DISCLAIMER/ I don't possess legal rights to Halo or RWBY
Chapter VII: Shading the past [PART II]
" Great works are performed not by strength but perseverance."
-Samuel Jackson
Wednesday November 28th, 2526 [MILITARY STANDARD TIME/21:43]
BEACON ACADEMY MAIN HALL
John walked out of Ozpin's office and journeyed through the long echoing halls of Beacon. Looking outside one of the double hung panned half moon windows John took in the dark scenery. Thinking it looked quite peaceful outside he had a calm viewpoint of it, but through the stars shimmering in the sky and the city lights in the distance all John could see was danger flashing. It was dark out and he would have to drive back to base through the Emerald forest at night.
Driving through the forest at night was very dangerous. Period.
Not only was it harder to see the Grimm in the dark, but impossible to detect them since they could quite easily slip through the motion detectors frequencies like they weren't even there at all. Another contributing factor was the fact that they seemed to be most active at night when hunting for food. By hunting, he meant by the upstanding fact that the Grimm were pure carnivores with an endless hunger for human flesh.
If given the chance they would often hunt smaller animals ranging from skunks, warthogs, and even deer. But the Grimm preferred they're favorite: Human and Fauna. Most Grimm would go out of their own ways to attack villages in the dead of night in monstrous numbers, sometimes fighting for days until every last person was down to their last spear.
From John's learning thought, it was negative energy that attracted them.
Pain, fear, anguish, depression, anything down feeling toward the mind would bring them like a moth to light.
A warthog was dropped specifically for him hours prior. Taking the sky was an impossibility with the Nevermore's being more rampant than ever. All the other pelicans were either grounded for repairs from previous attacks or not air worthy as of yet with air regulations. John was also given a single marine to accompany him and man the back gun just in case any Grimm were brave enough to step forward and attempt to attack them.
He kept his eyes ahead of him but quickly tuned out the numerous sounds of talking, laughing, giggling, and murmuring through the thin walls in the room next to him. As he made a right turn through the double doors with his data pad in hand and into the main hall he quickly saw a life signature behind him that stopped when he did.
Looking behind him he was met with a dark haired woman with fiery eyes in a student uniform. "Evening sir." The woman greeted lightly. "I was on my way to the main lobby to pick up my bags but got lost on the way there, would a kind gentleman show me the way there?" She questioned with her lips puckering.
John looked at the woman a moment longer before saying. "This way ma'am." He gestured toward the end of the hall.
"Oh please, call me Cinder. Everyone does." Cinder introduced as she walked beside John. She took in his height since her head barely reached the top of his shoulder. A sly grin crept on her features as she commented. "My you're so tall."
John replied with a short "Thanks" and kept his head forward, ignoring the slight glare Cinder gave him from the brush off.
"You must be tired after the long hazardous day. I wish there was a way I could repay you for helping me." Cinder attempted at charming the chief who merely said. "Nothing's needed ma'am." in the repetitive tone, not at all knowing her advances or caring.
"Calling me ma'm makes me feel so old, Cinder will do fine." She faltered a bit at the end from the second attempt to try and use her real name. Trying to make her person of interest swoon at her was so easy she could do it in her sleep. This person though was about as hard as robbing the world of all its riches.
"Alright Cinder."
The two didn't speak out for a few moments and nothing made a peep within the quiet halls. John thought of leading this women toward her destination while Cinder had her eyes locked on the prize in John's arm.
The Data Pad.
As they entered the main lobby chief faced her and observed. "The door will take you to the front of the school."
Cinder simply walked up to the 7 foot 2 soldier and did something that made John recoil slightly. She wrapped her slender arms around his frame and gave him a hug. "Thank you ever so much." What John didn't notice though was that Cinder pulled out a small rectangular pad. It was called a data scroll and was often used by citizens as customary invention to aid anyone in their daily lives.
She held it close to John's data pad in his arm and clicked the side button. Almost in a matter of seconds, Cinder was able to transfer a bug into his data pad that would now give her access when he activated it, and she would now have everything she needed to bring the UNSC down to it's knees.
She let go of the visibly disgusted soldier and winked at him before leaving. John watched the woman's retreating form and made note of something rather important that caused him to raise an eyebrow slightly.
She was wearing a school uniform, while it wasn't odd to see one since they were being pre-ordered among hundreds of students it was odd to see one wearing it when the initiation hadn't even been authorized.
How was she already a student and where did she get that uniform.
He decided not to go after the women but to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious in the near future. He walked back down the hallway toward the same door and made a left. He was met with the sight of each and every student at Beacon getting ready for the night's rest. A few eyes landed on him but most if not everyone quickly turned their attention back to what they were doing before.
As John looked at the exit that was across the hall he felt a bit out of place and wanted to exit as quickly as possible. As he took a few steps through a clear row toward the exit he heard a few grunts and laughs happen not too far from him. When he turned his sights on the left he saw what looked like a giant dust cloud with feet, arms, and hands flying out of every corner.
John's brows furrowed as he stepped toward the comedic dust cloud and could make out only two voices from the center of it. One sounded awfully familiar and the other was painfully familiar as well.
Yang and Ruby.
He put both of his hands down the center and restrained the two sisters who were currently in their sleep wear. Ruby wore a simple pair rose petal printed white PJ pants and a black tanktop with a heart shaped smiley face on the chest. On her forehead was a silk sleeping mask with two red triangles that reminded chief of the beowolves he had killed months earlier.
Yang wore an even more revealing outfit that consisted of a tight orange tanktop with the same flaming symbol only red with a pair of tight black short shorts. Nothing else though. From John's assumption or what you would call perspective, she really couldn't care what she wore and was more than willing to flaunt what she had. She was currently without a bra but her breasts didn't deflate or sag, as a matter of fact they looked quite bigger and drew a few wandering pair of eyes on her.
She enjoyed the looks.
John made sure to keep a hand on each girls shoulder, making sure they were in his grip before he said toward the two. "Stop it, now."
Yang looked at John and only sighed before muttering. "Aw Sierra, do you have to be such a dang stick in the mud?"
John didn't reply, not really caring for jokes directed at specifically him, but could see Ruby staring at him quizzically. Almost like he was in a fishbowl, he looked down at her before she asked suddenly. "Are you an android, or a cyborg?"
"No I'm not." John asserted. "I'm as human as you are, and this is my assault armor." Ruby then took the opportunity to observe almost every defining detail of the plating and coating.
John was a bit skeptical at first since he had done a background check on Ruby, and made sure to note that she was very perceptive for her age and had designed one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed.
"That's really cool Sierra, I wonder who designed it? They must be a genius!" Ruby shouted as she looked over John's back ammo port.
'Genius is a light way of putting it.' John thought dryly. Catherine Halsey was the pure epitome of intelligent. Most if not all her designs that were provided to the UNSC were 110% accurate with a 460% productivity raise. She was smarter than her parents alone and had all these medical degrees under her belt just getting out of Highschool.
"What weapon do yo-" Ruby was going to ask him what weapon he carried but was cut off by her sister.
"Ruby, he's in the military, they don't make their own weapons. They just grab em' and go." Yang butted in. "Besides, I don't think his hands are big enough to hold one."
John didn't know what that meant but was going to let it slide since he really couldn't care less what she had to say about him.
"Well I have crescent rose." Ruby said as she took a small red cylinder out that transformed into a massive clunky looking red and black scythe almost instantly. John stared at the weapon for a moment before saying.
"May I hold it?"
Ruby was a bit hesitant at first. This weapon had been forged by her own two hands back at Signal. So many memories were made by this weapon, but from the sound of his voice that gave out calmness she nodded and handed her weapon to the Master chief. He grasped the handle firmly and observed it with a cynical eye.
He wasn't new to handheld weapons since he was given extensive history lessons upon them when in school himself.
"A scythe... And a customizable high impact velocity sniper rifle to be exact." John said to himself loud enough as his armor readings scanned the weapon when it linked up to his head.
It was approximately 30 pounds, 7 feet in length with a 3 inches in width but almost 7 feet in width with the blade. From his current analysis it was also highly durable and would be able to deal massive amounts of damage toward any enemy.
Threat level: Very High.
"The blade is also lined with a high steel alloy. High in durability." He finished as he looked at the massive blade on the end as it gleamed from the candlelight's in the room.
"You sure know your weapons big boy, how about ember celica? Does those happen to ring a bell?" Yang asked as she placed her hands on her wide hips and looking at John with a competitive smile. John thought for a moment before answering.
"From my perspective they were sizable shotgun arm mounted gauntlets that were also dual ranged. Able to hold 12 shells each" He started from memory before continuing prescriptively. "And they only use dust crystal shells only." He finished.
"Uh-huh." Yang nodded and looked back at Ruby. "He's a weapon expert like you..." She began but saw Ruby motionless.
"Uh... Ruby?" Yang looked at Ruby more intensely and noticed two things, one Ruby, who in a lack of better terms was in complete shock and lastly was as stiff as a board.
She was currently frozen in place, shocked and disbelieved by the master chief's vast knowledge on weapons. Her grey eyes wide and shining and her mouth barely open when she said. "Y-yeah... Exactly." She finished and saw Yang snickering behind him.
Ruby blushed as she yelled out. "What's so funny!?"
"Oh nothing nothing... but you're gonna catch flies with you mouth like that!" Yang gestured loudly as she dodged a smack from Ruby. She looked back at the Master chief who still held on Ruby's prized weapon and continued to watch the two.
"So what're you still doing here anyway Sierra? Are you security or something because it's getting late and all?" Yang questioned while she brushed some hair from her face. "And us girls need their well deserved beauty sleep." She said while acting a bit more dramatic and making Ruby roll her eyes.
John looked at Yang as he handed Ruby her weapon and said. "No, I'm just leaving now to base."
"You mean the isolated, dark, and full of a bunch of military meatheads base." Yang continued like her mouth were full of poison.
"I said I was sorry, but there were some things you guys did that was totally uncalled for." Besides grabbing, shoving, being pulled through hallways, held at gunpoint, and told she was going to spend the remainder of her days in in a cell while nearly beaten, Yang wasn't all too fond of the way she was treated by them. Even if she deserved it.
Ruby looked at Yang and said. "But Yang you did attack him, I was angry at first but you kinda did ask for it." She said the last part a bit quieter.
"And tried to kill me." John added at the end.
"And tried to kill him-" Ruby suddenly stopped before the words registered in her brain. She had been so in tune to prove to her sister she was more mature and could handle things on her own, but what he had said totally alienated the maturity back to zero.
"WHAT!?" Ruby screamed.
That was like getting a bucket of ice water poured on you while you were in a deep almost catatonic slumber. She knew Yang got in some serious trouble, but it would appear she left out a majority of the story, very small details with BIG outcomes.
John knew this might have been a great deal to say earlier since he felt Yang could explain things, but unfortunately she seemed like she wasn't going to be accepting responsibility for her actions anytime soon. He truly hoped that she would be willing to consider leadership or possibly some type of authority when it came down to her own actions, because as of right now, she was not being a very good example to her little sister.
The little sister that was one day going to become a huntress, someone meant to defend the innocent from monsters every single waking moment for the rest of their lives.
Ruby looked at Yang and asked very hurriedly. "He's joking? Right? Please tell me he's joking Yang!"
John only shook his head at this and watched as Yang looked at her sister and yelled quickly. "I didn't know he didn't have aura, he said so himself."
Ruby looked at John and asked. "You don't have aura?"
"No I don't." John replied again to that question. "I don't know how to use it."
"You mean unlock it, there's an old and hard technique that'll do the trick... But I would have to use some of my own." Yang stated. "Honestly though you're not that weak either, I mean you were able to take on all this." She gestured to herself while smiling a bit proudly. "Aura or no aura, I think you're good."
John's attention perked at this with slight interest. Aura to him was something out of fairy tales he had heard as a youngster. While there was very small curiosity there were small traces of discomfort at the thought.
"I'm glad though you didn't hurt her and I'm VERY sorry on how she, acted... heh." Ruby laughed a bit at the end to John with Yang's face turning red. "I mean, I can't tell you how many times she's beaten someone up over the silliest things. Boys, food, clothes, the bathroom, her weight," Ruby listed them off her fingers.
"Like her hair." John added with Ruby nodding.
"Especially her hair," but gasping at the same time. "Please tell me you didn't!"
"He did." Yang answered with a downward grin that promised pain and suffering. She tried very hard to keep her hair in the shiny pristine condition every single solitary day. Every morning for over 30 minutes of brushing, an extra handful of conditioner, next was even more brushing and after that was a secret. When someone took it upon themselves to so much as harm a single follicle on her head then that someone was tired of breathing and ready to take a permanent dirt nap.
"I didn't know though and I'm... sorry." John apologized a bit awkwardly since he wasn't used to saying that. He of course knew about the opposite sex's love for their hair since Kelly almost knocked out a barber who shaved her head. But as of right now John wanted this conversation with the girl who beat the crap out of him the other night to wrap up and leave it on good amends. Now that he was put on watch duty for Weiss Schnee and a traitor within the school, he had a feeling he was going to be spending most of his days watching over Beacon.
"Your forgiven... Sierra." Yang said with a kind smile. Yang wasn't the type to hold grudges... Okay maybe she could for a while but who wouldn't? John felt slightly better in his well-being and stared at her for a moment longer, a bit too long perhaps before Yang asked questioningly. "What? Is there something on my face?" She gestured as she pointed on her left cheek.
John shook his head before saying softly. "No, no there's not." He just didn't quite know how to respond. Talking to her and for this long was alien to him. He wanted and would rather keep to himself for authority reasons.
"Yeah Yang you're fine, it's better than being called crater face." Ruby replied glumly.
"Speaking of which, can you explain the explosion from earlier. I thought we were under attack." John asked with crossed arms, not at all amused by today's plot of fiasco's.
"I just tripped over some snotty girls luggage that happened to be filled with dust, and then she kept on yelling and screaming at me." Ruby listed off everything that happened.
"Kids' shouldn't be playing with explosives." John muttered at Ruby, who in return tried to glare at him but looked like an angry little puppy.
"I'm not a kid! I. Drink. Milk!" Ruby boasted powerfully to John who had a very 'Are you kidding me' expression behind his helmet, but the pose he had said all.
"Your 15 years old. That's still considered a minor." John rebutted after he had previously been introduced to Vales laws. Some of them he agreed with while he did in fact question a few that seemed slightly odd.
Yang suddenly asked. "How old are you anyway?"
John tilted his head, why would she want to know how old he is?
He replied to that question like Linda would.
"That's classified." He answered and this made Ruby and Yang look at each other, then back to him questioningly.
"How is your age classified? Are you some type of 2000-year-old alien?" Yang asked while thinking. "Are you even human?" He was as strong as her without aura, he was fast as her, maybe even faster yet he didn't have aura, and he could be quite resilient after getting back up blow after blow and still didn't have any aura.
"..." John stared toward the two girls before saying. "Classified."
"Are you just being insecure!~ Don't worry your probably not that fugly!" Yang said while jabbing John in the side of the ribs. He felt agitated at the constant direct contact he was being endured to and was about ready to shove her in instinct. The only times he allowed anyone to touch him was specifically for medical reasons only. Being touched was unknown and uncomfortable to him because he was raised to only kill.
"No I'm not." John replied. "I'm under strict orders to not give out any personal information until I'm relieved of active duty. All I'm authorized to tell you is that I'm-
"A Slimy tentacle monster after girls innocence, got it!" Yang cut off while she gave a thumbs up while John shook his head in defeat. Out of all the misfit human beings he had ever encountered, Yang seemed to get under his skin the most out of every one.
He still didn't like this girl. He would never like this girl.
EVER...
Ruby then asked. "So whatcha' doin?"
"Standing." John answered making Yang suppress a laugh with her hand over her mouth.
"What she meant was... At least I think, is what you're doing currently. Sorry she's just trying to make new friends cause she spends more time with weapons." Yang pointed to Ruby who pouted in her direction.
"Just have trust toward your teammates, that's all I can say." John said to Ruby who looked at him with a careful look.
"Your trust is what holds friendship Ruby, remember that." John finished to her as he gained a question himself. "What are your directives?" John questioned since he had yet to figure out what their next plan was.
"Besides going to sleep for the initiation and talking to Ruby about making friends, nothing much." Yang answered with Ruby shoving on her back.
"STOP IT!" Ruby shouted while Yang grabbed her in a headlock and continued to playfully wrestle together.
John watched the two take at each others throats and couldn't help but feel a sense of dread when watching the two. These were the future protectors of Remnant? It was absurd. They acted more on joking and playing rather than actually planning on what their next move was for surviving.
They wouldn't last the night in a grimm infested forest.
Let alone against a day's worth of covenant forces.
"Hey isn't that the girl you chased off today? Why'd you do that anyway?" Ruby asked while pointing toward the end of the hall. John turned his head and saw Blake sitting there only 43 feet away wearing what looked like a short black robe. Besides that, there was nothing else covering her long feminine legs for the world to see.
There were a few bandages of course that were wrapped around her head and one around her left thigh. A few bruises were evident around her cheek and her one eyebrow had a cut above it. She sat leaning against a wall next to a candle reading a book, ignoring anyone who walked by.
"You really like beating on pretty girls huh?" Yang commented toward John with no humor in her voice. "It'll be pretty soon until someone puts you in your place. Maybe next time we wrestle you can ditch the armor and make it fair."
John didn't answer her since there was no need to, but he doubted he would fight her again.
Kill her though if she ever crossed him? Maybe.
Ruby asked. "What did she do to make you chase her? Did she have a library book overdue?" This made John shake his head at her obvious joke.
'Charming.' John thought.
John began slowly from memory. "She's a... Was a wanted criminal. I was going to apprehend her but-
"But those curves and kitty like features stopped you, and you wanted to be the dominant alpha male when you commence your tied with wet and steamy lovemak-
"Drop it." John rebutted harshly toward Yang who only smirked with her eyes closed.
It was still too easy!
Ruby only looked toward John awkwardly from her sister's antics before saying. "She couldn't have done anything bad. I mean, everyone deserves a second chance, and if she's a student here then maybe she's trying to be a better person. Like you since you're in the military and it's your job to protect people. Right? So it's like were heroes!" She said to John with a smile which for some reason struck a chord in him.
She just seemed so full of life that nothing could affect her.
"There is no forgiveness when it comes to murder Ruby." John said to the younger girl who blinked a few times before he continued. "I was in the middle of an all out war a month ago, and now I'm stuck here." He said while trying to leave.
"Listen here Seirra but you need to stop looking at life half empty. All the gloom and doom BS. Look at the positives." Yang said to John. "Your okay, I'm okay and that's all that matters right?"
"...Right." John agreed slowly but didn't know where this was going.
"So quit being Mr. Cold! No one likes it and be a bit... Warmer ya' know." Yang said before asking. "And what war though? Vale hasn't had one in almost 100 years." She said since the Great War that took place many years before costed many lives but created many heroes who stood above all.
"Not on your planet..." John said offhandedly, not wanting to dwell in the history of ongoing conflict. This action made Yang and Ruby look at him with a bit of inquiry.
"There's a war going on! Where!?" Ruby asked with a surprised expression while looking about. Yang also wanted to ask since her curiosity about The Master chief's "anti-social" attitude had risen when he mentioned "war." Maybe it was PTSD or something along those lines?
"I'm ending it there. It's classified." John closed with his hand clenching.
Yang simply shrugged her shoulders. The Master chief Spartan-117 or "Sierra" as she preferred to call him, was your typical soldier boy. A real class act she could say. The one who strove to be the best and never deter order when having the feeling to it while surpassing all others in the obedience department. Yang wouldn't admit she liked him, but she greatly disliked the way he would handle things or the way he acted. On any attempt with people like him she would gladly kick their asses but with his power levels and training in combat she couldn't do much but pester him.
And she was apex when it came to annoying the hell out of anyone!
Hopefully now he could get going so she could help her sister make some new friends.
Yang nodded and then said to Ruby. "Well now's your chance!"
"Whoa, wait! What are you doing!?" Ruby asked loudly while trying escape her sister's vice grip and leaving John standing alone with the crowd of students trying to get a good night sleep.
Yang brought Ruby over to the sitting girl and said. "Helloooo! I believe you two may know each other."
Blake looked up from her book and the first thing she saw was Yang and Ruby standing there, and not to far wind was John. She initially glared at him first and asked Ruby with a bland tone. "Aren't you that girl that exploded?"
Ruby blushed and slightly nodded. "Uhh, yeah. My name's Ruby." She reached down to shake her hand but became clammy as Blake didn't respond. "But you can call me crater-… actually you can just call me Ruby."
Blake only kept reading and said "Okay."
Yang looked between the two and whispered to Ruby. "What are you doing?"
Ruby replied loudly. "I don't know, help me!"
Yang looked at the raven haired girl and finally asked "So… What's your name?"
Blake signed before saying. "Blake."
Yang pointed to herself. "Well Blake, I'm Yang! Ruby's older sister! I like your bow!"
Blake seethed silently. "Thanks." Not at all enjoying the company whatsoever.
John wanted to face-palm on how bad this conversation was becoming. It was like watching two ants fight over food while there was a giant spider in front of them. While he may not have the most social when it came to talking he at least knew how to appropriately respond to compliments and questions.
"It goes great with your… pajamas!" Yang complemented with much enthusiasm.
"Right." Blake commented dryly.
Yang then tried to change the subject. "Nice night don't you think?" She asked making John snort at that. If she had stepped foot in the Emerald forest she would have said otherwise.
Blake finally looked up at the two and finally had enough. "Yes. It's lovely. Almost as lovely as this book."
"..." The two looked at her.
"That I will continue to read."
"..." The two continued to look at her.
"As soon as you leave." She finished with little to no sweetness as she went back to reading silently.
Yang then looked at Ruby and said. "Yeah, this girl is a lost cause. Why did we leave Sierra? At least that walking tank has a sense of humor."
John began to walk away from the trio talking, feeling like he needed to be somewhere far away from the crowd and to a quiet place with no noise and pure utter silence. As he began to walk away further and further, Blake watched him walk away slowly with a massive slouch before Ruby asked her a question that would changed her overall outlook upon her...
John neared the massive double door when he heard an "Excuse me" behind him not too far. He thought it was for someone else so he kept his pace at a minimal and etched closer to the door.
"Excuse me, but do you have a moment sir?" The female voice said behind him. John finally stopped and turned only to be met with the same red head with green eyes earlier today. She was now wearing sleepwear which consisted of pure red silk shorts and a red fitting sleep shirt that didn't hide her athletic curves.
John blinked at the girls friendliness and aloud. "Yes ma'm, can I help you?"
Some of the people gawked at this green giants stupidity. A few of the boys wanted to get up and say something but they had different thoughts when it came to someone as famous as Pyrrha Nikos. It should have alerted everyone within a mile's radius of her fame with Sanctum in Mistral that seemed to spread over the globe like a wildfire.
The redhead blinked twice at hearing how deep the man's voice was. It sounded as if his tone were forged in the volcano's of the gods. And it was new meeting someone who had not recognized her at first. She smiled and said. "I saw you earlier today and wanted to say you have a very strong looking arsenal on you? Did you make it yourself?" If he did then she would have to ask for pointers on how he managed to forge that armor and how it was removed.
John simply shook his head and said. "No ma'm, the suit was designed specifically for me."
"Please call me Pyrrha Nikos, but just Pyrrha." She held out a hand which John took in his while making sure to be gentle. She had to say the feeling of his hand was powerful, very hard as if she was holding a solid diamond.
John had to admit the strength of this girl was not to be fooled with either. While he used just a small itsy bitsy portion of his above average strength she proved more than capable of making him run for his money on strength.
The two let go of hands and Pyrrha was first to speak. "I heard the man next to you say you weren't a student, is that true?"
"Yes it is. The man that told you is Colonel James Ackerson from the Office of Naval Intelligence. I'm Spartan-117, but you can call me Master chief." He stated while her eyes widened a bit. She had no idea she was talking to a war hardened super soldier! She had heard about the reports of space marines months prior at her home. The U.N.S.C is what they were called...
"Oh my mistake! I didn't-" He quickly cut her off before she could say anything further.
"It's alright. You didn't know." He reassured. "I sometimes forget what planet I'm on myself." He said.
"You've been on other planets? How many?" She asked with a small gleam in her deep emerald eyes.
"I wouldn't know ma'am, I've lost count." He said making Pyrrha frown at being called "ma'am" but maybe it was regulation or something.
But he did know truthfully. 14 to be exact, and not to mention numerous space stations. However those were secret mission operations he couldn't reveal, ever.
"You'll have to tell me what it's like, being in space an all master chief." Pyrrha said as she gained a questioning look. "Is that you real name... Or is that your codename?" Pyrrha questioned
"It's a phonetic sign." John answered.
"Oh my mistake. I never knew much about the military since I've set my sights on being a huntress all my life." Pyrrha said. "When did you join the army?" She asked while keeping her hands to her sides.
"Most of my life. That's all I'm allowed to tell you." John concluded as Pyrrha nodded in confirmation to his claim.
"You'll have to tell me some stroies Chief," She began but heard the clock ring a few times. "Well, it's getting late and we have the initiation tomorrow. We'll need all the energy we can get." Pyrrha concluded to him while he nodded.
"Agreed." John said. If this initiation was as dangerous as it sounded then he wished the best of luck to all of these students. If there was one thing John didn't wish to see it was people willing to protect humanity die in the line of duty. While it was almost unavoidable it didn't mean he enjoyed it.
"Good night Chief." Pyrrha said as she turned away and left toward her sleeping bag, never letting the image of the golden visor leaving her thoughts, while John nodded in her general direction and exited the double doors and outside for the first time in hours.
The air was humid, around 75 degrees with a soft cool breeze. The master chief stepped down the long road leading to Beacon's main hall and wondered what were his next objectives. Not the ones given to him but HIS objectives.
While he wasn't free from active duty and probably never would be, he still had a goal in mind that determined his entire military career.
Getting in contact with "Blue-Team" and finding out their status.
It had been weeks since he last saw them, but to him it felt like an eternity, so much could happen in a day let alone months. What made him the angriest was not being allowed to so much as send a single video document frequency since it would be "detrimental" to their very existence since the covenant could pick up any long distance channels.
John stepped toward the main gates rock foundation and saw one of the warthogs assigned to give him a transportation back to fort μικρόbase. When looking at the warthog's back interior closer, or more specifically the gun mounted on the back he noted it was a M12G1 Gauss warthog locked and loaded with a M68 Gauss cannon. This weapon was specifically meant for accuracy and high damage rates. The biggest disadvantage though was noise that could attract grimm for miles around, alongside not giving the gunner little to no protection.
A marine stood next to the vehicle, leaning against the side frame armed with an assault rifle and saw the master chief approaching. He saluted him and said. "Sir, are you ready?" The marine identified as Private Terry Vern said to John who nodded his way and said. "Load the Gauss cannon, grimm might be awake by now." Private Terry nodded discreetly toward his superior officer and speedily marched over to the back of the warthog. He flunked his assault rifle on his back before he stood behind the gauss cannon and turned it on with a flick of the switch.
John stepped on the warthogs side rails and activated it's engines. His armor linked with the warthogs motion sensor and ran all of its diagnostics. After looking over the Warthogs diagnostics and seeing everything in the green zone he put his foot on the accelerator and drove out of the parking lot and into the blistering night.
XXXXXXX
The Next Day...
"Sir?" John questioned as he stepped through the main entrance to the base camp's main office structure.
Commander Orez, a medium aged man with brown hair said. " Yes petty officer, your new assignment starts today. The initiation at Beacon is taking place as of this moment in Emerald forest. We made sure to notify the school that you would be survey the exam, and we need on ground surveillance for it. You fit into all this since there seems to be an increase of Grimm today and you handled yourself exceptionally." Orez remembered watching the Spartan's video cam located in his helmet. He had to say he was more than impressed with Master Chief's skills.
"There's a catch, you, cannot under any circumstances interfere with this task 117." Orez said sternly while shaking his head. "The proctors of Beacon made it perfectly clear that you were allowed to watch from afar, but that's it."
"Am I allowed field transportation sir?" John questioned since the
"Negative, that would bring too much attention on yourself. Same goes for air. A pelican will deploy you outside the forest and from there your on your own from here on out until the examination is over. Are we clear?" Orez questioned.
"..."
"Get suited and get ready. Remember to take heavy equipment on this operation, we've gotten readings of a high number of never mores." Orez finished as he went back to reading a data pad. John nodded and left the room.
XXXXXXX
He walked into the Pelican while carrying a SRS99-AM sniper rifle fully loaded with 60 armor piercing rounds and a M6 spartan laser that was strapped to his back magnetic strip. Since the area today was more populated with Grimm then he had seen himself in the past few days, he felt a bit more cautious to carry more ammo. Bringing more weapons wasn't the solution. It would only bring unwanted attention. The object of the day was to keep a low to basic profile, but he had a feeling that would be unavoidable for this operation.
As the pelican took off from the ground like the rising sun at dawn, John looked over the strategic base one final time, giving the base a blank stare and thinking of what his life had lead up to. He was meant to fight in the front lines of war and hold the lines of defense from oncoming dangers. Now he was playing surveillance for a school. A School!. No ordinary school though, it was a school of killers.
This is what made him visually uncomfortable because if given the order he would have to neutralize anyone who proved to be a threat to him or the United Earth Government. He kept his thoughts about what his motivation was to a minimal before sitting back in the pelicans seats, and waiting to be dropped off into the death forest.
XXXXXXX
John looked out from the side once he noticed the pelicans rotating jets began to slow up above the trees, knocking many of the leaves off their branches. John turned the safety to red before he jumped out of the side. It was standard training routine to jump and land from high heights since some Spartans were meant enter atmosphere at hyper speed.
He fell down 32 feet with his hands clutching the muzzle of the sniper rifle before he smashed into the ground and leveled the rifle in front of him. Taking a few cautionary steps forward he signaled back to the pelican and the pelican signaled back to him before flying off.
John looked around him for a few moments and noted how green the trees were this time of the year. It was a bit warm today in the high 80's with a soft breeze every now and again.
"Okay petty officer, the beacon students should be landing any second now. Remember what you were told, no interference."
John agreed silently and looked at the trees for a moment trying to see if any of them were clawed or smashed. Grimm were known for leaving trails, ultimately making them traceable.
"WOOOOOOOOOOOHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Came a very familiar call from above suddenly that made John jump in surprise.
John looked at his scanner and saw something zoom right above him like a missile, he actively looked above to analyze the objects detail, but wasn't quick enough to see anything, but he was able to pick up the sound a distant blast from what sounded like a shotgun...
Wait...
A shotgun?
Something clicked in John's brain and he mentally face-palmed.
"Yang." He growled silently. It seemed wherever he went that blond ticking time bomb was sure to follow. He wondered how in the hell she was flying and who in their right mind would launch their own students. With the velocity she was going out it would more than likely kill anyone landing.
Unfortunately for her, she wasn't normal.
His instinct mentally told him to track her down since she would more than than likely attract if not all of the forest with her constant shooting and yelling.
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" He heard someone scream that only seemed to get louder and louder. John turned around like a top and pointed the sniper rifle upward to see someone flying toward the tree. Suddenly without warning, a yellow stick hit the boy and stuck him on the tree. John rolled away in action and said loudly. "Hold it right there!" This boy surprised him when he cowered and raised his arms up.
"I DIDN'T DO IT!" The blond boy screamed loudly.
"I'm sorry!" Yelled a familiar voice in the far distance. John looked behind and mentally cursed for being here and being caught in the middle of this. When John looked up at the boy he saw the boy was struck on the hood of his jacket by a gold and red spear. The boy looked down and saw the chief standing there holding a faint sniper rifle and did the first thing he could think of.
"Uhh...uhh... Could you uh... Let me down... Mister?" He said with a nervous chuckle emitting in the back of his throat.
John looked around for a moment, taking in the lack of wildlife before walking in the opposite direction.
"HEY COME BACK?! YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME HERE!" The blond boy screamed.
"One of your friends will pick you up." John answered offhandedly.
"I don't have friends! You can't leave me here!" The blond boy yelled again while struggling against the binding. "This isn't the way to treat people!" He continued pestering against the spear but couldn't do as much as budge it.
John kept walking forward until he heard the boy grunt a few times, trying to escape. He stopped for a moment when he felt a build up inside of him. Even though he was going directly against orders he couldn't leave this boy out here.
While he may have been a student in Beacon, he really didn't display any power or attempt to escape.
John turned around to the student and said. "I'll wait for someone to get you down, I can't."
"What do you mean you can't? Look at the size of you, you could just pick me up out of the tree!" The blond boy proclaimed. "Wait, I didn't see you at beacon or the launching pad."
"You wouldn't since I didn't enroll." John answered while scanning the area around him until he realized his motion scanner was practically useless. It was hard not to look at it since that was his main aid to seeing things around him. It was just a bit of a bad habit.
"You're not from beacon? Then what are you?" The blonde boy pointed at John.
"Spartan-117 of the UNSC." He answered toward the restrained hunter.
"The UNSC, you mean those space soldiers on the news?" Jaune popped the question with John nodding in verification.
"That's kinda cool. I'm Jaune Arc." He introduced himself before remembering. "Why can't you take me down?"
"I'm not allowed to." Was John's stoic reply.
"By who?" Jaune asked as he kicked a leg forward and attempted to free himself.
"..." Was John's reply.
"Silent treatment." Jaune deadpanned.
"..."
"Got ya."
John walked to a few close trees and observed the ground around him, looking at anything displaced that could reveal tracks of any animals. Threat or safe. If he found any by Grimm then it meant they were fresh and probably close by to his location. As he stayed in the area be could feel the air around him become a bit fuller, as if someone was approaching and getting closer by the second.
He heard a rustle of bushes shift over, along with a couple branches being swiped to the side. John noticed that there was a blinking orb on his motion scanner. He walked passed a tree and saw someone with pure white hair in a side pony tail.
It was a girl.
She walked a few steps forward, muttering incoherently under her breath from nature's wrath until she looked forward and saw an armored man standing in front of her holding a very long rifle. His head was downward with his left foot in front of the other, and the rifle was pointed down but looked ready to fire at any given moment.
"What the?" She stuttered loudly at surprise. Weiss had been expecting and hoping, to find Pyrrha Nikos on the way down from being launched, only to come across that same red hood child from earlier. She was in a lack of better terms fuming on the inside, but all that was replaced with bewilderment and puzzled at seeing such a large man in armor just standing alone in the fores.
John stood still and warned steadily. "Relax, I'd rather not attract any Grimm." He said the last thing more softer. This was the last thing he had wanted, that was intentionally being seen by one student was bad enough but two. He'd be lucky if he wasn't court martialed for this.
The white haired girl blinked twice. "Why couldn't I have been paired with you, it seems you know what you're actually doing!" The girl exclaimed rather loudly, ignoring his earlier warning. John tilted his head to the side in confusion and wondered who this girl was and why she was displaying this impudence.
"Who are you?" John questioned while keeping the grip on the sniper rifle's trigger guard solid.
"Weiss Schnee, and you must be?" She introduced herself formally and made John tense a bit at that name.
Ackerson's earlier claim was correct, this girl was easy to find, almost too easy in fact. The way she dressed and talked was practically a dead giveaway.
"Spartan-117 of the UNSC." He replied while she studied him a bit more.
"U.N.S.C hmmmm?" Weiss looked at John and quietly clicked her fingernails together.
"And I'm Jaune Arc." Jaune said out loud to Weiss who looked up at the boy who in response waved at her.
She responded with a scowl and left from where she came without a single thought on the matter. Jaune sighed in defeat while John snorted in mild amusement. Jaune noticed this.
"Yeah, as you can see my luck with women is... You get the point." Jaune claimed as he pulled on the spear above him. John heard more talking not too far away and saw Weiss pulling someone else.
"By no means does this make us friends." She mumbled rather rudely to the girl.
"You came back!" The other voice shouted with a unreserved pitched tone. When John looked closer he saw it was Ruby herself being dragged by the hood, courtesy of Weiss Schnee. He would look for her later after this was over and if he wasn't in serious trouble for breaching the missions main priority.
John's motion scanner blinked off the side and it detected movement behind him. He quickly turned around and saw none other than Pyrrha Nikos in her battle gear walking towards him.
"Chief, what are you doing here?" Pyrrha asked while Jaune raised an eyebrow at the two.
"Waiting for someone to get him down." John spoke while gesturing to Jaune looking down at the two.
"You guys know each other?" Now this was strange to Jaune who was staring at the two armored beings.
"No/No." The both said simultaneously and then looked at each other.
Jaune grumbled to himself, feeling like chopped liver while John decided to make his leave and somewhere hidden.
"I have to leave now. Good luck you two." John sad as he left the two with his sniper rifle slinked on his shoulder. Jaune looked at Pyrrha and whispered.
"That guy was weird." Jaune muttered to himself. Why was a soldier doing by themselves in the middle of a forest, especially today? In fact what kind of solider was he? That 7-foot dude who was covered in armor that looked impenetrable and carried 2 HUGE guns that looked like they could blow a hole through a goliath. Pyrrha looked at him with crossed arms, and didn't notice she was giving Jaune a free show to her cleavage.
"Do you... Have any spots left on your team?" She asked with a smile.
"Very funny." Jaune replied with a smile of his own while looking in the direction the spartan walked in and noted how quickly he disappeared from them.
"Talk about anti-social." Jaune said toward Pyrrha who was slightly jeered by this.
XXXXXXX
THUUUUMP!
The massive grimm fell over dead with a blade sticking out of its back courtesy of Blake. Who was holding into one of the ribbons with an outstretched arm. She recoiled her arm back and caught the blade with her right hand before sheathing it. She smiled towards Yang in greeting.
"I could have taken him." Yang laughed.
"But you didn't." Blake replied.
"Yeah I was, in the zone you know?" Yang whooped. "By the way are you... Okay?"
Blake hadn't removed the few band aids on the side of her face, although some of the bruises weren't as bad as they were yesterday. Her leg seemed better but she didn't put as much weight on it. The dull pain would have to be ignored for now.
"I'm fine, I just have to be careful." Blake breathed out while taking a few steps around the deceased Grimm.
"He hits pretty hard huh?" Yang commented while getting Blake's attention. "I should know, I actually got myself in more trouble than I could with him." Yang warned the last part.
"He's not important right now, to me he's past history and a reason to fight with more... Experience." Blake sniveled the last part while smelling the air.
"Yep, me too." Yang chatted.
"What did you do though?" Blake asked as she walked a bit deeper into the brush.
"Me?"
"You made it sound like you fought him." Blake affirmed.
"Well... It's hard to explain." Yang commented while rubbing over her left gauntlet.
"I have time." Blake insisted.
Yang thought for a moment before saying. "Where are we headed anyway, north right?" Yang asked while Blake nodded.
The two walked ahead past the trees talking amongst themselves, while not noticing The master chief just a few trees over. Walking softly on the grass and avoiding the two.
XXXXXXX
Glynda looked at the data pad with a very sour look. "The last pair has been formed sir. Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren. Poor boy, I can't possibly see those two getting along. Well still, he's probably better off than Ms. Nikos. I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat. I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple in just a few minutes."
She clicked on the screen again, and this time she saw the same 7 foot solider aim a gun forward while walking with a hunched look. "I don't see why we need that ruffian to watch over the students when we're the teachers." She said towards Ozpin with large amounts of detest in her voice. In all honesty she didn't like the spartan. He displayed absolutely no sympathy to a young women and would have killed her if she had not stepped in.
He was a monster.
And monsters were meant to be put down like the dogs they were.
"There's an easy explanation to that Glynda. It's the fact that the UNSC has a rat in the midst."
"What are you saying?" Glynda pulled out.
"Exactly how I told you. They have a lack of trust in us, while we remain the same towards them, and they feel it's necessary to watch us. We have nothing to hide though. What they are planning won't affect us in the slightest." Ozpin chimed while taking a sip of his coffee.
How wrong he was...
XXXXXXX
John traveled more deeper through the forest, he heard gunfire every now and then but with how dense the area had become it was nearly untraceable to him. After a while, he came upon what appeared to be a temple composed of rocks in the form of columns.
It looked almost like an open altar. It seemed time caught up with the formation since many of the stones foundation littered the area surrounding it. A few yellow dandelions were sprouted around the rocks mixed with a few violet roses.
He didn't know why, but for some unexplained reason, this area might have had some importance to the teams. After stepping out of the brush behind him, he took a closer look at what was inside the small temple like shrine. As he rounded the first left hand corner with his rifle in hand, he didn't know what to expect.
Standing on a podium in a half circle, were what appeared to be chess pieces. John took a few cautionary steps near some of the chess pieces that sat on the mini decaying podiums and observed them rather closely, but instinctively kept his hands on his rifle.
When listening to the wind and anything for sound he climbed to the top of a tree near an open area filled with lush green grass and picked one of the strongest branches he could find. He easily weighed half a ton and most if not all of the tree branches wouldn't support him.
He looked through the leaves of his tree that was his "front for the moment and peeked through the scope of his rifle, looking for any of the students while keeping an eye out for Grimm.
He stayed in that position not longer than 5 minutes before he switched over to the upper right cliff and caught sight of two familiar girls.
Blake and Yang.
"Think this is it?" Yang asked Blake who gave her an unorthodox glance before leaving the blond to her thoughts.
John watched the duo through the scope of his rifle, analyzing where they were going but soon saw they walking towards the temple.
"Chess pieces?" Blake said aloud while walking forward to the podiums.
"Some of them look missing. Looks like we weren't the first ones here." Yang said suddenly while looking at the podiums.
"So... I guess we should pick one." Blake said.
"Hmmm..." Yang hummed while looking at a knight piece before picking it up. "How about a cute little pony!"
"Sure." Blake agreed with a shake of the head. They both walked back to each other when Blake said. "That wasn't too hard."
"Well, it's not like this place is very hard to find." Blake laughed hidden in her voice.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Came a very shrill scream echoing in the valley. This sound caught John by surprise at first since he didn't know what to make of it at first. He looked around, a bit hesitant at first since it sounded like it had come from not to far.
"Some girls in trouble!" Yang exclaimed while looking around in slight worry.
"Blake did you hear that?!" Yang asked toward the raven haired girl, not noticing that Blake was looking up into the sky. John noticed this action as well at first and followed suite, and saw a small red thing growing larger by the simplest moment. As John zoomed in through the reticle by turning the front piece he saw that it was Ruby Rose.
"Blake, did you hear that? What should we d-?" Yang questioned while Blake pointed a finger up. Yang looked up and saw her sister plummeting from the sky.
"HEADS UPPPPPPPP!" Ruby shouted while free falling. John almost crushed the grip to his rifle from disbelief, at that height and speed she could die from numerous broken bones or internal bleeding. Either would suffice in killing her.
He was about to step in when all at the same time something crashed into her and into another passing tree. John looked out with his own eyes while making sure to put as much of his weight on the tree's trunk so he wouldn't cause the branch to snap. Looking down he saw a medium sized beowolf looking toward the Beacon students with a hateful stare. John hung the sniper rifle on a small perch on the tree for momentary means and unsheathed a knife. He held it in a reversal grip with the edge out before jumping off the branch and directly on top of the unsuspecting grimm.
It fought against John with all it's surprising might, trying to shake him off but John stabbed the beast right in the side of it's cranium. The grimm suddenly felt very loose as all of it's muscles tensed tight as steel, before smashing into the ground dead as a doornail.
John got up off of the beowolf and pulled the carbon knife out of it's brain. He sheathed it, not really caring if he had gotten blood on it.
John looked around behind him since beowolves were notorious to hunt in packs. If he was lucky, then he had just taken out an omega class that were known to scout by themselves before returning, if he was unlucky, then he had taken out an alpha who were the dominant beowolves and had a massive amount of followers with them at all times.
John heard a snarl beside him just a few feet away and turned around to see an Ursa coming out of the bushes. John noted it was a young one since the older ones were more armored.
The ursa came forward just a few feet from him and he shot forward, slamming into its midsection with all his force he could give. The ursa felt its insides rupture and roared in agony while swiping down. John let the swipe hit him and he slammed the stock of the rifle in the face of the ursa before slamming it down again.
The ursa's bone mask began to shatter at the sides as it wearily tried to chomp on John's head. John reared his knife back before plunging it upward through the Uras upper jaw and out of its forehead before yanking it out and pushing the dead grim off. Stepping off the massive hunk of hair and muscle while rubbing the blades tip that had bent from exiting the grimm's mask, John turned into his surroundings and noted the ground was shaking.
"Does anyone else hear something." Ren noted loudly while looking at Nora's dancing form.
"Nope!" She cheered, not at all affected by today's predicaments.
Another beowolf snuck up to John and charged at him. John held up both arms and blocked a claw attack with it just grazing against his neck. He put his hands on the beowolves shoulders and pushed the animal up against a tree. The grimm snapped and lunged at him with it's open jaws and hate filled eyes, trying to get a piece of the soldier.
John kept the animal off by headbutting the creature in the nose making it snarl louder and fight harder with thrashing and clawing. The beast lifted one of it's front legs, attempting to push John off and eat him, but quickly made the mistake when it felt its leg caught in a death grip.
ROOOOOOOAAAAAAA-
SNAP!
(cries)
BLAM! John finished the grimm of by bashing it's head in with a downward elbow strike, completely caving the skull in like a pie.
"That. Did anyone just hear that" Ren pointed out to the bushes. It sounded like the animals were fighting over something and one of them won.
"I dunno..." Yang mumbled to herself, trying to get an idea of what that sound was. "Maybe it's-
John heard trees being knocked over and ripped from their roots before slamming into the dirt not to far from him, but the noise continued to grow and the shaking in the ground. He saw a life source on his scanner approach him like a rushing bullet from behind. He aimed his rifle and expected another student to emerge from the forest.
Pyrrha sped toward and past him like a pro athlete with her feet moving in a blur. She didn't pay the master chief any mind but only had time to say one quick slipped out word.
"Run!" She screamed at him.
Suddenly all the tree's behind her were pushed out of their roots when a massive white pair of pinchers shoved them out of the way. John jumped back and got a first hand glimpse of something that was out of this world to him: A giant scorpion grimm. To John is looked about 65 feet long with the tail, and 30 feet wide, 4 legs on each side, 5 pairs of dark orange eyes, and the largest set of jaws.
The pair of pinchers attached to an oversized bug nearly caught him around the waist if he didn't roll to the side underneath them and lean against the side of a fallen log. John instantly rolled over the top of the log and aimed at the back of massive creature and just wondered what he had gotten himself into.
The giant scorpion continued to chase after Pyrrha with all its intensity radiated on her. She jumped, dodged, lunged, and anything else to put as much distance between herself and the deathstalker.
John took note through the reticle of his scope that no one was helping her with the delama. They were standing there just talking. While this was happening he saw two more students fall from the sky. Further analysis revealed the two to be Jaune and Weiss with Weiss sitting on top of Jaune.
John shook his head in further shame at what he was watching. The student's control of the overall situation was chaos, there was a lack of teamwork, multiple incidents of battery and lack of trust were present.
Final conclusion, was that these kids needed training in one department that define how long they lived, and that was TRUST.
He heard Yang sigh and say loudly. "Great the gang's all here! Now we can die together!"
He quickly saw that Pyrrha had nearly passed out beside them from a lack of breath and tried standing up.
"Not if I can help it! Yaaa!" Ruby yelled out. Chief quickly saw Ruby rush out into the open with her hood billowing in the wind and was running straight towards... The Deathstalker. Almost like she wanted to kill her self, Ruby wasn't deterring her speed or taking any evasive maneuvers.
"Ruby! Wait!" Yang shouted toward her sister with fear evident in her tone.
Ruby pulled out her weapon crescent rose and propelled herself forward by aiming behind and firing it. This action worked and caused her to gain a momentary action of speed at the massive scorpion.
'She's going to get herself killed!' John thought urgently as he reached behind him and quickly brought out the spartan laser. He propped it over his left shoulder and took aim while eyeing the scorpion through the scope.
Ruby was knocked back by the deathstalker and flew back in the dirt. She got a face full of the ground before she pushed herself up and yelled to her teammates. "D-Don't worry! Totally fine!"
This act of bravery was quickly short lived when Ruby got an actual sight of the beast before her. John could see the fear spread over her features when she shot at the deathstalker at point blank range in the face. The dust round merely bounced off and pissed the deathstalker even more as it roared with it's jaws clapping in anticipation for a meal. Ruby's insides were cold and her thoughts were in a frenzy of new speed.
She had killed Ursa and Beowolves for regular training but she herself had ever faced a deathstalker, not once in her life. So she did what any normal person would do when they wanted to survive.
She ran.
John cursed under his breath at her idiotic strategy and began to slowly exit the trees. He then saw Yang begin to run out to her sister and shout. "RUBY!"
Ruby kept running from the deathstalker before she heard a sheer screech in the sky and looked back to see a nevermore flying toward the group with the group still standing and doing absolutely nothing.
John saw the nevermore fire a volley of it's gigantic feathers that stabbed the ground in a multitude of directions. Ruby was caught by her hood that was stabbed through by one of the feathers while most of them continued to stab around her and restrict Yang from moving any closer. Yang had to jump back when she herself was almost penetrated by one.
Yang could only watch her sister struggle and she yelled out to her again. "Ruby, get out of there!"
"I'm trying!" Ruby yelled back frantically as she pulled against her hoods restraints but to no avail. John pulled back the trigger to the spartan laser and immediately felt the front end begin to warm up and humm that only grew louder and louder.
The deathstalker reared it's tail back higher and higher in the air above, right above the defenseless Ruby while she stared at it horrifyingly. Yang looked at the scene with her heart racing a million miles an hour and all her nerves on fire.
Weiss' attempt to teleport with a speeding glyph to save Ruby were stunned when she noticed a glowing red blare in the distance.
SHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOMMMM
An almost booming noise echoed over the valley like a bomb had went off and Ruby was almost thrown back when she saw the deathstalker roar in pure agony as the golden pointed end of it's tail, the one that was about to kill Ruby and plunge through her, fall off. It was burning at the end when it smashed into the ground just a few feet in front of her. Ruby looked at the tail for a moment and sniffed the air. She automatically felt sick when taking a whiff of horrid smells that was a mixture of burning grimm meat, and what smelled like an indescribable toxic gas.
The deathstalker roared and began to spasm further away back into the forest. It slammed the ground and thrashed around screaming. The students watched as the deathstalker disappeared in the distance from constant running.
Yang blinked once, then twice, before she realized the deathstalker was running away from Ruby and in pain. She quickly looked behind her, along with the rest of the beacon student's. Some of them tried to figure out where the weird laser energy spike had come from.
Ren asserted his pink eyes toward the front of him and saw a familiar armored man walking toward the downed Ruby and armed with a very large gun over his shoulder.
John had begun to quickly walk out of the forest and toward Ruby whose hood was still stuck below the monstrous feather. He stepped towards Ruby and breathed out while placing the laser away and saying ernestly. "Are you injured?"
"No." Ruby answered and asked. "What are-
"I'm going to get you free now, understand." Chief disclosed sternly making Ruby nod in acknowledgement. Chief wrapped his arms around the feather before giving it a mighty tug upward. The feathers pointy end came out of the dirt and out of Ruby's cloak which made her loosen up a bit.
Chief sunk into the dirt about an inch from the sheer weight caused by the feather. Ruby's eyes widened a bit at the strength he had for someone who didn't have any semblance or aura for that matter.
What really made her look at the spartan though was the fact he didn't seem at all in discomfort by lifting it. There was no audible grunt from the strain or a single deter in his motion when moving the object
'Wow, he's very strong! Almost stronger than Yang!' Ruby thought when John tossed the feather before placing a hand under Ruby's arm and lifting her up to her feet. She felt a bit wobbly in the legs but kept standing. "Do you have your weapon?"
"Yeah, why though?" Ruby requested while reaching for crescent rose.
"You're going to need it." John finished as he saw Yang and the other students rushing towards him. 'Now it's time to tell them how it really works.'
The first thing that Yang did was enveloped her sister in a near bone crushing hug while shouting. "I'm so happy you're okay!" While shaking her back and forth in her developed chest.
"Yang." John growled loudly, getting her attention. She looked towards him with relief that her sister was
Yang looked at the master chief and smiled. "Thank you so much for saving-
"Drop it." John said more sternly to Yang cutting her off. She was visibly shocked at first on how cold his words came out. He looked at all the others and projected loudly.
"You all need a lesson on the importance of trust and coordination. The academy known as Beacon has been training the most dangerous people on the planet. They were correct on dangerous, but teamwork is nonexistent from my point of view." John remarked harshly.
Weiss suddenly stepped forward a bit with her hands on her hips and sneered. "Wait, who exactly gave you the idea you were-
"Quiet!" John roared suddenly to Weiss who recoiled in shock from the ferocity in his voice. John had had it up to his eyelids with these kids and their endless act of insubordination and disrespect. If they were going to treat every single person they came across with the aloofness and an uncaring attitude, then that said it all right there. It meant that they were wasting their time becoming protectors and would have a better time serving someone else.
"Don't say a word." John told wise boldly as he turned his attention back to the students. "If you can't work together as a full functioning team, then you'll die. Noise attracts grimm and your constant yelling and cheering will bring the whole forest on you." John stood still for a moment longer, observing the wind patterns before continuing.
"This isn't a game..." John informed the first part. "People die. Eaten. And there won't be any point in defending humanity when you can't even protect yourselves." John snarled the last part a bit louder trying to make his point clear.
Ruby was terrified. The once calm and collected solider had turned around 360 degrees and sounded like a furious version of her father. She had only heard her dad angry once in her life and wished she would never see it again, but Ruby looked at John with the same fear she had that day of her father.
Yang was tensed, ready for anything to be thrown at her.
Blake was nervous. Not only or her team but for anyone in the area who had an outing for the Spartan.
Weiss was agitated. No, scratch that. She was livid.
Pyrrha was... Ashamed. He was right.
Jaune was by far the most scared as his legs shook.
Nora wasn't smiling.
And Ren was indifferent on the whole situation.
XXXXXXX
Glynda nearly cracked the sides of the scroll in pure annoyance. Everything the teachers of beacon had planned for months! Ruined! Months of planning gone, just like that! "What in dust is that mongrel thinking?! We must-
"Glynda, wait." Ozpin hushed his fellow teacher, wanting to listen to what the petty officer had to say. At first he had seen the Spartan-II as a 'simple minded minority' who had no deals with. That all changed however when he saw him take the lead of each and every one of them like the snap of his fingers.
'What are you planning spartan?' Ozpin wondered to himself.
XXXXXXX
Everyone stared at him for a moment before Jaune raised a hand, shakily that is.
"What?" The master chief asked impatiently.
"I don't mean to dement your speech but that thing is circling back." Jaune pointed to the sky at the Nevermore that was indeed making a very slow turn toward the group.
John looked at it a moment longer, trying to calculate the distance and height, before he raised the spartan laser up and charged the weapon.
The engine ports hummed while the tips nozzle spun slowly at the end before it grew louder and the laser fired.
SHOOOOOOOOOOOOM
All the Nevermore saw was a small red dot on the ground below where all his prey was, almost like a laser pointer was being pointed at it. The shininess attracted it more making it intrigued, this was short lived however as it felts its right wing burn to a crisp on one small spot.
The Nevermore lifted its left wing in pain trying to extinguish the torment, clutching it. Unfortunately, while it stopped using one wing along with the other, gravity took effect, and the nevermore began to plummet like a rock from space.
John lowered the Spartan laser, still smoking from the end and returned his glance back at the amazed students. "You have a duty to uphold and that involves the use of teamwork. You can't win until your team wins." As he finished his sentence, the nevermore's massive form smashed into the ground far away, but everyone could make out the painful smack and feel the tremor the bird left behind. "Any questions?"
Ruby didn't know why though, but that laser was soooooooo cooool! Maybe she could use the puppy eyes and borrow it?
And with that introduction on the teams and out of the way, he began to walk off from the group, who were in a stage of shock and trying to comprehend their words. John was headed back into the woods and far away as possible to
Pyrrha was the first to break the silence by saying. "We already understand the basics to combat against Grimm and this initiation was to test our teamwork. It's trial by error."
John stopped walking at this and lectured more. "You would have failed by now after all this." John went on aloud to the teens. "The trial and errors may apply to all, but this is different. You all could have died from the beginning." John murmured the last part while looking ahead of him, thinking back to his own team, wondering what would have happened to him without them, and the same around for them.
"Teamwork is important, I agree with you on that." Ren claimed as he stepped forward. "Who are you though?" Ren never had the time to speak to anyone beside his childhood friend Nora Valkyrie.
"I'm Spartan-117 of the UNSC, and I'm not authorized to give you orders, and I'm already going against orders for speaking to you. But I won't stand around when there are people in danger." John explained back to Ren. "Listen, all of you," he began. "The basic necessity to survival is relying on each other through everything. Meaning, no abandonment," He looked specifically at Weiss who looked around and asked accusingly toward the chief.
"What? What did I ever do?!" Weiss questioned while keeping her hands on her chest.
"You abandoned Jaune back in the forest without a thought of consideration. That's considered abandonment. Which is considered going AWOL, and that is punishable by death." John told Weiss who turned a paler shade of white.
Jaune felt a bit more self-conscious about himself after that was stated.
"No more needless thinking, by that I specifically mean running into danger without a plan." He looked at Ruby who looked like a guilty puppy who chewed the couch and was caught.
"Lastly, no one should run out into the open, I'm talking about you Yang." John said the last part while looking directly at the blond huntress who began fuming.
"Listen, my sister was this close to dying!" She held her fingers an inch apart. "I wouldn't just stand there and do nothing" She stepped forward to John threateningly with her fists clenching tightly.
John leveled his glare and stood straight while looking down into the pair of crimson eyes. "I wouldn't have mattered. You couldn't reach her in time and I had to step in. She's luckily alive. It'll be a reminder for the future." After saying that last part something snapped in Yang's mind.
"You think my sister almost dying will be a reminder!" She screamed in his face with her hair now appearing like a bush of flaming serpents. She was about ready to beat Sierra to a living pulp and beat what's left up as well. Screw her losing that one time to him, this time she would make sure to rip his helmet off and then break every one of his goddamn teeth! Any sympathy for the soldier had vanished at this very moment.
"Yes." John answered in a voice that could have sliced diamonds in half. He'd met zealots that were capable of much worse than what she had in store. He could take it, and he wasn't scared... Not. One. Bit...
A mini lightning bolt surged between the two's faces, almost like a battle of dominance between two unstoppable forces that no one wanted a part of. Ren, who was probably the most composed of himself stood on the sidelines and became increasingly wary of stepping between the two titans.
"Uhhhh, excuse me." Ruby said aloud in a feeble voice, not really thinking of what she was doing. John and Yang both turned their heads toward her and she pled while slightly afraid of the two in this moment.
"I understand what I did wrong... It was really stupid and I'm sorry." Ruby apologized at first since this would be the first word coming out of her mouth whenever she got in trouble with her uncle or father.
Maybe, just maybe it would work on a solider...
"Don't apologize, there no need for it. Think smarter, that is all." John said leaning back from Yang who kept on scowling at him, trying to jeer him.
"You have what it takes to be a valued huntress, I can see that in you." He said surprisingly more calm and made Ruby smile more. "Just remember what I told you."
"Uhh... Look before you, uhhh leap?" Ruby suggested while John nodded a bit awkwardly at first.
"Not how I'd word it but yes." John agreed while beginning his walk back into the forest.
"Where are you going?" Weiss asked John who merely kept walking and ignoring her. She gained a tick mark on her forehead and was about to scream again before Ruby put a hand on her shoulder and coughed. "Maybe we should just leave him alone?"
"I say we avoid him, that guy gives me the creeps." Jaune croaked at remembering the volume he had yelled at.
"While I question his methods he is right." Ren claimed.
"He just needs to take a chill pill, right Ruby?" Yang called out to her sister who only nodded once while looking back at John one last time.
'I really should talk to him. I want to... But what if he get's mad again?' Ruby though and feared at the same time. Weiss looked toward the solider in silent anger coursing through her vison. What she hated more then being yelled at by her father was being underestimated by her peers or seen as a weak little girl. Competition to her was something that defined her.
Academics, theoretical arts, fencing, philosophical learning, hypothetical thinking, world history, semblance tuition, physical education, and most importantly her reputation as a beacon she wasn't OCD in any way her fixation was specifically on being. A perfectionist. To her the art of competition was an art she graced fully at, and won through most of her life. She would never back down from a challenge. While properness was important, to her, it was being skilled in combat against Grimm and majoring in her name as Schnee. But this man, this Spartan solider was something different.
Pyrrha watched John disappear into the forest before saying. "We need to get the artifact. Now." Before leaving to the cliff.
The other members followed in suite.
XXXXXXX
'Not bad spartan, well played.' Ozpin thought as he refilled his cup before looking at Glynda. "You were saying Glynda?"
"I was saying I would like to have a very strong conversation with whoever admiral is in charge of him." Glynda seethed. "And I'd like to have a nice long discussion with him."
"Certainly Glynda, certainly." Ozpin finished as he looked at the screen again. 'I'd like to speak to you too.'
XXXXXXX
John who sat in his personal quarters without his armor grabbed for the "Bonnie & Smythe" polish, and began to rub over his shoulder plate that sat precariously in his left hand. That beowulf had managed to knock him in a place hard enough and imbedded a few stones along the rivets to some of the components in his armor. While not life threatening it could slow him up in the distant future if not taken care of properly. After that he was going to I've onto the helmet and clean the inner ridges and then he would be done to move onto his weapon training.
"117, message for you." Orez called out to John who immideatly sat the washcloth on the table and stood up. He walked out of the conventional quarters and outside into the hall. He entered Orez's office and saw him standing infront of a screen with Preston Cole on it. After spending a few weeks on remnant Preston had returned to his original duty and launched the fleet back to Harvest.
John didn't know what was happening on Harvest, but he could only assume the worst at this point. Soldiers were being mauled, innocents weren't being evacuated fast enough, cities were burning, and the covenant were winning.
Orez turned to see the spartan stripped of his armor And wearing a white shirt, green pants and a pair of standardized UNSC combat boots.
"117, its for you." Orez finished as he left the front of the screen and John stepped forward to salute.
"At ease son... I needed to brief you on something important." Preston breathed out in an odd tone John had never heard of. While he was incapacitated and in Preston's care, he had heard the man always use the same tone in every single conversation he had heard of. A strong tone with no weakness shown.
This was entirely different.
"I have... Troubling news." Preston began while straightening his arms inside his coat. "As of 32 hours ago there was an attack at Harvest's reactor complex. We first thought it was insurrectionists, but we were mistaken again. The covenant sent forces of over 3100 at the reactor. They stormed the area and were attempting to destroy it. Blue team along with 510 marines were deployed..."
John remained vigilant.
"... And only 3 marines made it out. The reactor was detonated and caused miles of power outages, making it nearly impossible for the marines to escape. There were no signs or traces of blue-team. I'm sorry to inform you that the search had been called off and they are now listed as M.I.A." Preston closed his eyes and thought deeply before looking at John's face, and couldn't help but notice that his right eyebrow was twitching and his jaw was stiff. "I'm sorry for you loss. My condolences Petty Officer." Preston finished as he shut off the monitor, knowing that chief, would more than likely need space.
In chiefs mind, it slowly began to crumble as he squeezed his fists tightly, almost to the point of breaking the skin. His jaw was clenched to the point of being as hard as stone. The thoughts in his subconscious were at hyper speed, and his brain was burning in anguish.
"Dismissed 117." Orez ordered.
John didn't have to be asked twice, and left the room as quickly as possible.
[Sometime in the near distant reality]
Vale was in ruins.
The streets burned, the buildings were crumbled to dust, bodies littered the streets in massive graveyards, and the air was filled with smoke and the cold winds of death. In the distant districts of Vale that had yet to be destroyed a gigantic shadow loomed over the buildings, almost like an ever growing blanket of darkness.
Up above a CCS-class battlecruiser slowly treaded through the air hundreds of feet above the city. A massive booming noise resonated over Vale, the sky lit up instantaneously, and almost spontaneously a bluish white light spewed from the bottom port and decimated the city below in a flurry of molten energy.
Halfway across the city the boom was heard.
The master chief, who was in the middle of one open road carrying an assault rifle, looked behind him and witnessed the devastation taking place in the heart of Vale. He returned to the walk he was in before and stepped over a dead rabbit Faunus who was covered in plasma burns. He paused to look at the corpse for a moment.
It was Velvet Scartelina.
Looking over her features he noted that from the looks of it, Velvet was killed hours ago. She looked peaceful besides the searing scorch mark on her lower abdomen. A swell of anguish coursed inside him as he stood up and scrutinized the area ahead of him before muttering.
"This..Is this what you wanted?" He began as he took a step forward. "Is this what you were looking for? Was everything you compromised, your entire team, everything you've done, worth it? Was it?" He said while looking down at the figure who layed motionless up against a rock just a few feet in front of him. The master chief stopped in the middle of the war zone to look around before replacing his rifle with a magnum.
Accumulating to the Fall of Vale, and was about ready to finish this once and for all.
The person opened her grey eyes and found herself staring down the barrel of death, her left eye twitched a bit when some fresh tears spilled out down her dirty cheek.
"Y-Yang." Ruby choked out with an outstretched arm that felt like it was being weighed down.
"Yang's not coming for you..." The Master Chief began, "not anymore." The master chief then breathed out to Ruby like the angel of death. "You've completed your mission Ruby..." He started as he applied more pressure to the trigger. "Mine, is just beginning."
...
BANG!
XXXXXXX
The future holds no mercy
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AUTHORS NOTE: 29 reviews last chapter!
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-SHIPWRECK5897
