Servants of Remnant
Chaldea is gone, but the memories remain. A world, filled with fairy tales, monsters and men. A history unlike any other. Sometimes… a hero is needed. From another world, from another time. Not all of them are great, not all of them are 'good'. But when the world needs a hero, these Servants answer the call. Perhaps only one, perhaps many do. These are the tales of many timelines. The 'Servants of Chaldea' who come to Remnant.
Ironwood
James Ironwood was silent as he walked into the docking platform with a cup of coffee, several soldiers already preparing as he looked towards the soldiers preparing to get into the transport. Just thirty minutes earlier, at eleven o'clock at night, he'd been woken up by the… alert of a massive energy only a few hundred miles out to sea, on some barren rock that had, at one point, housed a small atlesian outpost that was too out of date and too out of the way to be of any use anymore. In fact, they'd only been able to figure out that the energy spike had happened… because something had turned the outpost on when the surge had happened.
His boss, Verdant Chopper, had ordered him to take a squad out to the outpost and find out what had caused the surge. He finally sighed, just had to be him didn't it. He brought his mug to his mouth, taking a long, hard, sip of his coffee before walking towards the ship he'd been given command of for the duration of this mission.
It was a small destroyer-class ship, meant for rapid deployment, as well as capture and containment, with an emergency stasis pod for if anyone was grievously injured on mission, twin frontal cannons, and a small command office, but it was only a single deck. There was the bridge, his office, and the modular cargo bay which doubled as troop transport, where the pod was being stored. The only reason that the AA. Gullwing still had that pod was because they didn't have the time to actually change out the modules, given the nature of the operation.
He walked up to the lowered cargo door, where his squad of twelve was already getting themselves comfortable in their seats. He looked towards the squad's leader, and shortest member, Caroline Cordovin, a woman getting up there in the years at this point, and probably should have been looking for retirement, but still was up and ready to go at a moment's notice. "Everyone ready?"
"Yes sir," Caroline replied from beneath her helmet, holding up her special issue rifle and then setting it across her chest as she sat in her seat. He nodded, and walked towards the front of the ship, the pilots doing their final checks as he walked in.
"Everything green?" he asked, taking another sip from his mug, the co-pilot turning to him and giving a thumbs up. "Good, then raise the bay door and let's go," he ordered, walking into the small hallway and into the ship's office, looking at the coffee pot and just sighing as he turned in on before taking a seat at the deck. It was going to be a long night.
At 1:43 AM, he looked over the final notes he had been able to scrounge up about the base. It had been built pretty much during the Great War, and abandoned eight years after the war had ended, and a bit of extra digging had managed to scrounge up a name for the base, which was practically a mystery itself. Kasdim, which as far as he knew, didn't correspond to any history he knew of… maybe Oz would have an idea?
"Officer Ironwood?" he looked up from his notes, the co-pilot standing in the doorway. "We're on approach to the outpost… you might want to see this sir," he said, sounding… rather concerned.
"What's going on?" he asked, standing up and following the co-pilot back to the bridge. As soon as he looked out the window, he stepped past the co-pilot and put his hand on the back of the pilot's chair and just… stared.
Sitting outside the window was Kasdim, yes… but… it wasn't just Kasdim. There was an entire, second island just… floating above the ocean in the middle of a blizzard. He'd seen floating islands before, they weren't an uncommon sight in Mistral, and Atlas itself could fly, but… the sight of the second island in a very slow descend towards the sea was… well.
"Take us in, now," he ordered, the pilot nodding as the co-pilot got back in his seat, Ironwood just looking between both islands for a second, wondering what was going on… before the controls started flashing red.
"The outposts Anti-air defenses have been turned on!" the pilot responded, and Ironwood gripped the chair.
"It's over seventy years old, they can't be anymore more advanced then-" Ironwood started, just before a bang rocked the Gullwing's hull, causing it to tilt to one side before the pilot pulled up, the airship rising towards the second island as Kasdim's anti-air defenses continued to fire.
"What the hell is going on!" he shouted, before rushing back towards the cargo hold, the troops already getting their gear on again, Cordovin already out of her seat and ready as he felt the ship begin to turn, and all the lights on board flashed red.
"We're opening the bay door and then pulling back to circle outside AA range! Good hunting!" the pilot's voice came over the intercom as Ironwood grabbed his handgun from its holster, the bay door opening and snow rushing in as the troops ran out, leaping from the bay door ram and onto the island, with Ironwood himself the last one to jump out as the ship started to pull away, the bay door closing as he spoke up.
"Fan out two squads, one five, one six! I want every inch of this place checked! Cordovin, with me," Ironwood ordered, and the troops all nodded, holding up their weapons as Cordovin got in front of him, raising her rifle.
"Just give me the order," she said, and Ironwood just ran past her and further into the white snow, Cordovin following behind as he ran up towards what appeared to be a metal door that had been blasted open, getting behind the wall, Cordovin getting on the other side, before flicking the underbarrel flashlight on her gun on and pointing it down the hallway.
He just wished he'd been expecting what was just inside the hallway. There was blood… lots of it, just strewn about over the hallway, but no bodies. Cordovin stepped forward ahead of him, and Ironwood raised his gun, scanning the hallway as they started walking… slowly moving in.
But his thoughts had almost left him. The mysterious island, this facility? Had this been what the power surge had been all about? This… thing appearing? And who was in the Kasdim outpost? He'd been tired before this, expecting, maybe, some random squatter to be kicked out of Kasdim… not this. Now he was wide away.
His scroll rang to life. "Com-" he pulled it up with his free hand.
"Keep talking," he said, realizing that their communications were being jammed, likely by the blizzard, their distance from a network tower, and the… complexity of this structure itself.
"We- Body, Symbol." translating in his head, "We found a body, and there was some sort of symbol.
"Keep going," he ordered, as Cordovin rounded the corner before raising her rifle up.
"Contact!" she shouted, and Ironwood shoved his scroll in his pocket before rounding the corner and raising his rifle, looking down the dark hallway towards… a figure.
It was stumbling towards them, in one hand, an axe, the other holding a very old crossbow. Wearing all black… and a white beak like mask covering most of the face. "Halt!" Ironwood ordered, the figure slowly stopping, and looking towards him and Cordovin. "Identify yourself,"
The response that came was… just wrong. It wasn't any language he'd ever heard before. But the damn thing didn't even move its mouth… did it even have one? At best, he could make out the syllables. "Slava… Tsaryu."
And then it raised its crossbow, and Cordovin pulled the trigger, blasting the people with three bullets to the chest. He glared at her, about to repremaid her, only for a crossbow bolt to smash into his side and slam his aura, bouncing off. On instinct, he raised his pistol again, and fired, shooting the person in the arm as he tried to check his Aura, only for the thing to start walking down the hallway, dropping its crossbow and stumbling towards him, Cordovin continuing to fire, not even slowing the damn thing down until… a bullet hit the head.
The bullet went straight through its head, and it started to fall backwards… before he watched in horror as the body dissolved, clothes, weapons and all, into black ash… just like grimm. What… had happened here?
"...Sir?" Cordovin started, sounding more than a little unnerved. "You… saw that right?"
"...Keep going," he said, raising his gun, walking forward slowly with Cordovin, until about halfway down the hall, the island rocked, both of them stumbling as he felt the island's descent start to increase. Shit. "Move it!"
He broke into a run, holding his pistol towards the floor with both hands as Cordovin grabbed a clip from her belt and ejected her half spent one, slamming the new magazine into her rifle before running after him, running down the hallways as blood started to get more scared…
And then they ran into two more of the damned things. He didn't take chances this time, raising his pistol as he rounded the corner, both of them snapping towards him unnaturally, and he plugged the one on the left in the head, the remaining one raising its crossbow as he shifted target and shot that one in the head as well. Both dissolving just like the first, and he noted that the pair had been identical, down to the last detail as far as he'd seen.
As he and Cordovin continued going, he looked down the hallway at a pair of doors, one larger one closed and baring their way, and the smaller one crushed inward. Walking up to it, he grunted, pushing the door out of the way… and then getting a bolt fired at him for his trouble. Moving his head out of the way, Cordovin moved in behind him and fired under his arm at the humanoid creature, allowing him to finish pushing the door away before she stopped firing. "Piece of shit!"
She smacked her gun as he looked around the room, black dust floating through the air before dissipating as he took a step inside. There was a very simple, almost military bed in one corner of the room, and a broken houseplant in another… and then he looked towards the wall. A large symbol plasted over it, but the scorch marks hiding parts of it. A crescent, surrounded by a laurel. And there was a broken closet door, looking past and into the closet, was several… outfits. A purple dress, a black cape and orange shirt, and the one at the front of the bunch, a white shirt with a lot of belts, paired with a black skirt and black pants.
He was tempted to start walking towards the closet, when an explosion rocked the base. He stumbled, and turned towards the door, Cordovin turning towards it and starting to fire as he ran out, raising his pistol and the metal door that had just been blown open… more of the masked men were stumbling through the doorway… but it was odd, they were walking slowly, and more than a few were fading into dust before he and Cordovin even began firing. But the moment she shot several of them in the head, three charged forward.
Ironwood ran up to greet them, shotting one in the head as it jumped towards Cordovin, axe raised, before punching the second in the face, only managing to get its head to tilt as the third smashed its axe against his Aura, the blade bouncing back as he grabbed the arm of the second, raising his pistol and shooting it in the head before throwing the body at the third, the body holding on long enough to knock the third back before it dissipated, Ironwood running forward and grunting as he shoulder tackled the third into the wall before point blank shooting in the head.
"Move it!" he ordered, Cordovin reloading her rifle and joining him in charging forward through the blown out door. More dust was filling the air, and suddenly the sound of… some sort of horn filled the hallways, causing him and Cordovin to cover their ears from the sound's intensity. They kept running, more blood and more bodies fading into black dust.
Then the voice, a girl, came. It was pained, and barely audible, but he heard it, one word. "-Survive…"
Just as he rounded the corner, he caught sight of it for a split second. A white haired woman in black armor, standing next to a pinked haired person wearing a red cape and another pink haired girl in purple armor, the three all holding their hands out towards a heavily wounded girl with orange hair, her own hand raised before the three standing all vanished… just one second there, the next gone as the orange haired girl's face hit the metal floor.
"We have a survivor!" he shouted, Cordovin reloading her rifle again.
"Well then grab and go! This place is falling fast, I can feel it!" she responded, and heeding the warning, he ran towards the girl, running into the complete wrecked, actually more blown up room, black dust filling the air, and fading masked men everywhere. Above him… was a grey globe, wrecked to the point he could barely identify what was on it, and strange capsules lined the room. He looked at the girl, part of her hair was missing and she was badly burned. Gently, he picked her up, holstering his pistol before doing so, and turning to look around the room for a second. The same symbol from the earlier room was here, on the back wall… before another explosion rocked the facility… and a completely guttural roar resounded throughout the facility.
"OFFICER LET'S GO!" Cordovin shouted, and he ran, the girl in his arms bouncing, her eyes flickering open for a moment to look at him… she muttered something he didn't understand, before falling completely unconscious. He grit his teeth as he ran past Cordovin, the special ops soldier joining him in running back through the hallways, even as another roar and crash resounded. Leaping over the door, he floated in the air for a second, evidence of the actual increased velocity of the island's descent, but he hit the ground running.
"Order the retreat! Signal the Gullwing!" Ironwood ordered as they ran, Cordovin just pulling out her scroll as she slung her rifle over her back and just barking orders through it. He could hear the sound of AA fire as they reached the exit, a blizzard having completely set in at this point, even this far out to sea.
Running over towards the original drop point with Cordovin and the girl in his arms, he was silently now thankful they had that damn stasis pod. Her injuries were terrible, nevermind the likely internal damage, and if she was going to live to give them an answer… or just live at all, they needed that pod, and fast.
He didn't even look over the edge of the falling island as the Gullwing appeared within the snow, its searchlights flashing as it passed over and descended quickly into the island's top, the cargo bay opening, Ironwood climbing in with Cordovin and shouting "Activate the pod!" behind him more footsteps followed, the other special operatives returning as another roar shook the island.
The pod opened, and he strapped the girl inside, closing it before sighing, the cargo bay door closing as he turned towards the rest of the group. "Status report,' he ordered.
After receiving the information, which wasn't much aside from what he'd already figured out, those strange… humanoid Grimm, the symbols around the complex, some fairly close encounters with the explosions… and only one indicator as to the source. The larger team had pushed further down into the floating island complex, and had come across a wall of ice… which after they'd touched it, was when the roaring at really kicked in.
That explained that, and the AA Gullwing took off, and after a few moments where the Anti-air from Kasdim's guns until they were clear, Ironwood headed towards his office with a sigh. Passing a glance at the girl in the pod… just what was going on?
Nearly twelve hours later, after… many, many events, he'd finally gotten back to his own office and sat in his chair, he laid his hand on his head, groaning from the lack of sleep and the caffeine keeping him going. Just… everything had been happening today, and he really, really hoped the Oz was awake.
Pressing a button on his computer, Ironwood's windows sealed themselves, and the camera in his room shut itself off. The door was already locked, and by virtue of being a Special Ops Officer, he knew the room was soundproofed. The final thing he needed was his scroll. He pulled it out of his pocket, and plugged it into his computer, tapping Ozpin's contact code before opening up the secure channel, holding his face in annoyance… at least that Jason had proven himself capable… but he still didn't know exactly what to make of the situation. Had those three he'd seen vanish been a part of his squad? Or were they other mercenaries he hadn't been told about… so many damned questions, and no good answers.
About twenty seconds after hitting call, Ozpin finally picked up, clearly just settling into his seat in his own office. "Ironwood?" he asked, seeming a little confused at the moment. "What's with the surprise call?"
"It's important. Last night… I went on a mission, one that I think you need to know about," Ironwood relayed, Ozpin shifting in his chair again before nodding, giving Ironwood the go ahead to continue. "Last night, we got word from a very old outpost, Great War era, being reactivated… and then a massive energy spike came from near it, practically on top of the outpost. I was dispatched to check out the situation… what we found disturbed me."
"It must have been bad if it's disturbed you this much," Ozpin muttered, taking a sip from his mug before gesturing to him to continue.
"It gets worse. When we arrived at Kasdim, we found an island, floating above the outpost and slowly descending into the sea. Kasdim itself was being manned by an unknown force, and opened fire on our ship with old war anti-air. We landed were dropped off on the floating island and spent maybe ten minutes on it… but those ten minutes were…" he hesitated, before Ozpin spoke.
"What happened James?" Ironwood took a deep breath, before continuing.
"On the island, there was a heavily damaged facility, and inside was… one of the most horrifying things I've ever fought. Not in strength, but just in… what they were. Humanoid Grimm," Ironwood said quietly, and Ozpin just adjusted his glasses with a look of shock.
"But besides those creatures, we found only a few things of note. A wall of ice barring passage further into the bowels of the facility, and… a girl," he said, neglecting to mention the trio that had vanished… he still wasn't sure if they were even real. So better to share what he did know, rather the speculation.
"And what's special about her," Ozpin started, taking a sip from his mug as Ironwood closed his eyes.
"She's a maiden," and about a second later, he heard, rather than saw, Ozpin spit out his coffee all over his desk and start coughing. And he opened his eyes as Ozpin grabbed a paper towel and started wiping his mouth.
"Come again!?" he was certainly surprised now… he hadn't even seen Oz this surprised in… ever actually.
"I'll explain in a moment. The girl, who've I've learned is named Ritsuka, was heavily injured, mostly burn damage, and from what I've learned, she, alongside some sort of device that was held in the facility on the island, was the original target of the humanoid Grimm, who my source has given their name for… the Oprichnik." Ironwood continued, and Ozpin leaned back in his chair, avoiding his cup for a moment.
"A source?" Ozpin questioned and Ironwood nodded.
"A young man we found on the edge of Solatias, about fifty miles from the outpost alongside another girl, both completely underdressed for the weather, and both without their aura unlocked. They signalled us with a flare, and I ordered the emergency pickup. Their names… the young man is Jason, and the girl, Sakura," He said, pulling up two profiles on screen, allowing Ozpin to see them. In the profiles, it was… mostly blank, except for names and a picture of their heads.
"Why does this 'Jason' have this information?" Ozpin asked, taking another sip from his coffee, and downing it quickly this time as Ironwood closed his eyes.
"Because, according to him, in a story that mostly lines up surprisingly well with our findings, and the damage we found at the outpost. He was the leader of a mercenary Outfit called 'the Argonauts', who'd been hired for, at the time to him, unknown reasons to defend the girl, Ritsuka, and a mysterious device that I believe we found… the remains of," Ironwood warned, Ozpin nodding. It likely wasn't a coincidence then, given just how Jason's story had managed to line up with something he… quite literally had no business knowing about. He wasn't even aware of the island it seemed, or its… mysterious circumstances of falling from the sky.
"Where is this facility now?" Ozpin asked, and Ironwood sighed, shake his head.
"Best guess, bottom of the ocean at this point. It was descending rapidly when we got there, and kept increasing in speed as the facility was either exploding or… something we failed to find was wrecking the place. That was nearly twelve hours ago." he revealed, Ozpin holding a hand to his face and sighing before running a hand through his hair.
"This… is highly concerning," Ozpin reasoned, and it most certainly was. Normally… he would have written off such a story from an unknown man as a fantasy… but he'd seen the results, and hadn't told the man a damn thing about what had been found. It was too close to the truth to be a lie.
"Where is this young man and his friend right now? As well as this… maiden?" Ozpin asked, and Ironwood sighed.
"I… decided to see if he was telling the truth by testing his capabilities in our standard Special Ops exam, He nearly beat it… and in a rather ingenious manner, considering several factors," Ironwood started, and Ozpin urged him to continue with a wave. "He went in with nothing but a single sword with no shift function, and a handkerchief he'd had in his back pocket, and near the start of the test, got tagged with a couple bullets, revealing he didn't have his aura unlocked. I… neglected to call the test off to see what he was going to do. He destroyed most of the droids through a combination of unorthodox methods of ranged assault using his sword, had some of the AK 120s tear each other apart by using their tracking to destroy one droid, stole its arm, ripped out about twenty bullets… and then after sustaining multiple injuries, but nothing fatal, he managed to get all three of the remaining gunners to crush four bullets each, releasing their contents before using his sword to cut up the handkerchief into five slips, and setting three of them aflame using sparks from his sword hitting the metal wall. He then proceeded to use those strips to blow up the gunpowder he'd gotten beneath the 120s to knock them off their perches, destroying one but only damaging two before I finally called off the test. All in all, he did quite well, and if he'd had almost… anything else in his favor, he likely would have passed the test."
"That is… quite ingenious," Ozpin muttered, clearly contemplating what else this man was capable of. "And he's likely in medical care right now for the injuries he sustained?"
"He is, currently he's sleeping, we're working more on keeping the girl alive. She's… still in an unstable condition," Ironwood added, and Ozpin closed his eyes.
"Keep her alive at all costs James," he warned before opening his eyes. Ironwood nodded in response. "And get some rest. I can see your shadow," Ozpin added, cutting off the call as Ironwood pulled his glove off and felt his chin… huh, he did have stubble, needed to shave then… after tonight.
Getting up from his chair, he pulled out his scroll and unsealed his office, walking towards his own room and getting changed for bed, having already filed his reports… and given the go ahead by general to get some sleep finally. It had been a long night… and now he had far more responsibility than he expected over this mysterious situation.
He fell to sleep damn near instantly… unaware just what sort of hell he'd managed to walk into.
AN: Surprised? Yep, there will be chapters from the point of view of Non-Servant characters. It's to help provide some context for what's going on in people's heads, but also to show things that need to be seen by you all, but not everyone else should know. Secrets abound, and I know some of you were likely curious about how James had gotten his hands on Ritsuka, and now you know. I'll leave the speculation to your reviews. I hope to see what you all think is going on ;)