Dawn was just a couple of minutes away. Already Nat could see the first rays of the rising sun. She would need to wake the teens and Qrow soon. She dozed in and out through the night, being able to sleep lightly enough to sense anything that may come her way.
She pushed Qrow's head off of her shoulder and stood. She went to the hog and started to rearrange the back so the others can sit in a semi-comfortable state.
She heard a groan and turned around to see Ruby awaken. Ruby shook her head as she sat up and stretched.
" Ahhhhyyyyaaaaa." She yawned rubbing her eyes.
She stood up and stretched some more before she looked out to the east, towards the rising sun.
" You know, for a young teenage girl, she is up kind of early. Isn't she?" ShadowHawk asked.
Nat gave a shrug within her helmet and turned back to the hog.
" Start getting the others up. We leave in ten." Nat said.
" OK." the young rose said as she stood and just stared out into the distance. " Beautiful isn't it? I think one of us should take a picture." Ruby said tranquil.
Nat, who was moving the case with a gauss, froze with her hand squeezing around the handle. Cracking the case. Jorge had said those same words to her at sword base as they pushed back a covenant corvet to get MACed. Before he died. " Tell them to make it count." was his last words to her before he threw her out of the ship. She just stood their unmoving. Remembering.
" Kid/Nat?" Said the two voices of Shadow and Ruby. She blinked and looked to her right to see Ruby looking her with concern and Shadow on the upper left-hand corner of her HUD.
Seeing Nat turn her head to face her, Ruby continued, " Are you Ok? Did I do something wrong?" She asked sounding afraid that she upset her.
Nat just shook her head. " When you said that one of us should take a picture, it reminded me of something one of my teammates had said before he died." She told the young girl.
Ruby looked saddened at that.
" Oh. I am sorry for reminding you about him." She said sniffling a little bit with her eyes downcast.
Nat took a breath. For some reason, she did not want to see the young girl cry.
" Look you didn't know. And to be honest, I think you would have taken a liking to him. He was a big guy with a big heart. Well, a big heart for a Spartan-II that is." Nat told her.
Ruby perked up a little bit.
Shadow meanwhile, looked through Nat's helmet cam footage to see if he could find what she was referring to. He found it. The opp to push back the corvet with Noble four saying almost the exact same thing. He fast-forwarded as saw how he passed, only for it to be in vain as an entire fleet arrived.
Nat slid the case under a bench and then turned to the others.
" Start waking the others. You all can eat on the run." She said walking over to Qrow.
She knelt in front of him and shook him awake. He stirred as he came around. He started coughing and from what she saw, the poison was still in his system. He wiped his mouth and saw the purple liquid on his hands.
" Well. That does not seem good." He stated.
Nat took his hand and examined the venom laced blood.
" We need to get moving and get you to a hospital. Where is the nearest town or city?" She questioned.
" The nearest city would be the kingdom of Mistral." Ninja boy said walking up with Ruby in tow.
Nat then stood to her full height and gave the order to mount up. And with her in the driver's seat and Ren in shotgun, the others loaded up in the bed making room if need be.
Putting the pedal to the metal, she gunned it down the street towards a direction Ren pointed her in. Running over anything and everything in her path. " BAR-" *SQUELCHH* yup that Beowulf just got ran over.
It wasn't long until they reached an abandoned village to refuel. One that Ren and Nora were familiar with. Their home town. Nat could see the shock and worry look on their faces and was about to ask what had them spooked when the hog coughed and rolled to a stop.
" OK, everyone hop out and stretch. Stay close and be ready to role in fifteen minutes." Nat addressed.
" Ma'am. Not to sound rude or cowardly, but we should not be here. There are things that are better left buried." He said as Nora came up to him and slipped her hand in his.
" What are you talking about?" She asked.
Ren turned to look out among the ruined buildings, seeing into the past as Grimm destroyed the town as people were killed and or eaten. And of him and Nora hiding under a house as a horse with a human body above the waist, fused into the thing was looking for something to kill.
He took a breath and shook his head to clear out the past.
" The dead. The Grimm. I really, Really, should not be hear. To much pain and sorrow here." he said under his breath now seeing his mother and father die.
Nat looked at the boy with concern. He obviously had some history here, and it was affecting him.
She placed a hand on his shoulder as a way of consoling him.
" Keep it out of your head. Stay focused. We will be out of here before too long." She told him.
He held her gaze for a moment, then nodded.
She patted his shoulders and turned back to the hog.
She saw that Ruby propped Qrow up against the hog and was cleaning him up, making sure he was comfortable. She had him bandaged and was giving him some good old fashion H2O. He coughed as she held up a canteen.
" Uncle Qrow, you need to stay hydrated," Ruby told him trying to get him to drink.
Trying being the keyword. He coughed up the water in his mouth as the poison was taking effect. He groaned as he tried to take a sip. Just to cough it up.
Jaune was keeping a lookout to make sure nothing comes in.
Speaking up she addressed Ren once more.
" We wont be here long if that helps." She told him and went to the hog to start refuling.
True to her word, refueling was done in under five minutes, but she wanted to make sure everyone was well stretched for the drive ahead. She even went as far as to give the lone knight a gun.
When she found out that Jaune did not have a firearm nor any shooting experience, she just about lost it. She set him up with a rifle and some quick target practice. Not much, just some basics. Unfortunately, he was a crappy shot. So she just tossed him an MA37 assault rifle. At least then he can spray and pray.
She was just about to give the order to mount up when her radar pinged a contact. It was big and moving towards them.
" We got incoming!" She barked.
Everyone withdrew their weapons and waited. They herd the clacking of hooves on cobblestone before they saw it. The first thing they saw was a horse with its rider slumped over the side with arrows and swords embedded in its back. She herd Ren and Nora gasped at the sight. They clearly knew of the creature.
" I told you we should not have stayed here," Ren said with a quiver in his voice. A quiver of fear or something else, she could not tell. All she could tell was that he was starting to shake.
The thing on the horse's back twitched as it righted itself. The sound of joints popping and cracking as it stretched. It swung its horned head around to look at the assembled humans. It gave a scream that shook the younger ones to their core. For the lone Spartan, however, she just stood her ground and withdrew her battle rifle.
She was going to pull the trigger when the thing whipped its arms at her and the others. It hit her with the force of a shield bash from a hunter, draining her shields to a quarter of a charge with alarms blaring in her helmet.
She gave a shake of her head to clear it as it snaked its arms back into its body and let out another scream. The teens were thrown back with Ren sticking the landing. He skidded to a stop and then took back off towards the beast.
Everyone shouted at him and asked what he was doing. Nat caught a glimpse of his eyes. They did not hold the calm look he normally had. No, they held a narrow fury mixed with pain and revenge. She has seen this many times before in civilians or in people who lost loved ones to the covenant or insurrectionists. And normally those people fought hard but foolishly and wind up dead.
Ren ran was about to unload at the beast when it suddenly smelt the pain coming off of Qrow and charged. Ren dropped to a knee and placed a hand on the ground as his semblance took over Qrow, negating the pain from him and rendering him invisible to the Grimm. Nat sprinted and scooped Qrow up and placed him in the Hog. She quickly found a gun for him and slapped it in his hand.
" Plasma Rifle." She said to him as she grabbed a sword and clamped it to her hip. She slid her rifle off of her back and sighted the monster. If Ren would move she would have a clear shot at its face. Ren came in firing and yelling just to get grabbed and slammed into an abandoned house. Try as he might he could not get out of the thing's grip as it readied its other hand to kill him.
She sidestepped to get him out of the line of fire but the girl, Nora she believed, ran in and hammered the hand aimed for Ren and getting stuck in the wall as well. Ren looked surprised as he looked up to see Nora hanging from her weapon...and also up her skirt. Once he realized that he had a blush on his face and adverted his eyes as Nora scolded him on it, blush and smile included.
Now having the head in her crosshairs, she sent a volley of shots its way in the hopes that it would recall its sticky arms and free them. It did free them but the arms came towards her and the others as well. Ruby was firing her rifle trying to deas as much damage as possible from range while Knighty slid his sword back into his sheath, just to take the sheath off his belt and hold it like a great sword, which happed as two blades sprung out the sides to make a sword. A sword with a sheath/shield now turned into a shield sheath/ great sword.
" Yup defiantly an anime. We are in an anime." Shadow quipped.
Nat hit the deck as an arm came sailing over her head. Knight boy ran in and sliced at the hindquarters of the beast just to get kicked in the chest and back towards Ruby and the recently joined Spartan.
Six scanned the area looking for Ninja boy and Nora and could not find them. Wait their they were, under a house. They looked like they were in a conversation, one that looked like she was trying to slap some sense into him if she had to guess. He held something in his hands in and had a look of remembrance on his face.
They rejoined the others soon after with a green curved knife in his hands.
" Jaune and I will get the arms." Ruby said with Jaune nodding.
" I will take care of the horse." Nora added.
" And I will take care of the rest." Ren said lastly sounding resolute.
The young group looked at her waiting to see if she had anything to add. She in turn just looked at Ren. His eyes no longer had the wild look, it still had pain and hurt in them but also is normal calmness and a ready to get this battle done and over with. To put his past to rest.
She gave a nod and withdrew her rifle. " Do what you need to do." She said with a nod.
And so as the beast came across the square, the group scattered. Nora climbed a house, Ruby and Jaune circled the thing with Ren. She was with Jaune taking potshots at the Grimm. It spotted her and seemed to deem her as a priority target as it roared and launched an arm at her. Saving the kill for Ren, she stowed her sword and just ran towards Ruby. She saw her use her rifles recoil to shoot herself up into the air and, if they could time it right, she would jump up and help drive her scythe through the arm.
On her way down Nat Jumped and caught the handle, and with her added weight, the blade went through the beast's arm with ease. Ren used Jaunes shield to pin the other arm as said knight stabbed his blade into the other.
" NOW!" Ren shouted to Nora as she dropped from the building she chose to climb.
If one could see her face, she had a look of calm and peace, turn into a smirk as she turned and slammed her hammer onto the horse.
Six watched as Ren walked up and took back his knife from the beast's side. He walked to the Grimms right arm, and after a second of silence, sliced it off. The arm did an air hose affect whipping around as he twisted himself around to the other side and did the same after a second. He then stood in front of the monster and slashed its chest. It looked at the human boy in pain and hate as he screamed its lungs out in his face. He took a breath before declaring "For myself!" he said as he cut its head off. The beast's body dissolved into dust and smoke with Ren letting out a sigh of relief. Finally, he can rest knowing that all the people it killed were now avenged.
" Uncle Qrow!" Ruby gasped as she took off to the hog. She found him in the back clutching his side and coughing, but otherwise OK.
He looked up at them and with a raspy voice asked if they killed the thing.
" We did uncle Qrow." Ruby told him jumping in and hugging him.
" Kid! I am picking something up on extream range on the tracker. I am also hearing something coming in from the same direction." Shadow piped up.
A nav point appeared on her HUD in the direction to look. It was coming in on their six o'clock. Reaching in she dug in one of her baggs and withdrew an SRSAM99S-2 sniper rifle and looked down the scope. She herd Ruby gasp at the new gun but chose to ignore it as she sighted the contact. It was in the air coming towards them. For now, all she could make out was a boat-shaped hull with sails and wings. That was all she could get for now so she relayed the new information to the others.
" We got a contact inbound. Unknown. Air vehicle is all I can tell." She told them.
" Air vehicle? Could it be Mistral guard?" Jaune asked.
" Could be."
The faint sound of a siren was heard as it got closer. Now she could make out detail. It was an old ship design. The hull was made of wood and it did have sails, but also wings and an engine in the back. It landed and one of the crew hopped off and jogged up to them.
" Is everyone OK?" He asked.
Before anyone could give an answer, Nat spoke up.
" We got one wounded with venom. Did a field patch up but he needs to be looked over by a doctor." She said.
He nodded and went to the back and saw Qrow had fallen unconscious.
He reported to his colleges and they brought out a stretcher and carried him to the transport.
" Ok hop aboard. We will be in Mistral in a few minutes." he said
" Can these things handle the load of both me and my transport?" She asked.
He looked at the hog and gaged its weight. " Should. And if you are wondering about weight, I am guessing you do not weigh a feather?" he asked half-joking.
" Try a half a ton of armor." She told him.
The solder gave her a surprised once over.
" We can do that. Just going to be cutting it close," he said.
The bird liffted up and strapps were thrown down. She hooked them to the hogs frame and then grabbed a jetpack and flew up to the transport.
Once the transport landed, Nat dropped and unhooked the hog. Qrow was taken to a nearby hospital with Ruby fallowing him. She took a breath.
" Is there an inn or a place we can stay? I am not familiar with this place and customs." She told one of the crew.
"There is a house set up of Hunters from across the world to set up shop if they are in the kingdom." He told her giving her the address. She pinged Ruby and Qrow's scroll's and marked them. Now she can get them without much trouble.
She took the rest of the gang the house.
" Personally, I would take a shower and rest up and relax. But what do I know I am just and AI." Shadow said popping up on Nat's right shoulder.
A chorus of " Thank Gods" hit her ears as she turned back to the door to do a perimeter check.
" I will leave a note if I go any whare." She told the group. She herd them give the affirmative as she exited.
The check came up clean. She parked the hog in the lower level so she can work on it if needed and get it out of the elements.
She took her own advice to take a shower. After an hour of undoing locks and seals, she now stood in her tech suit. A suit that hugged to her form and left little to the imagination.
She sighed as she peeled out of it as well. She walked into the bathroom and undid her undergarments as the water heated up. When she got in she let out a groan of pure pleaser as the hot water hit her form and rolled down her body. She was going to take her time and enjoy this not even bothering to look in the mirror.
She suited back up and feeling a little grossed out feeling the metaphorical filth press back onto her skin.
' Note to self. Clean the tech and biolayer.' She thought.
She walked out of the restroom and into the living room to see Ruby with a medically off Qrow. Ruby helped him to his room before she came back downstairs.
" How is he?" Nat asked.
" The venom was slowed thanks to you. They got an antidote made gave it to him. He may be asleep for the rest of the day, so I was just going to hang out up there. Make sure he is Ok." ruby told her.
" Ok. I'll be down by the hog. I want to take an inventory. Maybe even clean some of my equipment." She said.
Ruby looked at her with wide eyes of anticipation.
" Would you like a hand with it?" She asked.
" If you want to kid. I am sure big white here would like the company. She needs to socialize anyway." Shadow said popping up on her shoulder.
Both girls looked at him with Nat giving a shrug.
" If you want to come by feel free." She told the young girl.
Ruby nodded and gave a small squeal of excitement as she shot up the stairs to check on everyone including her uncle.
Nat shook her head with a smile. Within the confines of her helmet, she spoke aloud.
" That girl is something else. One can see that even when things seem bleak, she is a source of light. Is it weird that I feel proud of her for some reason?" She asked.
Shadow thought about it for a second before shrugging and logging off. She then walked off to the stairs and walked down to the lower level to her make shift gurrage. With a feeling of pride and joy towards the young girl.
Ruby stood outside of her uncle's room, watching over him as he rested. She gave a small smile as she walked over the right side of the bed and sat down to see how he was doing. She could see sweat beading on his forehead so she went to the nearby bathroom and grabbed a rag. She ran the cold water and soaked the rag before rining it out and walked back to her uncle, dabbing away the sweat. She set the rag aside as she stood and walked over to the table. Thier she set up a piece of paper and began to write.
When she was close to the end, she scratched out part of what she was writing and rewrote it. When she was done, she signed it and sealed it in an envelope before checking in on her uncle again. He opened his eyes just long enough to see her. He smiled at her and then closed his eyes going back to sleep.
She left the room and went to see how the others were doing. They were just sitting at the foot of the bed looking at Jaunes shield. She sat down next Jaune with a silence hanging in the room.
It was broken by Jaune a few moments after.
" What do you think she would say if she was still here?" He asked referring to Pyrrha.
" I think she would be proud of our progress. And of us avenging her." Ruby replied. She then asked a question that has been on her mind. " Hey, what do you guys think about Nat?"
She got a long pause before any of them answered.
" What can we say? She is a solder. One that I think we should be thankful for being on our side." Jaune said.
" Plus she saved you from psycho, soI count that as a plus in my book." Nora said giving her input. " What about you? What do you think?"
Ruby took a breath then answered. " For some reason, I think we can trust her. Call it a gut feeling." She said looking back at the shield.
" But that isn't all is it?" Ren asked.
She blew out a breath before she answered. " I just have a feeling. Like she is someone important to me somehow. I don't know. I could just be feeling overly emotional." She said with a shrug.
Jaune just looked at her and then back to the shield.
Ruby came down after a couple of hours later and saw Nat among guns galore, and Ruby thought she was in gun heaven. She saw rifles and pistols. Rockets and snipers, ammo and knives, and all sorts of alien-looking weapons.
" You going to just stand there and drool all over yourself like a highschool girl seeing her crush?" Shadow asked, sitting on Nat's shoulder with a smug look.
" Ahhhhh, why would I see someone get crushed?" She asked.
Shadow just looked at her and turned back to his Spartan, " She must be protected at all costs. She is to precious to let go of." He told her.
"-sigh- You going to come down and take a look? I can see it in your eyes that you are a weapon nut and wanting to get the specs." She told her.
In a burst of rose petals, she was right next to Nat with wide anticipating eyes. Nat, who was cleaning her BR55, looked at her and then handed her an MA37 with a field manual and some tools.
" Here you go. Feel free to ask any question you like." Nat told her and continued to clean her weapon.
Ruby nodded and started to work.
They spent the whole afternoon, evening and well into the night. Each gun was cleaned and stowed. As for the covonant weapons, they were polished and charges were checked. Shadow Hawk even asked her what she thought of and how she would equip the covonant energy daggers to Nats gauntlets. Needless to say she drew up plans and asked questions. Each having a good time.
In a dark barren wasteland, we see a castle overlooking a lake bed full of puddles of black water-like fluid. The castle looked like it had fallen into disrepair. Patches in the ceiling could be seen as the stone walls showed signs of extream weathering.
The sean shifts to a hallway. Stone walls, floors, and ceiling. Old scorched frames hung on the walls with burnt wall decorations. In its heyday, the place would have been beautiful. But sadly, beauty can diminish.
The sound of fighting can be herd in a blocked off room. Inside we see a circular arena. A woman in a red dress with gold trim, her left sleeve hanging down, her right arm bare with a sleeve pulled up to her biceps, a thigh garter with a peacock-like a feather hanging out of it. She had glass heels with black stockings, amber eyes and with the exception of some facial scarring, had flawless skin with black hair reaching her neck and covering her left eye.
Cinder Fall cut a Beowulf down and shot a jet of flame at another. She spun and stabbed another one that tried to sneak up on her.
She dropped to a knee to catch her breath. A woman in a black dress with open shoulders and several buns in her bone-white hair and pale skin walked up to her and called a halt.
" You said you wanted power. I have seen none of it even with your new powers. Did you lie to me?" She asked, chastising the girl.
Cinder shook her head. She wanted power. She wanted to rule. She stole the power of a Madien for her own. And for what? To change the world in her image where she would be queen.
Salem was going to say something when the big doors were opened. Whimpering could be herd as a man walked in. He dropped to his knees and bowed, with blood running down his arms and back.
" I am so sorry my lady. I failed you. I failed you." He kept repeating.
" Tryian, was your mission a success?" Salem asked.
" No my lady. I failed you. The brat still lives."
Salam walked past him as he tried to defend himself saying that he stung Qrow and within days he should be out of the picture. But before she could give her final remark he gave the reason why he was wounded.
" We also have a new enemy. Some white armored and heavily armed huntress from Atlas is running around with the brat. She is fast and strong. I was unable to land a strung enough strike on her." he said, trying to win her graces. " Did I please you, your Majesty?" He asked sounding like a child.
She took the news as she continued to walk past him. " You...disappoint me." She told him. His face dropped from hope to pure sorrow. " But I do thank you for the new information." She said walking out.
Tyrian started to sob as a Beowulf walked up to him ready to strike. Tyrian saw it coming and struck first, stabbing the Grimm over and over again getting more crazy with each strike. His sobs turning to crazy cackles of laughter as tears ran down his face.
Cinder looked at him. Her eyes widened slightly as she took a sharp inhale. And if one could see what she was thinking, it would be along the lines of ' Crazy. Ass. White People.' Or wondering how and why she was here.
Cinder then turned to her subordinates and motioned for them to join her.
" Ummmm. Are we sure that he is not on drugs?" Mercury said, jutting a thumb towards Tyrian.
Cinder just gave a ' I dont know' shrug as they walked out. Letting Tyrian let off some steam.
A couple of days past and Qrow was up and about. He was leading the group of kids and the lone Spartan to Haven Acadamy. He opened the door to a relatively breathtaking view. It showed a view of people bustling around. Buy and selling goods with an overall Japanese feel and look to them. From the buildings to the clothes they wore. It had a Japan influence.
Qrow led them through the streets pointing out random shops and giving little tidbits of information.
As they arrived at the school, they didn't see a soul in sight. Qrow held back for a moment as the kids continued to walk ahead, catching Nats attention.
" Something doesn't feel right." He said quietly.
Nat stood in front of him. " You are the expert here. If there is something I can do, tell me." She said to him quietly.
" Stay on guard. Out of sight if possible. Can you do that?" he asked.
Nat nodded in response having Shadow switch out the hologram mod to the active camo mod. Qrow let out a breath and walked on.
The group walked through the school, without another soul in sight. No faculty or students in the halls, no sound was heard. It started to set the adults on edge.
" HELLLLOOOOO!" Ruby called out, " HELLLOOOO!"
Everyone looked at her. "Maybe try louder." Nora deadpanned.
" Maybe they are on break still? School is technically still not in session." Jaune asked.
"No. Something is most definitely not right." Qrow said taking off towards the door a couple of halls down. They stood in front of the door as Qrow drew Razgriz he told the others to ready themselves as well, with the teens drawing their weapons as well with Nat going invisible as the camo took effect. Qrow raised a foot to kick the door in when it opened and a man stood there. He let out a startled scream as he and Qrow fell onto their butts.
" Ummmm professor Lionheart?" Ruby asked.
" Qrow?! What are you doing? You scared me half to death!" Lionheart asked sitting up to look at the drunk.
" What do you mean what am I doing here? You were supposed to meet us out at the entrance!" Qrow stated.
" Eh?" Lionheart looked puzzled as he withdrew a pocket watch and checked the time, " Oh. I guess time got away from me." He said, getting to his feet.
" Your joking." Qrow asked hopping that he was.
"Where is everyone?" Nora asked.
" must be the students Qrow mentioned."
" Yes sir. Ruby Rose!"
" Jaune Arc."
" Nora Valkyrie."
"Lie Ren."
The group waited for Noble to say something, When she didn't Ruby was going to nudge her, but Leo cut that out not even aware of her presence.
" Hmm Hm Hmmm, Leonardo Lionheart at your service. And to answer your question, my staff is on break until school resumes.' he told them.
" What!" Qrow exclaimed alarmed. " Leo, tell me you are joking. Who is guarding the relic?" He asked.
" Qrow!" Leo exclaimed, unaware of the fact that the group was filled in.
"It's Ok. I filled them in." Qrow said taking out his flask and taking a sip.
" Filled them in?"
" So, is this going as well as anyone thought?" Nora asked.
Lionheart stepped out of the way and let everyone in.
" What you did was reckless." Leo was scolding.
" No. What was really reckless was keeping your staff away, leaving the relic completely unguarded, not checking in with Oz in ages." Qrow shot back.
" Thier was nothing to check in about, until the fall of Beacon. Vale was not the only kingdom to affected that night. Mistral fell into chaos. Everyone. Every home. Every bar. Everyone with a scroll. Saw that poor girl get ripped to pieces. Monsters climb over the walls, and Atleasion Knights shooting civilians. Then nothing." He paused to remember everything. " You could feel the dread in the air. And with all the negativity it attracted Grimm like a moth to a flame. Mistral has some of the largest territories to cover you know, which made it so infinitely harder. We lost so many huntsmen. Some from here even. And it is only getting worse."
Nat listened as Leonardo explained that the Mistral Council were at odds with representatives from Atlas and how this whole mess is triggering the General of Atlas's military more unfortunate tendencies. An embargo of dust, the closing of borders.
As he was looking out the window, Nat slipped her AI onto his desk, detecting a signal from it. Kind of like some of the work desks she saw in high ranking offices. The monitor was not present but came up in a hologram with both a key and touchpad, with the power coming from the main grid itself. And as luck would have it, it was concealed by a stack of books.
" And on top of it all, we still haven't found the Spring Maiden yet." Leo was saying turning around and walking back.
" All the more reason to have people here!" Qrow said.
" Okay. Okay. Things are bad. But together, and with a super-smart AI, we can figure this out. I am sure Noble and ShadowHawk would be willing to help." Ruby said, almost completely blowing their cover. " What makes the Spring Maiden so important."
Leo looked at her, and then to Qrow, who managed to hide his panic at Ruby's give away of their ace in the hole.
" I thought you filled them in?" Leo said chastising.
" Hey, thier is a lot to cover. I quit teaching for a reason you know." He said taking a drink, thanking whoever that Nat was not completely blown.
" Yea where is she anyway? Last I saw she was right next to us before we came in?" Jaune asked finally blowing what little part of cover she had.
" Shit." Nat said in her helmet as she dropped the cloaking. When they got back to the house she was going to give each of these kids a long hard lecture about how she operates, and if she disappears for no reason, she has a reason and to not blow it. Followed by some good old hard PT.
Leo jumped at the sudden sight of the armored worrier and almost fainted.
" WHAT THE…" He shouted in surprise.
The thing that stood in front of him easily towered over him. It had a silver visored helmet, a curved left shoulder pad, a right shoulder armor that was an angler, pouches on her breastplate and a knife on her left color. Streamlined knee guards, a pouch on her left thigh and a datapad on her wrist.
" ARE YOU TRYING TO GIVE ME A HEART ATTACK?! WHAT IS THAT THING?"
Nat drew her sidearm and pointed it right at his head.
" Do. Not. Call. Me. A. Thing." She said with a deathly calm and venom. She herd from regular's that Spartans were often called machines of war and did not see them as humans. It never felt right to her. She was human, just with some upgrades.
Leo just nodded his head and in a voice that was comical, answered the question.
"Each Maiden has the power to perform feats of Magic. And they are the only ones able to reach the relics," he said, getting his breathing under control.
" What?" Jaunes asked.
Qrow picked up the explanation. " Each relic is locked behind a chamber that can only be opened by a specific Maiden. Winter for creation, Summer for destruction, Fall for choice and Spring for knowledge. Spring is the problem though." Qrow said taking a deeper swig. He was thankful for the distraction. He wanted to keep the Spartan a secret until the last possible moment. He was going to need to have a talk with Ruby.
" What happened to her?" Ren asked.
" She was determined at first when she received her powers. But after time went on…"
" The stress got to be too much for her and she noped out of here in search of the answers of why we are here?" ShadowHawk asked appearing on his desk earning yet another startled scream from Lionheart. This time he jumped so far back and with so much force that he left in imprint in the wall behind him knocking the picture down.
Everyone held in their chuckles. Some succeeding more than others with Nora full-on laughing and Ruby giggling.
Nat looked at Shadow. " Really?"
" Oh, I got to have some fun you know. And besides, I am on level twenty in chess against the computer. Damn, this thing really needs to up its game."
" Ok, there is a biker guy on my desk! Does anyone else see him or do I finally need to retire," Leo asked?
" No. You want to buy some death sticks." Shadow said waving his hand like he was a Jedi.
Leo looked at him. " I don't want to buy death sticks. Besides, those sound very unhealthy."
" You want to go home and rethink your life." Shadow said again with a wave of his hand.
" I think I want some of your whiskey Qrow."
" Damn it."
After catching his breath, and a long drink or three, Leo continued. " She did run. So you are correct on that note. But that was over a decade ago. And we have no idea where she would have gone."
" I know," Qrow said reaching into his pocket. "Or at least a good idea. But it isn't exactly good news."
" When is it ever good news?" ShadowHawk piped in.
Lionheart looked up with some excitement in his eyes and poster.
" What do you mean? This is wonderful news!" he said coming around and grasped Qrows shoulders.
" I did some digging and shortly after she ran she was picked up by bandits. Specifically, the Brandwein tribe." Qrow told him, dropping a bombshell.
" Some evil twin you forgot to mention Qrow?" Shadow asked.
" Raven." Leo stated.
" WHERE!" everyone looked at Shadow.
" Yangs mom?" Jaune asked.
" Yup." Qrow moved to the desk and set his scroll on the desk with a picture of an area where Raven's tribe is located in, the avatar of Shadow winking off as the map came up.
" That is where their main camp is. After each mission or raid, they come back here. She managed to get a number of followers and when the Spring Maiden showed up, it just made things easier." Qrow said studying the map. Leo came up behind him.
" With these coordinates, we mount a retrieval force and set out in a few weeks." Leo said rubbing his chin in thought.
" A few weeks?" Qrow asked wanting clarification.
" That is right." Leo said as he tapped away at the keypad shutting the projector off and sitting down.
" Leo, maybe you didn't hear me. My sister has the Spring Maiden and I know where she is. We need to go!" he exclaimed as he shoved the neat stack of books off the table. Shadows AI chip included.
For Shadow though, within the span of just a few seconds, he gathered intel and planted a number of bugs and viruses to track and listen to calls and meetings. So when his chip was knocked off the desk, he saw it coming and transferred back in leaving a back door for him to remotely access.
Leo looked at the stack of books now on the floor.
" Perhaps you didn't hear me." He said sounding upset at Qrows outburst. " The kingdom is in shambles. When I say as soon as possible, I don't mean tomorrow, I mean as soon as I can convince the council that I need huntsmen more than they do! And unfortunately, bandit tribes are not a priority when the threat of war is on the horizon." He shot back.
" Then damn the council! We can do it ourselves. You and I are trained huntsmen and these kids aren't exactly pushovers. Plus we got a mother fucking tank on two legs here that could probably kick my ass with her arms tied behind her back." Qrow said, just waiting for the word and hoping to get Leo on board.
Nora and Ruby gave a form of agreement as Ren stood and just asked if there was a more peaceful way to approach the situation.
" We need to get Spring as far away from here as possible, and Raven won't give her up without a fight." Qrow continued.
" You and your sister are evenly matched. And I am not the fighter I used to be. The students and I are no match for a bandit tribe and a Maiden who has no doubt had years to hone her skill. We need to be positive that we can capture spring, otherwise Raven and her forces will scatter and we will be back to square one." Leo paused to let his words sink in. " We only get ONE shot at this. It needs to be perfect."
" What about her?" Qrow asked pointing at Nat, who knelt down and picked up the stack of books, and discretely, her AI chip, and set it back on the desk.
" I have no doubt that she would bring extra firepower. But I don't know how much. From all I have seen, she can turn invisible and that is about it. No offense but an armored huntress isn't going to help all that much." Leo said. " Sure she can sneak in, but once she gets to Spring, she will be spotted. And that armor will be too big to fit in any small area." He said.
The group of teens looked at the towering Spartan and saw her shake her head in the negative ever so slightly in a way that said ' say nothing.'
They seemed to take the hint.
Ruby asked what all they can do with Jaune asking about some chick named Cinder and a couple of other people if they had anything on them.
Leo just shook his head saying that their files were faked and forged. Nat saw Jaune flex his hands as if they did something to him. And he wanted payback.
" I can't say this has been a warm reunion, Leo." Qrow said.
" I am sorry. I wish I could do more. I know you traveled a long way. But I will do everything I can to help. "
" Sure. We will stay for the time being. Local comms are still up." Qrow said holding out his scroll. " Keep in touch." He said turning around and heading for the door. " Come on kids."
The group left with Ruby turning around and saying fair well to Lionheart.
Back outside Nora asked what all they should do now. Qrow just told them to head back to the house and that he was going for a drink.
" Agreed. I need a word with the group." Natsuki said. A sudden chill ran down the teenager's spines at her words.
Qrow nodded and they headed in diffrent directions.
Nora, Jaune, and Ren sat in the living room. Ruby was taking a shower. They sat on the furniture just thinking about what all had just happened. As soon as they got back to the house, Noble Six laid into them. The way she said everything not only sent chills down their spines but also made them feel small and week. She yelled at them for blowing her cover and exposing their ace in the hole. They asked why keep her a secret when among allies when she and by extant ShadowHawk, can bring in new ideas and even tactics if they were known.
" Because I don't trust Lionheart. He ignored protocols set by his suppierours. That gives me a reason to be on edge." She told them.
As to current time, each teenager was trying to not collapse from exhaustion. Noble had put them through a hard PT test as punishment. A long run, push up and sit-ups, pull-ups and so on. On top of all of that was a run. A run of three miles.
" *huff* That *huff* was *huff* brutal," Jaune said huffing.
Nora just faceplanted onto the couch huffing. " Note to self. Never mention Noble to anyone if she is not around."
" I wonder what she was looking for that would keep her in stealth and not want us to reveal her." Ren was saying.
They gave a shrug as they herd the water shut off signaling that Ruby was out of the shower and it was free for who ever wanted it.
A couple of hours later, everyone was washed up and chillen. Ruby was upstairs relaxing and reading a comic with the remainder of JNPR in the living room talking and catching some late-night program. Nora was sitting with ren in a black tank-top and pink shorts, Ren in green PJs, and Jaune in a white tank top and blue athletic shorts sat.
They were talking and watching cutscenes from a video gameplay on the screen.
" I personally would take the F-22 for that mission." Jaune said.
" Ehh, Yea it has the stealth and weapons, but the SU-57 is its match, and it can be equipped with pulse lasers." Nora responded.
" I think you two are way too into this. The final piece of music is what has my attention." Ren was saying as it was playing in the background.
Nora and Jaune shut up and listened as the song played.
( The Journey Home. Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War.
Good song go check it out.)
The journey begins
Starts from within
Things that I need to know
The song of the bird
Echoed in words
Flying for the need to fly
Thoughts endless in flight
Day turns to night
Questions you ask your soul
Which way do I go?
How fast is too slow?
The journey has its time within us
If a man can fly over an ocean
And no mountains can get in his way
Will he fly on forever
Searching for something to believe
From above I can see from the heavens
Down below I see the storm raging on
And somewhere in the answer
There is a hope to carry on
When I finally return
Things that I learn
Carry me back to home
The thoughts that I feed
Planting a seed
With time will begin to grow
The more that I try
The more that I fly
The answer in itself will be there
Each sat there and let the song play out.
" That feeling you have when a good song touches your soul." Jaune said as the song stopped and the game trailer played.
" True that!" came a new voice. Everyone turned and saw a man in a blue T-shirt with a White Star and stipe on the front, blue jeans, and boots with glasses was standing there. The initial CS was stenciled onto his lab coat. He had a stocky build with black hair and green eyes.
" WHO ARE YOU?" Jaune yelled hoping to get Noble's or Ruby's attention.
" Oh, I am just a guy that has been thrown to the wind. I have traveled to many different dimensions. One being a bleak yet hopeful future for humanity as an orb hung over Earth blessing worriers with game-changing power, I have stealthed into well-guarded areas and assassinated targets in the renaissance, took part in old knight battles, and finally, I have flown some of the greatest jets in history." He said reliving the past.
" Uhhhh…."
The sound of a gun cocking was herd as he turned and saw Noble Six standing behind him. Assault rifle in hand.
" Identify yourself." The Spartan spoke.
" I go by many names and titles, but the one that I started with is…" he started.
" Red October. You son of a bitch!" Shadow exclaimed from Noble's speakers as he appeared on her shoulder looking like he saw a ghost. " What the hell happened to you man? The last thing I saw of you, you were going on and on about 21st-century planes, and yeeting some ass hat out the window for some stupid reasons, and then you just noped out of there like someone just said that your Wiafu is laying in your bed!"
" Oh yea, I just came out of that teleporter, gave a report and you and I started talking. If I remember right we were talking about the pros and cons of using outdated designs for future fighter jets, and then I was in front of some dude in white robes wanting help killing some duchebag zealot! I have been in so many situations it is not even funny. What about you?" the now Identified Red asked.
" Oh, same old same old." he said.
Red was about to answer when a knock was heard at the door.
Everyone looked at the door.
" Well blondie, go answer it." Red said before seeing his hand start to fade in and out.
" Shit. I have no idea if or when I will be back! Don't save the world without me!" he said before vanishing.
" Ummm. Are we going to discuss what just happened or…" Nora asked.
" Later. Get the door." noble said as the knocking continued.
Jaune walked over to the door and opened it Outside was a kid no older than fourteen in a farmer look.
" Ummm. Can I help you?" Jaune asked.
" Ummm. Is a Ruby Rose here?" the kid asked meekly.
The sound of guns cocking was herd as assault rifles magically appeared in everyone's hands.
" Why." Jaune stated.
The kid looked ready to shit himself when Qrow drunkenly shook the kid and entered the house.
" I think her uncle needs some help." He said stating the obvious.
The guns just a magically disappeared as Qrow walked over and flopped onto the couch, muttering ' he found him' the whole while.
Everyone just looked at him not knowing what to do. The sound of feet hitting wood was herd as Ruby came downstairs in her PJs with clear annoyance on her face.
" What is going on here?! Cant a women read her comics in peace!" she asked yelling at the group before a burp was herd from the couch. She looked and saw her uncle laying their. Laughing and talking to himself the whole time.
She sighed as she face-palmed herself. "Uncle Qrow, are you drunk again?" she asked already knowing the answer.
" Mayyyybeeee." He slurred out.
Oscar looked at the girl in front of him. The world around him faded away as he focused in on the petite girl in front of him. Her choppy black and red hair making her silver eyes stand out. Slender arms crossed over her chest. The black tank top showing a bit more, and her bottoms, while baggy, still hung to her waist. And her voice. While she was scolding, still sounded angelic.
" Oscar. Don't. The last thing I want is to be seeing or feeling anything you would be feeling for my youngest pupil. Plus she is at least three years older than you." Ozpin said to Oscar.
" She is an angle." He thought
" She has silver eyes." He said out loud catching everyone's attention.
" Who are you?" She asked.
" My name is Oscar Pine." he said bashfully with freaking Qrow in the background just saying wait for it, " But you may also know me as Profesor Ozpin?" He said looking at everyone.
Everyone, save for Nat, looked at him with wide eyes.
" I DID IT!" Qrow said shooting his arms and legs out, just to faceplant into the hardwood floor with everyone looking at him as snores where herd.
Ruby gave a groan as Shadow came back out just looking at him.
" Anyone got a sharpy" he asked with mischief in his voice.
Aaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnd done. Did alot happen, not really. But we did get through two or three episodes. Atleast two from four and the first from five. I think I did a good job for keeeping the flow going and crank somthing out that is entertaining. SOOOO first we got Nat and the gang gearing up for the drive, needing to stop for fill up, the Nucklclave fight. I still wanted Ren to kill it like in the show, so I needed to keep Nat busey and unwilling to kill it. Lets face it, she probbly could with out much of a probblem, so I needed to do somthing. And that somthing was to save her true power for later.
They get to a place to stay and everyone gets to take a nice hot relaxing shower. Spartan included. And does anyone know the layers of teh armor? To me it is the metal part of the armor then the black undersuit that it all hooks up to, then a tech suit that holds all the bio monotors and probes that is skint thight suit simalar to zero suit Samus. But that is just me. The modles in Halo Reach and Halo 3 seem to imply that, the books aswell seem to suggest that.
The grimm lands was seen for the first time in this story, and for the most part it did not change from the show so lets just kind of skip that.
Ruby looking over Qrow and her letter to Yang, to bonding with the rest of RNJR and asking thier thoughts about their tank on two leggs.
Ruby and Nat bonding over cleaning and polishing guns and knives.
Then we got to the first episode of five with Nat stealthing for a good amount of time. I was going to have her plant some ONI spy gnats around the office, but I dont think she would have that in her standard loadout. She instead planted her AI on his tech-desk with exposition being thrown around until clueless thougths came out...with Ruby and Jaune blowing it.
More exposition… When did this turn into vanilla Destiny?
Post scary moments from Noble to RNJR and some hard PT as punishment. Showers all around and some chilling.
Finally, watching game cenimatics and the song that was played. The game was my first taste at a good, well done flying game with sencable controlls. It is Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War. I love it. It was fun and challanging. With all sorts of planes to chose from to fly and fight with. And now in Skies Unknown, you can upgrade your plane with parts and new special weapons to equip. Also the multiplayer, THE MULTIPLAYER! Never have I let a pvp sink its claws into me. The only games that I think came close or was on equle footing was Halo and Battlefield 2142. But I am getting off topic. The lyrics are from said game and is a good song to boot. So go check it out on youtube. My mother herd it and found it pleasont. Even when I told her it was from a video game, she still enjoyed it. It should be noted that I am more into Christan rock and metal with the regular thrown in thier. So to hear a song that is slow and more on the classial side being listend to by me is pretty to me it is worthy. AHHHHH… good song. And we get banter between Jaune and Nora talking about planes. And yes the F22 and the SU57 are real planes. But I dont think pulse lazors exist yet. But oh well.
The tech that appered is yours truely. ShadowHawk needed his frined and partner in crime to show up every now and then. Thus me, your author and host of this program, has come in and provided some extra moments for you laugh at and get a kick out of. I hope I can live up to the expectation of forthwall breaking...or whatever it is I did. I dont plan on doing it to much just a couple of times. And if you are woundering where he went, he is back the destiny universe. Ok enough on that. MOVING ON!
Oscar comes in and like any fourteen year old boy sees a pretty girl and has a crush, with Ozpin, Ozma? What ever, with person in his head telling him to not think about it because he shares the same head and does not need to see or hear what is going though the young boys head about his youngest pupil. And the episode ends.
So how did I do? I enjoy reading comments and answering questions...even if some are not answerd for some time.
Now onto reviews!
IcyDoom
Keep up the good work
Thank you and I hope this lives up to it.
hellfiredarkness
Nice! Great Harry Potter and Back To The Future references!
Back to the future yes. Harry Potter? You would need to point that one out.
Noggin master
I 1would like to see this through, its pretty good.
Im thinking nat is summer's clone for some reason.
Thank you, I hope to keep it going and improving. And I am not going to say a thing. Wait and see young jedi.
RemasteredHype
M O A R
… … … OK?
Wolf fang
Liking the story so far two things i am hoping you will place in this story 1 nat will be training Team RNJR CQC and 2 the covenant arrive and invade Remmant during the battle of thinking but it would be nice to see these two things good luck on the story and looking forward to more.
Thank you for the support. To answer your questions, CQC traning, hmmmm I was going to have her give pointers and help out even. But I am not sure if I want to have Ruby just suddenly get better. I so think she would improve slightly but she could only get a couple of supprise hits. If any of that makes sence. As to you second question about the Covenant showing up. I have been playing with the idea. But I am not sure on a couple of things. One what faction. We got a united covenant in Reach and CE and even part of halo 2 up until the great schism, a fractured covenant in 3 and remanats in 4 and 5. So what time frame do I want to take out of.
I was thinking about the heritic fleet tying on making contact, but for now lets just put a pin in it and come back to it.
Guest
I like where she appeared, and i agree, skirmishers are even more bastards than normal jackals, thanks the chaos gods they're only in one game
It was a toss up. The first choice would have been when Qrow would have saved Ruby in the begining part of Punished. I even had one set up for when Nat was in Summers gear trying it on and the reveal happening thier. Thank God I did not go that route but ehh, I can always put up concepts in a later chapter.
To quote That Spearhead Guy, STAY STILL YOU *BEEEP* AND YOU *BEEEP*!. Yea thank God skirmishers are in one game, but they are still in the books. I just dont want any more halo 2 legendary flashback. So. Many. Jackle. Snipers. Oh God. Did I just trigger some one? I swear I herd a controller break and a TV shatter.
Guest
Obviously Nat doesn't believe in Deities, I mean the Covenant thought the Forerunners were Gods, assuming Nat knows of them, she'll probably assume the 2 Brothers are just religious folklore or worse, 2 advanced beings similar to the Forerunners and tricked Ozpin, Salem, and the rest of the planet at the time into believing they were actual Deities.
Good point. I dont think anyone in the UNSC would know of the Forerunners, or enought to really do anything about it. Cortana was even stumped upon first encountering Halo up until she was able to access the ring system. But on the off chance she is aware of the Forerunners, it would not be to far of a streatch to imagine that.
ManticoreBlues
love this so far, can't wait for more
Here you go good sir.
pokeman1280
Raven as a not total jerk? Um, yes please! Good to see I'm not the only one who sees Summer and Raven as sisters. Also, Tyrian, watch your mouth. You do NOT call Ruby that word. It's not nice. Do I need to get out the soap?
Yea, I see alot of 'family' shipps. WhiteRose? They see one another as sisters. Bumblebee? Sisters. Any ship of the same sex? Family. That is me. I already know that some are going to crusify me for daring to go against the Bumblebee ship, but to those people, ask yourself, is it worth it? Their is a guy on youtube who shipps it and he even has a probblem with how RT handled it. We can always have a disussion, but the problem with it is it will almost always get heated and turn into a toxic mess so I am just going to say my peace and hopefully not need to pick it up again...hopefully.
Also yes get the soap. Actully better yet, cleaning acid.
GreenTheRyno
We don't see very many x-overs start with RNJR, this will be interesting. Good chapter overall, though you might want to put in something when the POV shifts (like a line break or something).
Quick question, though, will the covvies show up at some point? I know in the (A/N) you said something about the battle of Haven, so they'll probably be after that, but I'm still curious about whether or not they'll show their ugly mugs.
Other than that, good luck to ya!
I actully did not eventhink about it untill after you said somthing. Goes to show we are all human and make mestakes. Still I wish I cought it sooner. My bad.
And to answer your question about the covenant, I already answerd it in another review but for kicks I will answer it again because why not. I like talking to people.
I have been playing with the idea and it would be after Haven. I am not sure how long and what faction. I want to keep doing uniqe things so I could do two parts. One being the Heritac fatction in Halo 2 at least sends a guy to somewhere and boop him in and he just becomes an ally. One with a lot of mistrust but an ally none the less. The second being a couple of fleets from the schizm show up and know one is safe. Confusion galore.
So I am going to put a pin in it and lets go from their.
And thier is one question I answerd from last chapter, but apon further thought I need to change my responce.
So to Rebiele, you asked about shipps and if Tai and Summer are going to get back together. I answerd that they wouldnt. Well upon furhter thought I am just going to leave it up in the air. If they do get back together, it would be after a lot of work and even councleing. I hope that is satisfactory.
Ok that is the reviews. E3 has come and gone and I dont need to think I need to go into it. Halo Infant has a new delisious trailer to watch. And I am pumped for next year. Hopefully they give us beta flights to play and even more news to disect.
Well, I am going to call it here, so Fly Fast and Check 6 and I will see you on the virtual battlefield.