Chapter 13
A/N: Hello wonderful people of the internet, I have returned, shortly, and have posted another chapter for Becoming Human. After going through exams, laziness, Destiny, Assassin's Creed and fighting off a viral infection that's been with me for two weeks, I've finally had gotten time to write, still recovering from the infection when this is posted, on Feb 7, 2016.
I know you guys have already heard me say this, but I just can't help it. I'm thankful that you guys continue to read and love my stories. You guys are a reason to why I write, because I love to entertain people and make their days much better if they've had a crappy one. It's a blessing to be able to cheer someone up.
So, recent episode of RWBY... My words have failed me. Well, let's just see what happens in the finale of Volume 3. And all I can say is that I have goosebumps for it.
Also, for those who have been waiting on an update on Metro A New Light, look around, it's coming around the corner. Hell, maybe even two updates if lucky.
As usual, when it's been awhile, my writing tends to be a bit weird, which I say. Lemme know if anything seems out of the ordinary. Could be because I've been fighting a viral infection for a rather long time doing nothing but laying down in bed.
Well, let's stop chatting, and hope you guys have a good day and a good read.
"Troopers! Get to your pods now! We are entering into a hot LZ! So say goodbye to a peaceful insertion! We're the damn vanguard on this one! Covenant think they can take Osiris! Let's make'em think twice before they attack another planet!" A voice hollered out as multiple ODSTs ran around in their pod stations with their gear before rushing into their pods.
The officer looked at each one before walking up to one who was struggling to get some of his own equipment into his own pack. "Trooper, seems like you're having a rough time over there."
"Sorry sir. I'm trying to get everything I need."
"What's your name, Trooper?"
"U-Uh Riley O'Neil, sir. I've just recently joined the ODSTs."
"Son, you won't have time to grab everything you need in a fight. Sometimes, it's what you have before dropping. Time isn't our side. And every second you waste means the enemy is gaining the advantage. Now drop whatever you're holding and get your ass into your pod. We're dropping in one mike."
Cue: Light is Green- Halo 5 OST
Moments before entering the locker...
Riley breathed calmly as he strapped on a couple grenades to his rather makeshift webbing standing before one of three lockers. One of them contained his Q.R.F (Quick Reaction Force) gear while another had his full ODST BDU. The third one was his drop pod, well, his improvised drop pod, to use when he would respond to a situation. And to count this off, it would be the third time now using this. First time was testing, to results did rather go well, despite protests from Glynda and some students that he damaged school property. The other one was being used as an actual pod to go from here to somewhere.
"Riley, I want to inform you that Ozpin has gotten reports that a Huntsman has arrived at the village. Huh, guess you're the back up then," Heather brought up to her host making calibrations ready for his flight towards the location.
"Affirmative, Heather. Tell Ozpin that I'll be there shortly."
Quickly cocking his M6C and holstering it, he made sure that the pads he secured on his person with a bag strapped to his back with both his M90 Shotgun and M7S Submachine gun packed finely in with a couple knives along his legs. He had no time to check everything, as time was against him and counting down fast.
"Heather! Get the engines ready!" Riley shouted before putting a beanie on his head with a silver embroidery of the ODST logo on the right side of it.
"I'm already on it. Just throw your fat ass in the locker now and I can start our drop!" The A.I shouted back at him making sure all the calibrations where right and had no errors, or this would be a one way trip.
Rolling his eyes, the ODST got into the locker, squishing his entire body in along with the pack, and it was safe to say that it wasn't getting cozy anytime soon. A condition that mattered little to his line of work.
Closing his eyes, he just took in a deep breath as the door slammed shut on him with Heather now iniatiating the launching sequence. He evened his heart rate to a suitable pulse remaining calm. "We cheat Death from his rightful victory. No one can defeat us we are glad to plunge feet first into Annwn in the knowledge that we will rise," Riley softly recited to himself, steeling himself for the fight to come as he heard the rocket engines roaring to life. "And my the best one win, Death," He added in swiftly feeling lift being achieved.
Minutes later...
The rumbling and creaking of metal was constant with the sounds of rocket engines going on. Something that was nothing but normal to Riley as he kept his eyes closed for the entire trip from Beacon towards the village. He kept his mind calm while the breathing remained steady. His body was in constant movement from the vibrations of the locker.
Multiple drops with the 7th Shock Troopers Battalion have made him comfortable with the shocks and vibrations from the pods, now locker pod, almost the next big thing to which some ODSTs may say it's unconventional but would use as a last resort. Beggars can't be choosers.
"Riley, we'll be making contact with the ground in twenty seconds," Heather suddenly brought up to him.
The ODST pried open his eyes and sighed softly. "Alright. Readying for impact."
"Ten seconds."
He took in a deep breathe and closed his eyes shut once again, semi relaxing and tensing his body for impact. "Five... Four... Three... Two..."
KRASH!
The locker made contact with the ground with a thunderous sound and created a large crater in the ground
He gasped deeply to see if he was alive and intact, giving each limb of his small movement, from his hands balling up into fists with the toes curling up for any damage check. With a nod, he gave a small knock against the metal door he faced.
"Three... Two... One..."
The door soon flung wide open before Riley rushed out, hand already on his M6C Handgun. Dressed in a black shirt with grey long sleeves and dark blue pants, he also had a pair of black running shoes. While not dressed up in his usual get up of ODST Battle Armor, his Q.R.F outfit had some armor with knee and elbow pads with a pair of bracers looking similar to the gauntlets of the Battle Armor and black fingerless gloves.
And the first thing his sights caught was the look of the village. Mostly consisting of wooden structures, there were a couple stone buildings showing that this village has been around for some time, with the wooden ones saying that it is one of constant rebuilding. "At least they don't need to worry about Covenant glassing the place. Grimm is just as annoying though. Like Grunts."
"Heather, get the locker back to Beacon. Land it back on the lawn," Riley muttered to himself now looking around at the screaming villagers that ran around in fear. "And how far are the Grimm?"
"Gotcha. And they're a few clicks out. They're somehow not making any ground though. So you may have a few minutes tops to do whatever you need to do," Heather replied back as she started the sequence of returning the locker back to the academy.
Holstering the M6C for the M7S, he hefted the submachine gun firmly in hand and looked around at the running villagers that went towards one of the stone buildings. Out of all the structures by glance, it was the largest, and the most fortified out of all of them, windows boarded up and even a few militia men on guard outside while ushering people inside. "Gotta find out what's going on around here."
"Hey!, you! I need to talk to you!" He shouted while grabbing a villager by the shoulder, he only yelped in shock seeing Riley with a stoic expression on his face.
"H-Holy Hell! Who are you?!"
"That doesn't matter. What's the current situation?" The ODST asked him calmly, glancing around to make sure no Grimm had entered the perimeter, which was strange as they should've been in by now.
"What else do you think?! Grimm are coming!" The villager shouted frantically, trying to pry himself out of his grasp.
"I know that. How come none are currently in at the moment? And calm down, you'll just attract more rather then getting rid of them." Riley replied back just as the same as before.
"U-Uh... A Huntsman just came along earlier... He's fending them off... East side of the village... But there's just too many of them..."
"Alright. Get yourself to that building now. Barricade the entrance and don't come out until the area is secured. Now," Riley sternly ordered the villager before leaving him behind, sprinting off to the eastern side of the village, clicking the safety off the gun, now raised up to his chest ready to engage Grimm.
And to compensate, he heard large booms of a gun that associated itself more to a shotgun and dying roars and screams from the Grimm. It all pointed that he was going to the right direction. To add along to that, a Beowolf head flew past him causing Riley to recoil from that.
Hearing grunting in front of him, he lifted his head up and saw him. Wearing a grey dress shirt with a rather long tail, it came along with a pair of black dress pants and dress shoes with a tattered dark red cloak fluttering in an unseen breeze. Asides with a few rings on his right hand, a cross necklace dangled around his neck in a crooked fashion.
Riley noticed that two Beowolves were running towards the man from the side as he was too preoccupied with an Ursa. Hefting up his M7S, he fired upon them, the bullets tearing it the two to shreds, them collapsing down and rolled for a bit before stopping just short of the Huntsman before disintegrating into black smoke.
The man seemed to notice this after slicing the Ursa in half and turned around to see the black smoke before seeing Riley approaching him with his gun still raised up to to shoot anything that came upon them.
"And who the hell are you supposed to be?" The man asked him, hefting his blade up onto his shoulder. "Alright, who the hell are you supposed to be then?" He asked, eyes narrowing down.
Riley subtly glared back at him before he aimed at him. The man brought his sword down and got ready to fight him before the shots went off. He heard thumping behind him and saw it was another Grimm down on the ground, groaning in pain. Slinging the M7S, he pulled out his M6C and walked over and aimed it at the head of the wounded Beowolf. "Name's Riley. I'm the backup," He responded before taking a shot shortly after, the black smoke appearing.
"Huh, and I thought Oz was pulling my leg about you. But here you are, killing Grimm like nothing." He slicked his greying black hair back smoothly. "The name's Qrow. So, you're an alien then? And what are you doing here then? Thought we Huntsmen are the usual?" The man asked with a grin gracing his face.
"Apparently so. I never thought another human being would be considered as an alien to another," Riley replied back, eyes scanning about for more incoming Grimm. "Listen, we can discuss on why I'm here later. Right now, we have a job to do."
Qrow nodded while getting his sword ready for to cut down more Grimm. "So, Mr. Alien, what do you propose then since it's just the two of us for now? What makes you the leader of us two?"
Riley sighed silently hearing that from him. "Guess that'll stick around..." He looked at his new acquaintance and then back at the village before nodding. "You'll be doing a lot of the heavy lifting here. You'll be trying to kill as much as you can, but stay close to the village. Make sure you do complete sweeps around the perimeter of the place. Anything that gets past you, I'll take care of them. The priority is to make sure we keep the villagers alive. As long as we work together, this will work."
Despite with the military nature that Riley was displaying, it was one that wasn't joking and shown he has gotten things done that normal soldiers would've crumbled under. Qrow merely nodded at him with a grin. "Hmmm, I guess I can do that, as long as you're good with your guns."
"Hey, wouldn't be here at all if I didn't even know how to use a knife." Riley quickly raised his arm up before taking a few other shots at more Grimm that advanced on their position. "Just do your part and I'll do do mine. We survive this, I owe you a drink and explanation," He added in before he began to run towards the village leaving Qrow all by his lonesome as Grimm advanced on their position.
The Huntsman just had a cheery grin on his face and drunkenly spun heel to face the oncoming horde. He then pressed a button on his sword and it been to transform. The blade extended before curving into a crest with a blade showing up in the inner part while a long handle popped up and he grabbed it. "Oh, you're going to give me that drink," He muttered to himself before charging headstrong into the tide.
Riley steeled himself for the incoming Grimm that would've pass Qrow if they ever did. He reloaded his guns, quickly stripping them to make sure that they were in working order, and knife was sharp. Seeing he would be in mostly close quarters fights, he got the M90 Shotgun in hand, pumped and ready for action. He breathed deeply, taking in the precious peaceful moments that would soon disappear once the fighting would begin.
He then heard nearby growling. Looking to his left, the ODST saw that a group of at least five Beowolves had breached the village, now snarling at him, ready to tear Riley apart. All he did in response was look back with his shotgun up to his chest. A grin formed on the corner of Riley's lips. "Come get some."
Cue: Halo 2 Soundtrack- Unyielding
The Beowolves ran towards him and he did the same. Just as the first one came in range, Riley took a couple shots, giving the poor Beowolf a dosage of lead before he jumped up and landed on it's back as it fell forward. He then dove off of it and rolled forward before getting on his knees, the barrel of the M90 under the muzzle of the second one. He smirked before squeezing the trigger, the entire head being blown away into mush from the eight pellets that shot straight in.
He quickly shoved it aside before grabbing the M90 by the barrel and then proceeded to swing it down hard like a club on another's head like a club, driving it into the ground. Flipping it around, he caught the shotgun back in it's intended style before placing on top of it's head and blew it away with another shell.
Riley then fired another shell off, using the recoil behind it to make the shotgun fly up before he caught it and managed to dodge a swipe from a Beowolf that lunged for him. The tip of the claws managed to catch him, just piercing through the skin on his arm drawing some blood from him. He glared at it before he advanced towards it and swung the M90 from the side, bashing it in the head from the side. He brought it to the left and bashed it once again causing it to swing it's head up howling in pain. Riley then rushed over and shoved the barrel down it's mouth releasing another shot. He saw the corpse fall down on the ground and pumped the gun.
Quickly slinging the M90 onto his back, he drew his knife from it's sheath found on his left shin and ran towards the last one. The ODST focused his gaze onto it as it swiped wildly in attempts to hit him. He then dropped to his knees and slid across the ground as the arm just brushed on his chin. Getting behind it, he lunged forward, burying the knife deep in it's back. It howled in pain before he pulled it out and scrambled onto it's back and began repeatedly stabbing it in the back making it howl more, with it attempting to buck him of it's back and trying to claw at him. He then got to it's head before grabbing his knife with both hands before driving it down with a loud shout and plunged it into it's head. It fell down dead and he hopped off it, before flicking his knife down to be rid of the black blood that stained it.
Sheathing it back in, he sighed as he saw other Grimm converging on him. Beowolves, Ursas and even Creeps showing up. Though they were low in number, thanks to Qrow suppressing them. "Good. Don't need to deal with as much."
He was about to go on the offensive again until he heard loud rumbling. The other Grimm seemed to notice this too and backed away a bit as if it seemed a bit bigger than them. Riley narrowed his eyes and reluctantly stood his ground, despite feeling the very ground itself quake.
And that's when he felt like he needed help. He saw another Grimm appear from the other end of the village, but it was a Deathstalker. It was average in size, dwarfing it's usual brethren like the Beowolf and Ursa, and about a bit larger than the size of the safe house of the village. But to Riley, it made Hunters of the Covenant look like a cake walk then a challenge.
The Deathstalker shrieked loudly before it rushed itself over to the ODST without mercy. He dove to the side as it attempted to run him down. But to his dismay, one of it's claws struck him and flung him into one of the wooden buildings. The wooden wall easily caved in made him fly through it and to the other side, landing on his side from that.
He groaned softly and pushed against the ground, coughing up some blood staining the ground. Riley wobbled as he got onto his knees and lightly pounded his fist against his chest and got onto his feet. Twitching his ears, he looked back at the house he flew through before he dove away from it as the Deathstalker rammed itself through it, flailing it's claws around and readied it's tail to strike.
Riley evened out his breathing, a small trail of blood down his lips as he slowly walked towards it. "Relax... You feel nothing... You're a ghost... It just passes through you..." He picked up his pace, but remained in a sorta slow walk, grabbing a grenade off of his makeshift webbing, while concentrating on his Aura, the pale white surrounding his body.
The Deathstalker shrieks once again and twitched it's tail before it shot it forward to impale the poor human that ran towards it. But it merely met confusion as the stinger impacted on soil and rock, not flesh and meat. There stood Riley, the stinger that tried to impale him passing through him like nothing. Nothing was changed, as if it went through the air. No blood splattering out, flesh or clothing being torn apart. He just remained the same, the same with all new meaning.
He activated his frag before dropping it on the ground near the stuck stinger. He pulled another out before he ran towards it and jumped on it. The previous grenade exploded, making the Deathstalker shriek in agony losing it's most iconic limb.
Taking out his knife, Riley began to drive it against the bone armor, slowly creating a hole that got bigger with every stab, chipping away at itself. Seeing that it was fairly big enough, he activated his other grande before forcefully shoving down the help that stuck itself in before he jumped off of it, rolling on the ground and stayed crouched as the large scorpion shrieked before an explosion engulfed it's head silencing it. The body went limp before it disintegrated away.
Riley sighed shaking his head and held his head groaning. "Ugh, I can't get used to that..." He muttered.
He then heard engines filling the air making the ODST look up. There was a Bullhead that lowered itself to the ground before showing four people jumping out and grouped together. "So, Team CVFY, finally joining in on the action, huh?" He asked them, walking away from the still disappearing corpse of the deceased Deathstalker.
"We got here as fast as we could. Are you okay?" Yatsuhashi asked his teacher, his large blade being held aloft in his right hand as if it was a kitchen knife.
"Yeah. We have a Huntsman here. He's been helping me out for the past while now. It's good to have you guys here. Better having more people around then just a few sometimes." He then looked at the other Grimm that circled around and grinned. "Started the party without you. Don't keep them waiting," He told them before drawing his Handgun. " Let me introduce you guys then."
"With pleasure. Beats doing nothing anyway," Coco responded with a grin, her brown eyes clearly showing delight in doing something.
Riley nodded before seeing Qrow running up towards him, slightly panting, but otherwise fine asides a few scratches found on him. "So, I guess this is Team CVFY Ozpin sent?"
"Yeah, it's them."
The Huntsman took a closer look at them before shaking his head. "Tch, they're just a bunch of amateurs."
"Hey, we were too in our professions one time," Riley brought up with a grin.
"Well, I can't deny that. Grimm around here aren't coming anymore. Just the stragglers got by."
"Really? Team CVFY, search and destroy," The ODST told his students. They obeyed his instructions before they dispersed and began to hunt down the remaining stragglers that lingered about.
Soon, the two men looked at each other, both tired and weary, but willing to fight. But mostly, to have a drink. "So, about that drink," Qrow began.
"All yours. And what do you want to know," Riley replied.
"Pretty much everything you told Oz."
"Let's do that while we have our drink and not here and back in Vale after evacuating these people. They're exposed out here and will be wiped out if they return again."
"Agreed."
"I'm from another universe to start off."
Thanks guys for reading this. It's been awhile and it's great to be writing again. As usual, good and bad reviews are permitted. Let me know what is good and what is bad and I'll improve on that.
And looking at what you guys say on the matter of Renewed, I guess I'll rewrite it then.
Later guys. Peace