead of switching to full-auto mode, the weapon split down the middle, becoming a pair of gently curved falchions, each one bearing a bright orange edge. Giving the blades a few experimental swings to test their balance, Mary eventually brought them together, causing them to shift back into their rifle form. With a powerful weapon in hand, she proceeded into the next room, and gasped. The next room had to be some sort of armory, as hundreds, if not thousands, of similar grey and orange weapons lay within. She knew she couldn't carry all of them, but maybe there was something smaller that she could bring with her in addition to the rifle. She found that something in the form of a glowing orange crystal encased in blue energy that lay at the end of the room. Several of the machines from before were hovering around the cavernous room, but none so much as glanced her way.

With nothing better to do, Mary found and pressed a button at the base of the crystal's containment device, and grabbed the object, noting that the crystal, whatever it was, weighed next to nothing. It easily fit in her hand, but she didn't have very long to study the strange object, as a bright yellow beam flew over her head, narrowly missing her. Looking to its source, Mary saw that the strange machines, that had until then been ignoring her, had turned to face her. As she ran to the nearest source of cover, two more yellow beams flew at her, blackening the patches of wall they hit.

Peeking out from behind the weapon rack she had chosen to hide behind, Mary returned fire, striking one of the flying machines, causing it to explode in a small burst of blue light. The machine's companions returned fire, but they were clearly lacking in respect to intelligence, as none of them moved to flank her. The resulting firefight was short, and Mary quickly neutralized all threats within the room. Picking up the crystal, Mary exited the room, re-tracing her steps until she found herself back at the intersection. However, as she soon found out, the only door that would open for her was the one leading out of the facility. Resolving to one day return, Mary exited, soon reaching the door to the cavern proper. Pressing the button, she smiled as the door opened. The cavern itself was clear of Grimm, but she kept her eyes peeled as she made her way out, heading back the way she came. After several minutes of walking, she arrived at the cave entrance. Looking around, she saw that the area seemed clear of Grimm, and she exited. However, before she could take more than three steps, an all too familiar hiss caused her to spin around. There, right above the cave entrance, sat the Ancient Deathstalker, its tail still stained with the blood of her teammates. Three of the beast's eyes had been replaced with a bloody pit, courtesy of Zach, but the rest glared at her with undisguised hatred. It was a hatred that Mary returned as she raised her newfound weapon, taking aim for the gaping wound in the beast's head.

Her subsequent shot missed, bouncing off the creature's claw as it leaped towards her, leaving nothing but a black burn mark where it impacted. However, Mary's second shot, which was aimed for the creature's stinger, did not miss, and the Deathstalker roared in agony as its tail disintegrated. However, it was not out of the fight, and it lashed out at her with its claws, but Mary was ready. Splitting her weapon into blade form, she leaped forwards, sliding under the monster's strike, and drove both blades into the beast's wounded head. Letting go of the weapons, she leaped back, watching in satisfaction as the Deathstalker flailed around in pain, trying unsuccessfully to get the blades out of its eyes as the flesh around them disintegrated. The monster's death was neither swift nor painless, as its insides slowly disintegrated until nothing but an evaporating shell remained. Taking a moment to inspect her handiwork, Mary retrieved her weapons, fusing them back into rifle form.

"Stacy, Zach, Ryan... You are avenged. Rest in peace." She said as the last of the Grimm's carapace faded away. Checking to make sure the crystal was still with her, she turned and began to walk back to Solitude. It took her nearly two hours of searching before she finally managed to locate the town, the rain doing nothing to help her journey. By the time she made her way up to the gate, black spots were dancing across her vision. She collapsed right in front of the gate, barely having enough strength to say 'It's dead' to the man who came to retrieve her. She was unconscious by the time the townspeople carried her inside.

Generatedname owns probably half this chapter. Because everything you just read I have written one way or another, but Generatedname improved by putting it into his own words. He put in a lot of time to do this for me and for that I couldn't be more thankful, and I'm seriously amazed at how well he was able to reword this. Also I'm just saying it now the story doesn't follow Mary, it follows a different OC that you will meet in the next chapter, which I'm not sure when it will be released. And for anyone who didn't figure it out the weapon was a Binary Rifle. Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my first story.

Please review and tell me what you thought. I'll see you next time.