"I feel like something's off" said Carolina.
"Yeah, what gave it away? The tons of empty buildings? The eerie wind? Your friend?" asked Tucker.
"What friend?"
"Yeah, Carolina, never thought of you as a bird person?" joked Wash.
"What. Are. You. Talking about?" The words could not be harsher if hurled at the two males along with broken glass and molotov cocktails.
"You seriously don't feel anything?" asked Wash.
"On your back." said Tucker.
Carolina realized there was a series of tapping and scratching coming from the back of her armor. She reached back with one arm and pulled a...bird off of her back.
"It's just the local wildli-" Carolina paused mid sentence as she noticed the blood red eyes of the baby nevermore.
"Fascinating! Intact AND alive specimens of the native fauna! Not any species I've seen, appears to have a thick outer skull and red eyes. I would love to-" ranted Dr. Grey, only to be cut off by Carolina dropping the bird on the ground and crushing its skull with an armored boot.
"What?"
Everybody still stared at her.
"What?"
"Carolina, sometimes it scares me how cold you can be." said Wash.
"Come on, that bird was creepy. It was trying to peck me."
"Bow Chicka-"
"Tucker, if you finish that sentence, I will kill you."
Not wanting to antagonize Carolina after seeing her brutally end the baby Nevermore's life, he wisely took the recommended action. He shut up.
"Darn! I really wanted to cut it open." said Dr. Grey.
"Uh, guys?" asked Grif.
Noticing the not-so-subtle quaver in his voice, Wash responded.
"What is it?"
"I think the bird has friends."
Ten helmets, ten heads, and twenty eyes turned to look in the direction of Grif's pointing finger. And what they saw scared a lot of them.
"That. That doggie has spikes. I'm scared."
The beowolf snarled and began to stalk toward the group.
"What. The. F*ck. Is that."
"Caboose is right. That thing is scary!" squealed Donut.
The beowolf howled, the sound echoing and bouncing of the walls of the nearby buildings.
"And now the mean spiky doggie has friends. Who are also mean and spiky."
"Open fire!"
With those two words, the rest of the crew was galvanized into action. A series of clacking noises heralded the approaching storm of gunfire, and while completely unnecessary, made the reds and blues appear menacing. Then there was a series of sharp reports, and the four beowolves fell, brought down by at least half-a-dozen bullet holes in each one.
"Ooh! Specimens for further analysis!"
Dr. Grey rushed forward, and attempted to vivisect the beowolf, only to find that the corpse turned to mist. She looked at the other bodies, and saw the same phenomenon happen.
"Such a damn tease! I can't cut them open without the blasted things dying!"
"We need to move. Those monsters attacked us after being attracted by the first one's howl. I'm willing to bet that these things were the ones who killed the original inhabitants of the city, and these probably aren't the only ones here."
"Wash is right. We need to move. Those gunshots could probably be heard from across the city." said Carolina.
"But where do we go? We have no idea where we are!" protested Grif.
"Look, over to the North! There are city lights. It looks like...there's a tower. A glowing green light is in it. The city appears to be inhabited!" cried Simmons.
"Alright, let's move people!" said Carolina.
On Remnant, there were several rules that everyone knew by heart. Don't try to eat dust, don't antagonize Grimm, and NEVER go into the forest after dark. Unfortunately, the Reds and Blues had no knowledge of these rules, and were completely unaware of the danger they were literally walking into as they disappeared into the forest.
"Hey guys, does anybody feel like we're being watched?" asked Grif.
"You keep asking that." said Simmons, "It's getting annoying."
"Since when is Grif not annoying" quipped Tucker.
"Y'know, that problem could be easily resolved with my trusty shotgun." said Sarge. "You know I'd be willing."
"I wonder if there's anybody out here." asked Wash.
"Maybe we can ask those guys." said Caboose.
"Who? You see people?" asked Carolina.
"Yeah. The people with the glowing red eyes. The people hiding behind the bushes and making weird growly noises."
Everyone jumped, pulled out various weapons and looked around. Sensing that their prey had gotten wind of their presence, two Ursas and another four beowolves charged from the bushes. One beowolf was brought down by accurate fire from Carolina's pistol and Wash's battle rifle. Another was shredded from automatic fire from Freckles. Donut hurled a grenade and killed an Ursa. Grif and Simmons hurt a beowolf enough to make it stumble, and Sarge ran forward and blew its head of with his trusty shotgun.
"You just got Sarged, dirtbag!"
Tucker killed the last beowolf with his sword. The last Ursa ran forward, only to be vaporized by a rocket from O'Malley.
"Haha! Feeble creatures, you are not match for me! Burn and die! Mwahahaha!"
The skirmish was over as quickly as it had started, but the noises from their weapons took a lot longer to die down. Howls and growls could be heard from every direction. They could hear things charging from behind. They were in the middle of an unknown forest against unknown enemies. They had no support, and their only hope was an unknown city far off in the distance. All in all, their situation could be summed up in two words.
"Aw shit."
Carolina quickly analyzed the situation. Advantages: guns. Disadvantages: using advantages will draw more enemies, outnumbered, unknown area, no reinforcements, no vehicles. After weighing the options, she quickly came to the same plan of action that everybody else had come to.
"Run! Follow me, we're going to the city! Don't fall behind!"
The Reds and Blues, hyped up on adrenaline and terror sprinted after the teal freelancer, weapons blaring as they carved their way out of the forest.
_-=/On the Outskirts of Vale\=-_
Two guardsmen patrolled on the outskirts of the city. Coming to a stop at the place they always stopped at, they began to talk to pass the time.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever wonder why-"
Snarls and gunshots mixed in with shouts of terror reached their ears. Their training taking over, one man called in support while the other trained his rifle on the trees. Suddenly, ten armored figures burst from the fringes of the forest.
"Hold it right there!" one of the guards ordered.
"Oh, we'd love to except for the fact that we're being chased by a f*ck ton of monsters!" a figure in orange armor yelled.
As if on cue, the f*ck ton of monsters leapt from the bushes. The armored men began to shoot, their aim surprisingly good. Four more Atlas soldiers arrived, and with more numbers and guns, the Grimm were quickly decimated. The soldiers turned around to ask the armored people who they were, only to find out that they were gone.
"Where are they?" one asked.
"I don't know. Why do we care?" the other asked.
"Um, because it's our job?" the first guy replied.
"Who cares. Probably some aspiring huntsmen who got lost in the forest. You saw how short they were."
"Alright."
_-=/Inside the City of Vale\=-_
The Reds and Blues were wandering around the nearly empty streets.
"I wonder what those things were." asked Simmons.
"They looked like...evil versions of the animals we've seen on Earth. Right, those wolf things were like massive wolves, those bigger ones were like bears." said Wash.
"I agree. From outward appearances, the animals closely resemble the fauna that we are all used to." Dr. Grey contributed her agreement.
The ten armored figures walked the nearly empty streets. It was nearly 10 o'clock, and few people were moving around. Most were shady people who took one look at the armor and weapons the Reds and Blues packed, and went the other way.
"Stop! Please stop!"
Everyone froze. Carolina and Wash looked around, searching for the source of the sound.
"There!" Carolina pointed to an alley entrance twenty feet ahead of them. The two ex-freelancers unholstered their sidearms and sprinted to the alley. They saw four men in suits wielding strange red swords cornering a young woman, barely out of her teenage years. There were two other men dressed like their assumed compatriots, but were lying on the floor unconscious. From the way they were arranged, it appeared the young woman had knocked the two down. The two freelancers hesitated, unsure of what to do.
"You're gonna pay. People like you deserve to be in the trash."
At this, the two freelancers exchanged glances, and realized several things.
One, the woman had acted in self-defense.
Two, the men were armed and trying to hurt a civilian.
Three, they needed to do something about this.
Four thunderclaps echoed throughout the enclosed space of the alley.
Five seconds later, four bodies tumbled to the ground, each one with a hole in each right kneecap.
"Freeze!"
The command said by Washington froze both the men and the young woman. Carolina walked past the writhing bodies and walked closer to the girl. She shied away from her, as if afraid.
"It's okay, we're not going to hurt you. Are you alright?"
Both Wash and Carolina herself were surprised at the caring tone she used. The girl looked up at her in surprise and stepped closer. As more of her face was shown, shock spread across Wash and Carolina's face as they realized...she had rabbit ears on her head. Honest to goodness rabbit ears.
"Do you have a way to call the police?" asked Carolina.
Hesitantly, the girl nodded. She pulled out a small screen, tapped a button, and it expanded. She quickly tapped a few numbers into it, conversed with who appeared to be the police operator, notified them of their location, and then hung up.
"Are you okay?" Wash asked. "Did they hurt you?"
"N-No." the girl replied in a shaky voice. It had a little bit of an accent that resembled that of people from Earth's country of England. "N-Not to sound rude, but who are you?"
"I'm Carolina, and that's Wash. There are several more of us, and we don't know where we are. Could you help us?" asked Carolina.
"S-sure. You did save me from those thugs." the girl said.
"No problem, it's what we do. It's what anyone should do." Wash said.
For some reason, the girl looked surprised, as if wondering why complete strangers would help her.
"You can come to my house. It'll be better there." the girl said.
"Um, excuse me?" asked Carolina.
"Yes?"
"What's your name?"
"I'm Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina."
"That's a beautiful name."
"T-Thank you."
The three headed out of the alley. The rest of the Reds and Blues walked forward to meet them.
"Hey Carolina, what happened?" asked Tucker.
"Several thugs were trying to mug this young lady here."
All eyes went to Velvet.
"Whoa, she has rabbit ears!" Tucker exclaimed.
Velvet seemed to shy away from him, edging closer to Carolina and Wash.
"What's your name miss?" asked Sarge.
"Velvet Scarlatina."
"That's a cool name."
"T-Thanks."
"This girl has bunny ears. That's so awesome." said Caboose.
"W-Wait, you think my ears are cool?" Velvet stuttered.
"Yeah" That was Caboose.
"Fascinating!" That was Dr. Grey.
"I think it looks good on you. Really matches your outfit." That was Donut.
Velvet was stunned. Minutes ago, she was being mugged, and could have been beaten or killed. Now she was talking with a group of heavily armored strangers, and they thought her ears were cool. Then the teal armored one, Carolina, spoke up.
"Change of plans people. Mrs. Scarlatina has offered us a place to stay the night, if that's okay with her."
Velvet immediately responded, "That's fine. You guys did help me."
"Alright, it's settled. Let's move people."
She noticed that the two she knew as Wash and Carolina walked next to her, while the rest walked behind, bantering and exchanging jokes.
"Excuse me, but are those ears natural?" A female in white and purple armor caught up to them.
Velvet looked uncertainly to Carolina, who caught her unspoken question.
"She's Dr. Grey. Our group's medic. Don't worry, she's a good person."
Velvet turned back to the armored person now identified as Dr. Grey.
"My ears are natural."
"Fascinating! Tell me, are there others like you?"
"Yes."
"And do they only have rabbit ears?"
"No. Some have other animal ears or other traits. I know some people who have tusks and others who have claws."
"Ooh. This is what I always wanted! Discovering previously unknown phenomenon!"
What? It was like these people didn't know what Faunus were! Just who were they?
She was snapped out of her thoughts as they turned onto a familiar street. Once they entered the house, her mother came in.
"Velvet, it's so late! You should-" she abruptly stopped after seeing the armored men and women escorting her daughter. "Um… who are your friends?"
"I was being mugged by several thugs, and they helped me."
"They did?"
"Yes."
"Well then, you did good to invite them over." Turning to the assembled Reds and Blues, she spoke, "Thank you for helping my daughter. It means a lot to me, and to her. Would you like something to eat?"
A female in teal armor quickly replied, "No, we're fine. We wouldn't want to impose."
However, a man in orange armor said, "Yes."
The female, apparently the leader of the group, and another male in grey and yellow armor looked at him and sighed. Then the teal armored female looked back to her and said, "He'll have something to eat. Mind you, he eats a lot."
"No problem." she left to quickly prepare something for the strangers to eat.
Meanwhile, back with the Reds and Blues, Velvet was feeling slightly unnerved at the sight of so many visors.
"Um, would you like to take your armor off?"
Carolina responded, "We would, but it takes a long time."
"Can you take your helmets off?"
"Sure. Wash, helmets off, if the Reds and Blues want to."
Velvet realized that the group seemed to be divided into groups. There were four wearing some variant of red, two in purple, and the rest in blue or grey. The hiss of a helmet seal being broken snapped her attention back to Carolina, who was in the middle of pulling her helmet off. The helmet revealed a rather attractive face, with emerald green eyes and long red hair swept into a ponytail. Bangs shadowed one of her eyes, but the eyes appeared to be full of conflict, sadness, and a myriad of other emotions. Surprisingly, she appeared to be younger than Velvet.
"Uh, Lina?" that was Wash.
"Yeah Wash?"
"Could you step outside with me for a moment?"
"Sure?"
The two stepped out the door. Velvet realized that the rest of the Reds and Blues appeared to be frozen.
_-=/Outside\=-_
"Wash, what's wrong."
Wash removed his helmet, revealing his features.
"Wash, what's-" she faltered. He looked so… so young.
"Lina, you look like you're in high school."
He passed his helmet over to her, and she looked into it's reflective surface. There was no doubt. She was a teenager.
"What! How?"
"The device must have made us younger."
"Do you think the rest of the Reds and Blues are the same?"
"Yes."
"What do we do?"
"We can't tell Velvet who we are and where we're from. Let's just say we're not from here, and say our ship crashed in the forest, damaged beyond repair. At least that's a half truth."
Carolina snorted.
"Let's go back in, I'll talk to the Reds and Blues over a closed channel, tell them to leave most of the talking to me and you. Let's find out what Santa meant by a second chance."
Hey everyone, I've created a poll on whether or not an OC character will be added. If he is added, it's going to be a few chapters farther, so there's a bit of time (maybe a few weeks) before his entrance is scheduled. Vote on the poll to determine if he's in or not. He'll be a former freelancer turned Spartan, and have a history with Remnant.