In another part of town, Kurt and Colleen provided overwatch to Junior's Club, as it was seemingly known, as night began to fall on the city. The pistoleer Spartan watched as patrons started filtering into the place just as a motorcycle arrived. She raised a brow, then elbowed Kurt and pointed to the yellow speedster which had two passengers. She hummed, then said "Looks like one of the kids John described to us."
"Yeah," The man nodded, hefting his carbine, "She's striding into the place like she owns it..."
"And the guy behind her's following like a lost puppy," Colleen chuckled, "We going in? Or we waiting for the Chief?" She then asked as she drew her twin sidearms, watching the two Huntsmen stroll in behind the door. Followed by a bunch of guys in black and red suits scrambling out of the place, their weapons visible as they ran. Colleen hummed, then checked her ammo.
"ALCON," John's voice echoed over the com, "Be advised. Members of a Huntress-in-training team from Beacon, known as team RWBY, are out and about with two other exchange students. Sam has just reported in from his own assigned portion of the mission after I and Foe Hammer picked him up. If you see any members of team RWBY, join and assist to the best of your abilities. Chief out."
"Make sure you say hello to them first," Cortana quipped, "We'll see you at the RV point. Gotta pick up a few stragglers beforehand, though."
"Roger," Kurt replied, standing to his feet. Colleen followed, with the two of them jumping down and joining the crowd just as the snap-crack of an explosive echoed. The fact that neither they nor that explosion drew much attention attested to the weird diversity of the crowd, which included off-duty Atlas troopers, as they entered it. As they walked down the stairwell to the main area, they saw the bulkhead door. A scorch mark remained from the blast.
"Damn..." Colleen murmured, looking over the dent. A guard wanted to stop the two, but chose to ignore that idea as he saw the two Spartans were about a head over him in height and twice the muscle. The two looked over to the bar in the club while patrons danced and drank on. The blondie was right there with the blue-haired guy, talking to Junior. Slowly, the two approached the meetup, with Junior now noticing them.
"... Did you bring friends, Blondie?" He asked, his voice cracking.
The blonde girl raised a brow, looking to Neptune. She saw him just as surprised as Junior, if not as frightened. Looking over to her left, she smirked as she saw them, then said, "Yo! Didn't know Chief and his friends knew about Junior's place!" with the warmest personality that Colleen had seen so far out of anyone beside Kurt and Samuel. Sure, the girl had a bubbly, almost fiery personality and air about her, while the dude behind him seemed cool enough.
Kurt and Colleen looked to one-another, then back to the blonde. She smirked, then said, "Right, we probs haven't met each-other since both of you look new. I'm Yang, Yang Xiao-Long. Pretty sure Dylan must'a told you folks about me and my teammates-" And a ringtone stopped her in her tracks. She pulled out her Scroll, looked over it, then said, "Ooh. Speaking of, that's my sis calling me. Gimme a sec, all of you."
She stepped away to take the call while Kurt looked over to Junior, then asked, "Hey, pal."
"Yeah?" The man looked to the armored fellow ahead of him with concern.
Kurt leaned toward him and said, "I understand you may know a lot about the underground. I and my friend here need a certain type of info..." And he looked to the man's guards, all of whom were armed with seemingly modern firearms. Bullpups, scoped rifles, hand cannons, stuff like that. He hummed, then looked to Junior again and said, "My friends call me Ambrose, by the way."
"Junior," He nodded, more at ease as he saw the Spartan talking to him peer-to-peer more than... Human to bug? He didn't know his relationship with Blondie at this point, but he was pretty sure that, even without saying it, he was the girl's bitch at this point. That or her information terminal. He crossed his arms, then said, "What kind of info may you be looking for, mister Ambrose?"
"Nothing major," Kurt shrugged, "Location of Dust shipments that are going missing, PMC weapons caches disappearing, said PMC's staff disappearing, too... You know, the usual," Then he straightened up and revealed his own Lien as if out of thin air. Colleen looked to Kurt, giving him an approving nod. She recalled having worked for some kind of underground network on what was probably her home colony when she was young, so this was kind of up her alley.
"Hmm..." Junior looked over the Lien, cupping his own chin in a thinker's pose. Even without the unspoken threat of getting his bones broken by the tall, buff pair over here, the Lien the man had at hand was pretty appetizing, but still. No reason to not try and extort a bit more, right? "I may have that info if you have a bit more cash... Or a guarantee. Some of this stuff could get my head served on a platter to the higher ranks..."
"Oh?" Kurt raised a brow, even thought it went unnoticed behind the polarized visor.
"Yeah," The man nodded, "You're asking me to reveal another client's information. One that's a bit deeper in this mess that is Vale's underworld than I am," He then explained, crossing his arms to his chest. "A few measly Lien won't do any good to me if they find out I'm the rat who turned in this intel, you catch my cold?" and he saw the man nod.
"I get you," Kurt straightened up, "That shouldn't be a problem, though..."
"Take it you folks are hired by Beacon?" He raised a brow, "Or are you Atlas Sec?"
"It's one of those two, alright," Kurt chuckled, Colleen giggling behind him, "But we can vouch for your protection... As for cash? How about a deal in regards to Intel, then? Some... Four, five hundred Lien for you a month to provide us any intel we may find interesting? Add to that protection in the form of one of our comrades during the evenings, as an added bouncer."
"Pff. What's one of you gonna do in here?" The man snorted.
"You really underestimate us," Kurt hummed, "Not a good idea, that."
"Okay... Prove to me one of yours would be worth the intel and me asking below a thousand Lien a month for intel deliveries," Junior replied like a shrewd businessman would. Kurt smirked again behind his helmet, showed him to wait by raising an index and cuing his com. Colleen tuned it out as he had started talking to the Chief about sharing info. She sighed, turning to the kid with blue hair.
"Well, you certainly look like something..." She stated, looking over the man. Scruffy, short blue hair with shaved sides, aviator goggles, a scarlet jacket with short sleeves, black armored gloves, a white undershirt, jeans with a chain on the right and some padding over the thighs and what looked like some form of folded-up RemTech rifle on his back. The boy stared on, surprised at her.
Junior, meanwhile, asked, "Wait, you're a woman?"
"Always have been, Junior," She snidely replied. She straightened up, crossing her arms to her chest, before noting, "So, our compatriots went to take their phone calls..."
"Kind of rude," Joked the boy, "I'm Neptune, by the way."
"Colleen," She replied, "In case you cared."
"That's an interesting name." The boy remarked, "Not from around the bend...?"
"You could say that," She replied before hearing footsteps. She saw both Yang and Kurt had finished their chatter, approaching the counter once more. Yang crossed her arms, grinning ear-to-ear as she looked over to Colleen. The woman hummed, then asked calmly, "Take it your sister was already joined by one of ours?" to which she got a confirming nod.
The trio then waited for Kurt to finish up the chatter with Junior. The conversation ended with Kurt explaining about one of the first missions these boys and girls undertook for Ozpin:the elimination of that White Fang base on the outskirts of the city. Yang had heard about it from Blake, how something or other swung by that FOB and outright killed everyone inside. The highway patrol that found the abandoned station were met by surprised WF operatives who did not even get to open fire before they were arrested... And the corpses of their compatriots, found.
So, it was their new classmates. Yang knew they were old Special Ops types from their Kingdom, but she never imagined they'd be the ones to put down a White Fang base with that much ferocity. She offered a smile to Kurt and Colleen, then said, "You two gonna be joining us on searching for info on the Fang? Blakey may appreciate the help, no matter who it's coming from."
"I'm sure she would... Let's get ready to move, then." Kurt looked to Colleen, "We need to find a ride or something..."
Cal and Daisy had been in the industrial area for a while at this point, supervising the area and tracking local Faunus who seemed to be congregating in one spot. Yet again, sat on the roofs, the Sniper and her Spotter/CQC companion seemed to have locked onto a single, abandoned warehouse building among the forests of pipes, smoke-stacks and concrete stalks that served no apparent purpose beyond support struts.
Cal sighed, eyes locked down the scope of her rifle, which had been switched to thermal. She spoke, "Yup. There must be two hundred of them in there, tops... We got any charges to blow that joint wide open...?" and she turned to Daisy, watching as the girl spun a single, medium-sized brick of C12 plastic explosives. Tilting her head, confused, Cal asked "How did you-..." before shaking her head, "You know what, nevermind... Just be ready to blow it apart the moment we go in to break up the meet... Huh?"
She linked her sniper's scope to Daisy's helmet wirelessly, then scoped in another rooftop. A building on the opposite end of the 'road', which was more a narrow alley that barely fit a truck inside it, two figures sat. A black-haired girl with a bow and a pair of swords on her back and a blonde boy with a tail and his abs out. Cal rolled her eyes, then said "Two. Staking out the place, like us."
"Think they're..." Daisy squinted, her visor allowing her to zoom in, "Yep. That's the Belladonna girl. Blake."
"Who's tall, blonde and buff over there, though?" Cal hummed, "Call coming in. Chief."
"ALCON, be advised. Members of a Huntress-in-training team from Beacon, known as team RWBY, are out and about with two other exchange students. Sam has just reported in from his own assigned portion of the mission after I and Foe Hammer picked him up. If you see any members of team RWBY, join and assist to the best of your abilities. Chief out."
"Make sure you say hello to them first," Cortana quipped, "We'll see you at the RV point. Gotta pick up a few stragglers beforehand, though."
"You gotta tell me how you do that," Daisy smirked, drawing her assault rifle off her back, "We going in to help?" while Cal seemed to eye them. The two jumped off the roof, moving to the rear of the building. Cal stood up, sliding her weapon on her back, then showed Daisy to follow. The two trailed the Huntress-in-Training and her comrade. Approaching, Cal noticed the bodyguard by the door and... Blake's... Cat ears... They took a pair of Grimm-like masks that the Fang seemed to wear all the time and entered.
She sighed, shaking her head, then said, "Daze, sorry, but you're gonna have to wait this one out. I'll give you the signal to blow open a wall for an escape route."
"W-wha?! Why!?" The girl whispered angrily.
"Only Faunus. They'd sniff you out the moment you got in and took your helmet off," Cal replied, motioning to the other masked gathering recruits. Daisy rolled her eyes and acquiesced silently, motioning to the roof as if telling Cal she'd be waiting up there. The Sniper nodded, letting Daisy disappear behind the buildings before approaching the guard. He turned to face her, seemingly ready to start shit, before freezing as he saw how tall the woman was.
Cal undid the seal of her helmet and removed it, sliding it under her arm. Her wolf ears twitched and a predatory smirk appeared as she stared down at the short guard. He shakily motioned for her to enter after handing her her mask. Cal stepped inside with the other, shocked recruits before sliding her helmet on her head and moving to track Blake and her friend.
Finding them among the crowd, she set her hands on their shoulders, lightly startling both of them and garnering looks of surprise. Cal nodded to them, then knelt to be at their height and said, "Chief told us you'd need backup..." before noticing the tarp on stage, covering something massive, and the ultra-buff dude speaking in a thick, movie-star bodybuilder-like accent to the crowd of gathered Fangers and new recruits.
"Were you trailing us?" Blake whispered.
"No," The woman replied, "We were staking out the same place you were..."
"Huh. Talk about luck..." The blonde boy quipped, smiling.
"We were supposed to be taking this alone," Blake corrected, then looked up to Cal, "Also... 'us'?"
"Daisy's waiting outside for my signal to blow a wall open..." Cal replied, then she looked up as she saw a ginger man with a bowler hat, cane and fancy white and black suit step onto the stage, grinning with a cigar between his lips. Behind him, a small woman with a parasol and the color scheme of Neapolitan ice cream, which Cal had seen in a store not too long ago.
Some of the people seemed to protest the man's presence as he started speaking to them, but Blake said, "Torchwick... I never thought..."
"That a Faunus supremacist group would work with a criminal to further their own goals?" Cal replied, staring dead at the man. Blake looked up to her, probably glaring from behind the mask. Cal shrugged, "Sorry, kid... It is what it is..." before focusing on the man on the stage. He grinned at them, saying something about 'some new toys' before pulling the tarp clean off of it.
"... Oh, that's just great..." Cal then murmured.
A massive, bipedal combat mechanoid sat on the stage, its twin arms carrying some sort of directed energy weapons, cannons and armored fists, with heavy plating and a square look. Atop its back, it had MLR systems which were shielded by a layer of armor plate of some kind. Cal definitely didn't like the look of that thing, so, while the man kept rambling on about how he hated humans, being one of them, and somesuch other crap including stuff about how they yoinked some dozen of these mechs before they hit the shelves, Cal looked to the girl and boy and said, "Best be ready to run..." Before lighting up a waypoint on her HUD and tapping her mic twice.
Seeing Daisy's IFF move toward the wall, she drew her sidearm and shot... A fuse box. The lights within the building died, with Cal's VISR mode kicking in as she picked up Blake and the boy and rushed toward the wall. An explosion rumbled across the building and fragments of concrete and glass pinged off her plating as she charged forward. Daisy hefted her assault rifle and its chatter filled the hall.
"Hell of a bloody exit, Cal!" Daze yelled, "Ya got the kids, I see!"
"Yeah, but bad news!" She called out as she heard the powering hydraulics of a mech. Blake and Sun shook themselves free and started running, trying to keep pace with the two Spartans as the Robot barreled out of the building, breaking another part of the wall that Daisy had blown up. Daisy yelped, stumbling as she turned to fire her Assault Rifle before quickening her pace as she saw the bullets harmlessly pinging off the plating.
"I CAN SEE. HOLY CRAP, IT'S BIG!" The blonde replied worriedly, "YOU TWO WERE GONNA GO AT THIS ALONE!?"
"We wanted to get out with the intel, but...!" Blake yelped as a plasma boulder struck behind them, "Well..."
"C-Can't you three summon some form of backup?!" The blonde boy complained as they ran. Cal rolled her eyes, flicking on her com again and setting it to a distress signal the Spartans were familiar with. A three-tone beep echoed as Blake also called the rest of her team on the Scroll while they ran, clambering to rooftops and running across them as they tried to dodge the massive mechanoid.
Aboard the gunship, both John and Sam heard the beep of the distress call and saw Ruby lifting her Scroll up to her ear. To the man's left, a familiar Marine sat, a pearly-white grin on his face and a shotgun in hand. His comrades were there too, Assault Rifles, Battle Rifles and SPnKr(Spanker) rocket launchers at the ready. The man spoke to Foe Hammer, "Make for the pickups and let's get everyone else. Sounds like Cal and Daisy are going to need all the help they can get."
"Aye aye, Chief!" Foe Hammer saluted quickly.
"We goin' in?" The man asked, his voice somewhat younger than the Chief remembered.
"Hard," Chief replied. He hid a smile behind his helmet while Cortana, as happy as she was, continued to track their comrades.
He racked his shotgun, "You heard the man, Marines! Lock'n'Load!"
Back with our intrepid two-huntsman, two-Spartan team, they had reached the highway and were currently jumping from car to car like some sick game of leapfrog, trying to dodge the behemoth war machine that was stolen from the Atlas military while, at the same time, trying to reduce civilian casualties. Cal swore to herself, bouncing from one car to the other, then looked to Blake and stated, "This could've gone better!"
"You think!?" The black-haired girl stated as she pounced on another car.
Daisy joined Sun on the back of a semi, drawing her assault rifle and letting loose whole mag into the mechanoid that was running at them like a bull. The rounds sparked off the plating, causing her to swear, "FUCK!" before standing to her feet and adding, "It must be like I'm firing bugs into its windshield at this point! And I spent the C12 on that freaking wall!"
"We didn't think they'd have a Mech, Daze," Cal replied annoyedly, joining her and Sun on the semi and drawing her sniper.
"Hang tight!" Blake ordered as she jumped onto their truck. She then spoke into her scroll, "Do it!"
A wave of ice froze the road ahead, with Cal and Daisy tracking the source to Weiss Schnee. The semi they were on braked hard as they held onto it, with the Mech barreling past them and skidding onto the thick layer of Dust-made ice, tumbling onto one side and through one of the safety fields separating this level of the highway from a nasty case of multiple fatal accidents.
Blake met Weiss, a smile on her face as she said, "Thanks..."
"I see you brought Spartans along, too," Weiss smirked, watching as the emerald hull of a Pelican swung in, its engines roaring in tune with the roar of a bike engine. The two huntresses of team RWBY saw Yang arriving with Neptune, jumping over the side to track the mechanoid with a grin on her face. The group still on the higher level joined their comrades down below, between the rows and forests of concrete pillars holding the myriad of viaducts above them into place as the Mech stumbled to his feet.
Sun stared at it, stating, "It's still up!?"
"It's a Mech, man," Daisy replied, racking the bolt of her assault rifle. The ground rumbled as the Chief dropped next to them, his mag rifle at the ready, while Ruby and Sam also joined him. From aboard the bird, gunfire raked the position where the Paladin stood, giving the team a full show of NOBLE's presence in the area, including Jorge's superheavy machine gun.
"Atlas Paladin..." John voiced, staring at the towering machine of war as it started targeting them. "Ruby. First strike's your team's. We'll hit him as we move."
The Rose grinned as she ordered, "Alright, you heard the man! Freezerburn!"
Chief and the others took a step back, with the Spartan tracking the enemy mech via the rifle's scope. He watched as a sheet of ice formed over the concrete, with the bang of Ember Celica echoing behind him. He saw Yang dancing through the air, spinning and pushing herself toward the ground with the blast of her gauntlets. A slam of the fist into the ground and a wave of fog washed the battlefield.
Tracking lasers emanated from the machine's sensor suites, giving the Chief a clear sight of where it was. He thumbed the safety off his gun and set it to half-power. Squeezing the trigger, the air electrified around him as the fin-stabilized round left the barrel at supersonic velocity, punching into one of the arm servos on the right and sending the Mech staggering.
Team RWBY scattered among the smog, as did his team, with multiple rounds pelting the mech from every direction. Cortana spoke, "Trying to get into the Paladin's mainframe and shut it down... It's linked to the CCTS system, but it's got some firewalls in its main software... Specs:Two plasma guns, two gatling cannons, both attached to the hydraulic arms. Two twelve-pod missile launchers on the back. Extensive sensor suite able to see in everything from thermal to heartbeat tracking..."
"That's just the Prototype, isn't it?" John asked as he, too, repositioned when a boulder of plasma from one of the thing's cannons struck and melted the position he had been in.
"Yup..." Cortana replied, "Mendoza, do you copy?"
"Loud'n'clear, ma'am," The Marine replied, his voice younger, shaky.
"Put a couple missiles onto that thing the moment you can," She ordered. Chief looked to her as the Marine replied affirmatively and she answered his unspoken question, "It's the older model. Tracking capabilities..." to which the Spartan rolled his eyes. As the mist began to dissipate, Ruby charged in, slashing at the machine's legs with impunity while the Spartan aimed another shot.
Ruby yelled to Blake, "Ladybug!" and the black-haired girl joined up, both of them attacking the legs with slashes that left some marks in the armor of the machine, but it was superficial. The Mech and its pilot, however, refocused its effort on the fleshy creatures trying to kill it, allowing Chief to scope it in again and fire. The thunderclap of the mag rifle trailed behind the supersonic fin-stabilized arrow just as it struck that same arm, a crystal of ice jutting out from the wound and freezing said arm into place.
Two missiles from the Spanker followed up, hitting the armored arm with tandem warheads. Burning hot metal drilled holes into the arm's remaining mechanisms, sparking and detonating the ammunition inside the gatling cannon. Chief looked to the others and gave one hand signal. The squadron of Spartans on the ground surged forward, with the Chief form-shifting his weapon into the grav mace. Cortana said, "Target the iced portion! You should be able to tear its arm out!"
The Spartan thanked her wordlessly as he and his comrades surged forward. Cal and Daisy boosted forward, moving to stop the other arm as it cocked back for a punch. The two firmly planted their feet onto the floor, extending their hands to stop the balled mechanical fist from striking, only managing to do so at the cost of the concrete below them and some feeling in their arms.
John, Sam, Kelly, Fred and Linda all pounced on the vehicle's left arm, with the Chief being the first. With a thundering crash, the Spartan slammed the head of the mace-form of his weapon into the shoulder of the machine, staggering it, shattering the ice crystal and further breaking the arm's supports. The other four jumped, each delivering a hammering blow, whether a punch or a kick, into the Machine's arm, shattering it and sending it doubling over.
"That's one gun down!" Kelly remarked, "Bastard's still got the other!"
"We got any extra explosives?" Fred asked, shouldering his DMR and pelting the thing with rounds while Cal and Daisy retreated. Yang appeared, pummeling the thing's back with explosive shells from the gauntlets while Ruby and Blake rejoined the gang. Fred rolled his eyes at the answer to his question, before noting to Ruby, "Your sister seems tough, kid..."
"She is..." Ruby smirked, then winced as Yang was slammed against a pillar and thrown off by the machine. She shook her head, then ordered, "Now... Checkmate!"
The two girls surged forth, utilizing Weiss's glyphs and Blake's speed, before pummeling the machine with a multitude of high-power strikes based on Dust. The robot's pilot, meanwhile, switched to the missile system. Six missiles streaked out of the top, tracking the two Huntresses while they dodged, with Weiss using her Glyphs again to move them out of the way.
She looked up, then gasped, "OH NO-" just as a missile slammed against her, throwing her high into the sky and nearly shattering her Aura. Before it did so, however, she threw a Glyph toward Blake's feet. A clock-like series of ticking noises echoed from the yellow Glyph, with Blake shimmering with a golden aura as she drew her blades in what seemed to be slow-motion for a moment.
Fred ran back, jumping and catching Weiss just before she fell, stating, "Well... That was lucky."
"Thanks..." Weiss blushed.
"Mhm," He set her back down on her feet before moving forward. He watched Blake move, now at super-speed. Beams of lilac light slashed across the area in a stream, each Spartan watching as multiple missiles detonated due to the Huntress's rapid-fire slashing beams. Kelly whistled, while Linda grinned behind the cover of her helmet as she drew her Sniper.
"Nice job, kid..." Spoke Colleen as she dropped in from the ship with Noble with her sidearms drawn.
"Thanks," She replied, "How many Spartans are there now?"
"Enough to kick this thing's ass," Colleen replied with a grin, opening up with her twin pistols as the Machine charged again. She and Blake both dodged in opposite directions, with the black-haired girl also joining in with Gambol Shroud's pistol form. Rounds sparked off armor still, but at least they confused the pilot long enough for Chief to put another APFS round into the left armature, almost tearing it off due to the force of the explosive dust.
Ruby form-shifted Crescent Rose into her rifle form, then said "I see she's doing well!" to John.
The Spartan offered a curt nod as he scoped in for another shot, but saw the Machine move out of the way. He shook his head, then said "We need to slow it down!"
"I know how! Join up!" She requested, before looking to Weiss and calling out, "Ice Flower! And let's make it double!"
Her partner joined her and the Chief, stating, "Let's bring this thing down for good!" as she brought up a pair of ice glyphs. The two then opened fire on the machine, crystals of ice trailing their shots and blossoming into the namesake of this attack, giant ice flowers, on the machine's body as Yang surged forward to attack it. Two more SPnKr missiles struck it with impunity, detonating off the plating and chipping some of the ice while Noble pounced on it.
Alice swore and ducked as she saw Yang get slammed into a pillar, then said "Xiao-Long's hit!"
"Wait!" Ruby cried to the Spartan as she saw her rushing to go help her sister, "With each hit she gets stronger! And she uses that energy to fight back! That's her Semblance! That's what makes her special!"
The group watched as the girl stood to her feet, her hair a burning gold and eyes a violent scarlet. The armored fist of the Machine struck true, but was halted much the same as it would've been by Cal and Daisy, except with far less of an injury this time, but concrete shattering below the girl nonetheless. She grit her teeth as she stopped the hydraulically-aided punch, before cocking back her own fist and ramming it right into the Machine's own, breaking the other, weakened arm off and leaving it as just a torso and a pair of legs.
One of which kicked her away.
"Oh, well!" Ruby smirked, "Bumblebee!"
The Spartans continued to fire on the machine, emptying entire magazines into it with the support of the folks above, on the gunship, while Yang was tossed Blake's weapon with the attached line. She grabbed it, utilizing it and the centripetal force her partner provided alongside her shotgun gauntlets to propel herself right at the machine, which just took another APFS round, before cocking her fist back and, with the angriest, but proudest scream her voice could muster, punching it hard enough to shatter it to pieces and revealing the pilot:Roman Torchwick.
The man managed to land like a cat. On his own two feet, to be specific. Dusting off his suit, the man complained, "Just got this thing cleaned..." and then he stared down Yang 'Angry' Xiao-Long, his grass-green eyes growing wide as the girl launched a projectile at him. Luckily, a multi-colored companion landed, her parasol shielded by Aura as it took the blast of the gauntlet.
Roman smirked, watching the confusion of the soldiers and the Huntresses surrounding him, then tipped his hat and said, "Well. I can't say it was a pleasure, but... Ladies, Soldiers... Ice Queen..."
"Hey!" Weiss snarled.
He grinned, "I'll see you all later... Neo, if you will?" He looked to his companion and the girl bowed mockingly to the group, a smirk on her face. Kelly and Yang both rushed them, with Kelly reaching first and planting the barrel of her shotgun into the girl's face. She squeezed, but found nothing but shattering glass as the pellets flew. Yang staggered, stopping beside Kelly as they all heard a second set of engines and watched a Bullhead taking off.
Roman, aboard it, grinned, waving goodbye to the gang as the bird left into the night sky. Weiss sighed, then said "Well, I guess she really made our plans... Fall apart?" With a smirk. Ruby and a few of the Spartans actually let out a series of chuckles, while Yang seemed disappointed in the girl. As the Pelican landed, the two were having a discussion about the situation... And only stopped when they saw the armed men aboard the aircraft.
"Ladies..." The leader of the team, a dark-skinned man with brown eyes and a cigar between his smirking lips, greeted them, "And Spartans," He then tipped his green hat to them. Behind him were about a dozen men, one of which seemed deadly pale and with a burning red eye as he stared at the team, smiling and trembling all the same. The others wore thousand yard stares, but seemed happy and young, kind of like them, anyway.
"Oi, Sarge," One of them voiced, his accent heavy, "Shouldn't we introduce ourselves to the sheilas?"
"I was about to, Dubbo," The man replied with snark in his voice and a grin on his face. He turned to face the surprised group of teenagers, then stated, "I'm Sergeant-Major Avery Junior Johnson, your local badass without armor. Behind me's my team, which includes Jenkins," He pointed to the shaky, pale guy with a shaved head and assault rifle, "Mendoza," The guy with the rocket launcher, a boonie hat and olive skin, "Stacker," another fellow high-ranker, it seemed, with a shaved head, "Bisenti..." a fellow with a Battle Rifle in hand, "And a few others that I'm sure you'll meet along the way, seeing as they're talkative sons'a'bitches... Mind us hitchin' a ride back to Beacon with you?"
"... Not at all," Team RWBY voiced as they, too, sat themselves down, watching as Kelly, Linda and Fred greeted Johnson with salutes and shakes of the man's hand.
"So," The Sergeant-Major sat his own ass down on the floor, the chairs occupied by the girls, Spartans and his Marines, "When the Chief told me you kids were badasses in your own right, I gotta say... I wasn't expecting that kind of action."
"Sarge's right," Mendoza offered, "Ain't he, Dubbo?"
"We've seen some action before, ladies, but that was somethin' else!" The man grinned, taking his helmet off to reveal sharp, short black hair. Jenkins, meanwhile, shifted uneasily in his seat and gave them thumbs up, still trying to avert his gaze.
"You folks friends of the Chief's?" Yang asked, looking to both them and Ruby.
"Yeah. The crazy fool got us out of more than enough messes," Johnson replied, leaning his shotgun on his shoulder, "So I guess we can call him a friend in some sense of the word," before looking out the rear of the Pelican. Their trip over to Beacon was going to be a relatively short one, Johnson felt, even as he stood up and went to look out the window. Chief approached the man from behind and the former ORION member bumped a fist into his shoulder.
"You guys have to tell us stories of your service," Yang smirked, "Seriously, so many of you arriving, between each of you, there must be some good tales to tell."
"At some point, we will, Yang," Kelly replied, leaning back against her seat.
"Just not now," Daisy and Cal said in unison.
"Too much to say," Sam smirked, then looked to a blushing Ruby. The four girls all smiled to them, choosing to let the fly-over back to home. To see a gathered mass that emanated such absolute 'badassery', as Yang would say, put the girls at ease, each of them looking at the gathered soldiers as they began exchanging small-talk and handing each-other Meals-Ready-to-Eat and drinks.
Then Weiss blinked and realized, "Wait... Where's Sun and Neptune?" which garnered looks of surprise and ire from some of the Spartans, Chief included.
... Somewhere, at a Noodle Shop, the two boys suddenly felt their stomachs ache.