CHAPTER 30: OPERATION INITIATION

1715 Hours, December 1, 2557 (Military Calendar) / Unknown System, Planet Remnant, Continent of Sanas, Village of Watertown

The Master Chief let his pointer finger squeeze the trigger and 7.62 rounds pierce into the skull of a Beowolf, causing it to turn into dust. He ignored the monster disappearing as he quickly weaved away from a swat to his chest, then brought his weapon to but into the head of another before pulling the trigger at point-blank range.

Ruby generally kept more of a distance as she picked off Grimm with headshots. So proficient were her shots that not a single time did she miss. Every round fired resulted in a cloud of black smoke. Her eyes were focused and her breathing was calm. There was no hesitation in her movements, no wasted energy in her every action. Everything had a purpose and everything was used fully.

Blake, despite her place amongst the group, fought with due diligence. Her hands moved with practiced ease as she brought her silenced SMG to bear. The rounds, while not as powerful as the MA5D or its DMR counterpart, were still enough to put down the beasts they were fighting. She moved with agility and speed coming from years of insurgency operations.

Yang threw herself into the heat of battle, her eyes red with excitement and her blood equally energized. Her shotgun was almost always seeking and hitting targets. Each shell discharged brought a funnel of destruction that killed anything in its path. When she ran out of shells, she then began spewing 40 mike-mikes into the fight, the explosions doing more indiscriminate destruction.

Schnee only had a pistol and she'd been relegated to a support role, but for now, she seemed like she understood that now wasn't a time to be questioning or breaking rank for any reason. She stuck close to the spartan, occasionally firing her weapon. So far, she was calm, which meant she had training and experience with Grimm. That was a good thing; the less he had to teach her now, the better.

The first wave of Grimm was easy to contend with. They were of the common variety, none particularly strong or intelligent. Cutting them down was a simple matter, but that wasn't the odd part about this attack. It was that there seemed to be more on the way, and from a glance, the next wave was much stronger, comprised of Alphas of all species.

"Ammo check." The Master Chief spoke to everyone.

Ruby quickly patted herself down, then spoke. "Green."

"Green." Yang checked herself as well.

Blake was third. "Green."

"Schnee?: The spartan looked to their plus one.

"I'm fine," she replied, then corrected her wording, "Green, whatever that means."

Good, they still had plenty of ammo; they still had to get to the source of this attack; something about it was unnatural in relation to the usual Grimm activity patterns.

John held his weapon at the ready. "Rapid rate of fire. Every round counts."

"Roger that."

"Good copy."

"Too easy."

Dealing with waves of enemies was something that Spartans had to contend with during the Human-Convenant War. It was a tactic that was conceptualized, put into practice, refined, and perfected over two and a half decades of combat.

The idea was simple: every person on the team advanced at the same time. Every shot had to count, but that meant knowing where to shoot for maximum damage. For the Grimm, that was a relatively simple affair. Wherever their white armor didn't cover were more susceptible to attack. Also, just like anything living, headshots were guaranteed to be an instant kill. The key in all of this was to rely on training, knowledge, and a cool trigger finger.

That was far from what his rag-tag group of spartans and stragglers was, but he could take pride in the fact that his guidance had forged them into a rough, but effective unit, singularly dedicated to killing the enemy with extreme prejudice. He could only hope that one day, his guidance would be something that Mendez could be proud of.

The Chief avoided a slash from above from an Ursa Major and then threw an uppercut with enough force to nearly decapitate the much-largest beast. He then trained his battle rifle on a Beowolf Alpha for a microsecond before pulling the trigger. All three shots landed within a very neat area right in the left eye.

Ruby shifted her aim so that she could get the head of an enemy behind the Boarbatusk that was directly in front of her. The Ursa Major collapsed onto its brethren dead and the smaller suffered only a moment before a lead shot through the head ended its existence.

The sniper saw a paw from a Beowolf Alpha close in. She swung the barrel of her weapon out and took a somewhat blind shot, putting a hole through the appendage before transforming into rose petals and reappearing on its back before shooting through the back of the neck, execution-style.

Belladona's proficiency with the M7S wasn't perfect, but considering the limited time on the weapon she had and the weapon's disadvantage in open combat, she was doing well. She fired a burst at a Ursa Major, blinding it before dashing under it to fire from the bottom of the neck, killing it instantly.

She rolled back to narrowly avoid a Boarbatusk attempting to gore her via a charge. The beast came back around to try again. This time, she waited a moment before using the butt of her weapon to smack the monster off course before putting a few rounds through the back of the head.

Yang was being more conservative with her ammo, resorting more to her firsts, but that didn't make her any less effective. With her strength, she was able to catch a Beowolf by the paw and casually swing the much-largest beast around and toss it into a group of its pack. Then she threw an M9 grenade into the mix, watching the explosive obliterate the wolf-life creatures with a satisfying flying of shrapnel.

Schnee was the only one out of her element. Armed with an M6D, which was still a relatively foreign weapon to her, she struggled to keep up, being forced to stick close to the Chief, which was fine; he preferred that she remain close because, unlike the other three females, she was unfamiliar with the tactics, techniques, and procedures that were being employed.

Still, she was a fast learner and she appeared to be slowly learning how to handle the sidearm. Her shots were hitting Grimm, just not as precisely as her fellow fighters.

The spartan casually punched a Beowolf in the face with enough force to cave it in, causing it to die instantly, and then vaporize. He sidestepped another of the pack creatures, then used the butt of his weapon to smack the leg of the larger enemy, causing it to go off balance. When it hit the ground, he brandished his knife and made a clean stab to the back of the neck.

Despite his team being faced with Alphas and Majors, the five of them were able to destroy the next wave handily, and with no injuries.

"Clear." John took a moment to take stock of his team. "Ammo?"

Ruby did a quick patdown. "Amber."

"Red." Yang didn't miss a beat.

Belladonna did a once-over. "Amber."

"...I have no idea what that means." Schnee simply began breaking open the ammo cans she was tasked to carry.

And there was yet another wave of enemies approaching. Ammo was not necessarily a problem given that he could summon weapons at will, but the problem was they'd waste more time killing Grimm. That was only abating the symptoms, not fixing the problem at the source. Additionally, there was Watertown to consider.

The Master Chief made a snap decision. "Ruby, take the team and bypass the Grimm. Find out who or what's causing this horde. I'll stay behind to protect the village."

"Chief?" Ruby's head snapped to him.

His first protege had never been placed in a position of leadership, and it was clear that she was caught off-guard by his order.

The spartan looked her square in the eyes. "You have the skills, the knowledge, and the experience that you need to accomplish your mission. I'm trusting you to end the threat by any means necessary."

For a moment, she appeared hesitant, but that look was then squashed as she closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and then exhaled smoothly. Her eyes then opened, determination and certainty replacing her previous fear.

"We'll get it done, Chief." The sharpshooter nodded her head once. "Xiao-Long, Belladonna, Schnee, on me! Let's move!"

One by one, the four young women gave each other looks and fell into line. Even Schnee, despite her differences with the sisters and the faunus, seemed to understand that the time for differences was not now.

Before they all disappeared, Yang turned back to meet his gaze. "Chief, one question? What if you get overrun?"

John ejected a magazine from his BR55, replaced it with a full mag, and then rode the bolt forward, locking a round into the chamber.

"I won't."

Halo - - - RWBY

1724 Hours

Truthfully, Ruby felt like shitting her pants. When the Master Chief all but told her to take charge of this ragtag group of fighters, she didn't want to do it. She wasn't ready to lead people. Sure, her confidence in her overall combat capabilities and skills had grown, but that didn't mean she was leadership material.

But in her eyes, the MJOLNIR-clad man had never steered her wrong. He had taught her how to kill and how to be good at killing. He taught her how to endure and survive in virtually any situation. He had taught her the difference between right and wrong when it came to combat. In essence, everything she was right now was because of him. Of course, she trusted his word with her life.

That's why in the end, she decided to stow her doubt in herself and carry out the mission she'd been assigned. If she truly did believe in everything she'd done since leaving her old life behind, then she had to trust that she was ready to do this. She had never questioned her mentor before and she wasn't about to now.

So she took command the one way she knew how: through imitating what she had seen for many weeks. It was all she could do because at this time, she wasn't sure what kind of leader she was, and imitation was the sincerest form of flattery as the saying went. She was about to find out if that statement held any truth.

Quietly so as to not attract undue attention from the Grimm, the four females did their best to conceal themselves among the vegetation and trees surrounding them while also sticking close to the tree line.

As a sharpshooter and sniper, stealth was her primary asset. She was learning from the Chief how best to conceal herself in any environment, thus enabling her to strike from places people would least expect.

While Yang specialized in frontline combat, she knew enough about moving tactically to be able to keep up with the newly appointed team leader. It was strange seeing the normally bombastic and bloodthirsty blonde being so quiet.

Belladonna, despite her limited time with the group, was a natural at cover and concealment, having learned much from her time with the White Fang. She had no issues keeping up with the sisters who received training.

Schnee on the other hand…

It was clear that she wasn't trained to fight like they were. She was training to be a huntress so far as all of them could tell, which more often than not meant being an obvious target because huntresses didn't hide in the shadows. They fought against the enemy head-on, a symbol of heroism and fearlessness.

Perhaps in the Vytal Tournament, such displays would be applauded and revered, but not here, not when life and death were truly on the line.

"Get your head down," Yang whispered harshly, forcefully making the heiress kneel, "You want them to see us?"

Schnee appeared nonplussed at their current situation. "This was not what I had in mind when the Master Chief said to bypass the enemy."

"There's no point fighting an enemy when it's not part of the objective," Belladonna chimed in, "Better to save the ammo and energy."

The girl with white hair huffed lightly but didn't provide any further objections. That was good; the less she spoke, the chances of her living to the next day increased.

Staying out of sight, it was clear that there were far more Grimm than what a village of this size should expect. A horde this large ought to be causing panic and mayhem to the walls of Vale. It was alarming, to say the least, but if there was one thing it was good for, it was telling the four-man team where they were originating from.

For the next ten minutes, they carefully moved from one position of cover to the next, quickly but quietly, all the whole monitoring the Grimm that was heading towards Watertown.

One thing of note: it was honestly surprising that the beasts were focused like this. While it was true that the older of the monsters could be more intelligent and strategic, this seemed far too strategic even for the elder Grimm.

When there came another break in the enemy ranks, Ruby signaled everyone to come to a halt. Either her eyes were playing tricks on her or she saw something that didn't belong in the picture up ahead.

Belladonna and Yang immediately stopped their movement and moved to cover. Schnee watched what they were doing and immediately imitated them. Although the team leader didn't see this, she could hear the slight rustling of leaves. After observing the open area for another moment, she turned to move to Yang's position

"I saw something out there," the silver-eyed girl whispered while kneeling, "Give me two minutes to get a positive I.D."

The heavy weapons specialist didn't look away from her sectors of fire. "What do you think it is?"

"Not sure, but it looked weird," Ruby replied, "Stay here, if I open fire, haul ass to my location."

Yang nodded. "I'll go check on the others."

"Thanks."

Although the current clothing she was wearing wasn't exactly outlandish, the sniper did have to be mindful of how she moved. After all, the human silhouette was very distinct against the backdrop of a forest. Fortunately, she didn't have far to maneuver since they had stayed within eyesight of the tree line.

Slinging her weapon over her back, the fifteen-year-old girl began to scale the tree nearest to her. It looked high enough to give her some cover while also providing ample cover and concealment. Although she wasn't very nimble at it, she managed to get up just fine. Once she situated herself atop, she peered through her scope.

There was the path leading to the village and surrounding it were the usual fence posts, which were meant to remind travelers not to venture beyond the path for risk of encountering Grimm, or at least the remains of the fences were present. It looked like they were torn down in a mad rush.

But that wasn't what got her attention; what got her attention were three individuals who were standing rather obviously out in the open. There were two females and one male; the first female had mint-green hair and red eyes, and the second had black hair and amber eyes. The male had grey hair and eyes.

By itself, the sight of three people close to the path wasn't much cause for concern or suspicion, but given the current danger of Grimm, being out in the open might as well be a death made the sniper look harder is watching the body language and expressions of the three individuals.

Grimm were monsters to fear, even for veteran huntsmen, but the way these individuals carried themselves indicated no fear, not even a hint of care. Furthermore, they all carried weapons except for the male. They were clearly fighters, and perhaps they even had their auras and semblances.

Then she saw a sight that she never believed possible: Grimm approaching people and not immediately resorting to violence. If anything, the monsters appeared to be listening to the ashen-haired woman before they began moving in the general direction of Watertown and the Master Chief.

"What the fuck?" Ruby couldn't help but let the words spill from her mouth.

Regardless of the impossibility, one thing was for certain: these people were responsible for the Grimm attack on the village.

Now there was one question: should she take the shot or not?

It would be ideal if she could line up her entire team and coordinate an initial assault, but that would mean eyes off target in order to backtrack, gather everyone, and set them up. That was time that might be wasted and potentially a chance for the enemy to slip away.

On the other hand, seizing the initiative with only herself was dangerous. Three-on-one wasn't good odds and she had a feeling that these people weren't pushovers, two factors that made her hesitate about pulling the trigger.

Then another thought came to her: the longer these people were alive, the more Grimm they could send to ravage Watertown. If the head of the enemy could be decapitated, then the attacks would be halted or at least stalled. Every second that went by was potentially more time for the Grimm to destroy the village and kill the inhabitants.

What would the Master Chief do?

He would probably say to seize the offensive while she had the element of surprise. After all, perfect plans never truly went off without a hitch.

Ruby steadied her breathing, took a moment to confirm her sight picture, and squeezed the trigger at the black-haired female. The round flew true to the target, but unexpectedly, the male saw the shot coming and stepped in front of the shot, pushing away the intended target. Although the shot failed to kill, it did strike him with enough force to off-balance him and the heavy glowing around his body indicated aura.

"Contact, contact, contact!" The team leader shouted into the forest. "Three enemies, 150 meters, twelve o'clock! Get on line!"

The silver-eyed girl jumped from the trees and engaged her semblance.

RWBY - - - Halo

1727 Hours

The rest of the team heard their newly-appointed leader shout out and immediately moved to her location. Normally, Ruby wasn't a loud person to begin with, but they could all hear her loud and clear from their position. That could only mean one thing: it was go time.

Yang was up first. "Belladonna, Schnee, pick up!"

Belladonna knew the drill, and Schnee appeared to at least pick up on the situation enough to mimic what she saw the two of them were doing. Annoying though the princess might be, at least she wasn't braindead. She might yet survive to tomorrow.

Once the four of them were together, Ruby didn't hesitate to take command. "They've got aura, look like they can fight! Grimm are taking orders from them! Yang, take Belladonna and engage head-on! Schnee and I are gonna lay down some hate!"

"Three dead people, coming up!" Yang cocked her weapon. "Kitty Kat, on me! We're gonna charge their asses!"

The only faunus in the group nodded. "...on your lead!"

It was risky going into a fight with no information other than the basics. They had no idea the skill level of their opponent, how strong their auras were, or what their semblances were, but right now, the more important thing was being the aggressors. Better to be the one being proactive than reactive.

The heavy weapons specialist began with a simple volley of 40 mike mikes to test out the waters. Not surprisingly, her opponents were smart enough to not be within the vicinity of the immediate explosion, although it seemed like they underestimated the intensity just a little bit as she could see auras flaring up in defense.

"Stay on my ass!" Yang knew better than to try to split up into two to three situations.

The blonde charged forward at the lead fighter, the mint-haired female. Her first move was grabbing her M90 and attempting a head butt. The girl deftly weaved and latched the blades of her pistols onto hers, attempting to wrest the shotgun away, but the brawler could tell in a split second that her strength was far greater.

With an almost casual attitude, the close-quarters specialist pulled back both weapons, causing the dark-skinned female to lurch forward. Then Yang reared her head back, channeling aura to her forehead, and then snapping back, causing a blow that thoroughly disoriented the enemy.

Belladonna followed up by throwing the remnants of Gambol Shroud, the ribbon part, around the red-eyed girl. Not content to remain tied up, the girl used her aura to brute-force her way out of the stranglehold, but not before she was on the receiving end of an 8-gauge shell, the result being a bright flash of green aura.

"Feel the heat, bitch!" Yang's red eyes were wide with anticipation and her mouth had adopted a full-on grin!

The pistol-wielding foe gave her a look. "I'm not some bandit you can scare. And unlike you bimbo, I don't have to be a raving lunatic to fight well."

"Unlike me," the blonde brawler cocked her shotgun, letting the spent shell casing eject, "You're about to be dead."

Yang fired again, this time the mint-haired woman more prepared to respond, albeit with difficulty given how fast of a draw the M90-wielder had, and even then, her aura flared green as she wasn't able to completely avoid the deadly magnum shell. And now that she was in the air, she was an easier target.

Belladonna began short, but quick bursts from her silenced SMG. Her shots were accurate despite the moving target and the flashes of green aura perked up again. The mint-haired girl hit the ground and then began to try to gain some distance, which the CQC specialist wouldn't allow.

The blonde began to tap into her semblance, a feat that, in the past was impossible without first provoking her rage. However, time spent with the Master Chief had taught her how to channel her aggression and rage and focus it into controlled chaos. This wasn't a skill he taught her, but something she'd observed from watching him in combat: constant, persistent, and unrelenting force against the enemy.

With means of being able to counterattack and only being able to manage to defend, the opponent's moves were growing more erratic, more uncoordinated. It reeked of desperation and while that could be channeled into fighting to produce more dangerous and unpredictable aggression, it also signified a loss of focus and rationality, which ultimately suited the spartan's needs just fine.

It was becoming clear that while both were suited for CQC, Yang was the superior fighter because, unlike her opponent, she didn't need a weapon to do so. While the defense wasn't a big part of her strategy, the brawler didn't need it because she wasn't about to give the dead woman a chance to hit back with her lightning-fast offense.

The mint-haired female, knowing that she was outclassed at the moment, attempted to pull back to get space between them, only to be followed by the faunus girl, who managed to get behind and grab red eyes into a chokehold and then use aura to increase strength on the hold. It wouldn't hold for long, but what would happen next wouldn't take too long.

Holstering her weapon, Yang cracked her knuckles, approached the restrained foe, and then began delivering punches left and right, wailing without remorse and regret. Green aura flared up multiple times before bursting in a bright flash of green, indicating that there was only a girl of flesh and bones, and still the brawler continued to let her first slam into the once-attractive face of the dark-skinned female.

To an outsider, it would seem like two people ganging up on one person, and even if that were the case, neither of them had a care for the girl who was being beaten to death. She was the enemy and therefore had to die, simple as that.

A left hook slammed squarely into the jaw area, causing blood and teeth to fall out. Heavy bruising was already visible and swelling around the right eye was beginning as well. It was a pitiful sight, and it still gave neither the punisher nor the restrainer anything to feel; at this time, neither had any sympathy nor compassion.

An older version of themselves probably would've looked at this scene and cried out in protest and indignation and the sheer brutality and callousness of the act. There was no honor, no dignity, and no point in prolonging suffering like this. The battle was over and the victors were decided.

But morality and righteousness were the last things on either of their minds as the mint-haired girl was continuously beaten. This was how it ought to be: no hesitation, no compassion, no sympathy. There was them and there was the enemy and the enemy had to die.

At a certain point, Yang registered the blood on her hands. She regarded the spectacle, how it dripped down to the ground with a light sound. Then she looked at the now unconscious female foe. She would definitely die soon without immediate medical attention, and there wasn't a need to pry information out of them.

"This shit is gettin' boring." The brawler armed her shotgun and motioned to her comrade. "Drop her. I got this."

Without missing a beat, the black-haired faunus unceremoniously dropped their captive to the ground, face first. It was only a moment after the body hit the ground that the M90 barrel was level with the head, and then there was a bang, followed by pieces of skull, brain, and head parts scattering.

"Nasty," Belladonna spoke the word but appeared just as unaffected as her teammate.

Yang shrugged. "It'll be 'aight, Blake."

"EMERALD!"

It was the sound of the dude as he finally saw his companion headless. His distraction was to his detriment as Ruby maneuvered behind him and used her strength and the weight of her sniper rifle to bash him over the head, causing him to collapse to the ground. It looked like the battle wasn't won yet because there was the other bitch to deal with.

"ENOUGH!"

Halo - - - RWBY

1732 Hours

Cinder realized something: she had made a mistake, and that made her angry.

These four girls came out of the woods to engage her. They appeared weak compared to her people. They were children, probably some local kids who were defending their village, saw them lead Grimm and decided to be heroes.

That assumption was what led to her taking a more off-hand approach. Emerald and Mercury were more than skilled enough to deal with this, at least, that is what she thought at first.

But then she saw how these girls fought. They weren't particularly skilled or talented, or at least they had not advanced to a point of particular interest, but she could see that they did not hesitate in any of their actions. All of them had come with the intent to kill, not subdue or even maim. To kill;

Cinder knew and felt what it was to be a killer and it was clear that all of them were out to silence them, a far cry from many huntsmen who adhered to morals and rules, but no matter; she would return the killer intent in kind… until she saw the blonde-haired girl casually kill Emerald.

A semblance like manipulating minds was not going to be an easy find and quite frankly, so many plans had been built around that one ability. Now that she did not have it, the servant of Salem was seething. A setback like this would cost her too much time and quite frankly, it was time she could not afford.

Usually, she would be more cautious, be more calculating, but there were only four witnesses and she had half the Fall Maiden's power anyway, so she might as well go all out and leave no trace and no witnesses. As far as anyone would be concerned, there was a forest fire as a result of a lightning strike, causing massive forest damage.

The would-be Fall Maiden felt the magical power surge in her. She felt the corners of her mouth upturn, feeling the sense of superiority that came with having power beyond what almost everyone in the world possessed. Even with only half of it, she was still more powerful than everyone present. All she need do was give a little demonstration and it would put the fear of the Gods into these children.

With Mercury incapacitated somehow and Emerald dead, there was no reason to hold back, not one bit. The winds around them began to change, the atmosphere began to grow heavy with the power of a bygone era, the clouds began to darken, and the temperature began to fluctuate erratically.

"All of you will die!" Cinder let out her unrestrained voice. "When I'm through with all of you, there will not be a-"

And she was thoroughly interrupted by the blonde girl. "SHUT THE FUCK UP! WE DON'T A FLYING FUCK!"

Normally, such petty and crude words would not affect her at all, and yet being interrupted while trying to regain her footing and the fact that she had just been thoroughly disrespected was not exactly ineffective against her considerable pride. When she spoke, she demanded all to listen, even her enemies.

"Best watch your tone, little girl!" Salem's maiden vessel narrowed her eyes in growing annoyance and danger. "Your death will be much more painful i-"
Her words were once again ignored as the four girls began to rain down weapon fire upon her. In her monologue, she did not have enough time to dodge all the projectiles and her aura suffered a considerable blow as a result.

Had she been in a more logical state, she would have realized that she had bargaining chips like Weiss Schnee.

Instead, there was only one thing on her mind.

"DIE!"

I apologize for the long wait. Between Army school and whatever free time I have to enjoy, it's tough to find the time and energy to write, but I got it done. Thankfully, my schedule will begin to stabilize, so hopefully that will translate into more chapters.

So everyone's got their struggles to contend with. Team RWBY, despite not formally being a team, will have their first test as a unit that will dictate the flow of things going forward. And the Master Chief has a horde of Grimm to raze. What happens now? That's what your imaginations are for until the next chapter.

I will say this: Weiss and Blake will receive more attention plot-wise in the next chapter or two. They still have yet to earn the right to call themselves Spartan and their place in the group dynamic is not fully established.

Thoughts on this chapter? Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

"All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers."

Francois Fenelon