Chapter 21: Halo's Edge

Sol-System, Earth
New Mombasa; NMPD HQ
October 20; 2552; 18:56

Even during a war that would determine the end of humanity, one of the most stable sources of safety was the police. And in times like that, were the Alien Covenant, and the new threat only known only as the Creatures of Grimm, were invading the Megacity, the Police shifted their duties from investigating crime scenes and searching for evil-doers to evacuation.

However, that also meant that the NMPD HQ was empty, except for captured convicts, left alone to be slaughtered by the Covenant. It looked like the Covenant adapted to overrun the Police departments first, seeing as it was a source of weapons and ammo, as well as capable fighters.

And now, a team of four people, consisting of the two ODSTs Edward Buck and Romeo, as well as the Huntress Yang Xiao-Long and the Sniper Bailey, was looking through the empty halls.

Dust and gunpowder were hanging in the air, and dead police officers were scattered around the entire building, while the lights either flickered or were broken.

There were a couple of reasons the group chose this building.

First, it had supplies they needed. Ammo, Weapons, even food (even if it was mostly instant noodles and donuts). Second, their communication died shortly after they found Dare's pod, thanks to the EMP and constant Covenant and Grimm attacks. And they needed a way to contact the others. Considering that a couple of hours ago, the police had sent messages through the radio, there should be more than enough equipment in here. Lastly, the building had multiple landing pads on the roof, perfect for a much-needed extraction.

Yang opened a stuck door by punching the handle, and they stepped inside a circular room. The lights were mostly dead, and the smell of burned flesh hung in the air, courtesy of the officers that were´shot by Plasma Weapons.

"I hate this smell," Buck muttered, scanning the room with his Assault Rifle.

"Trust me, there are much worse smells," Yang said, remembering the horrible stench the Flood gave off. Of course, she couldn't mention them, or ONI would make sure that she disappeared overnight.

Romeo went over to the consoles, which were in the middle of the room, forming a semi-circle. He kneeled down, breaking off a panel. "Some of the parts here are still working. We can use them to repair our comms." He said.

Yang looked around the room and stopped at two doors in the back. "You think the plumbing still works?"

"Do you need to..."

"Drop off the children at the pool? Yup." Yang finished Buck's sentence.

"I can't remember the Covenant ever targeting plumbing systems."

"Okay, I'm back in a minute," Yang said, and left, accidentally going into the wrong bathroom.

"So Gunny, what do you think?" Romeo asked, still working at salvaging parts.

"About what?"

"About our little blond devil there," Romeo grunted as he pulled a chip off some wires.

"Yang? Romeo, she's seventeen."

"Not like that..." The ODST replied. "I mean why she's here, what's her deal, and how she got those powers."

"Oh... yeah... It's a real mystery." Bailey said and started to stare off into the distance. He seriously wasn't a good liar.

"That doesn't matter to me right now. What matters is to get the comms back online, so we can contact Mickey, Dutch, and the Rookie."

"And Dare..." Romeo muttered.

"Yes, and Dare."

"But about the other thing... What do you think about her... physically?" Romeo asked.

"Dude, she's seventeen," Buck replied sternly. "Try something, and you'll regret it."

"What? You're gonna punch me for a bad flirt?" Romeo asked laughing.

"No, I'm sure she'll do that for me."

Romeo scoffed and put a couple of parts on the counter. "Just to remind you, sixteen is legal in eighty percent of the colonies."

The bathroom door opened, and Yang left, throwing her hands around in an attempt to get the water off. "I'm back."

"Were there any dead bodies in there?" Bailey asked.

"A dead Officer with his head in one of the toilets," Yang replied. "Also, is the Superintendent a jokester?"

"Why?"

"Someone asked me if I wanted red or blue toilet paper. I just declined, and then wiped my ass with normal paper."

The three Marines looked at each other and shrugged. "I think it's best to ignore that."

"Did you get anything useful?" Yang asked, and looked at the parts.

"Should be able to repair one of our comms. However, I'm not a programmer, so we can only establish contact with Police forces." Romeo explained. "I hope that'll be enough."

"I'm sure at least one of them has seen our guys," Buck replied. "How long is it going to take?"

"Five minutes top. It's isn't that hard."

"Yang, we'll watch the entrance. Bailey, search for anything useful."

"Affirmative," Bailey replied, and started to search through the room.

Yang cocked her Shotgun, and leaned against one side of the entrance, while Buck took the other one. They started to wait, always on edge if a Covenant platoon would suddenly come in and ruin their day. From time to time, they even heard shots from outside, guessing that those were remaining Police Officers fighting the Aliens.

Although it really hadn't been more than five minutes when Romeo called them over, it felt like an eternity. Yang, Buck, and Bailey gathered around Romeo, who gave Buck his helmet back. "Hello? Can anyone hear me? This is Gunnery Sergeant Edward Buck from ODST Team Alpha-Nine. Can anyone hear me?"

They waited for a response and sighed in relief as someone answered. "Sergeant? This is Mpenda from the NMPD."

"Officer! Have you seen a group of ODST in the city?"

"There are a couple of them running toward us. Wait a sec."

Thus, they waited once again, until a little sound was heard, indicating that he had been patched through to another channel.

"Glad you boys are safe and sound," Buck said relieved.

"Likewise. Gunny, do you need a pickup?" A male voice answered.

"Hell yeah, we do!"

"Yang!" A mix of voices, two female and one male, echoed through the comms

"Gimme that," Yang said, and took Buck's helmet, only to put it on herself. "Nora? Ren? Penny? Glad you're alive. It's a shitshow out here."

"Yeah," Nora replied. "Grimm are everywhere, the Covenant is tearing up the city, and the Elevator is gone."

"You didn't see Blake, did you?"

"No. I guess she's still in the city." Ren said.

Yang sighed and thought about that for a minute. "Okay, then we'll meet up and figure out a plan," She said. "I'm gonna patch Bucky back through."

"I told you not to call me that..." Buck said as he took his helmet back. "We're in the Police HQ."

"Can you take us there?" Dutch replied, most likely asking their pilot.

"Affirmative."

"Alright, meet you up top," Buck replied, and cut the connection. "Well, looks like we've got at least parts of our teams back together."

"Just to be clear... With 'meet you up top', you mean on the roof, right?" Yang asked.

"No, he means the basement," Bailey replied sarcastically. "Seriously, that was a dumb question."

"Someone's in a bad mood," Yang said. "Can we go then? The Elevators aren't working, and I don't know how much higher we have to go."

"We'll make it. I've faced worse than a couple of stairs." Romeo replied.

With communications somewhat reestablished, the four started to make their way up to the top of the Skyscraper, passing Covenant patrols along the way. There were even some dead Covies, and they guessed that those were most likely killed by angry convicts or lone Grimm that made their way into the building.

They left through a door, which opened with a hiss, and found themselves on one of the landing pads, overlooking the entire Skyline. The sky was a bright red, indicating the time and heat that still went off from the battles in the city.

Yang instantly let her view go over the skyline, searching for any flying Grimm. And it didn't take long to find them, although they didn't look that dangerous. A huge swarm of Nevermore and Griffon had converged upon two areas: The ONI Alpha Site, from where a pillar of smoke rose up into the sky, and the Reserve, for whatever reason.

Other than that, the sky was dominated by Covenant forces, as well as single UNSC Aircrafts. Judging by that, it looked like the Grimm were pushed back, at least in the air. Not that it answered where they came from in the first place.

Meanwhile, the three soldiers looked over the area, searching for any Covenant troops. "Clear?"

"Yeah," Romeo replied, looking for their transport. "We're good."

"Hey, Rookie. You out there? Respond. That's an order!" Buck said over his comm.

"Give it up, Gunny. Even if he ain't dead he's lost in that soup. Our comms can't cut through that."

"I also want to add that we can only use the Police comm channel right now," Bailey added.

"Oh, give it up, huh? What if it were you down there?"

"Just sayin'." Romeo shrugged. "I ain't dead."

"You're a piece of work, Romeo."

The sounds of thrusters echoed through the air, and the four turned to their right, seeing the NMPD Pelican closing in. Something was hanging from its underside, and as it came closer, it became obvious that it was Penny, having herself attached to the ship with two swords.

"What. The. Fuck." Romeo muttered.

"That's Penny," Yang said, as the Pelican slowly came to a halt.

"Welcome aboard, ladies! First stop: Anywhere but here." Mickey greeted over the comms.

"What's with the girl?" Buck asked over the comms.

"Penny wanted to help, and decided to attach herself to the bottom of the Pelican as an extra cannon," Nora explained. "Works pretty well."

"I'm not even going to question that," Romeo replied.

"Trust me, it's better if you don't," Bailey added.

The Pelican slowly turned, getting ready to pick them up, but Buck noticed two purple dots coming closer. "Banshees on your six! Hit the deck!"

The two Alien fighters shot Banshee bombs at the Pelican, and hit the top, causing the vehicle to lose height. Penny quickly used her swords to maneuver to the top of the Pelican, and shot down one of the Banshees, although too late. The Pelican had already lost one of the thrusters, meaning it started to spin. "We're going to land on another pad!" Penny said, half over comms and half screaming. The Pelican crashed onto the pad, and bounced off, only to spin away.

In the distance, they were able to see Penny, trying to control the path of the Pelican with the beams of her swords, as the Pelican spun out of view. The four wildly fired their weapons at the remaining Banshees and got a lucky shot. The bullet hit the Banshee's lid, causing it to slide open. The Brute inside panicked, and fell out, shortly followed by the Banshee.

"Mickey! Dutch! Status!" Buck yelled.

His radio came to life, and gunfire could be heard in the background. "We're okay, Gunny. Penny managed to land the Pelican without it taking much damage. We're on a nearby rooftop, and Covenant are swarming in from the air. Try to get here, and we can take off again when the Covies are taken care of."

"Fine." Buck closed his comm and turned towards his companions. "We're going to pull them out. Come on, we don't have much time."

"What about all those Covenant we side-stepped on the way up here?" Romeo asked.

"Now we get to kill them," Buck replied, reloading his Sniper Rifle.

"Oh hell yeah," Yang said, punching her fists together.

Thus, they left the landing pad, going to an open area on the rooftop, occupied by Covenant forces, mainly Brutes and Grunts. Several stairs led down to their main position, where the doors to the next area where.

"Okay, pick a target and shoot," Buck said to their two Snipers. Both lined up their sights with a Covenant soldier and pressed the trigger. Shots ripped the silence to shreds, and two Brutes fell as the bullets left a big hole in their head. "That did it! Shoot and scoot!"

"I'm going to take on the turret!" Yang yelled as a Grunt jumped into the Shade on the other side of the area. The girl started to run towards it, dodging the shots as much as possible. The Grunt started panicking as she closed in, and grabbed the side of the turret, only to jump, and kick the Grunt out of the turret, breaking its skull in the process.

Yang took control of the turret, and shot the other Covenant forces, easily turning them all into scorched bodies. "Covenant's clear!"

"Not now. Phantom's landing on the pad!" Buck yelled.

Yang turned her turret around and shot at the dropship. The Grunt inside the ship fired back, And Yang jumped out of the turret, as the plasma melted its frame, causing it to collapse. She landed directly next to the remains of another Grunt and grabbed one of its Plasma Grenades. After pressing the small green button, she threw it onto the connection between landing pad and building.

One thing she noticed earlier was that the pads were only connected to the Skyscraper by the stairs that led down to them. The blue plasma engulfed that connection, weakening its structure. The Jackals and Brutes that landed on the platform panicked as it started to lean in the direction they stood on, and after a second Grenade, it fell into the streets below, together with the Covies. "Once again, Covenant's taken care off."

"Let's push forward. Won't be long until they send reinforcements." Buck said. They went through a small tunnel, before coming out in a courtyard similar to the one they were just in. "Jackals with Carbines up top! Watch yourselves!"

Yang went into cover, letting Romeo and Bailey do the work. She's never really been good with long range fighting. And she already knew how good of a sniper a Jackal was.

After the Kig-Yar were defeated, Yang and Buck killed the remaining troops in the area with deadly efficiency.

"You're good," Yang said to the ODST, as she knocked down a Grunt with the butt of his weapon.

"I'm an ODST. We're the ones directly below the Spartans. There's a reason we get thrown behind enemy lines." Buck replied.

"Gunny?" Dutch's voice was heard over the comms. "How much longer do you need? The Covenant's coming in big-time here."

"Stay put, we'll be there in a couple of minutes," Buck replied.

They entered the building again and found a reception area. Dead Officers laid around, with ammo and weapons scattered on the ground. "Take ammo. Those guys won't need it." Buck said.

Yang grabbed a pack of Shotgun shells, and stored them in a pocket, making a mental note to maybe add some special pockets to her outfit. Honestly, she was a bit surprised that the only thing she needed to change outfit-wise was to wear one of the Marine Jackets, and a comm in her ear. Maybe it was thanks to their unusual origin, or the state of the war, but the UNSC didn't enforce many protocolls upon them.

They left the building through another door on a higher level, finding themselves in yet another courtyard. A couple of Jackals, each equipped with Beam Rifles, looked over the area, the purple lights of their weapons and helmets telling their position. If they weren't so damn good at their job, that little fact would've made their role obsolete.

Romeo and Bailey quickly took down the first Snipers, while Yang and Buck hid behind a crate. "Snipers clear. Advance." Bailey told them.

The started to fight their way down the courtyard, as four Brutes jumped up from the lower levels of the building. "What?" Yang asked in surprise. "They got Jetpacks? Why don't we have Jetpacks?"

"Actually, we do," Romeo said.

"Oh. Nevermind then." Yang prepared for the fight, and cocked her Shotgun, as the first Brute set foot in the courtyard.

One of the Jiralhanae threw a Spike Grenade, and Yang tried to block the resulting storm of needles with her Gauntlets. She then delivered a punch to the first Brute that reached her, knocking it from its feet, as the second one got a hold of her. He grabbed her neck with his pranks and got ready to slice up her body, as a shot rang through the air, turning his head into a blue cloud. In the back, Bailey reloaded his Rifle, while Buck came down the courtyard to help Yang out.

Romeo took down another Brute, while Buck pumped one of them full of lead with his SMG. The last one got back up, only to get his head pummeled in by Yang. "I hate Brutes."

"They seem like a match to you," Buck replied.

"Well, they're strong. But they don't really fight with strategy. Even less than I do."

With the Brutes cleared, they went into the next courtyard, as a transmission came through. "Gunny, we've moved one of those construction cranes; made a bridge to our location."

"Affirmative. We're almost there."

"Wait, are we really moving over a construction crane?" Yang asked.

"Oh god," Romeo added.

"We're gonna die." Bailey finished.

"Dou you three ever stop bitching?"

The door to the next courtyard opened, and they couldn't believe what they saw. There was a pile of dead Covenant soldiers, Brutes, Grunts, Jackals. And on top of it was sitting a man, looking at them. "Uhm, what?"

"Identify yourself!" Buck yelled.

"Oh, don't worry. You don't matter to me." The man replied, standing up. "But out of gratitude, I'll answer your question." He bowed down. "I am Tyrian Cowels."

"What are you doing here? Most of the Evacuation ships left hours ago." Romeo added.

"Well, I have watched you four for a while. See, I'm looking for someone."

"And who'd that be?" Bailey replied.

"A certain Ruby Rose." At that, Bailey and Yang froze.

"R- Ruby? What do you want with her?" Yang asked, grabbing her Shotgun.

"Yeah, what do you want with Red?"

"Nothing special. See, she's a thorn in someone's eyes, one I'm more than happy to remove."

"Well, bad for you. She left to kill the Prophet!" Yang yelled.

"Wait, what?" He asked, letting his arms fall down in apparent defeat.

"She left to another star system!"

"A-Are you serious?" Tyrian replied disappointed. "That's... unfortunate. Do you know when she's back?"

"As if I'd tell you."

The man sighed, and two blades extended from both his wrists. "Too bad. But she'll probably give me extra credit if I get rid of more Huntresses."

"He knows what you are?" Bailey asked.

Tyrian dashed forward, trying to deliver a strike to Yang, who managed to block the blades just in time. But the enemy was faster than expected and had something wrapped around Yang's legs, managing to throw her to the ground. As she looked up, she saw a long, brown scorpion tail extending from Tyrian's backside. "You- You are a Faunus?!"

"Ding-Ding! Yang Xiao-Long gets one hundred points."

"What. The. Fuck." Romeo said, for roughly the fourth time today. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Just shoot!" Buck yelled, opening fire on Tyrian.

The Faunus blocked the bullets with his tail, using his Aura to absorb the impacts. He quickly turned around, kicking the gun out of Bucks' hand, as a Sniper shot soared past his temple. Romeo shot three more round, all of which were dodged. Tyrian ran up to the ODST, quickly knocking him to the ground, and preparing to stab him with his tail.

Yang stood up and fired her Shotgun at Tyran. She got his attention long enough that Romeo could stab his combat knife into Tyrian's side. Or at least try. The Aura blocked the attack, and Tyrian slapped the knife out of his hand. "Time to say goodbye!" Tyrian said, readying his tail.

Yang quickly lunged forward, tackling the surprised Tyrian into the side, and knocking him off of Romeo. She helped him up. "Get to the pad. I'm going to hold him off."

As she said that, Yang heard the cocking of a gun, and looked toward Tyrian. Barrels had come out of his wrist weapons, and he looked surprised that they didn't shoot. "Huh?"

"Using Dust? Doesn't work here." Yang said with a cocky grin.

"Well, I'm more a fan of slicing anyways." Tyrian lunged forward again, and Yang tried to hold him off in Close combat. However, he dodged or blocked every strike of hers, and delivered more powerful strikes back at her, as both were caught in what almost looked like a dance. The two continued trading blows, until Tyrian kicked her into the stomach, causing Yang to fall back into a pillar, the sheer force of the impact shattering it.

She opened her now red eyes, and her hair was on fire. Angry, she stormed back into the fight.

Away from the two combatants, Buck, Romeo, and Bailey were passing by the pile of corpses and looked back. "She doesn't stand a chance," Buck said, looking around for a way to help the girl. Even if he was unable to actually make out anything in the dance of life and death both were forced in, it was obvious who of the two was stronger. Finally, his gaze fell upon a Needler sticking out of the pile.

Yang was still struggling to get the upper hand in the fight. Even though her Semblance was at full power, Tyrian still managed to block almost all of her attacks, even if they were powerful enough to cause wind pressure behind him. And it wasn't like the time she fought Neo either. That girl simply tried to wear her down. But Tyrian, he didn't fight with any strategy, just waiting for the right moment to cause her pain. Yang felt her Aura getting weaker, as the fire on her hair started to get shorter. Even if this was her end, then she'd at least enabled her friends to escape.

At least that's what she thought. But suddenly, the dead body of a Kig-Yar flew through the air, landing next to Tyrian. Six Needles stuck out of its body, and then there was a little paper bag wrapped around the arm of the Alien. A paper bag filled with blue balls.

"Yang! Get away from there!" Buck yelled as a pink Needle flew towards the dead Covie.

She jumped, and a second later, the Needle hit, causing all of them to go off, and ignite the Plasma Grenades. The explosion caused the wall to break, and the ceiling above them to shatter and fall down. Tyrian was thrown against the wall and was partially buried by rubble. With her chance to escape, Yang followed the UNSC soldiers to the landing pad, where a couple of steel beams were brought in position as a makeshift bridge to another rooftop.

Four strings held it up, attached to a crane. On the other, lower rooftop, the Pelican was parked, with Officers, Ren, Nora, Penny and two ODSTs fighting of multiple Banshees. Rockets and Plasma soared through the air, battling each other.

"Come on, before the Scorpion gets back up!" Romeo yelled. The four of them jumped onto the bridge, and ran, as two Banshees flew past over their heads, causing the bridge to shake.

They jumped down on the other side, landing on the Rooftop. Yang noticed that her Aura didn't fully catch the fall, and she felt her ankles hurting. They looked up, and saw Tyrian, running towards the landing pad.

"Oh no, you don't!" Romeo yelled and shot the crane with his Sniper Rifle. It was enough to break the connection and cause the beams to fall into the abyss below, cutting Tyrian's way to them.

They saw how the Faunus stared at them, and Yang replied by simply flipping him off. Although the question where he came from burned in her mind, there was something much more important right now. And that important thing started to shoot Plasma at the four, which immediately went up a small ramp, meeting up with the others.

"Yang!" Nora yelled out happy and hugged her.

"Why can't we have such reunions?" Buck asked, and Dutch stared at him.

"You too?"

A rocket soared through the air, turning a Banshee into a burning wreck. Heavy weaponry was scattered across the rooftop, consisting of Lasers, Machine Guns, and Rocket Launchers. Enough to keep the Covenant at bay for some time, although Yang wondered why a Police Ship was even carrying that much heavy equipment, to begin with. Then there was the Pelican in the middle of the rooftop, with two Officers working inside. One side of the rooftop was blocked off by a building, making the rooftop look more like a balcony than anything else.

"What's our situation?" Buck asked.

"Penny managed to land the Pelican soft enough that it only needs some small repairs, and two of the Cops are working on it already," Ren explained. "We only have to clear out the sky."

"Then let's get movin'!" Romeo yelled. "Phantom's inbound."

Behind them, two Phantoms appeared from below, their Plasma turrets opening fire. Yang rolled to the side, and grabbed one of the heavy Machine Guns, trying to hit the turret. A couple of rounds later, it broke, and the Phantom dropped off infantry, before leaving.

It immediately got replaces by Banshees, which targeted the heavy weaponry. Penny used her swords to fight off the Infantry and was enough to keep them at bay with the help of Nora.

Banshee after Banshee came in and often got shot out of the sky by a Spartan Laser or SPNKR before they could do any real damage. Yang quickly went over to the ammo, and grabbed a new chain of ammo, reloading it into her turret. From what she saw, Ren had grabbed a SPNKR, trying to hit the enemy aircraft.

After roughly five minutes, Yang stopped counting how many Banshees she shot down, and didn't even want to know how the streets below looked. One lucky Banshee dodged a rocket with a side-roll, and hit one of the Officers with a Fuel Rod, turning the poor guy into nothing more than a puddle of blood.

Two more Phantoms came around a building, taking the position under fire, and causing Dutch and Mickey, who both manned a anti-air turret, to concentrate on it. Still, they managed to drop off more ground troops, before one of them went up in flames, and exploded in a bright, purple and blue fireball.

The other one fled, but exploded two, not able to withstand the constant barrage of Rockets and Lasers. Yang shot down another Banshee, the burning remains to crash into the building next to them, causing glass shards to rain down.

"Pour it on, boys! We're almost through with this!" Buck yelled, as Penny cut down the last Infantry, and joined the defense up the ramp, using her heavy Beams to fend off Phantoms from coming closer.

But then the one thing none of them expected happened. One of the Banshees went Kamikaze and rammed itself directly into the building next to Penny. The ground broke, and Penny just so managed to jump to not fall onto the floor below. And that distraction was all it took. One last Phantom came in and dropped off some heavy infantry. One Chieftain and two Hunters. At least it looked like the Covenant considered Yang and her friends a serious threat.

The Hunters stormed in, holding their shields in front to not get hit with too many bullets. Ren slid under a Hunter, opening fire on its vulnerable back. The Hunter hammered its shield down, trying to hit Ren. Nora quickly jumped onto it, and stuck a Grenade inside its back, blowing the worm creature up.

A mix of Lasers and Rockets hit the second Mgalekgolo, turning it into a smoking armor. With his two companions dead, the Brute finally rushed into battle. He knocked one of the Officers away with his hammer, and led it down on the ground in front of the others, releasing an energy wave, and throwing them back.

Ren managed to jump back up and started to slice at the Jiralhanae. But its shield protected the Alien, and it simply slapped Ren out of the way. Nora tried to catch her friend, falling on her back in the process. Romeo fired at the Chieftain, draining its shield, a chance which Buck used to shoot a hail of Bullets at the monster.

Most of the shots bounced of its heavy armor, as the Brute prepared to bring its hammer down at the next person: Romeo. Yang quickly kicked the Hammer away, which cost the Brute his balance. He tried to regain it, but Yang tackled him to the Ground, where Mickey, Buck, and Dutch unloaded an entire magazine of their SMGs into its head, killing the Jiralhanae.

"Was that it?" Yang asked.

"Looks like the Covenant has given up for now," Romeo said. "Let's get the hell outta here before they come back."

"Is the Pelican ready?"

"We're ready to go!" The pilot replied.

Everyone ran into the hangar bay, and the Pelican started, leaving the heavy ordinance behind. The Pelican lifted itself into the air, slightly tilted to the right, and flew away from the battlefield.

"That was a rough day," Ren said. "And we still haven't found Blake."

"Or the Rookie," Mickey added.

"And Buck's probably still after his big love." Yang finished, receiving angry glares from the ODST. "Hey, just saying how it is."

"Anyways," Bailey said, trying to shift away from the awkward topic. "How's the status?"

"Covenant's occupying the city, Grimm have gathered over the Reserve and ONI Alpha Site, with small packs roaming the streets."

"Why are they converging there?" Yang asked.

Mickey shrugged. "The UNSC says that the Grimm are coming from the Reserve. They don't know how, but that's where all of them come from. They don't even care about investigating, and want to send in a Broadsword to bomb the area later."

"Still doesn't explain their interest in the ONI Site," Buck said.

"Do I look like the boss of ONI? I have no clue what those things want there. Only thing I know is what I told you, and that the Grimm are being fought back."

"At least something." Yang sighed.

"Uhm, you might want to hold onto your seats." The Pilot said.

"What? Why?"

"Covenant Banshees incoming." In the next second, the Pelican shook, and they felt the force of the Vehicle plummeting down into the abyss. A second later, everything went black.

Sol-System, Earth
New Mombasa; Inner City
October 20; 2552; 23:34

The Rookie and Blake were walking around the dark streets of New Mombasa, searching for the NMPD HQ. The Superintendent had projected a waypoint onto J.D.'s VISR system, and they were directly going towards it, trying to dodge Covenant patrols and small packs of Grimm along the way.

"Blake?" The Rookie began.

"Yes? Saw something?"

"You could say so. Tell me the truth. Where are you from?"

Blake stopped as the Rookie said that. "What do you mean?"

"Well, every time we hear something, your bow twitched. You've got a pair of ears under there, don't you?"

Blake sighed. That guy was really perceptive. "It's complicated."

"ONI wouldn't want you to tell me, right?"

Blake shrugged. "Pretty much. They're making a big secret out of it."

They quickly rolled behind a couple of trashcans, as a patrol of Brutes passed by. After they disappeared behind a building, the two got back out of their hiding spot. "That's normal for ONI."

"I mean, they are a secret service thingy," Blake replied as they entered a big plaza. The NMPDHQ was visible in the distance.

"Damn it."

"What is it?"

"The road to the HQ is blocked." He pointed at rubble and debris of a destroyed building in the distance.

Both approached the rubble and looked through. Blake saw something glowing in the rubble and pulled it out. It turned out to be a couple of dog tags, hanging from a chain. She looked at the engraved name. "Edward Buck..."

When she said that, the head of the Rookie immediately turned towards her. "Say what?"

She gave him the tags. "Here. Found it amongst the rubble."

"That's the leader of my squad."

"Wait, did they die here?"

The Rookie looked over to a bit of smoking debris at the edge of the destroyed building. It looked out of place, as it had an ocker color. At closer inspection, it turned out to be the remains of a crashed Pelican. The hole in the building next the them suggested that the Pelican crashed into it, causing all the rubble. "No, I think their Pelican crashed." They approached the crashed Dropship and started to look through the rubble.

Blake pushed a seat to the side and stepped back at what she saw. It looked like a Police Officer got crushed under it. But there was also something next to the seat, sticking out of the rubble. She pulled it out and looked at it. It was a sword, belonging to a peculiar robot. A cut string was attached to it.

"I think I've found something."

"Is that a sword?"

Blake took some looks around, as the Rookie was in thought. "I think our friends crashed here and got killed by the Coven-"

"Not, that's wrong!" Blake replied. "Look." She pointed at a couple of dead Covenant forces in the distance, which had all different kinds of fatal wounds. From deep cuts, up to holes. "They made it out. Those wounds are definitely from my friends."

"Where do we need to go then?"

"Let's follow the dead Covenant soldiers."

Sol-System, Earth
New Mombasa; Rooftop next to the NMPD HQ
October 20; 2552; 19:43

The door opened with a hiss, as Tyrian finally managed to get through the lock. As he stepped outside, the only thing he saw was a Pelican leaving. "Dammit!" He angrily stomped onto the ground and looked around.

Now his only lead to Ruby was gone. And considering the information he just got, it was practically impossible for him to find her now. She wasn't just one another continent, now, she was in another solar system. "Dammit!"

He approached the dead body of a police officer and picked up the pad that laid next to it. He was still logged in, and Tyrian used that chance to maybe find any useful info. The first thing he found was a live-feed on the battle, called the 'Battle of Earth'. At least he was now sure which planet he was on. He started to read through it. It sounded like the human and Covenant forces managed to push back the Grimm for the most part, and the rest of the creatures had gathered above the Uplift Reserve, and the ruins of the ONI Alpha Site.

However, it also mentioned that black pools had been spotted in the reserve. Of course, those were made by a special type of Grimm, and birthed new Grimm constantly, like the pools around the home of the goddess. It was already clear that those pools wouldn't stay there, as bombardments of the area were already ordered.

But then there was something more interesting, and important. Multiple Covenant ships were spotted, en route towards New Mombasa. As Tyrian read the term 'glassing', he looked the term up.

At that moment, he realized it was time to leave. Ruby could wait, considering that those ships were about to burn down the entire city into glass and obsidian. And even if they didn't, the pure amount of forces they'd bring was too much to deal with, even for him.

As he looked for any route out of town, he saw that there was an evacuation zones, the last one in the city, close-by. It was fifteen minutes until the last ship took off.

Thus, he put the pad in his coat, and ran toward the evac zone, in the hope to make it out alive.

And here's Chapter 21.

Well, that was the frst fight against Tyrian, and the first fight between two 'human' opponents I've ever written, do I hope it came out okay.

Now to replies:

Tronmaster5704: I can assure you, it will be painful.

rocketmce: Yes, Jun will make an appearance, most likely between H3 and 4. I'm not planning on changing Johnson's death.

Gundam-Knight-Chris: Can you please be a bit more precise? What exactly is becoming boring to you?

joshuaobryan549: The Grimm aren't multiplying. If you remember, Salem sent thousands of Grimm through at once. Also, remember the Grimm in the Reserve, the one that created a pool of black goo?

Edrap: Good luck with your tests. Yeah, the dragon during that battle would be cool, and I'll think about it.

SpartanLogan: Thanks for the Feedback on the different factions. I was actually worried that the 'power levels' weren't working that well, and I'm actively trying to do something about it. However, I have to mention that the main reason of the Grimm's strength in New Mombasa is that they have the surprise advantage, and the Covenant is generally bad at changing tactics, especially Brutes. The switching out Covenant Forces for Grimm won't happen that often anymore either.

AmethyPone: Actually, I don't think that Nora actually ever used a Grenade in this story, though I could've forgotten that little detail. I'm sure the Grenades are just Anime-Logic in the series or has something to do with her weapon and Dust.
No, it doesn't slow aging considerably.
I guess that's just not possible, seeing as even Forerunner AI deteriorate. Maybe the Precursors figured something out, but the only AI form them that is known was Abbadon, and even that thing seemed a bit crazy.
Thanks for telling me that. I've actually heard that phrase multiple times before, so I had no idea it doesn't actually exist.

Shockwave: ...What?

Snake: Can I be honest? I'm getting the feeling that you, ERROR SANS, Springtrap, SCP-682999, and PurpleGuy are the same person, seeing as all are talking about the same thing all the time. Thus, I'll be answering everything here:
Yes, it may have made its way in when it was before the idea for the fic even came by, but it would've been an entirely different fic too.
Just because it is a fanfiction site doesn't mean I have to put in everything, especially if it doesn't make any sense and would ultimately lower the quality.

Colonel Radec: That's also something that doesn't make any sense.

red october700: Seeing the Deinon as Riptor is something I didn't even think about. I pictured them somewhat like real Deinonychus. But that's the great thing about written stories. Things like appearance are often open to interpretation.

Dick: Yes, since it's also how it works in the Halo Timeline.

Halo belongs to 343 Industries and Microsoft; RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth.