CHAPTER 14: OPERATION FAMILY SNAFU

0630 Hours, September 25, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas

Yang lived and breathed physical fitness. With a combat style that emphasized getting up close and personal, she needed to be as strong as she could be in order to win her fights. Thus, almost everyday except the weekends, she was usually doing some sort of routine. Although being well-rounded was ideal, she tended to lean more on her raw strength to see her through in combat. Nevertheless, she wasn't weak.

But for the past week or so, she had been doing almost nothing but physical training. It wasn't just in the morning either. If she wasn't doing cardiovascular exercises, she was doing strength training. If she wasn't doing either of those, then she was doing obstacle courses. Basically, she wasn't being given a break and as more time seemed to pass, the harder it got for her.

The blonde girl always referred back to her original goal of getting through this grueling training all for the sake of getting her sister out of this hellhole. For the first three days, that had been a good enough reason for the elder of the siblings. It provided enough motivation and willpower for her to see through each day in spite of the intentionally formidable course that was before her.

But Yang couldn't say that it was enough now. Although she still loved and cared for Ruby, she couldn't deny that she felt a very bitter feeling as well. The feeling had likely been there ever since she began training. It was simply that her rigorous routine and exhaustion after everyday prevented the brawler from experiencing the feeling, but when it came to physical stuff, no matter how tough, she eventually found a way to adapt or cope. Now that she had managed to gain something of a steady foothold, she had more time to think about things even as she went through an exercise.

As for the root source of her sour feelings, it could all be traced back to when she was forced to join in. Even now, she thought about her own baby sister who had pointed a weapon at the back of her head and gave her this ultimatum she was now living with. In the moment, shock had prevented her from feeling anything else other than fear. Now with a clear head, the blonde felt pained.

Above all things, the girl of seventeen years believed in family. She valued her family so much that any harm that came to them, no matter how insignificant, was to be taken with a deadly seriousness. There was a flip side to this protectiveness: it wasn't easy for her to forgive or forget when members of her family hurt her. More than anything, family should never intentionally hurt each other. It wasn't right.

Yet Ruby had done something just as bad if not worse. She might not have inflicted physical wounds, but she had made promises of violence against her own sibling and the fifteen-year old intended to see her words through.

Simply put, Yang felt utterly betrayed by the one person that she had never expected to be betrayed by.

And it hurt.

She decided to put that all out of her mind. She had at least another five kilometers to go. She needed to get a move on lest she be harshly criticized by the Master Chief.

Try as she did to hate the 'man,' as more time passed, the more that she could see that his intentions were simple and straightforward. He was simply taking two kids and training them in the art of war. He had made that plain as day from the moment she began training and the more time she spent playing by his rules, the more that she was believing it.

The armored giant seemed to only have one way of communicating with others: directly and without hesitation. His voice alone commanded respect, but the way he carried himself was just as prominent. Additionally, the way he conducted training suggested that this wasn't his first time doing this sort of thing. That meant he had experience, which meant he was likely to know more than he was letting on.

Yang's mistrust in him wasn't gone. She still held a grudge against him for taking Ruby away from the family. However, the rift forming between the two siblings combined with the lack of time spent together meant she had to look elsewhere for some form of connection and communication and like it or not, the Chief was all she had.

There was also a lingering curiosity about what was beneath his helmet. She honestly wasn't sure whether or not there was a man or a machine underneath. For the most part, he acted so mechanical in everything he did. She had never seen him eat or drink or any of the other usual stuff that people did.

On the other hand, she couldn't forget how their first conversation had ended. The words he whispered to himself. Thinking about that moment more, it was clear that there was something really emotional behind those words. Whoever he was referring to clearly was close to him. He sounded like he was ready to crack.

Yang was confused about what she had seen and heard so far. This contradiction had her wondering what was the truth and what wasn't. She doubted that asking the Master Chief would yield anything promising. He was only interested in a conversation to the extent that it provided the necessary information to perform a given task. Any words that deviated from a clear objective were immediately pushed aside.

But I can't help it. The blonde thought to herself. It's all so secretive and dangerous and that's kind of my thing.

Mysteries, no matter how dangerous, were always interesting things to unravel, especially when it was practically in the family business to undertake dangerous jobs. If she stuck around long enough, she might find out a thing or two.

For now, Yang would have to buckle down and be in it for the long haul. It might be all about the boring stuff, but sooner or later, excitement was sure to follow them all. She just had that gut feeling.

In her musing, the brawler realized that she had begun to lose speed. She could tell that she was going slow because her breathing was virtually at the same pace it was as if she was walking. With all the gear and the weapon she was holding, she ought to be exerting a little more effort.

Glancing down at what she held in her hands, she couldn't help but admire it. Although it was no Ember Celica, she couldn't help but hold it and feel that power that this thing possessed. If she remembered correctly, it was officially designated as the M90 Close Assault Weapons System, or a shotgun. Personally, she didn't get why the military needed all of these complicated names for guns, but whatever.

What mattered was that this was a shotgun, which meant it had immense stopping power. While it was far from what her shotgun gauntlets could offer, Yang felt that this thing was an adequate substitute. When asking just how much stopping power her new toy had, the Master Chief said that it would be able to kill any Grimm Alphas with one pull of the trigger and assuming that the head was the target.

The lilac-eyed teenager grit her teeth, her feet now beginning to feel the effects of prolonged travelling. It was one thing to train on relatively flat terrain and treadmills. It was another to traverse on grounds that constantly changed to be flat, hilled, uneven, and everything else that wasn't even.

These eight days had been putting much of her previous training to shame due to the sheer volume and intensity. In the same vein, it was a similar experience at Signal Academy. Learning, practicing, and perfecting were the laws that governed both, albeit with different foundations of combative moves.

The main difference between her combat school and the training she was currently undergoing was that the former was done with at least some moderation. This training was just nonstop action with only meal times, an hour of freedom, and sleep being the only reprieves during any given day.

Yang knew she had an advantage overy Ruby in regards to overall physicality, but it appeared that the Master Chief knew that much and was just testing her limits. The blonde girl was sure of this because there was no way that Ruby could have gone through this exact training regimen without passing out many times. It was the elder sister who held all the horsepower and yet it was still a struggle.

And no aura was allowed. The moment that she had tried to use it, the armored giant was on her ass in an instant and then she was flat on her back.

"Gods, just let me get to the finish line." Yang groaned, regarding her newly-issued watch. "Fifty minutes left."

And still four and a half kilometers to go.

Halo - - - RWBY

Ruby was honestly glad for the distance between herself and Yang. After the little stunt that she had pulled, they weren't likely to be hugging and kissing anytime soon. Pulling a weapon on her own sister was going a bit too far, but there was no turning back. Things were going to have to work one way or another.

The only thing keeping them apart for the time being was that the younger was getting into more advanced training and the older was only just beginning hers, but given Yang's competitive streak, the gap between the two sisters wasn't going to last long.

But that was neither here nor there. Ruby had plenty to do without worrying about her emotional sister, mainly her ability to find targets in an environment thick with obstacles. The mountainous terrain they were surrounded by afforded some help in that regard.

The Master Chief had made the purpose of this part of training very clear. In an environment where natural obstacles were bountiful, she had to get creative with how she positioned herself. In an environment with so much in way between enemies, it would all come down to who could adapt to the terrain faster.

The silver-eyed girl absorbed the information, but she found herself a bit anxious about applying the knowledge. Firefights were very claustrophobic affairs, a fact that she had become acutely aware of in the past few days as she ran through drills. Also when taking into account that only live ammunition was being used and it was almost a miracle that there had been injuries or misfires at any time. Trigger discipline was an important thing to always be alert of, but to say that there was no itch was a lie.

Despite her personal reservations, Ruby didn't question what she was told nor did she ask for any further details unless absolutely necessary. There was an obstacle in front of her and she was given orders to overcome them at her own discretion given the tools and skills she had at her disposal. It was her job to get herself out of this mess.

So here she was, by herself, carrying nothing but the DMR in her hands, ten magazines for her rifle, and her M6D sidearm with additional mags. Her current position was a patch of forested area and she was right in the center. On her north, west, and south, there was nothing but open mountain and to her east, a cliff that went really far down. Basically, the exercise dictated that she was effectively trapped and she had to find a way out.

The fifteen-year old girl thought about her current situation very carefully. While this scenario was highly disadvantageous on paper, to say that she had no way to escape wasn't correct. Granted, no matter how she chose to make an exit, it would be risky, but she had an idea or two that could work.

Looking through the scope of her DMR, Ruby, kneeled quietly behind a boulder, watching for any signs of movement in the trees. When she saw nothing in front of her, she quickly took her eyes off her twelve o'clock and surveyed all around herself. Again, there were no contacts. It had been one hundred and four minutes since the scenario had begun and she had no idea when she would expect something to enter her crosshair.

She steadied her breathing, carefully reaching for the single bottle of water that she had bought from one of the villages that she and the Master Chief had passed by on their travels prior to Yang's arrival. The cool water in her throat caused her to shiver slightly, doing away with whatever boredom she might have accumulated. She then carefully placed the bottle by her side again.

Ruby began to carefully listen all around her for any signs of danger approaching her. It was just her and the quiet all around her. There was nothing else to hear except her soft breathing and her minimal movement shifts.

When the girl realized that there was nothing noteworthy to hear besides herself, she felt her hands hold her weapon tighter. Although higher up in the mountains, wild life was much more sparse, this kind of silence felt unnatural. Not even the occasional birds flying overhead and chirping were to be heard.

The silver-eyed girl felt her heartbeat rise a little. This was just a training exercise, yet she knew the feeling of fear running through her veins. There was about to be bullets and fire all around. Every single time, there were alway multiple hostiles fighting against her. The odds were always unfair to her.

Ruby raised herself up, taking one knee and looking down the scope of the DMR. She carefully shifted herself to keep scanning for enemies. She still didn't see anything, but her danger senses were tingling still.

And then out of nowhere, she spotted a sentry drone. It was easy to spot in a forest. Metal against greenery and wood was almost always easy to spot.

Time seemed to slow as she made sure the safety was off before closing her finger around the trigger. The flying robotic entity swerved around and just as it spotted her, she pulled the trigger.

Three pulls of the trigger resulted in three shots that landed on target, destroying the enemy contact. With that trio fired, her cover was effectively blown. Even if the next ones didn't see her, without a silencer for her rifle, the sound had given enough of her away.

Nevertheless, Ruby wasn't hasty enough to switch positions. She stayed where she was, only getting down to provide as much cover as she could for her own body with the barrel of her rifle sticking out enough for her to fire without any obstructions.

Then she waited as the seconds passed by. A breath in, a breath out. Her eyes slid to the display showing the number of rounds left in the magazine. There were twelve.

The sound of whirling machinery could be heard vaguely at her three o'clock. She moved to a kneeling position again in order to pivot from her current position more easily.

Ruby heard a weapon discharging and the resulting fire impacting a few meters near her position. She quickly swivelled the DMR to the rough direction where enemy contact was. She something that didn't look like it belonged to the landscape, so she fired on instinct. Two shots flew true and struck the tango, blowing it to pieces.

One more target. Ruby reminded herself. Then I'm moving right.

Another hail of shots came towards here. There had to be at least two enemies to her left. The silver-eyed marksman swung the barrel and took one second to choose her target before her trigger finger moved twice. Another satisfying explosion sounded.

With that, she swiftly gathered everything she needed before hopping down from her high point and retreating, using the surrounding trees as cover. She heard some shots impact nearby while others whizzed by her, indication that she was mere meters away from being hit. She had to find some cover fast.

Also, as always, aura wasn't permitted nor were semblances. If she got hit here, it would really hurt. It might even kill her, which was extra motivation to not get hit and get behind something. A pair of small boulders came into her view. They could only provide her decent protection if she kneeled. It would have to do.

Ruby slid into position, quickly pointing her DMR back from the direction that she came from. Again, she didn't pull the trigger immediately, opting to wait for her opponents to show themselves clearly. One eye closed as the other trained down the scope of her weapon. One sneaky little drone tried to use the trees as cover too. She timed her shot and managed to land one right, sending it flying to the ground.

"And stay down." Ruby muttered quietly.

A shot flew by her head, taking with it a few strands of her hair. Although she didn't visibly react, adrenaline surged through her as she ducked her head and rolled to her left. Five more shots rained down where she had just been. The sentries must've calculated a way to get at her even with the limited window.

Now that she was in front of a boulder, she no longer had any visibility, forcing her to rise to her knees. Impatience began to cloud her judgement as she fired four blind shots. There were only three rounds left in her mag.

One lucky shut grazed her right biceps, not enough to cause any serious or crippling damage, but it still hurt all the same.

"Ow!" Ruby grimaced slightly. "Fuck!"

If Yang were here right now, there would be plenty of scolding about the use of foul language. Certainly, the younger sister wouldn't have used it in the past, but the words were merely a natural response to something unwanted.

The last three bullets of her first magazine were discharged, taking down two more sentries.

Ruby saw her display read no further rounds.

RWBY - - - Halo

The Master Chief would not say it to his two trainees, but the hour prior to the two of them turning in for the night, he would observe the two of them while he stood watch. Initially, this was done in order for him to make sure that they weren't doing anything that could prove to be troublesome in the future. At this point, it was safe to say that the chances of disruptive elements happening were implausible, at least not from them directly.

Now his primary reason for watching them was to assess for any potential strengths and weaknesses in character. As he had told himself once before, Ruby's personality was much like Fred-104's: calm, stoic, and mostly serious; Yang was aggressive, decisive, and impatient, traits not dissimilar to Kelly-087. These were good jumping-off points, but if he planned to make a comprehensive profile for the two of them, he was going to need all the details he could get. That meant much observation.

There was no doubt that Ruby was going to get through her training one way or another. The younger girl didn't seem to register quitting as an option so far as the spartan could see it. She simply understood orders and followed them to the best of her abilities. To her, missions and the objectives that followed them were the ultimate meaning, the most important thing in the entire world.

By stark contrast, Yang was fueled by more emotional things, things like anger and care for her younger sister among other things. While those emotions granted her lots of power, they would ultimately be useless long-term. Perhaps it was far too early to be concerned about the potential issues that these unchecked emotions might create, but confronting such intense emotions was a first for the man.

John would never be so arrogant as to say that emotions had no place on the battlefield. That was certainly not true. Plenty of times during the Human-Covenant War, he had fought besides many men and women who were driven by extremely volatile emotions. This allowed any serviceman and woman to do things that were amazing even by Spartan standards. The difference between those instances and now was that he had to deal with it onl a daily basis rather than experience it in bursts.

In the end, the Master Chief would never voice his misgivings on the matter. While he was unaccustomed to working with such acute emotions, he simply treated them as a tool that he needed to familiarize himself with. Eventually, he hoped to having an in-depth understanding of them and how best to use them for his purposes.

So as he silently paced the entirety of the camp perimeter, watching for signs of enemy ambushes, he listened and occasionally watched the two girls.

"Yang, can we talk?" He heard Ruby's voice.

But the blonde girl ignored it, simply drinking water from her bottle and staring off into the distance.

"Yang." Ruby tried again, this time with more assertiveness. "I know that you can hear me."

Again, the elder sister didn't say a word.

"Monty Oum." Ruby growled quietly. "Would it kill you to say no? If you don't want to talk, just-"

"You don't get to do that." Yang interrupted with a quiet growl. "You don't get to point a gun at my head and act like everyone's just peachy."

Spartan 117 didn't add anything to the conversation, but he would agree that the extent that his first trainee went to in order to secure his second trainee's cooperation was extreme and unnecessary, but take-back's were no longer possible.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Ruby attempted to apologize. "It's not like I really wanted to shoot you. I was just… in a bad way, you know?"

"Tsk." Yang wasn't impressed by this excuse. "Like you running off to join this boot camp, cause that was a real doozy."

"You're not making any friends by being a bitch." Ruby, in return, wasn't happy with the attitude being thrown at her. "Say what you like, but I don't feel any different."

"Oh, I'm the bitch? That's rich coming from you." Yang chuckled humorlessly. "It takes one to know one, yeah?"

"Look, I just wanted to talk about something." Ruby seemed frustrated with the banter. "Are you going to let me finish or not?"

The fire between the two of them cackled and snapped. There were no other noticeable sounds to fill the void.

Twelve seconds passed before there was a sigh from Yang. "What?"

Whatever tension was between the two of them, it didn't appear to be enough to permanently damage their relationship, which meant that for now, they were at least capable of sorting out personal matters on their own.

"Moving forward, are we going to have any personal issues when it comes to live combat?" Ruby went forward to the heart of the matter. "If there's anything I should know about, say it now."

"If you're asking whether or not we're going to have problems when fighting, then no." Yang's response was distant and cold. "I hate you right now and I don't forgive you… but you're still my sister."

Ruby appeared torn about the wording. "I guess that'll work… and thanks."

"Mhm." Yang clearly wanted to end this conversation.

John silently nodded his head in approval. Although the younger girl had much to learn when it came to leadership, this instance had shown that she had the ability to push past unpleasant things and remain professional. Any good leader knew that disgruntled subordinates would perform poorly. Thus, it fell to a leader to take all the personnel under their command and make sure they understood that no matter what they might feel for each other, the mission and their lives took precedence.

It was a fine line between authority and friendship, one that the Master Chief knew all about and to this day, he still struggled with. Even among his fellow spartans, he had wanted to join in with when they reminded themselves of the old days or joked playfully with each other, but he could never quite bring himself to join in. He always maintained a professional distance between himself and everyone else. Excluding his spartan family, he was friendly to everyone that he met, but he would never become friends with anyone.

There were only a few instances where that rule had been broken, but they were under very special circumstances.

Sergeant Major Avery Johnson.

Arbiter Thel 'Vadam.

Cortana.

"Yang, do you… need any help?" Ruby began talking again. "You know, with your weapon?"

"No, thanks." Yang's response was clipped.

"... can I look at it anyways?" Ruby tried again.

"You have your own." Yang shifted her M90 shotgun closer to her. "Scratch that, you've got a rifle AND a sidearm. I've only got this, so that's a double no."

"I just want to look." Ruby sounded hopeful still. "You know, in case we have to switch weapons for some reason."

Yang regarded her opposite for a moment before speaking again. "It's not going to happen, Ruby. It'll never happen, so do me a favor, will you? Just keep your shit away from mine, and shut the fuck up."

With that, the blonde girl swiftly grabbed her weapon, stuffed some shells into her belt pouches, then stalked over to where the spartan was slowly walking the perimeter.

"Chief, I'm ready to take watch." Yang made her request known.

Normally, John would have denied her request on the grounds that it wasn't part of the schedule, but in light of what he had heard and given the strained relationship between the two sisters, he wasn't sure it was a good idea keeping them together.

"Affirmative." The Master Chief nodded. "Wake Ruby up at 0130 hours."

"Yeah, copy that." Yang sighed loudly.

With heavy footsteps the spartan carried himself back to the fire, sitting himself down on the log that the brawler had occupied moments before. The resident marksman lifted her head up to stare at him.

"She'll be fine." Those were the only words he could offer.

Ruby didn't show any visible reaction, only lowering her head to stare into the fire, a contemplative look in her eyes.

At a time like this, John really wished that he had the assistance of someone like Kurt. He was one of the Spartan-II's that made a genuine effort to get to know people and try to understand them. A skill like that seemed irrelevant in the face of the Human-Covenant War. All that was needed was an adherence to orders and completing the mission. Talking to people about matters other than the task at hand was counterproductive.

But unusual times called for unusual measures.

Halo - - - RWBY

Blake Belladonna wasn't doing anything in particular right now, merely waiting around for her partner, Adam Taurus, to finish up with taking stock of their supplies. It was a slow day and there was little chance of action taking place.

While she knew this, the newer recruits were much less controlled with their emotions. Many of them were young, some around her age, but the difference between her and them was that she had been at this for most of life and knew the reality of this life while they didn't. She was practically born into this life.

But if she were being completely honest with herself, the White Fang was shifting in so many ways that didn't sit well with her. There was no debating that since Sienna Khan became High Leader, the organization had been producing results, far better ones than during the days of peaceful protest. In many ways, certain aspects of society all across the world had changed for the better for Faunus, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that this newfound change wasn't born out of respect, but out of fear.

When Blake imagined a world where the Faunus could be treated fairly alongside Humans, she had imagined that there would be less fear and more compassion, but considering that she was still a part of the White Fang and considering that she willingly and knowingly employed their current tactics, was she really in a position to think like an idealist?

Don't think about it like that. The cat faunus rationalized to herself. Extreme tactics are necessary to show everyone that we've had enough of being pushed around.

Maybe it was because it had been a while since she had seen society and been a part of it in a normal capacity. Living as she had for close to five years, it was hard to look at the world through the eyes of the starry-eyed, idealistic little girl that she used to be. It was expected that many personal sacrifices would be made in favor of the mission, but breaks were hard to come by, especially with the way things were being run now.

Adam in particular ran a tight ship. He wasn't very tolerant of mistakes and he expected a great deal from all the people under his command. Plenty of people knew his name and respected him for his combative skills alone, but there was also something else that motivated people to not fail: fear.

Blake knew the feeling well because in all honesty, she felt it herself. The man she viewed as her mentor and best friend projected an aura that was not easy to deal with. She couldn't even remember the last thing she had felt any sort of friendly disposition coming from him.

She had never talked to Adam about this. She had a feeling that he wouldn't appreciate it. He might be the most lenient when it came to her, but even she didn't want to push her luck. He was busy enough without her adding more to his list of things to do.

What was the next mission going to be about?

Reporting for duty.

Yes, it's me, except with a few new tools and skills under my belt. I've got some time before I move to new and better things. My contract isn't all that long all things considered, but it's enough that I can learn a great deal.

I've got nothing to say about this chapter. I've been rereading and in light of the training that I've undergone, some of it could use improvement, something I intend to rectify in later chapters. While BCT and AIT have taught me a foundation, my first duty station will teach me a specific SOP, their way of doing things.

For more info about what I'm doing, refer to my profile note or PM me.

Thanks for reading.

-Ktyou