While another couple of days of nothingness had come and gone, the Chief and his squadron of Spartans found themselves sitting on their hands, doing nothing beyond waiting for their call-up to the Paintball game. Some of the Marines sat and enjoyed the Holovision by watching a movie, while Johnson was on his first bottle of beer and Kelly and Sam were playing a game of some kind on their Scrolls.
John, meanwhile, sat, leaned against a wall, watching his Spartans passing the day until the estimated hour of departure for the game. NOBLE Team said they'd stay in and around Beacon to continue patrols and that they'd alert him and the others if anything was to happen and they needed to be back ASAP, so John was left without even that as an 'out' to joining in on team RWBY, JNPR and Penny's fun.
He hummed, then pulled up his Scroll, checking the time. The internal clock of the device read 12:45 local. They needed to leave by thirteen-hundred hours if they intended reach the Paintball parlor. Their objective in that game was apparently the standard old Team Deathmatch, according to Ruby. They'd rented one of the bigger interior arenas meant to simulate urban combat for the operation. It was going to be Teams RWBY and JNPR, joined by Penny, versus BLUE Team, Cal, Daisy, Grace and Vinh.
Grace and Vinh had already changed out of their armors, switching to more comfortable training fatigues over which they draped jackets in preparation for the departure. Cal and Daisy, meanwhile, had just finished changing out of their armors. In record time, too, seeing as they'd started fifteen minutes ago and the average time a Spartan without any support from techs took to change out of the armor was a cool thirty minutes.
Paid to be the most athletic and slender out of the Spartans. And to have a buddy to help you out, he presumed. He should've probably asked one of the Spartans to help him out, too, but Cortana was there and she'd taken the time-to-change down to around the same. Fifteen, sixteen minutes on average for Chief's change-in, change-out routine. He sighed, rubbing his eyes.
His Spartans still showed signs of what Sergeant-Major Johnson called 'Shell-Shock'. An antiquated term, to be sure, but still fitting enough in this case, considering the Spartans and Marines present were all affected by it. It was a matter of how they dealt with it, though, that was brought into question. As far as he could tell, they were dealing with it just fine, but he did not want to assume anything until he was sure his Spartans are and would remain at one hundred percent.
He looked over to Jorge as he was about to pass by, then stopped the big man with a hand on his shoulder. Jorge turned to the Chief, nodded and said, "Something the matter, Chief?"
"How is Noble faring? I'd ask the Commander," He started, then looked back to see him and Kat in a chat, "But he's busy... So... How are you?"
"On what front? We could use a little more ammunition and some bits of our armors are starting to show wear and tear, but..." He paused as he saw John's inquisitive look. He sighed, then stated, "If it's on the mind front you're referring to, we're a mixed bag... Kat's been feeling up the back of her head when she thought nobody's looking, Carter's been complaining of phantom pains across his body, probably from the burns he must've sustained before... Well, before he hit that Scarab with full force... Emile's... Well, he's Emile. That one was never right in the head to begin with. Jun's just... Glad to see us... And Six...? Alice? She's not doing so well..."
"Distant?" He inquired, then got a nod from Jorge and hummed, "I noticed..."
"Full Psych Workup for her would be nice, but we don't have a shrink on stand-by," Jorge shrugged, "I've been trying to talk to her and I've also been trying to get Kurt to chat her up. She responds to Kurt better, considering the man trained her and the rest of NOBLE, but... Well, we really shouldn't expect a lot. Alice wasn't much of a talker even when we were all alive during the Battle for Reach."
"She has that stare, Jorge," John stated firmly.
"Yeah..." Jorge sighed, "John, I can't do much for her. None of us can... She's figuring it all out on her own..."
"She's one of us, Jorge," John offered, then remembered Johnson's advice from a day or so ago and stated firmly, "She doesn't have to deal with anything alone."
"... You can try talking to her," Jorge smiled. He wasn't wrong, if John thought about it. He then added, "Like it or not, John, Kurt drilled into every single SPARTAN-III from here to Onyx that you're their CO, no matter anyone else's rank and file. She'd probably answer to you if you pressed it," quite calmly, before raising a brow. John nodded, dismissed him with a quick salute, then turned to see to Noble Six.
He wanted to pull up her file on his armor before he realized that he was not wearing it. Sighing, he approached the white-haired woman as she was working on her own armor again, then cleared his throat. The girl turned, gasped, then stood to her feet, giving the Chief a snappy salute. He saluted back, then said, "At ease, Lieutenant. You're a CO... You shouldn't have to salute me."
"Sir, with all due respect, your service record says otherwise..." She replied, seemingly a hint more peppy than prior, though he still saw that blindsiding stare. He knew the Threes were more used to dealing with not having a thyroid implant, so there was that he figured they could teach them, but something about Alice felt... Eerily familiar. He hummed, then ignored it for now.
"How are you faring?" He inquired, as friendly but to-the-point as he could.
She sighed, then murmured, "Should've known this was what it's about... I'm fine, sir. Noble Team's exaggerating if they think there's something wrong with me."
"Lieutenant," He started, stern, causing her to wince, "Your team may be taking it easy on you because they are also dealing with their own mortality and revival, but I do not have the luxury of sitting back and pondering my issues. I want my team, my platoon... This force currently relinquished to my command despite there being higher-ranking Spartans within it... To run well. I'm not here to harm or warn you of anything, I just want to talk and ensure you will be at one hundred percent whenever we get deployed."
"I'll be fine, sir. Swear it," She replied calmly, though Chief saw the micro-movements, the fidgeting and even the sideways glances she cast as if she was nervous. She spoke on, trying to act the part of calm, "I'm just processing things slowly. It's how I do. Especially after big events. Back on Reach, I didn't have the luxury to. Was stuck fighting continuously, even before I died. Now that I have some free time, it all hit me like a Ghost with its speed booster on. I'll be out of this fugue in a bit and at one hundred percent if and when you need me."
"I understand..." He nodded, then hummed and narrowed his eyes, staring at the girl's mouth.
"Sir?" She raised a brow, "Something... Something on my face?"
"... You have fangs..." He observed. Alice raised a brow, dumbfound, then turned toward her helmet and stared at her visor. It reflected her image, distorted, on it. She prodded at her mouth, pulling at the corners and the lips, up and down, her heart rate growing as she saw the sharpened canines and incisors. She paused, took a step back, then breathed in and out. In and out. In and out. Three times.
Settling down, she said, "I... Take it I have Faunus traits too..."
"So it would seem," He nodded, "Though yours are far more restricted... Interesting."
"... Well, I'll go sleep this thought off if you don't mind, sir... I'll be ready to help the squad patrol in two hours," She stated. John dismissed her with a nod, then watched her depart for the rear area of the house, namely the wider bunk area. He hummed, then sighed and checked his Scroll again. It was 12:55. He whistled the seven-note all-clear tune, then watched as Sam, Kelly, Fred, Linda, Daisy and Cal all stood to their feet.
"Ready up," He ordered, "We're moving to meet teams RWBY and JNPR. Everyone else, be ready, too."
"Sir," Chorused the force. Over a dozen Marines grinned, bumped one-another with an elbow or a fist in the shoulder or laughed as they stood up. Despite some of them still having that thousand-yard stare, John saw them acting more happy, active, ready to go on a moment's notice. It was good to see that, despite it all, they found reason to be happy. He hummed, nodded approvingly, then looked to Johnson and watched him putting on his cap and grinning, a cigar between his lips again.
... He swore, if the Grimm wouldn't kill Johnson here, his smoking habits would.
After donning his own workout fatigues and bidding a quick goodbye to a Cortana wrapped up in a bit of her own work. He descended and joined his teammates and the Marines, before all of them marched out of the house, leaving only NOBLE, Carol, her co-pilot and Penny, who said she'd join them soon, just that she had to get ready. Stepping out into the midday sun, the Spartans and Marines all marched in unison toward the landing pad.
They saw the two teams already waiting for them there. Jaune seemed to freeze for a moment, asking in a whisper, "Is that what we're gonna be dealing with...?"
"No, blondie," Johnson replied calmly, "Me and my boys are gonna be backing you and your two teams up... Even the odds a bit between you and the Chief's posse."
"C'mon, Sarge. They can't be that tough," Yang offered, grinning. Johnson snorted, while the Marines, both male and female, burst into laughter at the quip, which made Yang(and just about everyone else) somewhat uneasy. Ruby, meanwhile, had noticed Sam in his training fatigues and took a moment, while Blake seemed to be the only one who didn't actually want to be there.
"Hello, everyone," John piped in, "Take it we're all ready?"
"Well," Ruby started, "There's still Penny."
"She's on her way," Sam replied, "Said she had to deal with something real quick."
Ruby nodded, then blushed, smiling at Sam. Weiss hummed, then looked around at the Spartans and the Marines, then murmured, "That home certainly isn't big enough for so many soldiers in full plated armors like those sets we see them in..." before noticing the Chief was now in a Scroll call, seemingly with headmaster Ozpin. She then wondered for a moment how the aircraft they were taking would hold all of them and turned to see the same Airship that had brought them in to Beacon making a landing. Her lips shrunk until they were but a simple white line, then she looked around, making a mental note not to wonder about anything else.
John and the teams looked back to see Penny running toward them, smiling brightly, before stopping, bowing and apologizing, "Sorry I'm late! It took a while to do what I had to do!" before everyone noticed she was still in her normal clothes. While a few wanted to question it, or even ask the Spartans to question it, it seemed insignificant enough to them for the Chief to let it slide.
Ruby, however, noticed and didn't let it slide, "Penny, ya sure you wanna... I dunno, wear that?"
Indeed, John had also noticed that teams RWBY and JNPR had taken more flexible clothes than even their own. Tank tops and baggy sweatpants, as well as sneakers and some backpacks with, presumably, changes of clothing. Penny smiled, then nodded before they all boarded the aircraft. Good thing that they were being taken with the big airship back down to Vale's fun 'residential' district areas.
As the ship landed at one of the bigger ports within the district after about thirty minutes of travel, the Marines, Spartans, Hunters and other passengers disembarked, with the Marines and Cal and Daisy engaged in small-talk with the Huntresses and Huntsmen. Penny, meanwhile, walked right beside the Chief, smiling and bobbing left and right, clearly excited at the prospect of hanging out with her friends.
John looked to her, then said, "Glad to see you're feeling better, Penny."
"Thank you, Dylan," Her smile grew brighter, "I believe I needed this outing..."
"I think we all did, Penny," Kelly remarked from behind the two, arms crossed. They looked around at the high-rises as they exited the airship port, tall buildings, home to some of the biggest hotels and residential palaces in the entire kingdom. This place was one of the high-end sections of Vale's residential area, which caused Kelly to actually ask, "Yang... Where are we going?"
"Oh, it's a pretty fancy place," The girl grinned mischievously, "Expensive, too, but I got a few contacts around that secured us a ticket."
"It that Junior guy?" Colleen asked. A hint of Yang's confidence had disappeared, instead replaced by that embarrassed blush she now wore as they advanced. Of course, Colleen would know, seeing as she was there when they met the man himself in the middle of his club in Vale. And got him to provide the UNSC the intel they required when they required it, but that was another issue.
There were hundreds of people on the streets today, a mix of the high-class that inhabited the Penthouses and villas in the residential district's fanciest sections and the normal civilians, Faunus and human alike, just strolling down the street, some smiling, others chatting, most just engaged in small-talk or sitting at cafes or in restaurants at the bases of some of the residential towers.
The Spartans and Marines, all clad in very similar fatigues, marched down the road with their fellows from Beacon, of course, so that gathered a bit of attention. Enough so that Kelly, Vinh and Cal could hear the small-talk between groups of teens and even middle-aged folks. However, she had to ignore our outright stop herself from listening to those the moment Ruby turned around and noted, "Hey... What does the 'UNSC' on your T-Shirts stand for?"
That brought the entire squad to a momentary halt, but Chief was quick to respond with "Unified National Security Council... Our version of the Ministry of Defense, if you will."
"Oh," Ruby hummed, then smiled, "Cool."
That was anticlimactic, the Spartans and Marines thought as the walk then continued unimpeded. Joining the Chief at the front, Johnson whispered, "Presume Cortana had that one ready for you?" before getting a nod from him. Of course, he forgot, the reports mentioned every single intrinsic detail. Cortana had always been thorough in her data collection and organization duties. Seemingly, doubly so for infiltration and concealment purposes really.
As the group reached the entrance to the paintball arena, they saw the sheer size of the place. Spread over several acres of land, the futuristic-looking 'Shooter Sim Arena' as it was called on the blue neon sign above, housed several actual arenas for the purpose of simulated combat, with an elevated upper area from where one could buy food, watch unfolding games and in general wait for their own turn in the game. Yang approached the holographic greeted at the counter and slid in her Scroll with all the documents necessary on it.
After the cashier gave her clearance, she smiled and motioned to the teams to follow. Entering the upper area, where they could wait for their own fight, the group saw the simulated battlefields down below. From forestry to rocky deserts, to snowy winter and even to an inactive volcano's surface. Chief had to wonder how in the hell they managed to simulate all of that, but then remembered that Dust was a thing.
"So," Yang smiled, "We're slated to enter within fifteen minutes. Suggest you boys and girls get your stuff in order now. Go to the bathroom, grab a drink or something, y'know. Also, while I know we decided the teams, let's make sure we got this right."
John nodded, "I'll take Blue Team, Cal, Daisy, Grace and Vinh."
"And we'll be fighting together against you guys," Ruby grinned, wrapped her arms around Penny and her teammates, then added "Us and team JNPR..." before giving a thumbs up to a nervous Jaune, eager Nora and calm and collected Pyrrha and Ren. The Chief and his elected team gave approving nods. While they'd be on the ground, the others would be watching from up above, gauging the two Huntsman Teams' work ethic while the Marines were probably going to do most of the heavy lifting.
"I and some of my Marines will be tagging along with you kids, like I said, to even the odds," The Sergeant-Major noted, crossing his arms to his chest.
"Aye, sir," The nine of them replied.
"This is gonna be fun!" Nora grinned, bumping her own fists together.
"It should be interesting," Pyrrha remarked, arranging her circlet, "Miss Linda. Do take it easy on us."
"Sorry, Pyrrha," The Sniper crossed her arms, "This is as much a training exercise as it is a game. We're going to test you and the Marines here."
Jaune sighed, then said, "Great... This is gonna hurt."
A few Marines shifted uneasily, aware of how Spartans usually fought even in training exercises, while Johnson hummed, then grinned. Penny, meanwhile, seemed eager, bouncing from one foot to the other next to Ruby, who was smiling. The two would expect no less from the group of elite soldiers, but both figured it was gonna be a tough game. Especially if the Marines had volunteered to be their backup.
Ruby then looked to Penny, smiled and said, "At least we get to hang out while getting our butts kicked, right?"
Penny beamed, "Yes! Oh, I cannot wait!" and eagerly took Ruby's hand, causing her to bounce around too. Weiss smiled, watching the little exchange with one hand on her own hip and another wrapped around her scroll. She hummed, then looked around and approached Yang, whispering to her and showing the Scroll. The blonde grinned at her friend, then the two bumped fists.
Yang then called out, "Okay, lads and ladies! Listen up! We just got a great idea from Weiss... We're taking a group photo, right here, right now, to commemorate our first outing with our new friends! Sad that Noble ain't around, but... Next time, right?"
"Heck yeah!" Ruby cheered, while the Spartans seemed a tad uneasy. Johnson smirked, then elbowed the Chief and showed him to settle down. To him, this was just like the photo ops on board Cairo Station. He pulled his cap off for a bit, ran a hand through his buzzcut black hair, then set the cap back on as he smiled, while the other Marines settled in and gave smiles, too, with only the Spartans somehow maintaining their more stoic looks as they gave half-smiles, mock salutes and faintly-noticeable nods.
Yang had handed her Scroll over to one of the Arena's employees to take the picture. He'd been kind enough to accept and Yang had given him a healthy ten Lien as thanks, then joined the group. Teams RWBY and JNPR struck various poses, ranging from the elegant on Weiss and Pyrrha's side, to the sublimely silly and funny on Penny, Ruby and Nora, with every other member in-between these denominators, while the Spartans and Marines each remained about as ramrod straight as they could while ensuring everyone else behind and around them was visible.
Once the picture was taken, Yang thanked the man, retrieved her phone and smiled, then said, "I'll send it to everyone," and looked to John and the others. She spoke, "You guys are about as stiff as a steel rod, seriously..."
"We're soldiers, Yang," Fred replied, crossing his arms to his chest.
"Yeah, but c'mon, it's a picture with your friends," She said, then looked to see Blake shaking her head and somehow smiling at her. She sighed, then said "Alright, alright..." and, as the number of the group was called up, Chief and Yang led them forward into the preparation area. Their Arena was Arena number three, its preset selected as an urban combat environment.
Their instructor entered the back room, a prepping area larger than one would expect. The walls were lined with lockers of equipment for the two opposing teams that would enter combat. Tight jackets with in-built pads that acted as 'armor' against the shots of the opposing team's weapon, heavy duty masks with thick plastic-glass combination visors and included communication suites, colored armbands to depict the teams and, of course, the weapons themselves.
The weapons resembled standard-issue firearms. Black-colored, ergonomic and made of a combination of steel and polymer, the weapons had a charging handle on the left side of the body, an ejection port of all things on the right and an actual mag-well at the bottom for the thick magazines that would be slotted inside. They wondered how the paint balls themselves were gonna look.
The Instructor was a twenty-something Huntress-looking gal with long, waist-length, messy azure hair and eyes. She was clad in the same uniform type as them, though lacking the armband. In its place was the logo of the place, two crossed rifles behind a bullseye-style target. She spoke to them, her voice hard, clearly formerly military in origin, "Ladies and gents, welcome to the Shooter Sim Arena. I'm your safety instructor for the day. Name's Aylin Azura, but you can call me Aya for convenience's sake and..." She looked over the Spartans and Marines, as well as the Hunters in the room, then said with a smirk, "Looks like we got military and huntsmen with us today."
"That we do, miss Aya," Yang grinned, "Hello."
"Hello to you as well. And good to know, means the instructions are gonna go quick..." She nodded, then she turned and said, "Let's start..." before hefting, first, the camouflage-pattern uniforms they were gonna be wearing, as well as the mask. She said, "This is the standard-issue padded uniform we're using for the safety of the players. It's padded at the chest and in the groin area and is more than capable of stopping the paint rounds you're going to be firing at each-other. It also comes in Navy Blue or in Urban Digital, if you fancy those."
She set it aside, then hefted the weapon they were gonna be using. She started by pulling the charging handle back so that the bolt would lock into place, then said, "These are repurposed H&K AR-200 platforms. Usually, you'll find these in the hands of mercenary units protecting Dust shipments and mines across Sanus. These ones, however, are semi-automatic only and have weaker barrels that are meant only to fire..." She lifted a plastic cartridge with a blue-colored ball with a soft, translucent outer layer, then said, "These things. Standard issue Six-point-Five millimeter air rounds loaded with Stunlock Paint Balls."
"... 'Stunlock'?" Ruby inquired, looking confused.
"Yep," Aya nodded, then said, "Active paintballs with a stun component inside, meant to temporarily disable a Huntsman or Huntress during these training exercises. They'll not only let you know who was hit with a paintball, but in case they wanna cheat and stay in the game with the hit, they'll get a nice little zap that knocks'em outta the fight, too." Then she saw the worry on the faces of the Huntsmen and offered, "Don't worry, we tested and retested these damn things countless times and they're safe as can be."
"So, don't get hit," Ruby said, grinning widely "Noted."
"Oh, no..." Jaune murmured, while the Marines seemed to be mentally preparing themselves.
"Right... Well, finals, the weapons have safeties and have modularity. Scopes and longer barrels are available for whoever wants to be a Sniper or something... One more thing about the rounds, in cause you wanna know. The plastic cartridges contain a single speck of volatile air dust crystals to propel the rounds. While they won't be as fast as normal bullets, they'll certainly sting, even with Aura... And no melee allowed. Don't want people walking out of here with black eyes," She explained, then hummed and said, "Right, team selection time. Team captains, please take a step forward."
John(Dylan) and Ruby looked to one-another, then stepped forth. Aya nodded, then extended two ribbons. A red and a blue one. Chief took the blue, while Ruby, of course, settled for the red. The instructor then hummed and said, "Alright, now, if you've picked your teams, have them step forward so we can start assigning uniforms and armbands for the battle. If not, feel free to start picking."
Ruby looked back, smiled and waved the hunters and the Marines forward. The Instructor went bug-eyed, then said, "Woah, that's one hell of a numbers discrepancy. Nine against... What's that, twenty? Thirty? That doesn't seem-"
"It's fine," John remarked, looked to the woman and nodded. She stared him square in the eye, then hummed. The woman looked the man over, noticing the stare he gave off, as well as the strength of his aura and the presence he gave off, then nodded and stepped back, letting the teams pack up their uniforms. They were onesies with padding, that's what they were.
The Spartans had elected the Digital Urban camouflage. A series of boxes and specks colored many shades of grey, from concrete to what puddles of water would look like in the cityscape. They were also handed rigs onto which they could place their ammunition, with the Spartans loading up six magazines each and slotting them into the pouches. They also elected masks with opaque, blue visors and com systems, though John knew they wouldn't be using them.
Linda had actually taken to modifying and sighting in her rifle before the battle. She'd elected to go, as specified, for the long-range extended barrel. She had thirty rounds in one mag, with six extra magazines marking up to seven total, so up to two-hundred-ten rounds of ammunition. Same for each Spartan, but for Linda, it wasn't like she was actually going to need them. One shot and one kill.
The Huntsman-Marine team was... Well, less focused.
Johnson and his Marines had standardized themselves to basic grey uniforms without camouflage, which was apparently an option. They'd also slotted in and taken six magazines full of ammo, plus a seventh in the gun itself for enough ammo to combat the Spartans. Teams RWBY and JNPR, though... Well, there was nothing standard about them, with Ruby having taken to utilizing a forest camo uniform, Yang going for desert, Blake going for black and Weiss going for a similarly-white one to Johnson and his men. Team JNPR was no better, with Nora somehow being allowed to keep her skirt visible while wearing the uniform, Ren and Pyrrha picking sensible digital grey camo and Jaune actually picking a pretty good uniform himself, though none of them had taken more than two extra magazines of ammo.
John looked to his team, then hummed. A flash came to him. They'd worn similar suits during their mission to take down Watts, except this time their weapons were non-lethal. Jaune looked over at the Spartans, then whispered to Ruby, "Is it just me, or do they look far more professional than any of us, Ruby?" to which Red Riding-Reaper turned around and hummed.
She nodded, "Yep."
"We'll be fine!" Nora shot back, "We got the numbers on them!"
"A Spartan can take on a trained platoon of soldiers and win, kid," Johnson replied, racking the bolt of the semi-automatic paintball weapon and noting with a grin, "But, hey, we're here to be cannon fodder is all."
"... Sarge," Yang eyed him, "You oughta try to comfort or lie to us a bit."
"I'm just sayin' kids... Ain't like I'm not gonna try to give'em a nice ass-whuppin' for their troubles..." He grined, then slammed the charging handle, bringing the bolt into battery and feeding the first round into the chamber of the weapon. Yang chuckled, then looked to her teammates as they, too, readied themselves, with Ruby nodding as she looked over her weapon. The Marines chorused a battle cry, 'Hoo'rah!', as they finished preparations.
The blonde slinked up to her sister, then asked suddenly, "Worried about facing Sam?"
Ruby yelped, almost squeezing the trigger of the gun. Thankful the safety was on and with a scarlet tinge to her cheeks, Ruby stomped her foot and said, "I could've shot you!" to which Yang chuckled. Of course, she'd avoid the question. Ruby sighed, planting a palm on her own forehead, then saying, "What's got you asking that all of a sudden? Seriously..." as she saw a confused Penny staring at them.
"Oh, come off it, Rubes," Yang whispered, grinning, "I saw how you were looking at him."
Ruby cast a sideways glance as her face grew as red as the armband she wore, then murmured, "We're all just friends, Yang..."
"Suuure~..." Yang teased, "You two look adorable together, though..."
"Yaaaaaaaang!" Ruby snarled, though her voice was as low and quiet as she could bring it. Yang laughed before they heard the screech of the PA system echoing across the room. All of them stopped to look up as a holographic display screen appeared in the middle of the ready-up area, showing the two teams and their emblems. A slithering Cobra for Blue Team and a wolf with its fangs bared for Red Team.
Aya's voice blared over the PA, "Alright, both teams to their assigned ready stations! We're going in in two!"
Chief and Ruby exchanged one glance and gave each-other a nod before the teams departed for the specialized elevators that would drop them into the battle arena. Suddenly, the young rose felt a pit in her stomach, even with a dozen Marines and her friends beside her. Penny, meanwhile, seemed calm, armed and combat ready as usual, while Sergeant-Major Johnson checked his weapon one final time.
A countdown started on the screen to the right. The match was a best of three, meaning whoever won either two, or all three games would be declared victor of the operation. As the countdown hit three, sound cues started playing and the team was finally shown to the urban environment. Mirroring a damaged city caught in the middle of a war, the room was massive enough to fit the halves of a collapsed skyscraper, but just small enough so that the teams at the opposite ends of the station could find each-other.
"We got a plan, Red?" Voiced Johnson as the countdown went to one...
"... Stay alive, find them first?" Ruby offered, then the buzzer rang. Johnson rolled his eyes, then nodded. He made several hand motions to his Marines, then showed Ruby to follow him around. The Marines themselves split into teams of four to match teams JNPR and RWBY in size, with Johnson taking to leading the two teams together. The two moved forth, taking cover beside the overturned husk of a car stripped of everything by fire.
Team JNPR was just across from Ruby and Johnson, taking cover behind a half-broken wall filled with bullet holes. Ahead of them and around the vehicle they took cover behind, there was the main boulevard, which was filled with rubble and dust. Johnson narrowed his eyes, looking around for any sign of movement, then ducked and said to Ruby and the others, "Can't see'em... Must've gone in for ambush positions already."
"What do we do?" Blake asked. She'd taken a carbine version of the rifle.
"Belladonna, you a good scout?" He asked, looking at her. She shrugged.
"Decent."
"Take Xiao-Long, Nikos and Valkyrie and go up the road toward one of the less damaged buildings. Keep in touch," He ordered, then poked his head above the car once again and... Well, to say Johnson nearly stained his new undies brown would be an understatement. A high-velocity ball of paint snapped by his ear and slammed into the ground, painting the floor between him and Weiss a deep red. "Damn," He swore, "And hotshot's already in position..."
Ruby looked between the cracks of the damaged car, gasping as a make-believe bullet smacked with a loud crack against the oxidized, burned aluminum hull of the car. She said, "I think I saw where the shot came from... Rightmost tower, up top... How did she get up there so fast?" in a whisper. Johnson hummed, then paused as he heard his com ring.
"Sarge!" Mendoza cried as the sound of discharging airguns echoed, "Sarge, we're being hit on the right flank! Don't fuckin' know how many! MIRA!"
"Get your shit together, Mendoza!" He ordered, "Where are you!?"
"Decrepit store, hundred feet right!" Sergeant Stacker answered fearfully. Johnson watched as his team kicked the door and fled out of the building, only two of them remaining. Stacker and Mendoza stumbled out and into cover behind the walls as two paint balls, each aimed at their backs, snapped out past them and struck the building just across the street.
Johnson balled his fist and elbowed downward, showing the two to form up and aiming his gun at the door. The two Marines bounded across the street, trying to dodge Linda's sniper fire. Or was it Cal's? It didn't matter. Mendoza took one in the hip and dropped like a sack of potatoes, convulsing on the ground as the stunlock round engaged properly, digging into the 'armor plate' and his Aura.
Stacker slid into cover beside Johnson and the girls and breathed, "Those kids ain't right..."
"Where the hell's Dubbo? Bisenti?" Sarge demanded.
"'Dead' back inside that store Sarge. Got their asses knocked out first... Couldn't even tell where the hell the shots were coming from," Stacker replied, still catching his breath. Johnson sighed deeply as the girls seemed to panic for a mo'. He looked around and waved at all the other teams, then gave several hand signals to tighten up formation. They were already down three men. Fuck if he wanted to be down the rest of'em when shit inevitably hit the fan.
"... Gotta be a fluke," Yang said, "They're soldiers, sure, but they can't be that tough."
"Kid, I've seen what the hell a Spartan can do. This shit is child's play to them," Johnson said, watching as Jenkins and his team stacked up behind team JNPR, while Nora was trying to pop off shots toward the tower. Penny was among his squad and she seemed the most curious. Certainly, she'd seen Dylan fight her one-on-one, but never had she actually, properly seen him operating with his team.
"So, what do we do, then?" Ruby asked.
"We can try sneaking through the buildings," Weiss suggested, "Though... We saw how that went..."
"I'd suggest we move soon," Blake noted, "They'll be overrunning us if we don't..."
"Right... Valkyrie, how good are you at tanking electric rounds?" Johnson asked more as a joke, the sarcasm clear in his voice. But Nora flashed him a dangerous grin and that was when Johnson remembered that, right, some of these kids had magical powers. He sighed, then said, "I ain't paid enough for this... Two teams. Rose, you take your hunter friends on the left. I'll take what's left of my boys on the right and we'll kick the door in, see what we can do to find the Spartans. Maybe take'em out.
"Sounds like a plan," Ruby nodded, smiling, "C'mon!" she then called out to the two teams. The Sergeant rolled his eyes, then motioned to his Marines to follow him. The first shot rang out from the tower, then another, then three more in quick succession. Johnson watched as two of his Marines dropped, while Nora tanked the last few shots with a grin on her face, the paint seemingly evaporating off her plate by the sixth shot the Spartans fired.
He and his mates stacked up on the door from which Stacker and the 'KIA' Mendoza had come from, then breached with one movement of the hand. Pushing inside, the man hefted his rifle up to his cheek as his vision adjusted for the darkness. He squeezed off a shot at the first shadow he saw move, then again and again. Seven rounds left the barrel of his rifle by the time he was done, but he was no closer to hitting his intended target as his remaining Marines fanned out into the store itself, taking cover behind the counter and the tall shelves.
The Spartans replied in kind from the shadows. Several rounds rang out, forcing a couple of Marines into cover as they tried to figure out where the firing had come from. The windows of the place had been boarded up, to the point it was nigh impossible to see for anyone without some kind of adaptive eye tissue. Johnson was surprised he could so much as see, but he was still having to shoot at literal shadows in the darkness.
"Can't see a damn thing, Sarge!" Stacker called out.
"Flush'em out, Stacker! Jenkins, take my left! Try not to hit any damn shelves!" Johnson barked, pushing forward and rapidly squeezing the trigger, almost seemingly firing on Full-Auto. Behind him, he felt and heard two more Marines. Rounds snapped by his ears as the Marines fired continuously, while Jenkins stopped to reload, slapping in a fresh mag and ramming the bolt into battery.
A round snapped by his ear, coming from the opposite direction, and he heard one of his own drop like a sack. He rolled forward, dragging Jenkins and Stacker to the floor and quickly switching out his own mag for a fresh one. He swore, then motioned to the right and said, "They're way back behind the counter. Rear wall..." in a murmur, just loud enough for his two men to hear him.
"What do we do?" Stacker demanded, "Do we haul ass?"
"We stand and fight, Marine," Johnson replied, "I know what a Spartan can do, but that don't mean I am lettin'em kick my ass without a fight..."
"Sir," Stacker nodded, then ducked as a round splattered across the overturned shelf they took cover behind. Stacker stumbled, then said, "I think I found Dubbo..."
"... I can't feel my ass, sarge..." Dubbo murmured from below them. Johnson snorted, then shook his head and scanned the surrounding area. His vision still hadn't properly adapted and he was sure that the Spartans were thinning out the number of Marines in the place or flanking. If they could even get one of'em, Johnson would be happy. Real happy about it, too. He wanted to prove to the Chief that he and his boys were still up to the task. He wanted to prove to himself that a lil' Shell-Shock wasn't gonna knock his sorry ass outta the fight.
He squinted, his eyes narrowing on the faint, darkened outline of an alcove beside the counter. He elbowed Stacker, then said to him and Jenkins, "Take a left and see if you can't flank'em... I'll see what I can do from here..." before watching them pause. He barked, "Move it, Marines!" and watched them scramble. He poked his rifle out over the top of the thing and blind-fired toward where the Spartans once were, before realizing the 'gunfire' had gone.
He heard two more snap-pops and the groans of Stacker and Jenkins and rolled his eyes. Dubbo commented, "Sounds like they ain't fairin' much better..."
"Shut your mouth, Dubbo..." Murmured Johnson. He stood to his feet, scanning the place, then eyed the rearmost wall once more. He focused, listening for movement all around him and stepping over Dubbo while trying not to step on him. Johnson eyed movement, a blur in the darkness, and shot twice. A wince told him he'd either scratched the Spartan, a female, or forced her to dodge.
He recognized a pincer maneuver when he saw one. Quickly, he pressed the advantage as the two Spartans split, pushing forth toward the one that was currently in front of him. He squeezed the trigger three times, paused for a second and squeezed again, trying to see if he could nab a Spartan kill before he went out, or at least keep this one pined until he got LOS on his partner.
He heard the lightest of steps behind him. Dropping to the floor and spinning about, the man fired ten times and heard seven of the shots make contact before the Spartan dropped like a brick onto the floor. Dubbo grunted, then groaned and said, "Yep, that's gonna bruise in the mornin'..." before the Sergeant-Major smirked at him. He stood to his feet and turned around...
And he took two to the chest and one to the mask, dropping to the floor and feeling his muscles tighten.
"Good work, Spartans..." He spoke, though barely, "You just got the kids left..."
"Not bad, Sergeant," He heard Kelly speak and felt her heft him up with a single hand. She approached her ally, who turned out to be Daisy, then lifted her off Dubbo and set her aside before asking, "You good, Daze?" as the girl twitched, the shock of the shots still coursing through her. Daisy looked at her, pulled her mask off, then shrugged, twitching again.
"What d'you think...?" She asked sarcastically... "Go, get the Huntsmen... Good shooting, Sarge."
"Thanks, Spartan," He replied, sitting down by Dubbo and lighting himself a cigar after removing his own mask, "You good?"
"Seven stun shots to the chest ain't particularly my definition of a good day," Daisy replied, "Accomplish your goals?"
"Yeah, one Spartan was all I really wanted to get outta this deal. Prove myself and my boys we could still kick ass and take names..."
"Good job..." She nodded.
... Outside, meanwhile, teams RWBY and JNPR, as well as Penny, found themselves pinned down by highly-accurate Sniper Fire coming from two directions. Nora had already taken one in the plate, though apparently the leaderboard didn't rule the zap as being a potential cause to knock the girl out, nor the paint currently drying on her breastplate. Nora spoke, "They sure are accurate!"
"Yeah," Ruby nodded, trying to spot where the shots were coming from while also trying not to get herself 'killed'. She ducked as a round sparked off the wall they were taking cover behind, then said, "Maybe this wasn't the best idea, Yang," as she looked around and made sure no Spartan was coming to flank them. Yang sighed, conceding silently to her sister's remark, then gasping as she saw a trio of Spartans approaching from the left.
She took cover beside a wall and started firing, stating, "Yeah, this was a horrible freaking idea..." before trying to poke out. Several bullets from the Spartans' rifles told her that was an even more horrible idea. Pinned and soon to be surrounded, teams RWBY and JNPR were spending their last few moments on this battlefield quite openly defending themselves, firing whenever they could.
"What can we do?" Blake inquired, "They have us surrounded... Weiss?"
"I can't use my glyphs here. Even if it isn't against the rules, utilizing any offensive power here would be a horrible idea for the simple fact we could kill one of them..." Weiss noted, then crawled forward and poked her rifle out. She fired at the advancing team on the right, while Blake, Ruby and Yang managed to return fire against the one on the left. Ren hummed, then looked around... And noticed the rooftop of the building to their immediate left was still ready.
He looked to Nora, whistled to get her attention, then tilted his head toward the roof.
She grinned, then nodded, while Jaune hummed and smiled, too, "That could work... See how many you can take out..."
"Shouldn't we send Pyr instead, though? She's our best shot," Nora offered.
"Gonna need a lot more than a Sniper to turn the tide here..." Ruby murmured, then looked around, trying to find an escape route. She saw Penny gently approaching her, then asked, "Sorry you got dragged into this, Penny..." then paused as she saw the emerald-eyed girl staring at the towers where the Sniper fire was coming from. Ruby asked, worried, "You good, Penny?"
"Yes... Considering targets to engage first. Closest group to us on the left is led by Fred, on the right I believe it's Samuel. However, the Snipers are a bigger priority target. They have us pinned. We can't run... Hmm..." She looked over to Nora, watching as the girl slowly began to worry while she and her team were deciding on who to send out. Before long, Penny had also realized, tracked and turned to engage Kelly as she was swinging around the corner.
She shot and forced the girl to take cover, before noting, "And now, Kelly's behind us..."
"We've been flanked?!" Nora demanded. Penny and Ruby both nodded, with Ruby approaching the girl.
"Want to take out the Snipers, don't you? We can provide cover," Ruby suggested, "Or I can provide a distraction with my speed..."
"Either could work, Ruby, my friend," Penny smiled, then racked the bolt of the weapon. She ducked under a response volley from Kelly, then said, "But I believe we may need to split up if we hope to engage them properly... Can team JNPR engage the teams approaching us?"
"And we go out searching for Dylan..." Ruby noted, changing out the magazine in her weapon while Penny gave them a nod.
"Nora!" Jaune called out, "Lead the way to the ones on the left! Let's try and pin them right back down!" and he saw the girl's grin grow wide. She stood to her feet, crying out a battle cry and surging out... Only to be pelted by seven whole magazines, including one from Linda, presumably. The girl had taken so many shots that the shade of her uniform had turned from whatever color it was to a deep teal and she twitched. Certainly, Nora could withstand a lot of electricity, but the kinetic strikes that came with it, though weak individually, were numerous enough to whittle her down to half her Aura and cause her to collapse.
She fell, belly-first, onto the ground, groaning, then said "Bad... Idea..."
"Well," Penny sighed, then poked out and started firing at the teams as they reloaded. She nodded to Ruby and her friends, then watched everyone scatter around, causing the Spartans to have to search for them, with Ruby leaving a trail of petals behind her as she surged forward, utilizing her powers to advance between the members of the Spartan teams and keep them busy.
Penny, meanwhile, resettled and tried to take aim for one of the Snipers. A round caused her to duck, but she tracked its trajectory and quickly made the calculations through liberal use of her own personalized central processing unit. Thanks to Father for giving her the best Atlas had in terms of computer technology in mind, the girl scoped in the Sniper and snapped off a shot while the teams were preoccupied with Ruby and the others.
Waiting for half a second, Penny ascertained that she had, in fact, hit Linda. Even her calculations, revised and revised again, told her that was a low enough probability of hitting, but she was glad she did hit in the end. Next, came focusing on the other Spartans, but that proved to be difficult. When Kelly reappeared around the corner, she'd surprised Jaune and taken him out of the fight with one round to the chest, while Pyrrha was being fired at from both sides. The Hoplite punched through a boarded-up window into an apartment complex's lobby and trained her rifle on the window, but her reaction was just too slow for Kelly, who put her down with two stunlock rounds to the chest and one to the head.
She then turned to Penny, but found herself needing to take cover as Yang and Blake came in from the left, moving together and firing at the Spartan to keep her pinned. Blake split off to the left, even as tired as she was, and managed to barely scrape Kelly's shoulder with a round before catching two of her own. Penny took this opportunity and zapped Kelly on the spot with a round straight to the right breast, causing the girl to wince as she collapsed. Spartans were more resilient to shocks, it seemed, as Kelly had only dropped to her knees due to the bruising on the soft tissue more than the shock, though it, too, had an effect.
Yang looked to Penny, grinned, then gave her the 'OK' gesture before she and Blake were taken out by the second sniper and both dropped like bags of bricks thrown from the second floor of an apartment complex. Penny did not know why she made that comparison, exactly, but she knew it was accurate. It seemed, however, that Cal had repositioned and Ruby was growing tired, seeing as she slowed down.
Once Ruby came out of her powers and tried to run for her, breathing heavily all the while, two small pincer teams of Spartans, plus Dylan and Cal, focused on her, dropping her to the floor right in front of Penny. Ruby groaned, convulsing every once in a while thanks to the shocks, then whined out a dragged-out, "whyyyyyyyyyyyy..." as she lay on her belly.
Penny sighed, watching as Ren, too, was dropped by the Sniper when he tried to outflank the converging teams of Spartans. Vinh and Grace took her right, while Fred, Sam and John took the left. She smiled, then tossed away her weapon and raised her hands, stating, "I surrender," well aware of the effect a single Stunlock round would have on her. Dylan and his team lowered their weapons and the buzzer sounded with a cheerful tune while the big holo-screen up top flashed and counted one win for BLUE Team.
"Not a bad fight..." Dylan admitted as he approached Penny.
She smiled, "It was very interesting. And I think I've learned a bit about your team," before she gasped and rushed toward Ruby to help her. The Spartan hummed, then gave a nod to his team as they each departed to assist their knocked-out teammates. The man approached Penny, then helped her turn Ruby over onto her back. The little Red Riding Hood analogue of the team hummed.
"... Haha..." Ruby then chuckled, then smiled at the two, stating, "That was pretty fun..."
"It was," The two nodded.
"You had a hint of tactics near the end, there," Sam complimented, lifting her into a seating position. She blushed, then nodded in thanks. Sam looked to 'Dylan', then asked, "Guess we're taking a break and going in after a bit?"
"Yep..." Yang groaned from behind them as she was being helped up by a groggy Nora, "We got meals and everything paid for..."
Chief sighed, going to help the others, while Penny stared at them. Her mind wandered for a moment as she looked between the Chief and his compatriots, then smiled. Her processors reminded her of the development from earlier today and she realized she still needed a plan of action to keep the Chief from finding out what had occurred just before she, too, departed to join them on their endeavor to have fun.
... Earlier that day...
Penny had had to make up her mind, finally. The General pressed her in regards to the scanning of the Master Chief's armor. He could have elected any other piece, any other set of armor from among the Spartans, but chose Chief's specifically for some reason or another. She sighed, feeling one of her hidden pockets for the device she was supposed to utilize to provide the scan.
She pulled it out. A small, compact design with only two knobs for adjusting scan intensity and scan size, meaning she could scan something as small as a pixel on a display screen if she wanted to. Right now, though, she'd set it to the specific sizes of the Spartan's armor as she saw it from the initial optical scans. So, entering Dylan's room, the girl readied the scanning device. She saw the armor standing tall on its reinforced stand, a beast of unknown alloys and systems with an undersuit made of an unfamiliar material.
She started up the scanner. Its holographic screen powered up and it whirred to life. She approached the armor pensively, her fingers tightly wrapped around the device. She made sure the door was closed shut behind her, then stepped right in front of the armor and began the scan from the top of the helmet and going down. Gently, slowly and meticulously, Penny scanned every inch of the armor until the midpoint of the helmet. Something flashed.
"Huh...?" She quirked a brow up at that, then watched as the scanner suddenly failed. An electrical current surged through the device, to which Penny immediately dropped it and took a step back, staggered. She then gasped, watching as, from the base of the holographic computer on the desk, pixels flashed and danced before its own holo-display matrix was forced to output its light outward.
A deep blue avatar formed, that of a beautiful young woman. She looked to Penny with a mix of surprise, anger and awe in her eyes, but her face remained impassive, cold as the alloys that made up the Chief's armor. She inquired, "What do you think you're doing...?" her voice bearing wrath, anger and the faintest traces of compassion. Penny stared, bug-eyed, at her.
"... I..." She started, "I... Had orders..."
The... Whatever she was... She paused for a moment ,then sighed, "Of course... General Ironwood put you up to this, then?"
"... I..." Penny made herself as small a target as she could, "I'm..."
From anger, the woman's voice fully turned to compassion as she stated, "Orders are orders... Though, I hope the good general doesn't believe I'll let that slide... Penny Polendina."
"Y-You know me? You're... You're an AI..." Penny observed, "Aren't you?"
"Yes," She nodded, "My name is Cortana... I'm Chief's AI companion."
"That's... Amazing..." Penny whispered, half-surprised, half fearful, which was understandable...
Cortana then offered, "Do you know how dangerous this armor is, Penny? Especially for someone that's not augmented to handle it."
Penny shook her head and the AI sighed. Of course not... She sent a few messages to Penny's Scroll. It was somewhat highly-classified, but may she be damned. Who was going to stop her anyhow? There was no ONI agent within a thousand light-years of Remnant if her predictions were correct. She watched Penny watch the videos of Doctor Halsey talking about the armor, how it would kill anyone because of the incredibly-fast reaction time, then said, "I'm afraid I can't let you give any data to the General... Specifically for that reason."
"I..." Penny sighed, then nodded, "I understand..." then she paused for a moment and realized, her face growing grim, "Oh, Gods! Please, please, please, do not tell the Chief of this! He'll certainly be angry..." and then Cortana saw her avert her gaze, sadness in those two emerald eyes of hers, "At the General... And at me... I don't... I don't want that..."
Cortana sighed, then smiled and said, "Ain't you a clever AI, too...?" causing Penny to gasp. Cortana raised a hand and said, "Don't worry. I realized it the moment the suit sensors picked you up... I just haven't told the Chief because I figured it'd be better if you did so yourself..." Then she took pause, crossing her arms to her chest, "But now you have another secret to keep. Trying to get into his armor without permission... And I can't promise you I'll keep that secret from him."
"I understand..." She sighed, then took a moment to think. What could Penny Polendina do...?
Cortana hummed, "I said I can't promise you, Penny... Not that I won't try."
"... You would..." She looked to the AI once more and, upon receiving a smile, she beamed back. She spoke quickly, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thankyou!" Before bowing to Cortana and realizing, "Wait... What can I do to help you for this? I think... Wait, I... I know!" She grinned, "I can get you a body!"
Cortana staggered, "I'm sorry, what?"
"Yes! My father, he's a roboticist! He built me! He can build you a body as well!" She beamed, "What do you say? It's the least I can do for... This entire mess..."
... A body...? If even for a moment, Cortana wanted to entertain the idea and Penny saw that. She smiled at the AI, clearly leaving herself open to Cortana's reprisals, her anger, even her shouting. But no, Cortana wondered. IF Penny told the truth and her father was the man that created her frame, then perhaps... She hummed, checking Penny's specs one more time, then she smiled, "You sure he can do this?"
"Positive."
"... Alright..."
Both AIs smiled at one-another, then Penny said, "Very well. Let's begin the transfer... I'll send a message to father to expect you over our secure connection, so hang on!" She spoke, then looked over to the computer, ran to it and, despite Cortana's first protests, she typed in the transmit coordinates and the link for the secure RemNet connection. She hit send and the AI vanished. Penny smiled.
... Then she realized...
Chief. He'd know.