Dropping out of a dark-blue portal and rolling onto the grass-covered dirt, a young Spartan grabbed her gun off her back and jumped to her feet. She snapped the gun left, then right and scanned the surrounding treeline. She gritted her teeth behind her Recon helmet. Her armor was painted scarlet with golden trimmings and her visor was a deep shade of blue. She took a moment to let her HUD reappear and heard the crackle of her Radio. She flicked it on and adjusted the signal to a restricted channel as she swept the surrounding treeline and kept an eye on her Motion Tracker...

"Attention all UNSC forces currently identified:This is UNSC AI CTN 0452-9, present with the Master Chief and happy to see you folks alive and awake. Rendezvous at Coordinates attached to this transmission for immediate retrieval. SIERRA-117, SIERRA-087, SIERRA-058, SIERRA-023 and SIERRA-141 are eagerly awaiting to see you all home, safe and sound. A short briefing for your location and current situation has also been attached to this communique. Make haste, we're waiting, boys and girls! This is an automated message and will now repeat."

The girl flicked the Radio off, knowing full-well that was a UNSC Short-band transmission, but the signal was strong, meaning it was probably rather close by. She watched her HUD Flash on, then the information and the NAV Point also appeared. She scanned her surroundings once more as her MT started to ping multiple Unknowns, then she racked the weapon's bolt, feeding a round with a satisfying click...

She watched as creatures emerged through the shrubbery, clad in black manes and white, bone armor. Well, fuck... She shouldered the AR and removed the safety as the first creature lunged at her, then fired. Six bullets punched through hard flesh and bone and the creature tumbled to the floor, whilst its brothers soon joined it. The Spartan withdrew her Handgun from her hip and snapped off shot after shot with both weapons. Multiple small Grimm fell under fire. Stowing her pistol as it ran out of ammo, she dumped an empty mag, then tapped her Microphone and called out "Be advised, all allied units in the area:Sierra Bravo 312 speaking, I'm being engaged by strange creatures... Eyes open for white plate and black manes." before flicking the mic off.

She dodged another creature as it launched itself at her. It slammed into a tree, its claws sticking to the bark. The Spartan took her Knife out and drilled into the creature's skull, before removing the blackened blade, tossing the gunk aside and sheathing the weapon, all whilst she kept the trigger squeezed on the AR. The counter dropped into the red as she once again found herself in need to reload.

Just as she was about to, however, a bigger creature, resembling a bear, charged her. She gritted her teeth, then braced herself, crossing her forearms in front of her face as to dull the attack. As the bear-like monster roared and slammed into her, it sent her through four trees, all of which broke on impact, shattering into dozens of tiny shards and splinters of wood. The Spartan, meanwhile, ground to a halt about half a foot from another tree, having left a trail through the dirt. She shook her head as her shields flared and reformed. Thankfully, she hadn't lost much health...

Well, that was probably about to change. As the bear thing jumped onto her, it pinned both her arms to the floor... Then let out a roar that fogged up the Spartan's visor. She used her strength, to try and get out, but couldn't. She wondered if this was it, just as an azure shadow appeared and pounced onto the back of the monster. A full magazine of Magnum rounds was emptied on its head and back... And the corpse collapsed on top of Six, beginning to vanish, its top plates broken by Magnum fire. The Noble felt a hand reach out and grab her, yanking her out from underneath the monster, before a familiar armor set appeared.

"Six. Six, you with me?" The woman before her asked. Her voice seemed familiar, but... Younger than it was supposed to be. Noble Six shook her head, then looked up with a cleared vision at the armor and the IFF tag. B320...

"Kat?" Six asked as she saw a hand extended to her. A Mechanical arm... Kat's arm... She took the hand and was lifted onto her feet, then asked "What?" before the girl patted her teammate on the shoulder and gave a nod. From head, to toe, this was Catherine-B320. Kat. Noble Team's tech expert. And by god, was Six happy to see her friend too.

"I don't know either, Six. But it's damn good to see you in one piece." Kat offered, crossing her arms.

"Why... Why do you sound so much younger?" Six asked... Then realized "Wait... Why do I sound younger?"

"We can identify the problems later, Six... C'mon, that AI pinged us and we need to get moving." Kat urged her teammate forward, before drawing her famed M6 Handgun. Six nodded simply as she too drew her weapon and readied it. The two moved forth through the treeline. Kat used her short-range com to try and pick up any other NOBLE Signatures. For now, shit luck.

"How're you feeling?" Six asked, tapping her head. Kat shrugged, then nodded.

"I was supposed to have a hole the size of my thumb through my head, Six... And now I'm sitting in front of you, talking to you, with both eyes intact, my helmet working and also probably with reduced age. Yet whoever or whatever revived me here didn't have the courtesy of giving me my arm back." She then quipped, to which Six suppressed a chuckle. She was right, her arm was still MIA. Kat said calmly "So in short, I'm fine, Six... You?"

"... I feel off." The Spartan admitted "Very off."

"Mhm..." Her fellow Beta Company member gave a weak nod. Both of them took defensive stances, drawing their weapons as a ping flashed on their MTs, but soon resolved into a set of 3 yellow dots, coming in from the right. Swiveling about, but with weapons lowered, the Spartan gals witnessed a trio of soldiers emerge from behind the treeline. One had dark-blue Commando armor with a large, bulky left shoulder and a TACCOM pad on his left arm.

Following him was a man with a scout armor set in khaki-green and with a net around his shoulders. And finally, a man with an EVA Helmet that had a death's mask plastered onto it. He had on his bulky right shoulder pad a Kukri Knife. He lowered his shotgun as he got into view of Six and Kat, then said "I'll be damned, boss! It's the girls!" jovially, looking at the man with the commando helmet. His voice was also slightly modified...

"I can see that, Emile..." The other man said with a hint of melancholy in his otherwise stern voice. "Kat, Six... Good to see you."

"How're you doing, Crackshot?" The Scout Spartan asked, tilting his head toward Six. "Good to see you shrugged off that death."

"... Jun... Carter... Emile..." Six exhaled, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She felt her pocket for their final teammate's dogtags, then saw it... Was empty. She gasped, then said "Jorge..." in whisper, before all Spartans stopped moving and talking as an incessant rattle sounded off due west of them. That familiar thunderous echo was very close... And the five Spartans dashed through cover and out and around trees, only to see a man in a bulky, heavily-plated set of armor and hauling a heavy chain gun with both hands, emptying the massive box case of ammunition at the creatures charging him.

"Come on! I won't go down without a fight!" The man called out to the creatures, his voice younger as well... As shells piled at his feet.

"Jorge!" Carter called out, raising his DMR. Emile dashed forth first and joined his compatriot, shotgun at the ready and already barking shots. The CQC Specialist of Noble punched Jorge playfully in the shoulder, but that didn't even remotely throw off his aim. The other Spartans of Noble Team poured in, guns blazing and forming a perimeter around the hulking Titan that was Jorge.

"Carter, Emile, Jun, Kat and Six! I was wondering when you'd join the fight!" Jorge jovially stared. Noble Five hadn't changed a bit. Six bit back a cry of joy as she focused on clearing out the creatures attacking them, her rifle barking constantly. The girl withdrew a grenade from her belt, tapped the safety and removed the pin, before hurling it into a squadron of wolf-like Grimm. The explosion eviscerated and vaporized the creatures, leaving halves of Carcasses on the floor.

As the fire died down, the Spartans saw the creatures vanishing, the corpses not piling up like they'd have expected to. Carter raised his fist and the gunfire completely halted, before the Spartans lowered their weapons and exhaled. "Man, that felt good." Emile noted, before looking to Jorge and saying "It's good to see you, big man. Been a while."

"For me it wasn't that long." The big man noted.

"I'm glad to see all of Noble alive and well here." Carter noted, sliding his weapon on his back "But we're still meant to reach an RV Point. And this 'Cortana' didn't give us a timetable."

"Agreed." Kat nodded "We should move out as fast as we can to the RV point. We can chat when we're not knee-deep in whatever those things were."

"Amen." Jun gave a nod. "Lead the way, boss."

Jorge looked to Six and gave her a nod... A gesture that meant more to the girl than the old Spartan-II knew. As they moved across the forest, clearing out pockets of resistance from the strange creatures and trying to make headway to the RV point. The deeper into the forest they ran, the less pings they got. As the NAV Point got closer and closer, the Spartan Mixed Fireteam found themselves grinding to a halt in a massive clearing filled with ruins and a cliff edge on the left... As they strode in, maintaining a defensive formation and weapons raised, they saw perhaps, at least, ten new IFFs pop up from the opposite side of the treeline.

"Looks like more friendlies... I'm tagging Spartans. I think... Kind of?" Jun spoke, looking down the scope of his rifle and eyes wide.

"Kind of?" Jorge asked, using his helmet's polarization, jovial as all hell "Those are IIs, Jun. Their tags tell me as much."

Carter detached his helmet from his head, to reveal fairly younger features than the ones he had before, enough that it was distinguishable. He checked a vid-light, then flashed it green. Jun looked to Carter and said "Green flashes. Friendly confirmation... Spartans, sir." The Sniper-scout noted, standing up and slinging his rifle over his shoulder. The Spartans approached each-other on foot, only for a squadron of 10 Spartans clad in MJOLNIR armor, about Jorge's height and bulk, to nod... And one of them nodded to Jorge.

"Jorge." Quipped the man... Or boy, in this case, his voice like that of a teenager's.

"... Samuel?" Jorge asked, taking his helmet off and staring at his friend, surprised. The Spartan ahead also took his helmet off, to reveal crew-cut blonde hair and deep blue eyes. As well as a large grin. Jorge grabbed his extended hand, gripping it tightly. The two exchanged glances for a moment, before backing off. Sam slid his helmet back on his head, before Jorge followed, then Carter.

"This all of us for now?" Six asked Sam.

"Yeah..." He said, then squinted at Six. "Who are you? Come to think of it..." he looked at Noble "Who're the rest of you?"

"Noble Team." Carter nodded.

"... Class-II Spartans, Jorge?" Another female Spartan asked.

"No. Spartan-IIIs. While they're younger and with less gene modifications than us, they're strong enough. if I'm honest." Jorge offered as the IIIs all gave nods and took a stiff, ramrod straight posture. Sam gave the IIIs an approving nod, seeing their form, then showed one of the Spartans to activate Comms. She had a com pack on her back. The Spartans glanced to each-other, then Sam threw a holographic display onto the floor and tapped a command on what looked like a proto-TACCOM on his forearm... The holo-display showed a map of the local area... And several dots closing in. All of them yellow. Allied IFFs.

"We're getting more of ours." Jorge noted, grinning. "Any way of ID'ing the tags?"

"Nope. Not this far away. Whatever Slipspace mishap sent us here still has Rads on the Spartans. IFFs are scrambled until you get close, so it's a bit like gambling with who we're gonna get." The man noted "Hell, for all we know, we may even get Marines that died in the war, or ODSTs." He then looked to the girl who held the radio. She gave a thumbs up, then spun her finger and pointed up. Sam gave a nod, before showing the Spartans to form up and showing her to switch the Com over to his control. With a nod, the girl took a defensive stance, drawing her half-empty MA5B and racking the bolt. The other Spartans also took defensive positions, utilizing diverse weaponry to hold the line...

Meanwhile, in Beacon.

John had looked over the data Cortana had managed to gather. The names were unidentifiable due to the rads from the deployment via Slipspace. He arranged his body armor and held his helmet under his arm as he was sure Ozpin would notice. So, with his trusted AI Partner, he came up with an explanation for all the 'pings' that could probably easily be spotted on the CCTS's networks.

The Headmaster had especially called him up for that. Him and his teammates... So there John now sat, with Linda, Kelly, Daisy and Cal behind him. The man set his helmet on his lap, then noted "Headmaster? I presume you called us about some strange contacts?" Calmly... Ozpin looked at the Chief, his eyes narrowed, then he nodded, leaning his cheek on his palm.

"Yes..." He simply answered. "I presume you've got an explanation for me?"

"Quite, sir... Those are transmission 'ghosts', sir. Echoes of Wyvern in its final moments." The Spartan noted calmly, keeping a poker face that not even Ozpin could call a bluff on. The headmaster nodded, then showed the young man to continue as he straightened up. John nodded calmly, then said "Dozens, perhaps hundreds of radio transmissions went out as the final bouts of the rebellion happened... Of course, Gravity Dust garbled them so much you can't decipher them... And the radar bleeps, I'd say, are also ghosts of other Wyvern fireteams."

"That would explain why so many are converging... But why would the transmissions appear now? Days after the events that unfolded in Wyvern?" The Headmaster asked.

"Radio 'ghosts' persist, sir... I'm assuming the waves only now reached here." Chief shrugged "What with the Grav Dust, it must've also disrupted communication upon detonating, enough so that the radio waves would only now reach Beacon's CCTS." The man then noted, crossing his arms. Ozpin nodded, then sighed and stood up, looking out the window over Beacon.

"Remember the warning I gave, Dylan?" Ozpin said. "I do hope you aren't lying to me. With something that could endanger my school. My students. And my people, no less..."

"I'm not lying, sir. In fact, I will be heading into the Emerald Forest to see if anything has materialized into a threat, just in case. With your permission, of course." John offered... The Headmaster slowly turned to him, then let out a deep sigh and turned to him, cup of coffee in hand, before saying "Permission granted... And Dylan? If this turns out to be more of your teammates and you just didn't know? Bring them home. You got access to a Bullhead if you can pilot it." his expression softening.

"Yessir..." The Spartan noted, feeling his heart skip a beat, but his poker face still on.

"Dismissed." Ozpin gave a nod... And the five Spartans saluted, before walking away and out of the room. Sighing deeply, he spun the cup of coffee in his hand slowly, to see the black liquid inside move. He watched as the five-man Fireteam marched down toward the Bullhead landing and felt his heart sink. "I know they're hiding something from me... From all of us... He won't let things on to me..." He snorted "So this is how it feels... Secrecy, avoidance of truth. But I never lied about my identity... Now, I want to know who you are, Master Chief... But I'll wait until the opportune time to find out."

He heard his desk console flash. A new message... From James, he saw upon turning.

'Many rads. Anything I should know?'

Ozpin gave a half-smile... Perceptive James... Perceptive.

Team JPDE's Dorm...

Penny stared out into the lights as darkness faded with the rise of the Sun... She too had felt the Radiation, so she knew very well that something big was happening... She felt her Scroll ping, then took it out and looked over it. General Ironwood... With orders... She looked back at Evelyn and Jack inside, talking, then saw the words written on the message board... She frowned...

Ozpin has sent me combat footage from his initiation. Dylan's armor is something we could use, Penny. Send me a scan whenever possible.

She felt whatever she had for a heart skip a beat... That would be a breach of privacy. And of possible security for his people, were any more left. She felt her throat and tugged at her collar weakly, feeling a choking sensation for the first time in her life. But alas, it was orders coming straight from the General... As per their agreement for her to stay in Beacon, she'd have to do this...

... Did not mean she liked it, however...