"I remember the day when we first found her… if I had to describe her, sir? She was the embodiment of fear itself. That woman could never be called human or faunus."
"Do me a favor, sir? Tell his grace that I don't ever wanna go back there again. That place was worse than hell, and if you don't want to then I'll tell the King myself. Shit, I'd rather be executed than to go back into that pit again."
-Corporal Hatley of Fireteam Odyssey when describing meeting CLASSIFIED to Valian War Minister Jonathan Hurley during CLASSIFIED OPERATION
The Great War
UNKNOWN LOCATION
"Who... are you?" A voice called out. The Master Chief raised Sigurd and began pointing the weapon at the darkness.
"So strange, I have never seen a being such as yourself before." The voice said.
"Cortana?" The Master Chief asked.
"Right here, Chief... I don't know where this is coming from, the Wombat's aren't picking anything up, and the I've tried using every form of technology in an attempt to get through this... darkness and nothing's showing up. You're not even registering on the thermals." Said the AI.
"Reset my motion tracker, whoever this is, it sounds like they're close." Master Chief responded.
His motion tracker flickered for a moment, disappeared and then came back. There was nothing but a simple yellow dot.
"Be on your toes, Chief... I don't like this," The AI responded. Chief simply held Sigurd tightly, and carefully checked his surroundings, whatever was going on... he didn't like it. He remembered the conversation he had with Dias, of how there was an immortal witch known as Salem growing more and more powerful thanks to this war. While she wasn't a "priority target" she was causing damage, and Chief had been ordered to stop it.
"I've never seen such a man before, no... you were what came with that meteorite. Except it wasn't a meteorite at all, was it?" Asked the voice once more. It sounded feminine, almost like Cortana... he could see why Dias had jumped upon hearing the AI's voice.
"You don't think Halsey had some evil twin sister, did you?" His AI companion joked. His weapon continued swaying left and right, and the super soldier proceeded to carefully walk into this dark fog. The SPARTAN II slowed his breathing, and took very slow steps. He was in unknown territory now, not even Dias knew the full layout of her headquarters.
"Why do you fight for him? Do you not know what he is capable of?" She asked. The Master Chief aimed through Sigurd's scope and finally activated his night vision, he would need it for this deep dark fog...
"He is a liar. He will have you killed, all for nothing, soldier. Do you not understand?" This mysterious voice asked. She continued, her voice echoed throughout the dark scenery louder and louder.
"He is nothing more than a traitorous snake, this man betrayed me and he will betray you as well!" She shouted. Soon, hundreds if not thousands of Beowulves howled into the moon. The Master Chief simply kept his weapon raised, his motion trackers then began filling up with red dots, enemies were surrounding him!
"Chief..." Chief's AI companion spoke, her voice indicated that she was very worried about the situation they were in, but The Master Chief showed no emotion as he prepared his next action. All he did was turn Sigurd into it's large broadsword state and charged at the enemies.
The Emerald Knight
Present Day
Mistral Outskirts
Forward Unto Dawn Crash Site
The Master Chief pondered over Dias's words... Salem was back. The witch that had made his time on Remnant a living hell, the witch that made all of Dias's lives an eternal living hell. Not only that... he had a promise to keep.
"Please, Chief... kill that monster. She's no woman, she's a damned monster! Promise me, you'll kill her!" The voice of a long deceased squadmate cried.
There was one thing that The Master Chief did, if he made a promise... he would keep it until the day he died.
"So, what shall we do, John?" Asked Cortana. The Master Chief looked down at Dias, the handsome and powerful man was now in the body of a weak and defenseless farmboy...
There was no army at his disposal, not with the formation of the huntsmen academies, and this boy had to come here alone with Dias guiding him. It was blatantly obvious that the man was desperate, that he was out of every single other option.
"We will fight with you," The Master Chief said.
"You will?" Asked the former, with a smile fighting to try and appear on the boy's face.
"Yes, my king. We will fight with you, to kill Salem." Said The Chief.
"Thank you!" Cried Dias, a wide smile soon appeared and The Spartan II couldn't help but smile as well...
He was with friends again, after all.
Time went by, and Dias had allowed Oscar full control of his body. The young boy watched as The Master Chief was preparing for their departure. The green giant had taken one of the strange cars, Warthogs he called them and began putting all kinds of equipment and weapons in the back.
"So, why aren't we taking the ones with the turrets on the back? Surely they'd be useful for fending off Grimm." Asked Oscar.
"While vehicles appear to be a thing on Remnant now... I don't think that many of them have a machine gun or a gauss turret on the back. We would be attracting unwanted attention," Said Cortana. The boy responded with a simple "Oh," and watched as Chief loaded more and more weapons and munitions into the back of the vehicle.
"Oscar, where exactly does Dias want us to go? I need a location," The Master Chief asked.
"He said... some bar in Mistral, any bar would do. Apparently we have to find someone named Qrow,"
"Understood," Said The Chief, who finally finished loading up the Warthog by putting a large double barreled weapon in the back.
"Do you know how to defend yourself?" Asked The Master Chief.
"Uh.. sorta, I've only really dealt with small Grimm before." Said the farmboy. The Master Chief then took a weapon from the Warthog, a small pistol and walked towards Oscar.
"This is an M6C Magnum, it's a reliable pistol which should help you if we come across any hostiles." The Master Chief said.
"Thank you," The boy simply said but The Chief wasn't done yet. The armored soldier got onto his knees and took the boy's hands, showing him how to hold the pistol.
"Your right hand will go here, and the left... goes down here," He instructed, moving his right hand towards the grip and he moved the left hand under it.
"Arms straight out," Said The Chief. Oscar did just that, straightening his arms and held onto the weapon tightly as he could.
"Don't hold onto it too tightly, but also don't loosen your grip too much. Understand?" Asked the soldier.
"Y-Yes, sir!" Said the farmboy, who started readjusting his grip on the firearm.
"Don't be nervous, the weapon won't bite back." Said the super-soldier. Oscar only nodded and took a deep breath and then...
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The Master Chief was surprised. Either Dias's muscle memory was slowly leaking into the boy or, he was just a natural. The boy appeared to not be affected by the M6C's recoil at all, which He gave a complimentary pat on the back to Oscar, who seemed shocked by it.
"You did good," He said as the Spartan began walking off to find something, something for the boy to shoot at. If the former was true and Oscar was slowly obtaining Dias's muscle memory, then surely he would have the deceased king's incredible marksmanship.
"Now, we'll give you something to shoot at."
The Master Chief grabbed three traffic cones that laid around in the Dawn's vehicle bay and placed them on a Scorpion, as to give them something to stand on.
"Are you sure about this?" Asked Oscar.
"I'm sure," Said The Master Chief.
"Shoot those three targets, after I get a good gauge on how you handle the magnum we'll leave."
Oscar nodded and swallowed hard, the boy was still nervous, but maybe that would be good for him...
"Begin," Ordered The Spartan II.
BANG!
The bullet whizzed by and hit the tank instead of the cone, and the boy tried again.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Click click click...
The Master Chief saw what happened. Only one of the cones had been shot and fell, and it was blatantly obvious that Oscar was nervous and had never held a firearm before. The soldier took a magazine for the M6C and went over to the boy, and began trying to channel his inner drill instructor...
"Relax yourself," The Chief said, getting onto eye level with the boy.
"You're nervous still, don't be." He continued.
The boy was finally relaxed after a few deep breaths, and then Chief went onto the next thing that he believed the boy needed to learn.
"Always keep a track of your ammunition, you don't have unlimited ammo. You need to make every shot count, understand?"
"Yessir," Oscar said and The Master Chief gave the boy the M6C magazine. He took it, giving a "thank you," in response and the soldier showed the boy how to release the empty magazine and put a new one in.
"Now, try again." Ordered The Emerald Knight. The boy took aim and instantly after aiming, he pulled the trigger.
BANG BANG!
Both cones dropped in quick succession, and The Master Chief was amazed. This was obviously Dias's marksmanship and muscle memory coming into play.
"Very good," Said The Chief.
"To think that Dias's muscle memory went into the boy so quickly..." Cortana remarked.
"Eventually, we'll train further. Dias and I will teach you how to use more than just pistols. You will learn how to use rifles, explosives, and swords." Said Master Chief.
"Really?" Oscar asked, the boy appeared to be somewhat excited.
"Yes," The Spartan only said.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
"Wh-What's that?" Asked Oscar, the farmboy was quickly worried. The ground was suddenly rumbling, as if Remnant were shaking.
"Cortana, check the external cameras." Ordered The Master Chief, who went to grab Sigurd and his M6D.
"We have incoming hostiles, one of which is a Cerberus, Chief." Spoke Cortana. Chief only nodded, taking two fragmentation grenades with him and looked out in the opening.
"Hide here, The Dawn's internal security systems will protect you from The Grimm. I'll take care of the hostiles."
"But, Chief! That's a Cerberus out there!" Oscar cried.
The Master Chief ignored the boy, turning Sigurd into it's rifle form. He liked the feeling of holding the weapon in this state, it surprisingly weighed a bit more than the normal BR55, but it just felt right in his hands. He would never trade this for any weapon, it would be the one weapon he could never give up.
He raised the weapon, barrel aiming at the now revealed opening of The Forward Unto Dawn and stepped outside.
The Master Chief wasn't surprised at what he saw. In front of him, he saw a large dog like creature, this creature was almost as large as a Nevermore or a Goliath. It had three black heads with white skeleton like plating and red eyes filled with fury. It lowered it's head, staring at The Master Chief, as if it were trying to communicate with him.
"So you awake again," A familiar voice said.
"Salem," Spoke The Master Chief. He knew what was going on, just like in their first encounter, Salem was speaking to him through the Grimm she controlled.
"I kept this hound here for years, making sure you were to never be awoken by that fool of a King, though it appears that I haven't been doing as good of a job as I had hoped in keeping you asleep, Spartan." She said.
"It appears not," The Master Chief replied.
"Your King has been slain. All that you have fought for is lost, join me and you will be spared. You will find a new beginning in my new world." Demanded The Leader Of Grimm.
"That's not going to happen," The soldier said sternly. His intent was clear, he was going to make sure he killed Salem, no matter what.
"Hm... that's very disappointing. Very well then, Spartan. I had hoped by not destroying your craft and by slaying the former King Dias, you would have joined me. I see that you spit on my act of mercy, and for that... you will die." Spoke Salem in a venomous tone.
The Cerberus gave into it's instincts and let out a powerful roar of anger and slammed it's paw down onto The Chief, who rolled over and began firing his BR55.
BRAT-BRAT-BRAT! BRAT-BRAT-BRAT!
Master Chief took off at a running start, firing his battle rifle at the large grimm. It wasn't doing any real damage, but it sure as hell was pestering the Grimm.
He needed to keep the Cerberus away from The Dawn, he needed to keep Oscar and the ship safe from any potential harm.
The Spartan II was now behind the large canine and toggled the battle rifle to full auto.
RAKATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATATA!
The beast let out another mighty roar, it's body turned and the left head began blasting a wave of fire at The Master Chief, who rolled over and dodged the scorching flames. He took aim and began firing once more, the bullets again, didn't do much damage but The Spartan II didn't care. They were doing their job in getting the grimm's attention. The beast, now realizing that it's first offensive tactic was ineffective against the swift soldier, went onto to it's next tactic.
The right head glared at Chief and soon let out a roar, and as it roared a large cloud of smog filled trhe air and covered The Spartan II.
"Seems like he's trying to poison us," Said Cortana.
"Too bad this stuff doesn't work on you," The AI continued, as she quickly began activating the rest of the MJOLNIR MARK VI's safety features, Chief simply took a few breaths, breathing in the smog, only for it to be purified air. The next thing The Spartan II did was activate his thermal vision, and soon he was seeing through the creature's smog and staring right at the Cerberus in front of him who looked like it was smiling.
The Master Chief's HUD began lighting up, and there were several red marks on the Cerberus. Several on it's legs, as well as a couple on it's three tails.
"To think you've been busy all these years," Spoke The Master Chief.
"I had the MARK VI's nanomachines upgrade your suit, the suit should assist you better in quickly eliminating Grimm. I've taken notice of all known weak points and put them into your suit's targeting systems." The AI responded.
"Anything else I should be aware of?" Asked the super soldier.
"Now, now, Chief. A girl's gotta have some secrets." Replied the AI. Chief couldn't help but smile, this was like old times...
The rumbling of the earth underneath The Master Chief brought him back to reality, The Cerberus, believing that it's prey was blinded and fallen ill due to the smog was going to land it's lethal blow, however...
The Master Chief knew where it was coming from, and he was as strong as ever. In an instant, he turned Sigurd from it's rifle state into it's sword form, then The Emerald Knight took a step to the left and prepared to swing.
THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!
The Cerberus was coming closer and closer and when it got close enough... The Master Chief sent a powerful slash at one of the weakpoints of the Cerberus, it's leg.
It let out a cry of pain and fell onto the ground with a loud thud! But The Master Chief knew it wasn't going to stay down forever. The Spartan II ran out of the disgusting smog, Sigurd in hand and he charged at the Cerberus which had fell onto the ground, attempting to get up. Though, it could tell that if it's prey got any closer, it would be killed. Thus, the creature sent a wave of fire at the SPARATN II who rolled over and dodged. This time however, the third head finally reacted, and it threw up a large quantity of black sludge targeted at The Chief. The Spartan II took a step back, the sludge fell onto the floor and his eyes widened with shock. He had seen this stuff before, back in Salem's territory...
"Chief, he's-"
Chief already knew what was happening, as two Hellhounds somehow appeared from the sludge. They took two steps before shaking themselves off, like a dog attempting to dry itself after being wet. The two Hellhounds looked calm at first, then as they stared at The Master Chief, they began growling and both of them charged at the Spartan. Chief took a step back and his reflexes kicked in, in an instant he took one of his frag grenades, taking the pin out and threw it at the head of one of the Hellhounds that tried to target him. A loud crack was heard, the skull of the Hellhound shattered upon being hit by the explosive, and soon...
BOOM!
It let out an explosion, shrapnel went everywhere and easily killed the two canine Grimm, while at the same time, inflicting damage which was absorbed by The Master Chief's energy shields. The Spartan II warrior continued his charge, but as he did, The Cerberus's right head stared at it's injured leg and began vomiting the black sludge which poured onto it's leg and began healing itself. The large canine soon got up, and all three heads looked into the sky and began letting out a terrifying monstrous howl.
Oscar watched as The Master Chief fought the mighty Cerberus. He was amazed, he had seen huntsmen fight powerful Grimm in the news and on internet videos but to see it in real life, and to see the famed Emerald Knight fighting, it was all astounding.
"Not like how the media portrays it to be, is it?" Asked Ozpin.
"No... not at all." Responded the boy.
He watched as The Cerberus fell against The Chief's sword, falling over. He watched as it managed to spawn in two Hellhounds and heal itself, it was all terrifying but nothing, nothing would ever terrify Oscar more than the next action...
GUHROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWW!
There was a brief moment of silence, but it didn't take long for Oscar to realize what the Cerberus did. It was calling for help, it knew that The Master Chief was a foe that would kill it no matter how hard it fought. Soon, Oscar could feel the metal shaking beneath his feet. These weren't just simple packs of Hellhounds the Cerberus was calling, no, it was calling a full stampede.
"We have to help him!" Shouted Oscar.
"If we go in without a plan, we'll both be killed." Said Ozpin rather calmly. Oscar groaned, of course he knew that, he wasn't stupid! The boy looked around, trying to think of anything that could provide The Master Chief with some sort of aid, and he soon found it...
He stared at one of the Warthogs with turrets on the back and smiled.
"Ozpin, which Warthog is which?" Asked the boy.
"Should I be worried about what you have in mind?" Asked the wizard. There was a moment of awkward silence, and the farmboy sighed and finally, responded.
"Maybe,"
The Master Chief was surprised that this Cerberus had produced so many Hellhounds while he was asleep. He shouldn't have been surprised, after all an entire century had went by but at the same time... he still was surprised. He took a look at his HUD. He was good on ammo for Sigurd and his M6D, however... he noticed he had one frag grenade left and also had a plasma grenade.
That one surprised him, a plasma grenade? He wasn't aware he had picked one up. Maybe it was something he forgot to drop before he went to cryosleep. Whatever the case, he hoped it still worked.
"Any ideas, Chief?" Asked Cortana.
The Master Chief only looked at the Cerberus's right head and grabbed his plasma grenade.
"You really think you can stick it?" The AI questioned, finally having a good idea on what he was going to do.
"I know that I can stick it,"
"Wanna make a bet on it then?" Asked the AI.
"You're on," Said The Chief.