-John 117-

John woke up on a hospital bed and tried to sit up, but found himself stiff and covered in bandages.

He let his head fall back to the pillow with a soft thump.

A sudden explosion of motion to his left made John raise his arms defensively and look to that side, only to see that the sound of him waking up had roused Linda (very violently) from where she had fallen asleep in a chair next to his hospital bed.

John brought his hands down and asked her, "you ok?"

Linda looked incredibly relieved and a bit flustered, "yeah yeah, I'm fine. How are you feeling? You're the one who's been out for a day."

John sighed, "it's been that long?" He then looked at her hopefully, "can I get up yet?"

Linda smiled warmly, "yeah, just let me change your bandages first, and before you ask, our armor is being repaired and is under Qrow's supervision,"

John raised an eyebrow as Linda grabbed more bandages, "how would Mistrelian technicians know how to repair our armor?"

Linda unwrapped John's bandages around his back and replied, "apparently they have something called replicator dust that copies whatever substance it is exposed to once put into a certain "receptor" state, but they can't try and copy our tech because it will revert to to its original form without contact from the copied substance, and Qrow's also there,"

Linda finished and John carefully stood, pulling on the shirt that had been left for him and following Linda out the door.

Once in the workshop where their armor was being worked on, Linda walked over to the technicians working on her armor and started inspecting the delicate sensor suites in her armor and helmet, and since John had already managed to finish his inspection and was satisfied with the progress, he waited by the door.

John saw a few rose petals flutter by and knew Ruby had just appeared behind him, then she said, "As soon as she recovered from her own injuries Linda never left your side, she only ate because I brought her food,"

John nodded, "I'm glad she cares about the team so much,"

Ruby smacked her forehead and said frustratedly, "No you big dummy, it's more than—" she turned around and yelled to herself in frustration, "THE SUSPENSE IS KILLING ME,"

John just looked at the girl confused.

-Linda 058-

The armor would need another day or so before the replication dust set, so Linda and John were able to put their suits in a pair of heavily secured lockers to leave for the night, before heading back to the house that team RNJR had managed to finagle their way into.

Ruby, Qrow, John, and Linda arrived back just as Ren finished making dinner and they sat down with the remnants of JNPR. John spoke after a minute or so of everyone eating, "So what do we do now? Linda and I will stay for at least another day before we go to look for Fred and Kelly,"

Qrow swallowed and responded, "We try to get into contact Ozpin, I have contacts here in Mistrel, I'll try to get in touch with them tomorrow, other than that we just wait and watch,"

John seemed disappointed with the answer, and Linda knew she definitely was.

-John 117-

Back in their room, John and Linda finished unpacking and both turned to each other at the same time, "We both know waiting and watching isn't going to cut it." John said as Linda nodded.

Linda spoke, clearly having already thought over the predicament, "I see two ways off this planet, one being jerry rigging an emergency broadcast beacon and hoping someone gets it, which I may have some ideas for, or something similar to that alien artifact that got us into this mess."

John nodded as well, "neither is a good option, but we really don't have a choice do we? Besides, neither can be pursued at the moment, so how about we just rest."

"Alright," was all Linda said before she passed out

The next morning the two Spartans sat down with team RNJR for breakfast. Ren had made omelettes and something Nora and Jaune called the "pond scum smoothie," and there was a subsequent contest to see who could chug one the fastest without gagging.

The competition went fairly well, Ruby blanched after two sips, but Nora and Jaune almost got to the bottom of the glass with little more that gurgling noises and panicked expressions. Then the Spartans got involved, each taking a glass and fixing the other with an intense stare.

Ruby started a countdown, 3...2….1…..GO!

The super soldiers lifted their glasses and drank, each finishing at about the same time, then the staring commenced once again as two more glasses were poured, and subsequently downed.

The process repeated and after the third glass, while the pouring was happening, John swallowed a bit too harshly and his left eye twitched in discomfort, the only break in the cold blank stares from each spartan so far.

Something snapped in Linda and she burst out laughing, the green breakfast beverage squirting out of her nose. John raised his arms in triumph and soon he and the rest of the group joined the sniper in a fit of laughter.

After breakfast, the group of 6 headed to the markets of Mistrel, which Qrow reluctantly let them go to, as long as they stayed on the upper levels.

Once at the markets, the crowds were oppressive, and this time the Spartans weren't in armor like they were at the Vytal festival, so even thought there were less people than at the festival, the Spartans were much more uncomfortable. The crowds shoved into them, not clearing a path like they would have if the Spartans were clanking around in their MJOLNIR.

In the intense crowd, the Spartans got pulled away from the group, and only found each other again because of their height, Linda putting her arm through John's elbow to keep them from separating, blushing a little as she did so, but John was looking for RNJR already.

He spotted them five minutes later when Jaune rounded a corner with Ruby on his shoulders as she waved wildly.

The six managed to extricate themselves from the crowd and were headed back to the house when Linda suddenly asked, "Can we stop by the Mistrelian huntsman academy?"

Ruby answered quickly, "Sure!" And started looking for the map she had on her scroll, mumbling, "We could check out their armory and forge, maybe look through all the new and old styles of weapons they must have here, I've heard so much about the different Mistrelian techniques."

Once at the school, John commented on the lack of students, or well, anyone at the building and Jaune spoke up, "Yeah, we thought the same thing when we first came here, but it turns out the school year is over and every available huntsman is out combating Grimm, we talked to the headmaster about it."

Nora grabbed her chin and tried to look thoughtful, "He did seem pretty nervous when we talked to him though."

Ren shook his head, "That was because we walked into his office completely unannounced with weapons drawn,"

Nora furrowed her brow, "I guess that's true, but we all only screamed once, so it thought we all were past that."

Everyone sighed and walked through the doors to the school.

Ruby scrutinized the map once again and confidently led them down another path, only for it to end in another set of dorms, and not the armory she was expecting. She facepalmed and turned around, heading back to the large hallway they had walked down initially.

Just as team RNJR turned and walked through a door John felt Linda detach herself from his arm and walk away, shooting both him and the armory a longing glance before her face hardened into her "mission" expression and started walking away. John needed no hand signals or words from her to know exactly what she was doing: gathering intelligence, and if he had to guess, it was some security access point at the school.

In the armory, John wanted to take as much as he could carry, but relegated himself to just dust and metal with which to make more ammunition. While he was standing there watching Ruby fawn over all the different blades, blades on sticks, big blades, and blades on guns the thought suddenly hit John that this was the first time he didn't have a spartan sib either in earshot, or in a readout on his visor, able to be connected via coms at the click of a button since he was out of armor.

John felt incredibly exposed and alone for a second, before remembering that RNJR was right there beside him, and all four of them together might equal half a spartan, (with no offense to them, they were both kind people and good fighters, he'd just only known them for a few months at most). He suddenly thought how bad it must be for Fred and Kelly, most likely separated and alone, Ironically, he thought, Linda was probably the only one who was remotely comfortable alone, and she was the one who hadn't left his side since their armor retrieval until now.

His musing was interrupted by Ruby jumping up to wave her hand in his face, saying, "Hello John? Where'd Linda go?"

He panicked, "Uhhh, she wanted to look around… for umm... the bathroom," he internally facepalmed as Ruby shrugged.

They all walked out of the armory, intending to head for the forge next when an extremely loud CRACK—BOOM reverbated through the building.

Ruby perked up like when a dog hears plastic crinkling in the kitchen, saying hurriedly, "That sounded like a .50 cal explosive round hitting wood, Linda's rifle shoots those!" But John was already sprinting towards the staircase and the direction the sound had come from.

Almost two and a half minutes at a dead sprint up stairs, through identical hallways, and peering in rooms later John stopped in front of a solid mahogany door with sounds of s struggle behind it, and Ruby landed beside him. John groaned as he looked at the door, "We'd need Nora's grenade launcher to blow through it, but we don't have time to wait,"

Ruby started unloading Crescent Rose and pulled a new mag from a pouch, this one with a small fire decal on the side, "stand clear, I can at least try,"

John nervously shifted the grip on his rifle as the reddish black haired huntress took aim and fired.

The smoke cleared, and there was little more than a large dent in the thick wood door.

Ruby scowled and started firing again, emptying the rest of the mag, and managing to blow a small hole the size of a tennis ball in the door, and she rushed over to look through it.

-Linda-058-

The damned abomination had snuck up on her while she was accessing the computer system, and the cursed crystal ball jellyfish thing with spearheads on its tentacles had almost entirely wrapped her up before she even realized what was happening.

Before she was completely immobilized Linda had managed to sling her rifle off her back and take a random shot that had impacted the floor and exploded, knocking the thing into a spin and giving her enough time to rip off the tendrils that had encircled her neck.

The thing had simply regained its balance and wrapped her up before she could do anything again, so Linda was forced to focus on relieving the pressure from her neck for split seconds at a time so she could take in gulps of air.

This fight for air went on for what felt like an eternity until Linda heard explosions at the door and would have let out a sigh of relief if her airway was functional. As the final shot rang out, splinters of wood flew into the room, and the thing seemed to pause for a second before redoubling its efforts to strangle her. Linda felt herself start to black out and go limp when a mix between a sob and a scream suddenly reverbated around the room, and a wave of cold seemed to wash over her, then the grimm thing was just gone, the only reminders of its presence, a bit of gray dust, the cuts that its tendrils' spearheads had left on her, and the absence of air in her lungs.

She could hear the scrambling to unlock the door and heard it creak open, then two people rush over to her, and she sat up, taking deep, unsteady breaths.

The walk back to the house was a bit of a blur for Linda, but she couldn't help but curse herself for not being more vigilant, she was so used to motion sensors that she had let her guard down.

Linda heard the door close behind her, and as her head started to clear she saw RNJR sit down on the various chairs of the living room, and followed suit by almost falling into the couch.

John stayed standing and paced across the rug, looking at everyone in turn, "do any of you have any clue what hellish Grimm that was? For those of you who didn't see it, it looked like a crystal ball with tentacles the thickness of electrical cords, and spikes on the end of each, think demonic jellyfish. Anyone?"

Linda looked at John's face as he in turn looked around the room, seeming almost angry, a look she had never seen on his face.

Ruby spoke tentatively, "I don't know, but I've heard stories of grimm "seers" that are like scouts or spies for the ancients, and that ball looked kinda like an eye? But those are just myths,"

Linda spoke, her throat feeling raw, "That could mean three things, A that the grimm are smarter than we thought, B someone found a way to use them, or C, the grimm have some sort of hive mind. After all, wild animals have no use for spies."

John seemed satisfied with that answer and moved on, "Ruby," he said, fixing her with an intense stare, "What the hell did you do back there? You just cried out and the room went gray, then the Grimm was just dissolving."

Ruby looked down, "I—I don't really know, something similar happened back in Vale, when Coco from team CFVY went down and there was nothing I could do about it, even though I was right there. Bu—but I just don't know," the girl's lip trembled, thinking back to that fateful day.

John nodded, still pacing, but seeming to start to calm down when someone attempted to open the door. In a flash both Spartans had sidearms drawn, then both guns were lowered as they heard Qrow's distinctive voice curse at the lock, before the door eventually swung open.

"Bad news and good news everyone," the huntsman said.

Ruby smiled broadly, "ooh! Bad news first!"

John raised an eyebrow at the girl as Qrow spoke, "All of my contacts are gone, dead, or in hiding, but." He paused, stepping aside and gesturing at the door, "I found him!"

Everyone stared, not understanding as a farmboy about Ruby's height stepped through the door.

Linda scrutinized the boy, "You adopted an orphan?"

Jaune gave Qrow a thumbs up, "congratulations!"

Linda could not tell if the knight was being sarcastic, but she tuned back in as Qrow responded, "No, I didn't adopt an orphan, why don't you explain since you're here Oz?"

The farmboy spoke hesitantly, "Explain what? That I'm not an orphan because I have parents?" Then suddenly he seemed to be listening to someone, even though no one spoke. The boy seemed to nod slightly and suddenly straighten up, taking on a different posture, seemingly infinitely more confident in a split second.

Then the boy spoke again and Linda had to do a double take, as a voice that was distinctly Ozpin's rang out, "Hello Miss Ruby, Team JNPR, my condolences for your loss, and not to forget the Re—Blue team. It is good to see you all again."

Ozpin explained his resurrections, the maidens, the relics, and Salem. At the mention of the last one RNJR, John, and Linda shared a quick glance that did not escape Oz's notice.

"What?" He asked, "please explain your suspicions,"

John sat down next to Linda as he answered Ozpin, "We encountered a grimm that Ruby called a seer, it looked like a crystal ball but floating and with tentacles, and from what Ruby said, they are used as spies or scouts, which mindless animals have little to no use for. Something that would be invaluable for a grimm queen such as Salem."

Ozpin slammed forward,his voice suddenly intense, "Where did you see it? What was it doing? Was there anyone near it?"

Linda was the one who answered this time, "It was at Haven Academy, in the security room, and it appeared alone, as for what it was doing," she pointed to the slices all along the bare skin of her neck and arms, "it was strangling me, and would have succeeded if it wasn't for Ruby."

Oz nodded, "I ask because they are commonly used as communicators for Sale—"

He was cut off as Nora abruptly jumped in the air, shouting, "I knew he was hiding something!"

Oz was not fazed, "Please enlighten us Miss Valkyrie."

Nora continued, "When we talked to Lionheart, he looked really nervous the whole time, and kept glancing at his closet. He was hiding the evil jellyfish in there the whole time, and when we weren't there it wasn't hiding, then it came upon Linda and it was all like 'Oh no my cover is blown!" Nora then jumped over to Jaune and started mock strangling him.

Ren quickly moved to help the knight, saying, "Nora we get the point."

Ozpin scowled, "This is quite concerning, we need to gather strength before she makes her move, we need to find the rest of Team RWBY and Blue Team,"

Both Ruby and John said, "We're working on that,"

-John-117-

Back at the workshop, John and Linda were retrieving their armor and a technician was working on one of the Mistrelian flying machines with the radio on in the background. As John helped Linda strap on her armor the song playing finished, and before the next one played, a short four tones played, then music resumed.

John's head shot up when he heard the "Oly oly oxen free" from the radio, and he quickly made eye contact with Linda. A broad smile plastered both their faces and a very un-Linda like sound of excitement came out of her mouth.

She spoke hurriedly, "get me my helmet, once I have it I can start tracing the signal."

John nodded and gave it to her, then got in position for her to suit him up, both of them buzzing with excitement.

Barely 10 minutes later the Spartans were sprinting across rooftops and scaling cliffs, heading for the signal.

The two reached the top of a cliff and the signal, where they were disappointed to see nothing but a radio broadcast tower, and no Fred.

Linda thought for a moment, then flicked her head slightly, a habit she had developed to show others she was swapping sensors or overlays, then she started following something through the ground.

"There!" She said, pointing just over the other side of the ridge, "broadcast control station is over there!"

The two sprinted over and jumped down to land in front of the door, with Linda reasoning, "the cliffs and canyons of the city probably made TEAMCOM spotty," which John nodded to as he knocked on the door.

It didn't open and John simply backed up, then shoulder charged it, revealing an empty room, with a window to what looked like a recording studio, with Fred sitting calmly in the main chair and speaking into a microphone. He saw them and stood immediately, hitting a button to stop recording and moving to open the door, saying to someone behind him, "see, and you doubted me—"

He was interrupted as Linda tackled him in a bear hug, then stood up and composed herself quickly.

"Why weren't you at the rendezvous?" She asked condescendingly.

Fred stood and slapped John on the back in welcome, "I was busy getting stabbed,"

Both John and Linda gave him a spartan smile which he returned, as Linda said, "You probably deserved it,"

"It was probably meant for you, I just got in the way," Fred retorted, "oh and I forgot to introduce you to the doctor who saved my life, Dr. Jade Honeydew."

A tallish woman appearing in her mid twenties stepped into the light, her dark brown hair reflecting the harsh studio lights.

"And I would introduce the pilot who flew me here, but he had cargo to run, but he said he'd meet us in Argus if we need transportation."

He then turned to the doctor, "This is my team leader John, and our sniper Linda, Linda is the one with the googly eyes helmet."

Linda slapped him.

AN: Here it is, (took me long enough) sorry about the wait, I was working on some other stories. (Check those out if you haven't already, haha shameless self promotion)

Anyway I want to thank all my readers, I've hit 10k reads on Wattpad and 50k on , both milestones that I thought i would never even get near, so thank you all for your continued support.

Survey: (If you are willing, so I can improve my writing and make your experience as a reader better)

what do you like about my writing? (Character interactions, action scenes, plot, schemes)

What do I do well, what could I use work on?

What would you like to see more of?

Are there any characters you'd like me to focus on for a chapter?

Don't feel obligated to respond, only do it if you want to.

Review responses:

Just A Crazy Man: Glad you enjoy it

Inquizitous: Halo and Titanfall is a crossover titled Titans of Reach, and the RvB is standalone titled Freelance Beta Testers

Red October 700: This is a Halo fic, reds and blues have to show up eventually, I just hope I can tie in the others somewhere. And I'm glad I didn't screw up the flight section.

But I'm glad you've enjoyed the last two chapters, and now there is one more for you.

Guest: pretty much yeah, but I'm not gonna give it all away now am I?

PanzerJ: I know, carter maneuver is cliche, but its just so good, I couldn't resist. I am liking how Red is turning out as a character, to be completely honest I just kinda winged it when I wrote him (haha funny plane pun) ironic I know. As for your thoughts on Pharia, I didn't want to make it too obvious, but I also wanted to make sure people actually caught on. (I'm still not sure if i got it right)

Yeah your take on John's luck seems spot on, and I think that's how I'm going to write it.

Also I will be going through all the halo campaigns on legendary with a friend once cross-play for xbox and pc is added (we already finished 5), so I'll have to see what you mean.

It's even worse for all the 3s, they were all war orphans. At least some of the 2s had family left, (even though as far as we know only Serin and Naomi have had any type of reunion)

Alduin: I'm really glad you like Honeydew and Red, also the first chapter of the Freelancer story is out now, titled Freelance Beta Testing, if you haven't already seen it.

Just A Reader: Glad you enjoyed, and I hope at least some of your questions are answered, with any that you have left over being answered soon.

As for the AI, I hope to develop her personality, but I'm still fiddling around with her journey, but no matter what, she will be "plot essential" so look out for her. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.

Hyabusabros: I'm glad you like Honeydew, I'm enjoying writing her.