CHAPTER 17: OPERATION COUNTER-TERRORISM

0914 Hours, October 5, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas

The Master Chief honestly had only considered trainup when it came to his recruits. They had a long way to go before they met his standards and reflecting back on his own training during his childhood years, it was clear that he had to make some adjustments to his schedule in order to produce similar results.

Rose and Xiao Long weren't children; like civilians who entered into military service, they had lived lives, which meant that they were going to be harder to mold into what he needed. While their prior experience in fighting was certainly useful to speeding up training, their mentalities needed some work. In that regard, both were going to be challenges, although the latter currently presented the greater problem than the former.

However, it seemed that his two female recruits had at least come to a sort of understanding which would allow them to put aside any major differences and focus on whatever task was at hand, which was a step in the right direction. As long as they were professional towards each other, how they handled their personal business was not his concern nor his priority.

But the spartan also had to consider the fact that whatever spare time they did have wasn't exactly private per say. For better or worse, the three of them had to sleep together, work together, and travel together. He had more to consider than he ever did with his fellow spartans and even with other troops.

And today was about to get a lot more interesting apparently.

Their journey through the mountains separating the Kingdom of Vale from the coast to the far east had yielded a very interesting result: a clear plume of smoke rising in the distance. There had been no recent weather that could trigger a fire, which could only mean one thing: there was someone else up here.

Not even a hundred meters of travel later did they spot a very recognizable symbol, a tiger's head and three claw marks behind it, all of it red against a white flag.

The White Fang.

Once he spotted this flag, he signaled for a halt, then he motioned for everyone to gather around him and take a knee.

While dealing with international terrorists was not on John's list of tasks he needed to accomplish, he could certainly do with the practice not only for Rose and Xiao Long, but also for himself. It had been a while since he had dealt with insurgencies and it was good to get back to his roots. Fighting Covenant, the Flood, and Forerunners had become something he simply had to adapt to fight.

Familiarity was nice for a change.

One look at his trainees made it perfectly clear that they were eager to get in on some action, but only a fool would charge into a situation blind. They needed to do some recon on the terrain, the layout of this base, and the numbers inside. Scouting alone could take the better part of half a day.

"Before we assault the base, we need to recon the entire area." The Master Chief told them. "Two of us will get in closer, one of you will stay behind to pull security."

"Roger that, Chief." Ruby nodded her head, disappointed but still compliant. "Should we… set up a patrol base?"

The spartan nodded his head. "We'll take fifteen minutes to hydrate, eat some food, and do weapon checks."

"Too easy." Yang looked more excited than he had ever seen her.

Their food consisted of hunted game as well as a few edible berries they had found while ascending the mountains and the occasional greens. They had gathered enough for about a week's worth.

Water was plentiful, even up here. It was no doubt cleaner than what they would find at ground level, but each time they drank or stored water, they made sure to purify it before considering it safe to consume.

As for weapons, the Master Chief had armed himself with a BR55 Heavy Barrel Service Rifle and an M6D . This was going to most likely be a mid to close range engagement and in the event of dealing with aura users, he was going to use his concealed plasma pistol as well as some more unconventional tactics.

Rose was going with the M395 Designated Marksman Rifle alongside an M6D. She was an expert shooter to be sure so he had no concerns about her hitting targets. He just hoped that her head would stay in the game. He couldn't say that he didn't have concerns about her ability to perform in an actual combat scenario.

Xiao Long had been given an M739 Squad Automatic Weapon and an M90 Close Assault Weapon System. Her job was to keep heads down if the superior numbers of the enemy spotted them before their numbers were reduced. If she hit or killed targets, then all the better. For once, a lack of restraint was going to be useful.

After function checks and dry fires were conducted, everyone loaded their live rounds and settled themselves into their respective roles.

Xiao Long was in charge of guarding their small and rather ineffectual patrol base. Normally, a patrol base required at least a platoon's worth of strength, but they would have to make do with the three of them.

Rose would be taking point and it would be up to her to spot anything unusual or suspicious while on approach to the enemy encampment. She had an eye for detail and she had been furthering her practical knowledge. Hopefully, it would be enough.

Once his first trainee made it ten meters, he began to follow her, taking note of their surroundings while she led them both. It would be up to him to cover their six o'clock as well as their nine o'clock.

While they made their way, the two of them were as quiet with their footsteps as possible, Even the Master Chief, with MJOLNIR was able to be silent and the sharpshooter girl, given her nature as a sniper, she knew how to be silent, at least to the extent that he could teach her. Linda would have been a much better teacher.

The next few minutes were spent moving in relative silence, their footsteps being the only unusual sounds. Up here, there wasn't much wildlife aside from some birds flying overhead, but they were crowing and singing a storm, which was a good thing. Whenever the birds went silent, that was a dead giveaway to human life.

Or in this case, faunus life.

Ruby lifted her hand up to form a first, which prompted him to stop moving for a second and quickly scan their surroundings. Right in front of them, there appeared to be a clearing up ahead and while MJOLNIR might blend in with the forest, his point woman was much smaller than him. On the other hand, while her attire had improved considerably, she wasn't wearing anything remotely close to being camouflage.

He wondered if maybe he could materialize some Marine BDU's for her.

"Chief." Rose whispered. "You're gonna want to see this."

He quickly shuffled his way to her, taking a knee behind a decently sized tree, about a meter away from her.

"What do you see?" The spartan couldn't see anything without exposing himself.

Rose's head looked left and right, a few breaths coming from her mouth before she reported. "Seven tents, two large, four medium, one small. I count at least sixteen, might be another handful in the tents, I can't confirm - oh shit."

The girl ducked lower.

"What?" John took note of her slightly panicked tone.

Rose gave him a grave look. "That's Adam Taurus, high-profile White Fang member. He's one of Vale's most wanted criminals."

Prior experience taught the Master Chief that high-value targets had many uses. His thoughts drifted to his first mission against the Insurrectionists. Colonel Robert Watts was the first high-value target that he and the Spartan-II's had captured. His intelligence was crucial to the understanding of how rebel cells were reorganizing and attacking the UNSC.

Still, he needed more details. "Why is he a high-value target?"

"I don't know all the details, but he's supposed to be a big shot or something." Rose whispered. "There's also a rumor that he's on par with a fully trained and professional huntsman."

The spartan frowned behind his helmet. "I've never seen a huntsman fight before."

"...are you being serious, Chief?" Rose tilted her head to the right.

John merely stared at her, his visor giving away on indication of his. This in turn seemed to make her realize the gaps in his knowledge of anything huntsman-related.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Sorry, Chief." Ruby fished for her scroll, muted the volume, then began playing videos. "This might help."

They didn't have enough time to do an in-depth viewing, but a minute was more than enough for him to get an idea of what he was getting into.

And what he was seeing was concerning.

But no matter how concerned he felt, he wasn't about to turn away from a threat to the people of this world.

He would fight and he would win.

No… they would fight and they would win.

Halo - - - RWBY

1000 Hours

Ruby honestly was feeling many things right now.

She was about to put her training to use and she couldn't be more excited. While she certainly did appreciate all the long hours of practice with the skills given to her, being able to apply them in a real setting and see the results was going to show her if this was all worth it. She hoped that it would be.

At the same time, her hands did shake a little at the prospect of killing again. Even to this day, she still replayed the death of the bandit in her head during downtimes. However, the death didn't shock her anymore. Instead, it just felt like she couldn't figure out what it meant to her, how she was supposed to feel about it.

Maybe a past version of herself would've damned her current self. It made sense considering how much she had changed from then. The idea that a huntress took any life other than the Grimm was simply impossible and unacceptable. Huntresses were heroes and heroes didn't stoop to the worst crime in all of Mankind's history.

Now? That same line of thinking no longer had any effect on her.

But that still didn't answer the question that still gnawed at her.

Would she be able to take more lives again?

This was the wrong time to be having thoughts, especially since she had the Master Chief had split up. Her job demanded that she take up a position on higher ground overlooking the camp. While she provided accurate fire from above, he would infiltrate the camp and take down enemy fighters as quietly as possible.

Ruby shifted her prone position on the ground, quietly shifting her DMR against the rock that her barrel was resting against. As soon as the element of surprise was lost, it would be up to her to pick off targets wherever applicable. She would have to move around at least once or twice so she wouldn't be targeted herself.

In order to facilitate communications between them all, they had linked their comms and were monitoring statuses with lights coded to mean certain things. In this case, since they weren't maintaining radio silence, status lights weren't going to be used.

The assault would commence in about one minute. Before it did, a final confirmation that everyone was in position would be sent out.

Then the real fun would start.

Ruby took a breath in, held it, then breathed out, then held again for a few seconds. All she needed to do was remember her shooting fundamentals and make sure to maintain situational awareness. Keep it simple and she would make it out of this alive, nothing else to it.

She briefly opened her non-dominant eye in order to better track movement down below. She was confident enough in her shooting to be able to aim and fire quickly and on instinct.

No, it wasn't about confidence. She had to do her job perfectly.

She wouldn't think about failing. That wasn't in the cards.

"Alpha team, this is Alpha 1-1." That was the Master Chief. "Radio check."

Ruby cued in. "This is Alpha 1-2, good copy."

"...this is Alpha 1-3, good to go." Yang chimed in last.

It wasn't exactly radio terminology, but she was present.

"Alpha team, Wolf Hunt." Their leader spoke the code phrase. "I say again, Wolf Hunt."

Those two words were the start of the assault. Everyone now needed to get their head in the game.

The expert shooter steadied her breathing and began to look through her scope, identifying targets and prioritizing them. Certain ones would need to be shot first so that the Master Chief could move up as planned.

She focused on one faunus that was nearby the starting point of the mission. She focused her sights on him and watched him. He must be tired and bored judging from his sluggish posture and yawning.

Ruby saw from behind the target something that seemed like part of the background, yet was moving at the same time. Then the terrorist had a look of shock on his face followed by his neck twisting unnaturally to the side. Before the body collapsed, some unseen force quietly pulled it out of view.

That was the Chief, she realized.

She struggled to come up with the device he was using.

What was it again?

… active camouflage?

Yeah, that sounded right.

There wasn't much of an explanation and only a brief demonstration. It was one thing to see the giant disappear in front of her. Even though the tech was pretty awesome, she could make it out, probably because she was actively looking for it. From a distance, it was much more difficult to spot clearly. It probably worked best when a person wasn't aware of it or what to look for.

The girl with silver eyes maintained steady breathing as she tracked the Master Chief as he moved across the battle space with such grace and silence that seemed unfitting for someone of his size and stature. Clearly, he had spent plenty of time in his armor training for scenarios like this one.

Another nearby guard noticed that there was a missing sentry and moved to investigate, which put him right into the killzone. She took aim and steadied her breath, ready to shoot, but hoping she wouldn't have to.

A shimmer appeared behind the target and the faunus man with round ears atop his head was lifted off the ground, his mother covered, and he was silenced as swiftly as the first kill, then moved out of sight and out of mind.

So far, so good. Ruby felt herself relax slightly, but her dominant eye was still close to the optic.

She took another breath in, held it, then let it out quickly. Then she shifted her body and her weapon so she could shift her view and follow the Master Chief.

His form paused, then his radio came over the comms. "Alpha team, radio check, how copy?"

"Alpha 1-3, no contacts." This time, Yang responded first. "Say again, no targets."

Ruby was next. "Alpha 1-2, tracking your progress, 1-1."

"...honored." The Master Chief acknowledged them. "Out."

They were all still in the game, but that wasn't surprising. They had been silent like a shadow. The check-in with the team was procedure, but it seemed a little too early to be using it. Maybe he was sensing something?

Or maybe he was more concerned about her and Yang. That made more sense because he knew exactly what he was doing here. The half-sisters might be warriors in their own right, but never in their lives had they conducted a combat operation like this. To make things even more challenging, subtlety was far from their expertise level, thus this was a learning experience and a deadly one at that.

Ruby realized that her index finger had unconsciously bent into the trigger well of her weapon. She straightened out the appendix quickly, then tilted her head. The weapon was definitely not on safe, but rather semi. She let out a breath, trying once again to calm herself down.

Then she focused again. There were two enemies in the way of the Master Chief. Both of them would need to be taken down in quick succession if the element of surprise was to be maintained.

A problem that didn't seem to be of much issue to the giant because the two White Fang members were instantly swept off their feet and taken out of the equation before either could sound any alarm.

Why am I even doubting him? Ruby scoffed at her own doubt. It's the Master Chief. He's never failed before. I don't think he even knows how to fail.

One day, she would become on his level.

One day.

Ruby's eyes spotted another three. This time, they were spread apart in an open area surrounded by tents. There was no way that they were going to be able to take them all down without at least one noticing something was off at the very least.

"Alpha 1-2, engage, engage." The Master Chief spoke in the radio.

"Copy."

The fifteen-year-old girl set her sights on the closest target.

She closed her non-dominant eye.

Her index finger closed on the trigger.

She steadied her body, taking a deep breath in.

She pulled the trigger.

Because the target had no aura, she could make out a spurt of blood from where her shot connected before the body collapsed.

She saw this very clearly, but she took no time to process this as her weapon shifted to her next target.

A breath out, then in.

A firm trigger pull.

A shot in the upper torso, right in the heart.

Nearby, the Chief had swiftly eliminated his target and with the death of those three, so too left their cover.

Ruby moved to a kneeling position, prepared to switch positions on a dime. Swiftness and violence of action were going to win the day here.

The thought that she had just killed two people was unimportant.

Who's next?

Probably Taurus.

RWBY - - - Halo

1032 Hours

Yang heard the shots being fired and more than anything, she wanted to get in on that action. It wasn't in her nature to simply sit on the sidelines and let the action get away from her. For a second, she was about to leave her current position and just do whatever she pleased. She could take down some dudes no problem. The White Fang couldn't be that much of a threat, otherwise she'd hear more about it.

And even then, the brawler wouldn't back down from a fight like that. No matter who she was fighting, she would always be the first one to step out and the last one to leave. Some would call her stupid for throwing herself into battle recklessly without so much as a thought, but that was just what she did and she wouldn't change it for anyone, not even her family.

One day, Yang would fight even the Master Chief. She simply saw it as an inevitability. They were simply too different from each other to see eye to eye. No matter his attempts to meet her in the middle, she wouldn't be satisfied if she couldn't settle things on her own terms. When this fight would happen, she didn't know, but it would happen one day.

The blonde girl sighed explosively. Simply pulling security was such a boring job that she was now ranting to herself. Something exciting needed to happen.

She gazed down below. She saw some large rocks, a few scattered trees and bushes, and then a black blur moving among it all.

… wait, a black blur moving?

Yang carefully set her right eye through the iron sights of her weapon while scanning with her left eye. A second look indicated clearly that there were two distinct moving blurs and they looked humanoid in shape.

Reinforcements?

She didn't know.

What was she supposed to do?

She wasn't sure if they were with the White Fang, but up here, what were the chances of them being anything else other than terrorists?

The black figure got closer and she could now clearly see a more distinct humanoid shape. However, as the person came closer steadily, it was clear there was no mask.

Is that… a girl? Yang couldn't help but look again.

Indeed it was a lone girl dressed mostly in black with a white undershirt with a bow on top of her head. Raven-black hair and a pair of golden eyes accompanied her look. She appeared serious and focused. Additionally, she was armed and her body language indicated experience wielding the weapons she carried.

The machine gunner wasn't sure who she was, but the fact she was dangerous and she was unknown. She might not be wearing a mask like the White Fang traditionally did, but that meant nothing. There were plenty of stories of undercover members blending into society to recruit and none of them wore the usual garb associated with the terrorist group.

But before just to make sure…

Yang stood up and took aim, her aura flaring up in defense. "Stop right there!"

The reaction was instant; the girl backpedaled and fired her weapon, either a pistol or an SMG, it was hard to tell when adrenaline kicked in. In response, the SAW gunner fired a few rounds. The kick was less than she expected, but the weapon was loud and her aim was true. Unfortunately, the black-clad girl was good, swifting finding cover.

"So we're playing hide and seek?" Yang intoned quietly to herself. "Outstanding."

The blonde fired where she last saw the other girl, pouring fire. The opponent wasn't content to stay in place. With unnatural speed, the enemy began to weave to the right. The SAW merely followed the path with burst fire giving way quickly to cyclic fire.

Until the drum magazine ran out of rounds.

"Fuck!" Yang felt her hands shaking as she removed the drum and fumbled for her next one.

Video games made reloading look so easy, but it didn't take into account her shaking hands from adrenaline, the removing of a fresh drum and the securing of the old one, and the concern that she could be flanked at any second if she didn't hurry her ass up.

Which proved to be her undoing as she found herself being attacked from the front with a sword strike. Using her aura and coating her weapon in a protective shield, she intercepted the strike, then used her strength to push back and force her opponent to retreat a few meters.

Yang leveled her weapon again and got a good look at who she was dealing with. The girl was of a modest build, neither big nor small. She was brandishing a katana and a sheathe. She likely had a transforming weapon seeing as there was no firearm visible. Just noting those things told some key facts.

She's got an aura. The brawler made some mental notes. Probably built for hit and run tactics. Not really that strong. She got a semblance?

"Who are you?" Golden eyes narrowed, but she didn't attack. "How did you find us?"
Yang wasn't in the mood to talk. "Don't know and don't care. You can ask the Chief about that… assuming you get past me, which you won't."

"You're military." The terrorist made her own deductions.

Yang scoffed. "Does is look like we're fucking military? You know what, why are we talking? We're fighting!"

It was the right call to get back into the flow of combat. The girl launched forward with speed expected of an aura wielder, then did something unexpected; she projected what looked like an image of herself, maybe a clone. Instinctively, the brawler lashed out, dispatching the fake in a second, giving the real one time to hide herself.

Without a clear visual, the blonde girl began scanning her surroundings for a sign. She might be hiding, she might be retreating, or she might be going around. Either way, dark and brooding wasn't going anywhere. She was going to make for a decent release of anger, frustration, and a bunch of other emotional shit.

Her ears picked up a sound that didn't seem to fit with the mountainous terrain.

Yang poured aura into her legs and leaped into the air, just in time to see the enemy strike where she had previously stood. She began firing the SAW at the ground, pouring rounds at a rate faster than golden eyes could dodge or deflect. A shimmer of aura was first, then a groan of pain.

With moments from impacting the ground, the SAW was switched with the shotgun and a brutal close-quarters combat engagement ensued.

The brawler shot once, the weapon kicking back violently in her hands, but the shot was true, the aura of the black-haired girl shimmering dangerously low. Wasting no time, a followup slam to the head via buttstock connected, forcing the weaker female to the ground. In response, the downed terrorist tried to crawl backwards in a desperate attempt to move out of range, but the shotgun's barrel came up to her chest.

"Keep moving back, I dare you!" Yang taunted her. "I'll blow you to fuckin' kingdom come while you're at it!"

The situation was becoming dire for golden eyes as she adopted a feral look before charging forward, intent on doing damage. To her credit, black and brooding was fast, no surprise given her build.

But not fast enough. Yang wasn't even phased. I've dealt with faster.

The blonde girl sidestepped, then once again used to butt stock of her shotgun to deliver a nasty blow to the back of the head. A shimmer of aura could be seen from the smaller girl before it winked out of existence entirely. This was followed by an undignified collapse to the ground with no sign of getting back up.

"Too much?" Yang aimed her weapon, inspecting the fallen foe. "Wow, she's weaker than I thought."

The tip of the barrel poked the prone female.

No response.

Yang felt a groan escape her lips. "Well, shit, nobody told me what to do about a wounded enemy. What to do?"

The sound of weapons fire in the distance indicated that people were still fighting. Regardless, the brawler still had a job to cover this place until she got some kind of signal that the mission was over.

Swiping some blonde hair out of her face, she gave one last look at the unconscious faunus girl before making a decision.

"Let's hope you're useful to the Chief." Yang gingerly hauled the terrorist onto her shoulders.

This was definitely not what she had signed up for.

But it was fighting.

So that counted for something.

"Oh, well." Yang mumbled to herself while carrying her POW. "It is what it is."

Halo - - - RWBY

1050 Hours

The Master Chief had known this battle was coming from a kilometer away. Still, he couldn't help but feel himself get his head deeper into the game.

Adam Taurus was the highest-ranking member of the White Fang in this camp and if rumors were to be believed, he was perhaps the de facto leader of the terrorist group in all of the Kingdom of Vale. His capture or death would prove to be a boon. Taking him down was easier said than done.

But the spartan knew he was going in with a disadvantage. Although MJOLNIR was providing him with all the applicable physical enhancements, he had no shielding. As far as he could tell, the system was simply inoperable, so he had to use shielding equipment to make up for it. Once he had confirmed all other targets were down, he swapped his active camouflage for a Promethean Hardlight Shield. He would need it.

What was surprising was that somehow, Taurus had not picked up on activity going on inside his own camp. Faunus were supposed to have enhanced senses that normal humans didn't have. Maybe that only applied to a specific type of faunus and the trait they were born with. Either way, the red-haired man's ignorance was useful.

Only now did two faces show up. One was Taurus, but the other was a man garbed in typical White Fang attire, but his weapon of choice, a chainsaw, clearly marked him as someone different, not to mention the bigger physical build.

"A Mech." Taurus scoffed, almost as if looking down on him. "Looks like Atlas is actually learning."

John braced himself for a fight, all the while keying into his comm. "Alpha 1-2, this is Alpha 1-1."

Taurus was wasting no time in swinging his blade, an arc of energy lancing outward. On instinct, the Master Chief dropped to the ground and rolled out of the way, the deadly wave passing over him.

"Alpha 1-1, this is Alpha 1-2. Send your traffic." Rose's response was swift.

The spartan responded while firing his weapon. "ETA to new location?"

"...ETA two mikes."

"Roger that."

They were going to play this with a little bit of treachery. Neither White Fang leaders seemed to realize that an enemy sniper was in their camp.

Taurus's moves, to any normal person, were nothing more than momentary blurs of movement. To a spartan that could perceive every single detail in combat, they were manageable. That didn't take away from the fact that he was a true sword master. His offense was efficient, ferocious, and perhaps a little feral.

John used his right gauntlet to intercept a downward strike, then followed up with his own combat knife. Taurus then disengaged for a split second before attempting another slash. The larger man grabbed the blade, twisted it to the side and went for a head butt. This proved to only stun for a few seconds before the opponent rightened himself.

The Master Chief took note of the chainsaw-wielding for, bearing in mind not to forgot that one either.

"Not bad for a mech." Taurus seemed almost impressed.

The spartan couldn't care less about exchanging words with a terrorist.

They were here to fight.

And he was going to win.

First chapter update of 2022. Apologies for the long wait. I didn't take leave until the holidays last year and frankly speaking, I needed that break. I may not regret my choice to join the Army, but sometimes, my job can really grind at my gears.

But enough about that. We're now getting into the nitty-gritty details of combat. I'm sure that many of you have an idea or an opinion about which side is better. Some people are salty about the fact that Master Chief still doesn't have shields. However, that's a story detail that goes back to his fight with the Didact in Halo 4. That's just story consistency. As for fights, just read and find out.

Thoughts on this chapter? Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading and I hope that all do great things in 2022!