... Back at Beacon...
Ruby milled about in Doctor Halsey's now-unoccupied lab, checking certain items and such and making sure the blueprints for the gun mods were in order. Doctor Halsey was quite thorough about making sure every modification was possible while damaging as little of the external look of UNSC/SWORD Weapons as they could and without adding extra weight. Save for the SRS-99/99 model Sniper Rifles utilized by the UNSC, which needed the coils to be shielded around the barrel, thus giving off a larger, rounded muzzle and some slight weight addition, the weapons seemed normal otherwise...
Well, Doctor Halsey also gave then Picatinny rails for attachments...
The MA5 rifle series, Sergeant Johnson's shotgun and the pistols were apparently easy for both the Doctor and little miss Rose to modify... Ruby smiled as the thought just hit her:She was helping the Doctor with important modifications and manufacturing for the Spartans and Marines to always be combat-ready. And now that SWORD was declared an active entity, she was basically helping a Peacekeeping force keep the peace!
Awesome!
As she strolled back to the dorm, she met a few patrolling Marines in full BDUs, most of which waved to her, smiling. They were carrying MA5s and BR55 rifles, or the standard-issue Battle Rifle of the UNSC, from what she'd heard... She'd been asking around and looking over Doc's expansive files on UNSC's weaponry. And she was awed to find out the UNSC already had directed energy weapons! The Spartan Laser, as it was colloquially nicknamed in every file and by Marines when asked about it.
Beacon FOB had begun to exponentially grow... Enough so that Ruby could see a pair of watchtowers not too far away from the main dorm buildings. Strolling inside one of aforementioned buildings, she watched as Marines were training from one of the balconies... They practiced marching, while others seemed to practice on plywood buildings and other such structures by stacking up beside the doors... A squad of 3 Marines took up a line, with one in the front, called the Breacher, readying up a strange grenade... A Marine kicked the door open, while the Breacher tossed the Grenade inside... It flashed and the Marines marched inside, hard and fast, thus vanishing from view... So cool!
She felt a hand on her shoulder, then cocked her head back with a gasp, to see Weiss and Yang appearing, the latter with a smile on her face and donning a more casual outfit. Leaning onto the railing, Yang said "These guys are entirely something else. I mean, Johnny and his teams of Supersoldiers are very badass and all, but the Marines? Look at'em go." And she nodded to the FOB's courtyard. The soldiers moved in formation, rifles close. Some helped in the maintenance of their transport, the Pelican.
Some Spartans watched the Marines train from afar, while a circle of Marines in PT gear watched as a duo fought. A boxing ring, for a lack of a better term. It was incredible, what they'd managed to do in the past month alone. Weiss hummed, then said "Considering the few rumors I've heard around the teachers' room relating to them, the Spartans respect the Marines and hold them in high regard. Their war, though little of it is known, really hardened them."
"I mean... Yeah. Whatever warrants guys like John and his team going into action definitely has to harden basic humans." Ruby noted, watching as NOBLE Team trained too, but in Knife combat. The Spartans moved so fast that the girls' eyes could barely keep up. The movements were sharp, quick, precise and deadly. Every strike would've been a bloody, brutal one, a jugular strike, a stab to the femur, a stab in the eye...
"Spartans are Special Forces, Ruby." Weiss stated as if it was fact. And she wasn't wrong. "The Marines are the soldiers on the ground... When a Spartan gets deployed, it probably means the worst has come to pass and the Marines need a quick out. Or to hold out for as long as possible... We don't know what they've fought and I don't think we have any sort of desire to know what caused them to train up so much, or what got the UNSC to employ them with those kinds of armors."
"... Jeez, Weiss, since when did ya get so serious about them?" Yang's brow quirked up.
"I'm just stating facts, Yang." Weiss said. "They're soldiers who've probably gone through hell. And, dare I say it, perhaps they went through even worse than the Great War..." Making the blonde snort. Weiss turned to her, to see her chuckling, before asking "Yang, what's so funny to you? If they come from outer space, it could well be the case..."
"I'm sorry, Weiss... It's just..." She chuckled "Ya really think these guys went through anything worse than Grimm in the midst of Trench Warfare? C'mon, be serious."
"Try a planet-level extinction event." An accented voice said... Turning back with gasps, team RWBY were greeted by a sky-blue set of armor and a prosthetic arm holding the helmet that completed the set... The tanned face of the young woman before them was scarred, but her light-blue eyes seemed calm. She walked up beside them, then said "Well, multiple planet-level extinction events of the same type. On multiple planets... All done by alien hand."
"What?" Weiss's heart stopped...
"Yep." The woman said, leaning against the railing "Kids, we've been fighting for... Almost 30 or so years now against this thing called the Covenant. As far as I know, we've won... But the war cost us a lot. If you want to know how much, ask the Headmaster." She said, looking out at the training Marines. "Though I'd hold onto my teeth... It's quite a lot of stuff to take in."
The Marines piled out of the makeshift plywood building seconds later, hauling a Marine in cuffs... The woman grinned upon seeing this, then said "Ah, Force Recon." as she watched them move out to a designated exfiltration point. Noticing Yang raised a brow, the Spartan said "FORCE RECON is the UNSC Marine Special Operations Squad... Somewhat more trained than your average Marine, they specialize in Close Quarters Shipboard combat, Zero-G Operations, reconnaissance and... Well, going in first side-by-side with the Spartans."
"FORCE RECON REPRESENT!" A Marine who overheard the chat called out, raising a fist to greet the Spartan.
"Semper Fi!" She nodded to them, raising her metallic arm. "Man, the Marines' hearing is good."
"... Uhm, miss, not to be rude, but whom would you be?" Weiss asked politely, crossing her arms. The Spartan turned toward her, then smiled and said "No offense taken. I'm Lieutenant-Commander Catherine. Noble Two... I don't think we've officially met, but the Master Chief did mention you girls. Team RWBY, correct?" and she received the three present members' nods.
"Do people call you Kat?" Yang asked, raising a brow.
"Yup." Kat gave a nod. "You're Yang Xiao-Long." And she looked around "Red one in the hood is Ruby Rose and Snow White is... Well, quite literally Weiss Schnee. I'm going to guess the black-haired girl with Warrant Officer Samuel is Blake Belladonna." And, noticing the scared gazes and raised brows, the woman noted "The Chief spoke of all of you and I had your files pulled from Beacon's database." She looked back at them, leaning against the railing herself as she saw then scooting away... She chuckled "I know. I'm good."
"... Are you by any chance your team's hacking specialist?" Ruby asked, a bit curious. "Doc Halsey mentioned you while we were working on modifications for the weapons currently in your arsenal..." And then she muttered, casting a sideways glance "Through her continuous mumbles about all Spartans and such... Never needed to know what the newest member, Fred, did in his spare time..."
Kat chuckled "Yeah, well, you know, the Doctor does talk a lot."
"... You heard that?" Ruby mumbled, blushing, as her eyes went wide "Please don't tell the doctor..."
"I won't." Kat waved it off. Cutesy kid...
"HEY, KAT! We gotta move! Carter wants us groundside in Vale for a supply run!" The girls heard another voice with an accent and turned about, to see a man clad in heavy armor with a strange carving in his helmet's visor. The woman rolled her eyes, then nodded to the girls and stepped off, putting on her helmet. She looked back, then said to them "We'll see each-other around, team RWBY." and the girls a chill creep up their backs as the woman stepped off.
"Okay... Note to self:Avoid Kat at all costs." Yang muttered, then felt herself get elbowed in the shoulder by Weiss. Shrugging, the blonde looked to Ruby and said "Let's go back to the dorms... I'm sure Jaune and the others are wondering what the heck's going on." before noticing a Bullhead flying overhead coming in to land with supplies at the base. Construction supplies, it seemed... Ruby nodded to Yang as they stepped off.
Walking into their dorm room, they saw team JNPR about to pop out... Nora smiled as she rushed up to them and saying "Did you guys see that military base growing outside Beacon?"
"Yeah, Nora, it's kind of hard to miss." Weiss noted in a deadpan.
"Those guys are friends to John, right?" Jaune asked.
"Subordinates, actually." Yang smirked, seeing team JNPR's surprised gazes. "Yep, John's kind of a commander to this bunch. Well, there's people of higher ranks than him, but that's not the point... Apparently, from what I've been asking around, John's a hero to them." And she watched as Nora had stars shining in her eyes, Jaune seemed a bit dumbstruck, Pyrrha tapped her chin and Ren seemed to smile at his teammates' grins.
"Y'all wanna go meet some Marines?" Yang offered. "Far as I know, we are allowed on-base."
"... Really?" Jaune raised a brow.
"Yep." The girl nodded, grinning. "Girls?" She looked to Weiss and Ruby... The latter seemed to agree... The former? She was worried. Yang walked up to Weiss, the little scaredy cat, then said "C'mon, Weiss. Gonna be fun asking them stuff. Plus, they seem to be happy enough to answer." and saw her raise her blue eyes to meet her lilac ones... She shrugged.
"No harm, I guess." Weiss stated...
As they walked out into the encampment, to the sight of Marines... Something was wrong... What was moments ago a courtyard filled with Marines in PT Gear and no armors, save for those practicing Breach And Clear operations, had now turned into a staging ground for a Platoon of around 20 Marines, with Johnson at the forefront, loading up slugs into his Shotgun. All of them were clad in full BDUs with full plating. The Pelican's engines were spooled and ready for takeoff and the Bullhead that had arrived with supplies was now loaded with medical aid and such... An alarm blared inside the base and the team saw Spartans aligned outside, but not moving...
The African-American SgtMaj, a Cigar in his mouth, spoke to miss Goodwitch and to a man in blue Spartan armor... Approaching him with the others, Yang asked "What the heck's going on?"
Johnson cocked his head to her, taking a puff of his cigar, before taking it from between his lips and saying "We got a village under attack not too far from here. They managed to ping a distress signal and bounce it back to the CCTS... We're going in." calmly. The man looked over to his Platoon and said "GET TACTICAL, MARINES!" before 20 guns were locked and cocked.
Yang looked on, surprised, then turned to Johnson and said "We wanna come with." sternly.
"Yeah!" Nora said, stepping up. "If it's Grimm, you guys'll need backup from Huntsmen."
Johnson looked to the girls, then turned to Goodwitch. The woman gave a nod, then said a quick "Bring them back safely... And the Spartan gave Johnson a nod too. The man spoke calmly "Give us a ping if you need backup, Sergeant-Major. We'll fly in ASAP." to which Johnson gave a thumbs up. He looked over to the girls, then pointed to the Pelican and said "Be aboard in 5. Pick up your gear and haul ass."
Blake too had joined team RWBY, wearing her combat gear. Boarding the Pelican, the eight Hunters-in-Training packed in tightly with the Marines, before Jaune looked to Johnson and asked "Uhh... Sergeant, was it?" and received a raised brow... Jaune continued, feeling a chill shoot up his spine at the Afro-American's stare boring into his soul "... Why only Marines, sir?"
"... Well, Blondie, you just answered your own damn question." Johnson gave a grin with the whitest teeth anyone had ever seen. "We're Marines. Meanest sons-of-bitches probably alive on your planet, aside from Chief, Doc Halsey and the Spartans. Nothing screws with us and makes it out without winding up full of lead." He stated simply, before turning to the Hold of the ship and yelling "Am I right, Marines!?"
"Hoorah!" They cheered, grins on their faces as they readied their weapons... The vehicle flew out from the base, followed by the Bullhead transporting the relief supplies.
"Well, they seem cheery." Nora said, smiling, Magnhild sitting beside her cozily locked into a point. The Marines aboard scanned the outside, rifles drawn and one of them was manning what looked like a machine Gun with a drum magazine that extended forward. They racked the bolt of the gun... And Pyrrha looked on, surprised at the sight of the soldiers readying up to assist a village in need...
"The airship we're in is pretty big." Blake said. "I think Sam called it a Pelican dropship."
"It's meant to transport troops across Air and Space, so yeah, it's bound to be big." Ruby said excitedly, looking about and jumping in her seat... "Gah, I'd love to go to space once in this thing!"
"Some time soon, girly!" One of the Marines quipped. And Ruby joyfully squeaked. As they felt the aircraft decelerate, the team readied up weapons. Yang extended Ember Celica, Ruby activated Crescent Rose's rifle mode, Gambol Shroud extended and Blake readied both blades and Weiss armed the Dust chambers in Myrtenaster. They watched as the village's outskirts appeared below... Burning, blackened buildings, Grimm marching down the streets...
The Gunship touched down and the Marines piled out, rifles up and engaging the first Grimm they saw. One of the Marines took a knee and swept the area ahead with his Assault Rifle. Multiple smaller Grimm fell from the Armor-Piercing staccato of rounds. Corpses fell to the ground as several more Marines joined up, forming what amounted to a wall of guns.
Ruby dashed forward beside the Marines and shouldered her rifle, before firing. The round burst the skull of a Grimm wide open. Then another. And another... But more just kept coming, to be cut down by the suppressing fire of the UNSC firearms and now, Weiss, with Myrtenaster's ranged Ice attacks. The Marines had formed up in the square with half the Platoon keeping the Grimm at bay with Ruby and Weiss, while the other went on a hunt with the other Huntsmen to find wounded...
It wasn't long before they did...
And Yang took a moment, eyes wide...
Civilians lay, hiding together in the Town Hall... It was a makeshift survivors' camp and hospital, filled with refugees hoping to escape an onslaught of Grimm, or morelike waiting for their common grave to be dug. Men, women and children looked, surprised, as Marines marched inside, rifles lowered and Yang felt a pit in her stomach as she saw some of the wounded...
"My God..." Pyrrha covered her mouth at the bodies covered by tarps in the far back...
"Marines!" Johnson raised a hand "Get to triage! Medical emergencies first, women and children next and the others for last! Everyone who isn't busy with triage, with me! We're asking about what the hell happened!" And he looked to Blake and Yang "That means the Huntsmen, Goldilocks! C'mon!" and marched inside... Finding the nearest man, one of the most wounded, Sarge knelt beside him... He was a dying one, pale as bone... Johnson took out his canteen and gave the man a sip of water, before receiving a faint 'thank you' from him...
"Who did this?" Johnson asked the man, noticing some of the wounds were bullet wounds, rather than claws or cuts. Yang and Blake approached, while team JNPR went on to tend to other wounded... The one word Johnson could make up out of what the man whispered was 'Bandits'... And he backed off, a solemn look on his face as the man before him... Finally passed. He placed his hand over his eyes and closed them, before standing up and tapping his com... "Delta-2-2, watch out. We may have humans around. Bandits, apparently."
"Roger that. We'll keep an eye out boss. The Grimm seem to be thinnin' out on the main boulevard." The voice came over the radio... Johnson looked to Yang and Blake, then waved them with him, as well as two Marines... Jaune and Pyrrha watched them leave out the door whilst tending to those wounded, among which were probably half the villagers and the Militia they rallied to help defend... Too few towns had huntsmen nowadays.
As they walked out, Johnson looked to Yang and Blake and said "You, me and two of my Marines are gonna go and find any signs of Bandits around town." before he marched them out into the village... Yang and Blake looked to each-other, then nodded. As they marched deeper into the ruined town, keeping their eyes peeled, the girls and Marines could see corpses laying on the floor... Gunshot wounds. Militia and people clad in raggedy clothes with makeshift guns, spears and swords... Bandits ahoy. And Johnson picked up a black feather from the floor
Grimm began advancing the deeper into the village they went. Yang and Blake fought close together with the Marines and stacked more kills than the ones with Rifles, though Johnson was tied with them. As they heard gunfire and screams from the town's east side... The Marines and girls took cover behind a building and Johnson peeked over... He swore as his cigar was shot from his mouth. He swore, then backed off into cover... Several Militiamen fell, gunned down, in front of them... And the Marine gritted his teeth. Yang and Blake looked over to him, then the blonde suggested "We can draw fire while you move in and deal with the bastards..."
"No, too risky." Johnson said. "Shitty equipment, but they've got aim..." He muttered, then yelled "We ain't dealing with some run-of-the-mill bandits here, are we!?"
The response was quick... And Yang felt a chill shoot up her spine as she heard a female voice speak coldly "I'm afraid you aren't."
Johnson peeked from behind cover, noticing a woman clad in Red samurai armor with a mane of black hair and feathers. She had a Grimm mask resembling that of a bird and her eyes shined scarlet... She also had a giant sword with a red blade, probably dust-infused considering the Sheath seemed to have a revolving chamber similar to that of White's rapier... Damn... And around her were goons clad in mix-and-match torn clothes and wielded makeshift rifles.
"Ah-ah-ah~." The woman sang... And Yang's eyes were threatening to leave their sockets... Just as a bullet whizzed by Johnson's head, forcing him back into cover... The Marine swore as the woman spoke "Not nice to peek... Don't worry, boys, we'll just be taking our leave." just as a whoosh came about and a gust of wind hit the plaza... The Marine Sergeant heard the woman turn about... And took his time.
"Go!" He yelled to his Marines, taking a knee and aiming his shotgun, which was now loaded with Slugs, before firing at the first goon in his sights. Six Goons fell in the volley and the woman herself was hit in the back by a burst... She gritted her teeth and ordered her men to return fire, feeling as her arm was punctured by a bullet. Johnson pumped the shotgun's pump and fired again, toward her... But she cut the slug in two midair... And the Marine Sergeant lowered the weapon, eyes wide... The woman growled...
"Sorry to make this date short. We'll see each-other again, Soldier Boy." The woman spoke snarkly "But I've got something to attend to back at home..."
And... With that... She vanished through the portal...
"Motherf-..." Johnson caught himself... He looked back, to see Yang with bulging eyes, then asked "Are you okay, Blondie?" Before moving to her. "Got hit?"
"No... N-No, I'm fine..." She shook hear head... That was... No... "I'm fine..."
"She's probably just surprised Bandits are around, sir." Blake stated, placing a hand on her Partner's shoulder... Yang looked back and received the slightest of nods from Blake... Johnson took a moment to see through the facade... He shook his head, put another cigar in his mouth, lit it and said "Let's move along, kids. We've still got supplies to distribute..." helping Yang and Blake up...
... Marine troops had swept the last Grimm away by nightfall and were now distributing relief aid from the Bullhead to the people in need. One of them had gotten clawed across the chest, but he was doing fine. Team JNPR, meanwhile, had joined in the defense as well, with Jaune scoring about 3 kills... While Pyrrha scored 15, Ren around 10 and Nora around 20 with Magnhild alone... Some of the Marines were already giving the girl nicknames.
Yang and Blake joined Ruby, Weiss and team JNPR around a campfire with a few Marines who were storytelling... One of the Marines spoke happily, his helmet in his lap and his water bottle in hand "... And then, Thor over here decides to hammer a Grimm Wolf's skull in by jumping on it fifty fuckin' times! I swear, I don't wanna be on her bad side!"
"You got that right!" Nora smirked, striking the Rosie the Riveter pose to show her muscle... Yang chuckled, then sat herself down by the fire and Nora looked to them and asked "So, Yang! I heard you girls and the Sergeant encountered some Bandits over on the east side of town! What's up with that?" before she sat herself down... Yang took a moment and pursed her lips...
Seeing her partner surprisingly out of it, Blake stepped in and spoke "They were surprisingly good shots, but they ran away before we even got a chance to ask who they are. Anyways, enough about them..." She looked over to some of the villagers being tended to by a Marine medic in a makeshift medical tent. Among them, many were children... Jaune looked to Blake...
"... The place had quite the big orphanage. Wasn't that good a town to live in and a lot of parents abandoned their kids here." He sighed, rubbing the back of his neck "Not sure how many alone were children in here."
"Does the place have a name?" Yang asked, somewhat melancholic... Despite never having been in one of those places... Thank the Gods for that...
"Not that we could find, really." Shrugged Pyrrha, dusting off one of her greaves. "It's horrifying, though... Thank Goodness they managed to send the SOS Signal... I dread what would've happened to the poor children." And she looked over to Ren, who seemed to be stuck in his usual meditation. Johnson appeared before anyone had a chance to say anything else, with bowls of hot soup. He handed them to Blake, Yang, Nora and the others, before sitting himself down beside his Marines, taking his cap off and scratching his head.
"So... This place was a screw-up of epic proportions." Johnson said. "Many of the adults were staff for the orphanage. Others were parents who couldn't house their kids and had to send them to live there... And the others? Apparently, criminals released from jail, now serving as Miltia for this little colony." with a grin. He looked to one of his comrades and said "Sound familiar to you, Dubbo?"
"Sod off, Sarge." The Aussie Marine murmured in his thick accent, garnering hearty laughs out of everyone around, Yang included. She was still moody, but less so. And Blake would have to ask about it when they got home... Johnson, meanwhile, took a puff out of his cigar, then looked to Ruby and said "You ain't half bad yourself, Rose. From what my men told me, you engaged Grimm in pretty close quarters with that Scythe Sniper of yours."
"Oh, uhm, thanks, I think..." Ruby said, a hint confused.
"No problem... Keep up the good work, all of you. You're in Beacon, might as well keep kicking ass. And while you're kicking ass, you are doing so with the best of'em..." He said honestly to the girls and boys, getting smiles from them... He looked to his troopers and beckoned "Am I right, Marines!?"
"Hoo'Rah!" They responded happily.
And he looked to the Huntresses and Huntsmen, before asking "Am I right, Hunters?!"
"Hoorah!" They all answered, out of synch, some weaker than others... But that'd be good enough for now. Johnson chuckled, then stood up and said "Prep to leave. Foe Hammer wants us airborne in 30. Enjoy your soups since they're a gift from the kids around and let's prep to get home. Dismissed!" jovially. He walked off with that, taking a puff from his cigar... The kids weren't that bad... Just needed training.