Beyond the black

by Dgreen20

The multiverse; a near endless collection of worlds. Many so similar, yet different. The vast void between right and wrong couldn't be more blurred. When a young explorer finds himself trapped, who can fully predict the consequences until its' too late. For his past is coming back to hunt him. What scars will this leave on the innocent world. (Massive Crossover, Halo and RVB heavy)

37. Into the Floodgate

Chapter 41

Into the floodgate

(Week 9: Day 69)

Vale wilderness, 100KM southeast

(Johnathan's POV)

For the most part Ace ops seemed to be interested in the Multiverse, or at least they got an idea on the five minute explanation. Clover sat across from me with his hand on his chin, Harriet sat beside him nodded and tried to follow along, Alice was beside her double checking her weapons rather uninteresting at this moment, Marrow nodded in awe at the mention of there being dozens of different beings out there just like the faunus yet with more animal like features. Whole ride was so far quiet outside me explaining stuff and Alice checking her gear.

"Let me know if I understand this right. Because this all sounds like a drug trip." Clover asked pointing to me "You're a multiverse jumper who's job it is to explore these vast universes and document them. Got stuck here and now going to be calling our world home until you settle an internal debate. Your ex is trying to kill you and everyone in her way because of a massive disagreement on what should be done with the worlds you explored. You in favor of leaving them alone for the most part to do their own thing, Her in favor of using them to make other worlds better and more 'fair'." He asked now pointing to Alice. "And you're a super soldier pulled from the losing end of a genocidal war. Trained brutally since you were six and augmented to beyond normal capabilities, 'washed out' from said augmentation and later fixed to be thrown straight into the deep end of earlier said war. No aura, no sembalance, yet can kill hordes of Grimm with your bare hands; and you've have somehow been in our world since the fall of Kuroyuri, choosing to freeze yourself under Beacon since then as an 'ace in the hole' for when our world needs someone like you the most. We're most likely walking into our deaths to contain a disaster his ex caused. And our world is most likely some silly cartoon. Am I getting all this right or am I missing something important?" He asked.

"You're missing some key details but that sounds about right. I know it's a lot to take in on such short notice. All though I'd call this place more of an anime than a cartoon. There is a thin line between the two, not going to lie. It's a technical ire more than anything, makes for easier classification and documentation." I answered scratching my chin as Ace ops nodded in agreement.

"I'm not too freaked out about being make for entertainment, but I at least want to know if our show is any good." Marrow asked. That's everyone first question. 'Is our game/book/show any good'? If I had a nickle every time I heard that, I'd have enough money to rebuild the Battleship Texas from the keel up and modernize her.

"Everyone's first question. I'm not sure honestly, I never had time to see it before jumping here. So far I would assume yes." I answered. Not long after the whole drop bay was flooded with a deep red light and a sharp buzz. I know that sound all too well.

"Approaching drop zone in one mike." The pilot informed though the intercoms. Alice pushed in the mag for her Surpressor and let the forerunner weapon reassemble itself before we stood up. I reached down beside me and grabbed my helmet, flipping it over and putting it on in one fluid motion like I've done countless times before. I turned around and went to the cockpit, pulling the door aside to see the Pilot. From the view I'd say we're almost there. Six kilometers at least. I can see some type of a grey blur in the distance. Mu zoomed in on it so I can get a better look. It almost looked like a WW2 style bunker building carved into the side of a hill. Only a lone door in a cement slab of a wall into a V shaped entrance. Ivy and Moss covered the entrance heavily. Couple of large groups of Grimm running AWAY from the bunker area four kilometers away and running fast. At least I got an idea what we're going into now. I hummed anxiously as Mu returned my HUD to normal.

"Try to get us as close to the ground as you can. Once we drop, you turn around and get out of here. Everything within fifty kilometers minimum is to be considered a deadzone, no one enters or leaves that area but us. You don't land or slow down until you're out of this zone. Whatever you do, no matter what you see or hear or what anyone says, don't come back for us. Do you understand me ?" I ordered.

"Understood sir." The pilot informed giving me a thumbs up. I took a deep breath and closed the cabin door. Time for the hard part. I went to the rear of the dropship and by the bay doors. My mind already running though every possibility that this could go wrong and how to make it manageable.

"Alright Ace Ops, time to earn those fat paychecks. Put your helmets on and keep them on, no matter what. We're going in my way." I ordered slamming my fist against a button on the wall, making the drop bay doors open up to reveal our transport, barely hanging onto the back of the drop-ship's magnetic clamps. The whole drop bay was sent into disarray as high speed winds flooded the area. Ace ops listened and put their helmets on before standing up behind me. Each one flashing green on my HUD as active. I brought my hand to the side of my helmet and pushed the transmit button. We were no less than twenty meters from the ground with the pilot barely slowing down. I'll admit this plan is borderline suicide, but there is little other option to avoid farther contamination. "Freelancer Ohio to Beacon. We're approaching the AO. Get those birds ready to fly." I informed taking my hand off the transmit button and pointed to the Hog in the back. "Alright, everyone in."

"For the record. You're insane." Harriet said as her visor looked between me and the door. I'm insulted she thought I was sane. What sane person would do even half of what I've done? Insanity is a requirement for Multiverse jumpers and Freelancer alike, at least to survive longer than a day.

"Noted, everyone get on." I ordered as Alice jumping toward the hog. Landing on it's hood with a loud creek, climbing in the driver's seat as Clover jumped next, making the vehicle creek more as he got in beside her in shotgun, Marrow jumped next climbing in back, looking down and chuckling nervously. Harriet looked down and to the hog. She shook her head before taking a few steps back and bolted to the door before jumping. She landed on the hood as it creaked more, holding onto the edges she climbed in the back beside Marrow. A brief static filled my helmet as Ironwood transmitted back.

"Copy, Ohio. All missiles in the fleet are ready to launch and the bombers are being loaded with the special bombs. Be careful out there." Ironwood informed.

I took a deep breath as I took a step back from the door before bolting toward it, jumping at the last second and skidding on the hood of the Hog. That did it for the poor clamps as we were sent falling to the ground. Alice slammed her foot on the gas as the engine revved up, tires spinning hard and fast. Seconds later we hit the ground with a hard jolt, throwing me off the hood and over the roll cage. I reached out and grabbed a hold of the top bar before I could get thrown any farther. Ace Ops bounced in their seats before holding onto whatever they could for dear life. Looking back I see the drop-ship making a U-turn and flying away. We're on our own from here, no one is coming after us if we fail. I reach up and use my other arm to hoist myself upright, bringing my legs up and setting myself in a crouch on top of the vehicle, activating my magnetic boots to hook me in place as I gazed upon the horizon ahead. As far as I can see there was a mess of trees, rock, and a wall of Grimm heading our way. From what I can gather they are mostly Ursa, Deathstalkers, Beowolves, Boarbatusks, and some elephant like one my systems labeled in my system as a Goliath. I got a idea on how to get though.

"Hold this please." I order handing Marrow my shotgun. He took it quickly as I looked ahead and groaned. We need a path though, quickest way is brute force. Oh I really hate yet love doing this. "Spartan . . ."

"Everyone hold on." Alice warned slamming her foot on the handbrakes as I deactivated my magnetic boots, throwing me forward toward the wall of fur and bone. I focused as much Aura into my mechanical hand as I could, causing my entire body to be engulfed in a cobalt blue hue. I landed right in the middle of the wall and slammed fist into the ground, causing a vibrantly colored hard light shock wave to push the smaller Grimm aside. Forcing a large enough gap in the horde for the Hog to speed though easily. Alice slammed on the gas hard making the whole hog jerk forward toward me. One of the Ursa tried to swipe at me, only to be met with a swiftly ignited blade of plasma slicing off it's arm and went though it's chest with ease as I pushed myself off the ground and bolted toward the gap I created. Several Beowolves tried to get to my flank, only to be ran over by Alice with a bone cracking crunch when they meet her bumper behind me. I slid underneath a charging Deathstalker, energy blade thrust upward as I used the creature's momentum as well as my own to effectively gut the massive beast. I slid out from under it seconds before it fell and kept on running. I ducked under advancing Ursa, igniting my other blade I began slicing and dicing my way though the horde with ease while charging toward the bunker. One Goliath ignored Alice and went straight for me with a bellow of it's trunk. I slid to the side as the beast tried to hit me with it's tusks, reaching out I grabbed said tusk as the elephant lifted up and sent my into the air. With a quick slash I severed the tusk and trunk from the animal as I went flying, making the beast bellow in agony. I deactivated one sword and shot my grappling hook onto the beast's bony back plate, reeling myself in I stuck downward with my activated sword, the blade burning though the beast's neck and severed it's spine as I slid down it's back.

Alice slowed the Warthog down just enough for me to make a jump for it from on top of the beasts back as it slammed into the ground dead on top of a Beowolf. I landed in the middle of the troop bay as the whole Hog bounced from my sudden weight. I deactivated the energy sword and put it back on my hip as I dusted myself off. Quick look behind me showed that the Grimm were not bothered to chase after us, instead they kept running away from the area like their lives depended on it. Like they know what we were going toward, and the danger it held. I turned and looked back at the two members of Ace Ops with me in the bed. I am unable to tell what they are thinking though the helmet, but if the tense shoulders and unmoved helmets are anything to go by, I'd say they were either surprised or impressed.

"Well, that was fun. Everyone still alive?" I asked sitting down beside Marrow, who pointed between me and the Grimm. Harriet kept her gaze on the retreating horde. I groaned and rolled my knees to a crack. Landing like that hurts the knees something fierce.

"How did you. . . with the sword . . . the colors. . . and your arm . . . okay, that was badass. Where can I get one of those blades? Fetch can use an upgrade like that." Marrow asked pointing to my beauties.

"You're not ready." Alice and I both responded at the same time. Marrow slunk into his seat defeated as I took my shotgun back. Harriet still kept her gaze on the horde even after we got out of view. She shook her head and scratched at her chin.

"This isn't good. The Grimm never run scared from anything. Something is very wrong here." Harriet noted turning her gaze to the bunker we're closing in on. Three thousand meters away. We should be there in under 5 minutes, max. So far I can't see anything out of the ordinary based on the outside. Just a bunch of moss and ivy growing over the cement and slowly reclaiming it for mother nature. Mid size radio antenna on top of the hill designed to look like a tree.

"I had the same thought." Clover replied looking back at the retreating horde. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The closer we get, the more my worry grows. All the signs are pointing to one of my worst fears coming true, and we don't have much time.

" Everyone listen up. I'm going to go over some ground rules before we begin our assault. Lets get on the same page." Alice ordered. "To farther the General's point. Until our boots are back at Beacon, I'm in charge. If I'm unavailable for any reason, Ohio is next in command. Pick one of us to glue yourselves to and stay with them no matter what. Always stay within line of sight of one another. No one goes off on their own for any reason what so ever. Stick with a battle buddy. Everyone keep a close eye on your motion trackers, listen to our orders, and most importantly stick together. Listen to these rules, and we all might get out of this alive. You three will be given code names to make everything easier when we're inside. I'm Red leader. Johnathan is Red two. Clover, Harriet and Marrow. You're Three, Four, and Five. Respond when called, I'll assume you're dead if you don't. Do I make myself clear?" Alice asked. We all responded with a clear and loud 'yes sir'. Alice nodded as we continued the ride to the bunker in silence. I took several deep and slow breaths to calm myself. I got a gut feeling what's down there in that bunker, and I really hope I am wrong, praying to every god and goddess I can think of that I am wrong. Fidgeting with my shotgun as I look on to the entrance of the overgrown bunker. Leaves were scattered and disturbed all over the place, even before we came in. Some crude welding equipment was turned over and discarded, with a generator tipped on it's side with signs of discharged dust around it. This isn't a good sign what so ever. Whoever left that bunker, they did so in a hurry. I held onto the roll-cage as Alice hit the breaks once more, fifty meters from the entrance. I let out a slow exhale and shouldered the shotgun.

I jumped out first and rushed ahead, throwing myself against the cement wall with my gun aimed at the door. Alice came in on the other side shouldering her gun, also aimed at the door. Marrow and Harriet followed up behind me with Clover going to Alice. Alice held up a clenched fist signaling for us to hold position. Alice moves up to the door and inspects it.

"Swings inside, but held shut from the outside by these metal struts crudely welded to the steel frame. No one's going to be able to pull this open from the inside. Lines are shaky and uneven, welder was scared and trying to get it done fast. No signs of a fight happening on the outside. Tells me that they knocked over the generator and equipment while they ran away. Something scared the Foxtrots enough to lock their friends in while they ran for it." Alice noted running a hand down the door. "What do you think Red Two? If it's what we think it is, should we really be doing this?"

"We need that information. I don't like it anymore than you do. Let's break it down." I answered. Alice nodded rearing back and slamming her foot into the door. The door slammed open as the crude welded piece was ripped off from the frame. As soon as the door was opened a bone deep chill was felt though my Aura, a sense that something evil and old is waiting for us down there. . . . something starving. Ace ops must of felt it too if the small shake from Marrow and Harriet was anything to go by. Before us was a small six foot entrance area with a lone stone staircase going down. Nearly everything inside the entrance way was destroyed with various bullet casings littering the area. Blood stained everywhere and was still dripping off the ceiling, no bodies to be seen. This was all fresh, not a drop has dried. Can't be any longer than five minutes ago, so what happened to the victim's bodies or the attacker? A single light flickered down the stair case, briefly showing the turn left as it spiraled down. I swear I heard a faint agonizing groan echoing down the bunker. Oh I got a bad feeling about this, a VERY bad feeling! I brought one hand up to the side of my helmet and pushed the transmit button.

"Freelancer Ohio to Beacon. We're beginning our assault. If you don't hear from us in an hour . . . . You know what needs done. Freelancer going dark." I replied looking to Alice and nodded.

"Everyone keep quiet and stick together. I'm on point." Alice ordered, her helmet lights flashed on as she went in first and down the staircase. Clover followed behind her. Harriet and Marrow next as I took up the rear. I closed the door going out as the whole area descended into darkness, save for the flickering light. To make sure nothing gets out I broke the door knob off and threw it aside. Nothing's getting out until we're done.

"Button by your chin activates your helmet lights. They'll cover a good area for you to see better." I informed as I flicked on my lights and began walking down the staircase. Harriet and Clover turned theirs on as they kept their guns trained down the stairs. I kept a close eye on my motion tracker the whole time. So far nothing, just us five moving down the staircase. The area echoed with creaks and groans of the bunker. The steady drip of water, or something liquid, filled the air as we rounded the turn leading away from the staircase. Thirty to thirty five meters down, at least. No radio signals will make it in or out of here easily, all solid rock above us, cold cement all around with a series of pipes and conduit directly overhead. Lights flickered and buzzed as we moved down the lone hall. Random blood spatters across the wall with bullet marks and casings littering the place, still no bodies or guns anywhere. Two rooms down the hall on either side labeled communications and multipurpose. This makes no sense, if our target was this close to the exit, why phone us to get her out? Could she have known she was locked in with no way out? Where would we even begin to start looking for her? Alice flashed two fingers and pointed to the communication's room, then four and the multipurpose room. I turned and looked into the communication's room as Harriet looked into the multipurpose room. Just a busted radio console spitting sparks, chairs over turned and papers all over the place. The air duct vent in the corner of the room was uncovered and basically thrown to the side. Looks like our target destroyed the communication's console before she went into hiding. Smart, keep the beasts from calling in another door dash.

A skittering meep sound caught all our attention. I had my shotgun aimed at the ceiling vents and activated my Promethian vision, causing the whole area to light up in a deep blue hue on my HUD. Only my team glowed green. I swore as I looked around. Nothing but dust and us, this isn't right. My P-vision should have picked up at least a single warm body, at least of what ever is down here.

"Anything Ohio?" Alice whispered watching down the hall.

"Negative." I answered deactivating it after a quick sweep around for any sign of either our target or anything hostile. My heart pounded in my chest as I looked around. Nothing in range, we're 'alone' right now. Yet it sure doesn't feel like it. Something is here right now, watching us, waiting for the right moment. I swore as I took a deep breath and let it out.

"Something's not right. I can't shake this gut feeling we're being watched." Marrow softly noted keeping his rifle aimed at the vents above. I don't blame him, I got that feeling the moment we stepped off that stairway. Bioscan shows all our heart rates steady with mine pulsing faster than the others. This is all too familiar to me, far too familiar. Hallway ended at a side T junction. Down the left appeared to be heading toward a staircase going farther down, straight ahead goes toward what I assume is the officer living quarters. Beside the stairs was an elevator shaft, doors were ripped open from the center with a lone cable showing, end was coated in cooled steel globs. Something hot sliced though the cables.

Alice flashed two fingers and pointed them to the barracks. I quickly went in to the door with my shotgun aimed at the center for the worst. I reached for the knob and opened the door. The body of what use to be a fox faunus fell dead on the ground. Everyone but Alice stepped back for a second as I knelt down to inspect the corpse. Chest was ripped out from the inside with his internal organs visible for all to see. Hands and arms are full of small cuts and bites. Self defense wounds, signs of a struggle. Body was still warm and easy to move. Blood slowly beginning to dry up on him. No need to check for a pulse. Even if he's still alive while looking like this, I pity the poor fool.

"Poor sap died recently, couple minutes at best. Let's move." I whispered standing back up and shouldered my shotgun. Alice took point and went down the stairway barrel first. We all moved down the stairway with me taking up the rear. I took long and deep breaths as I kept a close eye on any and every possible spot something can pop out of. Vents, corners, random piles of rubble and trash. Anything that looks like it can hold even a rat.

"Let's think. If you were a petite young woman stuck in a creepy bunker with some unknown monster, where would you hide until rescue showed up?" Marrow wondered softly out loud as we rounded the corner off the stair way to the second sub floor. I think it's safe to assume a majority of the fighting took place here.

"I would be literally anywhere but here. Monty Oum this wasn't a fight, it was a massacre." Harriet whispered as we looked around. Area was an X junction. Countless bullet casings of various types blanketed the ground like snow, walls were basically caked with a deep blood red and a greenish brown biomass covered in random places, bullet marks littered the walls with the blood. Hall to our left was conveniently listed as the barracks area, hall in front of us was was marked weapon storage and armory, hall to our right was marked as the main conference room. Beside us was another spiral stairway heading farther down with the elevator beside it. Yet no other bodies were to be seen. I am really not liking this what so ever. I turned on my P-vision again to get a quick scope of what's down here. So far nothing in range. Whatever is down here, it knows the limits of the Promethean vision and how to work around it. I swore again as I turned it off.

"You ever see anything like this Spartan?" Clover whispered looking around at the various piles of biomass. A cold tingle in the back of my neck surged though me, gut twisted and aching. I let out another slow breath as I looked around once more for clues on our target's location.

"Once, we lost a lot of good men that day. Easily one of the most difficult fights in my life." She replied turning her lights to the conference room. "Three and four, stay by me and secure this junction. Two and Five, check that room." Alice ordered. I motioned for Marrow to follow me as I went toward the conference room. I entered the room shotgun first, meet by a overturned and destroyed chairs, a table with a crack at the far end, vent at the far right end with the cover thrown off, blood was everywhere. A lone red sword laid embedded in a pile of biomass with a Grimm mask on the floor beside it. As well as a empty cup of Deathstar-bucks thrown off to the side. Emily was here alright, I know that woman loves her coffee.

"A portal was ruptured here, Alpha tachyon particles are present in the area. Faded but here. This is ground zero. I'm detecting larger concentrations farther down. Something multiverse jumping related is here, something big." Mu informed flashing to life on my HUD as she looked around. "If I were to take a guess, I'd say whatever Emily send out, it went to work fast and brutally. I doubt there is too much still alive down here we'd like to meet."

"I know, I'm getting the same feeling. Close enough to the entrance she can book it before things got too bad, yet far enough away to be a slaughter to anyone unsuspecting of her deception. Anyone on this level and below would have had to fight though here. Cut the elevator and force them to take the stairs out. From there it would be a killbox. This is assuming that the door is the main way out. " I replied kneeling down and picking up the mask. Looked like your basic white fang mask. Four slits to see out of, sported a angular shape curving downward to a point almost. However this one was a lighter shade of white compared to most, had fancier red markings, and held a intimidating aura compared to most.

"That was off someone important. Your average white fang mask's design isn't this fancy or unique. Most just have basic claw marks if that. Only the higher ranking members have anything remotely like that." Marrow pointed out. I nodded with him as he knelt down beside me and picked the sword out of the gooey biomass. He flicked the goo off and looked over the blade. "This blade belongs to Adam Taurus, leader of this splinter cell. We can at least confirm he's dead. No way he'd ever leave this behind." I won't ever assume someone is dead until I see the corpse in front of me and I kick it.

A loud metallic clang echoed though out the room. We jumped to our feet with our guns at the ready. My heart rate skyrocketed as I looked around us for an ambush. Just a light falling from the ceiling, nothing coming from the vents or the walls. This isn't right, that parasite loves to ambush it's victims that way. All signs are pointing to it being that parasite, so why isn't it behaving like it? I kept a close eye on my motion tracker, so far nothing. All five of us were the only ones within a 20 meter radius of me. Something is VERY wrong here, alarm bells are going off though the roof in my head. I can FEEL it in my Aura. Another low metallic pop echoed directly above us. I flicked my P-vison on again and looked directly above us. Two humanoid signatures, both trying to lay as flat as possible and move as little as possible as they crawled though the vent above. One more feminine in shape and smaller, the other one more masculine with wings. . . . wings? Possible survivors, good. Maybe they can shed some more light on what's down here.

I deactivated my P-vision and put a hand on Marrow's shoulder. I brought a finger up to where my mouth would be on my helmet and motioned to the vents above us. He nodded and took a step back while keeping his gun aimed at the air ducts. I put my shotgun on my back, I took a few steps back before running forward, jumping and grabbing the air duct. I ripped it off with a metallic creek as I came back down. Two figured fell from the ducts and onto the hard ground. I got over the male with my shotgun aimed at his head and a foot on his chest. Marrow got over and secured the female viva same idea.

"Survivors." I called out to the rest of the group as the male groaned in pain. Male was at least six foot, spiky brown hair and a goatee, brown bat wings, black suit with a golden zipper. He shook his head and opened his grey eyes to stare down the barrel of my shotgun to his face before holding his hands up in surrender. Female was five foot four at best, same black suit as the male. Short grey hair and pale skin like mine and Alice's, but hers had black veins covering her hands and going up her arms and chest. Bluish grey eyes looked up at Marrow as she too put her hands up in surrender. Both wearing full windowed gas masks. Both looked absolutely terrified. "Both of you! Names!" I ordered.

"Just like Atlas to send in the dogs to fini . . ouch ouch ouch!" The male cried out in agony as I put more weight to my foot on his chest.

"We're low on patience for bullshit. Names, now!" I ordered more firmly slowly taking some weight off his chest. The two shared a quick glance with one another as the rest of the group came into the room. Alice kept her gun at the door and watched the halls. The two seemed to understand the position they were in if the look of defeat on the girl's face was anything to go by.

"I'm Trifa. He's Yuma." The female gave up signing.

"What happened?" I asked.

"Like you humans don't already know. You sent in those things, you're the ones who caused this." Yuma responded pointing around him.

"Pretend we're idiots. What exactly happened down here?" I ordered keeping a close eye on my motion tracker.

"We were farther down below, having a coffee in the mess when the alarms started blaring. Taking a small rest after nearly dying to heavy sniper fire yesterday at the Rex demonstration." The female replied. That was me, guess I missed a few. "Everyone was rushing to grab a weapon, radio going nuts on how the upper levels have been compromised. Gunfire echoed though out the entire bunker shortly after the first alarm went off. Then someone was screaming about monsters worse than Grimm. Not long after our level was taken over by those things, countless came rushing from everywhere. Walls, floor, ceiling, anything with a hole small enough for a rat to fit into. Our weapons were useless, there were far too many. Heard someone say for us to wear a gas mask as something was in the air as well. We put on this pair when we found it. What's worse is when they latched onto our friends, turned them into these . . . monsters. Turned them against us in the blink of an eye. We barely escaped. Trying to find our way to the surface. Sadly all the doors to the outside are sealed shut, vents as well. Few tried the main stairway by the communication's room. If the horror filled screams of agony a few minutes ago are anything to go by, I'm assuming they're all dead." Dead would be putting it politely. They are absolutely eviscerated, dead beyond all reasonable doubt. No one can survive losing that much blood. Not even in an anime world.

"These monsters. How big are they? What color? Anything notable about their appearance?" Alice asked from the door, keeping her Surpressor aimed down the hall and not breaking sight of it. Harriet and Clover kept their guns aimed at the two as they approached.

"Size of a small sheep, sickly brown and grey appearance. Red feelers at the end of a pair of forward tentacles. Kind of blob like in shape. Skittered around and made a horrific meep like sound." Yuma described. I took my foot off his chest and took a deep breath before swearing like a drunken sailor that stubbed his toe. Every swear word in the English, Japanese, German, Elvish languages I know. Our hostages looked at me in shock as the curses flowed out like a river. Harriet whistled in amusement while Clover clicked his tongue at me while wagging his finger.

"Do you kiss your mother with that mouth." Clover scolded.

"If we survive today, you can wash my mouth out with soap. We got to move, right now. Find our target, grab the bitch, and get the hell out of here! Timetable has shortened drastically." I ordered rushing to the hall door and looked down it. Nothing out of the ordinary, that's concerning me. They should have been up our ass by now, something is very wrong here. Either they're gone and decided to leave this place alone after words or . . . . .

"Something is on the motion tracker." Marrow informed shouldering his rifle and taking up a position by Alice. I took a quick glance at my motion tracker to confirm. A single red dot appeared around the 15 meter ring. I shouldered my shotgun and aimed it down the hall as something rounded the corner. A familiar shuffling and groaning in agony with every step. A lone man stood before us. His movements were shaky and twitchy as he slowly turned to face us. My heart stopped and my blood rand cold at a sight I wished I'd never have to see again.

"Banesaw?" Trifia asked looking horrified at her former ally. The victim before us was a muscular man with short black hair, metal arms guards with a sleeveless white vest and black pants. A familiar mask on his face reminds me of the announcer from the Fang warehouse. He looked exactly like him but there were several notable changed. First of all was the sickly brown growths around his body, his head bent at a awkward angle with fibrous feelers sticking out where his neck should be. One arm warped and bent into a large claw like appendage. His more human hand dragged a chainsaw like weapon behind him. The lights behind him sparked around the end of the hall, illuminating the area in a eerie light briefly. Behind him was several of the smaller creatures Yuma described, skittering around with a horrific meep.

"Red Three and Four. Cover that vent. Now. . . . We're about to be in a target rich environment." Alice ordered slowly and calmly as the beast before us shuffled our direction. I can feel my heart about ready to beat out of my chest as the beast looked directly at us. Twitching and moaning in agony, and I swear the beast had a 'smile' on it's face. I flicked on my P-vision to get a idea on just how many we were up against. Like usual the area light up with a bluish hue except directly behind the beast and down the hall to the right. . . . . that was an ever moving wall of red coming straight toward us. Two things are clear now.

One: They knew we were coming!

Two: The boobs behind us didn't survive because of luck, these things allowed them to live as bait.

The beast reared back and let out a primal and ear damning scream as hundreds of the little shits rushed past him like a wave, making the ground beneath us shake and rumble. Several larger combat forms that looked similar to the beast joined the fray behind the horde of infection forms. Alice was the first to fire off her gun as did Marrow when I turned the P-vision off. Orange tracer rounds filled the air as it sprayed into the ungodly horde before us. I turned my shotgun to the larger combat forms as they tried to rush ahead, taking chunks out of them. Pump, fire, next target, repeat. Pump, fire, next target, repeat. Every time I shot a Combat form, it exploded into ten more little infection forms slowly getting closer as they crawled over their fallen friends to get to us. Behind me I can tell Harriet and Clover were firing away at the ones trying to get to us though the vents. What the boobs we saved were doing, I haven't the faintest right now.

"What the hell are these things?!" Marrow asked, throwing any form of trigger discipline out the window as we fired into the horde of nightmare fuel. I don't blame him. To say we were spraying and praying is a huge understatement.

"I'll explain later if we live. Less talking, more shooting!" I yelled pumping the slide and firing off another round of buckshot into the chest of a combat form that got too close for my liking. Everyone's heart rate was though the roof as gunfire and swearing filled the space around us. We need a way out, son of a bitch I hate this damn parasite. "If anyone has any ideas, now is the time to say it." I asked throwing one of my HE grenades into the horde in the hopes that it does something. A explosion rang out though the hall as a cluster of the little ones popped. Sadly like with all my previous experiences with this parasite, kill one, ten more pop up. Three HE grenades left.

" We're too limited on ammo and time. We need to make way out somehow." Alice responded over the heavy gunfire. Everything around us is concrete. Walls and floor can't be too much more than 150mm, 203mm worst case . . .

"Batboy or Spidergirl, what's directly below us?" I asked taking out another cluster just as my shotgun clicked empty. I swore and I pray the RNG gods will give me a break for once.

"Main storage level I think. Why?" Yuma asked as Alice quickly swapped out mags. That will work, we'll work with it.

"Cover me. I got a plan." I put my Shotgun on my back and grabbed the SMG pair. Clover and Harriet were doing their best to keep the ones in the vent at bay. I turned to Yuma and Trifa as I threw my guns to them. The two caught them and looked at me confused. I pointed to Alice and Clover. "Pick one and help them. We fall, you're going down with us. I'll get us out of here, just buy me some time." I ordered.

Yuma looked like he wanted to argue but the collective screams and roars of the parasite outside seemed to overpower what ever form of resent he had toward us in that moment as he and Trifa both moved to help Alice. Barely wasting a second before firing into the never ending horde. I reached down to my belt and unhooked a Energy sword, igniting it. I slammed the floor, melting the stone straight through. I had a little trouble moving it along the stone, takes a hot second or two for cement to melt. The cement cracked along the edges as I moved the blade through the floor. Gunfire echoed through out the room as I strained to finish cutting the last foot of the hole. As soon as the cut was complete I deactivated my blade and slammed my fist onto the rock, making it drop down to the next floor. As luck would have it Batboy was right, this does look like the main storage bay, or at least was. I let out a sharp whistle. Marrow seemed to pick up on my train of thought as he lowered his rifle and extended his hand toward the parasites.

"Stay!" He commanded snapping his fingers at the wall of flesh. Almost instantly the horde slowed down to a mere crawl as Alice focused her attention on the ones closest to us. "Everyone run. I'll hold them as long as I can." Marrow ordered in a strained voice. I pulled my Suppressor off my back and focused on helping with the vents. Clover and Harriet moved back and jumped down first. Yuma and Trifa bolted for the hole next. I let loose short controlled bursts as more infected forms flowed out of the vests over their friends. Alice went next and jumped down, landing with a hard crack as the floor piece I cut shattered under her weight. I turned to Marrow and fired off a controlled burst toward the ever so slowly crawling horde.

"You too Wags. Go!" I ordered. Marrow swore as he broke line of sight with the hall and bolted for the hole. As soon as his eyes left the horde, they began scrambling over each other to get to us. Like a pack of ravenous dogs that haven't eaten in weeks. I reached for my belt and plucked off a Plasma grenade. I hit the button and threw it at the door frame as I ran for the hole. Marrow and I jumped down just before it exploded, hearing the tell tale sound of rock falling as the roof collapsed over the door. I rolled to disperse my weight as did Marrow. We took off running toward the door where the others were waiting. Around us was over turned boxes of pasta, canned goods, and various types of cleaning products. I look back to see the infection forms falling down the hole like a waterfall of flesh. Skittering across the ground as they swarmed toward us once more.

"MOVE!" Alice ordered giving us cover fire as we all bolted down the cement halls. Walls here were not as drenched in blood but there were obvious signs of a fight breaking out here. More infection forms crawled out from the sides, we fired our weapons at anything that wasn't in our group as we bolted. There has to be somewhere we can go, we can't keep running forever. We need either an incredible stroke of luck or someone to come up with a more viable plan in the next two seconds.

"Guys, room ahead down the hall. Hundred meters. That one has a steel door." Clover yelled out from ahead. I looked to the general direction he noted. . . well I'll be damned. That's just what we needed. Sure enough there was a room at the end of the hall, steel door and everything. Sadly said door was closed and most likely locked. Good thing I have a universal key.

"Red Two. Do it." Alice ordered. I ran faster ahead with my Suppressor firing at any infection forms that dared pop out from the sides. I turned to the side quickly and let my shoulder take the impact as I slammed into the door, it swung open into another storage bay. Luckly this one had a sealed off vent in it. I skid across the ground, using my grav boots to stop me as I turned and fired my gun into the horde as the others ran by my into the room. Clover and Harriet ran in first sweeping the area for anything remotely off. Marrow was next with Batboy and Spidergirl. Alice ran in next, skidding across the ground as I quickly moved to close the door. I slammed the door shut just as the horde slammed into it. Making me stagger forward a bit from the sudden jolt. Alice moved beside me as we used our combined weight to keep the door shut. Thank the gods we're as heavy as we are.

"Alright, who's not dead. Sound off?" I asked taking deep breaths and letting them out slowly. The collection of groans was all I needed to hear from the group to know we're all alive. We were in another storage area, only this one had lockers, crates of random crap, less chaotic than the last one. Not going to last very long but it at least is enough for us to have a short breather and come up with a plan.

"They just kept coming at us, hundreds at once. If I had used Kingfisher, I'd be dead in seconds; luck be dammed." Clover asked with his back up against the wall as he took a deep breath. Harriet sat beside him on a crate. "What are those things?"

"That . . . was the Flood. By far the worst monster I've ever had the displeasure of fighting in my travels. This is by far the worst case scenario we could have gotten into." I informed as the door finally stopped moving, I clicked on my P-vision and watched as the parasite scuttled away to else where in the bunker before disappearing all together from my vision. I let out a deep breath as I clicked my P-vision off. We're safe . . . for now. Won't be long before they find a way in or get the big guys to break down the door. Either way they will take a little bit. We can formulate a plan of attack and what to do until then. For the moment we rest. Situation is indefinitely worse than I thought. We do not have the ammo to take all these things while searching for our target. . . assuming she's still alive. I took a quick glance at the mission clock, ten minutes in. It's took all of ten minutes for everything to go to hell. Took longer than I thought it would. "We need to narrow down our search somehow and make a new plan. Our current one is going to get us all killed." I wondered out loud as I slunk to the ground.

"So you're were telling the truth. You guys weren't sent in to finish us off." Yuma asked out of breath as Trifa sat beside him. Both collapsed as they sat on the boxes. Alice and I stayed against the door just in case. Marrow was huffing and puffing as he leaned against the wall. I can only assume using his semblance on that many at once would be taxing on his aura and energy. "If you're not here to kill us. Then why are you here?"

"You two are on a need to know basis. Everyone rest up and take stock. Red five, you're in charge of the survivors. They do anything you don't like, shoot them. We're back out there in five mikes. We still have a job to do." Alice responded, flicking her finger at me while her visor staring directly at mine. I nodded and changed the channel on my HUD from speakers to a private channel. The light by Alice's name flashed green to let me know she was connected. Some of the many joys of our armor, we can have a private conversation even in a small and crowded room like this. My light flashed green twice to let her know I was connected. "You think we can trust these Whiskey Foxtrots? I got a bad 'feeling' about them." Alice asked though our private channel.

"I trust them about as far as they can throw me, but I'm not leaving them for dead. One of them might know something." I answered turning my gaze to our survivors we 'rescued'. Both looked exhausted with Yuma looking at us with curiosity and fear.

"Point taken. We'll interrogate them to see what they know. Could be something to make this mission worth it." Alice noted sighing. "Any ideas on how we can narrow our search for the target? Who knows how far down this goes, or how many rooms there are. We're running low on time."

"We got a lot more pressing issues than our target right now. Issues our prisoners have answers to that I want right now." I replied before switching back to my speakers. I got up from the door and walked over to our prisoners. Completely towering over both of them. I looked down to the bat and asked only a single question in as calm a manner as I can muster, hoping the good cop approach will work for once. "How far down does this bunker go?"

"Why do you want to know?" Yuma asked trying to appear as if had any control in this situation. Poor bastard, he hasn't a iota of an idea who all he's trapped down here with. I set my mechanical hand on his shoulder before I knelt down his his eye level. My icy blue visor boring directly into Yuma's soul as he looked up at me.

"Don't bullshit me right now. I'll ask once more before things start getting messy. How. DEEP. Is. This. Bunker. " I countered, stressing each word like his life depended on his answer. I can faintly see Alice off to my right though the corner of my eye. Shoulders raised and whole body tense as far as I can see, from here she looks like a cobra poised to strike should she need to.

"I can't remember." He lied. I can feel my internal bullshit detector is going off. I lowered my head and let out a chuckle tightening my grip on his shoulder. Just enough to be uncomfortable. If the squeal from him was anything to go by, it's working.

"You don't remember. . . . wrong answer." I repeated as my patience finally wore out, bad cop time. I'm pulling a page out of Maine's book. I growled and lifted him up by his shoulder. Marrow and Harriet yelled 'Ohio!' right before I slammed Yuma into the wall, cracking the cement behind him. Trifa tried to move to stop me but was held back by Alice wrapping her arms around her. "Quite the fucking BULLSHIT!" I yelled reeling back and slamming him into the wall again. Cracking it farther as well as breaking a few bones if the audible snap was anything to go by and Yuma's cry of pain.

"Ohio, stop this!" Harriet yelled as she and the rest of Ace Ops tried to hold me back. Sadly they found out really fast just how much strength is needed to stop an augmented human. Strength they, sadly even combined, sorely lacked.

"You guys don't understand! We're almost OUT OF TIME!" I yelled as I slammed Yuma into the wall again, sending them to the ground from the sudden jolt forward. "We need that information NOW!" I yelled pulling him back and slamming him against the wall once again. His body glowed a dark color as his Aura tried to help him survive my anger. I held onto him with both hands and brought him directly to my visor as I depolarized it. Letting him look directly into my eyes, all I saw in his was pure fear as an aura of anger rolled off me."How deep does this bunker go! Tell me right the FUCK now!" I screamed to his face.

"I don't know!" He cried out in pain. I swore loudly as I threw him across the room, he hit the wall as the tell tale sound of his Aura shattering on impact before he fell to the ground with a hard thud. He's still lying, I can feel it in my bones. . . Fuck it, I'm done playing around. Good cop didn't work, bad cop didn't work, time for the even worse cop. I reached to my belt to grab one of my swords. An electric cackle of energy echoed though out the room as I ignited my blade. A blue hue lit up the room, Yuma looked up to my blade with a expression of pure fear. His cocky attitude dissolved away as I let out a primal growl and pointed the blade at him.

"Ohio. . . Don't. . . Please!" Penny begged as she appeared on my shoulder, her face looked up to my visor, pleading for this man's life. I'm past the point of mercy. If he doesn't tell me right now. . . I can't afford to hold onto dead weight right now.

"How. Deep?" I asked in a deadly calm tone. He coughed up a mouth full of blood all over the inside of his gas mask, coating the bottom of it while leaving his eyes locked onto my blade. I waited a few seconds for an answer but was meet with only silence from him. I lowered my blade as I started walking toward him, blade racking against the ground with a shower of sparks as I draw closer. Yuma crawled back up against the wall as I drew closer. Ace Ops jumped in and tried to throw their combined weight at my blade arm as they tried to hold me back, careful not to touch the burning blade.

"Ohio, that's enough! Stop!" Clover scolded as he was dragged across the ground with the rest of his team. Marrow and Harriet dug their heels into the cement and groaned as they held onto me with everything they had. I kept my eyes locked with Yuma as I drew closer. I deactivated my blade as I threw my arm back hard and fast, throwing Ace Ops off me. Harriet landed on the crate with Marrow on top of her. Clover was thrown back on his ass beside Alice, she let go of Trifia and bolted toward me. I ignited my blade once more and thrust it toward Yuma.

"STAY!" Marrow yelled as he extended his arm at me and snapped his fingers. World around me felt like I was moving though jello. I felt myself slow down as my blade stopped mere millimeters from Yuma's face. The glass on his gas mask slowly started blackening and bubble from the heat of my blade. Before I could push any farther Alice grabbed my wrist and forced me to let go of my blade. Letting it fall to the ground and deactivate as she held me against the wall. Marrow dropped his arm and let out a deep breath as Harriet tried to push him off her. Trifia ran to Yuma and helped him up as he looked up to Alice.

"Enough!" Alice yelled as I began to regain my ability to move freely. I struggled to get out of her grip but failed as she pressed me farther into the wall. The one person on Remnant who has the strength to hold me down."You've gone too far Ohio. This is NOT a line we cross!"

"You guys don't under. . ."

"Then make us understand!" Clover interrupted. "Your AI gave us a rundown but you're still leaving us in the dark. We're running around down here with a monster on our heels we know nothing about, and you're about to kill a man in cold blood for not answering a question. What exactly is out there, what is the Flood?!"

"Let me go. I got some explaining to do." I said to Alice, who nodded and let go of me, taking a few steps back. Harriet and Marrow moved up beside her as did Clover. I looked to Ace Ops and took a deep breath. "You seriously want to know, okay then. We're damn near out of time to contain this. We HAVE to destroy this bunker, all of it! Every floor, every room, every crevice, every crack, as well as burn EVERYTHING within 50 kilometers of here at the absolute minimum!" I yelled pointed out the door. "You saw how quickly they overwhelmed us. We're a lot more heavily armed and armored than a vast majority of people. How do you think the rest of Remnant will fair! They'll all be slaughtered in a seconds! A race tens of thousands of years ahead of us went to war with them for centuries and in the end had to wipe the galaxy clean just to STARVE them out, even then it barely worked. The Spartan's people had to let half a continent get glassed just to even have a semblance of Earth surviving a single city being infected. This is something you really don't want to get out to your world! EVER!" I yelled holding up a single finger. "ONE! If even so much as ONE single spore survives and gets out, all of Remnant is fucked without any lube or mercy. Those things will not stop until they consume everything in it's path; Human, Faunus, Grimm, everything! They don't care who or what you are, we're all food the same! This has been my absolute worst nightmare come true and I'm beyond terrified on what will happen to my family if I fail. They have nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and nowhere else to go. So forgive me for being a bit extreme, I have way too much at stake here. I can't afford to cut corners, I won't take any chances, and I sure as hell won't hold onto any dead weight. If he's not willing to give us the information we need, then why risk everything to save his sorry ass." I informed returning my gaze to the Bat. Trifia was helping him up as he took off his gas mask to clear of blood. He cough one more and spat up another lung full of blood.

"You weren't exaggerating when you said the fate of Remnant is on our shoulders. We're literally the only line of defense. If we fail here. . ." Marrow pieced together.

" . . . then all of Remnant will face a similar fate." Penny finished looking to the door absolutely horrified. "That's . . . that's just . . . Holy shit this is bad." Did Penny just swear? I've corrupted this pure cinnamon bun. I'm not sure if I should be proud of her or ashamed at myself. Both?

"Now do you all understand? The more we screw around, the smaller the window for Remnant's survival gets." I answered looking down at Yuma again. "So I'll ask you; one final time. How deep does this go? Not only does your life depend on it, but everyone's as well." I asked. Yuma and Trifia looked to each other. Yuma sighed as he put his gas mask back on, blood still covered the bottom part of the window, but at least it wasn't pooling.

"Bunker goes down another two floors. . . . There is about thirty meters of rock between the entrance and the first floor." Yuma wheezed out. Assuming that's pure rock . . . roughly two and a half meters of space each floor with at worst half a meter of cement between them that is about roughly. . . . fifty five meters down all together. Nukes we're dropping have a yield of around 15 kilotons. . . .

"We're going to need something bigger. A lot bigger." I whispered hold my head as I paced around the room. Of course, of fucking course. Why would the universe ever have something go my way for once. "How many exits are there? Doors, vents, elevators, literally anything leading to the outside." I asked pulling my shotgun off my back and started loading it up.

"Three as far as I know. The main entrance that is welded shut, the air shaft that someone locked down, and the main supply elevator not far from . . . what did Adam call it. A super collider or something. I can't remember the name." Yuma informed. Okay that is good news for a change. Maybe Clover's good luck is giving us a chance to stop this. . . . wait.

"Back up a second. Did you just say super collider? . . Was it a large room, reflective panels all over the place, two big reverse funnel looking things on either end or a large ring going around the room with a opening big enough for a large person to walk though?" I asked.

"The later one. . . . I never messed with it myself. . . I don't even know how to turn it on." Yuma responded trying to pick himself up, only to fall back down into Trifia's arms. I paced back and forth across the room as everyone kept their eyes on me. A super collider would explain a lot, depending on how's configured. Also makes this mission all the more critical we succeed and destroy this place.

"Super colliders need a lot of energy to work, more than any basic generator. So that means there is a nuclear reactor somewhere down here. Most likely close to the machine. Depending on the type of reactor, that might be enough to take this place out." I mumbled to myself as I paced.

"I'm lost. What's a super collider do?" Clover asked.

"It's one of the methods used to either travel the multiverse or bring it to you. Either way this is not good. Our job just became a million times more critical. We absolutely can NOT allow them to get control of that." I informed rubbing the top of my helmet in annoyance. This is even worse, if the Flood gets a hold of multiverse jumping tech; we're looking down the barrel of several sectors wide extinction level threat, and that's putting it nicely. Holy shit you've really done it this time Emily. I let out another groaned annoyance right before an all too familiar collection of roars and screams echoes though out the halls of the bunker. Ace ops all pointed their guns at the door. I turned on my P-vision and looked to around. I was right . . . they came back, and they brought a couple of their more tanky friends. Fuck we're in deep shit again. I turned off my P-vision and ran to the door to force it to stay closed just as the first couple combat forms slammed into it. Marrow jumped in and helped hold the door. Penny flashed away back into my armor, Trifia and Yuma both looked at the door in horror, back to square one. I looked to Yuma again and pointed to him. "You show us where the collider is, we'll do everything we can to get you both out alive and maybe a fair trial if the General is in a good mood. Deal?"

"Wait, what about the mission?" Marrow asked as another wave smacked the door, making both of us stumble forward. I dug my heels onto the ground and slammed my weight back into the door.

"The mission has changed. Ensuring this bunker's destruction is Priority one. If Ohio says we need to see the collider, we're checking it out. We got less than forty five mikes to complete our mission and get the hell out of here. So let's get moving." Alice informed putting her Suppressor on her back and grabbing the BFG. The devastating beast lit up as the front end cackled with green lightning. Oh I love that sound."If this thing does what I think it does, it will give us an chance to push though. When Ohio gives the command, open the door. Red five, use your semblance to freeze the halls to give us time to take them out. Three and four, you two watch survivors and cover our flank. Prisoner one and two, guide us to that machine. Everyone, get to cover." I nodded as another wave smashed into the door. Clover and Harriet grabbed the terror twins and went behind a stack of crates. I looked to my HUD as Alice's light flashed red. I began silently praying to anyone who would listen that this works. Light switched to amber. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. The light now hit green as Alice pulled the trigger.

"Clear!" I yelled grabbing Marrow as I jumped out of the way as quickly as I could, using my Semblance to raise a hard light shield just as the infection forms poured. Alice let go of the trigger as the gun let out a low whine. A large green ball of plasma shot out, sprouting green ribbons that immediately locked onto everything close to it and vaporized them from the inside out. The dying screams and roars of various flood forms filled the air as the devastating ball of energy traveled down the hall until it exploded on something with a low pitch warp. Alice raised the weapon and had the wide part of it on her shoulder as she nodded in approval at the carnage before her.

"Kid. . . I am not giving this back! This is mine." Alice noted. I deactivated my Semblance as we all got up to look out the door. Walls were absolutely caked in guts, blood, and various types of bio mass. Clover let out a low whistle as he looked all around. The wall at the far end where the plasma ball hit was melted and currently collapsing the door where we came down on. It's not the Doomslayer's most powerful weapon for nothing. Holy shit I keep forgetting just how devastating that weapon was.

"What was that monster called?" Marrow asked.

"It goes by many names to the Jumper community. The doomsday cannon, Hell's anal raping, the 'fuck everything in that direction' gun, and a million more." I informed doing a quick scan with my P-vision . . . she got them all right. Not a single living thing on this floor aside from us. I deactivated it as I looked to Ace ops beside me, who still looked at the carnage speechless, or so I thought."But it's more commonly called the BFG. Which stands for. . . . "

"Big. . . "

"Fucking. . ."

"Gun. . . . Why don't we use that damn thing more often?! Seriously, look at this! We can clear entire floors in seconds!" Marrow asked holding his arm out and pointing at the destruction.

"It has very limited ammo." Alice replied switching the BFG for her Suppressor once more. "Let's move. Ohio, take point." Alice ordered. I pulled my shotgun off my back and shouldered it as I began walking out the room. Praying that we're not too late. Ace ops shouldered their weapons and fell in behind me. Yuma and Trifia behind them with Alice bringing up the rear for a change. We still got a LONG way to go, and not a lot of time to do it. I silently went back to praying to which ever deity that is listening.

"Monty protect us." I prayed as we descended deeper into the flood gates.

---

(Serena's POV)

Beacon academy

With the Flood possibly here, there's no telling what is going to happen tomorrow or if there will be a tomorrow. These people got a ever growing list of problems to solve, and it isn't getting shorter anytime soon. First the Meta and Emily, then the situation with Pyrrha, now Ruby. Seems like things are taking a sharp turn for the worst. We need to figure out a solution to the situation with Ruby first, something as big as a UNSC destroyer showing up should have tripped Johnathan's instruments. If something like that got here undetected then what else is here. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I exited the elevator to Ozpin's office. Ironwood looking ready to pull what is left of his hair out, while Ozpin was as calm and collected as ever. Before them was a panel with people of various races. One of the left labeled 'Vale' and the right 'Vaccuo'.

". . . we simply can not expend our entire missile stockpile nor will we bombard various civilian populations based on the whims of a single child. One I might add that sounds absolutely insane!" One of the figures replied from the Vaccuo screen.

"That 'child' has more experience dealing with those portals and rifts than all of us combined, experience we desperately need. I'll be the first to admit that this plan is less than ideal in every aspect, I'll even go as far as to say it's extreme. But if the one man who's seen and dealt with what plagues our world now says we absolutely have to go to this extreme; just to even have a semblance of neutralizing whatever is down in that bunker, I fear the consequence of what would happen if we don't listen. Consequences that will effect Remnant as a whole and everyone." Ozpin replied standing straight with both hands on his cane.

"I'm more afraid of what will happen when the general public finds out. Do you have any idea the kind of hysteria this will cause? The backlash from decimating several civilian populations for seemingly no reason? What do we even tell them to even consider this? Especially after what happened in Atlas, people are terrified that they're city is next. We're still figuring out how the Fang even managed to get a machine that big into the city without someone knowing. Or even where they got it from." A lady from Vale asked.

"Trust me, I'm looking into it much deeper than you can imagine. Already combing though every personnel in my fleet, from the highest of officers to the janitors for a possible spy. What happened yesterday was inexcusable for both of parties." Ironwood informed rubbing his temples. Oh the joys of politics, it's a absolute bitch no matter where you go. "My fleet is ready to launch it's entire compliment at a moments notice toward that bunker, as well as putting those terrifying warheads in our fastest bombers. I won't be the one to start another great war, so I rather not order a strike like this without Vale's permission first since it's your territory we'll be turning to glass."

"Again, back to the original problem. Taking politics completely out of it, what do we even tell the general population to remotely justify this? This isn't exactly easy to cover up or explain without causing mass hysteria. Fear brings Grimm, fear on this level would bring every Grimm from the deepest corners of Sanus to Vale. Hell, a couple hordes might swim over from Solitas and Anima. That's not even touching what Mistral might think if they find out Atlas has these weapons of mass destruction called 'nukes' in their possession without telling us sooner. I'm still not sure how I feel about that." The Vale councilwoman asked.

"If it makes any difference in judgment, we will be expending the entire compliment we found in the REX and what we could find at the hide out. All eight of them . . ." Ironwood tried to explain.

"EIGHT! You found eight city busting weapons and you didn't think of telling us until now! I thought I was maybe one or two, but EIGHT! That's beyond worrying. Who know how many more the Fang has hidden away somewhere, on top of the mountains of dust they stole." The Vaccuo councilmen yelled.

"We can discuss that issue later. Right now we got more pressing concerns." Ozpin calmly said keeping his gaze toward the councils. "As far as I've been able to gather, Johnathan and his family are the only one we have that even remotely know what lays beyond our world. I don't need to remind you all that he's been though more than any one else his age and even more than some veteran Hunstmen. Whatever is in that bunker has him scared, and that is enough to make me agree to follow this plan."

"As much as I trust your judgment Ozpin, we simply can not afford the hysteria. Even if I were to allow Atlas to drop those bombs, people will see it as retaliation. And that will kick off another war. . ." The Councilwoman replied.

"War for your world has already begun, you all just don't realize it yet." I interrupted. Ozpin and Ironwood turned around to look my direction as I calmly walked beside them and looked up at the screens. "Think about it. If someone wanted to take over your world for any reason, how would they do it? Exactly like they are doing right now. They stay in the shadows, pit you all against one another, let you destroy each other because of political grid lock and inaction. Meanwhile they run around in the underground, causing chaos and destruction while you point fingers each other."

"Young lady, this is a very serious and delicate matter I can't expect a child to understand." The Vaccuo councilmen tried to inform.

"I've seen it too many times to count in my own world and others. If my brother is right, what is in that bunker will destroy ALL of Remnant if you all keep avoiding the issue at hand." I informed reaching into my pocket and bringing out a single chip from my pocket. "If mere words won't convince you, perhaps a first hand look from a old friend will." With that, I inserted FILSS into the Ozpin's computer terminal. Ironwood took a step back as a progress bar shined up from the terminal. Ozpin raised an eyebrow as his terminal light up and displayed a single blue orb with two circles pulsating around her.

"Hello, I am the Freelancer Integrated Logistics and Security System. You all may call me FILSS." The bubbly AI greeted as Ironwood rubbed his temples once more.

"Great, yet another AI. Just what I needed." He mumbled to himself sarcastically.

"What the hell is that thing?" The Vaccuo man asked.

"I highly appreciate not being called 'that thing'. I am an Artificial Intelligence program designed to aid Project Freelancer. I prefer to be called she/her when you're referring to me. . . . . Oh, good day Miss Grey. Where's Agent Ohio? I thought he was going to be plugging me in?" FILSS asked.

"He's out on a mission to combat the Flood in a bunker. We were trying to talk these two into helping him finish them off by launching an all or nothing missile bombardment on the area." I answered.

"Oh dear. If the Flood is here, I'm afraid that is literally the only option you all have. They are a nasty and a rather resilient parasite." FILSS informed. She's not joking. They are marked up as a Code 5 Black Bio-hazard by MERC's jumper code. Protocol dictates that all jumpers avoid landing in areas with a known Flood infestation and to take extreme precautions in ensuring that no forms of universe jumping technology gets into their hands. Which includes the use of planet killing weapons from any and all sources possible. Johnathan got unlucky once by landing in the middle of a flood infested Ring. I almost lost him that day, I got lucky and managed to open a portal to get him and Davian away from there.

"FILSS, do you have any videos on the Flood? Anything that can show these politicians the true danger we're all in?" I asked leaning my hands on the front of the console.

"I do have a few videos from the Master Chief. Would you like me to play one?" FILSS asked in her normally chipper tone. The Council representatives from Vale and Vaccuo looked at the AI before them I looked to my right toward Ozpin, he nodded at me before returning his attention to the console. I took a deep breath and let it out. Johnathan doesn't have a lot of time, these people skirting around the issue ain't helping what so ever. If it means exposing the harsh reality of the multiverse to them, so be it.

"Do it FILSS." I ordered.

"Beginning playback of file 925-07." FILSS responded as she disappeared from the console. Replacing her was a video from a Flood infected High Charity. Pillars of biomass littered a fleshy cavern, only the occasional purple hue of Covenant metal shined though. The lone man's screen showed him mowing though wave after wave of infection forms. Several Pure forms occasionally showed up. Gunfire echoed from the video as the Chief forced his way though the undying hell before him. Ozpin's eyes widened as he watched, almost dropping his mug. Ironwood looked as if he was about to have a stroke. The council got up from their seats when the lone man looked out a cavern window upon what use to be a giant city that dwarfed every kingdom in Remnant combined. A once beautiful sight, now reduced to a grotesque landscape of flesh and horror. One devoid of any life outside the collective hivemind.

"What you are seeing use to be the holy city known as High Charity. Home to a collective of alien races thousands of years more advanced than anything you've ever seen. A population of almost 8 billion strong fielding plasma weapons, personal energy shields, and so much more. They fell in less than a day to that parasite." I informed as FILSS shut of the video.

"Holy mother of Monty. . . . what . . . what are you? Some alien or something?" The Vaccuo man asked.

"I'm from another universe. As is FILSS and those things. I know it sounds crazy, I know it is unbelievable. But you have to trust me before it's too late." I informed looking the two adults on screen dead in the eyes.

"As unbelievable as it sounds, she is correct. Both her and her brother are from another universe. Why they came here, I can only guess. But right now the reason matters not." Ozpin replied backing me up. He stood up straight with both hands on his cane. "When Johnathan ended up stranded here from a portal jump, I took him in. Offered him place to stay and study, somewhere he can rest. In return all I ask from him was to fight for us when needed, help give our world the advantage it needs from whatever threat shows up we never seen before. So far he has more than kept his end of the deal without being asked. Since he showed up he's been at the front fighting and protecting who he can. He's more than willing to throw his life on the line to keep whatever horrors show up at bay where he can. He has my respect and eternal gratitude for all he's done for us. He has my personal promise that I will protect and support his family however I can for all he's done. He's there, right now at ground zero, fighting to contain this menace to our world however he can with the help of Atlas's best. If he says we have to go to this extreme, then I trust his judgment. No matter how grim and unfavorable it seems. As you can see, the alternative may not be much better." Ozpin informed waving his hand to the video FILSS paused. Both figured looked between Ozpin's stone expression and to me. A tense minute passes before the Vale woman sighed heavily and held her head.

"If I agree to this plan, you're the one who's going to figure out what to tell the general population. And I want a full explanation on everything when this is over. Ironwood, Ozpin, you're both talking as well. I'll try to get Mistral and Menagerie on the line as well so everyone is on the same page. No more keeping things from us, understood?" The woman asked.

"I was already planning on having that discussion with Mr Grey if he returns." Ironwood replied.

"When do we strike?" The Vaccuo man asked.

"I'll link you guys up to the Fleet's fire control. The second those bombers are all loaded up, hold nothing back . . . and pray to Monty it's enough." Ironwood replied in a heavy tone.

---

(Johnathan's POV)

Vale Great war bunker

I step off the stair well and look around the next floor of the bunker with my shotgun drawn. Thankfully, Marrow's semblance has been a godsend to us when it comes to making progress down here and has made our job indefinitely easier. Either that or Clover's good luck is rubbing off on us. Either way I don't care. We round a corner abundant with infection forms, he freezes them, we take them down, repeat for the past ten minutes. Granted Marrow is looking worse for wear as he huffed and puffed in exhaustion as we made our way down the stair case. If our lovely tour guide was correct, the collider and reactor should be close. Deeper we go, the more biomass covered the walls, the more green the air got, and the clearer the groans of agony got I've been hearing since we set foot down here. Few flakes the size of our pinkie nail floated around here. This is not a good sigh at all, the parasite is pumping spores into the air, thankfully all of us got air filters. No idea how good the terror twins filters are, but at least they are better than nothing.

This level was not like the ones above. Floor looked a lot more heavily reinforced with steel plating and thicker exposed rebar. Whatever is down below required the need to reinforce the ceiling, farther confirming there is a reactor and maybe a collider down here. Walls were covered in electrical conduct if it were not for the Flood biomass. My gut was telling me that somewhere on this level was our target. I am thanking this world's God that the infection is still at the feral stage . . . all though something doesn't seem right about these ones. They're a lot less coordinated that I remember, but more sadistic. Flood damn near never leave survivors to use as bait, especially not when they're still in the feral stage. They're normally more focused on accumulating enough bio-mass for a Gravemind. These things look like they're attacking for the sake of attacking. Unless the trip over to here screwed something up with them; I'd say they're either have a rather sadistic and mad host they are trying to assimilate, or the got someone who's so ungodly arrogant and stupid that their lack of intelligence brings DOWN the collective intelligence of the entire parasite by several pegs. I am not sure which one it is, both are very real possibilities.

"How you holding up Red five?" I asked looking around. Down here was visibly a lot more infected than the rest of the bunker. So we're getting close to the heart of the infection or where these things will be trying to make a Gravemind if I remember correctly. We were at a three way intersection. Hall left looks to be heading toward an armory of sorts, right was clearly a server room for the bunker's computers, straight ahead looked to be a bunch of smaller rooms connected to the hall.

"If we survive. . . you're buying first round of drinks . . . by Monty there are a lot of these little shits." He replied wheezing as he leaned against the wall in exhaustion. Poor man has been using his Semblance damn near non-stop. I lost count of how many we've ran into . . . somewhere around ten thousand I think. I lost track five minutes ago.

"We make it out of here alive, I'll buy as many rounds as you all want." I promised. Hell, I'm going to need a drink after this. Clover and Harriet walked past him and looked down the halls with me. This is a weirdly constructed bunker. Usually there is only one or two stair cases that lead to all floors. This seems like a bunker made on a video game for the sole reason of extending the time it takes to get to the bottom. I swear if there was a central stair care this whole time, I'm going to be PISSED! "Okay, which way now no-nuts?" I asked Yuma as Alice brought up the rear with them. Both Yuma and Trifia held their SMG as Alice pushed them forward a bit faster.

"Right, toward the server room. We kept all information on the collider tests in there. Stairwell is straight ahead." Yuma answered wincing in pain as he walked. I nodded as I started making my way toward the stair well when a loud bang echoed though out the floor. I swung my shotgun toward the left as everyone picked a direction to aim at, activating my P-vision I did a quick sweep of the area. Around us looked barren . . . save for a long humanoid figure in the armory. Rather small and feminine. Well that is lucky. I don't know if this is the Spartan's natural good luck, or if it's Clover's Sembalance. Either way I don't care.

"Red five, on me. We're investigating that room. Rest of you secure this junction. Fall back to my position if hostiles approach." I ordered turning my P-vision off and marched toward the armory. Marrow followed up shortly. Clover and Harriet took watch over the junction while Alice watched over he terror twins. Quick glance at my mission clock, twenty nine minutes to go. I swore as I laid myself flat against the wall, shotgun pointed inward as Marrow took up position behind me. Panting but he still made it. I walked into the room shotgun first. Just like with the upstairs vents, sealed with duct tape but this time the roll was still here. Room was loaded with lockers and over turned crates. Sadly all the guns and ammo were gone. Begs the question on where they went. Knowing my luck, the Flood have them all. I looked to the floor to as thankfully there were footprints in the biomass.

I elbowed Marrow and pointed to the prints. These were done by a human, or something human like, and were heading to one of the few non grated lockers. He nodded as we quickly made our way to the object in question. I locked visors with him and flashed three fingers. Marrow raised his rifle as I put one down and reached for the handle. He kept the rifle level with the locker as I got to one. As soon as the last finger went down I ripped the door off it's hinges just as a high pitch sequel filled the room. A petite young woman was in the locker with her hands up in surrender. Looks like our target. Tan freckled skin, brown hair, grey eyes, skin tight black suit, windowed gas mask over her face as her eyes looked at us with pure fear.

"Are you guys the rescue team?" She asked as I motioned for Marrow to lower his rifle. He listened and put it by his side as she walked out slowly with her hands still up. Well, that was extremely lucky. . . . almost too lucky.

"Yeah, we're the Calvary. Consider your ass lucky." I replied throwing the door aside. I landed with a resounding clunk. She flinched as it echoed though out the bunker. "Come on. Stay close and no more questions until we're out of here. We're low on time and we still have work to do." I ordered pointing my thumb toward the main group. She raised a finger to say something but quickly put it down before wordlessly gave up and started walking out the door. I gestured for Marrow to follow as Ilia walked by me. Surprisingly no Flood decided to attack us this time, which most likely means they're grouping up and getting ready to hit us with one big rush again. Alice noticed us approach as Ilia gazed upon the behemoth of a woman.

"I see you found our target." Alice noted as Ilia hung her head down in shame. "You remember the deal kid?"

"You called them. . .you TRAITOR!" Yuma yelled trying to rush toward Ilia, only to run face first straight into Alice's backhand, landing on the ground with a wet thud. Clover and Harriet winced as he rubbed his head in pain. That's got to hurt, he'll feel that in the morning if he lives.

"Shove it Bat-boy. Had it not been for her sucking in her pride like a responsible adult, both your sorry asses would have be dead. So maybe show a little gratitude." Alice informed. Yuma groaned in pain as Alice grabbed him by the front of his jumper and hoisted him back up on his feet single handed. "So long as you're asses are down here, they belong to me. Try that again, and I'll let Ohio do what he wants to you." Don't tease me Alice, he's less useful now that we have our target. With that she dropped Yuma and took point once more. "Ohio, you keep an eye on the target. Let's keep moving. We're not getting paid by the hour. " Alice ordered marching forward. Trifia and Yuma glared daggers at Ilia before following Alice, granted a little quicker. Ace ops took up position behind them while Ilia and I took up the rear. I keep the shotgun shouldered as I kept switching my sight from my surroundings to my motion tracker. Yuma guided us to the staircase. Alice wasted no time being the first one to descend down it. Rest of us followed suit shortly after. I looked down to see Ilia wear a expression heavy in guilt, one I know all too well.

"I know it was a tough call to make, but you did the right thing." I informed the girl. She looked up at me with a sorrowed expression. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. We still got a long way to go before we're even close to safe. Right now; we got a job to do, and countless lives on the line. The way down went in relative silence, taking longer than the rest of the bunker. Whatever is down here is huge, or the floor is a lot thicker. The farther down we went, the heavier the weight in my gut got.

"What did you do to get the cloaked girl so mad at you?" Ilia asked.

"Let's just say she went too far off the deep end, and I had to do what needed done at the time. Looking back, I should make confirmed she was dead instead of assuming it." I informed just as the stair well ended. We stepped off and looked around. Walls were heavily reinforced with thick steel plating. To our left was the most heavily reinforced area in the bunker I've seen so far. No doubt that's where the reactor is if these people were smart. Right was a closed door with a crap load of warning signs on it and massive conduits from the left room leading to it. I'm going to assume that is where the collider is. Straight ahead looked to lead to some sort of an open area with thick pillars of flood biomass span across the hall, as well as the source of the pained groans I've been hearing. Alice brought her fist up, causing all of us to stop in our tracks. She pointed to the central room with two fingers.

"I got a bad feeling about this." I whispered raising my shotgun as I began my march toward the room in question. The rest of the group followed shortly after. Closer I got, the louder the cries of pain got. I shook my head and prayed I was wrong. I prayed like a sinner on his deathbed to any and all gods that What laid ahead wasn't what I thought it was. . . . only to be proven right by the universe once more.

"What the holy hell is that!" Harriet asked lowering her weapon. Clover and Marrow both swore as we all gazed up upon the grotesque beast before us. Bodies from various sources were all merged as one grotesque mound of flesh with a single recognizable body in the center, groaning in agony and pain as we person in question looked to be a bull Faunus if the horns are anything to go by. What use to be fair white skin faded into a sickly mess, messy red hair merging with the mass. An asymmetrical large black high color blazer with slit sleeves covered that use to be his body, red underlining with a wilted rose emblem lined the left hem. The most distinct feature was the face. One eye was blue, the other had a grey iris with a red sclera. Across the left eye was a scarred brand labeled SDC. Our prisoners gasped at the sight of their now former friend. The poor man turned his head toward us, locking eyes with Ilia as he uttered a single word toward her with a look of absolute disgust.

"Trai. . . tor." He groaned out agonizingly.

---

(Emily's POV)

Mount Glen

I stood back happily as I watched as several Stormtoopers manhandled the Indominus into her new cage. The beast roared and tried to break free from her binds. Sadly for her these chains were made of the best durasteel alloy I can find. Area down here was dreary and almost depressing. Decaying buildings all around, Couple of these Grimm floating around but nothing even the most basic Trooper can't handle. Meta was beside me with Cinder she watched the beast be dragged off with a truck. Roman and his mute sidekick were off in Vale getting things ready for the next part of my plan. Sigma flashed to life on the Meta's shoulder as he turned to me.

"You sure unleashing the flood was a good idea Emily? We both know the risk if even a single one gets loose, you'll loose all progress in this world and we'll be forced to leave. We'll be out our end of the deal." Sigma informed.

"Patience Sigma, you'll get Mu and so much more. I trust Johnathan to contain and clean up that little loose end. Why else would I have had you seal off everything and leave only one way out." I informed. As much as I hate him, I do have faith in his abilities. If there is anyone in this primitive world who can handle that little set back, it's him. He'll figure something out.

"There is still one thing I don't get." Cinder asked rubbing her chin. "Decimating the Schnee family, destroying the White Fang. I understand tying up loose ends, but I still can't wrap my head around what you might want."

"All in due time maiden. All will be clear when the time is right. Plans are going ahead of schedule. By the end of the month, Vale will fall, you'll be one step closer to taking the rest of the fall Maiden powers, all is going smooth." I replied holding my hands behind my back. Oh this poor woman, too much ambition, too blind to see what's right in front of her. "I almost forgot. Meta, would you kindly open another portal. Star wars sector, region one nine seven seven, universe zero five two five. I think you already know where I want to go there." I asked with a wolf like grin. The Meta growled and crossed his arms, seconds later a portal erupted behind him. Cinder took a step back from the portal. "Don't be afraid. I reward those who honestly help me, handsomely too I might add." I informed turning to the portal as I nodded to the Meta. He growled and walked though the portal with a resounding warp. Cinder eyes me carefully as I gestured her in. "But first, my masters would like a quick word with you. Do try to not keep them waiting, they are not the patient type."

---

Hello again everyone. Sorry for the late update, a long list of stuff has been going on all at once since the last update and I haven't found too much time to write. Been going back to playing all my games on the Xbox 360 in the hopes that they will spark the muse back to life. Put the joy back in me that I once had. A word of advice to my readers, never dedicate your life to working. It will rot you from the inside out and burn you out faster than you can believe. Especially if you work factory. I'm glad I quit that hell and am not in a much more stable and enjoyable profession. More time to myself and my cats. I'll leave this here and edit more later when I find the motivation. Will incorporate a few elements from the Spider-verse series (not just because I love that movie), once again I will be going back to edit the early chapters to incorporate the super collider and explain Alice's sudden appearance. Rereading that chapter a dozen times, that is one thing that has bugged me. On a side note, no idea if the BFG will be effective against the Flood or not. For the sake of the fanfic and it being cool as fuck, let's roll with it. Until next time readers.

~Dgreen20