Chapter 42: Spearhead

June 19, 1921 Hours

UNSC In Spirit of Fire, Bridge

"Anything for me?" Thorne asked, stepping beside Ivan with has hands clasped behind his back. He could just barely make out the movement of the robotic surgeon through the window Ivan was watching through.

"Took some convincing, but I finally got Weiss to get the damn implant." Ivan sighed. "The others are either waiting or recovering… still no word from the docs on Ruby."

Thorne sighed. "Watched pot never boils and all that. Grab your gear, I need you and Miss Fall for a little… visit to Haven." Ivan only managed to nod before Thorne made his way towards the lift. Just as he was grabbing an M7 from the rack on the inside of a Pelican, he saw Cinder and Ivan boarding the craft. He wordlessly banged on the door to the cockpit, signaling the pilot to make ready, and sat down.

"Are we getting the others?" Ivan asked, leaning forward a bit.

"No. I need to have a chat with Ozpin." Thorne deadpanned, tucking the collapsed M7 into his coat. "I need access to that damn lamp, and the little shit's been giving me the run-around. REAP-X has made precisely zero progress on it, and if anyone's going to know, it's our immortal friend."

"Are we expecting trouble?" Cinder asked.

"Not likely." Thorne answered, feeling the Pelican lift for just a moment before the artificial gravity kicked on. "I just wanted you with me on this, just in case I don't like his answers, or lack thereof."

As the Pelican left the hangar, making its way into the void, Ivan managed to spot nearly six dozen slipspace rifts opening up. Three carrier groups slipped back into real space, and Thorne took a moment to transfer command of the fleet back to Bishop. "We found it." Thorne deadpanned, leaning forward as the Pelican met the atmosphere. "We have forty-eight hours until they strip a slipspace drive from a Thermopylae to force the bubble open."

Ivan let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. That told him everything he needed to know. There were at least two full corps aboard that fleet. He was so lost in thought that he nearly missed the Pelican setting down and the ramp opening, revealing the courtyard of Haven Academy. Students were crowded around the courtyard, watching the Pelican with a mix of concern and curiosity. Just as the trio disembarked the dropship, they saw Jaune and Pyrrha emerging from the admin building.

"What's going on?" Pyrrha began, surprised to see her friends looking geared for a fight. "We just got the message from Winter."

"Classified for now." Thorne deadpanned, glancing around to the collection of students that were still watching. "I need to speak with Oscar."

"Uhh… he should still be in the arena." Jaune began, gesturing to a nearby building.

"Thank you." Thorne nodded. "Grab your gear, you'll be going with us when I'm done here." Thorne didn't wait for a response as he turned on a heel, making his way for the arena. As he stepped inside, he saw Oscar training alongside a few other students. With a heavy sigh, Thorne half-shouted. "I need all students to vacate this room immediately!"

The urgency in Thorne's voice was helped by the presence of a Spartan, and every student quickly gathered their belongings and made their way for the exit, Oscar staying behind with a heavy look of concern on his face. "Is something happening, Thorne?"

"Indeed. I need to talk with Ozpin." Thorne began, clasping his hands behind his back. Oscar simply nodded, closing his eyes for a moment. When they opened again, his eyes seemed just a bit more green.

"Director..." Ozpin nodded to Thorne. If he was at all apprehensive at the sight of Cinder carrying a Hard Sound Rifle, he was doing an excellent job of hiding it.

"I need to access that lamp of yours, sooner rather than later." Thorne deadpanned.

"May I ask why?" Ozpin asked.

"No, you may not." Thorne's expression hardened. "You've given me the run-around since you possessed the kid, even more than when the UNSC first arrived."

"The relics are dangerous, Thorne. I'd prefer to know what you have planned for it."

"Oh, is that why you kept them locked away beneath schools, loaded with teenagers?" Thorne quipped. "If you must know, this planet is now under quarantine protocol CORRUPTER, and we will be launching an operation against Salem in forty-eight hours to recover that damn crown you let fall into her hands. So… if you don't mind?"

Ozpin looked stunned by Thorne's sudden scathing outburst. After a moment, he eventually sighed. "All you need to do is say a name: Jinn."

"There, was that so difficult?" Thorne sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Grab your gear, like it or not, I still might need your assistance."

June 20, 0531 Hours

UNSC In Spirit of Fire

Weiss groaned as the anesthetic finally wore off fully, allowing her to sit upright. The first thing she saw was Ivan and Winter looking at her with smug smiles. "See, wasn't that bad."

"How long has it been?" Weiss asked, reaching behind her head and feeling that thin slab of metal that now sat just below the crown of her skull.

"You were under for an hour. Might feel weird at first, but you can interface with an AI now."

"Huh..." Weiss hummed. "Any… updates?"

"They finished with the procedure." Winter began, choosing her words carefully. "Took a bit longer than usual, but… her prospects look good. She's in an induced coma so they can watch for side effects." It seemed to have worked, because it looked like a weight was lifted from Weiss' shoulders. It took her a moment to find her footing, but Weiss was eventually helped to her feet by the two Spartans. As she was led through the door, she was surprised to see many of her friends filtering onto the deck, seemingly prepared for a mission.

"Glad to see you're up, Weiss Cream." Yang smirked beneath her helmet.

It was nearly an hour before Thorne stepped onto the deck, bearing a look of grim determination on his face. Oscar was a few steps behind him, looking like he had just seen a ghost. "Glad to see everyone's up." Thorne began. "There's been a development in our favor for once. I'll explain when Ruby's up and about."

Not even thirty minutes later, the med tech stepped out of the recovery room, giving Thorne a silent thumbs-up. For the first time in days, Thorne felt safe in letting out a sigh of relief. Everyone else was enraptured in conversation, so he simply tapped Weiss on the shoulder and thumbed a gesture to the recovery room. All he managed to register was her blue eyes going wide and her bolting for the door, Blake and Yang just behind her. Ivan and Winter were a bit more restrained, waiting for Thorne to stand up and make his way for the door, sending a quick gesture for Jaune and Pyrrha to wait outside with Oscar for now.

When he stepped inside the room, he was greeted by the admittedly heartwarming sight of Weiss wrapping her arms around Ruby, who was now sitting upright and returning the gesture. He waited for the close-knit team to welcome their leader back, letting a smile cross his face. It was only when Ruby's eyes met his that he decided to step forward, his best attempt at a comforting smile on his face. "Thorne… I'm… I'm so sorry..."

"Don't be." He shook his head, kicking a nearby stool over to sit on. "You didn't shoot me. That damn thing did. Either way, I've been in shittier situations before. I'd rather be shot than vented into space with a punctured suit."

"Still..." Ruby sighed. "I got careless… It won't happen again." Now that was precisely the fire Thorne was looking for. His smile broadened.

"Good, because we're all going to be getting a little payback. I'll give you a few minutes, but I need all of you on the S-Deck in ten." He stood up again, taking a moment to give Ruby a gentle pat on the shoulder before making his way to the S-Deck. While he waited for the others to arrive, he sifted through the tidal wave of data flooding the BattleNet, seeing the Marines and ODSTs preparing for deployment and the steady progress being made on dismounting the slipspace drive of the local fleet's resident carrier.

When his team finally began filtering into the briefing room generally reserved for Spartan teams, he placed his datapad back onto the table, giving everyone a moment to find their place around the holotable. "Alright..." He began, his hands darting across the table's interface and bringing up a topographical map of the planet, a single marker visible on the northwestern continent of Tenebris. "It seems ONI's assessment of the situation was… partly correct."

"First off, we have finally located the anchor point for the slipspace bubble that Salem is using to shield herself, as you can see." He gestured to the blip on Tenebris, located right in the center of a massive valley. "In just over thirty-four hours, we will use a dismounted slipspace drive to force the anchor open and launch an assault to reclaim Beacon's relic."

"There is a slight complication, however." Thorne brought up a render of the lamp. "Thanks to Ozpin finally cooperating with us, I've finally learned some more intimate details of the enemy. My assumption of Salem being a Precursor that somehow survived the firing of the Halo array was incorrect. Both she and Ozpin are the product of the Precursors… two Precursors to be precise. It seems that these two arrived on Remnant at some point following the Forerunner reseeding of the planet… becoming your Two Brothers." All of the Remnant natives looked at Thorne with bewilderment, eventually shifting over to Oscar.

"Ozpin, or… Ozma, rather… lived long before our ancestors had entered the stone age. He and Salem were close, and he had died. Salem appealed to both of these Precursors to bring him back, and was denied by both. She roused the civilizations of the time in rebellion against their gods, which failed. She was left to walk a barren world, deciding to attempt suicide by drowning herself in some sort of… pool used by the Brother of Darkness. That is what created the Salem we're all familiar with."

"How the hell is this even possible?" Yang asked in complete disbelief.

"Precursor neural physics is orders of magnitude beyond any science we currently understand. It's largely indistinguishable from magic. It's the same science that created both the Grimm and the Flood." Thorne sighed. "I'm afraid it gets a bit more complicated… The Brother of Light eventually did bring Ozpin back, with the goal of uniting Humanity. The two of them eventually reunited when Remnant was entering its mid steel age, and Ozpin attempted to carry out his objective through conquest with Salem."

Once again, all eyes shifted back to Oscar. "And as it would happen, the two of them had four daughters… the first Maidens. And for the sake of keeping this brief, our current issues today are the result of a little… marital spat between them where Ozpin attempted to undo the damage he had done, bringing his children with him. In the subsequent fight, all four of the girls were killed, their abilities passing on."

"Okay, but how the hell do we deal with Salem?" Weiss asked.

"We can't… but these Precursors can." Thorne began again. "When all four of the Relics are brought together, they'll return to wherever the Relics are. Funny enough, Salem shares a common enemy with us. Her goal is their destruction… as is ours."

"What?!" Ozpin's voice rang out from Oscar.

"You saw the same damn thing the Relic showed me, Ozpin." Thorne deadpanned. "They obliterated your moon, plunging this planet into a global ice age and nearly wiping out all life on it. These are the same damn creatures that have done nothing but cause suffering for this galaxy with the Flood and their damn Mantle. I'm intending to undo the damage you caused because you and your fucking demon lover couldn't get some marriage counseling."

He huffed, straightening himself out. "As it stands, our objective remains to recover the Relic… but we won't be bringing them together here. Our ancient Human ancestors had access to technology that could contain Precursors indefinitely, and thanks to the lamp, I know where it is." At everyone's inquisitive look, Thorne simply smirked. "Zeta Halo."

"Are you suggesting we work with Salem?" Weiss asked, incredulously.

"Only if the opportunity presents itself." Thorne shrugged. "If it means we lose less good people, then it's on the table."

June 21, 2686; 1947 Hours

Remnant, Tenebris

Normally, the sight of so much military hardware was a comforting one for Ivan, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was… off. The sun had already set behind the mountains, bathing the whole of the valley in shadow. A pair of Autumn-class cruisers hovered over the valley with a sizable chunk of the Atlesian Navy as protection for the dozens upon dozens of Pelican and Condor dropships that were coming down from orbit.

"Bad feeling?" Winter asked, shaking him out of his stupor.

"Yeah..." Ivan nodded, adjusting his grip on his battle rifle. "Not sure if it's just the exposed slipspace drive messing with my Semblance, but… Can't shake it."

"I hope you're wrong..." Winter nodded solemnly. "Still, I haven't seen so many Spartans in one place since Reach, don't think we're gonna have better odds."

Just as Winter finished her sentence, Ivan saw the update he was half-dreading flash across his HUD. The dismounted slipspace drive was nearly in position. "You're probably right..."

The air of the valley was filled by the sounds of revving engines and shouting of commands as the Marines, Atlesian soldiers, and contingents of various other kingdoms and their Huntsmen all prepared for the drive's activation. The waiting was almost nauseating to Ivan and his eclectic collection of friends. When the drive was finally activated remotely, everything seemed to fall silent for a moment.

A faint shimmering appeared in the center of the valley, soon coming to resemble a full tear in subspace that was nearly a full two kilometers wide. The terrain on the other side seemed to be a dark mirror of the normal landmasses, twisted into rocky formations and pockmarked with strange purple crystals and pools of black tar. The sky glowed a baleful red with purple lightning crackling across the cloudy sky. Just as the first Grimm began crawling out of the tar pits, the silence was broken by a roar of gunfire.

The fleet overhead unleashed a stream of missiles and cannon fire as the ground forces began advancing towards, and then through, the rift. The infantry and lighter vehicles allowed the armor to spear forward, canister shells further blackening the twisted ground of the slipspace pocket. Broadswords and Shortswords practically skimmed over the infantry and vehicles as they soared through the rift, followed closely by a distant nuclear detonation as a Broadsword unleashed a HAVOK nuclear device on a distant horde of Grimm that was rushing towards the breach, the only sign of the devastation being the ground rumbling and the mushroom cloud just barely poking above a distant rock spire.

The Grimm were relentless, as expected, simply pouring out from every nook and cranny of the craggy surface. There were variants of Grimm that had never even been seen, or were exceedingly rare, numbering in the thousands. Even as artillery, missiles, and tank shells pounded away at the hordes of Grimm, the advance was slow-going and bloody. Even the sizable contingent of Sangheili that had joined their Human allies seemed shaken by the sheer ferocity of the fighting, several of them discarding their now-melting plasma weapons and igniting energy swords.

As the assault slowly fanned out, entire companies of 'Hellbringers' could be seen spraying napalm into exposed pools of the black tar-like substance. Mammoths began rolling in behind the main assault, carrying additional weapons, ammunition, and aid for the quickly piling-up wounded. Cinder's knowledge of this twisted place proved invaluable for the coalition, giving them the direction they needed to find Salem's citadel. After what felt like an eternity slogging through hordes of twisted abominations, their target finally came into view.

The castle seemed to be made out of a combination of the purple crystals and the black, volcanic rock that completely covered the terrain. Companies of ODSTs began covering the Kodiak artillery pieces as they locked down and began raining 155mm high-explosive fire down on the crystalline castle. More ODSTs did the same further up the line with a company of Cobras, the coilgun slugs slamming into the castle's walls, or spearing clean through the ornate windows. After nearly twenty minutes under a sustained barrage, the assault continued forward. The infantry and armored vehicles moved to completely surround the castle, securing the perimeter and allowing the Spartans to do their work.

If there was an entrance to the castle, at least one Spartan team made entry there. Ivan led his old team, along with Cinder, Winter, and Team RWBY through one of the many holes created by an impacting Cobra slug. The inside of the citadel was eerily quiet, save for the sounds of intense battle outside as the infantry and armor continued to hold back the seemingly endless Grimm. Ivan finally had a chance to check his HUD to see how long the assault had been going on, and was surprised to see the had been slogging through absolute hell for nearly six hours now. Thankfully, he and his team had made it with only light injuries that an Aura would have no issue dealing with.

There was a surprising lack of Grimm inside the citadel, but just as the Spartan was starting to feel uneasy from the lack of resistance, they finally met some. They appeared human at first, but looked eerily similar to Salem… corrupted and perverted. Their skin was a ghastly white with blackened veins running across their bodies. They were almost animalistic and feral, having far more strength than any normal Human should, even a Remnant native. A single claw attack from one of them completely collapsed Ivan's energy shields and put a deep gash in the titanium armor of his MJOLNIR. They were far more resilient than should be possible too, the one that tore into Ivan's armor nearly having its torso ripped to ribbons by a full magazine of his battle rifle before a point-blank buckshot round from Yang's shotgun finally blasted it clean in half, killing it.

The other teams were reporting similar contacts, with Spartan casualties starting to pop up on Ivan's HUD. In just under two minutes, nearly a dozen Spartan-IVs had been killed, and another dozen grievously injured. Even as they continued into the citadel and their encounters with these new creatures ramped up, it wasn't until they stumbled upon the handiwork of another Spartan team that it all clicked. Ivan's HUD marked the deceased creature's face as matching one of the disappeared from Remnant, a Vale citizen and former Huntsman. He decided to keep his discovery to himself for now.

Cinder finally managed to lead the team to Salem's throne room, the large wooden doors having been completely blasted off their hinges by a shaped charge. A chill ran the length of Ivan's spine as he saw the entirety of a Spartan team lying dead in the room, their armored plates practically rendered from their bodies. Skin and muscle had been sheared off, leaving a sagging, tattered tech-suit hugging a pile of bones. It almost reminded him of what the Composer had done to New Phoenix.

Sitting at the head of a large conference table was Salem, casually dangling the crown from her finger as she stared at the collection of Spartans and Huntresses. "All for this old thing..." She chuckled, tossing it on the table. "Ironic how you had no choice but to suffer like this for the Relic of Choice. And how the woman who took it from you and gave it to me is standing right… there." She pointed a clawed finger to Cinder, who had her hard sound rifle pointed right between her black eyes.

"Spare us the melodrama, Salem." Cinder growled, her finger hovering over the trigger. "You evidently want to talk, so spit it out."

"I'm just curious… Why?" Salem hummed, leaning back in her throne.

"We just need the Relic." Ruby spoke up. "Even if it means we have to fight you, we can stop you."

"Strange… someone else said something very similar." A predatory grin crossed Salem's face as she reached beneath her throne, tossing a heap of fabric onto the table. It was a white cloak with a red inner lining. Ivan didn't dare look away, but he heard Crescent Rose clatter to the floor. Next thing he knew, a deafening sound caused Salem to double over like her torso's innards had become liquid. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Cinder had jammed down on the trigger, the hard sound rifle liquefying everything beneath Salem's ribcage.

Another chill ran the length of his spine as he heard Salem laugh in a throaty rasp, the sound of vertebrae realigning filling the chamber as Salem sat back upright. "Please… like it would be so easy." With a flick of her finger, Cinder's rifle fell apart in her hands. "Now… why would you need the Relic?"

"Thorne wants the same damn thing you do." Ivan began, now very unsure about even bothering to point a weapon at Salem. "You don't stand a chance in hell against your gods, but we do."

"See, now we're getting somewhere." Salem smiled another predatory smile. "Do tell."

"You can't contain them, we can." Winter added, now lowering her weapon. "You have no way to permanently destroy them, and we do. Like it or not, you have the relic, and we have the means to use it properly."

"And if I simply decide to take this… thing from you?"

"Not possible." Ivan deadpanned. "It's not on Remnant."

Salem thought to herself for a moment, glancing down to the crown then back at the Spartan. "Very well… under one condition." At Ivan's cocked head, she continued. "I join you. I've waited far too long to miss this."

June 23, 2686; 0343 Hours

UNSC Baleful Eye, Slipstream Space

Thorne watched the footage from the combined assault again, unable to shake the image of Salem's spine reassembling right before his eyes. The similarities to the Flood kept mounting, and it made him sick to his stomach. A scowl crossed his face again when Salem tossed Summer's cloak onto the table, and he finally swiped a hand across the display and shut it down.

"Do you ever sleep?" Cinder asked, causing Thorne to turn to find her leaning against the doorframe leading to the room.

"We've got a week before we're at Installation 07." He sighed. "I'll sleep when I've got a plan." He swiveled around in his chair, giving Cinder a better look at just how ragged he was running himself. "Even with the Mojave knowing damn well what to do if she tries anything, letting her off Remnant gives me the worst fucking pit in my gut..."

"I can imagine..."

"How's Ruby holding up?" Thorne asked, sweeping his rather annoyingly long hair back. "Wasn't expecting you to dump half of the HSR's charge into her chest over that."

"She's doing better." Cinder smiled. "Been spending the better part of the day fixing the cloak up. Ivan, Winter, and Yang are running themselves ragged in the sims."

Thorne sighed. "Not surprised." He stood upright, wincing a bit as the soreness in his side flared up. He began making his way through the rather barren halls of the cruiser, Cinder beside him. The skeleton shift barely paid his passage any mind as they walked. When he finally found the lift, he let out a sigh. "Thank you, by the way." At Cinder's inquisitive hum, he continued. "For sticking this out, and making the right decision."

"Hey, your tough love was good for me." Cinder smirked. "And you didn't have an obligation to not have me join Emerald on the surface of a star, but you gave me a job. Whatever happened to Mercury anyways? Haven't found any files on him."

"We don't keep files on Midnight Facility tenants." Thorne smirked.

"Damn..." Was all Cinder could manage before the lift opened again, and she continued walking beside Thorne as he stepped into the observation room for the simulator. Unsurprisingly, he found the three Spartans to be fighting across the simulated surface of Zeta Halo. The choice of enemy was what surprised him; they had selected the Flood.

Cinder watched the tidal wave of simulated biomass flooding towards the Spartans with a mix of morbid fascination and disgust. She only had an academic understanding of the Flood; so seeing it, even simulated, was eye-opening. "How is it that every time I talk with you, I learn about some other ridiculous threat that could wipe us all out?"

"Welcome to ONI, Miss Fall." Thorne smirked.

June 30, 2686; 0811 Hours

UNSC Baleful Eye, Sagittarius Arm

Ivan watched as the cold black of Slipspace gave way to the more-familiar star-lit blackness of real space. The massive Halo installation dominated the cruiser's forward viewports. The ring was surrounded by a debris field of both Banished and UNSC vessels, the salvage vessels having vacated the system at Thorne's order. Even after over a century, the scars from that war still remained. The only UNSC personnel in-system were aboard the five-vessel fleet, or providing security on the installation.

Everyone was overcome with a certain reverence. For the Remnant natives, it was almost impossible to imagine a structure of such elegance was capable of what Thorne described. Even from their distant vantage point, the bright blue columns of light could be seen shooting towards the center of the ring from all of the various pylons on its surface

"Oh my god..." Blake's voice was the first to break the silence.