[Master Chief Petty Officer, Sierra-117]
[22nd of September, 2528]
[0058 hours]
Everywhere around him was set aflame, the fire licking so close to his face it dried up the sweat almost instantly. He heard the crackle of flame devouring wood and the bloody pops of it boiling away the blood of the Atlas soldiers. Recalling the events prior in milliseconds, he shot up with wide, adrenaline filled eyes. His head whipped around in every direction, soaking in all the damage wrought by the projectile that slammed into the large tower.
He saw destruction, a sight he was well used to after Harvest, but it still gave him the heart wrenching fear for death. Not his own - no, that was beaten out of him brutally by Mendez, but rather his Spartans, and now the students of Beacon. He got up to his feet, albeit slow and shakily, and shook his head to clear the nausea.
He had to find Linda, Kelly, and Ruby. That was his main priority, then they'd find whoever did this. Taking two quick breaths before expending them, he forced his body to move, ignoring the plethora of burns and cuts across his body. 'Pain is just another motivator,' he chanted to himself, the statement giving him more strength.
His feet stepped on something metallic and bumpy, a completely different feel than the metal from the tower, and peered down at it. Catching a glimpse of red and black, he immediately bent down and retrieved it. He gazed at the folded form of Crescent Rose as he put his hand under the barrel portion. He may not know how to use a scythe, but a rifle? That he could work with.
He put it to his shoulder before realizing the issue.
She built this thing like it was a damn pistol. No stock, just a grip. He sighed and looked around for anything to use as an impromptu stock - no way was he going to use an extremely high powered rifle with nothing but his forearms to absorb the recoil - and quickly hastened a piece of metal to the end of it using his shoelaces. He frowned at the sight, knowing it would fall apart relatively quickly, but didn't bother for anything else. John didn't have the time.
He stalked forward, slightly crouched, with the impromptu stock pressing into his shoulder as his finger hovered over the trigger, ready to squeeze at a moment's notice. He didn't see any enemies before the explosion, but from the looks of it, he's been knocked out for a few hours at least.
John's feet kicked something soft and sticky, and he didn't even look down to know what it was, although he did anyways, just to make sure it wasn't one of his own. A charred body of a Beacon student who happened to stray too close to the explosion lay at his feet, the uniform melding with the soft gooey flesh of the rabbit faunus.
He frowned at the bunny ears and knelt down, checking the person for any ID on them. He got lucky and found it underneath the person, pulling it out and looking it over. He breathed a small sigh at seeing an unrecognizable name, meaning it wasn't that Velvet Scarlatina girl. Ruby would've been distraught if one of her friends died.
Storing the ID away he pressed on, stepping over the bodies of the now dead Atlas soldiers. He heard chatter come from his right and quickly ducked behind rubble, his heart beating in his ears. He slowly peeked out of the wreckage towards the noise and saw four armored men, all wearing Atlas gear. The large Spartan sighed a breath of relief and stepped out from behind his cover, holding one arm up while keeping the other on the grip.
"Hey," He called out, and all four of them swiveled immediately to face him, their weapons raised. "Where's-" He was cut off by blue plasma fire, which he was thankfully quick enough to dodge. His eyebrows curved down into a scowl and he aimed Crescent Rose at the men, his voice coming out as a throaty command. "Stand down! I am not the enemy, I repeat, I am not the enemy!" The ignored him and continued firing, one in the back talking through an earpiece. John growled and aimed the sniper at said man, squeezing the trigger without hesitation. The bullet slammed through the soldier, taking half his head with it. However, the stock came undone, and it was only due to his quick reflexes that it didn't fall off. The other three fastened their assault, all of their mouths forming into a furious sneer.
The 17 year old super soldier hid behind another pile of metal and wood, the plasma bolts smacking into his cover. He was appreciative that their plasma wasn't nearly as hot as the Covenant's, but was still cautious not to get hit by it. He re-tied the stock, ensuring it would stay on this time, before peaking out of cover and firing another shot, this one piercing the frontal soldier's chest. It took a huge chunk with it, granting him and the other two a gruesome sight of bone and organs. He frowned at this, heavily confused why their aura wasn't blocking the bullet. Sure, it was powerful, but even average can hold up against a single shot.
The last two, realizing they were standing in the open, dove behind cover of their own. John-117 sighed deeply and checked the clip, clicking his tongue at seeing the three bullets left. Good enough to take out these two, but one bullet left wouldn't do him much good against another group, and he wasn't naive enough to think he could use the scythe part without slicing himself in half.
With two quick breaths, he got out of his cover and ran towards the plasma rifle lying near the soldier with a gaping hole in his chest. He felt the air sizzle as the other two Atlas soldiers fired their weapons at him, but they were pretty shit shots. He slung Crescent Rose onto his back and picked up the plasma rifle as he ran, before quickly turning around and firing shots towards the now exposed soldiers. His shots hit home, one plasma bolt sizzling through #2's neck and two burning through #1's crotch. He would have winced at the sight, but he was too full of adrenaline to care. He reached back for Ruby's weapon but realized it was on the ground.
"... Really wish Yang didn't bang up my armor." He sighed and picked it up, frowning as he looked at both weapons. Then, looking over to #2, an idea started forming in his head. He jogged over there and looked down at the fully intact armor, humming. He heard they used dust to let Atlas armor fit over any body, so maybe…
Now outfitted with white Atlas armor, Chief made his way through the burning wreckage of the CCT and the surrounding buildings. He shifted uncomfortably in the white armor, grunting as it rubbed against his bare skin. It may have been designed to fit any size, but it sure as hell wasn't designed to make it comfortable for every size.
Although that may be attributed to his large size, come to think of it. He sighed through his nostrils and looked around under the blue eye visor of the helmet. John had to admit though, Atlas did make extremely good interfaces for their visors. Dare he say, it's even more advanced than the UNSC's marine outfit, but significantly less so than the MJOLNIR IV armor. Maybe once is all said and done Remnant could become a colony of the United Nations Space Command and be a main provider for their tech.
If it didn't get destroyed that is.
He was shaken out of his thoughts by noise to his right, and he crouched down low in an attempt to stay out of sight. He brandished the Atlesian rifle and looked over the top of a pile of rubble, and was met with a red hood and a golden visor. All three looked at each other, and Chief suddenly realized they were staring. With a sigh of relief, the large man shouldered the weapon and waved at them, showing he was friendly. "Don't shoot, it's me."
They visibly relaxed, and John looked at both of them for but a moment. He took off the helmet and looked around, his mouth quirked slightly. "Good to see you're both alright, but where's Linda?" Ruby and Kelly looked at each other, a comical sight due to the height difference, then back at him before shrugging.
"We haven't seen her since we came to, Chief." Kelly responded. John looked her over and was grateful to see the worst injury seemed to be a broken leg and a crack in her large visor. Other than that, she seemed in even better shape than he. Ruby, though, had some of her hair singed off from the blast, but her aura seemed to have prevented any burns. The bald spots would be an eyesore, though. He handed her the helmet with a nod.
"Well pack up, camping's over. Let's put out the campfire and head out." Ruby put on the helmet and looked around, a frown on her face. John grunted in realization and pulled out Crescent Rose before holding it out to her. She gasped and grabbed it, cooing to it in her strange Ruby ways.
"... Anyways," Kelly started, "Even if I wanted to go, my leg is in bad shape, Chief. I can hardly move it."
"No biofoam?" She shook her head and he sighed, rubbing his sore jaw in thought. He looked around for anything that could splint it into shape, but was brought to attention when someone tapped his arm. The large teen looked over and down at the Gothic girl, who looked a bit sheepish, even with the out-of-place helmet on her head.
"Uh… Well, I can, y'know, try to unlock her aura? It should heal it right up with your augmented healing factors!" She piped in, and Chief was tempted to accept the offer if it would help her.
But what if it messes with her? He hasn't seen anyone unlock aura, let alone anyone pre-aura. What if it messes with one's personality? Or what if aura doesn't like their augmentations and changes her back into a normal human? Painfully, might he add. He couldn't decide, it was too risky.
"Alright." The british accent caused him to falter, and he looked over at Kelly with a confounded face. Did she just agree to it? Did she not realize the serious threat with that? He decided to vocalize his concerns, but much to his chagrin, his childhood best friend remained stubbornly fixed on the idea.
"I'm a nuisance like this, John. If she unlocks my 'aura' then I could get back into the fight sooner than ever. You wouldn't have to wait for me to heal." He pursed his lips and looked down at Ruby, then back at Kelly.
If anything happened, anything, he would take responsibility without a nanosecond of hesitation. "... Fine. But don't screw it up." He directed that towards Ruby, maybe a little harsher than he intended, but his family mattered much more to him than a friend's, who he's known for a significantly less amount of time, feelings. She didn't even flinch though and instead nodded, walking over to the fastest Spartan.
John watched intensely as Ruby placed her palms against her stomach, and listened closely as she muttered a mantra with her eyes closed. He remained on the lookout for any threats, but kept most of his attention on the ritual being performed.
Rose petals fluttered around Ruby as her body glowed silver, and a blue glow engulfed Kelly. He bit his cheek, hard enough to draw blood, and decided to look around for enemies rather than watch. There were no in sight, but he felt the need to look anyway.
A few seconds later the lights died down, and John couldn't help but look back at the two. He saw… Nothing different, besides Kelly's low blue glow fading away. "... Are you… Feeling, any different?" Is that the right question to ask? He didn't know, but he had to hear her say she was alright.
Kelly looked at her hands then over at him, nodding slowly. "I feel… Fantastic, John. It's as though I got augmented a second time, but this time without the pain." He pursed his lips once more and holstered his rifle, walking over to the two. "Take off your helmet, Kelly." Without resistance she pulled it off, her brown orbs staring into his blue ones. He saw the few bruises and cuts on her face fade away, but other than that, there was no physical change. After a few moments John nodded and looked over at Ruby, sighing quietly.
"Thanks." She beamed and nodded, her face stretched into a grin, although she was clearly more sweaty and ragged than before. "... Are you okay?" The helmeted head nodded, and her lips opened to let out a sigh.
"Yeah, just took a lot out of me. It requires aura to unlock aura, and I was running low as it was." He nodded and looked down at Kelly's leg. Ruby seemed to understand his question and spoke up, "It usually takes a couple days for broken bones to heal for normal huntsmen, less for those with large reserves like Jaune, but Kelly has her augmentations and a large reserve of aura. So for all I know, it could only take a few hours, give or take the augments." John grunted with a nod, satisfied with that answer.
Kelly placed her helmet back on and looked around, her body still leaning on her good leg. "Should we wait, or what, sir?" Chief picked up a couple pieces of metal and looked at them, humming.
"Anyone have string?"
Admiral Ezra Cole looked around his vicinity, his mouth set into a firm frown as he heard Lieutenant Stonewall and Ensign Jackson chatting amicably. He couldn't blame them, they had gotten through alive with no casualties to the pelicans.
But that's just it. There were none. Even the best estimates by Lilith indicated almost 200 deaths. Yet, despite an advanced A.I. literally designed to calculate based on data, there were none.
There were two possibilities: Either the Horsemen aren't as formidable as they seem…
Or they let them pass. And judging by the lack of response from the rest of the fleet, it surely wasn't the first one. So, yes, they rejoiced because they lived, but Ezra mourned because it would only end in a fate worse than death for his crew.
"Sir, the strange signals we've been detecting have gone offline after an impact hit these coordinates: x-63, y-122." The child-like voice of Lilith broke his depressing thoughts and he looked over at where she was stationed. He sighed and pulled out a flask, unscrewing the cap and taking an unhealthy swig of the beverage inside.
"Isn't that the city just north of here?" The cube bobbed up and down, as though it nodded, and spoke up once again, "Yes, sir. The few hours I had to look into the data stream, it's a city called 'Vale' that houses a large combat academy to fight against the creatures of 'Grimm'."
"Creatures of Grimm? What, do you mean like grim as in dark, or Brothers of Grimm?" The green pixel cube hummed and floated around the pedestal aimlessly.
"Part of the first, but the second doesn't exist here. I wasn't able to see the origins, but it's likely that they lost that information long ago. I gathered info about their history, and it is covered in blood and death, and not because of the Insurrection or Covenant. In fact, it goes back before even humanity landed on the moon."
"... What are you saying, Lilith? These people have been here before humanity even left Earth?" This was ridiculous. This was fantasy thinking. She must be wrong, there is absolutely no way humans were on two planets for thousands of years. It goes against evolution, for Christ's sake!
"These people, human and faunus, have existed for just as long, if not longer, than humanity on Earth." He sighed deeply, his hands itching towards the flask once more. "I managed to dig deep right before the explosion, and caught one statements that struck me as odd, sir."
He raised a graying eyebrow towards the artificial intelligence, "What would that be?"
"Vision of Dying World, AKA Queen." He hummed, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. "Sounds morbid. Is that their leader, Lilith?"
She made a noise of disagreement before she, too, hummed, "No sir. They have no direct leader, rather a council in Vale. Military rule in Atlas, no direct leaders in Vacuo, and a similar governing system in Mistral to Vale," Cole nodded with a hum.
"Well, we'll have to make contact with them then." He turned towards a squad of ODST and Marines, cupping his mouth with his hands. "Atten-shun!" All troops stood at attention crisply except for the ones actively doing a job.
"I need Staff Sergeant Johnson on the double!" A few murmurs went around before a tall, dark skinned man in his middle-ages stepped forward. He saluted to Ezra.
"Sergeant, I want you to take Lieutenant Stonewall and a team of marines to make contact with the council of Vale. Request a meeting between them and I. Dismissed, soldier!"
"Sir, yes, sir!" Johnson shouted out, releasing his salute before walking off towards a squad of eight marines. Lieutenant Stonewall followed after him, like a lost puppy.
Upon Johnson's arrival to the squad, all marines saluted. The veteran grinned and put a lit cigar in his mouth, taking a long drag of it. He blew it out into the open, slightly chilly night air. "Alright maggots! You heard the admiral, we head out right now and get to that city! We need to contact the people there so we can get ourselves in our PJs and take a nice, long nap on a warm cozy bed!" All men saluted and let out a 'ooh-rah!' before going off to grab their equipment.
Giant explosions were heard miles away from a farm as dozens of giant flesh-like pods fell from the sky at speeds far surpassing meteors. The pods slammed into the earth, causing the very ground to shake for miles and plumes of dust to rise in the air hundreds of meters. The entire forest was crushed by the force of the blasts.
Hundreds of tentacles emerged from the pods, each tens of meters long and easily thicker than the fallen trees around them. The tentacles pushed against the ground, pushing up even larger, more horrific creatures. Covered in hundreds of eyes - human and other - with dozens of random limbs and organs spread out around their bodies. Green gas spewed forth from obnoxious pours on their decaying skin as a guttural growl sounded off from each of their deformed mouths.
The foul beasts easily reached twenty meters at their maximum height, and could be seen from miles away. Twenty four of these abominable monsters stood in the flattened out forest, all looking around with their bulbous bodies bouncing and producing disgusting gasses and liquids.
Suddenly, each one let out a high pitched screech, loud and powerful enough to shatter windows and cause the very earth to quake, before devouring every fallen tree and plant and animal in their immediate vicinity. They left nothing, not even bugs, in their wake as they feasted on life of all kinds. Their mouths were busy at work, and their bodily fluid was quickly breaking down any life that dare touch it.
Rodents squealed in pain as specks of the atrocious liquid landed on their furry hides, and the acidic substance made quick work of them by burning right through. The liquefied animals were quickly absorbed into the foul smelling flesh of these titans.
And Titans they were. Like the ancient powerhouses of Greek mythology, they were incomprehensibly powerful to the normal human. The ability to consume any and all life, using those parts of their prey to build themselves better and stronger, and then continue to rampage on a world until there was nothing left made them Gods of destruction that Grimm could only dream to become.
But despite the shared goal of ultimate destruction of Grimm and Titan, the monsters of darkness were just as equal, and no more greater, to their prey in the eyes of the rotten beings. They consumed Beowulf and Ursa, Deathstalker and Nevermore, and even more powerful Grimm like Geists and the gorilla-like Beringel. All were nothing more than obstacles, some more difficult than others, but ultimately each ended up the same.
One with the Titans.
Isabelle smirked as she watched the events unfold through a drone, watching as the two dozen Titans ate and grew. She idly noticed the black color slowly covering their deformed bodies; a sign of their adaptation. She would be willing to wager that, in time, bones would cover them, too.
It would have the appearance of Grimm but the power of Gods. Really, Isabelle was glad she wasn't down there. Even with her powers, she had no misconceptions that she'd be capable of taking on all twenty four of Salem's creations.
But, luckily, she wasn't down there, and she had her orbital bombardment primed and ready in case the Titans became too much of a threat to their plans.
Oh, how she couldn't wait to see it demolish those foolish loyalists…
Sergeant Johnson sighed out a puff of his cigar, his attention focusing purely on the destroyed tower in the distance. He was told by a citizen the tower is where 'Beacon Academy' is located, meaning it's likely that a lot of kids died.
He couldn't help but wonder, though. Why the fuck put an important piece of technological innovation in a school? That seemed damn stupid to him. Any terrorist with half a brain could sneak in kids and have them fuck it up. He huffed, deciding to think more on it later - or never. It wasn't his job to design these things for these guys, after all.
He felt the transport Warthog slow to a stop and looked forward. In front of them was a road block. "Seems they're doing some construction work…" He sighed and jumped out, slamming the side of his fist against the back, "Get out, kiddies! Time to see our new playmates!" He heard the rustle of the squad of marines he was tasked with leading and looked over at the driver, his second-in-command Lieutenant Stonewall. "You wanna stay here and watch over the 'hog?" She nodded, flashing him a grin.
"Sure thing, Sarge. Keep the munchkins outta trouble," The veteran had to chuckle and grinned back, waving off her concerns as he stomped out the rest of his finished cigar. He banged on the back once more and looked around the area. He saw very little people - likely because of the explosion of this CCT and Beacon Academy, but he wasn't complaining. He didn't want attention to hinder his mission.
He looked back and saw the eight marines clambering out of the back of the Warthog and shook his head. "C'mon punks, let's get a move on!" They all saluted and began moving around, all clearly confused on where to go.
"Uhhh, sir? Where are we supposed to go?" The newest addition to the squad, Private Edward Buck, was the first to speak. Johnson sighed then began to point somewhere, before stopping.
"... Shit, why didn't I ask the civvies where the hell the council was?" He muttered, scratching his chin thoughtfully. Luckily, Stonewall seemed to be ahead of all of them, as she threw a map at Johnson. It hit his head and he picked it up while grumbling in annoyance.
"Ah, alright! This way maggots!" He turned around and started walking down the sidewalk next to the road under construction. The streets were eerily silent, which was strange considering most should be panicking over the explosion and deaths of, likely, hundreds, if not thousands. Slowing down his walking, he motioned for the marines to shoulder their rifles. Doing the same, his XBR55 Service Rifle, commonly and lovingly referred to as the Battle Rifle, he pressed the stock against his right shoulder, and looked around at the buildings.
One of his marines - Colonel Ryans - voiced their thoughts, "Where is everyone?"
"I dunno man," Another replied to him, "It's kinda creepy though. Kinda reminds me of one of those scary movies though. What was it called? I think it was somethin' like 'The Hollow Weenie'," The idiot grinned, his joke making a few of the others laugh. Avery huffed, secretly finding it a little amusing himself, but kept his eyes focused on the surroundings.
Private Buck walked next to the older man, his blue eyes, still empty of the haunting that awaits him in the campaign against the Covenant and Insurrectionists, looking through windows into dark, empty rooms. "Can an explosion do something like this, sir?"
He pursed his lips and reflexively reached for a cigar, only to come up empty handed. He cursed under his breath, "No, not even the Covenant can do something like this." Was it the Insurrectionists then? God knows they've became so much more advanced in the recent years. "Doesn't matter what did it, Private, all that matters is it didn't affect these council guys." Buck nodded, the action causing his helmet to dip over his face, which he quickly fixed.
"Up ahead!" One of the marines cried out, pointing up the road, before a blast of blue plasma shot through the poor sap's skull. Johnson yelled, "Find some cover marines!" Before diving to the side himself, hiding behind a yellow and black motorcycle. He looked at it and blinked at the scribbled 'Bumblebee' on the side. He shook his head and looked over the seat, his brown eyes narrowing at the armored men down the road. Was it Vale personnel, maybe?
Holstering his rifle, he held up a hand with fingers stretched and palm out, "Stop firing! We're friendlies!" The only response given was another shot of the plasma, which was more akin to a powerful laser than plasma if his experience with the Covenant meant anything. He grunted and quickly brought his hand down before he lost it or any fingers and brandished his BR once more.
"Open fire! Aim to wound, not to kill!" A resounding shout of 'Yes sir!' rang through the street, before dozens of bullets started firing towards the white armored soldiers. Johnson grinned and put the barrel of his weapon over the seat of the motorcycle before squeezing the trigger, a three round burst of his own accelerating down towards his targets.
He scowled when he saw the bullets hitting, but not penetrating their armor. What were these guys? Did this Vale place have super soldiers as well?
That'd make this mission much, much harder he realized. The Staff Sergeant grunted and continued the onslaught of bullets. Even Spartans could die, so why not these guys? The marines' tenacity proved fruitful, as one of the soldiers fell to his knees after a shot from Buck pierced his shin.
The commanding officer was about to give congratulations before he was pulled back by the scruff of his collar, and tossed a good ten meters down the street. He landed with a thud and a grunt of pain, thankful that his body armor absorbed most of the impact, before looking over at where he was thrown from.
"... What. The. Fuck?" A blonde haired girl - who was on fucking fire - stood where he was recently residing. Her red eyes glared into his brown ones, completely ignoring the firefight happening around her. Avery shook his head and looked over at one of his men, who was aiming their assault rifle at the teen, "Don't shoot! Focus on the armored guys down the street! I can handle a little girl on her period!" The marine hesitantly refocused back on the main threat, and Johnson sighed through his nose. "Okay, missy… What the fuck is your problem?!" And how the hell did she toss him like he was a sack of potatoes down the damn street?
She walked towards him, her eyes glazed in fury, and Johnson leveled his sidearm at her, his lips peeled back into a sneer. "Another step, and I put a bullet between your damn demon-y eyes!" It was an empty threat, no way would he kill a teen girl, no matter how angry or...on fire…she was. Thankfully she stopped, meaning his threat worked.
The staff sergeant huffed and stood up before wiping off the dust on his armor and outfit. "Alright, so mind answering my question now?" asked Johnson, his voice dripping with annoyance and irritation.
The girl clenched her fists, her ruby colored eyes narrowing at him, before growling out, "You scratched the paint on my bike!"
… Johnson looked over at the motorcycle, then the girl with a deadpan look on his face. "Seriously? You're pissed about a bike when your city is in complete chaos after an entire school got blown the fuck up?"
The girl blinked, her eyes turning purple somehow, "Wait, what? A school got…?" She looked over in the distance towards Beacon Academy, then took a step back in surprise. Did she not hear the explosion that took place literally hours before? "When the hell did that happen?!"
Avery shook his head and holstered his magnum before pulling out his battle rifle, "Doesn't matter kid, just get out of here. You're kind of interrupting me and my boy's bonding time." He started to walk past her, but she put an admittedly strong hand on his shoulder.
"You're fighting Atlas? Did you do that?" Her eyes were back to being red, and Johnson grunted in thought. Atlas? Guess that was another country or something here.
"Yes and no. Listen, I ain't gotta explain to you why we're here, just know we didn't attack a damn school full of kids." He shrugged of her hand and began jogging towards the battle. He saw another one of his men lying in a pool of blood, the poor guy's entire stomach open for the world to see. He shook his head sadly but aimed down his battle rifle's sights, the crosshair pointed at one of the Atlas soldiers crotch, before squeezing the trigger.
He felt someone move up next to him and looked over, seeing the blonde chick once more, and groaned. "What the fuck, blondie? This is a military operation, and civvies ain't allowed to interfere!" She rolled her now purple eyes and looked down towards the Atlas soldiers, his mouth quirked to the side.
"I can knock these dude's out for you, but only if you tell me why you're fighting. Depending on your answer, it'll either be them or you though," She grinned at the Sergeant, and for a minute he wished he was younger. Why the hell weren't there girls like this when he was young? Damn it all.
He grunted, ignoring entirely the thoughts that just transpired, and pointed down the road, "We're trying to contact the Vale council and set up a meeting between them and my CO, Admiral Ezra Cole, and attempt to set up an alliance between them and the United Nations Space Command."
He heard the girl next to him gasp and spin towards him, her eyes wide, "You're with the UNSC?!" She yelled/asked him, causing him to lean away for the sake of his hearing.
"Uh, yeah… You heard of us?" She nodded, her face splitting into a wide grin.
"Oh man, Chief is gonna be so grateful that I found you guys that he'll totally do a rematch!" Johnson's eyes narrowed, and before he knew it, the barrel of his battle rifle was facing the girl.
"Chief? As in Master Chief Petty Officer, the large guy in olive green armor?" She nodded, her previous grin gone and replaced with a frown, "How do you- No, nevermind." He shook his head and pointed the rifle forward once more. "Help us with these guys and take us to him after I set up the meeting. He and Blue Team are why we're here."
The teen grinned and, punching the air, extended her bracelets into gauntlets. Johnson stared incredulously at the sight, but ultimately sighed in exasperation. Screw this planet, man…
She then jumped out from behind cover and ran towards the group of Atlas soldiers, her hair blazing once more with fire. The soldiers seemed to shrink back, and all their attention went from his men to her. The sergeant opened his mouth to shout a warning, but was surprised when she took a blast straight to her face and kept pushing as though it were nothing more than a water gun.
Upon reaching them, she pulled back a fist, her grin wide and full of bloodthirsty excitement, before directing a powerful slug at the front soldier. Her fist made contact with his chest, denting the armor and causing him to fly back and through a wall. One of the marines - Private O'Nell - whistled in awe, and everyone else could only nod in agreement.
They were only further impressed by the following display of pure power. The flaming girl punched, kicked, kneed, god damn headbutted anyone in her way. He saw her decimate their forces faster than it took his entire squad to defeat a single soldier. "Holy Hell…" Johnson shook his head and pointed down at an approaching group of Atlas soldiers, clearly reinforcements meant to take the marines out but now focusing entirely on stopping the raging monster of a teenage girl down the road. They reloaded and pointed their rifles down the street and, with a shout of 'Fire!', bullets sprayed into the dozen white armored soldiers.
Ten marines each firing assault rifles and battle rifles against a dozen Atlas soldiers who have laser guns didn't seem like a fair fight for Johnson. For the white armored pansies, that is. Pulling a pin from a grenade and with a savage grin, the 'Hollow Weenie' jokester from before chunked it into the group of Atlas soldiers. A powerful explosion of shrapnel and heat engulfed the group, the ones closest to the center of the explosion screaming in pain.
He felt more than saw the yellow themed girl rush past him, and before he knew it she was back in the fray, this time combating the reinforcement soldiers. The cigar addict looked behind him and saw a squad of unconscious - or dead, he didn't know - Atlas personnel, and let out a low whistle of appreciation. Chief sure did know how to make friends, didn't he?
"Alright Marines! We gotta back up little miss Goldilocks here and escort her to the bear's house! We lose her, we lose our source for the Chief!" Everyone nodded, too high on adrenaline to respond properly, and rushed forward to help the powerhouse. He looked over at Buck, who appeared slightly apprehensive, and motioned him forward, "C'mon private, we ain't got all day!" He nodded, licking his lips before running forward. Johnson followed immediately after him.
He saw her knock out two more soldiers, smashing their skulls together hard enough to dent their hard armor, and chuckled slightly. Is this what it felt like to have absolutely overpowered support? No wonder why the Covenant liked the Hunters, and the Insurrection their damn Horsemen. It felt great to demolish your enemies.
He felt something over his head, and saw his hat - burnt to a crisp - fall to the ground. He stared at it for but a split second before unholstering his magnum and firing off an entire clip against the asshole who ruined his favorite hat. The powerful pistol kicked in his grip, but he held firm. With one last bullet in the clip, the enemy soldier fell forward, a hole punctured straight through his chest. He clicked his tongue and promptly reloaded the pistol. So much for no killing the enemy.
The battle silenced and he looked up from the weapon. There was only his men - all nine present - and Goldilocks. He grinned and nodded towards the girl, who responded in kind. "Good job boys! Now we let this nice lady escort us to the council hall, and we'll escort her to the Master Chief." Looking over at the girl, he saw her rubbing her chin in thought. "... Somethin' up, missy?"
"Hm?" She looked up, grinned, and shook her head, "Nah, just thinking. By the way, the name's Yang. Not 'missy' or 'Goldilocks'." She glared at him with that finishing statement. He shrugged, unfazed by the glare.
"Alrighty then, 'Yang', lead the way," She gave a mock salute before twisting on her heel, her other leg 'accidentally' kicking one of the unconscious men, then began walking down the street.
Blake, Jaune, Pyrrha, Weiss, Ren, and Nora all looked around the refugee camp, looking for their teammates and partners. Luckily they were each in the dorms when the Cross Continental Transmit System was destroyed, but the spiteful half-sisters were not.
They saw plenty of burnt and blown up bodies to know what happened if you weren't far enough away from it. So they searched from dusk till dawn but ultimately came up empty handed. It was enough to make Blake go mad, although she wasn't too close to Ruby nor Yang. Of course Ruby made her a little worried, since she was one of her teammates, but Yang? She didn't know her that well, and what she did know is that she was a complete bitch to the younger girl for apparently no reason.
But she digresses. Best not to fret over their relationship status when she should be worried for their living status. With a sigh, Blake sat down in her team's tent and picked up a glass of cold water. Taking a few sips, she looked over the map of Vale on her sleeping bag contemplatively.
She frowned and looked instead down at her ice water, but the sound of the tent's front rustling caught her attention, and she looked up to meet Weiss' eyes.
"... Hello." started Blake, a cautious look on her face. Weiss looked over the tent before clearing her throat, clearly just as awkward as her but attempting to hide it.
"Hello," she replied, "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind… Talking, for a bit?" The cat faunus raised an eyebrow. What would she want to talk about? These were the first words either of them have spoken to each other, after all. Maybe she wanted to talk about Yang, or even Ruby? She didn't know why, though. From the looks of it, Weiss wasn't too fond of either.
"You and I are both leaders of our teams, WYNN and BRRJ, so it's only natural we come together in this time of need, right?" She nodded to her own statement, completely disregarding the blank stare Blake was giving her, "So, it's our duty to work together to find our missing team members and create a sense of unity to mend our broken morale." Blake nodded this time, humming softly.
"I suppose."
"Great! Then," Weiss held out her hand, a pleasant smile on her face, but Blake wasn't that naive to believe a Schnee could be so kind to another out of 'good intentions'. But she shook the hand anyways, giving a small smile of her own, "It would seem we're a joint team for now." Another nod from the bow clad girl.
"Is that all?" Blake asked, her amber eyes staring into the blues of Weiss'. The white themed girl hummed and shook her head.
"Not yet, I have one more request," Oh? "I'm planning on getting our teams out of this refugee camp and back to Beacon."
"What for? Isn't it better to be here, around our professors and peers?" Blake inquired, a fine brow raised in speculation.
"Ozpin is missing, our two team members are missing, that large green man is missing, and," Weiss let out a sigh, "Nora can't handle being stuck here. She's too hyper for that," That made sense, she supposed.
But still, Blake wasn't too sure. Ruby and Yang would likely come here or Beacon, and Atlas personnel would probably escort them here. The large guy, 117, might be with them, but then again, she didn't care too much about him. She's only seen him a handful amount of times and never even spoke a simple 'hello' to him. Ozpin was their headmaster, he could definitely take care of himself. Finally, Nora could likely be calmed down by Ren, or restrained until they get released.
But… She looked back at the map and, with a heavy sigh, nodded, "I'll tell my team once they get back." Weiss nodded and smiled at Blake, then took her leave with a short 'see you later'.
Blake sipped her water once more, her eyes not having left the map since she agreed.
[?]
[? Years Ago]
[? AM/PM]
A black cloak billowed in the wind, the pale wearer staring out over a vast sea of reds and purples as the shattered moon hung above. Purple crystals covered the landscape, each one covered in tiny black dots. Beside the pale wearer floated a ball, a couple feet in diameter, that glowed a daunting red.
"196 Tormented Soul," the smooth, sultry voice of the cloak clad woman broke the eerie silence of the morbid land, "bring to me the serum. It's time." The floating orb made a croaking sound but flew off towards a Victorian styled mansion behind them, the walls a dark colored steel with blue and red lines of energy flowing through them.
It came back quickly, bringing with it a clear bottle of bubbling black liquid, and held it out to her using a form of telekinesis. The mysterious woman grabbed it, her pale hands littered in black veins, and held it up to her black empty eyes. "Good… It is time, my children…" She put a few drops on the ground, the tiny droplets sizzling like acid on the dirt. Steam came off of the liquid and, not long after, tiny beasts crawled out of it, completely covered in black and white bones with red designs. She smirked and held out her hand, a soft glow encompassing both the hand and the tiny beasts, before they grew to be gigantic in size.
A large ghost like creature, an even larger lion, a monstrous sized elephant, and, the largest of all, a lizard with four legs and a pair of wings - a dragon - stood in front of her, each looking around in childlike curiosity. The pale being smirked and held out her hands, her cloak once more fluttering due to the wind.
"Welcome to the world of Remnant, my grim children… I am Vision of a Dying World, your Goddess. You can do as you please - wreak havoc, slumber, explore, whatever… So long as your goal remains true; the obliteration of humanity on this world. Once you do that, then, and only then, will we retake the galaxy… And it will be glorious." A savage grin spread across the face of Vision, her eyes momentarily flashing with insanity.
Don't be so dramatic Salem, sheesh. You're just doing it to be cliche.
Hello all! Yeah, this update was a lot quicker than my last few. Been able to write a lot, which is weird because I've been busier than ever. Took the ASVAB, getting ready for my robotics competition tomorrow, preparing to enlist in the Army, working out, school work, etc.
But whatevs, I got to write this. Been hit with a lot of motivation for this story recently, likely due to my renewed interest in Halo, so I wanted to get this done as soon as possible. It's a little over 7k words, although I wanted to get it to 10k but couldn't find a proper way to make it longer without adding more POV changes. This one already had quite a few, so I decided not to.
Please leave a review if you enjoyed it, have some ideas for what I could do next chapter, have constructive criticism, or just plain out loathe my story! All is appreciated.
Until next time.
