"Humanity has always been a troublesome bunch, their history showed it. Ever since the first man took up a rock and with it bashed the skull of wild predators that dared preyed upon them, then to turn said rock against Earth's wildlife as they themselves become the apex species, and eventually against their fellow man as their hearts became filled with hate and rage that even the galaxy's greatest minds failed to fathom. Hundreds of years filled with bloodshed, two world wars, innumerable international conflicts, schisms due to culture, religion, politics, race, resources, among a myriad of other reasons. Despite the, admittedly, surprising speed of technological and social advancements they had made in the recent hundred years, humanity has yet to truly unite." The speaker said as she stood in front of her audience.
The event was a gathering of scientific, political and military minds from across the Imperium controlled Earth. A majority of those in attendance of course were shil'vati, large humanoid xenos that greatly resembled orcs from popular fantasy media, but with a more…human-like appearance and purple complexion. There were a few other xenos races among the audience, races that were conquered by the Imperium centuries ago and have since been fully integrated into their society. Humans however, were fewer than even those. The media people were also there, filming the speaker and audience alike from the far end of the auditorium.
The speaker, a shil'vati herself paused and scanned the room before continuing.
"Despite this, we saw their potential. The potential…to be something greater than even their fanciful minds can ever hope to imagine."
Upon hearing this, John's eye twitched. While he remained silent and seated, the thought of charging her flashed dangerously in his mind. He gritted his teeth through sealed lips, restraining himself from doing such an idiotic stunt.
Not yet.
"Assimilating worlds and their people have never been easy. While there were those who had welcomed it, there were also those, the stubborn ones who stood and fought. Blood was, is and will been spilled with the inevitable clash of cultures and ideology. But with time, the flames of war were quelled, the dying saved no matter the race, and the healing of wounds began." The speaker continued.
"The early years of Earth's integration into the Imperium were full of challenges, there were those who resisted, who continued to fight for an old and flawed world. But many more had accepted us, not as rulers, but as friends. As sisters even. We brought technologies that had advanced many a field! From healthcare to education, civilian industry to military. And with cooperation, we have achieved the unification of humanity, and is now on the steady road of integration into the Imperium!"
The speaker's words earned the applause of the crowd and their approval. Even the humans among the crowd joined in, some even standing. John could only watch in disgust. The speaker was good, and whoever wrote her speech was better. Word substitutions, assimilation instead of invading, integration instead of conquering, outright lies such as being accepted as friends. Hell, they ruled and discriminated against the whole of humanity, especially the nobles. But what he hated the most was that almost all of humanity bought all of their propaganda bull crap.
It sickened him.
A vibration in his pocket pulled him out of his thoughts. Checking his phone, he saw a single message from an unknown number appear on its screen.
"Hey man, we have the pizza." It said.
John sighed internally, at the very least, he no longer have to continue listening. Feigning a bad stomach, he stood up from his seat and walked towards the auditorium's exit. Before he could leave however, a purple hand blocked the door as he was opening it causing him to gulp. He looked at the hand's owner, finding him face to face with a shil'vati security.
Shit. He thought.
"And say, where might you be going?" She asked, towering over him as she fixes him with a quizzical look.
He chuckled nervously.
"I uh…went for the chili earlier in the buffet. And I'm starting to regret it now." He replied.
The shil'vati nods at him slowly.
"Toilets are on the right, next to the information kiosk." She replies before allowing him to leave.
He thanked her, continuing his act as he left the auditorium. Standing in the connecting hall, he noticed that aside from security, it seemed to be devoid of visitors as all were in the auditorium. John continued on to the direction of the toilets, fishing his phone out of his pocket he then sent a reply to the unknown number.
"Gotcha, will grab some drinks first." He replied.
John reached the men's toilet without issue and upon entering found a human janitor mopping a seemingly dry floor. The click of the door's lock engaging reached his ears before facing the janitor.
"Seriously…your acting is terrible." He told the janitor while shaking his head.
The janitor looked up at him with a grin.
"Hey man, I did warned you that I flunked my drama class." He replied before discarding his janitor's cap into the nearby trash bin…or rather yeeted it into it.
John shook his head as he walked over to the sink while the janitor went to the farthest stall, an 'under maintenance' sign hanging on its door. Looking at the mirror, he stares back to his own eyes. He was young, barely eighteen and just starting college. He knew what he was getting into. He and his group, fellow disgruntled students who were members of a local resistance cell, had planned this. They knew the risks, they all made their peace, they were sacrificing their lives and their future to strike back against the invaders. So why…
Why the fuck am I scared? John thought before looking at his shaking hands.
When the shil'vati, the Imperium invaded a decade ago, Earth's governments all united for the first time. Fully committing their resources and military to the cause that was defending their world, brave men and women from all over the world went to war. It was just like in those old movies where alien invaders came and started attacking humanity. And in a show of defiance, humanity unites, sending their armies to fight of the aliens at great cost but eventually defeating and sending the aliens packing to wherever shit hole of a planet they came from. It was like straight out of Independence Day.
John remembered watching all of the news, the fanfare that came with 'the power of a united Earth'. He remembered the small wins being all over the news. Human ships managing to destroy the initial Imperium forces, their MAC cannons piercing through Imperium hulls, Imperium ground forces being held and even pushed back by the combined American and Russian infantry in Alaska, tanks rolling in to provide fire support while jets fly to engage enemy aircraft. It looked like they were winning.
Then came the main Imperium force. All hell broke lose with set back after set back, John embraced his mother as they watched the news. His sisters sitting beside them as they watched humanity's armies be pushed back or worse, wiped out in last stand actions against the xenos.
John remembered the look her mother had when a letter reached them. He remembered how she sobbed, her sisters cried, he remembered hearing the news. His father, a marine, was killed in action during the Siege of Paris.
John balled his hands into fists. Remembering the pain of loss, he and his family endured. He breathed deeply and reminded himself why he was throwing his future away.
Its for them. He told himself, thinking of his family.
John snapped back to reality as the janitor came out of the stall with two black canvas bags, setting them onto the floor.
"I know I work out but hell, these are heavy." Kevin commented as he started unzipping the bags.
His phone vibrates again, the rest of their rag-tag team were coming. With Kevin preparing the gear they had…bought from a sketchy Irishman and smuggled into the convention building with the help of some like-minded human staff. John waited for the rest of his friends. It didn't take long, three rapid knocks on the door, followed by two slow ones. In response, he knocked back in a similar fashion. Unlocking and opening the door, the rest of the group entered. Three wore the same janitorial uniform as Kevin while two others wore a waiter's uniform from the buffet in the left wing of the building.
"Alright, suit up." Lance said, the lead of their group and the biggest of the seven of them.
Each grabbed their gear, old military surplus, now obsolete by today's standards. Silenced ballistic rifles that were practically useless against fully armored Shil'vati marines, kevlar vests that would be shredded by Imperium energy rifles, a few grenades, combat knives and masks. Sure, what they had were overall ineffective against a fully kitted Shil'vati marine, but they weren't aiming to fight the military and this plan has always been a one-way trip.
The group now kitted all looked at each other.
"This is a one-way thing." Lance said.
"Once we leave this room, there's no coming back. If anyone wants to back out, now's the time. I won't hold it against them." He added.
No one uttered a word. All just gave a curt nod, resolve obvious on their faces. Lance sighed, then chuckled.
"Security?"
"Counted fifteen inside the auditorium, ten purps and five human militia, purps are armed with energy rifles, humans have energy pistols. Light armor." John replied
"Eight purps in the hallway, patrolling by twos. Light armor." Kevin added.
"And a whole bunch more on the level below. Marines with the heavy guns. Looks like they have lighter security here. They got cocky, probably thought that their detectors would catch anyone who tried to smuggle in arms. They never thought that we have a mole in them and had it in the toilets." Will, a first year like John said.
Lance nodded.
"We got lucky. Let's not be cocky like them. Make sure that we take out as much purp VIPs before going out with a bang." He then tossed each of them a brick of explosive, a fuse tied to a wire that connects to their heart monitors that they wear underneath their kevlar.
A real banger with a dead man's switch. They each connected it to their monitors and tucked the explosive under their vests. John, while knew that it was meant to be a one last bite thing when they die, hoped that it was strong enough to obliterate his body enough that his identity remained undiscoverable. He hoped.
"Game faces on then." He said as he pulled down his mask, a simple black faceless mask.
The rest did the same. Unlike Lance though, all had masks seemingly bought from the nearest costume shop. John had a simple owl head mask, Kevin pulled down a Captain America, Fredrick had a Captain Kirk mask, Will had Dallas' mask from Payday, Diego had Emile's spartan helmet and for some reason, Arthur had a generic wizard mask.
"What the fuck Arthur, I thought we were going bad ass not nerdy Dungeons and Dragons." Will the freshman commented.
"Hey, I'm Merlin! And he is bad ass! Haven't you seen Fate?" Arthur replied as he defends himself.
"Fate's Merlin and your Merlin are two very different characters. But I appreciate the theme, Arthur. Now all you need are your Knights of Round." Diego retorts as he cocks the bolt on his M4.
"And I watched Fate. Pretty sure that their Merlin is not a creepy old man…I think. You got the ancient legend Merlin skin." Fredrick shrugged. "I haven't been that deep into it. Cool helmet by the way Diego."
Diego responds with a chef's kiss. "Luckily I have an old 3D printer so I don't have to go Michael Myers on this run."
"It's not even bleached! It's the real Kirk and I'm out to fuck these alien bitches." Fredrick complained.
A smile crept on John's face. At least he'll be dying with his friends. It somewhat eased his fear.
"Alright cut the chatter. Like we trained. Fast and hot, and remember…" Lance walks over to the door, rifle in hand before pausing to look at them.
"No purple." He continued in an unnecessary overly serious tone.
Everyone was silent.
"What?" Kevin asked.
"No purple. No Russian? MWF anyone?" He clarified.
Responses like "doesn't work", "purple like Barney", and other disapproving statements were aired much to Lance's chagrin.
"Also, that mission was quite literally done by terrorists. And we're freedom fighters!" Arthur added.
John gripped his rifle a bit tighter. Doubt, hesitation, just a little bit of those seeped into his mind. He resisted the urge to point out that both are different sides of the same coin. One's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter, it all depends on perspective. He shoved the thoughts away and breathed deeply.
Not now. I can't falter.
Lance shrugged.
"It…sounded better in my head. Anyway, weapons free and stick to codenames."
He then moves out of the room, silently and the rest followed him. They funneled out to create a crossfire, John brought up the rear with Kevin. Moving like how they were trained by the Sons of Gaia, the resistance cell that they were a part of. They reached the hall, moving past the empty information kiosk. So far, no enemy but that changed as soon as they rounded the corner. Four purps were patrolling with their weapons, two had their backs on the group and were walking away while the other two were facing them and were approaching them. The said pair only had enough time to halt their approach, surprise evident in their faces as they tried to level their rifles at them.
All seven of them shot the two, their combined fire somehow managing to rip through their light armor and killing them. While silenced, their rifles still made some noise which alerted the other pair. Likewise, the group managed to drop the second pair before they could even turn. Moving quickly, they pressed on, Lance and Arthur slitting the downed purps' throats to make sure they stay down. John ignored the scene, looking forward and trying not to gaze on the human like features of the four women.
They sped through the hall, weapons up. They reached the entrance to the auditorium and spotted the last four purps guarding them. And unfortunately, they were all looking at their direction and instantly spotted them.
Shit.
"Open fire." Lance commanded calmly and they everyone fired.
The purps immediately ducked behind the porcelain pots that lined the hallway for cover, one of them however was too slow to react and caught three out of seven shots before hitting the floor. Not dead but probably injured. The remaining three started firing causing the group to rush behind the porcelain pots for cover. The purps began shouting, likely alerting everyone to their presence.
"Jig is up! Let em' have it!" Arthur yelled just as his cover was shattered as a red heated bolt hits it.
Lance and Will started providing suppressing fire as John and Kevin moved to approach, weapons up and firing at the easily destructible pots. He found purchase as he fired a short burst, hitting a purp and seeing her drop back, along with the shattered remains of the pots. Kevin got another purp with a well aimed shot to the head but a bolt from the third purp caught his left leg piercing through it. Kevin yelled in pain as he fell to the floor, blood pooling around his ruined leg.
"Red's hit!" Fredrick yelled as he stood to take up position close to John while firing bursts at the pot of the third shil'vari, shattering it and killing her.
Blue blood now decorated the hallway. Without missing a beat, John rushed to Kevin and dragged him by the wall as the rest secured the hallway. For sure those in the auditorium have heard the fight and are preparing themselves while securing the guests inside. And marines would be streaming out into their level in the matter of minutes. Kevin growled and grabbed John's collar as he tried to use his belt as a tourniquet for his friend's bleeding leg.
"Leave it, Orange! Its a one-way ticket anyway. Make sure to fuck the auditorium for me!" He yelled loudly.
John was stunned for a moment but forced himself to nod. Gritting his teeth, knowing that Kevin won't be standing anytime soon with how badly the shot mangled his leg.
"Give em hell Cap." He replied mournfully, earning an oorah from Kevin.
The group stacked up by the atrium door, John dragging Kevin to a better position to watch over the nearby elevator and stairs for incoming purps before running to join the stack. Heart pounding in his ears, he saw Arthur open one of the double doors while Diego tossed in a grenade into the auditorium. The sound of frightened voices and angered cursing was heard followed by an explosion. Screams of pain then echoed out from the chamber. The remaining six charged in, each moving to position themselves out of each other's way.
John was the last one in, and when he entered it was like everything was in double speed as laser bolts flew towards them while their M4s barked out humanity's fury. There was no need for target restraint, every xenos were considered hostile, and every human were considered traitors to humanity and Earth and thus, must and should be executed for treason. Everyone was a target. He saw a man, middle age, in a cleanly pressed suit stand up close to him in fear. He had his hands up in surrender. By all human combat rules, he wasn't a threat.
John shot and killed him trying not to think much of it.
"Prioritize security!" He heard someone form their group shout.
They started to move in, ducking behind the seats for cover, ignoring the burnt and shredded corpses on the floor as they fought on. For all the training they had, this was nothing like the simulations they had.
"Reloading!" John yelled and slapped another mag into his M4.
Taking a moment to get his bearings, he glanced from his cover and saw Lance moving down to the stage through the left most isle, Will and Arthur close to him. Diego and Fredrick were paired up taking the right side. He watched as they each covered each other's backs, moving slowly yet methodically, aiming for the security personnel and only shooting at the guests should they be too close enough to any of them.
John vaulted over the seat he was hiding behind, landing on the body of a dead shil'vati, her body and dress uniform shredded by grenade shrapnel. He saw a human militia running across the stage to grab the shil'vati spokesperson who was taking cover behind the metal podium. He trained his sights on the man and as soon as the militia grabbed the spokesperson and attempted to extract her, he switched to the shil'vati and pressed on the trigger. A burst of bullets hits the purp center mass, dropping her to the floor, her weight pulling the militia down with her causing him to fall as well. He gave the man no chance to run and fired at him as well, killing him after two shots of M4 burst fire. The Auditorium rocked as the right isle exploded, the shockwave throwing off John to the floor. He then heard cursing and screams, Lance shouting that they lost Blue and Green was down.
Diego was dead and Fredrick was injured.
John ran as best as he could through blood soak floors and slid behind the seats to reached Fredrick's position. Whatever explosive they now have strapped inside their vests, it was strong enough to reduce them to a bloody mist as he saw in horror Diego's plastered guts on the ceiling. His spartan helmet having shattered and turned to shrapnel, said shrapnel had now lodged into Fredrick's gut, his right leg completely gone.
Screaming in pain, John dragged Fred behind the rows of seats as laser bolts flew everywhere.
"Fucking hell!" Fredrick groans in pain
"You're alright Fred. Stay with me." John said as he tried to unbuckle Fredrick's belt only to be stopped by the young man's bloody hand.
Covered with Diego's blood, he forced a chuckle as he stared at John.
"This is not the time to suck my dick, John." He joked before pulling himself up to a sitting position earning a pained groan.
"LEEEROOYYY!" Through the chaos of it all, John's head perked up as he heard Arthur screaming the infamous war cry as he threw himself onto a shil'vati, tackling her to the floor.
John doubted it was due to the wizard's own strength and more due to his running jump and the shil'vati being caught off guard. He returned his attention to Fredrick, noticing that he had started blind firing above the seats with his rifle raised above him.
"Fred we need to stop the bleedin-"
"I KNOW THAT I'M DEAD JOHN!" Fredrick fixed him with a glare.
"Let me follow my brother." He then grinned and raised a fist to him.
John swallowed a gulp and nods, bumping his fist onto Fred's
"I'll see you Valhalla. Now go before I explode!" Fredrick added.
John yelled in anger as he stood up from cover, making his way halfway down the stairs as he continued to shoot, killing one other human militia before he was forced to take cover to reload. Fredrick continued blind firing, hitting a group of civilians running for the safety of the backstage, wounding those who got hit but failing to kill them.
Will has now engaged in melee combat with his knife against a shil'vati while Lance continued to suppress a pair of human militiamen behind a nearby row of seats. Arthur was being pummeled on the stage and an explosion rocked the room, but from the outside. John's eyes widened. He heard Fredrick scream from his position.
"WE LOST RED!"
John ran down closer to the stage, flanking the two militiamen that Lance was suppressing and dropping them, his shots hitting their less armored backs. Lance reloaded quickly before turning to shoot at the shil'vati that Will was fighting. The auditorium doors burst open and through it came fully armored shil'vati marines. He had enough time to turn and see one of them shooting Fredrick, causing his explosive to detonate. Still relatively close to him, John was thrown back and fell down several rows, hitting the floor hard. He groaned in pain, he hadn't lost a limb or anything but his ears were ringing badly and his vision was hazy. He grabbed the a nearby armrest, leaned on the seat on a crouched position and began shooting the marines.
His shots went wild, mostly missing his target but those that connected failed to penetrate their armor much like during the invasion. He heard Arthur scream loudly.
"JEEENKINS!" John saw Arthur pull the pin on his grenade as he was held aloft by the shil'vati he jumped on.
Arthur exploded, taking out his opponent and causing a collapse of the entire stage, the ceiling and the the light set up situated by it, debris fell with some smashing against the few remaining xenos civilians that attempted to run away through the backstage. The second shockwave sent John to the wall, hitting it hard. He cursed, or he thought he cursed. He's no longer sure. His vision danced and he could barely understand what he was seeing. Shouts and rifle fire were muffled by the ringing in his ears.
Disoriented, his left eye slowly started to turn red, like a curtain at the end of a play. He sat there, watching shapes dance and lights fly across the room. Then a brighter flash across the room, he felt the room shudder, and then everything went silent. He frowned, did he go deaf? He could see several purple figures start to approach. He only saw one bright flash, an explosion, so that leaves one of either Will or Lance still alive. The marines started opening fire again, feeling something approach him, John forced his head to turn to his side and noticed the last remaining human militia running towards him, from where John came from.
What the fuck? Confusion struck him, he was certain that no one there was alive as most had either fled towards the backstage or were killed.
Well, excluding the newly arrived marines of course. Knowing that it was too late to shoot, it forced his body to produce the grenade from his pocket. But before he could even pull the pin, he felt something hit the side of his head.
Then everything went black.
Hello there! I'm leaving this note here cause the summary section in the story details is too short lol.
Anyways, as mentioned in the summary, this is a RWBY crossover fanfic with SSB (Sexy Space Babes)/Beyond Worlds originally written by J.J. Williams aka BlueFishcakes. SSB/BW is his property and I fully recommend supporting him either through or purchasing the kindle versions of his works in Amazon. One may also find his complete works in the HFY Reddit thread.
I've taken some liberty in adding my own spin to the general setting and humanity's initial military capabilities during the Imperium's invasion mostly as I have plans regarding it in the future.
