Kelly was sitting against the wall in the boat's engine room, watching the tape her helmet cam had recorded for the past few weeks, figuring out what she could do better while fighting Grimm, taking down auras, or making dust tech.
Out of curiosity for what happened, she scrolled back to her arrival in remnant. The recording started abruptly, about 100 feet in the air, and Kelly paused it, taking a look at the frozen pixels.
Her armor was standing just behind and left of John's, but it was simply the shell, he and the techsuit weren't in it, but it was still positioned as if he was, she then squinted, looking towards the upper left side of the photo,
There she and the rest of the team hung in the air, in the same positions as their armor, then when she hit play and watched as her body went limp and fell towards the ground. She watched as nevermores swooped overhead, grabbing pieces of armor and flying in various directions.
She sighed, nothing new, she thought, and tried to access the recording from Reach, and get some hint as to what that alien monument was, but was disappointed when she found that there was simply no recording from before.
She double checked the computer systems in her helmet. Everything was functioning perfectly, however according to the computer, her armor simply didn't exist before remnant.
She was interrupted as the boat shook from some impact.
What now? She thought
She had already fended off two sea Grimm with the help of Blake and the Faunus boy that she had hit in the head with her spear at the harbor, and it looked like the number was going to get up to three.
She opened the door and pushed into a crowded hallway of people that had evacuated from the upper deck.
A path was quickly cleared for what the passengers were calling the mysterious armored huntress, which had for some reason been shortened to "Ma." Kelly speculated it was a combination of an acronym, and the fact that she had fixed technical problems, fought Grimm, and after an incident with the first Grimm, the children on the boat seemed to consider her a ride service, and she was too shy to tell them no.
That had eventually ended with her being subject to mobs of excited children surrounding her anytime she was above decks, which in turn had brought her to the secluded corner of the engine room.
She finally reached the hatch to the top deck, and pushed it open.
Kelly stepped out and was about to evaluate the situation when her vision was filled with a blonde boy.
Kelly caught Sun with a quick motion, then he reclined in her arms, "Hey Adriana," and smiled, and she quickly dropped him on the deck, "— oof, alright I deserved that."
They each looked up to see Blake dumping rounds from her pistol into some sort of large serpent, and Sun hopped up and quickly joined her with his own pistols.
Kelly's mind flew back to her time at beacon, and what she had heard from Port's class, a story about serpents and their susceptibilities, then smiled to herself at the simplicity of the situation as she pulled a shard of dust from her store in a small tactical hard case on her thigh, then attached a simple detonation mechanism as she walked over to the side of the boat.
Kelly looked over to see if Blake and Sun were still on the boat, and seeing that they were, dropped the small yellow dust grenade into the water.
The sea around the boat started to boil, and the serpent started to spasm, thrashing around in agony for at least ten seconds before falling into the sea dead.
Sun and Blake looked over at her in amazement, with Blake saying, "You should have done that on the other two."
Kelly just shrugged as the expressions on the two turned to ones of disgust as dead fish started to rise to the surface and the smell started to become apparent.
The spartan let out a small laugh as the two Faunus plugged their noses, grimacing, while she breathed clean filtered air from her airtight helmet.
The harbor was easy to spot, as the lights of menagerie reflected off the calm waters of the southern sea and made the port into a beacon in the night.
The boat signaled for a berth, and a small tug quickly came from the harbor to speak with the captain. Blake realized what was going on and quickly tugged Sun down to watch the proceedings, while Kelly stayed in the shadows of the upper deck, unsure if her presence would disturb anything, so she just sat, unseen and listening.
The procedures were quickly taken care of by the captain, who was quite experienced in these matters, (and having a Belladonna on board didn't hurt).
As the boat was pulled into the harbor, Kelly's eyes widened in amazement, she had seen plenty of cities on her home world of Imber, not that she remembered much, just the routes she would run races with her friends, and Vale, but Menagerie was just different.
She immediately saw the vibrancy and life emanating from the streets, from the vendors hawking their wares despite the late hour, to the people calmly walking the beach and enjoying the last few bits of twilight. The town just felt different than any other thing she had seen, maybe people were less worried, maybe the culture was just fundamentally different.
Kelly jumped down and landed next to Blake and Sun with a surprisingly quiet thump for 750 pounds of war machine, and Blake motioned for the two to follow her down the gangplank and into the city
The group walked through the bustling port, heading towards the edge of the city where the Belladonna house was.
Kelly said to her companions, "I've got some stuff to take care of, especially food, but if you give me directions I'll catch up quickly ," Blake raised an eyebrow, but gave Kelly a few simple directions and an address, then watched as the Spartan disappeared into a restaurant still relatively full of patrons. Kelly snorted as she looked at the menu, seeing a corndog and thinking of Fred once again. As much as she hated to admit she wasn't entirely focused on her own part of the mission, she was worried about him.
The last she had heard over comms Fred was still in the school when it went down and Atlas pulled out. She shook her head, Fred can handle himself, he doesn't need me worrying about him.
Kelly heard heavy footsteps coming up behind her and was tempted to turn around, but remembered she should be focusing on the beer she had ordered for appearances. The footsteps kept getting closer and Kelly was about to turn around when she heard a voice pop up behind her, "Hey! You!" Kelly turned around slowly, careful not to cause any agitation she scanned the man who had approached her.
He was tall by Remnant standards, about six feet, had stringy blonde hair, and looked as if he had a few drinks already to work up the courage to confront her.
He clumsily pointed a finger at her chest and angrily stated, "We don't take kindly to you Atlesian types round here," Kelly slowly stood up, towering a full foot over him, he continued as his face changed to one of fear, "We fought to get our… own… country-"
Kelly put her payment down on the bar and the man basically jumped out of his skin, Kelly simply walked around him and out of the bar.
Kelly drew looks of concern and fear all the way down the street, with a few showing rage barely kept in check, clearly she wasn't wanted here. She quickly turned down the first alleyway she could find, and upon seeing it was empty, looked up to judge what jumps would need to be made.
She crouched, then launched herself upwards, grabbing a windowsill and wincing as the weak wood sill loudly crunched under her weight. Just as she was about to leap the rest of the way to the roof a child poked his head out, looking more surprised than anything when he saw what was hanging off his window.
The kid tentatively raised his hand in a wave, and Kelly held a finger up to her lips, or where they would be if not for the helmet, then silently launched herself to the roof.
Kelly arrived at the Belladonna's from the opposite side of the front door, and something just didn't feel right, so she had hid in the fronds of a particularly sturdy palm and waited. She had looked around, wishing she had Linda's helmet mods that let her swap between almost every visual filter.
A flick of movement caught Kelly's attention, and she focused on it, she looked closely, and seeing it was a bird ruffling feathers, she almost relaxed, then whipped around when she heard a small crunch as a twig was stepped on. Her eyes searched wildly and she caught the last glimpse of someone or something disappearing behind a large boulder.
Kelly wanted to alert the Belladonnas to the spy outside their home, before realizing she was basically doing the same thing, but that was overridden by the fact that they were in danger, and from what she had heard, the Belladonna's were at the forefront of the peace efforts.
Kelly quickly jumped off the palm towards the house, extending one arm and grabbing the edge of the roof. She pulled herself up and hoped no one saw her dangle from the roof, before moving to one of the skylights. She opened it up and dropped into the room below, closing it behind her.
The Belladonna's and Sun were sitting in the living room discussing something, where they had a clear view of Kelly's landing. Kelly was able to catch the tail end of a conversation as Blake noticed her approach,
"So why would you just leave someone who has never been to Menagerie to just wander around the port?" said someone who Kelly assumed was Blake's father.
Blake responded while rolling her eyes and waving Kelly over, "Don't worry Dad, she's here now. Adriana, next time just use the door."
Blake's parents rose to greet the newcomer, Mr. Belladonna stopped short, but Mrs. Belladonna walked right up and shook Kelly's hand, "Adriana was it? You'll have to excuse my husband, he was expecting someone… shorter."
Kelly nodded, "I hate to spoil the mood of the evening, but I saw something outside you should know about."
Mrs. Belladonna looked concerned and motioned for Kelly to sit down.
Mr. Belladonna stopped her by holding a hand out, "Why should we trust you? If you excuse me, but you almost literally fell from the ceiling unannounced."
Kelly sighed, "alright I'll sit down and explain—"
Mrs. Belladonna interrupted her, "and you're safe here honey, you can take off the helmet."
Kelly hesitated, then thought that they would find out eventually, better to have it happen in a controlled environment. She started to remove the helmet and responded in her unmodulated accent, "Blake you may know me better as Kelly, and I'm sorry I had to go undercover, Ozpin's orders."
Blake looked intrigued, but not very surprised, "you fight the same in and out of the armor, so I had my suspicions, plus you and your team are the only ones I've met who fight the way you do."
Sun looked a bit confused, whispering to Blake, "Do I know her from somewhere? pre-Adriana that is."
Blake whispered back, "yeah, she hit you in the head on the day we met." Sun turned and looked at Kelly quizzically, clearly trying to remember the event.
Mr. Belladonna looked concerned, "are you a spy or something of the sort?"
Kelly tested one of the sturdier looking chairs and carefully sat down, almost standing back up when it creaked, but held. Kelly sighed, "no, I am not a spy, just had orders from Ozpin to report to him anything strange I saw at the festival or tournament.
Either way I was walking towards your house through the forest because people on the street were looking at me weird and I'm not a fan of crowds. When I saw a figure creeping through the forest away from your place, and it looked almost as if it wasn't there, except for a hint of a red mask. So, wanting to be careful I came in through the skylight."
Mrs. Belladonna brought her hands up to her mouth and let out a quiet gasp, "it could be an assassin, I'll up the guard count."
Blake spoke up, "we'll be fine, they were obviously scared off, and even if they do decide to come back we don't want to let them know that we know they are coming,"
Kelly nodded, "sounds good, let's just make sure we are all on high alert for a while."
Blake had gone outside on the balcony to clear her thoughts when her sensitive ears picked up a slight thump behind her, Blake started to turn, "Ilia, that better be you."
The chameleon girl sighed, "yeah, I was thinking to myself that you might have forgotten about me,"
Blake simply nodded in response, and Ilia moved on, "listen Blake, I know we weren't on the best terms last we met, but you need to know this. There was some sort of Atlesian assassin snooping around your house, in fact just in those woods over there,"
Blake's face made almost no change, "my family have dealt with plenty of assassins before,"
"Is it really worth the risk that this one gets through?"
"As opposed to what?"
"Just come back Blake, we'd welcome you, and your family would be safe again,"
"We both know that's not true"
"Look, all I'm asking is you think about it"
Blake heard the screen door start to open, and Ilia disappeared into the night. Sun's head popped out, "were you talking to someone?"
"No,"
Sun looked a little confused, "oooooookay, but your mom made cookies, and we want to make sure you get some before Kelly and I eat them all."
The three huntsmen stood outside on the balcony again an hour later, food settled and conversing. Kelly didn't have much to add, but she was honestly just happy to be involved, and eventually she asked, "what's the history of this place? Menagerie that is."
Blake thought for a minute, then responded, "Well, after The Great War the faunus were given Menagerie as a reward for participating, but most saw it as a slap in the face as most of it is uninhabitable desert and there are types of Grimm unique here that can be particularly dangerous."
Kelly saw a blip appear on her motion tracker, and instantly was alert. Blake and Sun saw Kelly's change in posture, "what's wrong?" Blake asked.
Kelly said quickly, "someone is here, behind you in the—" she was cut off as what looked like a tusk extended from behind Blake's shoulder and poked Kelly in the chest, she froze as lightning blew past her suit's usually protected and grounded systems and into her unprotected flesh.
Kelly almost screamed, but stopped herself, breathing deeply and focusing on who or what had attacked her. She stayed perfectly still, feigning that she was taken out of commission and saw the same phantom from before she went into the house step up on the railing as Blake and Sun quickly spun around to face the attacker.
Ilia glared at Blake from behind her mask, "So that's why you weren't surprised. You're colluding with them!"
Ilia jumped past Blake and Sun and landed in front of Kelly as Blake protested, "But—Kelly isn't with—"
Kelly saw an opportunity as Ilia advanced, and took it. Kelly's fist flew up, catching Ilia just under the rib cage and flinging her into the air. The blow had connected solidly so one could imagine Kelly's surprise when the girl spun in the air and the strange spear weapon extended and discharged another pulse, this one connecting with Kelly's collarbone.
The second shock was considerably stronger than the first one, and this time Kelly couldn't suppress a scream, but through the pain she saw that the canister containing dust on Ilia's weapon was ejected without the chameleon Faunus noticing.
Blake ran over to Kelly and asked if she was alright, and the Spartan took a deep breath before answering, "I'll be ok, just go on the offensive now if you are going to do it—" Kelly interrupted herself with a fit of coughing, then continued, "do it now, she's out of dust, that was the entire canister," pointing at the lifeless hunk of rock.
Blake looked conflicted, but went and jumped after Sun and Ilia onto a nearby rooftop to join the fray.
Once she was alone Kelly slumped to the ground, leaning against the railing and taking her helmet off. She knew it was probably unfounded, but she always felt like fresh air made her feel better, so she let the sea air fill her nostrils and closed her eyes.
A few minutes later the small alarm she had set on her scroll went off and she shot to attention. A burning pain shot up around her neck and upper chest and she winced, determined to move more carefully and find some burn cream.
Kelly had applied a bit of biofoam to the area with the worst injuries and was currently running across rooftops to where she saw the flashes of weapon discharge.
She arrived just as both Blake and Sun were thrown to the ground by a sweep of Ilia's weapon and she slid to a stop with two sidearms pointed directly at Ilia's masked face, while Ilia had her weapon poised for another strike.
Kelly knew she wouldn't be able to kill the girl before another stunning blow could be landed from the electric whip/spear.
The standoff lasted another two full seconds before Ilia broke it, this time with words instead of weapons. "You're nothing! Nothing but a testament to Atlas's inhumanity!"
Kelly responded by shooting the weapon out of Ilia's hand, but even when the girl started to flee, Kelly just let the guns fall to her sides and back into their holsters
She helped Blake and Sun up, but her mind was elsewhere. Was she really even human? She didn't question it back on Reach, but she had seen so much over the past few weeks, how much more were the Spartans missing?
AN: Once again, sorry for taking so long, this story is not abandoned, and I refuse to do so, but since school I've had less and less time to write, but it seems to be letting off a bit, idk.
Either way I ran into some writer's block and I had to take a break, but I've gotten back into a bit of a rhythm, and I think I'm going to do Fred and Atlas next.
It has come to my attention in a review by a guest, "You stole this from Wattpad. You disgust me. At least have the dignity to write your own story."
PSA to anyone with similar thoughts and this guy:I am the same person
The story was not stolen, I just posted it on both, If you need more convincing PM me or leave a review, I can set up something that shows I own both accounts.
Also: IF this was copied (in theory, stick with me here) look at the upload dates, I consistently upload here first, so… yeah… if anything the Wattpad is the "copy"
Not really I own both accounts, and will be posting something similar in the AN there.
Responses to other reviews:
Guest 1: The elites are cool characters and very fun to write, but I think I'm going to keep this story strictly Blue team for plot reasons, except the epilogue…
But I might write something with Elites later, as I said, they are really cool
PanzerJ: I'm with you, honestly I don't really see it either, but to each their own, and as I have said before I am not a ship writer, except maybe a bit here and there, but for reasons I have mentioned before I really only ship the Spartans with each other.
Redoctober700: I know, we all hoped Cinder would fail deep down (most of us anyway) and yes, I left it open on purpose.
Beacon is in fact gone, and the teams are scattered, you have here your answer with what has happened to Kelly, (her arc isn't done quite yet)
I'm looking forward to writing Fred's chapter, but I've got a plan for how most of this will play out, including the armor situation and the thing that happened with the battle rifle Fred found in that shop…
Idk with Fred and ships, I mean I might throw in some stuff between Kelly and him, but we'll see won't we. As for my thoughts on crossover ships, I don't really have much, but in my opinion it would end up with either Yang or Emerald, but that's me and has very little backing it up, as I have said many times before I am not a good romancer or matchmaker.
Yes, you will have to wait, hopefully not too long, but I think it will be hard to separate the two Spartans, and I'm the writer.
Well, if I want a flight sim, I know where to turn.
Check your six as well, but I must leave you with one last piece of advice,
Make your own luck. Until next time.
Evinco: Wow, I cannot believe I missed something like that, I need to put that in somewhere in the next few chapters, thanks for that.
CT7567Rules: lets just say that Smart AIs retain some of the personality of their parent...