White Fang Headquarters, Outskirts of Civilized Land
October 30th, 1201 Local Time, 2552
The whining of plasma fire was normally a sound that inspired dread within Fairfire. For as much as she loved getting into the thick of a fight, she was also not blind to the horrible effects of such weapons on her allies. She had watched far too many Helljumpers meet their end due to plasma weapons, screaming in agony as their bodies melted away. Those feelings of dread and discomfort didn't change now that she was the one holding a Plasma Rifle, and they were only made worse as she was forced to fire on other people.
The weapons were as devastatingly effective as they had been in the past, both on and off of Remnant. As had been demonstrated during the Campaign against the Schnee Dust Company, the extreme heat of the plasma bolts meant that not only did they burn through armor and flesh, but they could actually become fused to the Aura of anybody unfortunate enough to be shot by them. The result was something akin to Fairfire's own experiences with plasma becoming stuck to skin and armor, but with somehow even more horrific results.
Regardless of her own misgivings about using the alien weapons, her nerve held strong and she kept close to the rest of the squad, gunning down any Grimm or White Fang soldiers that got too close. The Jackal Shield Gauntlet she was wearing also proved its worth, offering an extra layer of defense that allowed her to take more risks than she usually would. Even when a stray bullet managed to evade her shield and strike her in the leg, her Aura took the impact without much issue. Clearly, all of her training with Winter was starting to pay off.
The rest of the squad was holding up equally well. Meadows, Yu, and Peggy were making good use of their own Plasma Rifles while Jorge and Nathan used their heavier weapons to rapidly wear down and kill harder targets. There had been a moment of unease when Ben warned them that Adam was trying to launch a flanking attack. Ben had warned the whole squad about how capable the White Fang Leader was, but it seemed that he was able to stop Adam from getting behind them.
She hadn't heard from the Spartan in a couple of minutes, but even with enemies everywhere and a number of the White Fang's more dangerous Specialists on the loose, she wasn't worried. If anybody can handle themselves in the middle of all this crap, it's a Spartan.
The rest of Onyx Team was now in the very center of the battle. They had advanced to a new position along the now-ruined perimeter wall so that they could fire into the Courtyard that lay beyond it. There, the White Fang entrenched themselves in the ruined tents and wooden structures that had been torn apart by the artillery bombardment.
Despite the ramshackle nature of their secondary fortifications, the Faunus stood and fought with surprising ferocity and determination. It was a far cry from the half-hearted resistance that the Schnee Dust Company's Mercenaries had offered, and it proved surprisingly difficult to actually force them back. Furthermore, even though they weren't equipped very well, the amount of suppressive fire that they could output was enough that Fairfire found herself having to let her Shield Gauntlet recharge more than once.
"Jesus, these bastards just don't give up!" Nathan exclaimed. "Hang on, reloading!"
"Keep up the fire, don't let them counterattack!" Jorge ordered.
Marines continued to reach Onyx Team by the minute, contributing their own firepower towards forcing the White Fang to stay in place. Many more Marines were still trying to fight their way through the surprisingly dense horde of Grimm that the battle had attracted, leaving the actual assault force much smaller than anybody had anticipated.
Although the soulless monsters weren't strong or organized enough to pose a serious threat to entire squads of Marines and tanks, they were still a major annoyance that made it very difficult for the Marines to keep pressure on the White Fang. Frequently, Fairfire was forced to turn around and stop a number of Grimm from pouncing on her embattled squadmates, before turning back to engage the White Fang again.
"Another wave of Grimm!" Jorge called out a warning over TeamCom. "Conserve your ammo!"
Fairfire let out a guttural sound of annoyance and frustration as she turned around once again to engage the Grimm. Demented recreations of just about every woodland creature she could think of rushed towards the Marines with vicious intent, and were met with an equally ferocious barrage of gunfire and plasma bolts.
"Why the hell are there so many?!" Yu asked. "Recon said that there were only a couple of these things!"
"We can complain later, keep shooting!" Fairfire shouted back.
"Plasma Rifle's running on empty here!" Meadows reported. His exclamation prompted Fairfire to check her own ammunition reserve, which was running worryingly low.
"Use your SMGs if you run out of battery! Don't ditch the rifles, stow them in your pack." Jorge replied.
The fight was an absolute slog. Every time that it seemed like the Grimm would stop coming, another group emerged from cover to begin their charge. Several of the creatures managed to reach the Marines, but they were swiftly killed before they could cause any serious damage.
Finally, after what felt like hours, the last Grimm fell silent. The trees shuddered once more as more Marines pushed through the brushwork, the looks of exhaustion on their faces indicating that they had just gone through the wringer as well. Leading them was Captain Clark, who stood out like a sore thumb thanks to his Atlesian eye. He casually walked up to Onyx Team as the rest of his Marines joined in the now-resumed attack against the White Fang.
"Sorry about the delay, I'm sure you've noticed the Grimm are out in bigger numbers than we expected." Clark said. "The Vultures and the artillery are keeping the bulk of them back, so we shouldn't have too many issues from now on."
As if to punctuate his point, Fairfire heard some sort of massive explosion in the distance, probably courtesy of a Phoenix Missile from one of the vultures, or multiple artillery shells landing at once.
"The White Fang are dug past this wall. We have them suppressed, but there's too many of them for us to advance." Jorge replied.
The two officers advanced up to the wall once more, cautiously examining the defense that the White Fang had established. Fairfire joined them and noticed how the White Fang had been rather cleverly using the Grimm as a distraction to improve their fighting positions, as they had constructed far more impressive fortifications.
"Sir, if I may ask, why don't we just wait for the tanks?" Meadows asked. "They've got the armor to handle anything the White Fang can throw at them."
"They're going to try and encircle the prison. With any luck, we can stop the bastards from running and end this war right here and now." Clark answered. "I'm afraid we've got to find a way to do this one ourselves."
Even though Fairfire lacked the authority that her old rank had given her, she still found herself trying to think up a way to advance as safely as possible. It was a difficult position to crack, especially since the tanks were otherwise occupied, and any kind of airstrike would utterly level the prison, destroying any of the intel that they had orders to recover. A frontal infantry assault would be possible, but it would certainly result in heavy casualties.
Or would it… She thought, glancing back down at the Jackal Shield Gauntlet she was wearing, and then back up to Clark. "Captain, what about your Semblance? Couldn't you make a shield that would summon our advance?"
Clark shook his head. "Maybe for a few men, but there's no way that I could cover an entire assault."
"Maybe you don't need to." Fairfire said. "If you can cover us, we can use our shields and what's left of our plasma to make an opening for your Marines. A few smoke grenades to cover our flanks wouldn't hurt either."
Clark looked doubtfully out at the enemy positions. "There's got to be a couple dozen tangos in there, and maybe even a few Specialists. If you get caught out there without cover, they'll tear you apart."
Fairfire shrugged, she'd already figured that much out herself. "We're called Shock Troopers for a reason, Captain. As long as your Marines are ready to move once the enemy's defenses are focused on us, we'll be just fine."
With a scowl on his face, Clark looked up to Jorge. "It's your call, Lieutenant."
The Spartan glanced down at both of them, his visor making it impossible to tell what he was thinking. After a moment of relative silence, discounting the gunfire all around them, he gave a reluctant nod and adjusted his grip on Etilka. "It will have to work. Captain, how long can you keep your shield active?"
"About a minute, and even that's pushing it." He answered.
"So we've only got a minute to cross that whole damn courtyard while everybody's gunning for us?" Nathan indignantly asked.
"Not you, you're staying here and covering us." Jorge replied. "The rest of you, form up! Every minute we spend debating this is another minute they get to dig in!"
The rest of the Helljumpers joined their Spartan leader at the concrete wall, ready to leap over at a moment's notice and begin the deadly charge. The amount of ammunition flying through the air was astonishing, Dust of all kinds landed around the UNSC's positions, creating tiny icebergs, plumes of flame, and causing tiny bolts of lightning to go flying in every direction.
"Hey, Liz. The next time that you volunteer us for something this stupid, try to get my opinion first!" Meadows said, before being forced to duck down even further as his cover began to splinter and crack from repeated impacts.
"Oh come on man, what's wrong with earning a little hazard pay?" She teasingly asked back.
Privately, however, she was more worried than she was letting on. Even though the Helljumpers had numerous layers of protection from the onslaught, she hadn't anticipated just how much fire the White Fang would be able to put downrange. Even in cover, she had to resist her own instincts to hunker down and cover her head.
"Get ready." Jorge issued one final warning as four Marines approached them from behind, each wielding an M319 Grenade Launcher. Each of them fired a number of smoke rounds in rapid succession over the wall, coating a great deal of the courtyard in thick white smog that was practically impossible to see through. "Now, charge!"
Ignoring whatever cautionary instincts that she had, Fairfire leapt over the wall and rushed forward. A moment later, a large transparent wall of light appeared before them from seemingly nowhere. It remained stationary for a moment, before it began to advance towards the enemy at a leisurely pace. Despite it's luminous nature, the Semblance-powered barrier wasn't quite bright enough to shine through the smoke around it, which helped it from standing out as an obvious target for the White Fang.
Even though the White Fang's vision had been obscured, they continued to fire hundreds of rounds through the smokescreen. Dozens of tiny eruptions of Dust began to impact Clark's shield, creating a deadly but equally fascinating display of multicolored lights and explosions, not unlike a fireworks display.
The ground beneath Fairfire's feet was rough, the artillery had torn up the soil so much that scarcely a patch of grass was visible even before the smokescreen had come down. Nonetheless, she and her squadmates advanced through the mud and the shattered remains of what had once been a row of tents.
As the distance between the White Fang and themselves grew ever narrower, Clark's shield began to spark and flicker, before dissipating altogether. Fairfire raised her Jackal Shield Gauntlet to absorb the incoming fire, but still felt a pair of grazing hits along her other arm, prompting her to tuck it behind the shield as well for protection.
"Keep moving! We can't get bogged down!" Jorge ordered. While he didn't have a Shield Gauntlet, his armor's built-in energy shields seemed to be holding strong, at least for the moment.
After what felt like hours, Fairfire finally spotted her first target through the smoke at alarmingly close range, a Wolf Faunus armed with a Sniper Rifle. He had barely even noticed her presence by the time that she had gotten off a burst from her plasma rifle, a few follow-up rounds proved sufficient to finish him off.
"We're in their lines! Let em' have it!" Fairfire said, making sure to use TeamCom as to not alert the White Fang.
The smokescreen still coated everything around them, meaning that she was forced to rely on her HUD and motion tracker for a lot of her navigation. Small blue icons indicated the positions of her teammates, which helped to prevent what could have otherwise been some rather devastating friendly fire.
A close-quarters fight where nobody involved could see much of anything might seem to be a terrible situation for anybody to put themselves in, but it was a fight where all of the White Fang's greatest faults came back to haunt them. They didn't stick to their squads, their Specialists were nowhere to be seen, and the poorly-trained paramilitary fighters began to panic as their ranks swiftly began to thin around them. In contrast, Onyx Team stuck together and picked the White Fang's defenses apart with relative ease.
There were still a number of major issues that continued to weigh on Fairfire's mind. She had no way to tell exactly how much damage they were doing, nor what progress the Marines were having now that the White Fang's already loose organization was starting to falter. Worse still, her Plasma Rifle was coming dangerously close to running out of battery, and not even ONI's engineers had ever figured out how to reload the damn things, so once it was empty, she was only going to be left with her sidearm.
As she finished clearing out yet another foxhole, the smoke all around her began to dissipate into the air. The wind must have shifted, as over the course of mere seconds, she could see much more of her surroundings, but so could the White Fang.
The terrorists were caught off-guard, however, by two full Platoons of Marines that were practically on top of them. Outnumbered, outgunned, and encircled, the surviving White Fang Fighters threw their weapons to the ground and raised their arms in surrender. The sounds of gunfire could still be heard in the distance, but the bulk of the White Fang's strength had been broken.
The Jungle, Outskirts of The White Fang Headquarters
October 30th, 1211 Local Time, 2552
During Ben's fight with Adam, he hadn't been aware of just how far from the prison he was being taken. It probably wasn't as long a distance as it seemed from his perspective, but every step of the way back was practically crawling with Grimm and dense jungle. With no support and cut off from his squad he only had one choice, push through the Grimm and link back up with the main assault.
There was still no doubt in his mind that Adam was a threat, and that he was still out in the jungle somewhere. Unfortunately, the Beringel had managed to fling Adam far enough that Ben had effectively no chance of finding him, and that was even if he wanted to.
The next time we find him, I can't face him alone. Even through the pain-dulling effects of the medicine in his bloodstream, Ben was well-aware of just how badly he had been hit. His armor looked as if somebody had haphazardly splashed red paint all over his chest and arms, but in spite of all the blood and the damage to the suit itself, he was still more than capable of fighting.
As he started the treacherous journey back towards the prison, the Grimm hastily began to oppose him. Most of them looked familiar to those that he had seen in Atlas, Argus, and Vytal, but there were many new types that he didn't recognize. Demented renditions of smaller snakes, reptiles, lizards, tropical birds, big cats, and amphibians all attempted to take him down. He met them with equal fury, resorting to his kukri and brute strength whenever his MA5K's magazine ran empty.
There was a lot more Grimm than he, or indeed anybody else, had expected. While some kind of Grimm attack had been expected, Ben and his squad had been told to expect resistance akin to that which they had experienced on Vytal. The only saving grace that he noticed was a lack of the terrifying organizational skills that they had demonstrated at Argus, likely due to them lacking the Leviathan leader that they had possessed during that particular battle.
Even though he was fighting multiple opponents at a time in extremely close-quarters, the lessons of previous battles were beginning to take hold. The Grimm always exploited the opportunity to attack a blind spot, and they typically mimicked some of the mannerisms of the animal that they resembled. Their actions became predictable, and once Ben could get an idea of what they were going to do next, it became far easier to take them down.
After finally finishing off the last of the most recent batch of the creatures with his MA5K, he took the opportunity to reload and examine how much progress he was making towards regrouping with the rest of the squad. He looked up at the prison and scowled, it was so close, and yet so far away at the same time. At the speed he was making, he would run out of ammo before he reached the rest of his squad. Even so, he had no choice but to keep pushing forward, odds be damned.
Maybe I'm not the only one stuck out here. He thought. If there were any other friendly forces outside of the Prison's outer walls, maybe he could link up with them. Exploiting the relative calm of the moment, he switched his radio over to the wider UNSC Battlenet. "This is Sierra 021 to any units outside of the prison. I've been separated from my squad and need some fire support."
Not a moment later, he got a response from Master Gunnery Sergeant Moerdani. "This is Wyvern Actual, I hear ya Sierra! We're just outside the wall, if you can link up with us, we'll get you back to your team!"
Moerdani uploaded a GPS signal with his position to the greater UNSC Battlenet, which found itself on Ben's HUD a moment later. To his relief, the Marines were much closer than the actual prison itself, to the extent that he could feasibly reach them with what ammo he had left. While he may have realistically been able to fight his way back with a kukri alone, it was not his idea of a reliable strategy. "Solid copy. I'm on the way."
"Roger that. Marines, check your-"
Mid-sentence, Ben's radio cut out, leaving him blind as to what Moerdani was saying. He immediately ran a diagnostic, but was surprised to see that all of his communications gear was perfectly functional. After a moment of utter bewilderment, a chilling sense of realization ran down Ben's spine, he'd experienced this once before.
As if to prove his point, a large hostile creature dropped from the canopy above, no doubt intending to ambush him. Ben's realization had come just in time, as he was barely able to dive forwards to avoid being hit. He rolled to his feet and turned to face the new enemy, only to find that it was an older, familiar one.
The last Lurker that he had seen had been all the way back in Atlas, during the campaign against the Schnee Dust Company. This one looked just as much like a wingless armored dragon as its deceased counterparts, but its body was coated with tiny black feathers. Thick vegetation and moss had grown over its heavy armor, forming a natural ghillie suit.
All twelve of its eyes fixed him with a look very different from that of a conventional Grimm. This creature stared at him with curiosity and fascination rather than malice, but regardless of its inhuman expression, it was certainly a threat. It swung its mace-like tail back and forth, as if daring him to strike first.
Ben already knew from past experiences that this creature would be jamming his radio and motion tracker, meaning this was a fight he would have to win by himself. More importantly, its impressive armor was practically immune to his Assault Rifle, except for a number of weaker points that he intended to exploit.
Base of the tail, and the belly. Curie's observations rang just as true with this particular creature as they had for its abominable siblings. Rather than try anything as daring as flanking the creature while it was staring him down, Ben opted for the safer approach. Keeping his rifle aimed at the Grimm with one hand, he primed a frag grenade and rolled it forwards, hoping to blast the beast apart via its weak belly. If the monster tried to move, it would expose some of it's other weak points, giving him an opportunity to deal some damage no matter what it chose to do.
Defying his expectations, the Lurker did not try to run, walk, or even roll out of the way of the grenade, instead doing the exact opposite. It rolled onto it's armored back and onto the grenade, stopping the explosive beneath itself and forcing it's armor to absorb the blast and shrapnel, effectively negating the impact. However, with it's belly stuck firmly up in the air, it was as vulnerable as Ben had hoped.
He opened fire with his rifle, but before he could get more than a few rounds on target, something large struck him from above. Whatever it was, it hadn't delivered a force great enough to knock him over, but it had done a great deal of damage to his shields. Spindly black limbs reached down to grab him, but he fought his way free of them and rolled out of the way, bringing his rifle to bear on the new target just as it dropped from the canopy.
It was another familiar Grimm, a Recluse, the spider-creature from Argus that was seemingly purpose-built to instill as many nightmares as possible in anybody who saw it. Its horrible, lipless humanoid mouth quivered and drooled in anticipation as it crept forwards on all eight armored legs, each one tipped with a razor-like blade.
This is just not my day… Ben thought. He'd always had a bit of a phobia of spiders, and this thing certainly wasn't helping.
He started firing on the Recluse as soon as he had his rifle back on target, only for the Lurker to jump forward in defense of the spider, shielding it from most of the fire with its heavy armor. One lucky bullet managed to worm it's way past the armor on its head and destroy one of the Grimm's eyeballs, making it cry out in pain and scratch fruitlessly at the wound with its clawed foot.
Finally, Ben's rifle ran empty, an opportunity that the Recluse had clearly been anticipating. It scrambled forward across the rainforest floor with a worrying enthusiasm, fixing him down with all eight eyes. There wasn't any time for him to reload, but he wasn't out of firepower just yet.
He let go of his rifle and drew his plasma pistol, firing a spread of green bolts of gaseous fire towards the creature's face. Its flesh and bones seared from the heat, and luminous fires erupted all across its head, but still it charged him down with a wicked grin. His weapon now overheated, Ben tried to think up some way to stop the creature with what he had left, and devised a risky, but potentially functional, plan.
Now with only moments before the Recluse was upon him, he brought his free hand down on the holographic display on the back of the weapon, breaking the weapon's safety system and giving him the opportunity to fire again. The weapon began to heat up even more as Ben held the trigger down, forcing the already overheating weapon to generate an overcharged bolt of plasma. As the steady green orb at the muzzle of his weapon began to wobble and grow larger, he tossed the doomed pistol towards the Grimm.
The improvised grenade did not explode with as much force as something like a fragmentation grenade, but the force of the explosion was not what made this one deadly. A brilliant ball of superheated fire filled Ben's vision as sickly green lightning struck practically everything in a five-meter radius. His energy shields were cooked to a crisp and he was forced onto his back, but the Recluse was eviscerated in the process. Reduced to many small piles of smoldering black bone, meat, and teeth, it steadily faded away into the wind as it died.
Ben let out a somewhat panicked breath that he hadn't known he had been holding, but did not let his shaken nerves disturb his efforts to get back to his feet and reload his rifle. The Lurker had stopped trying in vain to save its eye, and now stared him down with unrequited hatred. It crawled forwards on all four limbs, swinging its tail back and forth with such ferocity and abandon that it brought down numerous small trees.
Ben stared right back and fired into the creature's faceplate, hoping to have a repeat of his lucky shot into its eye, but only succeeded in mildly cracking the plate. It didn't help that he had run completely out of standard FMJ rounds, and was now resorting to firing shredder ammunition. It would be useful if he could somehow find a way to hit the creature's weak points, but with his shields drained, his plasma pistol destroyed, and his grenades depleted, he had no way to create such an opening.
With the Lurker closing to nearly point-blank range, Ben decided on an older tactic. In Atlas, he had managed to kill one by forcing its mouth open and throwing a grenade within. Even if he now lacked the grenade required to perform the exact same maneuver, he was fairly confident that a full magazine of shredder rounds would be more than enough to tear the creature's innards apart. All he had to do was keep its mouth open.
The Lurker finally closed the distance, opening its jaws and lunging forward in an attempt to snap him in half. Rather than avoid the attack, Ben leapt into it, forcing one of his legs into the bottom jaw and using his left arm to hold the top jaw above his head. Instantly, the creature tried to close its mouth, and Ben quickly found himself struggling under immense pressure.
He had anticipated it to be difficult, his prior experiences with the Grimm had proved their brute strength many times over. The jaws of the Lurker were less like the bones and muscles of a large animal, and more like a car-crushing machine. In spite of the aching of his bones and the alarms that blared in his armor, he still brought his MA5K to bear with his free hand and unleashed hell into the creature's unprotected flesh.
The Lurker let out a horrid, guttural scream of agony as it thrashed and writhed, trying to shake Ben out of its mouth. A few moments after his magazine ran empty, the creature slowed down, its vice-like jaws began to slacken. Finally, it collapsed to the ground, allowing him to climb free of its mouth and reload his rifle with the final magazine he had.
His energy shields began to finally recharge, but as the last of the Lurker faded away and Ben's motion tracker returned to life, he saw that he wasn't out of the woods just yet. Over a dozen hostile icons were all closing to surround him, including another Recluse.
As fortune would have it, they weren't the only ones who had decided to join the party.
"Let em' have it!" Moerdani commanded as his Marines unleashed rockets, plasma, and copious amounts of gunfire into every single Grimm that they could see. Ben contributed his own fire by gunning down two of the less-armored Grimm that tried to escape, depleting the last of his ammunition in the process.
That's not too much of an issue now. Ben thought as he joined the celebrating Marines, who kept a watchful eye for further Grimm even as they cheered and taunted the dissipating monsters.
"Thanks," Ben said as he joined Moerdani in cover behind a fallen tree. "I was just about out of ammo."
The Marine promptly offered him a bandolier of spare magazines, as if he had predicted what had put Ben into danger in the first place. "No problem at all. As soon as your radio switched off, I figured that maybe we ought to come to you."
"It was a Lurker, I managed to bring it down." Ben explained. "I had no idea those things lived outside of Atlas."
Moerdani nodded with solemn understanding. "I know those bastards. We killed a couple up at Argus, and I'm damn happy to hear that it's dead! Now come on, we've got a job to do."
Ben certainly wasn't about to argue about that. Grimm or not, the White Fang still needed to be dealt with. However, when they arrived in the Courtyard at the old prison, they found the rest of Onyx Team and at least two full platoons of Marines already on site, with at least a hundred White Fang members already handcuffed and face-down on the ground.
Moerdani went to check on his own men while Ben picked Jorge out of the crowd along with the rest of Onyx Team, who were rearming themselves at the mouth to a tunnel that stretched deep underground. Haunting memories of the Mines at Atlas momentarily clouded his mind, but Ben shook his head clear and reported to Jorge.
Even through Jorge's visor, Ben could sense his regret as he spotted Ben's numerous injuries. "Are you alright, Sergeant?"
"Green, Sir." Ben reported. "I lost contact with Adam out in the jungle. With any luck, the Grimm will finish what I started."
Jorge nodded. "We aren't going to leave that to chance, I'll let Command know before we enter the tunnels. You might want to restock on ammo before we go in, we've got no intel on what's down there."
"Sir, yes Sir." Ben replied.
Once he had rearmed, he began to walk back towards the tunnel entrance to join the rest of his squad when the ground shook with the force of an earthquake. The sound of a massive explosion filled the air as a long plume of dust and smoke rushed out of the tunnel entrance. The Marines and Prisoners alike shouted to one another in confusion at what was going on, ignoring them, Ben picked up his pace and sprinted towards the tunnel.
Mercifully, everybody seemed to be okay, save for all of the Marines nearby that were coughing due to all the residue in the air. All of Onyx Team were gathered around the entrance, but for some reason, they had their weapons lowered.
"What's going on?" Ben asked as he joined them, only to see the answer for himself.
Where there had once been a tunnel, only fallen boulders, dirt, and gravel was visible.
The White Fang Headquarters, Secret Escape Tunnels
October 30th, 1223 Local Time, 2552
"There, that should hold them." Clay said, but Sienna could hear the doubt that underlined his voice. "We should keep moving, they'll start digging after us any minute now!"
Even though Sienna was well aware that he was correct, she still stood in silence for a moment at the collapsed tunnel behind her. She still remembered the day that Clay had suggested the emergency escape tunnels, and how she had dismissed it as a waste of time, arrogantly believing that no force could seize their mighty fortress. Now, she stood in a dark, mold-ridden tunnel, staring hopelessly back at all of the Faunus that she was leaving behind.
It was like a nightmare. Every time she blinked, she half expected to wake up in her cot to find everything back to normal. Standing where she was, remembering the battle, it didn't seem real.
How could I have known…
"Lady Khan! We need to move!" Clay insisted. "There's nothing we can do now!"
She cleared her mind as best as she could and followed him down the tunnel, passing through cobwebs and thick clouds of dust that had been kicked up by the explosives that Clay had used to seal the tunnels.
Almost afraid to ask, she looked back down the tunnel one final time towards the Old Prison, thinking about how many more Faunus must have been added to its extensive body count today. "How many did we save?"
Clay shook his head. "I can't say for sure. We got all of the wounded out, I know that much."
Sienna let out a sigh of relief, it was a small victory, but one that she had desperately needed. "Thank the Gods…"
They finally arrived at the end of the tunnel, which emerged into an old underground train line. Decades ago, it had served to ferry Faunus slaves and mined Dust from the mines beneath the prison further down the coast, where Human boats would partake in the trade of both. Now, this forgotten path was all that the White Fang had to depend on.
There were numerous Faunus already hard at work forcing a number of old steam-powered minecarts back to work, along with simple hand-powered carts. They weren't much, but it would have to be enough to carry those who couldn't walk to safety. Taking command of them all was Vermillion, who in spite of her missing limb, was issuing orders to the lesser-ranked White Fang Members with considerable gusto.
I'm glad she's handling this… but where's Adam? She wondered. She couldn't see him anywhere amongst the hundreds of faces, although given that the only light in the room came from torches and flashlights, it was possible that she just wasn't seeing him. At the same time, it was equally likely that he hadn't survived the fight with the UNSC.
"Vermillion." Sienna called out her name as she approached the younger Leader. "Where does this tunnel lead? Will it get us away from the Humans?"
"The tunnels branch out after a couple of miles, some of them are collapsed, but enough are still intact." Vermillion explained. "I've been sending groups down multiple directions, even if the UNSC catches one group, they won't catch us all. We can keep the fight going!"
Incredulous, Sienna looked over Vermillion's face for any indication that she was being disingenuous, but found nothing to suggest it. Even though she had been witness to just how badly the UNSC had mauled the White Fang at their strongest point, she still wanted to fight. It's just the adrenaline, she'll come around eventually.
"We'll discuss that later. Whatever the future may hold, we've lost this battle, and we need to leave." Sienna firmly stated. "Get the injured onto the carts first, the rest of us will walk."
Thankfully, Vermillion nodded and left to carry out her orders without any complaint. Clay had already left to help oversee what other preparations needed to be made, leaving Sienna alone with nothing to look at but the tunnel behind her, a sight that she just couldn't bear to see.
UNSC Dominion, Officer's Lounge
October 30th, 0645 Local Time, 2552
Throughout all of Curie's time with Ben, she had noticed one feeling in particular that seemed to bother him more than any other, helplessness. If there was a struggle, fight, or crisis going on, he would always try to be at the very center of it, where he could help as much as he could, often at the expense of his own well-being. It was also a habit that she found frustratingly relatable, as she was forced to stay behind on the Dominion while Ben and his squad went off to battle.
I see now why he always tries to be at the forefront of any conflict, this is humiliating. Even though she was well aware of all of the very good reasons why she couldn't take part in the battle, even in a non-combat role, it did little to reassure her or make her feel less helpless.
Her new body had saved her life, but it had also diminished many of her capabilities. Most notably, Curie had previously been able to see pretty much everywhere that there was a camera, sensor, or microphone to be found. Her new physical eyes and ears were functional, and there was something unique about seeing out of her very own skull, but it did feel a bit claustrophobic compared to her previous abilities.
She was able to find some comfort in the rest of the Dominion's crew, as ordinary humans, they had never struggled to perform their own duties with their comparatively limited senses. Sight and sound weren't the only things giving her trouble. Fine motor skills, muscle memory, and some more complex movements all proved to be far greater obstacles than any firewall ever had during her life as a digital being. She was learning quickly with Penny's help, but she was still nowhere near the point where she could handle a part of the ongoing operation, let alone participate in the action herself.
Even if she couldn't participate in the Operation directly, that did not mean she was useless. Even if her body was still having some "growing pains," her mind was still sharp. As such, she and Penny had taken on the task of getting Auntie Dot upgraded so that she could better serve as the Dominion's Shipboard AI. Storing Dot in Curie's old datachip, they commandeered the Dominion's Officers Lounge so that they could work with a degree of privacy and set to work.
Auntie Dot's apparent resurrection had been an unexpected, yet certainly a pleasant surprise, but putting her directly back into service had manifested a number of admittedly predictable problems. Dot had originally been created to serve as part of Reach's Orbital Defense Network, and later upgraded to serve functions planetside as well. Of course, the differences between Reach and Remnant were monumental to say the least, and since Dot wasn't a Smart AI, she lacked the creativity and adaptability needed to properly perform her new duties on Remnant.
That was where Curie and Penny came in. Penny contributed her own extensive knowledge of Remnant's geography and of the Grimm, while Curie was responsible for actually implementing the changes into Dot's framework. It was a long and tedious task that would likely require several days to complete, but it was far better than sitting around doing nothing.
The boredom that Curie felt from such a monotonous task, combined with the silence of the deserted Officer's Lounge, left her with plenty of time to think about how most of her friends were on the other side of the planet, putting themselves into terrible danger.
"Are you okay?" Penny asked. She sat in the chair beside Curie, sitting unusually still and occasionally looking around the room as if she wasn't sure what to do. "You've been very quiet."
Curie sighed. "Do not worry about me, I was just thinking about the battle. I wish there was more that I could do to help."
Penny's expression of awkward confusion was washed away by one of understanding. "I know what you mean. My father says I should try not to get into any fights, but I was built to save people! It just doesn't feel right to be sitting here!"
Curie rested back in her chair, feeling both guilty that she hadn't considered what Penny was thinking, but also reassured that she wasn't alone. "Your father cares a lot about you, Penny, and not just because of your scientific and strategic value."
Penny sighed. "I don't blame him, not at all! But it's still very frustrating!"
"On that, I can agree." Curie stated.
Hoping to reassure her new friend, she leaned over and tried to place her hand on Penny's shoulder as Ben had done to her before he had left. When she did so, she found a surprising amount of difficulty keeping her balance, and nearly fell out of her chair before Penny could catch her. "Take it easy!"
"Sorry, Sorry!" Curie awkwardly replied as Penny helped her back into her chair. "I thought-"
"Hey, it's okay. I know what you were trying to do." Penny said with a broad smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure that you'll get used to moving around."
Curie gave a small smile of her own, but was distracted by something vibrating on her desk. After a bit of digging through all of the electronics, she found that, of all things, it was her Scroll.
"I didn't know you had a Scroll!" Penny practically beamed at the revelation. "This is great! We can call each other, and we can do online shopping, and we can talk to Ruby!"
Curie picked up the Scroll and checked the caller ID, unsurprised at who was calling, given that she only had one contact that wasn't a major politician or military leader. "It is Ruby."
Penny gasped in delight. "Sensational!"
Curie answered the scroll, and found herself face-to-face with Ruby, having apparently activated some kind of video call by mistake.
"Curie, you answered! I was worried-" Ruby's rambling was cut short almost immediately, as she noticed the obvious difference in Curie's appearance. "-woah."
She couldn't help but chuckle at the look of utter astonishment on Ruby's face. "It is good to hear from you, Ruby."
"I uh… yeah." Ruby replied, clearly still feeling a bit dazed by the revelation. "You look… different."
Now Curie outright laughed. "Oh, I know! Believe me, it's quite a lot for me to get used to as well!"
She took a moment to tell Ruby about everything that had happened since they last spoke, namely how Doctor Polendina had concluded that an Aura would allow her to heal herself and that she had been allowed to have Penny's second body. Ruby seemed to take in all of the exceptionally strange news without any further question, but given that she had already been friends with Penny, she probably had some idea of what to expect.
As soon as Curie was finished bringing Ruby up to speed, Penny leaned over her shoulder so that she could talk to Ruby as well. "Hello, Ruby! It is good to see you again!"
"It's good to see you too, Penny." Ruby replied. "It was really nice of you to give up your new body for Curie… Weiss won't even lend me a pencil during class."
Somewhere in the distance, Weiss indignantly replied. "You should have brought your own!"
Penny's smile grew even broader, if indeed that was even possible. "It was no problem at all! My Father and I can always build a new body."
"That's a really good idea!" A spark of inspiration flashed across Ruby's eyes. "Hey, maybe I could help out with your next design! We could give you chainsaw hands, oh, or maybe even flamethrowers! Curie could have some too, we could even give you matching weapons systems-!"
"Ruby." Curie gently interrupted the young Huntress, well aware that she would continue on for ages if not interrupted. "I appreciate the enthusiasm, but I already have enough problems putting on belts with normal hands."
Ruby awkwardly laughed. "Yeah… point taken. By the way, where's Ben? I don't think I've ever seen one of you without the other before."
Curie felt a fresh wave of frustration wash over her, but before she could answer Ruby's question, Penny spoke up on her behalf.
"Ben is currently in Menagerie. He is-"
That was all that she was able to say before Curie very hastily put her hand over Penny's mouth, silencing her. "Penny! That information is confidential, you cannot share it with anybody, even if they are a friend!"
Curie brought her hand back as Penny sheepishly nodded. "Sorry."
"No harm done, just be more careful in the future." Curie said. She turned back to Ruby, who was watching with silent interest. "Well, I suppose the metaphorical cat is out of the bag there, Ben is in Menagerie. As for what he is doing, I cannot say for the sake of security, I hope you understand."
Ruby shrugged. "I get it, you all have to follow your rules. If Ben's fighting the White Fang, you don't have to tell me about it, we get enough of those guys in Vale…"
Taken off guard several times over by what Ruby had said, Curie fixated on what had surprised her the most. "How did you guess that?"
"Well, it's kind of easy to guess." Ruby explained. "What else would you be doing, fighting the Grimm? There's lots of Huntsmen in Menagerie, I'm sure they're doing great. There was also that big fight in Kuo Kuana that made television everywhere."
I suppose it wouldn't be too hard to deduce after all. Curie realized. "What did you say about the White Fang in Vale? Was there some kind of attack?"
Ruby shook her head. "Nothing like what happened in Menagerie. It's all robberies and heists. They're working with this one guy, Roman Torchwick. We've gotten into a few fights with them."
A scowl found its way onto Curie's face. "You have? What possible reason could the Headmaster have for sending you into battle?! You have not completed your training!"
Ruby sheepishly slumped backwards in her chair. "Well uh… he kind of hasn't been. We've been going out on our own."
"Ruby!" Curie practically shouted. "Why in the world would you do that?! It is bad enough going into battle without training, but without any kind of orders?!"
Ruby stiffened her posture and crossed her arms. "Hey! It's not like Vale's police were stopping them, and we've been doing pretty good so far! We already stopped one robbery and found out that they're working with Roman!"
The unique sensation of frustration and worry that Curie felt was just like what she had felt for Ben. The major difference being that while Ben had years of training and the entire backing of the UNSC, from what Ruby was saying, it sounded like her team was operating entirely on their own.
"Results or not, you should be more careful! I can think of no valid reason not to bring more support!" Curie said. "Surely there must be somebody at your Academy that could help you. I'm sure that Headmaster Ozpin must have some reinforcements to call upon!"
"Ruby… maybe Curie has a point." Penny pitched in. "What about your other friends? I'm quite sure that you'd be more than a match for Mr. Torchwick if you were working together!"
"We didn't have time for that, at least not the first time!" Ruby protested. "What were we supposed to do, just sit and watch while we could've helped?! We had to do something!"
Despite the fact that Curie knew that what Ruby and her team had done was a mistake, she was forced to hesitate and think about what she had said, if only because the argument was a familiar one.
It was a very similar argument to the one that Richard had used when he had been justifying the UNSC's attacks on the Schnee Dust Company, and while the circumstances were very different in that case, it did also provide some insight into what Ruby was thinking. Ruby clearly viewed the situation with the seriousness it deserved, but still felt a desire to protect people, even at the potential cost to herself.
Sounds a bit like a certain Spartan…
Now with a better idea of exactly what Ruby was thinking, Curie felt a bit more sympathy for the young Huntress. At the same time, what Ruby and her team had done was still reckless, and if Ruby's own teachers could not teach her a valuable lesson in caution, perhaps she could do it herself. "Stopping them would not have been worth the deaths of you and your team, Ruby. The White Fang would have no remorse about killing you, and they could have had the power too!"
Now it was Ruby's turn to stop and think about Curie's words, but Curie still felt as though she was being a bit too harsh. She was, after all, still talking to a teenager. If she had learned anything from Ben's training, it was that teaching required a mixture of both discipline and reinforcement.
"I admire your desire to do good, Ruby, and I am not angry at you or your team. I am just worried that you may be putting yourself in more danger than is strictly necessary. Your teachers and Headmaster Ozpin should have talked you out of going after those criminals on your own, or at the very least assigned you some reinforcements."
Ruby slumped back in her chair, a look of regret flashing across her face. "...You're right. I could've gotten my teammates into so much trouble! Agh, why didn't I think of that?!"
"At least nobody got hurt, and you were able to stop them." Penny pointed out.
"Penny is right, this could certainly have turned out worse." Curie said. "Now Ruby, I want you to promise me that in the future, your team will not try to do something like this again without help. You aren't alone, you have allies!"
Ruby firmly nodded, and Curie was convinced that her words had struck home. "I promise, we'll be more careful."
"Good." Curie said. "Be sure to let me know if your Headmaster somehow can't help you, because even if he can't, I'm sure that we can."
Ruby's eyes perked up with the excitement that had been drained from them. "Wait, really?"
"The White Fang is our enemy." Curie pointed out. "I cannot make any promises, but if they have forces in Vale, then I am all but certain that the Commander will want to stop them before they can hurt anybody. I'm not saying that we have the ability, or even the authority to deploy a platoon of Marines to Vale, but there must be something that we can do to help!"
"Don't forget about Atlas." Penny added. "General Ironwood would certainly be willing to spare some Specialists to help stop the White Fang in Vale."
While Ruby and Penny were talking about what Atlas could do to help, Curie realized that the upload into Dot's programming that she had been waiting on had completed nearly a minute ago, and that it was time to return to work. "Thank you, Ruby. As much as I would like to talk to you more, I am afraid that Penny and I were in the middle of something when you called."
Ruby gave her one last friendly smile. "No problem, we can always talk later!"
After saying goodbye, Curie ended the call and put the scroll back down on the table.
"Curie." Penny awkwardly said. "Do you really think that Ruby made that much of a mistake? She was just trying to help."
Curie nodded. "The Marines have something of a rather crude saying; The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Ruby's heart is in the right place, but she still has a lot to learn."
"I understand." Penny said after a moment of thought. "I suppose it's a very good thing she's enrolled at Beacon in that case."
Despite her own personal reservations, Curie quietly nodded. If nothing else, there were certainly worse places on Remnant for Ruby to have ended up.