RWBY is property of Roosterteeth! I only own my characters.
CHAPTER 2
"Here, Auntie Marcia." The EDC General looked down at the little girl holding out a bundle of armor to her. "Daddy said you'd need it."
"Thank you, Lex." she replied, taking the armor gratefully. She quickly donned the various pieces of the suit. "How's your Dad's search coming along?"
"Daddy said he hasn't found a car yet." Lex reported. Marcia nodded appreciatively, holding the armor's helmet in her hands. They had originally thought that Ignis and Alyia had not been too far away, but the quick application of a flare proved that the other two members of their wayward group were far out of sight. After a short search, Marcia had found the culprit of their incorrect assumption, a long-range transmitter tucked inside the wreck of one of the aircraft that had been pulled out of the hangar with them. Alyia had found an identical transmitter in another wreck wherever she and Ignis had landed, meaning the pair could be anywhere. The two separated parties eventually came to the decision to search for civilization independently, hoping that they would eventually run into each other.
Marcia was jolted out of her thoughts by the sound of a starting engine. She turned to find Jerloh, now fully dressed in his Guardian armor, an armored trench coat, sitting victoriously behind the wheel of an operable "Cobra" Light Combat Vehicle, an armored car-like vehicle with a mounted gatling turret and two pairs of all-terrain treads.
"Alright, we're not stuck on foot anymore." the Bloodline said happily.
"Good, that's one problem out of the way." Marcia replied. "We should take as many of these supply crates as we can, I doubt we'll be able to get more food or ammo easily." She gestured towards the piles of metal boxes strewn about the field near their position.
"Right." Jerloh waved a hand towards the crates, using his kinetic ability to lift the containers into the back of the Cobra.
"Daddy, can I help?" Lex asked eagerly as Marcia stepped around the little girl to assist in loading the vehicle.
"Nah, we've got it. Just sit back and keep an eye out for bad guys, okay?"
"Okay!" Lex answered with a hop and a salute.
A short while later, Marcia set the last crate she could fit into the back of the Cobra down with a metallic thud. She rolled her shoulders before settling down in the driver's seat of the vehicle, Jerloh sitting in the passenger's seat, and Lex tucked in the back.
"Don't touch the turret controls, alright?" the General instructed.
"Kay!" came the joyful reply from behind her.
"Alright, here we go..." Marcia activated the vehicle's engine, causing it to rumble to life. She flipped on the machine's forward-facing lights in preparation for the rapidly approaching sunset. The Cobra's treads began to roll, tearing up the grass beneath them. Now that they were on the move, the gravity of their situation seemed to weigh on the trio. A sudden quiet passed over them. Their plan wasn't exactly a great one. They'd drive North, or what would have been North on Earth anyway, until they either found some sort of settlement or a coastline.
Marcia stared out at the widely untouched nature illuminated by the Cobra's headlights. She'd never had the privilege to observe a sight like the one before her. Back home, buildings had already drowned out the original green landscapes for the better part of three centuries. Not to say there wasn't vegetation, but it was mostly rooftop gardens or parks, rarely forests and fields of any size.
"Auntie Marcia? Do you think the others are okay?" Lex's voice asked tiredly. The day's stress seemed to have caught up with the eight-year-old, as she ended her question with a loud yawn.
"I'm sure Alyia and Mr. Aedus can take care of themselves."
"No, I mean the other others. Dev and Ember and Mr. Dietrich."
"I'm sure they're all fine, Lex." Jerloh answered placatingly. Marcia kept her mouth shut, not wanting to voice her own worries for the people they had been with aboard the Maw of the Abyss. She kept her eyes firmly on the road ahead of them.
"Auntie, how come you call Uncle Ryan 'Mr. Aedus'?" Jerloh's daughter inquired, seemingly not wanting the vehicle to fall back into uneasy silence. Her question, however was not one Marcia felt particularly comfortable discussing with the little girl. Ryan Aedus was an odd subject in Marcia's mind. The man, only five years older than her, hadn't always been an ally. Twelve years prior, he had been a member of the Order. Under the name "Lord Ignis", Marcia and her old platoon had crossed paths with him many times. He'd killed more than handful of people she had cared about, and she had offed a few of his underlings personally.
However, Ignis had been fiercely loyal to the Order's founder, Gerard Antola, or High Lord Esprit. Antola had wished for a world where Auras could live without fear, and had led the Auras in a campaign against the EDC. Surprisingly, the High Lord had eventually changed his mind, after seeing the Guardians work alongside the EDC and achieve what he had wished for. However, when he had called for peace, the army of Auras he had driven into a frenzy hadn't been too willing to stand down. He, Ignis, and a handful of their most loyal followers had been ousted from the Order. After that, Esprit had helped the EDC tear down the monster he had created.
Marcia narrowed her eyebrows as she recalled all of this. Despite the "good" the ex-Order soldiers had done in order to atone, it didn't wash away the blood on their hands. She would fight alongside him, but she couldn't trust him.
"Auntie?" Lex's voice jolted the General out of her sour thoughts.
"Marcie and Ryan have some bad history between them. Neither of them really like talking about it." Jerloh informed his daughter. Marcia gave him a silent nod of thanks for taking over.
"But... you, Momma, and the other Uncles and Aunties call him 'Ryan'." the little girl cocked her head in confusion.
"Let's just say I'm not as forgiving as your Dad is." Marcia said flatly. Lex picked up on her tone and seemed to decide to end the conversation. The awkward silence crept back into the vehicle as the sun's last rays ducked underneath the horizon. "Daddy, look at that!" Jerloh followed his daughter's finger as she gestured excitedly towards the sky. He instantly saw what she had wanted, in the darkened air above the Cobra sat a moon, bright white, with a large chunk of its mass shattered from the rest of it.
"Hey, Marcie..." Jerloh tapped the soldier, "Slow down and take a look at this." The General gently applied the Cobra's brakes, causing the vehicle to slowly grind to a halt.
"...What is that?" Marcia stared at the orbiting body. She'd never even heard of anything like it. Where in the universe had they wound up? She was about to voice this same question, when the Cobra suddenly rocked to the side as something large rammed itself into it. "What was-" She was cut off as the LCV was struck again.
"There are a bunch of big crows!" Lex said calmly, staring out the LCV's narrow window and seemingly unfazed by the sudden attack. "They're not as cute as the one's back home." Marcia took a deep breath to calm her nerves. If the six-year-old could be fearless in this situation, the least she could do was keep her own cool.
"Jerloh, the Cobra's holding for now, do you think you can-" the General cut herself off as she saw the Guardian with his palm already on the door handle. "You've got it, nevermind. I'll back you up with the turret."
"Try not to hit me, alright?" the man smiled as he exited the vehicle and stepped onto the plains, "Otherwise, we might have to have a talk about your reputation as the EDC's best shot." Jerloh shut the door behind him firmly, holding his helmet in his left hand. He quickly scanned the skies as he donned the head piece, a skull-like visage with a violet line running vertically across the left side and mechanical vents on both cheeks. He spotted four large raven-like beasts circling the Cobra, each with bright-white bone forming masks on their heads. "Well, guess that confirms it, we definitely aren't anywhere near home."
The Nevermores circled the vehicle, their red eyes now focusing on the Human that had dared to wander into the open. However, something kept the soulless creatures at bay. Normally, Grimm of their size would have no qualms attacking such a small target. But some sort of energy surrounded the small, armored, coat-wearing form beneath them that held the giant birds at a distance.
Suddenly, the energy flared, and the Nevermores tensed at its presence. The Human had sprouted four burning wings from his back, and violet fire poured from vents on his armor. In seemingly a blink of an eye, the Human closed the distance between the ground and the circling Grimm. A flaming sword flashed through the air, a crescent-shaped notch cut out of the blade. The notch was hooked around the neck of one of the Nevermores, and an invisible force pushed it towards the dirt below. Its head and body fell separately, leaving the Human to draw a large revolver and blast a trio of holes in another of the Grimm's wings, sending the creature hurtling downward. The lead beast locked eyes with the Human's helmet.
"Well, you guys aren't exactly Order material, but you'll do for a warm-up."
Meanwhile, further North, a man stirred in a cave. His schedule for the last two years had been an odd one. He slept through most of the day, but awoke at night to keep incursions of the creatures called "Grimm" away. He stretched and yawned, watching the edge of the woods for the first wave of red-eyed beasts.
The man had been proud once, had almost helped bring an entire world to its knees. Still, the thought of revenge for what he had lost made him crack a manic smile. A wolf-like creature stepped into the mouth of the cave, holding a basket in its mouth. Unlike a Grimm, this beast was hollow, dimly illuminated by an internal red-orange glow, and it also followed the man's orders. A Shade, a Fenrir to be more precise.
"So, what did our friends leave for us today?" the man asked the Fenrir, not expecting an answer as the shadowy puppet lay the basket at his side. It was filled with fruit, offerings from a rather odd group of people.
When the man had first left the cave in search of food, he had come across a frontier settlement of sorts. He had, at the time, been none too willing to negotiate, so he had slaughtered them all and taken their supplies. For the most part, he had stuck to the cave afterward, allowing his aging injuries to heal. Of course, the nightly hordes of aggressive creatures helped keep him in good form, but he had still needed to occasionally conduct a raid of a settlement he located for additional supplies.
Over time, some of the frontiersmen had begun to whisper about some sort of angry woodland deity, and had started to leave offerings of food to the being that seemingly wiped out Human, Faunus, and Grimm alike. There where even some who became quite fanatical, killing in the name of a "god of death" that did not exist. The man wasn't about to complain. It certainly made his life easier to have worshipers, even if they never directly came into contact with him.
As the man lifted an apple to bite, something caught his eye. The old helmet he had brought with him, black, adorned with golden trim and red light. A small blip flashed on its side, showing that it was picking up a signal. The man's face shifted rapidly between surprise and glee. Lord Chaos had company.
Barnes' Log: Shades and Grimm
"So, this is going to be fairly short. Let's start with what's the same between the most common foes on Remnant and Earth, the Grimm and Shades. Both tend to come in large swarms and many varieties, and are both generally a pain in the ass to deal with."
"That's about where the similarities end, though. Grimm, despite being creatures without souls, are still living animals of a sort. Shades are puppets, artificially created by an Aura to do their bidding. The Order was a big fan of just using massive hordes of them to overwhelm EDC positions. However, it does take time and effort to make a Shade, though less than a drone."
"Shades are also slightly harder to kill. Take off a Grimm's head, and it will stay down. With Shades, however, that's not always the case. The bigger ones have to be 'destabilized' in order for them to stay dead. In short, put holes in them until they fall apart."
"Firearms have always proven useful against Shades, the higher the caliber, the better. Fire and electricity have also shown to cause suitable damage against the things, so they're usable if need be. Personally, I'd just say hit them with tank shells or artillery if you have the chance."
"Alright, that's all that I can really think of as relevant at this time, Ozpin. I've gotta write up a lesson plan for next semester and take some of the paperwork pressure off Cinder. Keep me in the loop. Barnes out."
A/N: Chapter turned out better than I originally thought it would.
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