CH 27: OPERATION CONSOLIDATION

0653 Hours, November 27, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Anima

The Master Chief had his arms crossed as he observed Ruby and Yang sparring. Today's main focus was on unarmed combat. He was tracking that the former was not much of an unarmed fighter and as such, this was a means of finding out what exactly she was lacking so that this weakness could be mitigated.

Truthfully, the spartan could see that if she didn't grow more, she would be hard-pressed to be effective in hand-to-hand combat. While aura certainly did change the game to a degree, he was also considering a worst-case scenario, that being that his Spartans were out of aura. That would reset them back to being normal humans. Thus, he needed to train them in the very basic of basics.

In particular, the focus right now was ensuring a swift and decisive end to a confrontation at this range. Too often did fighters on Remnant focus on flair and grandstanding as opposed to simply making the kill or going in for the final blow. Spartan IIs only cared about taking down the target.

The sharpshooter was small in height and size, so that meant she had to prioritize speed and agility in lieu of her lack of height and reach. The younger sister was only further disadvantaged by her inexperience with unarmed combat.

The brawler was much more attuned to fighting and she wasn't afraid of closing with and destroying the enemy. This was her home turf, but that came with it a sense of superiority and sometimes a bit of complacency, something the younger sister had much less of.

John had yet to teach them any of his combatives accumulated from training and years of experience. For now, he was gauging their full capabilities as they were right now. He now had enough information about their fighting styles and how they performed in combat with respect to their assigned weapon systems. Now he had to teach them how to respond to an enemy that had closed the distance.

Belladonna stood to his side, watching the sisters closely. The girl was nothing if not meticulous when it came to training. She appeared to be taking all of it very seriously; with each passing day, she seemed even more distant from her White Fang origins. He was still on his guard whenever she was present. However reliant she was on him and his spartans, she was a risk for the time being.

As for the Schnee girl, she was mostly content with remaining indoors to rest and recover. Her aura sped up her healing, but he would see about her full mobility in a few day's time. For the most part, she showed no interest in knowing the rest of the team beyond the Master Chief and it had been no different for the better part of a week.

And then suddenly, there she was, joining them. She had donned a simple white sundress, a purchase from the locals. She didn't do anything to make her presence known.

The spartan simply saw her. "Did you need something?"

"No, I just… heard the sounds of a spar happening, so I thought I would see the specifics," Schnee spoke almost like she was unsure about joining them. "These two are your subordinates, yes?"

John nodded. "They are, both recently officially accepted onto my team, but the journey's only beginning for them."

"I see." Then Schnee noticed the faunus girl, a look of suspicion. "And… this beast?"

Belladonna bristled but didn't meet the eyes of the heiress.

The Master Chief continued to observe the fight. "A useful subordinate that is allowed to live so long as she obeys without question."

"... while it is not my place to judge others' on their business, I would say that she is problematic at best." Schnee's haughtiness was beginning to show. "She might gain some sympathy for her fellow faunus."

Ruby tried to wrestle Yang to the ground to poor effect as the brawler used her strength to choke-slam the smaller girl to the ground.

The spartan uncrossed his arms. "Your opinion is noted, but she understands her place. If she should forget, she dies."

"Then I will accept that." Schnee dropped the matter and resumed watching the fight. "The blonde girl, she clearly has more experience in unarmed fighting."

Even without experience in fighting, that fact could be seen on display.

Still, John indulged his newest charge. "Before she became a part of my team, she was training to be a huntress; that training was primarily brawling with an emphasis on strength and dominating the fight."

"The other girl, she looks like she is about to lose." She laced her hands in front of her. "Is this her first time fighting like this?"

He shook his head. "No, merely the first time doing so in a controlled arena. She has fought and survived in combat in such tight quarters. Her sister's merely giving her a harder time of it."

"Sister?" Schnee looked to him, then to the girls. "I don't see any resemblance."

The Master Chief glanced from the corner of his eye. "Half sisters. Same father, different mothers."

"I see."

"Hmm."

She was silent, but she seemed like she wished to say more, but was unsure if she should, a strange combination for a girl of her nature. Usually, the arrogant types always had something to say. He knew because he had worked with more than a few.

"You are a fighter yourself." The spartan decided to test the waters. "What do you see that both my spartans are lacking?"

For a moment, she regarded his helmeted head as if he was asking her a trick question. "... the blonde one, she's an aggressive fighter and she no doubt is good outstanding at what she does, but she seems to… zealous, for lack of a better term, as if she enjoys the thrill of fighting too much as opposed to ending the fight."

An apt description.

"And the other?" John gestured to Ruby.

"She looks serious, engaged, and focused, but there is something else in her eyes that seems… wrong." Schnee almost didn't seem to understand her own words. "I cannot put it into more comprehensible words."

Although he didn't acknowledge it, the Master Chief had an inking of an idea as to what she was referring to.

Yang was now on top of Ruby, placing her in a chokehold. With the former's superior strength and weight, the latter was not able to find any release or means of escape, leaving the outcome of this fight determined. That and the latter was tapping out.

The MJOLNIR-clad man stepped in. "That's enough."

The heavy weapons specialist stopped the hold and rose to her feet, letting the sharpshooter take a moment to breathe before giving her a hand and helping her up. The two seemed in good spirits.

"Fall in." The Master Chief ordered.

In response, the two stood side by side, two meters away from where he stood. They stood straight and at attention.

Then he relaxed. "At ease."

They switched from the position of attention to placing their hands behind their backs.

"AAR, what happened?" The spartan regarded his two newest team members.
Ruby went first. "This was about gauging our abilities to fight without our assigned weapons. I was at a severe disadvantage because I know little to nothing about unarmed fighting, so I had to improvise."

"Seconded. For those of us who don't know how to fight without a weapon, we need to hit on this more." Yang had her own observations to report as well. "In order to cover our bases well, I'll be taking everyone through a crash course in basic unarmed fighting so that at the very least, they won't get fucked up completely."

Unprofessional language aside, not that such usage was much of a concern where he was standing, they were hitting on the points he wanted them to, but this was just one area of weakness they needed to cover.

The spartan regarded the sisters. "We'll also be conducting advanced weapons training. Both of you have mastered your assigned weapons, but in the event that the situation demands adapting, you'll need to be adept at any weapon at any given moment. Make ready all your weapons, prepare TM's, and be ready to ask questions."

"Hooyah." Both sisters responded.

He was satisfied with their compliance. "Questions?"

They were silent.

"Go away." He said.

They dispersed to begin their next phase of training.

John turned to Belladonna. "You'll be joining us as well. We've yet to test your proficiency on other weapons systems."

"Tracking, Chief." The faunus girl nodded immediately.

Then he turned to their newest guest. "Will you be joining us?"

"...yes, I think that it would make for a good change of pace," Schnee spoke in a controlled manner. "Lead the way."

He simply hummed in acceptance and began to do his own prep work. Although he knew every single weapon in the UNSC arsenal verbatim, he wanted to do more than have his team remember and regurgitate information.

This was SF after all.

Halo - - - RWBY

1313 Hours

Weiss had spent more than enough time cooped up in her room and wanted something to take her mind off the boredom of reading books and simply resting. Her usual schedule had her doing so much more. Her only interactions with another person came in the form of the Master Chief, the mysterious man in armor.

Even after a week of watching him, she couldn't really figure out any more than she knew based on her rescue and their limited interactions. He spoke very little, talked only as much as he needed to, and simply was more interested in utilitarian tasks. Not a moment of his was wasted on something that didn't serve a purpose.

The SDC heiress could understand that mentality, even respect it, but it didn't tell her much about him and she had to admit that she was curious about her savior and she knew even less about his team.

Also confusing to her was how he didn't even bother to ingratiate himself to her once. If she asked for things, he gave them to her within reason, but he otherwise kept to himself whenever he was close to her. This was such a stark contrast to Atlesian high society, where she could expect to be bombarded with courting efforts. It had become a stale state of affairs to put it lightly.

It was different, being largely ignored. A part of her felt somewhat slighted. These people ought to show more reverence for the Schnee family name, but then she was reminded of where she came from, and the more she thought about it, the more she realized that she did not want more of the same treatment.

Another thing that was mildly annoying was that she could not properly show some gratitude; arrogant though she might be, she would always repay debts. It also helped that she had respect for those who could fight. The fact that the White Fang suffered was a bonus in her book.

Watching the two sisters fight, she could see that these weren't typical teenage girls. They all seemed to be very dedicated to this job. The way they fought was extremely inelegant, unrefined, and barbaric. However, she could not deny that there was aggression, assertiveness, and dedication. They were fighters.

But more importantly than that, they were killers. She did not recall many details about the Master Chief the night she was rescued, but she did see the signs of battle. Dents and scratches, dirt and grime, and the familiar scent and sight of blood. That fact was reassuring but also somewhat chilling.

She was training to be a huntress and to a degree, the image of such a warrior was that of a noble and upstanding hero, not the sort of person who thrived in blood and violence. Not to say that she thought these people to be bloodthirsty savages, but it did make them different from the sort of people she tended to be around.

Although her upbringing would not allow her to speak of such things casually, it was tacitly agreed upon within the Schnee family that the faunus were a troublesome bunch. Even the more tolerant of them could not disagree with that.

So when it came to the faunus girl, the distance was kept.

"Belladonna." The Master Chief's voice compelled the faunus to look up immediately. "Get over here."

Raven hair fluttered in the wind. "Moving, Master Chief."

Despite her dislike, she obeyed the man without question and without hesitation. If she looked more carefully, the cat girl seemed to regard the armored giant like he was something more than her superior.

"See those containers over there?" The helmet nodded to a nearby set of opened boxes. "They're filled with weapon parts. There are seven weapons worth of parts mixed up in all of them. You have fifteen minutes to assemble each weapon. I'll be doing a functions test when you're done."

Gold eyes looked into the similarly-colored visor. "Yes, Master Chief."

"Your time starts now." The moment those words left his mouth, she rushed to the containers.

Weiss felt she had to voice her concern. "I don't see the point in letting this faunus even be with you let alone train her."

"Your opinion is noted." The giant didn't look at her, merely observed his trainee as she began to organize parts.

Being dismissed like that was a little grating, but she held her tongue on that subject. "I have never seen weapons of the like before."

"These are merely standard UNSC small arms weapons." The Master Chief kept his explanation brief. "They are all widely used by combat MOSs; they're hardly anything special or unusual."

Weiss craned her neck to look up at him. "That acronym, UNSC. What does it mean? I have never heard of it before."

"The United Nations Space Command," he replied to her crisply, "We are the military, scientific, and exploratory arm of the United Earth Government, or UEG."

Now that had her truly confused. "United Earth Government? There are only four kingdoms in the world."

"On this world." The man simply added.

She had never considered this one to be insane. Nothing in his voice suggested it; he sounded clear and concise, a military man through and through. Winter spoke similarly without any levity or sarcasm. However, the possibility that he was entertaining was impossible. Spaceflight wasn't possible with dust.

The Schnee heiress narrowed her eyes. "Are you suggesting that you hail from another world? How would that be possible?"

"I'm not suggesting that I come from another world. I am from another world." Again, the Master Chief spoke with only a straightforward tone. "How I came to be on Remnant, even I don't know."

She couldn't help but scoff. "And you expect me to believe that?"

"Your lack of belief doesn't change the facts." He didn't react to her. "You're here for your own safety, but once that time is over, we'll go our separate ways."

Outright dismissal wasn't something that she was accustomed to. The only person that could do so without resistance from her was her father and that was simply because in virtually every scenario, he had power over her. He could make her life better or worse depending on how she responded to him.

But this man's indifference towards her felt less like he was dealing with an annoyance and more like he simply did not take her seriously at all. The way he treated her family name spoke that much.

Weiss didn't like that for some reason. "I can fight too. I was taught by the best of the best and my skills have been refined with practice."

"Instruction and training will only teach you so much." He was not impressed still. "But even the best can get killed in combat. You were caught in a vulnerable moment; that alone should tell you of your weakness."

That prompted her to regard him hotly. "That was purely by luck. The White Fang is the cowardly type to prey upon those that aren't adequately prepared."

"The White Fang still caught you unprepared." The Chief didn't buy into her excuse. "That's simply how terrorists act. They don't care to play by the rules, only that their agenda and goals are met. If you want to beat them, you have to be willing to think outside the box. Fight fire with water."

The second daughter of the Schnee family felt her pride flare once more, but then she caught herself before she spoke more words. She was being rebuffed constantly despite what she spoke. Emotional and logical responses were countered deftly. She didn't think anything else she would say would resonate with him.

Weiss decided to back down for now. "You are not huntsmen, but you seem to fight on par with them."

"We are spartans, the best warriors of humanity." For the first time, she heard an emotion and it sounded like pride. "When there's a mission that's impossible for everyone, we're the ones that are called upon to complete it."

The sound of clacking had the heiress focus her eyes up to see that the faunus girl had finished assembling the weapons and was now looking like she was checking to ensure that they worked properly. Once she did, she moved to be in front of her superior, hands behind her back.

Her cat ears stood straight. "Finished, Chief."

He simply walked past, his charge following as he inspected each weapon and did his own analysis before function testing. He didn't speak a single word as he continued to the other weapons.

The SDC heiress stood at each to admire them. They were so simplistic and uninspiring in terms of coloring or style. They were clearly the marks of a more militaristic gun: simple and utilitarian.

"Twelve minutes, sixteen seconds." He said, then he looked at his trainee. "Do it again."

The faunus began to disassemble the weapons in order to be tested again.

These people march to the beat of their own drum, outside influences be damned.

And Weiss envied that.

RWBY - - - Halo

1917 Hours

Ruby and Yang were bored.

To tell the truth, while it was nice to get some rest, recovery, and training, the last mission they'd conducted had lit a fire in them and they wanted more.

The Master Chief had heard them and surprisingly enough, he hadn't condemned them for their desire to go out more. He simply said that more missions would come their way soon. He sounded like he had a plan going forward or he at least had an idea about where to start looking for one.

For now, the sisters were content to remind themselves of the things they did good on and the things that they sucked ass on so that come time for their next mission, they would be mindful of the things to work on.

Today was simply weapons training. They all had a familiarity with their designated systems, but now they were drilling on standard systems. The MA5C wasn't what either of them typically would employ in combat, but because of its multi-purpose uses, the full-auto rifle was a handy tool to have.

Along with that, there was talk from the Master Chief regarding pilot training for their new bird. The Pelican had enough firepower to rival all gunships on Remnant and could even harass larger warships effectively.

Ruby in particular was interested in being a pilot. Yang was more content to remain a ground pounder and close with and destroy the enemy at close range. Their spartan leader knew this and said he would work on giving her advanced training as well, which was very pleasing to the heavy weapons specialist.

Meanwhile, Belladonna was close on their heels, learning and consuming knowledge wherever possible. She was a quick study as her training in weapons assembling, disassembling, and function checking made clear. With time, she'd be a force to be reckoned with, a fact that both sisters were slightly wary of.

With the edition of the Schnee Girl, things were a bit weird. The Master Chief had said nothing about how to interact with the girl, only that their priority was to protect her until any extreme or radical elements of the White Fang were subdued or went into hiding did they returned the girl to her family.

Personally, they didn't care much for the princess. The fact that they had to dedicate so much time resources and energy for her safety was annoying. The girl was only worth something because she was a future heiress of her company. That meant her family name was the only thing that carried meaning. She herself didn't have any outstanding traits or characteristics that made her important.

If that didn't scream privileged, they didn't know what did.

And speaking of the girl in question, there she was now, lingering alongside the Master Chief as he walked up to them. And their kitty cat faunus as well.

"Ruby, Yang, I need Belladonna for a time." He gestured to the white-clad girl. "Look after her until we get back."

The silver-eyed female nodded. "Roger, Chief."

The blonde girl stiffly met their guest before acknowledging her NCO.

The spartan nodded his head before stalking off, the non-human following closely behind him.

"Fucking cat, man." Yang shook her head. "Think she's better than the rest of us."

Ruby didn't disagree. "I wouldn't think too much about it. It's not our job. We just kill people."

"And blow shit up." The grenadier grabbed her nearby TACPAD and began doing some studying. "Fuck, I hate this studying."

The sharpshooter gave a look. "You think I like it any better? I'd rather pop some heads, but we can't always have what we want in life, can we?"

"At least you got some patience." Yang threw up a middle finger. "All I got is anger a twitchy trigger finger."

"Um, ahem."

They'd completely forgotten about their charge, who was just standing there, looking like she wanted to be anywhere else.

The blonde girl narrowed her eyes. "What got somethin' to say, ice queen?"

"That's not my name," Schnee began.

To which Yang soundly ignored her. "Whatever, nerd. I'm still gonna call you Ice Queen."

"I am not a nerd." The spoiled little brat didn't appreciate being ignored, it sounded like. "Do you have any idea who-"

The heavy weapons expert stood up and got right into the SDC girl's face. "Let's get something straight, Schnee. You could be the God of Light and I wouldn't give two flying fucks about you. Your name might mean something in high-class Atlas, but out here, you ain't shit. You're just a pretty face and a liability, so shut your fuckin' mouth until Daddy dearest gets you back."

Ice Queen reeled back but still didn't back down. "How dare you! I'll have you know I can fight on my own without the likes of you!"

"Could've fooled me." Yang looked the small girl up and down. "I could probably beat you when I was ten years old. What do you weigh, ninety pounds soaking wet?"

Schnee tried to show no fear by getting up into the newly appointed spartan's space. "If I had my weapon-"

The brawler pushed the smaller female back with one hand.

"Bitch, did I ask for you to speak?"

Ruby finally intervened. "Yang, enough."

"Tch. I was just fuckin' around. Spoilsport." The elder sister sat back down and began reading from her TACPAD again.

Schnee dusted herself off before addressing the silver-eyed girl. "At least one of you has some respect."

"I really don't." The sharpshooter didn't even care to look the heiress in the eye. "I'm not gonna waste my breath on someone who's never seen a single hard day in her entire life, so do all of us a favor and stay out of the way, like a good damsel in distress."

That riled up the rich girl even more. "You don't know anything about me."

"I know enough," Ruby replied, unmoved.

Then nobody talked and the sisters hoped it would stay that way until the Master Chief returned to watch over the Ice Queen.

But Ice Queen wasn't content to remain silent. "Fight me."

Both spartans raised their heads from what they were doing and stared at those cyan-blue eyes, then gave each other a look, then back at her.

"You're kidding, right?" Yang snorted. "You really think you've got a snowball's chance in hell of fighting on our level?"

Schnee clenched her fists. "I am not some invalid. I have been training to fight for years. I will not be disrespected by some lowlife peasants who don't know the first thing about being decent human beings."

"Wow, I'm so offended by your scathing remarks about my manners." The machine gunner couldn't be more sarcastic if she tried. "Try again in ten years… or never."

Then came the most unexpected action from the dainty little princess: she crossed the distance and delivered a right hook to the brawler's face. Despite the heiress's frame, she used her aura to deliver more kick and it was felt.

For a moment, the blonde girl was surprised, but recovered quickly and stood up, a dark expression on her face and her eyes crimson red. "Ask and you shall receive. Once the Master Chief comes back, we'll get him to officiate."

"Deal," Schnee confirmed.

Ruby didn't move from her seated position. "Yang, this isn't worth it."

"If it'll shut this bitch up, it's definitely worth it." Yang let her eyes recede back to their original lilac colors. "Plus, I need the exercise."

The girl with silver eyes sighed explosively. "It's on you. Just don't fuck each other up too much. Remember the mission."

"Yeah, yeah, teacher's pet." The grenadier casually gave a middle finger. "As for you, Ice Queen, I'm gonna enjoy tearin' you a new one."

Schnee appeared to have found her courage. "And I will relish when I silence you for good."

So they waited until the big guy came back. The three females simply remained silent, although it wasn't a pleasant silence and it didn't help that despite no one looking at each other, there was very palpable tension in the air.

"What's going on?" As the Master Chief returned, even he could sense something amiss.

Yang sprung up. "Chief, Schnee and I want to fight. Can you be a referee?"

Belladonna looked back and forth, unsure of what she was looking at.

"Is there a reason this has come up?" The man in armor paused to take in the situation. "And what relevance does this have to the mission?"

The heavy weapons specialist clasped her hands behind her back. "Chief, we need to make clear that we're not her at her beck and call. She needs to learn her place in the hierarchy. If we have to rough her up, so be it."

"Master Chief, your woman needs to learn that her job does not give her free reign to speak about matters that she had no experience or knowledge in." Schnee seemed to at least respect the big guy. "I am simply setting the record straight that this was a one-time phenomenon and that I need not be coddled like a child."

Halo - - - RWBY

2052 Hours

John had heard both sides of their disagreement and knew what each was hoping to achieve. Truthfully, this felt like an inconvenient nuisance to deal with, but his team's integrity and readiness were being tested.

Best to nip this in the bud while it could be done. "Tomorrow at 0630, you two will fight. Once an outcome is decided, this will never be brought up again."

"Tracking." Yang accepted his decision.

Schnee too complied. "Agreed."

"For now, the two of you will be civil. Yang, you will be as professional as I expect you to be. Miss Schnee, you are our guest, but you are a civilian, meaning you don't have any authority or say over my team."

"I… understand."

"Roger."

Apparently, he couldn't trust Xiao Long to keep a lid on it. They could've just ridden out the next week or so in peace and moved on. Then again, this kind of behavior was expected from teenagers. Although the Spartan IIs were disciplined to a high degree, it would be a lie to say that fights and altercations never happened.

So he wouldn't begrudge his newest team member a chance to vent and hopefully settle a score. Also, since they weren't going to keep the SDC heiress around for that much longer, he saw no reason to hold back.

That being said, the Master Chief was especially mindful that depending on what state Weiss Schnee returned to her family might potentially paint a target on the back of his head and the head of his team.

He avoided bringing attention to it, but the scar across the left eye, clearly a somewhat old scar, concerned him. Although his understanding of aura was limited, his initial understanding of it was that barring critical or mortal injuries, it was capable of healing completely. Apparently, he was misinformed.

It felt like there was so much more to do now that he was getting closer to a full team worth of spartans, albeit junior ones. Still, being busy was good; it meant that he had little time to linger on thoughts that had little to no importance to the mission and his team. If it was just himself, perhaps he afford to confront the darkness in his mind that had haunted him upon his first days on Remnant.

My team relies on me for guidance and leadership. For their sake, I have to keep it together.

They were his own personal demons, something that he had to learn to figure out on his own. They all had something that they needed to work on mentally. Perhaps even the Schnee girl if his initial impressions were correct.

One big happy, fucked-up family.

Family…

No, Ruby and Yang weren't the brothers and sisters he grew up with.

But they were all he had now.

One thing that I want to emphasize about Weiss is that she's a prideful person. Although I'm glad she grew to be more considerate of the people around her, I was disappointed that her pride seemed to almost vanish, like she suddenly just stopped being a rich girl from Atlas. That kind of behavior doesn't just go away, especially considering it shaped her life until this point.

And while she might be the most stable of RWBY right now, that's not saying much considering the mental state of everyone on the team. Ruby's like a mini Master Chief, Yang is a bloodthirsty sadist, and Blake is all about that questionable relationship shit if her prior relationship with Adam is anything to go by.

Anyway, thoughts on this chapter? Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.

If you're interested in new story ideas, read the summaries at the bottom of my profile page and vote for them. Let's just say that even though y'all can't see the votes, they're interesting.

Thanks for reading.

"War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over."

William Tecumseh Sherman