Colorful Space Marines on Remnant
**Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, I do not own Red vs Blue or RWBY. Both are owned by Rooster Teeth.
Chapter 1
In a recovering galaxy, there was a single, small planet known as Iris. On that planet, were a squad of misfits and soldiers who have recently retired: the remaining Freelancers, Reds, and Blues from Project Freelancer. It was an average day of retirement for them. Lopez was ignoring everything with a pulse in Red base with his audio sensors turned off, Sarge was working on Red team's Puma "incase we get attacked again" as he put it. Grif was at the beach teaching Carolina to be lazy, which was starting to work. Simmons was at Red base's lounge learning Esperanto. Donut was just, gone, and Tucker was in his room doing….things.
As for Caboose, Indy, and Washington…
"Please."
"Caboose, we don't have the materials to give Freckles a new body. Even if we did, we don't know how he was built, what is required, or, anything." Andrzej told his friend, holding his helmet under his arm.
The three were in the living room of Blue base; Andrzej was finished with the dishes from breakfast, while Wash was checking the solar panel energy system through the base's computer.
"But we can do it! I know we can! We just need to try." He countered. Wash just closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Caboose, in order to try, we need the supplies. But we don't have them, so we are unable to try."
"What if I look around, and find stuff to do that? Please?" The white armored man turned to the gray one.
"It wouldn't hurt to check the rest of the island. We've only been here for about a month and still haven't seen the rest of the it. Maybe we could find something new, or, a place where two people could be alone." He raised his eyebrows teasing his friend.
"Fine. Caboose get ready for a small trip. Use the bathroom, get snacks, water, clothes, whatever you'll need. We all meet back here before leaving. You, I need to talk to." Wash waited till Caboose and Freckles were out of the room till he ripped off his helmet. "The fuck was that, Indy?"
"Huh?"
"Don't 'huh' me. You know what this is about. You weren't supposed to say anything about what happened between me and her."
"I didn't, and I won't. You can relax about that." Wash turned away pinching the bridge of his nose. "But that's not gonna stop others from sensing the connection between you two, if they haven't already."
"Listen here you litt-"
"Did you even talk to her?"
"What?"
"Come on Wash, this isn't something that you would just, cover up and never talk about again."
"Oh, you're supposed to give me advice on relationships. A bit of an age difference between perspectives, if you didn't notice?" Indiana shook his head.
"Listen, David. One, I'm just two years younger than you. And two, this is the more important part: this, is a mental time bomb. I heard you muttering in your sleep on our trip here to here. You are scared that if you say the wrong thing, your entire history with her will end up a pile of ashes. That is understandable. But you need to get this off your chest, and at the least, see where the two of you are in all of this, otherwise it will haunt you to the rest of your life." He started to head towards the door, before stopping and turning his head back. "Do it however you want, just do it soon. I'll get my stuff."
Indiana left and headed towards Red Base. Lopez was going down the stairs, forcing him to see Thomas waving at him, he turned on his audio sensors.
"How is everything, Lopez?"
"Bueno. Gracias tú para preguntando" (Good. Thank you for asking.)
"Oh, and Caboose, Wash, and I are going on a small trip to check out the rest of the island. Kind of a good idea in case for the future, and Caboose wanted to find materials for Freckles."
"Bueno, sólo no lo hagas morir y salir yo con ellos." (Okay, just don't die and leave me with them.) He silently stood for a second to register the translation properly. God knows Thomas is trying to learn, it just takes time.
"Thanks for listening, we'll be back in two to three days. Four tops." He went up to his room to get his things. He entered the semi-tidy room that he shared with Grif and Lopez. The three of them called dibs on the smaller room, forcing Sarge, Simmons, and Donut to share the room across the hall. He managed to negotiate with Grif that his side can be the way it was, it just couldn't stink. And Lopez always took up very little space. Heading over to his side, he loaded up his backpack with essentials, a Swiss army-tool set, ammo, extra shirts and pants, as well as his navy blue leather hood. As he made his way back to Blue Base where Wash and Caboose were waiting for him, he grabbed his Magnum pistol and attached it to his waist, along with his combat knife. Wash noticed the change when Indy showed up.
"No second rifle?"
"Not this time. With our situation now I just reached my limit for carrying shit."
"Gross."
"Not literally, Caboose." Indiana responded.
"If that's it then, I guess we should get going."
"I told Lopez we were leaving. Whether he's planning on telling the others, that's a toss up."
"Yeah, I'll radio Carolina." Wash set his radio on to the common frequency. "Carolina you there?"
"Wash, I'm trying to relax. Whatever it is, I'm sure you can handle it."
'Wow, she must really trust me if she's not wanting to get involved.'
"I'm just letting you know that Caboose wants find some building materials for Freckles, and Indy and I are tagging along to keep an eye on him. We figured we could scout out the rest of the island while we're at it."
"Okay, that doesn't sound bad. How long will you be gone?"
"Should be three, four days max."
"Okay, stay safe guys."
"We will Carolina!" Caboose called out a little louder than needed.
"Alright, let's get going." They didn't know it, but the group wasn't going to be back for quite a while.
-Three hours pass-
"Let's take a break here." The freelancers sat down on some rocks while Caboose headed inland towards the mountain to go to the bathroom. Thomas loaded his bow and quiver into his bag before finally breaking the silence.
"Hey um, sorry. About earlier. It's none of my business, I just wanted the best for you." Wash took a deep breath before turning to his friend.
"It's alright, you had good intentions. I'm guessing you were talking from experience?"
"Uh, kinda. Didn't tell a girl how I felt in time. Ended up kicking myself for a while." He opened his mouth to continue, but he couldn't. And with how things ended between Carolina and York and being too late... He dared not to say what came to mind.
"Agent Washington?" He heard Caboose call out.
"Caboose? What is it?" He responded with worry in his voice.
"I found something." The got up and went in his direction. Rocks started to narrow around the path, before reaching out to a small clearing, with Caboose in the center looking down at a velociraptor. Not exactly a surprise considering they were almost attacked by dinosaurs two weeks after coming here. Blood was in pools around it's head. Wash crouched down to inspect it closer.
"Trauma to the head, dirt all over body, by the looks of things, a few broken bones as well. Must have fell down the mountain. Slipped and tumbled down here." Indiana looked at the clearing around them. It couldn't have been more that 250 square feet. But there was one thing that caused him to forget about the dinosaur.
"Guys, I don't think we're the first ones here."
"Indy what do you...mean." Wash turned from the dino and saw what he was talking about.
"Yay! We found a bathroom!" Caboose cheered and made his way towards a metal door with some sort of data pad connected to it.
"Caboose, wait!" The other two said in unison. He stopped in his tracks.
"Let's be careful about this. Freckles, can you scan for any traps? Landmines, sensors, anything like that?" They waited three seconds before getting a response from Caboose's rifle.
"No electronics or unstable materials detected besides the door." Thomas made his way to the door slowly, took out his pistol, and pressed the OPEN button on the console. The door slid upwards, exposing a small dark tunnel. After switching on his lights on his helmet, Andzej continued his way into the tunnel with his pistol ready. It was about ten feet long, and led to a hundred square foot cave. He looked around more, but nothing was to be found.
"Just a cave. Nothing el-" He was cut off by the shaking of the ground. He turned around and ran back outside to see-
"T-Rex! Three of them!" Wash called out. Thomas quickly looked around. One was standing on the rocks that lead to the trail, hanging his head low to the ground. One was staring at them at the center of the clearing, which was way too close for comfort. The last one was under the only nearby tree that was tall enough to get them to safety. However, nonbody of them noticed that the shaking activated the door's main function.
"Opp, the door closed." Caboose noticed for them.
"Any plans?" Wash asked desperately.
"We're cut off, and we're not packing enough heat to get past them."
"Then we better think fast. The cave?"
"Yeah, we'll radio the others from inside. Move!" The two bolted back and pulled the blue soldier with them. Andzej pressed the OPEN button again, but didn't look at what was on the other side this time, or, what wasn't there. He was busy pulling the others back by their packs into the doorway before the closest dinosaur could bite them in half. The door closed behind them with the terminal blinking a set of coordinates before entering sleep mode.
All Indiana saw for a while was whiteness that fit the ringing of his ears. It slowly faded into green grass, and the white noise was soon replaced by a low rustle of leaves. He tried to lift himself off the ground, finding both of his teammates in similar circumstances.
"You guys okay?" He heard Wash call out.
"You guys got hit by white noise too?"
"Yup."
"What's white noise?" Caboose asked.
"It's when signals are equal on different frequencies. In this case, for our ears." Caboose just stared at Indy. "It's like a lot of radio stations playing with the same volume from the same radio, and it just becomes a mess of sounds."
"Ah, then yup. I heard the whiteness noise."
"Make sure Tumblr doesn't hear that." Wash muttered.
"Man, so, I'm guessing that's what it feels like to have a staring contest with a flashbang."
"Did we win?" Caboose chirped.
"Don't even think about it. Let's focus on where we are...which is where, exactly?" Indy asked as he looked around, seeing that they were in a forest of sorts.
"Beats me. Other side of the island? Different continent? With what we've seen, I wouldn't be completely surprised if we're on a different planet." Wash said skeptically.
"And what about the door, you think it's Covenant tech?"
"It's a possibility."
"Even if it was, it didn't do this the first time. Unless...Caboose." The younger freelancer concluded as he turned towards the blue.
"Did, did I do something?" Caboose asked with worry in his voice.
"I don't know, but if that door is from the Covenant, then perhaps you activated it because you are claimed as a true warrior, like access to one of the temples on Chorus. That would explain why nothing happened when I went through."
"Freckles, scan the door, see what you can find." Click. "Carolina, it's Wash, do you copy?" Static. "Washington to Carolina do you copy?" Static. "Sarge, do you copy?!" More fucking static. "Tucker!? Simmons!? Lopez!? Grif!? Anyone!?"
"I got nothing, but it seems there is a magnetic signature, sooo, compasses work."
"Structure and energy signature do not match Covenant origin." Freckles chirped.
"Thank you, can you please see where we are in correspondence to our star charts, and how is the atmosphere." They waited a few seconds before the rifle responded.
"I have two conclusions."
"What's the worse of the two?" Wash asked with doubt in his voice.
"We are not visible on any of the charts. According to them, we do not exist."
"We don't exist?! But? We did so much! Reality is nonexistent. Everything we did was for nothing?!" Caboose started to unravel.
"No, Caboose! We're real. Everything that we did, everything we will do... is real." Caboose took a deep breath, calming himself down. "Great, I guess if we do and don't exist at the same time, I guess that means we're in Purgatory. What's the rest of the news?" Indy asked the rifle.
"This place has a Type I atmosphere."
"So we don't need to worry about oxygen levels." Washington stated "Thank God. Let's focus on getting shelter for now."
"What about the door? Should we, take it?" Caboose questioned.
"I got a spare tracker we could use. Besides, if we encounter anyone there will be at least two variables. One: it will be weird to find a bunch of strangers carrying around a door. And two: if we do encounter something and get attacked, we'd have to protect the door and ourselves, so I think we should keep it where it's safe. And if we move it, how do we know it will let us get back home?"
"Touché. Let's try heading uphill for a vantage point, see if there is any civilization at all."
"Anyone else feel, less heavy, like just a light?"
"Yeah. This planet must have less gravity then, Caboose." Washington stated "C'mon, lets go."
"Hey look! Its, its, um. Uh what's that thing called when a building looks all old, and, broken?" Caboose questioned.
"Ruins. Ruins means buildings. And buildings-" Indy says while his visor zooms in on the discovery.
"Means intelligent life." Wash concluded.
"Wait a minute, motion sensor picked something up." Indiana stated.
"Mine too. Where-"
"Contacts to the east!" Indy almost shouted.
"Crust is made with yeast."
"Not now, Caboose!" A pack of black wolves with bone-like armor on their bodies charged toward them.
"Caboose, watch for any behind us, and you too." Wash said, drawing his assault rifle from his back. Several wolves pounced at them. He reacted by shooting them midair, before backhanding one that got to close on his left. Indy started to shoot at them before replacing his rifle for his pistol and combat knife. Wash did the same after hearing a set of clicks. The two kept the wolves at bay, slicing and butchering any that got too close. Indy glanced to see his friend stab a pouncing wolf in the face, but let the momentum of the attack brush him, rather than tank it. Indy then continued to shoot, pistol whip and stab any wolf that tried to get to them. Wash picked one up that was slightly injured. "Indy," He started to spin as his friend turned. "tag." He took a running start, jumping as soon as Wash let go of the wolf.
"You're it." Indy's left leg collided with the bottom of the wolf while his right followed up on its side, sending it into a rock. Wash then ducked to avoid another as it pounced at him. He then lifted himself up and grabbed it with both hands, slamming it down over his knee with a single yelp escaping the beast. Wash turned to see Andrzej had one trapped in his arm by its neck. He jerked his arm letting out a loud snap before dropping the body.
"Ah, bad doggie. Bad!" They turned to see a few wolves go after Caboose. Freckles managed to shoot all but one, which tackled him.
"Caboose! Squeeze it!"
"Okay!" And he did. The body dropped lifelessly on top of the blue soldier. They two upright soldiers checked and saw all beast were killed except for one.
But this one was different than the rest; not only was this one bigger, it was more armored. And this one went after the one that was still vulnerable.
This one of them went after Caboose.
Adrenaline pumped into Andrzej's veins and his brain, setting him up to front kick the wolf into a set of tree branches that hung overhead, punting it like a ball.
"Nice one, Andrzej." The rifle in the blue's hands complimented as the fighting concluded.
"Guys, look," Wash gestured to the former attackers. "they're... disintegrating." Wash turned back to his friends. Thomas could only stare at the fading corpses before asking the big question that everyone had.
"What the fuck is going on around here?"
"Let's keep going, we should get to those ruins soon. Indiana, watch our six."
"Copy."
The three were shown on some sort of holographic device. A man sat at a desk in a large office with a dark green glass dome overhead. A woman stood next to him. They observed the individuals with discomfort and curiosity.
"Good technique. Their armor looks somewhat similar to Atlas, but they look different at the same time. They seemed to be very skilled to take down an entire pack of Beowolves and its Alpha on their own."
"Indeed, I shall send a team of students to find out who they are and whether or not they're a threat." The blond haired one looked at the other in confusion.
"Do you really think a team of students should do this, Ozpin?" The one now known as Ozpin gave the other a reassuring look.
"I'm sure, Glynda." He pressed a button on his desk and spoke. "Would Teams JNPR and RWBY please report to my office immediately, thank you" He lifted his hand from the button.
"Are you sure they could handle this? We can always send a higher year team." Ozpin stayed silent for a few for minutes before hearing the elevator come up.
"Yang, what did you do this time?"
"Hey! Why do you guys always accuse me?"
"Because you're the most hot headed of the team, AND you keep sending people to the infirmary."
"Guys, let's calm down. Jumping to conclusions won't help in any way."
"Jaune's right." The elevator opened to reveal six girls and two boys, all in Beacon uniforms.
"Hello students, please take a seat." Ozpin gestured to the chairs in front of him. The eight sat down in the chairs.
"So we're not in trouble are we?" The female blonde one asked, who received a punch to her arm by the long black haired one.
"Ms. Rose, Mr. Arc, Ms. Schnee, Mr. Ren, Ms. Belladona, Ms. Nikos, Ms. Xiao Long, and Ms. Valkyrie. I called you up here today because I'd like to send you to a mission of sorts." Which received a combination of relief and excitement from everyone. "Unless, of course, there is something you've done that requires my attention." He said with a slight smirk.
"Nope!"
"Nothing at all!"
"No sir!" They all said in unison.
"Actually sir, aren't first years supposed to get missions later?" The white haired girl asked, receiving a weak punch to the arm from the shortest girl there.
"I don't believe this will be dangerous, but I decided to send two teams to be careful. Anything else?" Everyone shook their head. Breaking the silence, Goodwitch decided to speak up.
"We've spotted three suspicious individuals in Emerald Forest, we would like you to investigate who they are, and bring them here if possible." This received several confused looks from the four.
"What makes them suspicious?" Blake asked. Ozpin showed them the video footage of them fighting the pack of Beowolves.
"They seemed to be skilled individuals, with armor that looks very similar to Atlas', yet different." Their jaws dropped on the floor when they saw the white one kick an Alpha Beowolf into the trees overhead.
"They are in Emerald Forest, in the northern area. If possible, we'd like you eight to do it without violence." Goodwitch decided to add one last part.
"You can back out of this mission if you wish to. But there's no turning back once you've made your choice." The eight looked at each other, which ended with Jaune and Ruby nodding to each other. Jaune decided to speak up.
"With all due respect sir, I believe we can handle this mission for you." He said with a reassuring look. Ruby raised her fist into the air.
"Alllllllllllright guys! We have a mission to do!"
"If that's all the info we got, let's suit up." Jaune said. The others nodded and began heading towards the elevator.
"One more thing." They stopped in their tracks to listen to what their headmaster was about to say. He gave them a confident smile.
"Good hunting." They smiled back and got into the elevator. The headmaster's smile changed the second the door closed, and began typing in a number to his scroll.
"Ozpin, I'm a little busy right now, can this wait?"
"No it can't James. And you need to tell me the absolute truth with what I'm about to ask." With annoyance in his voice, Ironwood responded.
"And what would that be?"
"Do you have troops currently stationed in the Emerald Forest?" Ironwood was caught off by this.
"No, I never sent any soldiers there, why?"
"If what you're saying is true, then we have a serious situation."
