Chapter 11: The Defense

"You know... I expected them to be here already." Blake said, ducking behind one of the barriers they put up in front of the Avenger's hangar bay. "After what you said."

"Yeah, it's kinda weird," Ruby replied. "Maybe their infighting is keeping them occupied?" She looked around, trying to take in who was here with her. They were only able to get out a few Operatives right now since the others had to get ready first.

There was, of course, herself and Blake. Then there was Jaune, Simmons, Grif, Zhang, Velvet, and Tucker.

"Ugh, this is dumb," Jaune added and pressed on the communication device in his ear. "Bradford? How long until we can take off again?"

"We're trying to get the systems back up. It takes a while with a ship this size. Is there still no one out there?"

"No. Nothing," Jaune replied.

Ruby sighed, and looked into the distance, towards the mainland. The peninsula was covered by a lush forest, and the fog made it perfect for an ambush. Maybe that was their plan? But why didn't they attack already?

"I see something." Tucker interrupted her thought.

"Huh? What?"

Tucker pointed over the treeline. "There. I think I just saw something glowing."

Ruby tried to look the way he pointed but immediately closed her eyes again. The sun was already somewhat high up, making it impossible to actually look that way. It was bright enough to actually shine through the fog. "That's it!" She yelled. "They're using the morning sun as cover!"

"What?" Jaune yelled and pressed on his com again. "Bradford? Ruby said they may be using the sun as cover? Can't you detect them?"

"Our systems aren't that good. We can only see their rough position. So what she's saying might be true."

Jaune was unable to answer Bradford, as someone behind him yelled out. "ADVENT!"

Ruby quickly looked to the sky, shielding her eyes with her hand. A dropship opened its sides, and a pod of Advent Soldiers jumped out, accompanied by a MEC.

"Okay, open fire!" She yelled, and the few operatives around her shot at the enemies. One of the Soldiers died in the hail of bullets, while the other two doves behind a rock. The MEC prepared its grenade launcher.

"Fuck! Run!" Grif yelled, running back into the ship at a surprisingly high speed. However, just as the rockets were about to hit, a saving shield appeared above them, stopping the explosives.

She looked behind her and saw Velvet, who had used her camera to recreate Aqua's staff, and apparently also a spell it could use.

Ruby used the chance and moved her Scythe until the MEC's head was in its crosshairs. She shot, and the special EMP ammo she packed went straight through the robot, destroying it.

However, the relief didn't hold long, as two more dropships came in, dropping of Soldiers, Vipers, and Sectoids.

"Ruby?" Jaune asked, ducking down as shots flew over his head. "What about Megumin?"

"No, not yet," Ruby replied. "We only can use her once. We should wait until something really big comes along. We can deal with this."

Zhang mowed down a Sectoid with his MG next to her but got hit in the shoulder by one of the Soldiers. Ruby looked over her cover and was able to spot two heavy MECs standing out in the open. While they were tough opponents, they were unable to go into cover. "Simmons?"

"Yeah?" The trooper asked, looking up from his cover. He was holding an Assault Rifle tight to his armored chest and took potshots onto the battlefield.

"There are two MECs out there. Can you use your SPARK to hack 'em?"

"Sure. Good idea." Simmons shortly looked over the barrier and pointed at one of the MECs. His SPARK, painted a maroon color to fit his armor, went out into the field, and hovered next to the MEC.

Ruby nodded, hoping that this could create some diversion and give them extra firepower. "Hey, Bradford? How long until you can get the turrets up?"

"One more minute. We're trying to re-route some power to the defense Matrix."

"Affirmative. Rose out." She went back to taking out enemy soldiers, picking them off with her Sniper Rifle. However, she suddenly heard heavy footsteps behind her and turned around. Three more Operatives had left the Avenger, reinforcing their position.

The Chief, who was part of the second wave, aimed his rifle and took down one of the Soldiers. Behind him, Pyrrha moved up to a tree in front of the barriers, while Darkness flanked her.

"Ruby," Jaune said. "I'll help Pyrrha with her advance."

"Understood. I'll cover you from here."

He ran off, joining up with Pyrrha and Darkness. The sound of a machine shutting down diverted her attention, and she saw how one of the MECs shut down, only to come back again, and open fire on his companion.

"Nice work, Simmons!"

"Thanks."

The MEC managed to shoot off an arm from the other MEC, making it unable to hold its heavy rifle. However, one of the two Officers on the field realized the betrayal and threw a Grenade at the robot. It landed under it, blowing the robot up, and sending it flying behind a stone. It got up one last time, firing it rockets on itself, taking out both the MEC and the Officer.

"Nice!" Ruby yelled out, shooting another Soldier. Turrets finally rose out from the ground, and immediately opened fire on the attackers.

"Corporal Rose?" Bradford asked.

"Yes?"

"We think we found out how they're keeping us down. There has to be a machine nearby, emitting EMP waves. You have to take it out, or we're just a sitting duck."

"Got it," Ruby replied, and contacted Jaune. She was still able to see him in the distance, moving from cover to cover, but he probably wouldn't hear her over the gunfire. "Jaune?"

"Kinda busy!"

"Bradford said there's an EMP-transmitter nearby. Can you, Pyrrha and Darkness take it down?"

"Sure. Leave it to us. But keep your position!"

"No problem." Ruby took another one of the soldiers in her sights, and shot, turning its head into an orange cloud.

Even more, landing ships closed in, dropping off more and more enemies. Right now, they were still able to hold the position, but Ruby wasn't sure for how long.

Jaune jumped over a small stone, followed by Pyrrha and Darkness. He wasn't quite sure where that transmitter or whatever it was stood, so the only thing they could do was search for it.

However, he was sure that it couldn't be too far away from the Avenger. Luckily, most of the Advent forces were concentrating on storming the Avenger, leaving only a few small scouts behind the enemy's front lines.

"What exactly are we searching for?" Darkness asked.

"A machine of some sorts," Jaune explained. "It's what's keeping us on the ground. If my line of thought is correct, then Advent probably built it in a position they could easily defend."

"How is it keeping the ship down?"

"Through something called an E.M.P," Pyrrha replied.

"Oh, right. Grif mentioned that."

"Really? Good that you're learning some of the modern lingoes." Jaune replied. They ducked down, as a scouting party walked past them.

"Well, you actually got it wrong."

"Huh? How?" Pyrrha asked.

"It's not E.M.P., but Emp."

Both Jaune and Pyrrha looked at Darkness in disbelief and sighed. "Just trust us, okay?" Jaune opened up a comm channel to Ruby. "Ruby? How's the defense going?"

"We're able to hold them off, but they started to bring in a few heavier units. Try to be fast, please."

Jaune nodded. "We gotta find that transmitter."

"And how? We can't see through that thick fog and the woods." Pyrrha pointed out. "And the Avenger's radar doesn't seem to be able to detect it either."

"I'm afraid that the only thing we can do, is searching for that thing by looking everywhere," Jaune said and jumped over the stone. He drew his sword and snuck up on a small scouting party, made out of two soldiers. One swing later, and one of them was decapitated.

The other one turned around but died with a spear in its chest. Pyrrha drew her weapon back to herself and got out of her cover.

"I'm gonna take a look over there," Jaune said, pointing at a small rock pillar. "It should be a good vantage point. Stay here and keep any Advent Units off my back."

"No problem," Pyrrha replied. Jaune smiled and started to climb up the rock. Pyrrha watched as he ascended the pillar.

"Pyrrha?" Darkness asked.

"Yes?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

"Well, it's about Jaune. You like him, don't you?"

Pyrrha jumped back in shock. "What? No way. Nope."

"Yeah, you like him."

"Where did you even get that idea?"

"It's not hard to see. How you always look at him, how you try to get him to realize it. You'd have to be blind not to realize it. Or, well, Jaune."

Pyrrha looked into the fog. "Okay, yeah. I like him. But don't tell him, okay? I want him to realize it himself. It wouldn't feel right if I'd push it onto him." She narrowed her eyes, as she could've sworn that something just moved inside the fog. She grabbed her spear. "Darkness, I think there's something in the fog."

"Oh, really?" The Paladin grabbed her sword. "Were you able to see what it was?"

"No. I just saw something move."

They both got ready for a fight, waiting for something to attack them. The silence made the wait a lot harder, even if it was interrupted by gunshots in the distance.

"Are you sure that you saw something?"

"Yeah, I-" Pyrrha jumped back scared as something flew out of the fog. The small object landed between them, and it didn't take her long to realize what it was. "Grenade!"

She quickly used her Semblance to throw Darkness away and jumped into safety herself. The Grenade exploded, engulfing the base of the rock in green plasma.

Pyrrha rolled onto her feet, and took potshots into the fog, hoping to hit anything. Preferably an enemy. Whatever threw the Grenade shot back, and streaks of plasma hit a few rocks behind her, melting them.

The creature slowly came out of the fog. It was muscular, yet sleek. Its body was covered by a green armor, except for the pink head, which was completely free. It held a heavy Plasma Gun in its hands and looked ready for a fight.

Pyrrha recognized it as a Muton if her memory wasn't playing tricks on her. At first, it looked like a tough enemy, but she immediately realized its big weak point: The exposed head.

She charged at the monster, sliding down under a swing with its weapon. She stabbed her spear into its back and climbed up the monster. Once on top, she stabbed her spear into its neck, killing the Muton.

"That was easy." Darkness said. "I'm kinda disappointed."

Pyrrha wasn't even willing to guess why the Paladin was disappointed and looked back up. Jaune had managed to reach the top, at least she wasn't able to see him anymore. After roughly a minute, he came back into sight and started climbing down the rock.

He jumped off roughly one meter above Pyrrha and grunted. "I think I've found it."

"Where?"

"Southeast. There are a lot of lights visible through the fog."

"And any idea how to disable it?" Darkness asked.

"I thought we could just shoot it. I also have a Grenade with me. Hopefully, that'll be enough. If it isn't, well then we can just go back to the Avenger and get more supplies. I mean, we do know where it is now."

"Sounds good. Then let's go finish this up." Pyrrha added.

"Damn, they got a lot of units here!" Blake said. She quickly shot two of the Soldiers rushing forward, and went back into cover.

Ruby silently agreed and looked over the barricade. In the last minutes, Advent had started to drop off more enemies than they could handle, and now the first had started to advance towards the Avenger. It wasn't hard to guess what their strategy was: Overrunning them. And it was not like that was hard to do.

But first, they had to get in enough units. And as long as they kept shooting them, it would take longer. At least that was the plan for now. Holding out until Jaune took down the emitter.

"Firebrand here! We're inbound on you, Avenger. We'll drop off whoever can still fight to reinforce the front lines."

"Understood," Ruby replied.

She heard engines above her and saw the dropship closing in. The bay opened up, and Aqua, Yatsuhashi, and Fischer jumped out. Firebrand flew up on top of the Avenger, vanishing from sight.

"Hey. You okay?"

"We're ready to fight," Fischer replied. "How many enemies?"

"A few dozens at this point," Ruby replied, and looked at Aqua. "We have a few wounded up in the hangar bay. Can you go help them?"

"Sure," Aqua replied and ran off.

Ruby saw how the Chief suddenly turned around. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes. I could've sworn I saw something, but well..." He turned back towards the enemies and continued shooting them.

"By the way, what exactly were you fighting? I can't imagine one of these guys messing you up this much." Blake asked.

"Caboose called them Hunters. Trust me, they were stronger than almost anything I've seen at this point."

"Hunters?" The Chief asked. "Are you sure?"

"Yes. Big, bulky, and full of worms." Yatsuhashi replied, before laying waste to a few stones Advent used as a cover with his Machine Gun.

The Chief looked back into the Avenger, and then at Blake. "Come with me."

"Why?"

"I have a bad feeling."

Blake looked at Ruby, who nodded in response. "Go. I'm sure the Chief knows what he's doing."

Blake followed the Masterchief into the Avenger, and Ruby shifted her attention back to the fight in front of them. More Advent soldiers had started to run at them, disregarding their own safety.

A Viper actually managed to break through and tried to ensnare Tucker, who immediately cut it in two with his Energy Sword.

"Jaune... Please, we won't be able to hold out for much longer."

"It's a mess out there," Bradford muttered, watching the camera feed. "Shen? How long until we can reactivate the ship's guns?"

"Thirty minutes," Shen replied, looking up from a terminal in the corner of the bridge.

"Damn, we can't hold out for that long."

Bradford turned around as the door to the bridge opened. The Masterchief came in, followed by Blake. "Chief? What are you doing here?"

The Spartan looked over the bridge, before replying back to Central. "Has anything come through here?"

"No. Why are you asking?"

The Spartan and Blake looked at each other and nodded. "Good."

"Wait, where's the Commander?" Blake asked.

"He is over in his quarters. He wanted to arm himself." Bradford noticed the distressed look on the faces of the two. Or Blake at least. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes. But there's no time to explain." Blake yelled, and the two ran out.

Bradford turned around to his post and opened a direct line to Donut and Ren. "Corporal Ren, Corporal Donut, can you hear me?"

"Yes, loud and clear," Ren replied.

"I can hear you as if you were next to my ear!" Donut added.

"Get to the Commander's quarters ASAP. And follow every order the Chief gives you!" He cut the line immediately.

"You think something's coming after the Commander?" Shen asked.

"Why else would those two be that distressed? They'll handle it. We have to concentrate on shutting down the EMP emitter." Bradford looked at the battlefield, using the cameras attached to the Avenger. More and more enemy troops were rushing their position.

The Commander sighed as he put in the access codes to his personal locker. Standard procedure when the ship was under attack. The locker opened with a small creak and revealed a Desert Eagle, his weapon of choice in this situation. Perfect for tight corridors.

"Commander?" One of the operatives behind him asked. With him was Lieutenant Csarda, who was assigned as his personal bodyguard in case of an attack.

"Yes?"

"Do you think we'll lose?"

"I don't. We've always pulled through." He replied, grabbing his Handgun.

"And you think this time will be no different?" Another voice asked.

Both jumped at the new voice, unable to recognize it. It carried a certain conviction within its speech. "Who are you?"

"That does not matter. Our Plan is already in full effect." The Commander noticed that the voice was seemingly unable to properly pronounce the 'P', for some reason. That meant it wasn't using a translator, but rather learned the language naturally.

"Show yourself!"

"I will not. Commander, you might think that you're doing the right thing. But you're just delaying the inevitable. Without Advent's rule, this world, this universe is destined to collapse in upon itself, once they return."

"Pfft. You're talking about those that took my family!" Csarda yelled. "Just go fuck yourself!"

"And look at your little posse. Talking highly, as if he was the superior species. He is but a meaningless speck."

"Shut the fu-" Csarda's voice turned into gurgling, as a shot erupted, burning right through his chest. He fell to the ground lifeless, spilling blood all over the carpet and a stench of burned flesh filled the room. The Commander immediately shot into the direction the shot came from but hit nothing.

"I take it that you're leading this attack?"

"You are fast, I have to give you that. Yes, I am."

"This is pretty unusual then. Advent normally doesn't lead their troops into battle themselves."

"There is no honor in standing far away from battle while sending your men to die. I wouldn't ask you to understand. After all, you're doing this exact thing."

The Commander jumped back in surprise, as two blue blades suddenly appeared in the air. Quickly, a creature seemingly shifted into reality.

It was roughly three meters tall, and its mouth consisted of four mandibles. The body of the creature was covered in a thick, ornament red armor. The hands of the Alien ended in three clawed fingers, and his knees bent backward. The arms of the Alien were covered in tattoos, painted on in white color to stand out from the dark grey scales.

"And why are you helping Advent?" The Commander replied. "I've never seen your species before, so you are obviously recruited by the Elders afterward."

"Because the Elders are the only way for salvation. But now that you and your humans have deactivated the relay, I am losing control over the sector. The only way to please the Elders is if I bring them your head."

He lifted up his sword, and let it down towards the Commander. He rolled to the side, and the sword cut the couch in half, burning the cushioning in the process. He shot at the Alien as soon as he got up but saw an energy shield lighting up, absorbing the shot.

The Alien walked towards him, as a few bullets suddenly went into its sight. It turned around and looked at the entrance. The Masterchief and Blake were standing there, both having their weapons aimed at the enemy.

"A Sangheili. Like I thought." The Chief said.

"The Demon? That is a surprise. I thought I was able to sneak past you."

"Give up. It's three against one." Blake added.

"A Sangheili would never give up. Especially when faced with the Demon himself." The Elite charged forward and lunged at the Chief.

The Spartan jumped backward, dodging the blade just in time. He grabbed the Sangheili's arm and threw him against the wall. The Sangheili stood back up immediately. "Ten years haven't done much to your abilities, I see."

"Ten? I thought only three years have passed?" Blake asked in confusion.

"Maybe in this world. Time used to flow differently before the Elders installed the dimensional anchors." The Sangheili replied. "But it does not matter right now." He turned back at the Chief. "What matters is that I, Sero 'Forgam, will take your head and return it to the Elders. Alongside the ship."

"Try it," Blake said and shot the Sangheili. The bullets were absorbed by his energy shielding, and he charged at her, swinging his blade at her head. Blake dodged the attack and tied her ribbon to his arm. She pulled him towards her and tried kicking him into the lower mandibles.

However, he caught her leg and threw her into the cut couch. The Chief immediately attacked him with a combat knife, trying to get in a few strikes. The Sangheili was unable to dodge or block the entire furry of stabs and slashes, and his shield flickered, again and again, getting weaker with each hit.

The Alien wasn't a pushover though. He fiercely retaliated, using an energy dagger of his own. Both blades clashed, and the Chief's knife got cut in half by the plasma. He threw away the hilt as the molten metal dropped onto his armored hand.

A second later, the Sangheili sucker punched the Chief, sending him stumbling back. He shook his head, and punched back, causing the Sangheili to fall onto the ground.

The Alien rolled back onto his feet and pulled a small, purple weapon from his belt. Well, small in relation to the Sangheili. To the Commander and Blake, it was almost as big as their chest. It looked like tow purple sticks, hovering against each other thanks to blue energy.

Blue Plasma shot towards the Chief, who tried to dodge the attack. He rolled behind the coffee table and threw it over. The Plasma immediately destroyed the furniture. But the distraction worked.

Blake jumped up from behind the couch, throwing the ribbon of Gambol Shroud. It tied itself around the Sangheili's neck, lumping his body backward. The Chief picked up the Plasma Rifle, and shot at the Sangheili, quickly draining his shields.

Once they were broken, Blake pulled the Alien towards her and stabbed her blade through his chest. Sero cried out in pain, and purple blood shot out of his mouth before he collapsed.

The Chief walked up to the dying Sangheili and kneeled down. "I have a few questions for you."

"And why would I answer any of your questions, Demon?" The Sangheili asked.

"We beat you in combat. You're an honorable warrior."

The Sangheili pulled his mandibles together. "Very well. Ask."

"What is the state of affairs back home? Is the UNSC still functional?"

"It is not." The Sangheili replied, clearly amused. "It is wiped out. Your precious home planet, Earth, is but a wasteland. We finished what we started, thanks to the Elders."

"You broke through the defense force?" The Chief sounded shocked.

"No. The defense fleet was already gone when we burned your world. You should have seen what the Elders did. Your entire government." The Sangheili coughed, spitting out more blood. "Gone in a matter of minutes."

"And the Arbiter?" The Chief asked. "Did he side with Advent too?"

"That coward is no real Sangheili. He opposed the Elders. But after Vadam Keep burned, he went into hiding. Even if you go back to our home, you will find nothing left. All you ever knew is gone."

The Chief seemed to ponder what he just heard for a moment, and tightened his fist. "That is all."

"Are you okay?" Blake asked.

"I am." The Masterchief aimed the Plasma Rifle at the Sangheili's head.

"Demon, today I tread the path of my forefathers. But you, you will always be a lost soul. And when you defeat the Elders, then there will be more despair waiting for you."

Without answering, the Chief shot a couple of Plasma round into the Sangheili, completely annihilating his head, before throwing the weapon away.

"Thank you." The Commander said, standing up. "What was that?"

"An Elite," Cortana explained. "Or Sangheili in their own language. They were the heart of the Covenant, back when it was still around. At the end of the war, they joined forces with us after being betrayed by their Prophets."

"First Hunters and now Elites?" The Chief added.

"He mentioned ten years..." Blake muttered.

"Right." The Chief looked at the Commander.

Suddenly, the door opened. "Donut's here to fill you up!"

"God's dammit," Blake replied.

Jaune pushed his back against a small wall, which at one point belonged to a power relay. A few of the transmitters were still discernable, though the plant life had started to take the building back.

In the middle of the small courtyard stood their objective: An EMP transmitter. It sent out small electromagnetic waves every ten seconds. Guards were looking over the area, consisting of an Advent Priest, two Mutons, one Viper and three Soldiers.

They were walking around in small groups, but all of them saw each other, meaning that they couldn't try to take one group out without the others noticing.

"Any ideas?" Pyrrha asked, looking over the wall.

"What about charging in?" Darkness suggested.

"That's suicide," Jaune added. "We have to think about something else." He quickly looked over to the transmitters. "Hmm. Pyrrha? Can you try to bend around some of that metal?"

"Sure." Pyrrha moved her hands around in the air, making one of the transmitters hit another. An electrical shock lit up the fog, drawing the attention of the Advent troops. Half of them moved towards the distraction, leaving behind the Priest, the Viper, and the Soldiers.

"Now!" Jaune yelled. They jumped over the wall, and Pyrrha immediately threw her spear. It pierced the shoulder of the Priest, dragging him into the fog.

The Viper turned around in an instant and started shooting. A few of the shots hit Pyrrha, draining her Aura immensely.

Jaune shot his Rifle, taking down the Viper without any problems. Luckily, he had looked into their anatomy a bit, making it easy to discern where their vital body parts were.

The Advent soldiers opened fire, forcing the three to take cover behind an old transmitter. Darkness shot, hitting nothing except the wall behind them.

"Seriously?" Jaune asked. He pulled out a Grenade and rolled it towards the Soldiers.

A fireball engulfed all three of them, taking them out. Just on cue, the Mutons stormed back out of the fog and charged the position of XCOM.

Pyrrha threw a metal sheet at one of the Mutons, sending it deep into his side. The Alien didn't slow down though, and Pyrrha charged in herself, using a metal pole as makeshift replacement of Milo. She stabbed it through the first Muton, but the second one managed to punch her into her guts.

She flew back in a heap, landing against the wall. The impact took out what remained of her Aura, and red sparks flashed over her body.

"Dammit," Jaune growled. He shot the Mutons, gaining their attention back. "Darkness, I can't believe I'm saying this, but distract them."

"With pleasure!"

"I don't doubt that..." Jaune deadpanned, as Darkness stormed at the Mutons, sword in her hands.

She tried to slash them, but missed every hit. Just what Jaune wanted. One of the Mutons swatted the sword away and tried to hit the Paladin with his gun, but to no avail. Darkness blocked the weapon, gripping it tightly.

Jaune nodded and charged in. He took one of the Mutons by surprise, and cut into its leg, severing it from the body. The Muton let out a guttural roar, and Jaune finished it by shooting his weapon into its head.

The last Muton tried to shove Darkness away, but she managed to push back. Both opponents put all their strength into the match, but it was soon clear who the winner was. The Mutons arms started bending backward, and cracks echoed over the area as its bones shattered. The Muton stumbled back in pain, and Darkness threw its weapon after the monster.

The weight of the weapon was enough to throw the Muton of its feet, and Jaune shot into the green bits of the rifle. The plasma inside spilled out, right onto the Muton. It roared one last time, before dying.

Jaune immediately ran over to Pyrrha and helped her up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It only shattered my Aura. Let's finish this job and go back."

Jaune smiled and nodded. "Yeah." He reached into his bag and pulled out an X4 charge. It was easily attached to the transmitter. "Central? We are about to blow that transmitter up."

"Good to hear. Come back to the Avenger, and blow it up once you're in a safe distance."

"Got it." Jaune closed the channel. The three started walking back, and after they left the courtyard, Jaune pressed the button on a small controller.

The transmitter went up in flames, and a big smoke tower started to rise up into the air.

"Well done." Darkness said.

"Yeah. That was actually pretty easy." Jaune replied.

"Oh, right. I gotta get back Milo." Pyrrha added. "Honestly, I think we should celebrate this later."

"Sounds good. Maybe a small party."

"Oh, that's a good idea. May-" Pyrrha stopped talking, as crimson blood suddenly shot into the air, alongside bone fragments.

Milo came flying back and went straight into the back of Pyrrha's head. It shot out of the front, and Jaune looked in horror as Pyrrha fell to the ground. The upper left of her head was gone, turned into nothing but a bloody mess.

He looked back into the fog, and saw the Priest, coming out. His head was glowing purple, indicating him using psionics. He immediately shot his Assault Rifle, perforating the Priest, before sinking to his knees next to Pyrrha.

"Oh god!" Darkness gasped.

"No, please! Pyrrha! Pyrrha!" Jaune screamed, holding her tight to his body.

Darkness grabbed the earpiece from Jaune. "Bradford? We need help! Pyrrha! She got hit!"

Jaune felt how the world around him drained of sound and color, as he wrapped his arms around his friend. "Dammit!"

"How is she?" Jaune asked. He walked up to the glass pane, behind which Aqua and a few medics were taking care of the wounded.

"They said she's alive," Nora stated.

"Are you okay?" Ren added.

"Yeah, I am," Jaune said with a weak voice. He looked through the glass and saw multiple people running around Pyrrha like moths around a flame.

"No, you're not." Darkness added.

"Why shouldn't I be fine?" Jaune replied, slowly getting angry.

"Cause you're bawling your eyes out," Nora said. "You're blaming yourself, are you?"

"I'm not," Jaune replied. "This wasn't my fault. It wasn't Pyrrha's fault. This was Advent's fault. I just want to know... Why now? It was all going so well, and now, from one moment to the other..." He punched against the glass. "Dammit."

"Maybe that's exactly why it happened," Ren stated. "We thought everything was going to be easy because all our missions went well. We got too full of ourselves, and now we've paid the prize."

"Hey, lighten up." Nora interrupted. "She's still alive, isn't she? I bet she'll be running around the ship again soon!"

"I hope so..." Jaune muttered. "I hope so..." He slowly walked away, half limping.

"What exactly happened out there?" Ren asked.

"I don't know for sure. Pyrrha shot her spear at that Priest, but I guess it didn't kill him, and he shot it back." Darkness explained. "That, what did you call it, Aura of hers broke shortly before, so it was unable to protect her."

"Damn. Sounds like it really was just a little mistake." Nora muttered.

"I have a small question though..." Darkness added. "How did she survive? It looked like the attack took out half of her skull..."

"She got lucky," Zhang said, suddenly standing next to them.

"What? Where did you come from?"

"I brought the medics some medicine form the storage room," Zhang explained. "It only took out her left eye and scraped her brain. A few millimeters more to the right and she would've been a goner."

"And what's happening now? Is she going to be okay?"

"Luckily Jaune and Darkness managed to bring her here fast enough. She has lost a helluva lot of blood. We might be able to save her life. But I'm not sure if she can return to combat."

"You know..." Nora started. "Back home, people always called her the 'Invisible Girl'."

"Titles don't matter on the battlefield. What matters is your abilities, the enemy and a bit of luck. This time, you lacked the latter." He shoved himself off the wall and walked down the hallway. "Be lucky she's still alive. That's a better fate than some others had."

He left Nora, Ren, and Darkness alone, and the three looked back through the window. Aqua pulled a curtain around the bed, as they started the operation.

"We're glad to hear that you made it out in one piece," Volk said, putting a cigar into his mouth.

"Thank you," Bradford replied, drinking a sip from his coffee. He was in the meeting room alongside the Masterchief, the Commander, Tygan, Blake, and Ruby.

"However, we feel sorrow for the wounded," Geist added. "But you managed to destroy the relay and bring back a psionic crystal. I believe this was worth it."

"Pfft, idiot. They put their lives on the line for a damn crystal." Volk spat out.

"Calm down, don't start a fight now." Bradford interrupted. "We have something more important to talk about."

"And what would that be?" A female voice asked.

Bradford looked at the third monitor and looked into the eyes of Betos, the leader of the Skirmishers. her history was rather... unique. While the others were human, she was an Ex-Advent Soldier, that somehow managed to pull out their implant and become free. Others followed, and thus, the Skirmishers came to be.

"I am glad you asked," Tygan said. "We had a security breach during the siege. A single Alien, the leader of the attack, snuck into the ship with the goal to execute the Commander."

"Luckily, the Chief and I were able to prevent that," Blake added. "But he said something that we couldn't ignore."

"Exactly. He mentioned that it had been ten years since Advent invaded our home." The Chief added.

"Nonsense," Geist replied. "It has been merely three years since the first confirmed attacks-"

"Don't judge this fast, my dear Geist." One of the other monitors suddenly came to live, showing Nagito. "You should let him speak first."

"What the hell are you doing?" Volk asked.

"I didn't allow you any communication," Byanju said. "Get off this channel at once!"

"Why? I have just as much of a right to be here, don't I? After all, I am representing my own homeworld."

"What? You aren't from Earth?" Ruby asked confused.

"No, I am. But this Earth has a different history than mine. So I concluded that-"

"Yeah, yeah. Shut up. Now, why do you think it has some merit?" Volk asked, shifting back to the important topic.

"Thank you," Tygan said. "The Sangheili, as the Chief called him, said that Advent had to install something called dimensional anchors to regulate the flow of time between the realms. It does sound reasonable. After all, it would explain why their world is so much more advanced than ours, while others are not."

"So it has been ten years in the other realms?" Betos asked.

"We're not sure. We only know that a decade has passed in the Masterchief's home. We don't know anything about Remnant, or whatever place Megumin and her friends are from." Ruby explained.

"But we deduced that the Reds and Blues might have the same difference in time. Their technology seems to be equal to the one the UNSC possesses."

"There is also the fact that Advent most likely hasn't conquered all worlds at the same time. That complicates things even further." The Chairman muttered.

"Very true. But maybe if we can get some data on when they attacked the other worlds, we might have a better idea." Geist explained.

"If I may..." Nagito interrupted. "I believe that, once we have access to that data, we should consider attacking the most recently conquered world first. It is likely that Advent hasn't smashed all resistance there yet, much less built up much of an infrastructure."

"For once, I have to agree with him. " Byanju said. "It does seem like a viable option."

"Pfft, for us Reapers, there is no need for that," Volk stated. "Ever heard of the Winter War? Or Continuation War? We're the masters of guerilla war."

"Wait, aren't you guys Russian?" Bradford asked.

"Don't sweat the details."

"He can drive around in his BT-42 while playing Säkkijarven Polka all he wants, but without an actual force, we won't be able to do anything against Advent," Nagito said.

"That was... oddly specific," Blake muttered.

"I think all of you are missing something." Betos interrupted. "It is true that we have to free these other worlds too. But right now, we can't even get there."

"Sadly, that is true." Geist agreed, nodding his head. "We can't exactly travel between the realms. We don't even know how they are doing it."

"I know." Cortana interrupted.

"Who is that?" Volk asked.

"That is Cortana. She's the AI that arrived here with the Masterchief." Ruby explained.

"Well then. How exactly does Advent traverse the realms?" Betos asked.

"Admittedly, this is only a theory as of now. But I would guess that they are utilizing modified Slipspace Drives. Back home, we used them for interstellar travel. To make it short, they rip a hole into a dimension called Slipspace, and then the ship uses this dimension to quickly move from point A to point B."

"But that begs the question how they got there in the first place," Bradford replied.

"I don't think it is that far out there," Tygan said. "The Elders had to get here somewhere. And even with their Elerium drives, they aren't able to achieve FTL speed. Maybe they just found something they could use to travel between dimensions here on Earth."

"Then our top priority would be to get our hands on one of these Slipspace drives after we got the data we need."

"That, and we need someone who can put it into the Avenger," Cortana explained. "I can give some of the instructions, but I can't make the modifications myself."

"If that is our plan, then I want to propose something. Avenger, I would like to ask you to visit Deimos."

"That was our plan anyway." The Commander explained. "We are slowly running out of ammo. We need some more resources."

"Thank you. I will see you then. Betos out." Her screen shut off, followed by Volk, Byanju, the Chairman, and Geist.

"What an interesting turn of events. If you excuse me, I have to do something. And trust me, it will benefit our plan greatly." Nagito said, cutting his connection too.

"Are we done now?" Ruby asked. "I want to see if Pyrrha is doing okay."

"Sure. You and Blake are free to leave. Go take care of your friend."

"Thank you very much," Ruby replied. She and Blake walked up to the door and left.

"At least we have a rough plan now," Bradford stated, and pulled up a small tablet. "I will make a list of what we need in order to gain one of these drives. Tygan, please continue on your current research."

"Speaking of which, have you made any progress?" The Commander added.

"No. Despite the help we received from Miss Aqua, we are still unable to make out most of the writing."

"Most?" Bradford pointed out.

"Yes. We were able to confirm one word: Imperatix. We don't know how it stands in correlation with any other words though."

"No problem. You can take your time. Deciphering an ancient, unknown language isn't done in one day. For now, you are all dismissed. I believed that after today's events, we all need some shuteye."

And Chapter 11 is here.

Well, Pyrrha's out for a while. I think this is a good time to point out that this isn't a story where no one will die or be fine all the way through. The characters are going to get hurt, and maybe even die.

Now to reviews:

nphillips0115: Yes, he will show up, as already teased by this Chapter. Freelancers are going to appear later on too. After all, at least two are missing right now.

Ellight1: Thanks. Originally, I wanted to end the Chapter with Weiss passing out, but I thought that it would be a bit cruel, and the Invasion forces closing in was a better way to end the Chapter.

ChronoHyperion: Thanks. To answer your questions:
- Yes, there are resistance groups there.
- Yes
- Yes, however, I don't think Del Rio would help Advent. He was pretty much against even working together with the Sangheili in Hunt the Truth.
- Somewhat, but I don't wanna spoil it

Guest: Well, here you go.

XCOM belongs to Firaxis Games; Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft, RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; RvB belongs to Rooster Teeth; KonoSuba belongs to Shousetsuka ni Narou; DanganRonpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft