CHAPTER 18: OPERATION FIGHT UP

1050 Hours, October 5, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas

The Master Chief felt himself settling into his current situation: dealing with terrorists. This was what his training as a Spartan was originally meant to prepare him for and it felt strangely satisfying to return to his roots. However, to say that this would be a typical encounter with a terrorist was false.

Adam Taurus was a fighter, one that acquitted himself accordingly. A terrorist and perhaps a zealout he might be, he was no fool nor was he inexperienced. Clearly the man had been through his share of combat to be able to hold his own like he was now.

The faunus sheathed his blade, then activated his firing mechanism, causing the blade to launch at the spartan grip-first. The move was fast, but still the much-taller man swatted the weapon aside, then charged forward. With his knife in his left hand, he thrust forward. In response, Taurus tried to grab the hand with the knife and throw him over the shoulder, a poor choice with half a ton of weight combined with superhuman-level resistance.

Instead, John took a knee, which resulted in the White Fang leader being forced to bend backwards. With a free hand, the armor-clad man delivered a solid fist to his enemy's left side. The result was no physical damage, but he saw a flicker of red energy, an indicator that a considerable amount of aura had been depleted to shield the body.

In the awkward position the two combatants were in, the other terrorist wielding a chain saw tried to take advantage of the Chief's position be striking. Instead, the spartan grabbed Taurus and swung him around so that he could use the man as a shield. The result was the red-haired fighter being flung to the side due to the force of the chain saw blade. Following up, a bawled first came up to deliver an uppercut to the wide-open terrorist. The sheer force was enough to send the man clad in white up a few meters and away a few more.

In that time frame, Taurus had recovered his blade and was on the offensive. John brandished his knife and prepared for the onslaught. Countless encounters with sword-wielding Sangeheili had taught him enough about sword combatants to be able to compete. In particular, Taurus was clearly of the mindset that the best defense was a relentless offense, an ideal strategy if the opponent could not properly counterattack.

The Master Chief was not lacking for defense.

A downward slash intercepted with his armored forearm. A sideways swing clashed with a flick of the wrist and a combat knife. A momentary contest of strength ensued and with slight surprise, the spartan felt a bit of resistance at the other end. A man of Taurus's build should not be able to output this much strength, meaning that his aura was clearly augmenting his capabilities along with his natural abilities.

Although interesting to note and consider later, it wasn't anything he hadn't seen before. Brutes put out monstrous levels of strength and he had handily dealt with them before and easily over the course of time. There was no need to overcomplicate this fight because he was still the stronger one.

With assistance from MJOLNIR, the Master Chief's exerted more of his strength, overpowering Taurus for a moment before engaging, then brought up his hardlight shield and brute-force his opponent to the ground. Another red flash around the smaller man, and this time, it seemed more prominent.

He must be running low. The spartan noted. A little more and we're done here.

Aura seemed to act like an energy shield; the difference was that the former traded rechargeability with longevity. That meant while sustained exposure to dangerous elements in combat was viable, the combatant was much more vulnerable once they no longer had the aura to protect them.

The White Fang leader seemed to have reached the same conclusion. He moved away to retrieve his blade. His movements were much faster and a little bit more wild. Somehow, he had found the speed to gather his blade and go on the offensive again.

John settled himself into a defensive stance, but he also took note of how Taurus always went for his blade the moment he was separated from it. The first time was a chance and the second was a coincidence.

The man in black and red adopted an even more frenzied offensive, trading polish and fluidity for sheer rapidity and power. Granted, such a tactic would work on anyone without acceptable defenses. Some new moves were utilized as well; launching the blade in a spinning arc, some kicks delivered in the sequences, some attempted grapples. Although losing his cool, Taurus was executing with fluidity that could only come with training to the point of being instinctual.

Meanwhile, the White Fang subordinate with the chainsaw had come back and was now circling, looking for an opportunity to strike back. Although dealing with two enemies of this calibur wasn't impossible nor extremely difficult, there was no sense in making things hard when they didn't have to be.

"Alpha 1-2, status?" The Master Chief keyed into his comms while defending.

A moment, then an answer from Rose. "Alpha 1-2, standing by to engage enemies."

"Do you have a positive I.D. on Taurus and his plus one?"

"Roger, I've got eyes on 'em."

The spartan kept an eye on the second target within his peripheral vision. "Engage plus one, how copy?"

"...A-firm. Moving to engage."

The familiar sound of the DMR reverberated all around. The chainsaw-wielder caught one in the arm, resulting in a momentary flash of white.

Aura on that one too.

"Another one!" Taurus caught on. "Find them! Kill them!"

"Yes, sir!" His man responded without question, then scoured away to find Rose.

Now it was a pure one-on-one.

Adam readied his weapon to attack once more. This was beginning to become more manageable. Clear patterns and habits were starting to show things that could be easily exploited, such as the consistent move of sheathing and unsheathing, an illogical move when the enemy was still not eliminated.

Taurus slashed left ninety degrees two times, then swung a full 180, then right at a full 180, then a pullback and a thrust.

The spartan grabbed the wrist and unlike the prior attempt, this time the grapple was successful, sending the faunus man flat on his back. The downed combatant had no time to react as a gauntlet curled into a first slammed into the dead center of his chest.

The red aura surrounding appeared to shatter like glass. Not only that, but the feeling of the sternum and ribs breaking could be felt as well. The effect of the physical damage was instant as Taurus cried out in pain.

With the enemy properly subdued, a decision had to be made.

This man was a source of information regarding the White Fang and potentially much more. It would be advantageous if said information could be obtained. However, this option was somewhat risky seeing as interrogation might not necessarily be the best choice given the characteristics that this one showed.

The second option was simply to hand Taurus over to the proper authorities and let them process him according to the laws of Vale. There were problems with this option as well; not only was he a liability that his team had to care for, but he could also become a future problem, a future revenge problem to be more specific.

The third was the simplest and safest option: terminate the threat and potential security risk. This was the most absolute solution to deal with the threat present as well as close the door on potential future issues. The downside was that there was nothing to be gained here. Documents and paper could tell some things, but people knew things too.

"...um, Alpha 1-3 to Alpha 1-1, copy?"

That was Xiao Long.

The spartan opened the channel. "This is Alpha 1-1, send your traffic, 1-3."

"Found a straggler near our patrol base. Took her down and tied her up. Think she's got important intel."

"Interrogative: what sort of important intel?"

"She could be carrying info about movements in Vale's area. Looks like she's got close ties to leadership here if her possessions are anything to go by."

"What is the physical status of the POW?"

"... uh… some bruises and bleeding, but nothing major. She should be able to walk on her own without problems… I think."

While some of Xiao Long's language wasn't exactly correct in terms of talking on the radio, John understood the gist of her situation. In fact, what he was hearing on her end made things on his end a lot more easier.

His decision was clear now.

The Master Chief drew his sidearm and pointed it squarely at Taurus's forehead.

"You humans will pay." The redhead managed to wheeze out some last words. "The faunus will beat you."

For the last time, the spartan said nothing in response.

He pulled the trigger.

Thus the White Fang had lost its leadership.

Halo - - - RWBY

1058 Hours

Ruby kept a constant watch on the White-Fang dude with the chainsaw. Whenever he was in her sights, she would take a shot, hitting him each time in order to deplete his aura just a little more in preparation for the more close-quarters combat that was to come.

She had no question that this was going to be a fight where someone would lose their life. They had already killed scores of grunts making their way through the camp. There was going to be no room for talking, at least not of the negotiating kind.

Which was just fine with the marksman. She wanted to see if she was capable of contending with fifty meters or less. Close-quarters combat had never been her strong suit, but sooner or later, she was going to have to learn to do it.

And what better teacher was there than experience… provided that she lived to use it down the road.

Ruby carefully went from cover to cover, never staying out in the open for more than ten seconds if she could help it. She could easily use her semblance to transition to her next piece of cover in a fraction of a second, but lately she hadn't been using that, or even her aura for that matter.

Pointless? Probably. The former scythe-wielder commented to herself. But whatever, I can use them if I need to. I'll think of it as a personal challenge.

She slid behind a large rock, got in the prone, and began scanning for her query. There was no sign of him, but she could hear the distant, but distinct sound of a chainsaw motor. While a problem for him, it wasn't for her.

Ruby got to her feet and once again moved to a piece of cover closer to the noise. Her eyes pierced through the trees and for a moment, she saw a flash of white. She snapped her weapon up to fire. The shot didn't hit, but it did alert him.

"Shit." The silver-eyed girl got behind a tree.

She wasn't sure how many rounds she had left in her mag. Deciding it would be wiser to know for sure, she reloaded a fresh mag, her hands shaking which made her take more time to do what would normally be a simple task.

Ruby steadied herself and looked through her optic. She didn't have a positive I.D. on target. She briefly debated whether or not to continue moving. The last thing she wanted to do was needlessly move into a trap. On the other hand, she was the only ranged fighter and it would be to her advantage to kill her target where she couldn't be touched.

I'll sit for a minute. The fifteen-year-old girl realized that she was breathing hard. Need to catch my breath.

She briefly considered what the Master Chief was doing. She had no doubt that he was contending with Taurus easily enough, but she couldn't help conjuring up unpleasant scenarios and outcomes.

From her cover, she saw something move. She steadied her aim. Before she had a chance to confirm whether or not it was her target or simply a stray animal, she fired. The shot rang loud, but she hit nothing.

"Found you!" A voice.

Ruby slid back into cover. "Fuck!"

Now wasn't the time to play hide and seek. Now was the time to seize the offensive with extreme violence.

Her hair whipped into the wind as she ran to her left and fired three shots at the charging White Fang member. Her speed, even without her semblance was enough to keep her away from the chainsaw blade.

"Get back here, you little bitch!" The much-larger man chased after her. "I'll teach you to fuck with me!"

Is he being serious? Ruby wasn't sure what to think let alone say in response. He thinks I'm just going to go into his kill zone when I steer clear because he said to? Fuck that.

Ruby jumped onto a large rock and then to a tree and began to ascend. Her plan was to bounce around from tree to tree and take pot shots wherever possible. The fact that she was only now thinking like this frustrated her.

She had unconsciously reverted back to her old mindset of using Crescent Rose to close the distance and take the enemy down in CQC. There was no longer a point in closing the distance and engaging that way when she could kill from a considerable distance. She was supposed to be a sniper.

Ruby aimed her DMR and fired two shots. This time, her aim was true and hit center mass. A white flash of aura came to light in response. The man growled in pain, then began lashing out with his weapon. His weapon began slamming into trees, the kinetic energy combined with the motion of the blade enough to topple a tree of decent size.

Thinking fast, the teenage girl hopped to another tree to gain some more distance. For a moment, her aim was obscured by tree branches and leaves. She adjusted herself so that she could see the forest floor more clearly.

A nearby tree collapsed to the ground. The idiot was now flailing wildly looking for her, this making it easier for the sharpshooter to spot him. Three more rounds on target, causing him to roar out in pain.

"Come out and fight me, human!" The man's voice was clearly agitated. "Or are you too weak to face me with your own hands?!"

…seriously, what's with this guy? Ruby scoffed at his attempt to taunt her. Keep talking, asshole. I'm the only one making it out alive.

Her position now apparently, again, she hopped to yet another nearby tree, this one much larger and with a branch higher up that could support her. Leaning her back against the main body and propping her left leg up so that she could brace her left arm, she took aim again. She maintained steady control of her breathing.

Breathe in.

Hold.

Breathe out.

Hold.

"WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!?"

Good, he was losing his cool. That made her job a lot easier, but he was also now destroying everything that was in his sights. Trees were going down at a record pace, meaning that her current strategy might become untenable in a minute.

Dude, what did the trees do to you?

The silver-eyed warrior aimed down her sights, held her breath, then fired three rounds, keeping her finger on the trigger before releasing. Three more bullseyes and this time, she could see the shimmer of aura; he was low.

What she didn't expect was for him to somehow cross the distance and slam into the tree she was hiding in with enough brute strength to send it careening to the ground. She stumbled a bit before her feet touched the ground.

"NO HIDING NOW!"

Ruby's instincts told her to move, she rolled to the side just in time to barely dodge the chainsaw blade cutting where she had just been. She was forced to weave to avoid another strike, then drop and roll to evade number three.

"STAY STILL!"

The girl's breathing has become labored. Her guts felt like they were contracting and exploding. Despite the feeling, she wasn't about to stop moving.

Ruby did a jump in the air, then spun herself around mid-air and let off three more shots. Her aim stayed true and she was rewarded with the dissipation of white aura, indicating complete depletion of the protective barrier.

That and she needed to reload her weapon.

Cursing to herself, she reached for a fresh mag, forgetting that she was now very close to the enemy. She was too late to see the chainsaw coming her way. Instinctively, her aura flared up to protect her, but given her size, it wasn't hard to launch her off her feet. A moment in the air, then she slid across the ground, creating a decent-sized skid mark.

Not even blinking her eyes a few times and she felt herself being grabbed by the throat and hoisted up.

"I'll admit, you put up a fight, girly, but that's something you'll take with you to the grave." The mask concealed most of his face, but his eyes bore into hers. "Don't worry, you'll serve as an example to other humans about what happens when you cross us. At least you'll save lives that way."

Ruby didn't talk back, not that she could or wanted to. She knew that she had to get out of this quickly.

Her combat knife. It was now or never.

She retrieved the weapon from its sheath on her right shoulder, then thrust with all she had. The result was a very satisfactory stab wound to the side of his neck, prompting him to release her as he tried to remove the blade.

She saw his chainsaw forgotten on the ground. It would have to do.

The teenage girl used her aura to properly lift the weapon up, then thrust full-force. The result was a bloody mess. The chainsaw entered and exited the body of the terrorist before running out of fuel, ceasing function.

The body fell.

Ruby noticed how she was stained with red.

"Gods dammit. This is gonna take forever to clean."

RWBY - - - Halo

1113 Hours

Yang could hear the action going on and she hated all this waiting, but now that she had a prisoner, she knew that she had to stay at her station and keep an eye on things. The last thing she needed to be called was irresponsible and reckless, which she could be, but not when it mattered the most.

Her companion, after being deprived of her weapon and other personal belongings, was unconscious and peacefully off in wonderland. The girl was definitely a faunus to be sure. To confirm this, the brawler checked for her traits that would mark the ravenhead as much.

As it turned out, it wasn't hard to find. A pair of cat ears hidden under a bow. That was weird. Why would a girl who was in the White Fang need to hide her features? That felt like something that should only happen when trying to hide among humans.

Guess she's got issues. Yang didn't really think too much into it. Oh, well. Your secret's out now, one of 'em at least.

Now that the blond got a better look at her fellow female, she was actually not all that bad looking. A little bit of work and she would be a real looker. A shame that a girl with a pretty face like hers was working with terrorists.

But it did beg the question: what was a girl like this doing with the White Fang of all groups? Was it personal? Big goals? Something else?

"She looked pretty desperate too." Yang thought back. "She's got to have people she cares about here… maybe even a fuck buddy?"

Not that she was one to judge, but given the nature of the White Fang, it kind of made sense. The news regularly reported clases with the White Fang and the militaries and huntsmen of the world. Death being a real possibility for these terrorists, it wouldn't be all that surprising if thes dudes and dudettes got it on to relieve some stress.

Wait, why am I thinking about this? Yang frowned. Ah, crazy gossip mindset, wild imagination. This job is so boring. We need to get back home and do fun shit.

That also spawned another revelation. She had just called what she was doing right now a job, like she had willingly accepted it. That kind of took her by surprise, but she couldn't find the will to deny it even within her own mind. Yeah, doing all of this was a total suck fest, but somehow it didn't bother her THAT much.

The SAW gunner groaned into her palms. Was she already brainwashed by the Chief? Was this how Ruby felt like? How could she even begin to tell the difference between the old version of herself and the new one? She didn't feel all that different.

Yang lifted her head up to see the faunus girl slowly moving, which prompted her to grab her light machine gun and hold it at the low ready, but she remained seated, keeping her eyes focused on any movements that might indicate retaliation or an attempt to escape.

"Wakey, wakey." Yang decided to be humorous. "Eggs and bakey, my little feline; the time for a catnap time's over."

A moment of silence, then a groan came from the black-haired girl. Her golden eyes were focused upon first blinking, then they began to come to. A pause, then a sudden jerk of the body upward.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Yang aimed her weapon at center mass. "If you don't want holes in your body, I'd suggest you lay your ass down and be a good girl. Also, you're gonna have to untie yourself to escape. Plus, you don't have aura. You get what I'm sayin'?"

The blond had her finger in the trigger well. She was prepared to deal damage if she had to, although it would be preferable to not have to treat an injured POW. She really didn't want to explain to the Chief.

Although not completely relaxed, the faunus girl eased herself into a seated position. "What do you want with me?"

"Me? I don't want anything from you. I don't give a shit about you." Yang was blunt. "It's the Chief that'll probably want something from you. Good luck with that, by the way."

"...who?" The girl asked.

Yang returned her weapon to the low ready. "Don't worry about it. You'll find out soon enough."

"Adam won't let you get away with this." The girl glared at her. "He's the best fighter that I know and he's never been-"

Yang cut her off. "Did I ask for your opinion, kitty cat? No, so shut the fuck up."

Golden eyes narrowed. "People are why we-"

Yang Interrupted a second time. "What, don't like that I called you, kitty cat? Can't handle it? Too bad, you're my bitch. Also. I thought I told you to shut the fuck up."

This girl was giving her headaches with this talk about being stronger and morally superior. None of that interested the brawler in the least. She was here to look after Ruby and kick some ass along to relieve some aggression.

So instead of exchanging further words, the two females stared at each other, at least for a few seconds before the dark-haired one faltered and looked away. That combined with her general body language seemed to indicate that she wasn't a social person.

The sound of weapon fire ceased, but loud enough for both of them to hear. Clearly, the faunus girl was hearing it given her, well, cat ears.

"If I were you, I'd worry less about what's going on up there and worry more about the here and now." Yang felt that keeping the prisoner's attention. "Depending on what you can offer, your life might be less miserable."

One shake of the head. "I'll never talk."

"That right?" Yang wasn't fooled by the false bravado. "Well, that's on you. Either way, we'll be on our way. This was just a pit stop."

And it was. Although the Chief was taking this fight seriously, it wasn't his plan to take down terrorists. Quite frankly, they could've just avoided this mess altogether, but these were bad guys and good folks like themselves were supposed to do something about bad guys, or so morality said.

The girl with black hair seemed stunned. "You're fighting us because you felt like it?"

"Yeah, pretty much." Yang didn't care to elaborate any more than that.

It was actually pretty funny to look at the face of the terrorist and see a look of disbelief for attacking for no other reason than they were simply in the way. Although the SAW gunner played it off, she had to fight to keep a grin from showing.

A few minutes of silence followed. It was an awkward time and honestly, it would have been preferable to spend time talking about something, anything, even bullshit if only to keep the boredom and suspension at bay.

Yang felt her eyelids get heavy for a moment before snapping herself too. She was supposed to be guarding a POW. The Chief was expecting this and it would be bad if he came back and she had nothing.

With her left, she began to feel through her pockets to find something that could keep her awake. That's when she realized that she had a pack of gum on her.

How did I forget about this? You know what, never mind.

She unwrapped one piece and began to slowly chew on it, taking note that it was double-mint. The familiar flavor was comforting and the chewing motion kept her awake.

"Alpha team, this is Alpha 1-1, radio check."

"Alpha 1-2, solid copy.'

Yang realized that was her cue. "Alpha 1-3, good copy."

"Roger, statuses received. 1-2 and 1-3, enemy base is clear of hostile forces. Return to my position, marked by blue smoke grenade, you read?"

"Alpha 1-2, moving."

"Alpha 1-3, on the move."

Yang got up from her seated position. "Time to take a little nature walk, kitty cat. Looks like we beat y'all. What was that about what's-his-name? Ah, doesn't matter, Chief probably killed his ass."

With no regard for gentleness, the blond pulled up the POW by the makeshift cuffs and forced her on her feet.

"Start walking." Yang chewed on her gum. "And don't be stupid. You might be a cat, but you don't got nine lives, yeah?"

At the very least, the black-haired girl whose name was still unknown at this time didn't complain. She was at least in good physical condition, which made this little hike a little more bearable, yet still awkward.

A plume of blue smoke was visible as soon as they completely ascended the cliffs and from the outside, the camp presented the appearance of normality.

Then they actually entered the perimeter.

"Damn." Yang whistled loudly. "This is kind of fucked up."

Halo - - - RWBY

1124 Hours

Blake had seen death before, but the blatant killing of her fellow White Fang brothers and sisters still appalled her. Even worse yet, as she was forced through the camp, it was clear that almost all of them went down without even realizing they were dead.

Everywhere she saw, bodies accompanied by pools of blood. Every time she slowed down to see the faces and features of the dead, her captor pushed her.

Adam's tent was immediately recognizable by its size alone. Based on what she had seen so far, she had an idea of what was coming, but she couldn't accept it, wouldn't accept it.

Then she saw his prone form, but unlike the other ones, he appeared to have put up a fight, but not a good enough one. His chest was crushed and his head contained a single headshot wound straight in the forehead.

"Nononono!" Blake tried to rush forward. "ADAM!"

The result was her head was bashed from behind, causing her to cry out in pain and fall face-first to the ground.

"This is her?" A deep, masculine voice.

The blond girl responded. "Yep, found her a little ways outside our original patrol base. Our shit's still down there."

"We'll retrieve our gear later." The man's voice was unconcerned. "You, what is your name?"

Through her blurry vision, she could make out a set of boots, heavy in design, completely metal, and olive-green in color. She craned her head to look up. From her position flat on the ground, she had to adjust herself, painful as it was, to see his full height.

A full suit of armor and a helmet with a golden visor. She sheer size of… whatever it was more than enough to put some fear into her.

Her head whipped around and saw that the only other person around was another teenage girl, black and red of hair, silver eyes, and holding a firearm.

Between the hulking giant and the little girl, she had to guess that the former had been the one that had killed Adam.

She took one more look at her mentor, her eyes wide and her mind in shock. He looked so… she didn't even know what to describe the permanent expression etched on his face.

"Your name." The presence of the male voice forced her to look… him, she was guessing, in the visor. "Now."

She had boasted that she wouldn't talk. She swore to herself that no matter what, she wouldn't give in. She wasn't a coward and she wasn't a traitor.

However, her mouth seemed to move faster than her brain did. "B-B-Blake B-Bellad-d-dona!"

"...make sure she has no grievous wounds, then tie her up. We're going to be here for a while."

"Roger that, Chief." The smaller female nodded at the command, then approached. "On your feet."

Blake numbly responded to the command, taking one more look, the final look she would ever get at her former mentor and friend.

This had to be a horrible nightmare.

Adam Taurus could never lose.

He was a champion of justice for the Faunus.

"You get a good look, kitty cat?" The blond girl taunted her. "If you value your life, I suggest you cooperate, unless you wanna end up like what's-his-face."

Blake could deny fear all she wanted.

But she wanted to live.

So great was her feat that the lack of a bow on her head was the least of her worries now.

RWB. We're making great progress.

I'm anticipating a few people to not agree with my interpretation of combat here and if you want to debate the details, you can hit me up in a review. I'll gladly tackle any objections, but I stand by what's written in this chapter. Plus, I'm an Army Soldier, so it's kind of in my nature to nitpick at things that don't make sense in relation to what I've experienced, especially since I'm a combat role.

That and the world is changing so rapidly.

But in any case, many of you have been anticipating story direction and all I'll say is this: some of you might be right.

Thoughts on this chapter? Reviews are always appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

"The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for theirs."

George S. Patton