Chapter 21: Beacon's Fall
July 6, 2682; 1800 Hours
UNSC Guardian, Bridge
All of Team RWBY, including Winter and Ivan, ran through the metal blast door of the Guardian's bridge. The Captain ran an exasperated hand across his face, surprised to find the SPARTAN and his team had covered that distance so quickly. On the bridge as well, was General Ironwood. "Captain, what's going on?" Ivan asked, causing the aged Captain to sigh.
"Somehow, the White Fang have managed to deploy some kind of cyber-warfare suite against Vale." The Captain began, activating a holographic projection on the central display of the Bridge. The projection depicted Vale, with the defenses on the outside of the Kingdom registered on the display as inoperable/destroyed. There were a lot of these markers. "All of the Kingdom's defensive grid, including the city's anti-air defense stations and shield projectors, is down."
"How could this happen?" Ironwood asked, staring at the projection of the city.
"We're working on that little bit, General." The Captain said, slightly irritated. "On top of the downed defensive grid, the White Fang have been hitting various points around the city… hard."
"And these points are…?" Winter asked, unsurprisingly being the most collected member of the group.
"Beacon, UEG Embassy, Vale Police Stations, Dust Shops, you name it." The Captain said. "A few of them tried to hit Firebase India, but their attack was unsuccessful. The Firebase is being set up as a safe zone for the duration of this attack, and all available units are hereby ordered to prepare for combat insertion, as per Admiral Bishop's orders."
"How are the Atlesian Fleets doing?" Ironwood asked, trying to make sense of the display before him.
"They're holding their own." The Captain responded. "No Atlesian airship has been breached, nor has any armor been compromised."
"Captain, does Guardian carry any armed dropships?" Ivan asked, earning a cocked eyebrow from the Captain.
"Son… this is a diplomatic vessel." The Captain said. "The biggest gun we have on the damned thing is the ARC-920 in the armory."
"Fair point…" Ivan said, realizing how incredibly stupid his question was.
"We do, however, have a small detachment of unarmed D79-TC dropships onboard." The Captain explained. "I want all available combat units to report to hangers 1-5 and prepare for a combat drop."
"Where will the LZ be, Captain?" Ivan asked.
"General Ironwood?" The Captain asked, looking to the tall, broadly-built General. "Admiral Bishop is requesting permission to issue orders to Atlesian Ground Assets."
"Consider permission given." Ironwood responded, nodding.
"Excellent… I want you, a small detachment of Marines, and Miss Winter Schnee to insert just outside Firebase India." The Captain began, zooming in on the large city square that the Firebase occupied. "We need you to open up a route to get civilians to safety."
"Yes, sir." Ivan said, nodding his head.
"As for you four." The Captain said, gesturing to Team RWBY. "You're going to Beacon to assist with the evacuation of the school. Atlesian Military assets and UNSC ground forces are working on pulling all personnel from the area and bringing them to Vale." All of Team RWBY nodded, earning a similar gesture from the Captain. "Excellent. Report to the hangers immediately."
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July 6, 2682; 1813 Hours
Remnant, Vale
Ivan jumped out of the rear of an OD-Green Pelican Dropship, his Forerunner Alloy Combat Skin assembling itself around him. Behind him came Winter, then a squad of eight Marines. Once he hit the ground, a tidal wave of smells crashed down on him. It smelled like death mixed with gunpowder and molten metal. It was stomach-churning.
He looked around Main-Street Vale, the image sending a chill down his spine. Buildings were wrecked with bullet holes pockmarking their edifices, the streets were torn up, cars were strewn across the boulevard, scorch marks lined the ground and walls around him, and a few corpses were littering the streets, most of them civilians. A few corpses of White Fang fighters, UNSC Marines, Vale Police, or Atlesian Military were littered around as well.
Ivan mentally steeled himself as the cacophony of war sounded around him. Not even fifty meters down the street, a small group of Atlesian Knights were standing off in a firefight against the White Fang, with only the Knights being visible.
Ivan willed his Light Rifle into reality, the Forerunner weapon assembling itself in his hands. "On me." Ivan said, his voice distorted slightly by his suit's systems. The Marines fell in behind him, with Winter sticking closer to him. As they neared the group of Knights, Ivan was surprised to find a small squad of ODSTs pinned down with them, occasionally popping up to return fire at the Faunus militia.
Without a moment's hesitation, Ivan used the immense strength of his armor to propel himself forward, grinding to a stop just behind the group of ODSTs. He fired a pair of shots at the White Fang, hitting one clean through the neck and sending the rest into cover. Unsurprisingly, the sudden appearance of an eight-foot tall suit of armor startled them.
Winter was a mere second behind him, using her glyphs to propel herself first to the group of Knights, then vaulting over the fallen pillar that they were using for cover. Another ivory-white glyph appeared behind her, propelling her towards the nearest group of two White Fang fighters. In an instant, she was right on top of them.
Ivan watched out of the corner of his eye as Winter slid to a stop just beneath the collapsed bit of wall that the two Faunus were using as cover. She darted around, simply running the first one through with her blade, then yanking it back out. The second was simply too stunned to do anything other than stare as she knocked the rifle out of his hands, kicked his feet out from under him, and jabbed downwards through his chest.
The eight Marines had kept the other White Fang occupied, giving Winter the opening she needed to move again. She darted towards the other group of four White Fang, tossing a bundle of Blast Dust in their direction, knocking two off their feet. In a rather elegant, and downright terrifying display of combat prowess, she simply danced through the White Fang fighters that the Marines, Knights, and Ivan couldn't get to. She was little more than a white blur as she moved around the street, flashing from cover to cover and cutting her way through the Faunus.
A few of the Marines stood slack-jawed as she nimbly flipped over the final White Fang, drawing her second, straighter stiletto blade from its compartment within her main sword, and stabbed it through the final fighter's neck. With an air of confidence, she whipped her blades off to the right, removing most of the blood, and slid them back into her sheath.
Ivan had to shake himself out of the stupor that her display had put him in. Much to his disliking, he was immediately put back into the same stunned state when he looked to her, finding her to be sending a rather quick wink in his direction. "Goddamn…" Ivan muttered to himself, jogging forward with the rest of the forces to catch up with the Specialist.
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July 6, 2682; 1815 Hours
Remnant, Beacon
Team RWBY disembarked from a Pelican, with eight Marines at their backs. As they stood at the landing pad just outside Beacon, they found themselves looking at a battered school. There were dozens of huntsmen-in-training that they recognized, all of them either fighting near the center of the courtyard or retreating towards the landing pad. Around the pad, there were six Atlesian Bullhead VTOLs, along with six Pelican Dropships. A small group of SPARTAN IVs were standing their ground, forming a perimeter around the landing zone with a force of twenty ODSTs and forty Atlesian Knights.
"So Team RWBY is our support?" A familiar voice shouted out from nearby. They all turned to look, surprised to find Thorne standing in a suit of what appeared to be MJOLNIR armor without a helmet. He had a Battle Rifle slung across his back and a bandolier of grenades across his chest.
"Thorne?" Yang asked, surprised to see the ONI Agent on the front lines. "What are you doing here?"
"Supporting my men!" Thorne responded, his voice drowned out slightly by the sound of a Pelican's massive engines throttling up, then departing. "And I hope you're here to do the same! I don't know how many are still in the school, but you four would be a great help."
"Where do you need us?" Weiss asked.
"Literally anywhere." Thorne responded. "We're pulling all of our assets in from orbit, and that isn't even enough to contain this shitstorm." As if to accent Thorne's point, a pair of Broadsword fighters flew overhead, one of them firing an air-air missile against a Giant Nevermore, with the other one taking a missile from some point on the ground, causing the fighter to go into a spin and crash into the plateau. "Get everyone to the landing pads, ASAP!" Thorne ordered, motioning to the school. The team of huntresses nodded, and set off.
Once they reached the courtyard, they found a large collection of their friends fending off a much larger group of Grimm and White Fang. Nora gleefully leapt upwards, slamming Magnhild down on the head of an Elderwolf, smashing it into the cobblestone path and splintering its bony plating. Ren simply fired his pair of machine pistols at anything in his path. Sun and Neptune worked in a rather strict and almost choreographed rhythm, advancing through a small pack of Beowolves. Coco stood with her gatling cannon deployed, splintering a pair of young Beowolves instantly. Velvet danced in-between Griffons, flipping between their forms and using a surprising amount of physical strength to beat them down.
Team RWBY split up, moving to assist the various groups of their friends in fending off the Grimm. Ruby rocketed forward, assisted by Crescent Rose's recoil, and sliced clean through a Beowolf that threatened to drop down on top of Nora. Weiss propelled herself forward with a Repulsion Glyph, moving to help Ren in fending off a Deathstalker. Blake flashed forward, using her Shadow to jump to Sun and Neptune's assistance. Yang ran towards Velvet and Coco, firing off a series of high explosive rounds from Ember Celica.
The Huntresses danced around the Grimm, or simply pummeled through them in Yang's case, for what felt like a mere few seconds. The combined prowess of the huntsmen-in-training was more than enough to fell the seemingly younger Grimm rather quickly. Once the final Grimm fell, each of the huntsmen was either panting from the sheer amount of physical exertion, or smiling like a madwoman, in Nora's very special case. "How kind of you to join us!" Sun declared, happily. "Where's the SPARTAN?"
"In the city." Blake said. "He's working with the Marines to open up a route for people to move through."
"We could certainly use some help on this end." Ren said, gesturing to the decaying Grimm. "We're getting overwhelmed here… it's like the Grimm are focusing on Beacon."
Before anyone could comment on the rather strange set of circumstances that led to almost every Grimm seeming to funnel towards the school, the screaming descent of a burning Bullhead drew their attention skyward. At the same time, a series of shouts and a bout of automatic gunfire drew their attention back towards the Landing Pad. Finally, as if to broadcast their existence, a single Valiant-Class Super-Heavy Cruiser descended towards the city at a rather quick pace, the dozens of autocannons on its surface opening fire, knocking flying Grimm out of the sky. From its hangers, dozens of UNSC Strike Fighters were deployed, most of them moving to support the pinned Atlesian Navy… at least until the Atlesian Flagship seemed to turn its guns on the Valiant.
In an instant, the shielded Valiant-Class found itself being fired upon by Ironwood's flagship. The turret-mounted Short Pulse Laser Cannons splashing against the massive Cruiser's energy shields with wild abandon. The Valiant-Class, in response, opened up will a full barrage of ARCHER missiles that began swarming towards the Atlesian flagship, the massive warheads ripping the vessel apart at the seams. The Huntsmen stood slack-jawed as the Atlesian vessel began losing altitude as missiles continually slammed into its armored hull. Eventually, the flagship slammed into the densely-populated undercity, the impact audible even from their great distance. "Oh my god…" Yang said, barely resisting the urge to stand there, numb.
Weiss' eyes went wide as an incredibly loud noise, indicative of something entering an atmosphere at high speeds, sounded off from somewhere near the city. In an instant, the Atlesian Navy found itself hit by a barrage of UNSC MAC rounds, splitting the vessels down the middle and sending them towards the same general area as their Flagship. "What is going on?" Ruby asked, watching with a mix of confusion, desperation, and sadness. In the confusion, UNSC fighters turned to engage Atlesian fighters, and UNSC ground-based defenses began firing upwards at the Atlesian Navy's remaining few airships.
All across Vale's airspace, the UNSC forces had turned their guns on the Atlesians. Airships, Bullheads, and fighters went up in blinding displays of light as the UNSC's superior firepower made itself known.
Snapping them out of their stupor, they found themselves being fired upon by marching Atlesian Knights. The Huntsmen scrambled back into action, moving to engage the Atlesian androids. The stunning turn of events almost caught Ruby too off-guard, but the Knight that had attempted to put a pulse rifle round towards her found itself dismantled by Myrtenaster. Ruby gave Weiss a grateful nod as she moved to cut her way through the androids with the help of the heiress.
After more time spent fighting, and a few near-casualties, the Huntsmen stood in the courtyard, surrounded by the destroyed Atlesian androids. Neptune was unlucky enough to catch a rifle round to his shoulder during the altercation, but the rest were unscathed. As they were left panting from physical exertion once again, Weiss spoke up. "We need to move… it looked like that Bullhead crashed into the cafeteria. There's probably some students hiding out around there."
"I'll go check it out." Blake said, earning a nod from everyone.
"I'll go with you." Yang said, finding herself stopped by the onyx-haired girl.
"Yang, I'll be fine. You need to stay here and make sure the path to the Landing Pad is clear."
"But-" Yang tried, only to be silenced by a look from Blake. "Fine…"
"Thank you." Blake said, giving a genuine, albeit weak, smile. With that, she took off towards the Cafeteria.
"Wait…" Ruby began, looking around. "Where's Pyrrha and Jaune?"
"They went with Ozpin." Ren answered. "They went into the Tower around an hour ago."
From nearby, a series of roars and calls that could easily be identified as a pack of Beowolves closing in could be heard. "Well… let's get to work." Yang said, giving a confident grin.
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July 6, 2682; 1821 Hours
Remnant, Vale
Ivan ducked into cover as a Nevermore's sharpened feather flew a mere few inches over his head, impaling an Atlesian Knight to a wall. He popped back up, firing his Light Rifle at the massive Grimm. One of the Marines near him fired a slug from the ARC-920 railgun, spearing the Nevermore through the chest and overpenetrating the creature. It slumped over, dead, in the middle of the city's massive central park.
A small squadron of Atlesian Soldiers stood up from their position, sending the SPARTAN, his Specialist support, and the Marines behind him a gesture of thanks. He had spotted them being pinned down by the Grimm, and had broken off to help. The Soldiers were working on moving civilians through the park when they were ambushed by the massive creature. The small group of civilians began moving through the street, directed by the Marines.
As if to simply show Ivan just how wrong everything was going, a pair of Atlesian Knights seemed to stutter for a moment, their holographic visors that usually displayed a pixilated face going blank for the slightest fraction of a second. Ivan then realized that all of the Knights were experiencing this. Once he saw them recover, he felt relieved, only for the slightest moment. One of them raised its rifle, pointing it towards Winter. Without hesitation, Ivan slotted a hard light bolt through the android's head, splintering it. It was about this time that everything went well and truly wrong.
A small group of the Androids began firing on the Marines and Soldiers alike, catching the unsuspecting Marines off-guard. Another group began firing on civilians indiscriminately. Despite Ivan's attempts, the Atlesian Knights managed to cut through a large portion of the Marines that were escorting the civilians back to the Firebase. The remaining few Marines turned their guns on the Knights.
Winter looked stunned for the slightest second, then immediately propelled herself forward to begin hacking through the slower androids. As Ivan fired on the Knights, his armor propelling him at super-human speeds, his comms were absolutely bursting with activity.
"The Knights are hostile! I repeat, the Knights are hostile!"
"We're pinned, requesting immediate support!"
"Civvies down, Knights are firing on civilians!"
"All UNSC Ground forces, direct your fire towards any and all automated Atlesian Military assets, effective immediately." Ivan recognized this voice. It was Admiral Bishop. "Do not fire on human Atlesian soldiers unless fired upon."
Ivan felt the world shake beneath his feet as a massive explosion occurred overhead. Ivan looked up after ducking into cover, finding an Atlesian Flagship to be firing its main weapon into the shields of a Valiant-Class Cruiser, sending explosions rippling across the sky. The Valiant turned its guns and missiles on the Flagship, and began opening fire. The engines of the Flagship eventually sputtered out, sending the ship on a collision course with the lower-income sector of Vale. An instant later, a series of orbitally-fired MAC rounds riddled the Atlesian Fleet's hulls, obliterating the weaker vessels almost instantly and sending the Airships towards the ground. A dozen of the massive Airships crashed all throughout Vale, the ground shaking with each impact.
Ivan grit his teeth, pushing aside the thoughts of the possibility of betrayal and untold civilian deaths caused by the crashes, and continued fighting. Slowly, the UNSC and Atlesian forces regrouped and managed to start whittling the Knights down. Once the last android fell, Ivan began surveying the damage.
Littering the street, there was at least twenty Marines lying in pools of their own blood, some of them breathing their final breaths through shredded lungs. Some were crying out in agony, holding their wounds in an attempt to slow the bleeding. Well over 100 civilians were littering the streets. None of them were quite as lucky as the UNSC Marines, since they didn't have armor to protect them. Almost all of them were either dead, or were going to be dead in a very short span of time.
A pair of Marine corpsmen ran over towards a few fallen Marines and civilians, their medical kits and biofoam injectors readied. As Ivan ran over to help the Marine medics with their efforts, his suit's motion trackers detected three incoming blips, identified as yellow… unknown.
Ivan turned to look in the direction that the blips were coming from, fully prepared to fire, but was pleasantly surprised to find Goodwitch, Qrow, and… Ironwood. Ivan's grip tensed on his light rifle as he saw the Atlesian General, but was surprised to see that half of his uniform's shirt was torn off, revealing a fully cybernetic right arm and torso.
Once they were close enough to the soldiers and Marines to be identified as friendlies, Ironwood spoke up. "Who here is the ranking officer?" He asked, a few of the Marines looking at him with a mix of concern and confusion.
Ivan, in response, stood up. "That would be me." He said, cradling his rifle in a low-ready.
"SPARTAN Chesnokov?" Ironwood asked, not recognizing the massive suit of armor.
Ivan simply raised his rifle, pointing it directly to Ironwood. More than a few of the Marines followed suit, having seen their brothers in arms cut down by Knights. The two huntsmen on either side of Ironwood stared in bewilderment as the remaining UNSC Marines aimed their rifles at the General. "SPARTAN… this wasn't my doing!" Ironwood defended.
"Really?" Ivan asked, his voice thick with distrust and venom. "Your flagship opening up on the Valiant, unconfirmed numbers of civilian casualties, hundreds of Marines cut down by your Knights across the city? I find that hard to believe." Winter ran over to Ivan, placing her hand on his arm. He remained steadfast.
"He's telling the truth." Qrow said, holding out his hands in a neutral gesture as he stepped forward. "Someone hijacked the Knights from his ship."
"My ship that I need to get to in order to stop this." Ironwood defended, holding out his hands in a similar gesture. He might be a Huntsman, but even he could realize when he had no chance against the SPARTAN and at least fifty Marines.
Ivan glanced over to Winter, looking for confirmation. She simply nodded, her expression remaining neutral. Ivan sighed, lowering his rifle. "Marines, stand down!" He ordered, all of the Marines lowering their rifles, a few of them grumbling obscenities in the process. Ivan pressed a hand to the side of his helmet, speaking into its built-in communicator. "Firebase India this is SPARTAN C-124, requesting immediate reinforcements in Vale City Sector Twenty One."
"SPARTAN, we're stretched thin as it is." The base's CO responded. "Unless you've got a damned good reason, I can't spare any men."
"I need support to help me shut down the Knights." Ivan responded.
"How many men do you need?" The CO asked.
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July 6, 2682; 1853 Hours
Remnant, Beacon
Yang, Ruby, and Weiss continued leading students back towards the landing pad, unsurprised to see only UNSC forces remaining. There were four remaining Pelicans, as the fifth had left after being fully loaded with students. "Excellent work!" Thorne said, turning to face the three Huntresses.
"There's still a lot more in the Courtyard." Ruby said, gesturing back the way they came. "And somehow, the White Fang got Paladins out here."
Thorne sighed. "Damnit… Reinforcements from Reach are still a few hours away."
Before anyone present could add their thoughts to the conversation, a rumbling tremor reverberated throughout the school, causing all of the ODSTs, SPARTANs, and Huntresses to look around, confused. What they saw either downright terrified them, or was simply so ridiculous that they couldn't even process it.
The peak of a mountain out in the far distance near the eastern border of Vale cracked open, allowing a massive Grimm, easily the length of a Strident-Class Frigate, to emerge. The creature appeared to vaguely resemble a wyvern from the fantasy tales, and let out a loud shriek that was audible from several kilometers away. It began to fly towards Beacon. "You have got to be fucking kidding me…" Thorne commented, sighing.
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July 6, 2682; 1847 Hours
Remnant, Beacon (Cafeteria)
Blake continued through the rubble-strewn walkways of Beacon. She was delayed slightly after a group of Atlesian Knights, much to her surprise, attempted to ambush her. She hacked through them relatively quickly, leaving the disassembled androids lying in pools of their own lubricant and parts.
As she neared the cafeteria, the stench of burning wood and death became clearer and clearer, eventually becoming downright overwhelming. She rounded a corner, finding the shattered, twisted metal frame of the Bullhead to be resting on the walkway by the cafeteria's main entrance. Fuel was leaking from the Bullhead's engines, the smell of noxious fumes mixing with the ambient smell of destruction.
Blake's attention was caught by the sound of a rather shrill scream, drawing her attention towards one of the cafeteria's many shattered windows. She sprinted over, Gambol Shroud drawn and prepared to strike. She was barely able to keep her grip on the weapon as she looked at the scene before her.
She saw an all-too-familiar form wearing a black coat with an intricate pattern woven into the back, the red-spiked hair that stood up around the short black horns on his head almost shining in the same color as the blade that he ran through a student that was trying to take cover underneath a table. Blake let out a short gasp as she watched the blade spear through the student's neck, only to be twisted slightly as it was ripped out horizontally, leaving the poor girl's neck to be hanging on by nothing more than a thin thread of skin and a few blood vessels.
Already being aware of her presence, the Bull Faunus turned to face her, a wicked smile dancing across his face as he looked upon his old partner. Everything with the exception of his lips, lower jaw, and hair, was obstructed by an intricately carved Grimm mask, red lines dancing across the ivory surface. Adam spoke, his voice filled with a sickening sense of arrogance. "Hello Blake, my darling."
