Chapter 6: By the Book

-Beacon Library-

"Those are essentially the fundamentals" Xavier sat in the library; the entire group of Spartans were around a table.

"So, can the Faunus have more than one trait?" Jirou asked, he was currently surfing through Remnant's internet.

"No, only one." Hannah spoke "It's usually an obvious one like some ears of somethin."

"Okay, that is good to know." Jirou nodded, he held his scroll and added it to his notes "And there is a forerunner presence here too?"

"Minimal, or it used to long ago." Damian wrote down some notes on his scroll "They were able to mod a suppressor by the looks of it."

Jirou wiped a speck of dust off his helmet "If there is, we may be able to reunited with the UNSC"

"That's what Ozpin said." Xavier pointed out "If we can activate a portal and direct it to an Installation in UNSC space. We're golden"

"Has there been any progress?"

"No, not as much as we'd want." Damian answered "But I wouldn't worry. Ozpin seems like he knows what he's doing"

Hannah used a monitor, she was looking into Remnant Aircrafts "Huh, this one looks weird…hey isn't the Atlas General coming today?"

"Yeah, Glynda seemed very annoyed." Damian folded the note he wrote on "Said she was hoping that he wouldn't take his work with him…whatever that means"

Xavier looked to Damian "I'm thinking she's hoping that he won't show up with his entire army" the Sergeant saw behind Damian, students were all going towards the exit.

"Huh?" the Sergeant stood from his chair "Where are they going?"

The rest of the group turned to the students, Hannah deactivated the monitor "We should check it out"

The group stood up from the table and walked along the students, they opened the library doors. The Spartans finally saw what the students were walking to.

"Well…damn." Xavier spoke

The group saw the Althesian fleet, the ships were docked in the ship pads. Students from Atlas flooded out the ships, they looked excited to be in Vale and to participate in the Vytal Tournament. Damian saw a pair of androids escorting a man. "I think that's the General himself."

"Where's he off to?" Hannah asked, the General Ironwood was walking towards the tower Ozpin was in.

Xavier turned to the numerous androids the Althesian army had "I mean Glynda did say he was friends with Ozpin"

"Is there a reason for Atlas to make this show of force?" Jirou noted

"Caution maybe?" Damian placed his arms on his hips "The White Fang do make transport across kingdoms harder."

"Is it that bad?" Jirou asked

"Maybe, but this seems excessive…" The blue spartan focused his attention on the soldiers "This ain't right."

Damian looked towards Ozpin's tower, he saw Glynda walking out from below "Hey it's Glynda. What's she doing?"

The Teacher walked from the tower, annoyed. She understood Ironwood's concern and didn't have anything against it, but to show up with an army? And to a school of all places?! At that point it isn't being cautious, it's just wanting to show off.

"Hello Hello, Boss" Damian leaned in, the rest of the Spartans were with him

"Oh, hello Damian, Spartans." Glynda was mildly relieved to see the group, she focused her attention to Jirou "Have you adapted well Jirou?"

"It has been a good experience so far." Jirou turned to the Atlas fleet "Though the amount of ships and troops in Beacon does make me raise some concerns"

"Well, that's Atlas for you…'The Greatest Kingdom'…"

"I saw Ironwood head to Oz's office, what was that about?" Xavier asked

Glynda sighed "It was most likely Ironwood and Ozpin catching up, I didn't even want to hear what he had to say about…well that." She pointed to the fleet

"He was most likely cautious. If the train we protected the other day is any indication of transport between kingdoms, then I'd bring some protection. But this is too much" Xavier stared at the fleet

"Yes, but we won't let that deter us from enjoying the Vytal festival." Glynda smiled, she turned to the group "You should take Jirou to Vale, show him around the town"

"I would love to see around Vale, from what I've read it sounds like quite the place" The Achilles clad spartan spoke

Damian clapped and rubbed his hands together "Well then let's go ahead, we might find those cupcakes we ate the other day"

Hannah patted her stomach "Ooh those are amazing, you've got to try them!"

-Vale-

Jirou held a little cupcake, it was tiny, compared to his hand at least, it had a little version of Vale's symbol "It smells…delightful"

"Taste it, you'll love it." Hannah spoke, they were inside a bakery, the streets weren't as full as they were a few days ago, but Hannah could still notice the Althesian people roaming about, learning about Vale's customs.

"Mm. These are-they're absolutely delicious!" Jirou chowed down the cupcake, he turned to the baker "You are incredibly talented ma'am!"

The baker blushed "Oh thank you sir, I've just only started baking."

"Then you are a prodigy!" Jirou and Hannah started to leave the bakery, Jirou held the door "Amazing! Keep it up!" The two Spartan's left the baker's sight

Damian and Xavier stood outside the bakery, Jirou happily eating his baked goodie "Looks like he's enjoying it."

"It is miles better than what I expected" Jirou finished the cupcake

"You were almost about marry the baker" Hannah chuckled, she held a bag full of the same cupcakes "We got some more if you want some!"

"Nah, we'll save em for later" Damian turned to the streets of Vale, he breathed in and spoke "Hey, Sarge didn't Felix say there was a bar around here?"

"Oh yeah…I remember, he didn't say, he got cut off they shot him" Xavier chuckled

"Hope he got better." Damian smiled, he noticed a familiar figure walking around the streets "Speaking of which, is that Felix?"

The two saw the cat faunus walking around alongside Marcus, they seemed to be talking about some place "Oh, and Marcus too!"

"So, we heading to Junior's today?" Marcus asked "Sarge gave us the day off, so i'd say that we could pay Junior a visit!"

"Yeah, it's been a while." Felix smiled "Sure, we should check up on him!"

"Felix?" The faunus heard, he turned to the voice and saw Damian

"Oh shit, Damian?" Felix gave a small laugh "Didn't expect to see you here!"

Damian gave a hearty smile "Likewise Felix, how's your arm doing?"

Felix rubbed his arm "Way better without the hole through it, that's for sure!"

"We were actually thinking about going to the bar I was telling you about" Felix mentioned "Y'all want to join us?"

Damian leaned his head "Mm, I could use a drink."

The Spartan turned to the rest of his group "So, how you guys feel about bit of drinking?"

Jirou nodded as he ate a cupcake "I could use a drink"

"I mean it's not like we can get drunk anyway" Hannah smiled, she fiddled with a coin, it had the symbol of Vale engraved into it

"We could use one to be honest, we've been fighting a lot these days." Xavier smiled "We could use the happy hour"

Felix clapped his hands together "Welp, let's head on! You'll love it!"

-Junior's Club-

Junior was concerned.

It wasn't an incredibly big concern, but it was a concern nonetheless.

When Felix had told him he was going to bring some friends, he had thought it was just some new people he had met.

He didn't expect him to show up with four Spartans, all of them a head taller than everyone else and all of them armed. Armed huntsmen were normal, as long as they didn't cause any trouble, but armed Spartans?

The Bar owner was cleaning a shot glass "Wasn't expecting you bring along Spartans, Felix."

"I mean, I did tell you I was bringing some friends." Felix sipped on his drink "They aren't gonna cause trouble"

"I do hope. We could stop a huntsman if they caused trouble, but a Spartan?"

The group of Spartans sat on the bar, Xavier held a drink of 'Lion's Fang' in his hands "Ok, let's see what this tastes like."

The Spartan downed the glass, he licked his lips and looked at the cup. "Oh, this taste is really good."

"Yeah?" Hannah leaned on her hand "Care to pour me one?"

Jirou drank from a glass, Damian held the bottle, it was named 'Crimson Martyr' "They got some weird names for alcohol"

"This taste is very aggressive…" Jirou held the glass "Like it has an incredibly angry taste, I you know what I mean"

"I mean sort of." Damian felt tapping on his armor, he turned around to see who it was. He saw a pair of girls, one had a white dress and the other had a red one.

Damian raised his eyebrow, what were two girls doing in a bar? They would probably be too young to be in here. "Oh…hey."

"They're Militia and Melanie" Junior spoke, he smiled "They work here"

"Huh, well I'm Damian!" the Spartan spoke

"So, you're the ones that took out that judge guy, right?" Militia asked "The White Fang one"

"I mean…it was him that got the kill" Damian motioned to Xavier "But yeah, you could still say that."

Melanie raised an eyebrow "They said you were 8 foot?"

"I mean, we do look taller than we are." Damian set the bottle down "Bit hard to tell without reference"

Melanie noticed Jirou's neural chip on the back of his neck "Are you guys androids?"

"Oh, no we aren't androids." Jirou tapped the neural chip "This is just so we can link up with our helmet efficiently"

"So, what's the deal with girls?" Hannah asked the bar owner, they seemed young enough to be attending Beacon

"They work here, make sure no one around here gets too rowdy." Junior explained, Hannah looked at the two girls asking questions at Damian "They wanted to work here as to earn some money, they study at Beacon but…they do get themselves a makeover"

"Ah, that reminds me of when I was 17…I used to fly a crop duster over my family's farm. It was a hell of a time" The Valkyrie suddenly felt her scroll get a call, she grabbed it and saw Glynda calling "Huh, wonder what she wants."

She answered the scroll "Hello Glynda, what's up?"

"Greetings Hannah, I have a new assignmen-…where are you right now?"

"We're just in a club, hanging out with one of the guys from the train Xavier and Damian went on"

"Oh, well it will unfortunately have to be cut short. There is a new assignment, head to Beacon as soon as possible."

"Alrighty, I'll tell the rest of the group, will see you at Beacon" Hannah hanged up and patted Xavier "We've got a new assignment."

"They give you any intel?" Xavier set his glass down

Hannah stood from her bar stool "No, we'll be briefed at Beacon"

-Warehouse-

Ozpin, Glynda and the Spartans stood over a table "Very, now that we're here. Let's commence with briefing" Glynda activated the table and displayed a group of four people.

"This is Team UMBR, or Umbra. They're a graduated team of huntsmen and have served against the Grimm for 8 years" Glynda displayed small info next to the team

"The leader, Ulysses Nikolai, is a Deer faunus, notable by the antlers. His semblance allows him to teleport to desired locations across a 500m radius." Hannah took notice of other features, such as the white hair, pale skin and red eyes, also of the staff he wielded

"The M of UMBR, Marx Zeta. He is able to throw an orb that regenerates the Aura of anyone with in it. I'm not sure how that would affect you, but take note of it." Marx had dark purple hair with brown skin and blue eyes

"Following with B, Rina Balere. She is able to massively increase her body's strength and durability. She is highly dangerous, but you may be able to overpower her in combat" She had, Pitch black hair with beige skin and teal eyes.

"And finally the R of UMBR, Radomira Vered. She can cast highly realistic illusion, take extreme precautions." She had long wine-red hair with sandy skin and magenta eyes

Glynda displayed a Grimm skull symbol next to them "They've been marked as rouge, due to multiple attacks on Vale, Mistral and Althesian outposts."

"Any reason as to why they're doing this?" Xavier questioned

"Their reasoning is, at the moment, unknown." Glynda spoke

Ozpin suddenly interjected "Their reason shouldn't be a pressing concern, they've shown to be incredibly hostile to other Huntsmen"

Jirou nodded "Understood, any sort of intel on their whereabouts?"

"You will be headed to a nearby region called Daiyu, that was their last known sighting. The local huntsmen will assist with your search." Glynda displayed images of Daiyu, the trees around had black leaves instead of the normal green.

"I see some snowed areas, that could be a good spot to search." Damian suggested "The Tundra could one of the last spots the locals could think of looking."

"The Pelican could easily fly through a blizzard if there happens to be one, so there's that." Hannah motioned to the UNSC aircraft

"That is a smart observation, though make sure to search thoroughly. Radomira could even be using her semblance to hide their tracks." Glynda smiled

Xavier crossed his arms "Alright, everyone load up, we're leaving in Five"

Ozpin suddenly spoke "Spartans, before you leave. The priority is to capture the team, but…if there is no choice…"

"We know Ozpin. We will ensure it doesn't come to that." Xavier nodded

Damian crossed his arms, he was curious about something "Hey Ozpin, I got a question. It doesn't have anything to do with the mission."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow "What may that be?"

"So…did the General ask about us?" Damian asked

"Yes, he indeed did ask." Ozpin answered, he sipped from his mug "He specifically asked if you could meet him."

Damian chuckled "Perhaps, but we'll decide when we come back."

A/N:

Halo Infinite looks hella good, I'm incredibly stoked for this new chapter in the series.

I will not be using anything that is included in Halo Infinite in the story. Just an FYI.

Till' the next chapter!