John woke up to the sun peeking over the trees of the forest, signaling the start of a new day. He looked around, and seeing that Linda had taken off her helmet, he did the same.
Suddenly a smell filled his nostrils, "Is that… Bacon?" He asked Linda.
She turned, saw that he was awake, and nodded, saying, "it is the only food we have that would go bad without refrigeration, so I figured we might as well treat ourselves."
She came over and sat down on the back of the truck, setting the pan between the two of them and taking a piece for herself. The bite was halfway to her mouth when one of the proximity alarms went off, and both Spartans jumped.
John pulled his rifle up and moved to a more mobile position, crouching instead of sitting, and Linda reached for her helmet, not even letting it seal before she was looking at the motion tracker and flipping through visual filters to see who or what was approaching.
She reported to John, not looking away from where the alert had come from, "one tango, moving slowly but headed directly for us, appears to be humanoid in size."
Suddenly the figure stepped out into the light, and when she saw who it was Linda was relieved, if a bit confused.
Nora sauntered across the small clearing, appearing to be in some sort of sleepwalking position, and when she reached the truck, (John had lowered his weapon) she picked up most of the bacon left in the pan and promptly shoved it down her throat in one or two bites. John grabbed the pan away before Nora could eat any more, and that seemed to break her daze, "oh hey John, what are you doing here?" Before he could answer she continued, "and why are you with that girl Naomi from the tournament?" John looked dumbfounded, wondering what in hell was going on when Ren popped, seemingly out of nowhere, and said, "just give her a minute,"
They all stood there for another few seconds, when Nora suddenly shouted, "AHA! You're the same people as those in the armor!" She pointed at John, "that makes you Sam but actually John," she turned and looked at Linda, clearly scrutinizing her stance and body shape under the bulky armor, "and you're Linda!"
"Cracked it!" The girl finally exclaimed.
John jumped down from the bed of the truck and set the pan that was now empty down, saying to Ren, "you owe us breakfast."
The two Spartans drove to the Xiao Long household with Nora and Ren riding in the bed of the back when Linda voiced her concerns to John, "How are we going to find Kelly and Fred? They could be on the other side of the planet from us, and TEAMCOM only has a range of about 5 miles, all we know is Kelly went southeast, and that Fred was taken by Atlas." She sighed, looking like she wanted to say more, but just let herself fall back on the seat, "I'm just worried about them."
John looked over at his red-haired comrade, "I am too, but let's try to focus on how to fix it, I don't want to lose any more Spartans." They pulled up to the house in a large clearing, and John said, "how about we ask Ruby's dad, he's a former huntsman, he'd know his way around the world."
Linda just nodded and slid out of the seat and followed Nora and Ren to the door.
The doorbell was rung as the Spartans removed their helmets, and a furious flurry of barks popped out of an excited Zwei on the other side of the door. Ruby appeared in pajamas and a flurry of rose petals to answer the door.
"Oh hey guys, one sec," Ruby turned around and called back into the house, "DAAAAAAD, my friends are here, can you make more pancakes?"
"Uh, how many?" A voice called back.
Ren slipped past Ruby into the house, "I'll help" he said, "also, keep an eye on Nora, she can and will eat them all,"
John nodded and placed a hand on Nora's shoulder, then asked Ruby, "so where is Yang?"
"She is up in her room brooding, and she hasn't really been down since she lost her arm, though maybe she'll come down for you. I'll see if I can get her."
The girl ran up the stairs and left the Spartans with nothing to do but walk into the kitchen.
The Spartans checked the living room and kitchen for chairs that would support their weight, and there was only one large chair that would, so the two Spartans awkwardly squeezed in beside each other during breakfast, and Ruby remarked on how they were, "so cute." Linda turned bright red and looked away, but John was too engaged in his pancakes to notice.
Ruby managed to bring Yang down part way through the meal, and the blonde's first words to the pair were addressed to Linda, "why were you fighting Uncle Crow?"
Linda answered quickly, as if she had rehearsed the situation, "A, I didn't know who he was. B, he tried to stab me first."
Yang looked like she wanted to be angry, but her face fell, simply mumbling, "I believe you," and going back to lethargically spooning food into her mouth, why she was eating pancakes with a spoon was beyond Linda, but she was glad that conversation was over.
John introduced himself and Linda to Taiyang, then explained the predicament of their team and asked if the man had any predictions on where to try to find them.
Taiyang took a second before answering, "your friend Kelly probably went to either Menagerie or one of Mistrel's south ports, but I'd bet menagerie if she is traveling with any Faunus, probably a safer journey too, less traffic to the south, both Grimm and human. As for Fred, that's his name right?" John nodded, and Taiyang continued, "if he was taken by Atlas and has armor similar to yours then he was either taken into military "medical care" as an excuse to study it, or just had it straight up confiscated, I'd look in the capital, though you'd have to search both upper and lower."
John nodded, then asked, "what would you do? That is, who would you try to find first?"
Ren answered this time, "Keep in mind that Menagerie's capital is significantly smaller than the Atlesian one."
Taiyang voiced his agreement, "that, and you don't have to deal with the nightmare that is Atlesian bureaucracy."
"Thank you for the information sir." John replied, "But, we'll be heading out after the meal, we need to find our team,"
Ruby piped up, "We, that is, Jaune, Ren, Nora, and I are headed to Mistrel, you can come with us, then split off once we reach the capital. After all, it's always better to have more trained hands on deck to fight Grimm right?"
John polished off his pancakes and said to the group, "Then I am ready when you are."
Linda was secretly relieved that Yang had declined to come, as the truck was crowded enough with team RNJR in the back, and they eventually had to fold down the gun into its storage compartment for regular travel because of the combination of people and bags in the back that did not fit in the storage lockers, that and of course the fact that Yang's depressed state would severely damage the team's effectiveness.
The group got through the forests of Vale fairly quickly, and when they got close to the port on the eastern coast they were allowed onto a ferry with little trouble even though their vehicle was larger than most.
The ferry itself was fairly empty, as most people who fled Vale were either already gone or settled in the countryside, so RNJR was able to rent a cabin to sleep in on the upper deck for a low price, while John and Linda opted to sleep in the truck, though they kept proximity alarms around their vehicle just to be safe.
John and Linda spent most of their time around the vehicle, and RNJR would occasionally come down to join them, that is, until the storm hit.
It wasn't major, just made it absolutely miserable to be outside of the sealed upper decks, but once it started, the rain and wind did not stop for days. The two Spartans were reluctant to abandon their equipment where it couldn't be monitored, but Ruby was eventually able to convince them to come up to the cabin after two straight days of rain, though the Spartans covered the truck with proximity alarms, cameras, and other security measures.
The door opened to the cabin which RNJR occupied, and Jaune, Nora, and Ren looked up from their board game as Ruby and the Spartans stood sopping wet in the hall. Ren stood up and offered them each a towel, which Ruby immediately wrapped herself in, but the Spartans just wiped their gauntlets and then helmets as they set them aside.
Ruby shivered, "you guys are lucky you have those suits, how do they even work?"
John winced, "that's classified, and honestly I don't really know the intricacies of it,"
Linda piped up, "But, if you allow us to interview you on how auras and semblances work we can give you a bit of info as long as you promise to keep it a secret."
Ren answered, "I'd be glad to do it, but to be fair none of us are particularly knowledgeable in the subject of Aura."
Linda waved it off, "we'll ask questions and you just answer to the best of your ability."
Nora chucked the board game across the room, "Alrighty, I'm ready, a girl can only play so much monopoly"
Ren voiced his agreement, but stated, "Nora, what have we talked about with throwing things unnecessarily?"
Nora ignored him and the Spartans and Ruby sat down on the floor next to the other three.
Linda started, "Does Aura protect against environmental effects like lightning, fire, or harmful chemicals?"
Ren answered almost immediately, "according to the books I've read and my personal experience, it protects a bit, but only if the person perceives the thing as a threat, and even then it does very little against natural dangers such as the ones you mentioned. That is, unless you have a semblance like Nora's,"
John spoke up, "what is your semblance Nora?"
She smiled, "I'll show ya!" Then grabbed a fork and ran to an outlet, there was a sharp SNAP as a shock was discharged, Nora dropped the fork as the Spartans started at her, her hair standing on end she then ran back over to the group and picked up Ruby with one hand and started lifting her up above her own head like a dumbbell.
Ruby looked unhappy with being raised in the air, but just frowned resignedly, and folded her arms.
"Your aura absorbs electrical charge and uses it to enhance your physical strength?" John theorized.
Three heads nodded and Linda moved to her next question, "what is the "Average" aura strength and how much does it vary and why?"
Once again Ren was the one to answer, "An everyday Joe could probably take a round from a 9mm, but they'd have to know its coming. The average for even a huntsman in training is considerably higher, and a full huntsman even higher. I could try to come up with ways to help you test it, but we'd need a test subject, something that can measure psi, and either machinery or someone very precise."
John seemed to think for a moment, "we can help provide on two of those accounts."
Linda interjected with one last question, "Are auras more susceptible to certain types of damage? For example, would stabbing someone take down the aura quicker than slashing them or hitting them with a blunt object?"
Ruby was the one to answer this time, "That actually varies from person to person, though the weapon the person wields tends to create a resistance for them, like Yang can take a lot more bludgeoning hits, but a sword or rapier takes her down much faster because she fights almost exclusively with fists and shotguns." John and Linda nodded simultaneously as they had each put on their helmets for the connection of the neural lace so they could measure the output of force from their gauntlets.
"We'll use Nora because her semblance allows her to recharge her aura quickly," Ren said.
Nora frowned, "Pyrrha said I shouldn't let people use me."
Ren sighed, "We're testing on you Nora, and that's not what Pyrrha meant,"
At the mention of the red-haired huntress Jaune darkened and looked even sulkier, which John hadn't previously thought possible.
With the neural lace contained in each of the MJOLNIR systems connected and displaying the psi output of Linda's grip, John gave Ren a thumbs up, and Ren held his scroll out with a display of Nora's aura strength, and Nora herself held her arm out, which Linda promptly clamped down on.
"Start with 100psi," John said.
Ren looked a little concerned, "are you sure you can output that?"
Linda smirked a bit behind her helmet, and just did it.
Nora's aura started dropping, though not as fast as the Spartans expected, Ren gave an explanation, "Aura science is notoriously finicky, and expected damage seems to always take down less of an aura, which is why unorthodox tactics like yours are especially effective."
Both the Spartans nodded, and looked back to their readouts, but were interrupted by a sudden shake of the boat.
Everyone was instantly alert, fearing Grimm, and Ruby ran over to the window and peered out, "Don't worry guys, we're just…" she paused, confused, "at the port? Maybe that storm must have blown us closer to Mistrel, we weren't projected to arrive for another day and a half," while the distraction pulled away everyone's attention the Spartans hadn't moved and noticed that Nora's aura had started dropping faster with her attention diverted, further confirming what Ren said.
The Spartans stood up, John saying, "we'll do more testing later, for now, I think we should get moving,"
Everyone voiced their agreement, though RNJR seemed less sure after realizing the storm was still dumping water outside.
Linda sighed, "we'll cover the back with a tarp and you four can ride back there with the bags, just come out in 5 minutes and we should have it set up,"
The group nodded, and the Spartans walked out into the rain.
The tarp helped, but it wasn't perfect and the Spartans could hear RNJR complain every time a particularly large splash hit them. The group had elected to stay the night at a hotel here in the port town, even though the Spartans wanted to push on, they realized their companions were only human and the truck needed a lot of fuel to make it all the way to the capital, so they filled up and got a hotel room, getting promises out of RNJR to leave first thing in the morning.
The next day Linda ascended the stairs to wake RNJR, and she knocked on their door. The door opened, but revealed only Ren, that is until Linda glanced behind him and saw the partially catatonic forms shambling towards the door.
Linda scooped as many bags as she could carry off the floor and Ren grabbed the few that remained and headed for the elevator, the others following, albeit slowly.
Ruby fell asleep on Linda's shoulder not once but twice on the three floor elevator ride to the ground floor, and almost fell over more times than that on the way to the truck.
A day and a half into the group's journey towards Mistral and Linda was wondering why there was such a low number of Grimm, or she was until about ten minutes ago when a flock of nevermores and a small pack of coyote like Grimm appeared out of the brush and started chasing the truck. Nora had taken a few of the dogs out of commission with her grenade launcher and Ruby had managed to take out a nevermore with Crescent Rose.
John, being the best driver of the group by far was completely focused on not hitting any trees as he swerved to avoid dives from the nevermores while creating enough of a stable platform for the others to return fire, and Linda, well she was working on the gun that was embedded in the back of the truck.
"Access denied, authorized personnel required to unlock restraints,"
How come whoever designed this never thought that maybe someone who wasn't bureaucratically authorized would need to use a gun? She thought frustratedly.
One of the dog things got close enough to lunge at her, as she was the one closest to the bumper, but Jaune was there, shoving with his shield and sending it tumbling into the forest.
Linda was about to rip it out of the bed of the truck when she remembered something from UNSC soldiers, they almost never took a key code off default settings, which was usually the name of the manufacturer.
She looked over at a keypad she had previously ignored and punched in a code based off a hunch
Schnee (724633)
It beeped, she was in.
The gun swung smoothly as she pulled it out of the bed of the truck and aimed it at the approaching coyotes, pulling the trigger and feeling the kick of the gun as it tore through the line of Grimm, turning them to black dust and shreds of bone.
Linda then took her aim and moved it toward the sky. The first nevermore had a wing clipped from its body almost instantly, and it fell to the forest floor with a distant thud. The other two quickly split, each diving at the truck from different sides.
Ruby followed the left one with her rifle and Linda spun the turret to fire at the one to the right. Linda's bird disintegrated with a hail of bullets, but Ruby's just shuddered in the air after being hit with two rounds from Crescent Rose.
Linda spun and threw one of her axes, hooking it, the line instantly going taut. She was almost pulled off her feet but Jaune grabbed onto the line and managed to hold the bird in place, Ruby took aim and fired into the back of the bird's brain, bringing it down as well.
Linda reeled in her cable and axe, letting out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding and folded down the gun then vaulting into the passenger seat, settling in for the rest of the day.
That night, Linda was on watch, and as everyone else quickly rolled out their bedrolls and went to sleep, Linda hopped into the branches of a tree and took out her rifle, cleaning it as much as she could without disassembling it, while her armor sensed what she needed and prioritized her motion tracker and other sensor data, diverting power and enlarging their respective displays on her HUD.
Half an hour later she saw Jaune rise and grab his weapons and scroll, then walk away from camp and into the woods. Naturally, Linda was curious so she hopped across some branches to where she could see the clearing Jaune was in, while still keeping an eye on the camp. He set up his scroll on top of a large rock, and turned it on, swiping a few times and pulling up a video of Pyrrha, a tentative smile broke his face upon seeing her, but was quickly replaced by an expression of determination as he readied his weapons and the recording led him through a series of drills and exercises with his sword and shield.
He got tired quickly, but pushed on, continuously pushing himself, and Linda respected that, even if he had a long way to go.
During a break in the exercises, Pyrrha's recording started talking about something else, "Just remember Jaune, you can't just do these drills and exercises, you have to find people to practice with, that will help a lot more than you think, even if you can't seem to win. And don't forget, I'll be there to help you with whatever you need,"
Linda could see a tear or two start to form as Jaune readied his weapons and got into his stance again, she was conflicted, she had gone through the exact same thing after augmentation, throwing herself at her training harder than ever to try to numb or at least ignore the loss of green team, but how was she supposed to help this boy, that she barely even knew, with emotions she didn't even understand when they plagued her.
Linda cleared her head, heading quietly back over to her original spot and leaving Jaune to his training and grief, leaving what she was bad at (feelings), and going back to what she was good at (watching) for a few more hours before she woke John and went to sleep with her rifle beside her.
The group passed through a small village and Jaune paid the blacksmith to incorporate some of Pyrrha's armor into his own as Ren put it, "to honor the fallen and carry them with us,"
There was a silence that perpetuated until they were loading back into the truck when John said, "we lost a comrade recently too, but that time there was nothing left to recover," he paused, realizing that this was just another aspect of their life that was classified, "after the incident,"
Ruby's face remained upbeat, seeming not to completely understand the statement, "but that just means they could be fine and you could still find them right?"
Linda turned in her seat as the truck accelerated and looked at the girl, marveling at her innocence, "something like that…"
Linda turned back around, setting a hand on John's shoulder, knowing Sam was a touchy subject for him and RNJR seemed content to go back to talking to themselves
A while later Ren leaned up to the front, saying, "Next village is coming up in about five minutes, it's small, but this map isn't exactly new."
John nodded and continued until they arrived just in front of the village's main gate and parked the truck. The whole group piled out, some excited to meet new people and others apprehensive, remembering what had happened to a village very much like this one.
The six of them walked through the gates and looked around, expecting to see at least some sign of life, but nothing moved, not even the air.
John spoke up, "does this look like a Grimm attack to any of you," referring to the dilapidated buildings and clearly deserted town.
Ruby's smile slid off her face but Ren was the one who spoke up first, saying, "probably, but quite a while ago by the looks of it, see, those caved in roofs with those lines on the exposed rafters, that's what happens when Nevermores get really big."
Nora was making an expression that John had never seen before on the girl, a distant fear, like a bad memory was surfacing, but she shook it off and pointed to a building larger than the rest, "let's see if they left any record in the town hall...or church thing...probably the same thing in a town this small,"
Everyone nodded and started walking towards the building she had pointed out, Linda leading the group and John bringing up the rear, each holding their rifle in a low-ready position.
Linda carefully entered the church, scanning and immediately seeing a major problem. She quickly ducked back out of the church and motioned for the team to stop, telling John over TEAMCOM to watch her helmet feed, while sending him a quick summary of her conclusions from it. Almost immediately she saw a slight shift in his posture, signaling he was prepared for combat.
Linda quietly said to the assembled RNJR, "What you are about to see in there is probably horrifying to someone like you, but DO NOT RUN TO IT, this situation has trap written all over it, but we need to turn around whatever trap this is."
All four nodded solemnly and hoisted weapons, but John shook his head, "we need to look fairly unprepared, be ready, but try not to show it, keep weapons in a casual carry." They nodded again, this time more hesitantly and they walked in.
Tyrian watched the little bugs scurry through the town towards his hidey hole, then the tall one with too many eyes ducked into the church, when she saw his art she scurried out again, clearly unable to appreciate the value of the beauty contained in it. Once outside he saw her being consoled by her friends, no doubt terrified of his power and needing comfort.
After shifting a moment the whole group edged through the door, the other tall green one leading, followed by the quiet boy with long hair and the loud one with the hammer, behind them came the smallest one, holding a weapon clearly too big for her, probably unprepared he thought, the other one beside her was tall, but seemed easy to push over, not quite seeming perfectly comfortable with the sword and shield in his hands, the final one was the one with too many eyes. Tyrian watched their reactions with glee, the two tall green ones showed no reaction, much to his disappointment, but the others, he drank in their pain and terror like a starving Grimm, reveling in it.
Not able to wait any longer, he cackled with glee and dropped down on top of them.
John knew what was coming, but seeing a body suspended from a rope in the center of the church, limbs contorted at unnatural angles, frozen in place, covered in scratches and scrapes, and with a massive hole punched through his chest stopped the non-Spartans in their tracks from shock.
Suddenly an unidentified blip appeared on his motion tracker directly hind and above him, John spun and a man with a scorpion tail was lunging at him from the ceiling in a spin, John used his left bracer to block the first bladed gauntlet and the tail then shifted his weapon off his shoulder to dodge the second blade swipe clearly meant to disarm him and he sprayed a burst of bullets into the man's spinning form Rambo style.
Linda was the next to act, placing a round into the side of his head which dissipated against his aura, but the accuracy and speed of the shot were astounding. The attacker seemed sad that the two Spartans weren't cowering in terror and ran out of the church on all fours, vanishing into the village.
The sound of guns firing seemed to shake RNJR out of their trance, and all four of them turned around just in time to see Tyrian running out the door.
Jaune was the first to speak, "Did that—did he do this?" he said, horrified.
John simply nodded, then started giving out orders, "Ruby and Jaune, he probably thinks you two are less competent, purely by size or stance, we'll use that, but be ready to hit him hard when I give the word," despite each of them being team leaders normally, they instantly recognized the authority and knowledge in John's voice and they nodded. John continued, "Nora, you stay with them as close support, look as much like you are protecting them as possible. Ren, get in and out, hitting him when you can and disappearing, keep him guessing. Linda, find a spot and cover us, I will try to engage directly. He will probably try to isolate targets and use his speed and unpredictability to hit you and avoid damage, if he starts getting too close, start fighting as defensive as you can, Linda can and will hit him.
Ren and Linda hung back behind the main group, planning to disappear once the man was distracted with the others, the rest of RNJR moved in a pack ahead of them, a mix of determination and nervousness, they were used to very obvious fighting, and these ambushes, tactics, trickery, and short fights were making them nervous. John walked ahead of the group just enough to seem isolated.
John rounded a corner into an alleyway just as planned, and he saw a flicker of motion, spinning, John brought up his left hand, and sure enough, the man was there, creepy smile, eyes and all. John slammed his gauntlet around the man's neck, simultaneously choking him and pinning him to the wall, and John moved his right to block the scorpion tail he knew would be coming, only to find it snaking around the other side of the man with unnatural speed.
It shot towards him, and John could do nothing as it sliced through the space between his shoulder pad and his chest piece on his collarbone, finding a way through the tech suit and slicing the skin beneath.
The wound burned, but John redoubled his efforts of cutting off the man's air supply, so focused he was that he lost track of one of his prisoner's arms, and saw the barrels attached to the blades on his arm pointed directly at his face.
Linda was up on the roof of the second tallest building in the town, as it overlooked Main Street, where John said he'd lure the man.
Suddenly a sign popped up on her visor, a single flash of a red light where John's acknowledgment light would normally show, he needed help.
She looked at where he was supposed to be, and saw his crumpled form lying in the alley, and that strange man standing over him laughing and rubbing his throat.
Linda froze, at least internally, as she took aim and fired at the man, her mind didn't quite process the fact that John could be dead. The large, high velocity bullet impacted Tyrian's aura directly in front of his eye, and for a second it looked as if it didn't do anything but damage the aura of the insane man, but a SNAP was heard at the aura popped.
The bullet had most of its momentum dispelled, but it was still heading towards a sensitive area, and continue it did.
Tyrian howled in pain, his one good eye searching, and spying Linda he screamed again and sprinted towards her.
RNJR stepped out and intercepted him, Ren behind him and the others a few feet in front of the raging faunus. Tyrian set upon the group with the fury of a cornered animal, immediately lunging close enough to Ruby that she couldn't maneuver her scythe and slashing her multiple times before she was able to use the massive recoil from her gun to fly back uncontrolled into a building behind her.
Nora jumped at him from above with her hammer in a predictable downward swing which he dodged, then jumped as Ren appeared from behind and attempted to slash at the back of Tyrian's legs. The faunus appeared to dash through both of them as he slashed at them almost faster than they could see, much less block. As a final blow he popped both their auras with simultaneous blasts from his guns, knocking them both out.
Jaune was shocked as he was left alone all of a sudden in just a few seconds, he made a valiant effort, but he had no chance, his few sword swipes parried away as Tyrian played with him and muttered, "You all will make such nice pieces of art, I can't wait to watch you hang." He descended into another fit of cackling as he shoved Jaune on top of where Ruby was just recovering from her unplanned impact.
Linda saw the man start to approach and be intercepted by RNJR, but her vision narrowed down to one point, John, sitting there, unmoving, the same spartan who had always seen her in training and always seemed to admire her, always understand her, he was the only one who would see when she ddn't want to talk or do anything but just be near someone and have his presence next to her. He had always been the lucky one, a warthog crash that had broken the bones of multiple Spartans during training, and he had walked away with a few bruises, but turned right back around to help the others.
To think a light like that had been snuffed out by this—Animal, Linda couldn't bear it, this would not be his legacy. Her vision snapped back to the present, and the man had taken out RNJR and was coming toward her.
Linda drew her sidearm and lunged off of the building at him. His tail extended to stab her mid-air, but she was faster, or at least moving first, she took aim and pulled the trigger. The tip of the scorpion tail exploded, splattering blood and goo all over the ground below, with her other hand Linda grabbed his neck and carried him down with her, slamming him to the ground headfirst.
Linda stood up and aimed her pistol at his head, and only was stopped from immediately pulling the trigger by Ruby suddenly grabbing her arm and moving it down. Ruby made a desperate plea, "Don't kill him, he's beaten already, we don't want to lower ourselves to his level, please?"
Her face radiated emotional pain, but Linda simply said, barely above a whisper, "Not after what he did to John," Judging by Ruby's expression, she heard, but her arm did not budge from Linda's.
Unfazed, Linda's boot quickly shot up, then down on the man's neck, quickly ending any hopes of mercy.
Linda immediately ran over to John's crumpled form and pulled off his helmet. His breaths were ragged, but there, and Linda let out something between a sob and a sigh of relief, not trusting her face or the expressions she was making right now, she left her helmet on.
John's eyes fluttered open, and he seemed a little confused, "Linda?" He said, looking at her faceplate. She only swept two fingers over where her mouth would be to give him a smile, then against every sense in her body, pulled him into a hug.
AN: I sincerely apologize for that taking so long, but sports and school together mean no free time, plus writers block for a bit will play hell with a story, but it's done now, and next is Fred (corn dogs anyone?)
I have not watched vol 7 yet, so no spoilers please, like I said, no free time.
Also I'm not great with feelings, so I don't know if some of those scenes turned out, but if there are any comments you have, please let me know, I would like to improve in that area, but don't really know where to start.
Review Responses:
Red October 700: Yeah, opportunities with Ilia and character development stemming from her, or at least more moral ambiguity, as for corndog, next chapter, other than that, thanks for reading, and good luck with your own stories.
NlaEid: I'm sorry about that, I'll try to go in and fix it soon, or at least when I have time.
Psihopatul: Taiyang always seemed really chill, and I wrote him that way, so not much reaction there, but hope you liked this chapter and stick with me through Fred's arc, which I don't really know how it is going to go at the moment, but I'll figure it out and hopefully have it done soon.
Just a reader (guest): while yes, the covenant finding there way in is certainly possible, this is my first attempt at writing a story, so I am planning to stick mainly to people I know how to write, but you might have given me a few ideas for closer to the end of the story, or at least the epilogue, thanks for reading, and the covenant/elites are too cool of a faction not to write about at some point, even if it is in a different story.
PanzerJ (guest): Don't worry, I see almost eye to eye with you on the whole shipping situation and I definitely understand what you mean, and you are correct with the time assumptions, just a bit after Sam's death, and Linda has been with the team for a short time.
As for my top 5 Spartan 2/3s
5.) Kat, I feel she doesn't get much credit for the fact that she is really good with tech and even helped design multiple pieces of tech that end up getting used by the other Spartans and the UNSC as a whole, (new prosthetic tech, ways to overload safety restrictions on MJOLNIR among others
4.) Naomi, her story in Kilo Five is just too good
3.) Jorge, probably the first real friendly face I remember from my early gaming days, plus I played long night of solace A LOT
2.) Any member of Blue team could fill this spot for me (one exception), and each for their own reason, Sam, John, Kelly, Fred, they are all amazing, but they get a lot of attention in lore
1.) Linda, (did you really expect anything else) Amazing markswoman, literally came back from the dead, first spartan other than chief to appear in the games, (as an Easter egg/ player two in Halo CE depending on who you talk to), plus I really like her kit, voice acting, and gun in Halo 5. (I could go on, but I really shouldn't).