Chapter Three- Mental Recovery, Downed Friend, and The Racist Meets The Dragoness
"Alright, let me get this straight again. You have PTSD after fighting in a war which 25 million people were massacred in the first attacks by a satellite missile launcher in space. Also your mother was murdered and her corpse violated by these 'Federation' soldiers when you were ten. And finally your father was shot and bled to death in your arms from a sniper bullet. And finally to top it all off, you faced serious discrimination because you're of the same race as the enemy soldiers and that last night, an arrogant, racist 'Ghost' tried to kill you with your own combat knife. Sweet Monty, no wonder Ozpin recommended you to me!" The psychiatrist, Doctor Richardson, exclaimed in shock after hearing Greg's story for the first time. Greg nodded, sitting between his girlfriend, Velvet, and his twin brother, Miguel. His entire team sat around him as the dark-skinned doctor examined the notes he wrote down in disbelief.
"Hey, it is true. We've seen some of the video footage he has from his helmet camera. That stuff was seriously sick, man. I've never seen so much blood in my life until after seeing those videos." Leland pointed out, turning slightly pale from bringing up the topic along with the rest of Team GRVL. It had been the first time they witnessed a human being getting blown to pieces by an explosion and they prayed that would never happen to anyone in Remnant.
"Look, kids. I understand the situation here and will treat it to the best of my abilities, but it will take me time to accept your friend's story even though its true. Its just hard to digest okay." Dr. Richardson held his hands up in a calming manner, not wanting to upset anyone in the room.
"Anyway, Mr. Pineda. I'm glad that you came here as soon as you could and feel fully committed to mending your mental state. Truthfully its been awhile since I've had to treat a patient with PTSD."
"So what will happen to my brother, Doctor Richardson?" Miguel asked, holding his black cowboy hat in his hands. The twin truly was concerned about his brother's health and wouldn't take no for an answer to not stick alongside his twin. Besides he hadn't seen him for the first seventeen years of his life so he didn't want to take the chance of not spending time with him and his friends.
"Well I will set up appointments on the weekends to allow all of you to come here and support him through during the process. Greg will need all the help from you guys in order to make the process more positive. Don't worry. Anyway, you're free to go, all of you." The doctor announced, motioning a signal to leave. Greg shaked Dr. Richardson's hand and walked out with his friends and brother to go spend some time in Vale.
"I swear if that racist scumbag even dares to show his face around you again, I'll tear him a new asshole." Randi threatened, pulling out her dual pistols for a menacing effect. Leland grunted, pulling back the bolt on LeadStorm for an effect as well. Miguel pulled out his two .357 Revolvers, named Quick and Draw, and twirled them in his hands before holstering them again. Even Velvet pulled out the P90 Greg gave her and checked to make sure the Personal Defense Weapon was loaded. Even Greg pulled out his M1911 and thumbed the safety off.
"Truthfully, I think Alex isn't stupid enough to want to tag along with his team if he wants to live for another day." Greg commented, making everyone there agree and they holstered up all their weapons.
At Beacon…
"You did what?!" Raiden shouted angrily at his brother. He wanted to punch Alex straight in the face but knew that it wasn't going to do anyone good. He took in a deep breath, doing his best to calm himself down.
"Alex, I thought you were an idiot. But after hearing of this, you're completely crazy," Rick muttered in Korean.
Alex was just seated on his bed looking down ashamed. "Listen, I don't know what happened. I saw Greg after going out and everything seemed to go hazy. I was hallucinating something."
"Illusions or not, you almost killed a good friend of ours," Derrick told the Airborne sniper.
"It was an accident!"
"I don't recall laughing like a psycho in glee an accident," Raiden mentioned darkly.
Raiden pinched the bridge of his nose sighing in shame. His own brother tried to kill Greg after leaving last night, and was enjoying every moment of it. Him and his team heard the maniacal laughter of the sniper, but chose not to go out since it shocked them to hear it. He looked at his brother before shaking his head. 'Now he'll really need to prove himself before coming back into our ranks.'
A chime came on Rick's Scroll. The Korean Ghost took it out of his pocket and saw it was a text. "Yo, Greg is done with his interview with Doctor Richardson. He's wondering if we want to accompany him and his team to Vale."
Raiden nodded at him. "Go ahead, tell Greg will meet with him there." Alex was about to stand up until Raiden placed a hand on his shoulder. "As for you, you're staying here."
"Hey, how come?!"
"Seeing what you've done to Greg last night, most likely his team will try to maul you to death. Also adding the fact that you need to throw away your act. I want you to sty here in Beacon and reflect on your thoughts. Okay?" The Ghost Leader explained.
Alex knew that when Raiden wanted something to change, it'll happen. One way or another. Choosing to take the easy route, Alex lowered his head in defeat and nodded. "Aye."
"Good. Now be a good boy until we get back." The three members of RADR grabbed some of their stuff and small firearms. Raiden soon waved goodbye to his brother before leaving.
Alex crossed his arms and sighed. "Dicks."
"Raiden, bro, do you even think Alex can change? I mean, he's been like that ever since ODIN hit," Rick explained, wonder how the Ghost Leader would do this.
"Well, my dad would always tell Alex to strip his rifle part for part and have it cleaned. And Al has to be doing it slowly and with care. During that, Alex kinda feels more open. He'll think about if he should throw away his act."
"Do you think he will?" Derrick questioned.
"Only time will tell, guys."
In Vale…
"So where do we want to go first? The Ghosts' airship won't be here until an hour later." Leland points out as the five walked out of the building. They wanted to spend some time together as a team and family while the three Ghosts were not around. Miguel looks around before spotting a friendly looking café.
"Hey, what about we have some lunch at the Ginny's Café? They serve some of the best food around town." Miguel suggests, everyone nodding in agreement since they can't argue against the truth. Ginny's was a very popular sit-down place with a small, but very friendly, staff and a wonderful waiter named Ginny Houston, another childhood friend of Leland and Randi. The five teens sat down at one of the many tables and a waitress walked over, placing menus and silverware on the table.
"Welcome to Ginny's Café. I am your server- Oh, Leland! Randi! Its good to see you two again!" Ginny Houston greeted, smiling at her two friends warmly. She was a tan skinned, long black haired, and brown eyed girl who was very outgoing and kind. Her mother, also named Ginny, was owner of the café and had lost her husband, George Houston, in a patrol routine gone wrong working for the Vale Police Department when her daughter was just born. The girl met the two friends when they were seven during a meeting between Schnee Dust Company employees and the trio became fast friends since then.
"Good to see you too, Ginny. Anyway we're here with our team and our team leader's brother for lunch. We figured that we missed you so we came here to eat and see how you're doing." Leland replied, earning another smile from the young waitress. The girl was the same age as everyone else among the team so she couldn't help but be glad meet Team GRVL and Miguel.
"So anyway, what brings you to Vale?" Ginny asks after delivering everyone's orders and taking a break to sit down and talk to them.
"Well we all came to Greg's first meeting with a psychiatrist who can help him recover from his PTSD. In fact, we're mainly avoiding Team RADR since they didn't help out when their sniper, Alex, tried to murder our leader last night." Randi explained, thinking of ways to make the Ghost sniper's life hell. After all, no one gets away from hurting her team leader without Team GRVL's say so. The fact that Team RADR didn't do anything to stop Alex made Greg feel worse about sticking around the Ghosts more. In fact, his twin brother suggested that maybe they need time hanging out away from the Ghosts until this issue is resolved. However Greg wanted to confront Raiden and tell him face to face about the events that occurred last night.
"Oh my Monty! That's horrible! Why would someone try to kill your team leader like that!?" Ginny exclaimed as she looked at Randi in shock.
"That's just it. We don't know what caused Alex to snap like that last night. That's why we are waiting to talk to Raiden and see if he did something to make him really upset." Greg replied before taking a bite from his meatball sub sandwich. Miguel changed the subject and started to ask his brother questions about the world he had lived in for almost seventeen years.
"So you really had schools that only taught basic education skills? Wow... I thought there were Hunters and Huntresses in other worlds too, but this Earth place really shocks me." Miguel comments in amazement, leaning forward in his seat as Greg nodded his head.
"Well we had the United States Armed Forces protecting America from threats inside the country and overseas in others. Also we don't have to fear creatures like you guys do in this world." Greg continued, blowing away his twin's mind from this new information. Velvet giggled at the reactions of Greg's brother, finding it funny that he never had heard of such things.
"So you didn't have need of any Huntsmen and women in this Earth world? My Monty, that is overwhelming to hear..." Miguel stated, making everyone on Team GRVL to start laughing. Greg put a hand on his brother's shoulder and reassured him.
"Don't worry, man. You live in this world your entire life so its understandable to be surprised by the things in the world I lived in."
The three Ghosts of RADR were seated in the airship heading towards Vale. Derrick was reading a book about the history on Dust and usage of it, very intrigue of what the book held in it's information. "Dust rounds, huh? Sounds interesting.
Rick had his Ghost mask over his eyes getting some shut eye. He was a pretty lazy soldier. He was once found asleep during a recon mission in No-Mans Land when an aftershock hit. Most were still surprised to see how he's able to do that.
Raiden meanwhile was looking out the window. His thoughts were just focused on one person filled with worry and concern. His little brother. He always wondered why he vented everything on Greg whenever he could. The Ghost Leader sighed pinching his nose. "Just hope it'll work... It has too..."
The airship soon landed and the Ghosts stepped off the airship. "Ah, it's good to be back in Vale after being in those past couple days at Beacon," Rick announced while stretching.
"Asides from Alex almost killing Greg, then yeah, it's good to be here." Derrick closed up the book he was reading and stuffed it into his small backpack.
Raiden nodded at them. He remembered back when he and Alex were going to elementary school. He remembered when Alex was so open and friendly to the kids in their school. Some of his friends were even Hispanic. But that was a year before ODIN hit. He slightly shook his head to forget about the current situation right now. "Rick, let Greg know we're here. Tell him where him and his team is so we can meet up."
"Here comes Team RADR. Looks like Alex played it smart and stayed back in their dorm. Bastards." Leland muttered the last part as Team RADR approached their table. Team GRVL moved to one side of the table as the Ghosts sat on the other. There was a tense silence between the two parties, mainly Team GRVL and Miguel glaring at Team RADR, before Greg broke the silence.
"So care to explain why Alex decided to try and murder me after he let your dorm? It seems that the final snap for him originated from you guys. I want to know what you did." Greg started off, looking straight into Raiden's eyes with the Answer-Now-And-No-Joking look of seriousness on his face.
Raiden had his hands together on the table looking down. Taking in a deep breath, he looked up, staring straight into Greg's eyes. "I made him leave the Ghosts. I had too. He's making a mockery of the title of the name. I need to train some discipline into him."
"That explains the extra added of hatred that influenced him to kill me. After all, I gave you the idea of forcing him out of the Ghosts." Greg replied, acting serious as the conversation continued. "So why didn't you help out when he decided to act me right outside of your dorm?"
Raiden had a guilty look on his face. "I thought it was nothing at first. But hearing my brother cackle in such glee and in a crazed way, I just couldn't accept the fact that it was him that heard. No, I wanted it to never be in the first place." He pinched his nose. "I love my brother, it just hurts me to see him doing this."
"Well next time, you better move to stop him. I used rubber bullets on him, but if he repeats the same move he pulled last night, he will get live .45 Caliber rounds in his stomach. I will not all myself to be killed by your brother, Raiden." Greg warned, taking out his M1911 and ejected the magazine, showing it to the Ghost Leader. Inside the clip was .45 ACP Caliber rounds instead of Dust bullets or rubber ones. The Marine then slid the clip back into place and holstered his pistol.
Raiden wanted to protest back at Greg but sighed. "So be it." He was quiet for a moment before remembering something. "I know my brother almost killed you. But I'll promise that I'll personally oversee his change. And one more thing Greg. I know that you'll shoot Alex in the stomach if he pulls something off like that again, but I want you to remember this. True courage is when not taking a life, but sparing one."
"However a fight for survival isn't about courage. Its trying to stay alive." Greg points out after paying his group's bill, starting to get up out of their seats. "Anyway, I want to stay away from you guys for a while. No offense, but I just don't feel comfortable around you since Alex's attack. Enjoy the rest of your day, Ghosts." And with that, Team GRVL and Miguel walked away from the café, leaving the three Ghosts in deep thought.
"We've always been in war, ever since from a young age. It's hard for us to live in a peaceful way since we've been soldiers for a long time." Raiden placed his face into his hands, sighing while trying to think carefully.
The three Ghosts left the place and went up onto the rooftops. Back in Santa Monica, the four would always go on top of the rooftops to chill and relax. But this time was a time for them to clear their heads and decide what they should do.
Raiden out of all of them was the worst. He was a Ghost leader and a brother. He can be both, but at times they can contradict each other. He sat on the edge of a roof looking at his brother's Ghost mask, wondering what he could've done differently.
"Well that went quite uneventful." Miguel commented, turning back to look at the seated Ghosts behind them. Truthfully they had all worried that Alex had lied to his team and blamed Greg for the attack instead. Fortunately this wasn't the case.
"Raiden and I may not see things eye to eye, but he isn't an idiot. He knows that I would never try to have killed Alex unless I was forced to do so. However I have a bad feeling that this removal from the Ghosts may have made him more hating towards me." Greg explained, waving to a few students who passed by them across the street.
Just then Greg's scroll vibrated, surprising the Marine. He pulled it out and opened it, answering a call from the AOV.
"Yes, sir. This is Lance Corporal Greg Pineda...Wait what?...Critical condition!...At Vale General Hospital?...Alright we'll see him. Thank you." Greg finished the call, folding the scroll up and returning it to his pocket. He looked at his team and brother with a grim look on his face.
"Agent Recon was seriously wounded on a escort mission and is in the hospital. They don't know if he will make it or not, but we need to visit him."
Few minutes later...
The five teens arrived right outside Agent Recon's hospital room and looked in shock at his current state. He was in the bed with a breathing tube down his throat and lots of bandages over his chest area. The Dog Faunus was still alive but barely hangs on by a thread. An AOV agent approached the teens and shakes Greg's hand.
"Mr. Pineda, I'm Agent Sylvia, Marine Recon's secretary for Spec Ops. We tried to get in touch with you once you were away from the academy." The Agent introduced herself, letting go of Greg's hand.
"What happened to Recon? I didn't know he was wounded." Greg asked, looking back into Recon's room.
"Head Field Agent Recon was on an escort mission to extract one AOV informant that had connections with the White Fang. However Agent Tukson was murdered right as Agent Recon entered his book store. We don't know what occurred but when the Spec Ops team arrived they found Tukson with a bullet in his head and Recon slowly bleeding out with a bullet wound to the chest." Agent Sylvia explained, shaking her head sadly at the unconscious agent on the hospital bed. Velvet walked over to Greg and hugged him with the hug being returned.
"Do you think that Agent Recon will pull through?" Velvet asked with worry on her face. Greg sighed and pulled her closer to him.
"I don't know, Velvet, but it would help to be praying for him to make it through. That's what I'm going to pray to the Lord tonight." Greg replied, looking at Agent Recon one last time before the five teens left the hospital.
Meanwhile back at Beacon...
Alex sighed as he stripped his sniper rifle down part for part. He picked up his scope and looked through it, calibrating it. "I never knew why. I never felt like that before. Wanting to kill Greg. Sure, I may hate him, but I don't hate him enough to murder him in cold-blood." After the scope cleared up, he placed it down beside him. He pulled a piece of cloth out of his pocket and grabbed the barrel of his rifle.
The Airborne sniper himself wanted to know what triggered him to lash out at Greg like that. Was it old memories? The fact that Raiden stripped him of his Ghost rank, title and mask? Or was it just plain simple hate? He shook his head when he started feeling something inside his chest. He coughed a bit and patted his chest lightly. "Huh... weird... I'm sure I had a checkup with a doctor during the break..."
Resting his head on the wall behind him, Alex closed his eyes letting out a sigh. He had been cleaning his sniper rifle for a good long while. He cleaned each part carefully and well, making sure nothing was outta place or broken. He opened his eyes and looked at the parts of his rifle. "I want to understand."
Shaking his head, he stood up knowing that he'll put his rifle back together. "I think I need a walk." He walked over to the door and went out of his form. But he only took a couple feet away from his dorm before bumping into somebody.
Alex fell backwards from bumping into the person right onto his rear. "Damn!" He cursed.
"Hey, watch where you're going!" Alex looked up to see that he has bumped into a girl. More importantly, a dragon Faunus girl. Now, he may have been racist against the Faunus here, but seeing rare, and dangerous, species of Faunus, he had come to fear them to an extent. His eyes widened when he saw that she had wings as big as he. She turned around and stared down at Alex, he blazing orange eyes burning holes into his head. "Oh, it's you. The Ghost who hates Faunus."
"Not to mention anyone who has tan skin and is a Hispanic." Logan added, surprising both the Faunus girl and Alex. Logan glared daggers at Alex, already hearing about the attack on Greg.
Alex raised his hands in a feeble defense. "Hey! I didn't know what happened. I didn't mean to do that to Greg last night!" He replied glaring back at Logan.
"Right, just keep telling yourself that." Logan trailed off, walking away from the Airborne sniper.
The Faunus girl stared down at Alex with a scowl coming to her face. "So, you hate both the Faunus and these Hispanics. That is very low of you," she sneered at him.
"Uh, was that supposed to be a trick question?" Alex asked her. "Because if I remember correctly, Ms. Dragoness, you guys are just animals, like the people that attacked my country."
Alex soon found himself propped up against the wall with the girl holding him by the neck, slowly strangling him. "One, my name is Aria. And two, you call us animals and monsters. But look at the mirror, and you'll see one yourself."
She let go of Alex making him drop on all fours, gasping for air. 'Yeah, tough words you got there.'
Aria then walked away from the choking sniper, who was now holding his throat. He leaned on the wall with sweat forming on his head. He closed his eyes trying to calm himself down. "She's a nasty one, isn't she?"
Alex lifted his head up from his chest to see one of the exchange students that Greg and Ruby met not so long ago. He stared into her amber orbs for a moment before nodding. "Aye, she is quite something." He spat on the ground not caring that she was in front of him.
"Well, I'm not really fond of Faunus myself," the girls said to him. She walked over to him and leaned on the wall beside him.
"Oh really? What were you just doing, just watching me get my ass kicked?" Alex questioned.
"I just arrived here. I just only saw you on the ground with that Faunus walking away."
"Yeah, not helping."
The girl then smirked when she heard that. "So, you hate these Faunus?"
"Duh, they're nothing but stupid mutts and animals."
She kneeled down and looked at him. "Then what would you say if I can show you a way of getting rid of them?"
"Excuse me?"
"Don't act dull on me. I know you hate the Faunus, and this friend of yours you almost killed last night. You hate him don't you? I have a way to solve your problems.
Alex eyes her for a moment before nodded. "I'm listening..."
Cinder chuckled a bit at the Airborne sniper. "If you really want to know how, you'd have to come with me."
Alex raised his hands. "Whoa, wait a minute there, I may hate Faunus, but I made a promise to my brother that I'd think over some things. If you want, you could let me know which dorm you're staying in and I'll consider it."
"Fine. Me and my friends are in the east wing of Beacon. Let me know if you really want to know how." The girl stood up and waved goodbye to Alex, leaving him all alone in the hallway.
Do we still need to do the disclaimer? Ah well. By now you should know that Mentor and I don't own RWBY or Call of Duty except for our own OC's. Also could the person who owns Aria the Dragon Faunus send me a message so I can credit your OC to its rightful owner? Anyway major plot twist in this chapter here. Will Alex join Cinder's side and betray his brother and the Ghosts? Will Agent Recon pull through alive? Will the RWBY-saurus make its Easter Egg Appearance? Turn in for the next Episode of Ghosts of Remnant: Season Two: Chapter Four!