Chapter 3: First contact
Hi there. If you haven't noticed, I updated the squads weapons to more modern ones. I was kindly informed that the one's originally listed were totally outdated. With that being said, here's chapter 3.
To say Oxford was a mess, would be the understatement of the year. What was once a prosperous town, has become a living hell. Now Alex and his squad have seen some fucked up shit during their military careers. Their time spent in Syria fighting ISIS and peacekeeping during the Ukrainian civil war a year prior made them no strangers to killing, death, collateral damage and the unpleasant realities of war but this was something else.
"Holy shit, it's like something… ripped her in half." Greg managed to speak up while keeping down his nonexistent lunch. The squad was looking down at the corpse of young woman no older than 20. Well, half of her at least. She had fair skin and medium length red hair with a small yellow flower tucked into the left side of her hair. She was wearing a blue and white flannel pattern shirt over a plain white T-shirt that was now stained with her blood. It was hard not to notice down by her waist the large pool of blood and her internal organs on the pavement. They took a quick glance around the area and noticed her lower half was nowhere to be found. But perhaps the most unsettling sight was her face. Those blue eyes once full of life, now just stared blankly back at you still wide open with fear. Her mouth was slightly open, as if she was about to scream but never got the chance. Everyone looked back up at each other not saying a word.
"Come on, there's nothing we can do for her." Alex said in a stern tone. No one said anything as one by one they started moving down the main road. Alex took one last look at the woman on the ground, still in shock that a young life was so…savagely ended. He took a knee next to her and reached out to close her eyes. It was the least he could do. But when he did that, he noticed something odd about her slightly open mouth, particularly her teeth. A couple of her teeth were longer and sharper than the rest, almost like fangs on an animal. He decided not to think about it and to catch up with his squad.
The town of Oxford is pretty easy to navigate. It was divided into four squared sections with the two main roads cutting through the center. Smaller roads ran in-between the buildings to get to other parts of town. The west side of town was the residential district where most of the housing lies. The center where the main roads form an intersection is the market district. There you'll find several stores as well as community services like the clinic, and of course the local tavern, all encircling the town hall building standing high and mighty over-looking Oxford. Next to the town hall was a CCT antenna relay substation that allowed them to maintain contact with Vale. The east side of town is home to the industrial district that helps supports the town's main source of economic income: Dust. Right outside the eastern part of town was a large Dust mine that the people of Oxford quickly took advantage of. They would mine the raw dust crystals, then bring it in to have it purified and refined before they ship it out to Vale and outlying settlements. It wasn't long until they drew the attention of the Schnee Dust Company. The mayor of Oxford was "persuaded" to hand over the mines to the SDC in order to maintain their Dust monopoly. Now the mayor was nothing more than a figure head who answered to the SDC site director. The people still had their jobs in the mines, but were now under the constant watch of SDC troopers, a privately-owned army that answered only to the SDC without interference from the Atlas council or military. Weapons still at the ready, the Russians were moving through Oxford trying to find out what the hell is going on. They took notice of the conditions the buildings were in. No bullet holes or signs of a fire fight, but lots of claw marks and broken doors. However, upon entering the market district near the clinic, they were met with a horrible sight.
"My God!" Ivan exclaimed. Bodies. Bodies everywhere. Dozens of men, women and children. The pavement was painted in blood and littered with severed and mutilated parts. Looking around you can see swords, axes and weird looking guns near some of the bodies, at least they tried to fight back…whatever did this. There were also a few bodies that were wearing some kind of high tech, white metal armor with a snowflake emblem on the front wielding a military grade looking rifle. Most likely a soldier or town guard. Despite the gruesome scene in front of them, they couldn't help but noticed that the civilians all had some sort of animal feature. Some had ears resembling rabbits, wolves or cats, some had long tails like foxes or tigers, a few had deer antlers and goat horns, while others had claws or fangs protruding outside their mouths.
"Animal people? That's different." Nick commented. Alex thought back to the girl from earlier and remembered she had fangs like some of these people. More questions that he'll deal with later.
"Who could've done this?" Greg asked. His question was answered by a loud, primal growl behind them. The squad froze in place, not wanting to turn around to face…whatever made that noise. Alex however was the first to react. He set his rifle to burst fire, took a step forward with his left foot and in a quick, fluid motion he brought his weapon up while pivoting a full 180 degrees to face the threat. In a split second his target was in his sights and he quickly pulled the trigger twice, sending four rounds into the head of…what the hell was that thing? It looked like a black furred werewolf with bones protruding from its body and it had on mask with red markings that also appeared to be made of bone. The creature slumped down to the ground, it's piercing red eyes going dim as black blood oozed out of the entry wounds caused by Alex. Needless to say, everyone was speechless.
"You got to be fucking kidding me, now there's werewolves?!" Nick shouted
"OK I agree with Nick; this afterlife blows." Ivan commented. Their attention was drawn back to the dead beowolf, whose corpse was starting to disintegrate.
"At least I can put killed a werewolf on my resume." Alex joked trying to lighten the mood.
"Hey! Bad jokes are MY thing, get your own thing!" Nick snapped at Alex.
"Whatever you say." The moment however was broken when a loud wolf howl echoed through the town. It was followed up by more howls coming from multiple directions.
"Guess it's not alone. We should be probably leave before more show up." Greg reasoned with the squad.
"Where are we going to go?" Ivan asked. It didn't take Alex long to think of plan. Oxford has fallen, so now their only goal is to survive.
"There has to be a car we can jack and use to get the hell out of here." Alex responded to Ivan.
"Well it's not like anyone's going to miss it." Nick remarked.
"Fuck it, let's check by those factory-looking buildings." Greg said deciding to just go with it.
"So we're trying to escape a town full of hostiles trying to kill us? Why does that seem so familiar?" Nick deadpanned. They kept a steady pace trying to ignore the dead Faunus around them. It wasn't long until the came across the local tavern where Nick got everyone's attention.
"Holy shit! Half price drinks and two for one sandwiches? God damn that's a good deal!" Alex rolled his eyes and was about to yell at Nick until a scream got their attention. It sounded like a little girl.
"Please someone help me!" The girl cried out from behind the tavern. Alex and Greg were already running to reach the back of the building with Nick and Ivan close behind. Weapons up at the ready, they stacked up along the wall getting ready for what was around the corner. Alex looked over his shoulder to Greg and held up three fingers. Two. One. And in a quick movement Alex turned the corner and took a kneeling position while Greg was right behind him standing, both weapons aimed at their target; a bear looking creature this time. It had the same black fur, bone armor and red eyes as the werewolf creature. The ursa never knew what hit it. Two shots from both Alex and Greg made sure that bitch stayed down. It fell to the ground with a satisfying *thud* as it bled from the bullet wounds, then shortly began to disappear. The girl didn't know what just happened. One second she was on the ground about to be killed by an ursa, then the next second gunshots were heard and the ursa is dead on the ground before her. She looked up and saw her saviors. In front of her were four men dressed in camouflage, wearing vests with lots of pouches and sturdy looking helmets. They were all heavily armed wielding a variety of weapons that she didn't recognize. She guessed that they might have been soldiers but from where? They don't look like Atlas soldiers or even SDC troopers. She tried to look at their faces but they all were wearing a mask that concealed the lower half of their face. It made her feel a little uneasy not being able to see the whole face of heavily armed men, but they saved her so she'll get over it. One of them was approaching her with his rifle lowered while the other three stayed back with their weapons up scanning the area for more Grimm.
"Hey are you alright?" Alex took a knee next to her to make her feel more comfortable. She looked no older 10 years old with lightly tanned skin, long brown hair than was kept in a ponytail and bright…orange eyes? She was wearing a simple long sleeve shirt that matched her eye color with denim jeans and running shoes. Besides her eyes, the most distinct feature were the fox ears on top of her head. She nodded weakly at Alex's question. "My name is Alex." He calmly stated trying to get her to speak.
"M-Marigold". She nervously replied. When Alex spoke, she noticed he sounded younger than she thought he was. And his tone was warm and full of concern despite his intimidating appearance.
"Where are your parents?" He had to ask even if he had a bad feeling about the answer.
"I-I don't know. They were at work when the Grimm showed up." She weakly replied. Alex needed more information and this child was his only source.
"Marigold, can you tell me what happened?" Alex asked her in a comforting tone. She looked the Russian in the eye and nodded.
"I-I was outside p-playing, then suddenly p-people were running and screaming about Grimm in the town. It all happened so fast, the Grimm were everywhere destroying everything and k-killing e-everyone." She was breathing heavily, trying to hold back tears threatening to escape. Before she broke down however, Alex gently placed a hand on her shoulder trying to calm her down.
"Shh, it's alright." He knew she was terrified so he was doing his best to keep her calm and not have a panic attack. Alex took note of the way she used the word Grimm. He figured those black creatures must have been what she was referring to. Everyone else was listening to Alex trying to calm the kid down and also took note of her mentioning the Grimm. "Hey Marigold, can you walk? Are you hurt?" Alex was asking with genuine concern. She shook her head no and pointed to her left ankle.
"M-my ankle hurts." She reached down to roll her pant leg up and removed her shoe so Alex can look at it. While everyone in the squad had basic first aid training, Alex took an advance course to improve and refine his training. Or at least that's what he tells everyone. He only volunteered so he could get out of standing in formation for a change of command ceremony. Everyone else had to spend hours outside marching and standing, while he was in an air-conditioned room sitting down and enjoying life. While he only took the course to avoid doing stupid shit, it was interactive and had lots of useful information. He learned new skills and avoided standing in a formation for three hours; a win-win scenario. Looking at Marigolds ankle, he noticed the swelling, discoloration and the way she was bending her ankle to support it. In no way, shape or form was he a qualified doctor or field medic, but he had enough common sense to know what a broken ankle was.
"Oh yeah that's broken, no way you can walk on that." He joked lightheartedly towards her and she gave a half smile back. "She'll be okay, all she needs to do is keep her ankle in a splint and stay off it. The real question is what are we going to do with her? We can't just leave her behind. She'll probably have to be carried out of here." An ear-piercing howl interrupted his thoughts.
"Oh fuck, contact!" Nick shouted will firing at three beowolfs heading towards them. Alex looked toward Marigold who was trying to protect her ears from their loud weapons. All four of her ears to be exact. Nick and Greg were firing controlled pairs at the charging Grimm while Ivan fired short bursts from his machine gun, cutting through them like jelly. The Grimm pressed on with their attack, but were unable to get close enough to strike the Russians. A dozen beouwolfs and four ursai fell to the hail of gunfire before falling back. While it's common knowledge that Grimm are mindless beasts driven mostly by their instincts, the older more experienced ones learned and observed by watching their enemies. Their experience fighting against man made them highly intelligent and formidable foes to even the most seasoned huntsman. An alpha beowolf was holding back in a hidden position, watching his brethren get cut down by these newcomers. These humans fought differently than the others it's encountered. They were holding their ground, using ruble and destroyed buildings for cover and using only firearms to attack from a distance. Every shot made, was focused, accurate and always found its mark. And the damage it did to its brethren was impressive. They cut through the hides like nothing, even shattering the bone masks and the impacting force stopped them in their tracks. The alpha knew it needed a new strategy to best them. He howled into the air, signaling his brethren to fall back and regroup. These new humans were going to be a challenge, but they will die like the rest. And if you were looking closely, it almost seemed like the alpha had a small grin forming.
"Hold your fire, it looks like they're retreating." Alex said while keeping his rifle up. The four men kept their weapons up and scanned the area for another minute before lowering them and relaxing for a moment watching the Grimm carcasses disappearing.
"We can't stay here, t-they'll be back!" Marigold told the squad. All of them nodded in agreement.
"Marigold, is there another way out of town, or a safe place to hide out in?" Greg asked her in hopes that she may know something.
"My mom told me to run to the town hall if there's ever trouble." She replied. Alex pondered the thought of heading to the town hall. He remembered passing it earlier so it wasn't that far away. She mentioned that her mother told her to go there if there's trouble so it's possible there were others that survived. Besides, the plan to "tactically acquire" a vehicle is not looking good. They haven't seen a single car or truck since they entered Oxford.
"So what do you guys think? Should we head to town hall?"
"What happen to finding a car?" Ivan questioned.
"I haven't seen one since we got here. And I don't feel like running around the whole town trying to find one."
"Alright let's get going, it's only a block that way and my feet are killing me." Nick commented.
"Who's going to carry her?" Greg asked referring to Marigold.
"I'll do it." Ivan said stepping forward. In Marigold's eyes, Ivan was a literal giant compared to her, but inside she knew she'd be safe with the big man. Letting his machine gun hang on its sling, Ivan knelt down to pick her up and placed her in a cradle carry.
They managed to reach the town hall building without encountering Grimm which was both a good and bad thing. It was eerily quiet, like something was watching them. Alex didn't like it. In front of him was a large two storied brick building with windows surrounding it and large double doors, marking it as the entrance. Greg reached to try and open the doors but they wouldn't budge.
"I think the door is barred. Should I try knocking?" Before anyone could respond, a window on the second floor opened and a man with deer antlers poked his head out.
"Hang on, we'll open the door!" The sound of door barricades being removed could be heard before the door opened for the group where a man with dog ears waved them inside. They quickly made their way inside as the door shut behind them. The Russians looked around the building seeing several people crowded together in the central atrium. A mix of men, women and children, all of them bearing animal features were looking back at the strangely-dressed, heavily armed men with curious glances.
"Marigold!?" A middle-aged woman said while making her way through the crowd. Alex noticed she bore a striking resemblance to Marigold, right down to the orange eyes and fox ears.
"Mommy!" She gleefully exclaimed. Ivan approached Marigolds mother and gently placed her daughter in her hands.
"I'm so happy you're okay!" Marigolds mother brought her daughter into loving embrace, crying tears of joy that at least her daughter was safe. She looked down towards her ankle and took notice of the swelling. "Sweetie, what happened to your ankle?" Alex stepped forward to answer her.
"Just a broken ankle ma'am. She's going to need a splint to straighten it out. Other than that, just stay off it while applying ice and keeping it elevated." Marigold's mother looked towards the strange armed, mask man with a slight worry.
"I'm sorry but who are you?" It was Marigold who answered her mother.
"That's Alex, he and his friends saved me from the grim!" Her mother relaxed then turned towards the whole squad.
"Thank you so much for saving my daughter!" Her tone was genuine and full of gratitude.
"It was no trouble ma'am" Nick replied to woman.
"Excuse me, but I would like a moment with these men if you don't mind." The man with the deer antlers who let them in said while he approached the group. Marigold's mother, still carrying her daughter gave one last thanks to the Russians then turned to leave the room.
"Bye Alex! Bye Alex's friends!" Marigold called out while waving to them. The squad lightly smiled and awkwardly waved back to her before turning attention to the man. He was a tall middle-aged man wearing workman overalls with a light complexion and 5 o'clock shadow. Despite being an older gentleman, he was fit and in great shape indicating a life of manual labor. His dark brown hair was combed to the side and starting to grey. Deep green eyes were looking the Russians up and down trying to get a read on them.
"Carmen was worried sick about her daughter after learning of her husband's fate. By rescuing little Marigold from the Grimm, you and your friends have my thanks."
"You're welcome, Mr.…?"
"Greenwood. John Greenwood. Now Alex, do you mind introducing your friends."
"That's Greg, Nick and Ivan." He told John while pointing to each member who gave a curt nod. John took notice of their strange attire, weapons and the masks concealing their faces. They looked like soldiers, but the only ones he knew of were Atlas soldiers and they didn't dress anything like them. He also noticed that while Alex sounded young, he spoke like a true professional.
"Are you boys Huntsman?"
"Uhh no, we're just travelers." Alex replied thinking quickly about a cover story.
"Packing a lot of heat for travelers." John commented
"Well, you can't be too careful when it comes to the Grimm right?" Alex casually responded.
"Can't disagree with that answer. So, what brings…"
"Greenwood! Who told you to open the door?! And who are these people?" The conversation was interrupted by a very haughty and arrogant voice coming from a very meek and weasel-looking man. He was a little shorter than John and wore a dark grey two-piece suit and a black armband around his left arm with the same snowflake symbol that was seen all over town. Unlike John, he was thin and wiry with pale skin, short black hair, thin mustache and wore banker's glasses over beady, dull blue eyes. Alex just met him, but he was already resisting the urge to punch him in the face.
"These men saved Carmen's daughter so I opened the door to let them in." John said in a neutral tone.
"You're supposed to be working on our communication problem, not letting in every stray!"
"The town is overrun with Grimm! The Dust mine is lost! People are dead! Even your company employees are dead!" John shouted back even though the man looked unfazed.
"Fix the communication issue and you animals can get out of here in one piece." Forget punching him in the face, Alex felt like shooting him.
"Just go back to your office and I'll deal with it ok?" John said regaining his composure. The man simply walked away from them but whispered something under his breath that Alex heard.
"Faunus trash." Alex had no idea what he meant by Faunus but his dislike of that man has evolved to pure hatred.
"Who's that dickweed?" Nick asked John.
The Schnee Dust Company site director of our town; Heinrich Sable. He's your typical SDC employee: arrogant, full of himself and an extreme prejudice towards Faunus." John said with clear disdain.
"Why do you let him talk to down to you guys like that? He's a scrawny twig, you can crush him like a bug!" John smirked at Nicks comment.
"Oh, trust me I know I can, but there's already enough bad blood between Humans and Faunus and assaulting an SDC employee will not look good." Alex was getting a headache from all the information he's been keeping track of when they first arrived her.
"Demon animals referred to as Grimm? Human-animal hybrids called Faunus that apparently have a strained relationship with "normal" Humans? And what the hell is a Dust company? God my head hurts, I need a drink. Seriously what else does this place have? People with super human abilities? Somehow it wouldn't surprise me." John was giving Alex a curious glance.
"You alright lad?"
"Yeah, just a lot on my mind. So what's this about a communication problem?" Alex asked quickly changing the subject.
"Right, well you may have noticed the large tower outside. It's our CCT tower that allows us to utilize our scrolls to keep in touch with each other, as well as Vale and the other settlements." Alex nodded for him to continue, assuming that a scroll is probably a type of phone. "Well when the Grimm attacked, the tower was damaged and we lost all communications."
"So why is Heinrich bugging you to fix it? I assume it's not a quick fix."
"He doesn't know how life works, he used to giving orders and getting results." John deadpanned.
"So you don't have another way to contact for help. What about a radio?" Greg asked and John was shaking his head.
"We only have short range radios we use in the mines, nothing that can be used for long distance." Greg reached into a side pouch and pulled out a bulky device with an antenna.
"You sure about that John?" He smirked. John was looking at Greg's radio with wide eyes.
"Well I'll be, can that cover a distance of over 30 miles?!"
"Oh yeah, that's nothing." Greg replied. John couldn't believe his luck. He was convinced that there was no way out and was about to give up hope. But then out of nowhere four young men, Humans no less, show up and help rescue a Faunus child from the Grimm. And if that's not enough, they have a long-range radio they can use to call for help. It wasn't a make or model that he was familiar with, but he knew a radio when he saw one. Maybe they were going to make it out of this alive.
"So is there a frequency we can use?" Alex asked
"Yes 250.5, that's the Vale police department emergency frequency." Why do I remember that?" John thought to himself.
"Alright frequency is set, here goes nothing."
Vale Police Department HQ
Chief Redford sat at his desk going over the paper work that cluttered his office. Every day the pile kept growing with no signs of slowing down. From major issues like Dust robberies, the White Fang and Roman Torchwick, to the small stuff like littering and parking ticket quotas, he was never able to catch a break. He sighed and took another swig of his "coffee" until he heard knocking at his door and set his "coffee" under his desk.
"Yes, what is it?" The door opened to a fresh-faced officer, Carmine if he remembered correctly.
"Sir we have a situation that requires your attention." He nervously spoke to his superior while Redford just sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Did another recruit shoot themselves in the foot again? Or did Jenkins get another sexual harassment complaint?" Redford asked, as if those situations were a common occurrence.
"Ummm no sir, we're getting a radio transmission on the emergency frequency from Oxford".
"Oxford? Hmm, if they're using an emergency channel then something has happened." Redford followed Carmine to the dispatch office where officer Lepelletier was monitoring all calls. She noticed the chief walking in and stood up to address him.
"Chief Redford!" She sounded off. Redford reeled back from her sudden outburst.
"You're not a recruit, you don't have to sound off every time, especially when I'm right in front of you! He snapped at the young woman who immediately blushed from embarrassment.
"Sorry sir!"
"Now what is this about a transmission from Oxford?" Lepelletier turned the volume knob on the radio and Redford was listening to the distress call.
"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday. This is Gregory Fedorov. We are holed up in the Oxford town hall building with 30 plus civilians and surrounded by Grimm. The town is lost and has suffered heavy casualties. Requesting immediate aid from any friendlies in the area!" Redford had a serious look on his face.
"Sir?" Carmine questioned.
"Get Beacon on the line, I need to talk to Ozpin."
A/N: I'm kind of a history nerd and when I read up on the Schnee Dust Company, I immediately thought of the British East India Company. Both companies were part of a powerful kingdom/empire and had a large trade monopoly. While they technically answered to the monarch/council, they definitely had a lot of power in terms of politics. Vol. 4 Ironwood goes to Jacques house to discuss the trade embargo. The fact that the head of Atlas academy, a general in it's military, and a council member going to the house of a CEO, in my opinion shows what kind of pull the SDC has. And whose to say that the SDC doesn't have it's own private army? True they work with the Atlas military, but to what extent? Soldiers can be used to guard Dust sites, but like any military, they still answer to their chain of command and if Ironwood recalls them, the SDC legally couldn't do anything about it. That's just my thoughts on the SDC though.
Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY. I also refuse to discuss anything involving politics or what the news is showing. Don't even try me.
As always: any bitches, moans or complaints, feel free to let me know. Your hate keeps me warm at night!