Noble Team trudged forth through a marshy area almost half a day out from their RV Point. Six had taken the lead, rifle in hand and knee-deep in the muddy water. Her eyes stuck on her Motion Tracker, she trudged forward, with her team close behind. Jorge had had to lift his Machine Gun over his head to haul it without getting it wet. The Nobles had, otherwise, remained quiet on the trip over the marshy grounds.
At least until Six raised her balled fist to show a halt. She racked the bolt of her DMR and knelt until the water-line reached her waist, taking cover behind a thick cypress tree, as did Jorge and the others. The others' Motion Trackers finally picked up what Six had spotted:about a dozen unknowns moving dead ahead. The Spartan gave three hand signals toward her team lead, 'Humanoid', 'Armed' and 'Uniformed'.
Indeed, the Spartans eyed a bunch of people wearing black and white uniforms, with bone masks, trudging through the same marshland they were trudging through. Some of them carried sealed and reinforced boxes and canisters, so that would probably keep them out of combat for the better part of the first few seconds if the team decided to ambush them.
Still, Noble Six listened in, with One and Two joining her at the front, in her cover. One of two members carrying a box, a female, whined, her voice gravelly, "Gods, why do we have to crawl through this cesspool? This stuff's bound to be chock-full of the worst kinda diseases out there... And the hell's a swamp even doing this close to Vale?" while her comrades kept their eyes open.
"Whine on, Grau... Ain't gonna help any of us..." Replied the seeming leader of the platoon, one armed with a weird, boxy rifle, "Base's not far now."
"Hope so, boss," Replied the girl, "The weight this Grav Dust has is fucking killing my back."
"Hey, chill a little, Silva. We'll be home before long," Her box-carrying partner, one with what looked to be horse's ears poking through his hood, stated, "Say, anyone had time to interrogate that human we caught?" He then inquired. He was also armed. Pistol in a holster on his hip, Six soon noticed, "She hasn't given us the access codes to her gunship yet, has she?"
"Banesaw's working on it," the officer replied, "Would do us good to let him be. Taurus trusts the man as his interrogator, after all."
"I'd spill the beans too, if some motherfucker with a Chainsword was sitting in front of me, revving that thing eternally. No offense to the man, but his shtick's being a scary bastard and it's clear it's working," A third soldier, this one a female carrying an ax and with a long, lizard-like tail and lizard scales on her exposed arms, stated, garnering a few chuckles out of the lot. Except the team leader, of course.
Another stated, "If anyone's crazy enough to be friends with Taurus, he's bound to have a screws loose."
"That's enough," The commander warned, "Commander Taurus does what he thinks is best. Whether we like it or not is inconclusive to the fact the man has openly brought more change in Vale than any other staff officer directly under Lady Khan. And his Lieutenants are well-picked..." Truth be told, everyone knew the woman was afraid she'd be the one that Taurus killed in the next fit of rage if the man heard the entire gang talking shit.
"Right... Sorry, boss..." Laughed the girl, 'Silva'.
"So... Animal traits..." Kat whispered, racking the bolt of her pistol and looking to her teammates, "And they captured a human with a gunship..."
"Commander?" Six looked over to Carter, who was considering their options as the little patrol moved forward. He hummed, watching the demi-humans moving ever forward as flies and cicadas buzzed around their ears, sounds barely filtered by the helmet. Each of these seeming militiamen had a scarlet symbol on their backs:the head of a panther with three claw marks behind it.
Carter nodded, "Pursue at a distance, Noble. We're tailing them to their base and liberating ourselves that Gunship and the pilot, whomever they may be. Perhaps they're one of ours, perhaps not. Eitherway, it'd beat walking all the way to the RV point," And multiple emerald lights winked on his HUD, confirmation from his teammates. He motioned forward, to maintain an advance through the deeper parts of the swamp for the lighter members of the team:Kat and Six, while the rest of them would follow along at a distance, from the shallow parts.
"Well," Kat hummed, "Seal your suit, Six. We may need to go diving, depending on how deep the place is," She then stated, getting a nod out of Noble Six. The girl readied her own rifle and activated the suit's high-quality seals, meant to keep the air inside of the MJOLNIR armor in case of decompression and, in cases such as this, keep water out of the suit itself.
The team split up, with Emile stacking his explosive grenades into whatever pocket he could find that could be made airtight, just so that the forty-mike-mike shells wouldn't be too wet for use. Sure, the UNSC had found ways to make the stuff waterproof a while ago, but it was not worth the risk to him, especially since his single-shot launcher was with Jorge, in the man's backpack, so it wasn't getting wet any time.
The team took their respective positions, Kat and Six following closest to the patrol of a dozen hostile 'White Fang' soldiers. Both female Spartans kept their guns over the waterline as it started to reach their chest-height. They were moving even slower due to the mud below their feet, while their enemy seemed to be moving on a more elevated bit of ground, uneven as it was. Still, they kept up while the rest of the team went for the wide flank.
A quarter of an hour of tailing the enemy and avoiding their gazes and the Spartans had made it to the outskirts of what seemed to be a bunch of bungalows raised high above the water on stilts and pillars of concrete and wood. To the far left, there was a small landing pad with two aircraft on it. One was a rounded, fat, ugly thing with thin wings that looked like they'd rip apart at the least amount of stress. The other...
The other was a very familiar design to the Spartans. A D77-TC Pelican, the workhorse transport of the UNSC, sat there, armed with several tubes of missiles and even a gatling gun in the nose. The moment Six reported it, Noble rallied up around her and Kat. She pointed at the transport aircraft, bearing writing on its side. Echo Four-One-Niner. Noble somewhat recognized the numbers.
"Alright..." Sighed Carter, watching the enemy patrol enter the buildings with the strange package, then he ordered calmly, "Noble, fall back. We'll make a plan and hit the place in the evening. Four, get me a number on our ammo situation, three, scope out the encampment in the night. Six, two, five, let's go find a platform or something to set up on for the wait."
Everyone's status lights winked green. They clambered out of the swampier area and onto a bit of dry high ground, where the full sight of how dirty their kit had gotten finally came to them. Up to their midsection, the Spartans' armors were colored a deep, dark brown thanks to the mud within the swamp itself. Water dripped down onto the untainted brown soil they now walked on.
Jun clambered onto a tree with thick enough branches to support the weight of his armor and perched his gun onto a pair of branches that split off from the main, scoping in the camp with the rifle's thermal sight mode. Carter and the others, meanwhile, sat themselves down under the shade of the tree as the sun began to set. Carter watched Noble Six check her kit.
"You okay, Carter?" Kat asked as she crawled up to him.
"I'm fine," Replied the man absentmindedly, "You? I saw some mud in the servos of your arm."
"I cleaned it," Kat quipped, then looked to Six and said "It's like she's reverted back to her old self."
"You heard her. She died alone," Carter replied, looking over the woman's own ammo.
"Yeah..." Kat sighed, taking her helmet off and taking a deep breath of the musty swamp air. She scowled, disgusted at the scent, then offered, "It was nice of the village elder to point us in the right direction."
"It was," Carter conceded, "Especially considering the fact we came in there armed."
"Would it have hurt him to spare some food, though...?" Emile quipped behind them, carving into the hard wood of the massive tree with his knife, "Figured we'd need at least something to chow on while we're making the run to Vale," And indeed, they could've at least shared some food, but Carter understood. Not a lot of food to go around in a small town like that, he imagined.
"What's your ammo count, Emile?" He asked, avoiding the discussion.
"Fifteen slugs and around ten buck, plus a half-full mag in the Shotgun. Still got about two dozen frag grenades for my launcher," The team's CQC-favoring fourth member replied rather dully for his personality, then quipped rather maliciously, "Maybe we can yoink some of the stuff from the tree-house bunch," as he finished his carving, that of a skull and the Noble Team symbol below it. He sheathed his Kukri.
"Everyone else?" Carter retorted.
"Six still has five and a half mags for her DMR, two more for her AR. Three has one mag, plus one in the gun for his sniper and the big man's down to a fourth of his ammo too. Gonna have to go brawler if you don't want us to waste ammo on the Fang bunch," Emile replied, arranging his kit. Carter nodded, then looked up at Jun, to see him looking at them.
The night began to fall over the section of the planet they were on. Jun reported as the sun began to set, "I've accounted for about two dozen hostiles, plus two unmoving heat sigs in a bungalow in the far back... Could be the pilot and co-pilot of the bird, sir," Jun explained, slowly climbing down to Kat and Carter, both of whom had shared one of the last MREs while Emile, Jorge and Six shared the second. Six looked over to Jun, her helmet off her head and her face obscured by a shadow. She tossed the sniper an MRE pack. He nodded, then said "Thanks."
"Don't thank me..." She said, almost whispered, "You're gonna have to share with the rest of the team."
"Right..." Jun chuckled, "So, boss, a Pelican... Think the pilot's alright?"
"Well, you have their heat sigs, so I'm going to assume that they and their co-pilot are still alive, at the very least..." Carter replied, standing up, "Everyone, gather up. We're preparing the plan now. I want every detail squared away. Those bungalows look thin enough for the bullets to punch right through, so I'd rather we didn't lose our pilot and co-pilot for the trip home."
"Sir," The entire team jumped to their feet. Moments later, they had a plan squared away. Jorge would take Emile and the two would climb onto and secure the Landing Pad while Jun provided cover from a nearby tree. Carter, Kat and Six would take the rescue mission on, stealth. Knives and fists only. No gunfire until the pilot and co-pilot were secured and back at the ship... Or if the refuse hit the fan.
Another day, another calm patrol tour on Beacon. John had found himself alone again this time, since Penny had noted she desired to talk to her father about... Something... Still, the Spartan returned home with Cortana humming in his ears as she had finished squaring away the very last briefing file about Remnant. Well, the last important tidbits anyways. Chief was fully aware of most of the surface knowledge needed not to be a complete bore in any conversation.
He entered the house, to find Penny and Ruby, surprisingly enough, chatting. Huh, the little red ridinghood must've snuck past him, or evaded his patrol. Both girls turned to greet the Spartan and both beamed at him. Ruby jumped on her feet and said, "Hey, Dylan! Sorry for barging in, but I just wanted to come talk to Penny for a bit while you were away. That alright?"
"I don't see a problem," Replied the Spartan calmly.
Penny beamed at that, while Ruby asked, "So! Didya think of a name for the old girl?" And she jabbed a finger at the magnetic rifle on his back. He hummed, drawing it, removing the magazine and emptying the chamber, before setting it on the table to his left. He actually hadn't had much time to think about it. Outside a few legendary medieval weapons and some mythological things, not much came to him.
"Hey, Chief? I may've found a name, though it may seem a bit... Pompous," Cortana chuckled. So spoke the girl named after a sword herself. He hummed and Cortana took it as 'go on', to which she did. She spoke, "Look, I know you're not big on ancient mythos and stuff like that, but I do think that Caliburn could be a pretty good name. I mean... I know your weapon isn't a sword, it's a mace that turns into a Mag Rifle, but..."
"It's good..." He replied to Cortana, for only her and him to hear, before turning his mic on again and stating, "I think I'll go with Caliburn."
"Wow... That's actually ancient vernacular, but cool!" Ruby seemed giddy, grinning from ear to ear, "Where'd you come up with it?"
"Off the top of my head," The Spartan quipped, garnering a chuckle out of Cortana.
Ruby nodded, "Cool!" before a ding echoed from the kitchen. She beamed, then excitedly jumped, "Ooh! Penny! They're ready! Imma go grab them!" And, before either of the two pseudo-owners of the campus house could say anything, Ruby had left a trail of petals to the kitchen. Penny looked to Chief, smiling awkwardly, before averting her gaze from his and rubbing the back of her neck.
"I'm sorry I could not join you today for the patrol either, Dylan, but I had to have a talk with my father," She looked to him, two piercing emerald eyes staring right into the visor and into his own eyes, "And the General asked to speak with me too, afterward, so it was quite a busy day... I hope patrolling alone has not been a bother. I promise I will find something we can do together tomorrow! We still need to build cohesion!"
"It's no problem, Penny. And I understand. Do what you need to do," Chief replied, then he sighed. He did enjoy the relative peace and quiet, he was not going to lie, but he wouldn't say that to Penny's face. He felt like it'd break her poor heart and, for some reason, he hated even remotely entertaining that idea. Her beaming smile, however, changed the tone of his mind and his thoughts to more pleasant ones.
"You two really need to become more buddy-buddy, y'know, John? You're living together, after all. Plus, she seems like a nice girl," Cortana quipped. John gave an approving hum, before watching as Ruby bolted into the room on a trail of rose petals and magical red things, a tray of round sweets with chocolate chip in her hands. The little weapon nut smirked, setting the tray down on the table, next to the newly-minted Caliburn.
"My dear Master Chief Petty Officer Braun, I, Ruby Rose, strawberry connoisseur, weaponsmith and Huntress extraordinaire, alongside my lovely ginger assistant, Penny Polendina, have made the ultimate sweet, scrumptious and delicious delicacy to ever grace Remnant!" The Rose went all purple-prosey for a moment, trying to sound epic by trying-and cutely failing-to make her voice sound like that of an adult.
Penny chuckled at her friends antics as John looked over the tray, with a giggling Cortana in his head. He raised a brow, then asked "Chocolate chip... Cookies...?" almost dumbfound. Sure, his heart fluttered for a moment since he had no recollection of ever eating these things, nor how they tasted, but still. Ruby's smile grew almost tenfold, metaphorically speaking, as she breathed in, then out, taking in the seemingly wonderful scent of the food.
"Yup, my good sir!" She spoke, a fake cockney accent, before noting "The sweetest, crunchiest and most delicious sugary treat mankind has ever invented! One that goes great with milk, too! Ooh, speaking of!" She dashed back into the kitchen, then came back out, setting another tray, this one with three cups of steaming milk onto the table. Proud, Ruby declared "Let us feast, lady and gentleman!"
John paused.
"... Oh, come off it, Chief. I know what you're thinking, 'I have to take off my helmet for this'. Yes," Cortana started, "Yes, you do. The girls made you some sweets, for the love of god. Don't be rude."
"Uh..." He wanted to retort about the fact that they couldn't exactly speak while the helmet was off.
"Nope." Cortana smirked, "No buts on this one, John. I'll be fine for all of a few minutes of you eating the stuff. I felt that little spike in your heartrate and I know you wanna try them, so don't even try to bloody deny it... Now, go on, take your helmet off and enjoy. I'll just do my thing in here and track our buddies' arrivals while you eat. Not long until they reach us now, anyway. And you do need to show your face, 'member? May make it easier to switch to a uniform as per Oz and Penny's request."
"Right..." John sighed in defeat, aware he could not change his partner's mind once she was set on something and resigning to doing as asked. The two girls looked at him expectantly as they sat themselves down at the table, Ruby most of all. Two silver eyes stared at the Spartan as if they expected him to stare right back at them. His hands wrapped around the helmet's outer layer, garnering a gasp from the girls as he thumbed something and disengaged the suit's seals with a long, hard hiss. He took his helmet off of his head, sliding it under his arm and garnering blushes out of both the girls.
Noticing the initial reactions-mouths agape, eyes wide, pupils dilated and their cheeks tinted a deeper shade of red than normal-John wondered what could've gotten them to react like that. He lifted up his helmet to look into the reflective visor and saw his face... De-aged by about 30 bloody years, but still bearing the same battle-scars he wore on his tired face, the young Johnathan, Spartan-117, stared at himself. Deep blue eyes, tinted a different color by the orange of the helmet, brown hair that'd been shaved to near the skin and a strong jawline accentuated by his much younger features reminded John that, yes, he had indeed regressed wholesomely in age.
"Right..." He murmured, trying to figure out what his own face could garner that reaction as the sweet scent of the baked goods assaulted his nostrils. He sat himself down, though very gently onto what seemed to be a chair made of metal. He hoped it'd hold the combined weight of soldier and armor as he settled himself into place and thought that, yes, he would need to change into an uniform, if only not to have to replace the furniture every time he wanted to sit down. He looked to the two as the cookies seemed to cool, before asking, "Are you okay, girls?"
That seemed to snap'em out of it. Ruby nodded, "O-Oh, yeah, we're fine! Sorry!"
"Indeed," Penny nodded, though her voice was more meek. She picked up her milk and swirled it around, before asking, "So, how was the patrol today?"
"Quiet as it was in the rest of the days," He stated, picking up his own cup of milk gently enough not to break it.
"Well," Ruby smirked, the blush slowly vanishing from her cheeks, "Let's dig in, you two! They're best when fresh outta the oven!" And with that, she nabbed the first cookie off the tray and bit down into it. A visible shiver ran up the girl's spine as her cheeks grew red once more, but for what one would assume a different reason. Penny bit into the cookie as well, a smile on her face, then took a sip of her milk.
"Sho good..." Ruby mumbled, before swallowing whole the half-cookie she had bitten into. She looked to John, smiling and watching him as he looked the round cookie over. After a moment of contemplation, John relented and bit into it. With wide eyes, the Spartan chewed and stared at the half-eaten cookie in his hands. It was as if childhood memories came flooding back, such a familiar taste and scent it was.
He blinked, then, with little regard for both guests and others, scarfed down the cookie like a hungry pup. Both Penny and Ruby chuckled and the red-ridinghood asked "Hey, Dylan, you okay? I never saw someone so quickly eat a cookie."
"I'm fine..." John replied, taking a sip of his milk and acting like he didn't just take two more cookies when nobody looked. Penny giggled at that.
"Alright..." Ruby smirked, "It's almost like you never had cookies."
To be fair, John 'remembered' having them, but... Not properly, "I think it has been long enough that I didn't remember the taste."
Ruby gasped, "Gods, that's sad! Well, you let me or Yang know and we'll bake more when we do some for our team!" Then she looked to Penny and asked "What about ya, Penny?"
"They are quite filling. The 50% sugar content and the dough are adequate and the cocoa in the home-made chocolate chips sprinkled evenly and perfectly over 20% of the cookies adds a certain distinctive aroma that-" She paused, noticing the concerned, almost spooked stare from Ruby(the only person who knew the truth about her) and the surprised one from Chief, before quickly course-correcting and stating "I-I mean it's VERY GOOD, Ruby! Absolutely scrumptious! I am, of course, unable to analyze it to such a depth beyond taste! Hehe! HIC"
She'd hiccupped.
When stressed?
Huh.
"Right," John hummed, "Shall we?"
Both girls smiled. After a while, the fourty-odd Cookies Ruby had somehow managed to bake in the relatively tiny oven of their house had been scarfed down and even John sat, laid back and suppressing a smile as his stomach was full of the sugary treats. It hit him again, that he was in another world. An honest-to-god different reality to his own, perhaps, if not close to one. A world full of humans, of the Faunus and of the creatures of Grimm. It was like a new start for him.
"That was great..." Ruby laid back, smiling contently and rubbing her belly while Penny sat perked up, smiling and tilting her head from left to right, seemingly happy that the Spartan and Ruby got along and found even more common ground. Ruby stood up, dusted herself off and then said, "Well, sorry you two, but I do gotta go. Yang's probably gonna be calling soon, asking why I'm late... Please, nobody tell her we just had a whole batch of cookies."
"I will not tell your sister," Penny smiled.
"You don't need to worry, Ruby," John waved it off. Ruby beamed, thanked them with a quick bow, then dashed out of the place, slamming the door shut behind her. Penny giggled heartily at her friend's antics before looking to John and noticing even the slightest bit of contentment in between the blank expressions on his face. He looked to her now, their gazes meeting and the young robot blushed, looking away again.
"So..." He started, straightening up, "What do you have in mind for that team-building exercise?"
"Oh?" Penny raised a brow, "I have yet to decide on one thing, but I have sent several proposals to your scroll... And to the Headmaster, provided he wishes to allow us to train."
"I see," He nodded. He could use a bit more combat. He felt like he was getting rusty, "No more sparring?"
Penny smiled, "Perhaps after tomorrow, yes?"
"Okay," John nodded. From there, the discussion devolved into normal small-talk that lasted for about an hour, about friends, tech, that kind of thing, with Penny skirting around different subjects she didn't find comfortable, or so John thought from her reactions(One of the subjects was about the General's orders to relocate her). Chief had set himself a proper sleep schedule so he wouldn't wake tired and go to bed even more so. He intended to keep it. After a few more minutes of talk, he offered Penny a quick 'good night', before standing up, taking his rifle and helmet and walking to his bedroom.
There, he slid his helmet back onto his head...
To the sounds of a laughing Cortana...
Apparently she'd, among other things, considered his reaction to the cookies 'adorable'...