Qrow awoke from his nap in the storage room that Blue Team had converted into a full base of operations. He had watched their comings and goings, and had seen a pattern: Linda and John would search the Emerald Forest and other areas of wilderness just outside of Vale for their equipment during the day, while Fred and Kelly were at the school either training, working on their expanding arsenal of weapons, or taking turns sleeping. Then once night fell, Fred and Kelly would go and search the city while the other two headed back to Beacon.

Qrow joined them on their first few excursions, but found the monotonous searching boring, and eventually just found stuff to do back at Beacon while occasionally helping Blue Team find and follow a new lead. He quickly noticed that there was always at least one member of the team on watch even when they were behind locked doors and the security system he saw them install.

Wow these kids really are paranoid, he thought

—

John sighed as another of Linda's scans turned up negative. They had found his and Kelly's helmet in the forest but nothing else. He flipped on TEAMCOM and put his helmet in a backpack and wired it to his Scroll.

"I think Qrow is starting to get suspicious, after not seeing Linda on any of our excursions, since we don't want him knowing that our 'equipment' is the armor that he fought on a rooftop last weekend," he said to Kelly and Linda.

It felt weird with Fred not included in the conversation, but he knew that Kelly, who was back at Beacon, relayed everything said back to him.

There were a few murmurs on Kelly's end, then she spoke.

"Fred is suggesting a switch since Qrow has seen John, Fred, and I all present when he first fought Linda, but since he didn't know it was her, couldn't we just put me in the armor and confront him?"

Linda chimed in. "You're sure you can fit in my armor Kelly?"

Kelly chuckled. "Yeah, I wouldn't have it fully calibrated and wouldn't operate at peak efficiency, but I'd fit, though it may be loose in a couple of places."

"Are you sure?" Linda asked, a little nervous, "I don't want you breaking anything."

Kelly sighed after more unintelligible dialogue, "No Fred, we couldn't put you in Linda's armor. And Linda, I'll be careful."

—

Qrow stumbled into the storage room. Kelly was huddled over a desk working on something, a couple sparks flying as she used a small dust-powered cutter. The rest of Blue Team huddled around the table in the middle of the room. Qrow looked over their shoulders to see a map of Vale splayed over the tabletop. John turned to Qrow.

"Sir, could we have your opinion? We've looked everywhere our equipment could've landed, that only leaves a few possibilities, with the most probable that someone took it, but I don't see what somebody would want with a couple scraps of metal,"

Qrow snorted. "You're the first person ever to call me sir.

I swear this whole damn thing is more weird and crazy than normal." He put his hands on the table. "Here, where you guys have been scouting, is the territory of a cult that calls themselves the 'New Chosen', or Chozo for short. Anyway, they are a bunch of tech fanatics; they think that to save everyone from the Grimm, the entire world needs to be covered in machines.

"They're surprisingly skilled and violent, they'll take anything they can get their hands on, I'm surprised you haven't run into them yet.

I'm starting to think I ran into one of their lieutenants on the rooftop last weekend. If you wanna get your stuff back, I recommend moving as fast as possible, tonight if you can, but if you do, I'm coming with you. I don't want my first trainees from Beacon to all die. Fred, you seem to be pretty handy with a blade, so you watch our backs. Linda, I want you trying to find your stuff. John, you're with her on retrieval. And Kelly," She looked up from her desk as Qrow pointed at her, "I want you to get us a ride out of there."

The five filed out of the room after grabbing various weapons and gear. John picked up a fancy new rifle with an underslung grenade launcher, along with a short sword and a tactical knife that he had gotten from Fred's case of knives. Kelly took her spear and the pair of short blades she had been working on and split off to go back to the dorm room, with the excuse to Qrow as "she needed a hotwire kit for getting a ride." Fred started slotting at least 7 different knives into holsters as well as taking his battle rifle. Linda had, as always taken her highly customized rifle, and more curiously had selected a pair of thick cables with hooks on the end, and a pair of rope ascenders. Qrow looked around at all the equipment and shrugged, all he needed was his hip flask and his trusty sword.

—

The team had descended deeper into the factory slums, the fog closing the sky off from view, and the further in they went, the quieter it got. Everyone was nervous; even Qrow's usually slouched, uncaring posture was erect and alert. He had reluctantly agreed to leave Kelly outside the factory district to find a vehicle and to pacify him, they had agreed to give him full access to her Scroll, so he could set up a warning beacon if she got lost.

Finally, the tight alleyways opened up to one large compound surrounded by at least fifty meters of open flat concrete on all sides.

Fred sighed. "Great, know how are we supposed to get in? Anyone who looks in our general direction will spot us if we try to cross that gap."

Qrow sighed, then stopped himself halfway, "Oh yeah, I forgot you guys are new here. Most huntsmen who have had at least a few years of training would know that dust factories need a clean supply of air to properly function, so there is probably a vent or duct of some sort around here."

Fred thought for a moment. "Smokestacks are there on the west side of the building. By your logic, they should be on the far eastern side, to our left about 20 meters." And sure enough, John looked and saw the dust and dirt particles in the air moving slowly towards the area Fred was indicating. The four moved slowly, sticking to the shadows of the large building to their right. They moved slowly and continuously, with no sudden movements, in case there were some particularly alert guards that just happened to be scanning near the air ducts. Once at the grate, a large one, almost 2 meters square, Qrow's blade quickly cut a hole for them, and the four snuck in. The going was easy for the first minute, but once they got past the inner wall of the factory a pair of fast-moving turbines kept the air moving.

Qrow sighed. "There's no way we can make it past that, not with my luck"

Blue Team had already mobilized. Linda took one of her cables and hooked it to the ground as securely as possible before handing the other end to Fred. He took it and after a few moments of thinking threw the hook straight through one of the fans and managed to hook it onto one of the blades of the other one. The line tightened and stretched as the fans tangled it around and started to jam. The hook in the ground started to pull up and detach, just before the hook pried loose the motor and the axle stripped and broke. Linda moved to detach the line, but Qrow stopped her.

"We'll be here all day if you try."

The tunnel soon split into four, with Fred and Qrow taking the center tunnel and John and Linda climbing into the factory above to search for the missing gear.

John and Linda slowly made their way through the darkened halls looking for the armory in the upper floors of the factory. They had to hide as a few members of the cult walked by, one saying, "Brother, did you hear, a team of hunters has been moving further into our territory, do you think they will interfere with our operations?"

The other one responded as they passed the concealed John and Linda.

"Probably, but our leaders don't tell us anything, though if those hunters get too nosy the commanders will take care of them, just like the last few."

The Spartans moved on as soon as the guards passed, slowly working their way towards the center of the factory, where an equipment depot stood, at least according to Qrow.

After passing through many hallways and quietly traversing catwalks, the pair came to a halt. They were near the roof of the factory, with a large open area before them. It appeared to be some sort of packing facility, though many of the machines were turned off and there were still crates piled high everywhere. The whole place seemed fairly empty, though there were a few signs of life coming from the other side of the facility. John and Linda started moving towards the noise, using Linda's remaining hook and cable to traverse the space between the large rafters.

Balanced on a large beam, the pair surveyed the assembled group: a swarm of cultists standing in front of a stage. There appeared to be some more advanced fighters or maybe leaders, standing on the stage near the back, but the real eye-catcher was a man with red hair and a bowler hat. He was speaking, pacing across the stage playing with his cane. John was only able to catch the tail end of the speech: "—If you support me then, and help me with my goals, which in no way will contradict or harm you, I, in turn, will help you, with a treasure trove of only the finest Atlas tech. I'm talkin' weapons, dust processors, walkers, all that fun stuff! But, that day, I need you. Thank you." He walked off the stage and vanished into the shadows as the crowd cheered.

As soon as the man left, one of the leaders stepped forward and started a slideshow. It appeared as if they stumbled upon a meeting or briefing of sorts; from the first slide, John could tell it was scheduled to last for at least another 2 hours. The Spartans didn't have that kind of time, as someone on duty would notice the problem with the fan. John wanted to click on TEAMCOM and ask for a report from his comrades, but without a secure comm line, he could give away their position.

Linda tapped his shoulder and pointed, there it was: the armory and equipment storage. It was even marked on the double doors. The only problem was it was 15 meters to the left of the stage and in plain view of everyone there. Time to give Fred and Qrow the signal.

A large explosion shook the building and dislodged dust from the rafters. As it slowly settled to the floor, the cultists scrambled into action. A large group of them ran through the large doors towards the explosion, and the others grabbed weapons and began to fan out to the edges of the shipping depot. The plan was for Fred and Qrow to start picking the loners off and trying to get people to move away from the center to look for them. Meanwhile, John and Linda moved closer to the armory. Most of the guards had moved into the shadows of the shipping crates, heads on a swivel, looking for anything at all, but they made a rookie mistake; they didn't think that the enemy could have already broken their perimeter. They paid for it, just as the Spartan trainers had when they made the same mistake.

John waited for another minute, and with perfect timing. The two cultists guarding the armory were isolated. John jumped down, knife out, and plunged the knife into the man's neck. He was shocked when it glanced off with a flash of aura, he cursed himself. Aura was still new to him. John twisted in the air, and his falling body weight plunged straight through the man's back, his aura dissipating with a slight fizz as his spine snapped. The man's partner turned her weapon on John, but before she could fire, a cable wrapped around her neck and she was yanked up to the ceiling. Linda slid down, and helped John pull the body into the armory. Just as they were closing the door, they heard someone call out.

"There they are! In the armory!"

A group of cultists charged around the corner with weapons drawn. John quickly slammed the door and barricaded it with crates filled with scrap metal and weapons and armor in various states of repair. He pulled out his scroll and called Qrow.

"We're stuck in the armory and have gone loud, but I see some of our equipment. It isn't all of it though,"

"Grab your stuff and get outta there, we can't risk staying longer. Do you see another exit?" Qrow replied quickly

"Yeah, some sort of trapdoor. Linda says it leads to some sort of abandoned subway"

Qrow swore. "The abandoned subway tunnels. I've heard rumors of something big down there. It is still our best bet. Stay hidden once you are down there. I'll gather the others and come get you."

He clicked off. John took his knife and stabbed it through the slit in the door. He heard a scream and grabbed a sword to replace his knife before jumping down the trapdoor after Linda.

Fred and Qrow snuck out of the depot through a window close to the ceiling. They landed in a crouch and started to move away from the compound. Everyone's attention was focused inward to the armory, so they escaped the eyes of most, but not all. Just as they got into one of the alleyways surrounding the factory, loud thumping footsteps rounded a corner ahead of them and a giant figure loomed out of the shadows. Fred did his best to act surprised.

"Who are you?" He asked, but when the figure stepped out of the shadows, the surprise on his face, as slight as it was, was very real.

The figure was wearing his helmet and a hodgepodge of other Mjolnir armor pieces. An unfamiliar voice sounded from within the suit:

"While everyone else is searching in there, I've caught you! Who would have thought the man sent to stop reinforcements would catch the original thieves?" He paused. "You're coming with me."

He reached out to grab them, his movement a little shaky. Suddenly, he was blown over as another suit slammed into his side and tackled the cultist to the ground. Qrow stared in shock as the thing that had tried to attack his nieces had come out of nowhere.

Kelly had moved to attack as soon as it seemed avoiding the cultist would be impossible. She didn't want to damage the armor any more than she had to, so she tried to take this man down delicately. Kelly was about to rip the helmet off this pretender and ask him how he survived more than thirty seconds in the armor, when she noticed a Scroll haphazardly taped to his gauntlet bracer. It displayed his aura, and it was dropping fast, and with every movement, it dropped faster. He somehow managed to swing a fist at Kelly's head, catching her off guard. It hit her with a surprising amount of force, jerking her head to the side as she jumped off him. The man started to stand up and suddenly spasmed. He screamed.

Kelly tried to shut off TEAMCOM as the man screamed in pain, calling out for help, but the suit he was wearing sensed that he was desperate and needed someone to hear, so it kept opening new channels faster than Kelly could close them with Linda's suit not fully in tune with her. She doubled over, clutching her head, as the internal speakers got louder and louder until she couldn't take it anymore and ripped her helmet off, taking deep breaths as the man finally died.

Kelly looked over at Qrow and Fred, she could tell by their faces that the cultist's external speakers had been on.

Kelly regained her composure and turned to her party.

"Fred, come help me get the armor. Qrow, I'm sorry. We've got a lot of explaining to do, but for now, we have to get the other armor and get down to John and Linda."

AN: Thanks for reading, I tried to make this one longer as per request, sorry for the late publish but I've been sick for two weeks.

Anyway, a question for the readers who know Halo: Would Blue team be able to create a smart or dumb AI if given all the proper materials? Just wondering, might come into play later.

RWBY questions;

1) Can someone give me a refresher on the Vytal Festival tournament rules? I think I know, but to have it in writing would be nice so I can cross-reference.

2) Is there a passive vs. active aura mechanic where aura is much weaker when the person thinks they are safe, or not?

I was watching the new RWBY season (specifically the episode right before the Leviathan) and Ruby takes a shot at a giant Atlas mech, the camera does a slow-motion shot of the bullet, and well, look at chapter 4 (my prediction/speculation/Headcanon talking about how Remnant shoots the entire shell vs just the bullet itself), my speculation about Remnant weapons and bullets was right. (I got really excited)

So there you have it, UNSC has superior firepower as well as the Spartan's new weapons, giving the Spartans the advantage.

In the future, I will be posting my own sketches of Blue Team's new weapons on my Google+ page because I don't think Fan fiction supports photos. I am finishing this chapter before working on them, so they won't be out as soon as this chapter is.

Here is the link to the collection

collection/8KZLmE?hl=en

you can also find me by searching Spartan L-058 on google+

Also, Google+ will be shutting down April 2nd, so I'll try to find a new place before then, but for now this should work, any suggestions on alternatives would be appreciated

Review Responses

CT7567Rules: I have tried to write longer chapters, and I will try to extend the length in the future. And I don't want to give anything away, but a vehicle might come into play later.

Psihopatul: I'm glad you enjoyed, and I'll try to keep the chapters coming. I do have a plan for at least the next 5 or so chapters, and you have this one so I hope it answers at least some of your questions.

Also another thing: If Blue Team were to enter the Vytal Festival tournament and win the first and second round, who do you think would be in the doubles fight, and who in the singles? Leave your thoughts in a review.

I am personally thinking Kelly and Fred in the doubles, and maybe Kelly in the singles, still not sure. I want to hear what you guys think.

Thanks—L-058

I also thank my editor Callisto, she has been a huge help, and the quality of this story would be a lot less without her.

EN: Aww thanks. But to be honest, it wouldn't be that much different. I don't have a degree in English or anything. I might have missed a few things last chapter, so I'm sorry about that. A word to the wise, if you're proofreading something, put on music that's more background so you can focus. It took me twice as much time to edit this because I had ABBA on my playlist and my brain wanted to sing about Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo instead of fixing grammar. To all the folks in having to suffer through the nor'easter in America right now (and anyone who can appreciate chocolate), here's an easy recipe for microwave mug brownies: recipe/microwave-chocolate-mug-brownie-349246 The best part? No eggs. You can just eat the batter.

Stay rad!

Callisto