Dust and Echoes

by trestwho

After a successful mission, a UNSC fleet makes a random slipspace jump only to come across an uncharted system containing a sliver of humanity, one with seemingly no connection to Earth and whose natural abilities defy reason. In a galaxy full of terrifying dangers, the UNSC and Remnant must work together to defend all they know from annihilation.

33. Grimmtide, Part 1

Dust and Echoes (RWBY/Halo)

Chapter 32: Grimmtide, Part 1

[~[~]

UNSC Dawn Under Heaven, Halcyon-class Light Cruiser

Geosynchronous Orbit, Remnant, Oum System

October 25th, 2541, 1925 Hours (UNSC Military Calendar)

Everything had changed in the blink of an eye. One moment, Private Smith was finishing his dinner with the rest of his squad. It was just standard-issue MREs, but given how it was his birthday today, Sergeant Williams deemed it fit to get him a slice of cake to celebrate the occasion. Compared to what his mom would make, it wasn't anything to write home about, but he appreciated the gesture regardless. Thanks to the planet they were orbiting over, they were even able to get real sugar, which was a luxury in these trying times.

Then, just after he had finished eating his cake, the ship's alarms blared out in an unending siren. At once, every single able-bodied marine, sailor, and ODST sprang from their seats and sprinted as fast as they could towards their battle stations while the ship's commander, Admiral Lord Terrance Hood, explained the situation over the Heaven's intercom.

"All combat personnel, report to your stations immediately," Lord Hood commanded. "This is a Code Black. I repeat, Code Black. All ODSTs need to be geared up and ready for drop. Marines, report to Pelican launch bays."

"Code Black? What the Hell's a Code Black?" Corporal Johansen asked, a hint of nervousness in her voice as they followed Sergeant Williams into the ODST armory, where they were joined by an ever-increasing number of their fellow Helljumpers hastily putting on their armor and grabbing their weapons.

"It means shit's hit the fan," Sergeant Williams reported, throwing open his locker and immediately slipping the various pieces of his ODST BDU over his body, starting with the protective undersuit. As the rest of the squad did the same, Williams asked, "Seraphina, what's the situation on the ground?"

"To put it lightly, unpleasant," Seraphina, the ship's newly installed artificial intelligence, answered immediately, her voice coming through TEAMCOMM. "The entirety of Remnant is currently undergoing what the locals call a Grimmtide. Every kingdom and settlement is currently under siege as we speak."

Smith scowled while putting his boots on. He didn't know exactly what a Grimmtide was, but the name was evocative enough to get the gist. He and his fellow ODSTs had already done several operations against the Creatures of Grimm, ever since they were stationed at the planet. It took only a single engagement for him to realize that he would rather fight a pack of Brutes than face those things. Brutes were monsters, yes, but at least they were alive and could think. They behaved like living things should. The Grimm weren't like that at all. They may look like wild animals, but wild animals don't hurl themselves into a wall of machine gun fire, explosives, and more without any regard to themselves just so long as they could get to the people on the other side.

The ways that the people of Remnant regarded the Grimm varied between hazardous pests, natural disasters, and similarly to how his regarded the Covenant. It all depended on the size and number of them.

Slipping on his helmet, Private Rothberg asked, "How in God's name did that happen? We've been clearing out Grimm left and right for the last two months!"

"Moments ago, there was a severe security breach. Information regarding the Human-Covenant War was leaked to a group of Remnantians calling themselves the Remnant Liberation Army, who proceeded to hack into the major news networks in every kingdom and broadcast the unfiltered information to the general public while blaming us for instigating the conflict."

"GOD DAMN IT!" they all cursed in unison, with Williams adding, "Are they Insurrectionists?"

"At this time, their official affiliation is unknown. We didn't even know they existed until ten minutes ago," Seraphina admitted. "I imagine, however, that they will be treated as such once this crisis is contained."

"Good! These God damn Innie bastards…," Smith growled as he finally put his helmet on, his suit pressurizing a moment later with a faint hiss. "Don't they realize how many people their 'crusade' is going to end up getting killed?!"

"You're assuming that they care so long as they can stick it to us," Johansen pointed out.

"While I would absolutely love to jump in on more Innie-bashing as much as anyone else," Williams declared while loading shells into his shotgun and filling up his MA2B's magazine, "that's enough yapping. We've got a job to do Helljumpers, and people down there counting on us to pull them out of the fire. Seraphina, do we have our drop coordinates?"

"Already preloaded onto your HEV pods, Sergeant. You'll be dropping into the ruins of Mountain Glenn near Vale," the AI revealed, causing Smith to raise his eyebrow in confusion while loading his M6D's magazine.

"Why near Vale? Shouldn't the kingdom already have the bulk of their forces there?" Smith asked.

"They do, however the Army's 101st Engineer Command was stationed in the ruins," Seraphina clarified as the ODSTs strapped their weapons onto their magnetic holsters and started sprinting towards the HEV drop bay, joined by dozens of other ODSTs. "Their mission was to gain access to and extract the subterranean populace. They made contact with the survivors and were in the middle of loading them onto an underground train, which they planned to escort to Vale proper before collapsing and sealing the rail-line between them. The 5th Seran Armored Division is already stationed in the city, but are in need of reinforcements."

"Understood. We'll save their asses," Williams affirmed, then they reached their designated HEV pods.

Smith took the moment to regard his drop pod. The M8900 Single Occupant Exoatmospheric Entry Vehicle was a newer model compared to the M8823 Human Entry Vehicle, but it was just as rugged, more than capable of getting its single occupant to wherever they needed to go. Plus, it was far faster and maneuverable, which made it a favorite of his fellow ODSTs when dropping into hot zones. Sure, the Grimm wouldn't have AA-guns like the Covenant did, but when a village is about to be overrun by packs of Grimm, you needed all the extra speed you could get.

Strapping his rifle onto the side mount, Smith settled onto his seat. A moment later, the overhead door sealed shut. Through the front window, he could see the others do the same, and his pod momentarily lurched as the overhead crane moved it into position. Despite having dropped into Remnant dozens of times before, he couldn't help but feel his heart quicken and his breath become slightly shallower. It was basic human instinct, he had to remind himself. He was about to drop hundreds of kilometers in what was frankly a metal coffin. Sure, he trusted the SOIEV, but failures were all too common. It was part of the risk of being an ODST. When dropping feet first into Hell, there's no guarantee you'll make it there in one piece.

"Moving into low-Remnant orbit. Standby for drop," Seraphina's voice echoed through the SOIEV's internal comms.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his squad's status lights flick green, telling him they were ready. None of them said a word, not even Sergeant Williams. Smith knew that other commanders liked to give a rallying speech to their men before a drop, something to get their blood pumping and raise their spirits. Williams wasn't like that. He preferred to let action do the talking. Of course, Smith and the others also knew that Williams simply didn't like public speaking, but that was fine by him. He wasn't a huge fan of dramatic speeches anyway.

After a few moments, his pod lurched again as it was moved into final position. Through his window, he saw other teams of ODSTs already launching to their assigned drop zones, while others had to wait their turn. With the anticipation rising, Smith muttered a quick, silent prayer to the Virgin Mary, asking for a safe drop. He didn't know if anyone was listening, but it calmed his nerves regardless.

"Sergeant, be advised that a powerful storm has broken out over Mountain Glenn. Do you still wish to proceed with the drop?" Seraphina asked, and Smith winced. Orbital insertion was already dangerous enough in perfect conditions, but dropping through a storm made it exponentially worse. The wind, hail, rain, lightning and more could throw them off course, or even potentially short circuit their drop pod's safety systems. Either way, it wasn't something any ODST wanted to hear.

William's answer was immediate as he answered, "We're ODSTs; we're not gonna let some rain stop us."

"Understood. Standby," Seraphina replied, and the world momentarily went still.

Then, with a heavy lurch that threatened to send his stomach up into his throat, the SOIEV was launched from the drop bay into Remnant's atmosphere. His pod shook and shuddered as a reentry burn erupted around it, obscuring his vision. Smith kept his eyes focused squarely on his teams' status bars, trying to force them to stay green through sheer will.

"We're through the mesosphere. Entering the stratosphere now," Williams reported, his voice the epitome of calm despite the chaos surrounding them. True to his word, the shaking got worse as the atmosphere increased in density, slowing the drop pod significantly while causing the fire to blaze even hotter.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, he felt his pod's parachute deploy, and a violent shake nearly sent his forehead flying into the screen in front of him. He was able to maintain his posture however, and to his relief saw that his descent had slowed significantly to a now safe margin.

"Give me status," Williams ordered, and Smith was the first to reply.

"Chute deployed, sir!" Smith reported, followed by Johansen, Rothberg, and the others. But when it came to Corporal Kazuki to say something, all they got was his terrified screams as his parachute failed to deploy properly, sending him careening down to the surface of the planet at breakneck speed.

No one said a word as Kazuki continued to scream in utter panic, nor did they move to turn off his comms. He needed to know that, in his last moments, his team was still with him. When the screams abruptly stopped, they all knew what had happened, and Smith closed his eyes and bit back an angry curse.

Before he or anyone else could say something, his pod lurched again as they hit the storm clouds hovering over Mountain Gleen. It was just as Seraphina said, this storm was clearly powerful as lightning danced around them. He could almost hear the wind howling through the door. If he didn't know any better, he'd think they'd passed through a hurricane. Strangely, however, he didn't see much rain.

Clearly he wasn't the only one who noticed something was off with the storm, and as bolts of lightning continued to stretch across his field of view, Johansen said, "Anyone else getting a weird feeling?"

"Yeah," Rothberg agreed. "I've got a bad—"

The German man wasn't able to finish his sentence as a large bolt of red lightning suddenly struck his SOIEV, shorting out its navigation and communication systems. Smith and the others yelled out to their teammate, but all they could do was watch in horror as the SOIEV careened out of control, entering a death spiral from which there would be no escape. A second later, another lightning bolt struck a second SOIEV, leading to the same result.

"Evasive maneuvers!" Sergeant Williams yelled, but his voice was getting garbled as heavy interference started to distort it. By the end, all Smith or anyone else could hear was static, but they complied with his order regardless as they jettisoned their chutes and started using their thrusters to try and evade the lightning.

The storm seemed to intensify around them, lightning strikes erupting every second as he and his team bobbed and weaved around them. It reminded him of dodging Covenant anti-air fire. Despite their best efforts, one by one more and more SOIEVs were picked off by the storm. First it was Sergeant Williams, then Johansen. Soon, their ten-strong ODST squad was whittled down to just four people including himself, and it was taking all of Smith's concentration to not descend into panic.

That was when he saw it. As lightning danced around them, it illuminated a gargantuan shadow. It resembled a jellyfish, a bulbous head at the top with eleven appendages dangling from underneath. Around the edges of the bulb were massive spikes that resembled talons, with a small crown-like horn at the very top from which red electricity jumped to the spikes underneath.

"Oh, Jesus…," Smith muttered in disbelieving terror as the creature, which he knew had to be a Grimm of some kind, shot a bolt of lightning into another SOIEV. "It's creating the storm…."

One by one, the rest of the SOEIV's were shot down, with one being swatted out of the air by one of the jellyfish's tentacles. The last thing Smith saw, as he screamed and slammed all of this thrusters to the side to get away, was a tentacle reaching out to him. Then everything went black.

[~]

Kuroyuri, Anima, Kingdom of Mistral

Everyone was screaming as Lie Ren and his parents ran out of their house, his father holding his hunting bow in hand. The streets, normally calm at this time of night as everyone sat down for dinner or got ready for bed, was utterly chaotic as people ran for their lives. UNSC soldiers and Mistralian militiamen were doing their best to try and maintain at least a semblance of order, with the armed men and women barking commands and trying to usher people to relative safety. But with all the screaming and roaring coming from just outside the village walls, it was hard to even hear them. If Lie wasn't standing near one of them, he doubted he'd be able to at all.

"Mother!" Lie whimpered as he looked to his parents, and An Ren forced a smile through her own obvious fear as she looked down to him.

"It's okay darling, everything's okay!" she reassured her son, and that gave him the strength to keep moving.

"Get to the shelters! This way, move!" a UNSC marine shouted, waving his arm back and forth. A few of the terrified civilians nearby who saw and heard him moved to follow his orders, only for the man to suddenly shoulder his rifle and yell, "Get down!"

Li tackled Lie to the ground, protecting him with his body as the marine fired into the air. The other villagers' screams increased in pitch and volume as many of them instinctually lowered themselves, giving the soldier ample room. The automatic gunfire hurt Lie's ears, and despite covering them with his hands, they still throbbed with each shot. Then he heard a loud, earsplitting screech that drowned out the gunfire, followed by what sounded like arrows flinging through the air. A series of loud, dull thuds and wet squelches boomed around Lie, and the gunfire came to an immediate halt. Something large flapped its wings as it flew overhead, and it screeched once more before flying off.

After a few moments, Li pushed himself off his son, allowing Lie to look and see what had happened. He was immediately met with the wide-eyed, blank stare of his mother looking right at him, a growing pool of blood spreading out from her as a gargantuan feather pierced through her back and pinned her to the ground. Lie and his father stared in horror, which only grew as they looked around and saw that dozens of other people had suffered the same fate, including the soldier who had been protecting them.

"…Mother?" Lie muttered as he futilely reached out towards her expressionless face.

"An, no…," Li choked out as well as he gingerly ran his fingers through her hair. Both father and son wept over her body, ignoring the pained wails and moans of the wounded and the frantic footsteps of others running past them.

They weren't able to mourn for long, though, as a series of explosions nearby brought their attention to the nearest wall. There they saw several soldiers shooting at unseen monsters roaring outside. Men on mounted machineguns fired endlessly into the dark, joined by others throwing grenades and unloading rifles and rockets alongside them. Tracers flew into the air as dark shapes passed overhead. Lie couldn't see what they were, but he recognized them as Nevermores from his classes.

"Son, we need to move! Now!" Li shouted, wiping away the tears from his eyes as he forced himself and his son onto their feet. Lie reached one last time towards the dead body of his mother, but soon he was dragged away by his father deeper towards the village center.

Fire and explosions rang out around them as Kuroyuri descended further and further into chaos. Scores of people, some of whom Lie recognized, ran past them. Fathers and mothers carried their children in their arms, most of whom were sobbing. Many stumbled, but while some helped the unfortunate up onto their feet, others were trampled by those blinded by their fear. Li did what he could, but his only real priority was his son. On the rooftops, they could see soldiers firing at the oncoming Grimm hordes. Every so often, Lie would see one of the Nevermores fall out of the sky in a cloud of dark smoke, but he'd also see those same soldiers getting skewered by feathers like pincushions or carried off into the air in their mighty talons.

Ahead of them, he saw one of the UNSC armored cars firing its heavy machine gun over their heads. Countless tracer rounds tore through several Nevermores as they divebombed its location. While most were cut down, their numbers were too great, allowing the survivors to launch another barrage of feathers that cut right through the car's hood. A large explosion quickly ensued, consuming the men inside the vehicle and sending the villagers next to it stumbling to the ground. Lie and his father nearly lost their footing, but they were far enough away to avoid the worst of it.

"Lie, come on! Don't stop, don't stop!" Li yelled as he pulled his son further away, briefly looking over his shoulder towards the wall. Just outside it, the roars of the Grimm increased in fervor, and many of the soldiers and militiamen manning the defenses were practically firing their weapons straight down.

"We're not going to make it!" a terrified woman Lie didn't know wailed.

"Shut up and just keep running!" another boy angrily retorted.

When they heard a loud bang, Lie and his father momentarily stopped to turn around and look. There they saw a massive crack starting to form on the wall, and dark shapes of Beowolves, Ursas, and more climbing over the top, shredding the defenders unfortunate enough to be in their way. The sight of Grimm about to breach their walls caused the villagers to run even faster and scream even more, and Lie felt his heart thundering in his chest.

That was when his father pulled him aside into a nearby alleyway, and kneeled in front of him before saying, "Son, listen to me. You have to be brave now!"

"Father?!" Lie asked in confusion, which only increased when his father unhooked his sheathed hunting knife and gave it to him, pressing it to his chest.

"The shelter is that way!" Li told him, thrusting his arm off to the side. Lie belatedly realized that his father was bleeding. He hadn't even seen what had wounded him in all the confusion. "Don't stop for anything! Don't look back! Do you understand?!"

"Father, what are you talking about?! What is happening?!" Lie wailed, tears streaming down his face as his father, tears welling in his own eyes, stood up and pulled out an arrow from his quiver. "No, please! I can't!"

"Yes, you can!" Lie Ren firmly refuted as he pried Lie's clinging fingers from his pant leg and pushed the curved blade further into his grasp.

"Take action, son. Your mother and I love you. Forgive me," he said more softly, then turned around and ran out of the alleyway just as the walls finally broke. Lie could only watch in horror as his father notched an arrow and screamed at the top of his lungs, "RUN!"

Despite his father's wishes, Lie instinctively moved to rejoin him. But the crowd of people running from the danger formed an impassable wall. Others were now running through the alley in a desperate attempt to avoid the dark sea of claws and teeth barreling their way. Lie had to dive underneath one of the adjacent houses just to avoid getting trampled. Laying on his stomach, he searched for his father's shoes, and eventually was able to spot them. They were facing the opposite way from everyone else, and although he wasn't able to see him, Lie knew his father was firing his bow and arrow at the Grimm assailing them.

He crawled along his belly, trying to get back to his father, but soon his blood ran cold as he heard a loud roar. Turning his head to the side, he saw black beasts with white claws sprinting through the streets, ripping apart any unfortunate soul caught in their path. His father's shoes ran towards the monsters, and if he strained his ears, Lie could almost hear him screaming at others to run. The roars soon drowned him and everyone else out, then he could no longer see him.

Lie stayed there for a moment, frozen in place as his world collapsed around him. He only managed to snap out of it when the head of a Beowolf lurched out and slammed into the ground in front of him, causing him to scream in fright before hastily crawling away. Running as fast as his little legs could carry him, Lie Ren followed his father's last request. Tears ran down his face, and his heart thundered in his chest. Behind him, he could hear people's screams being cut off as the Grimm ripped them apart. He didn't dare turn back and look, instead focusing on just trying to run away. Ahead of him, he could hear soldiers still staying in the fight, doing their best to hold off the Grimm and get as many people as possible to safety.

Whether they could, or would simply die trying, Lie Ren didn't know.

As he neared the exit of the alleyway, Lie tripped on a discarded bottle and fell hard to the ground. He grit his teeth in pain as he gingerly held up his now scraped and bruised knee. Around him, the other adults and their families ran for their lives, none of them giving Lie so much as a passing glance. Part of him wanted to just lay down and curl up, but the rest knew if he did that he'd be dead, and his father's sacrifice would've been for nothing. Fighting through the pain, Lie prepared to push himself back up and rejoin the retreat, but that was when he saw the young orange-haired girl from a few days before cowering under a nearby house. She was holding a wooden hammer, more of a toy mallet really, tightly against her chest, tearfully whimpering as the adults around her ran by, none of them even noticing her.

Staring at her for a few moments, Lie debated following everyone else's example and running. But before he could come to a decision, a loud, inhuman screech coming from above forced his hand as a Nevermore descended from the night sky. The UNSC soldiers attempted to shoot it down, but it was moving too fast. Seeking shelter from what he knew was coming, Lie dove underneath another house across from the one the girl was cowering under, and laid on his belly as a storm of feathers pierced through the crowd he was just in. The Nevermore was shot down a moment later, but it was poor comfort to those already dead.

Lying flat on the ground, Lie glanced towards the street in the vain hope that he could see his father, desperately wishing for his presence. But he saw nothing but carnage, and it was then that he accepted what he already knew. His father wasn't coming back. The dam he had been building up in his mind fully gave way, and he wept as the collapse of his world continued around him. A storm of negative emotions consumed his entire being, and he felt himself reach a breaking point.

Then, for a reason he couldn't understand, his body shimmered a faint pink before turning grey. His injured knee no longer hurt, his emotions suddenly calmed, and he no longer felt afraid. The moment of clarity passed, and his color returned alongside his fear. Yet, somehow, it felt lesser than before. Lie stared at his hands for a few moments, wondering what he did and how he did it. He wondered if that was his 'aura' some of his fellow students had talked about in school?

Whatever the case, the answers would have to wait as yet another screech caught his attention, this one coming near the terrified girl across from him. Part of Lie wanted to just stand up and run, but the rest could only stare at the girl helplessly cowering under the floorboards. He wondered what to do, before his gaze fell to the knife still clenched in his hand.

"Sometimes the worst action to take…is taking no action at all," the words of his father echoed in his mind, and Ren came to a decision. "Take action, son."

Steeling his gaze, he ran out from under the house to the next one, sliding along the ground to the girl who yelped in fright. Seeing that he wasn't a Grimm, she calmed down somewhat, but with all the chaos and carnage around them, there wasn't much anyone could do.

"Hey, come on! We need to go!" Lie told the girl, but she fearfully recoiled back and fervently shook her head when he reached for her.

"No!" the girl wailed in utter terror, tears running down her cheeks.

Lie struggled to figure out what to do when the house above them creaked and moaned as a large Grimm he couldn't see got on top of it. Realizing what was about to happen, the two children instinctively held each other as fear gripped their hearts. Lie clenched his eyes tightly shut, trying to replicate what he had just done moments before. The strain on the wood increased as whatever was on top of them got closer to the ground, clearly sensing their fear as Lie reached deep inside himself.

Then, just as the tip of the Nevermore's beak passed the floorboards, his aura shimmered once again. His body went grey, and it spread to the girl he was tightly hugging. Both of them felt their fear be replaced by tranquility, and the Nevermore quickly lost interest before moving on to where the UNSC and militiamen were herding everyone else. In the distance, Lie could hear the shelter doors being sealed shut, safeguarding whoever managed to make it inside.

After a few moments, Lie's grip on his power broke, and color returned to him and the girl. He breathed heavily and felt lightheaded, but he forced himself to remain upright. Taking several deep breaths, he turned to look at the girl who was staring at him in utter shock and surprise, then forced himself to give her a soft smile. Seeing that she had dropped the wooden hammer, he reached down to grab it, then gave it back to her.

"It's okay," Lie gently said, giving her a soft, warm smile. "We'll keep each other safe, okay?"

The girl said nothing at first, then replied, "I'm scared."

He nodded back while admitting, "Me, too."

Peeking out from underneath the floor, Lie asked, "What's your name?"

The girl didn't say anything at first, then answered. "Nora."

Lie turned back towards Nora, her hand firmly clasped in his own, and revealed, "My name's Lie Ren."

Lie and Nora stared at each other, then several loud roars came from above. At first, he thought it was more Grimm, but they sounded different. They weren't animalistic. In fact, they sounded more like explosions. Both children peeked out to look, where they were spotted by a Beowolf. Before any of them could react, the Grimm was consumed by a large dust cloud as something slammed into it from above. When the dust settled and black smoke dispersed, Lie and Nora saw a large, black, teardrop-shaped pod embedded into the ground. The front was ejected away, thankfully missing the pair as it skidded to a stop.

From inside the pod emerged a man clad from head to foot in black armor, his face obscured by a helmet with a wide visor on it. In his hands was a rifle, the same kind wielded by the rest of the UNSC soldiers stationed in the village, and on his back was a double-barreled tube of some kind. The soldier quickly noticed the pair of children staring at him, and unlike all the other adults from before, ran straight to them.

"Are you kids okay?" the soldier asked with a man's voice, his visor depolarizing to reveal his concerned face. There was a nametag written on his chestplate, but it was in a language that neither Lie nor Nora could read. Regardless, the man kneeled in front of them, one hand gripping his rifle while he used the other to gently clasp Lie's shoulder.

"My name is Sergeant Graves," the man revealed as he smiled at them, with other similarly clad and armed men and women forming a protective circle around them. "Don't worry, you're safe now."

Standing up, Sergeant Ethan Grave's visor polarized once again, and he barked out, "ODSTs, secure any survivors and escort them to the shelter!"

"Yes, sir!" the other ODSTs replied in unison, and as Graves personally began guiding the children towards the town center, Lie couldn't stop staring at them in utter awe.

[~]

Mountain Glenn, Eastern Sanus, Kingdom of Vale

Everything, in Qrow's humble opinion, had gone to Hell in a handbasket. There really was no other way to describe it, not after some idiots leaked nearly the entire truth of the Human-Covenant War onto the CCT network and caused a Grimmtide. He had only heard stories about how bad Grimmtides could be. The only person he knew who actually lived through one was Professor Ozpin, technically, and for more reasons than one he was a unique circumstance. Every city, every village, every kingdom on Remnant was currently under siege as the largest mass panic in recent history gripped his people by the throat.

Qrow didn't know how many people were already dead, nor how many would perish by the time this was over. All he knew was that, right now, he had a job to do. Something he was reminded of as he chopped the head off an Ursa trying to break through the defensive line.

"Hold them back! Hold them back, God damn it!" one of the Seran sergeants barked as he fired his Lancer Mk 1 in short, controlled bursts into the oncoming horde. He was joined by dozens of others lending their rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, and machine guns. The air was filled with tracer rounds and explosions, creating a cacophony of noise that echoed across the ruined skyscrapers surrounding them.

Firing Harbinger's shotgun into a Creep's chest, Qrow paid its disintegrating body no heed as he simply moved on to the next target.

"There's no end to them!" another Seran yelled as he reloaded his rifle and immediately fired a burst into the head of a leaping Beowolf, popping it like a wet balloon.

"There is, and we're gonna find it!" the sergeant retorted before hastily ducking underneath a Beowolf's claw. Rather than retreat, he and two other Serans yelled at the top of their lungs before driving their rifles' bayonets into the abomination's chest and pulling their triggers. A hailstorm of lead tore through the Grimm's body, and it momentarily twitched before going still and disintegrating into a cloud of black smoke.

Qrow had only been fighting alongside these guys for a few hours now, and he had come to two decisions regarding them: One, the people of Sera were absolutely insane. Two, he liked them.

Making sure to stay out of the soldiers' line of fire, Qrow concentrated on high priority targets like Alphas and those who were about to slip past their defenses. Sprinting towards their left flank, he used Harbinger's scythe configuration to cleave a path through several Centinels which had burrowed their way up through the rock and concrete to try and attack the soldiers from behind. For a Huntsman of his caliber, taking them out wasn't too difficult, but he made sure to put them down as fast as possible anyway. Both to ensure the safety of the men and women he was fighting alongside, as well as making sure they didn't live long enough to evolve into their Alpha variants. Cenitaurs were nightmares for anyone to deal with, and he'd rather not have to do that himself in the weeks after this mess.

As he reloaded his weapon, Qrow briefly reviewed why they were in Mountain Glenn in the first place. The upper city had fallen just over five years ago, with the survivors evacuating and rebuilding underground. Everything had been fine up until now, but with the UNSC and the Kingdoms getting ready to announce to the world the truth about the Covenant and the war they were about to join, their spaceborne brethren were paranoid that the subway tunnels represented a significant risk to Vale proper. Sure, it had been secure up until now, but in the event of a sufficiently large Grimm attack or, Gods forbid, direct sabotage, a subsequent breach would allow Grimm to flow directly into the city right past their defenses, leading to untold numbers of casualties.

Lord Hood's argument had been solid, and he convinced the Valean Council to allow a large scale rescue and sealing. Qrow wasn't originally a part of it. He was only in Vale to help Tai and the girls settle into their hotel. Preemptive evacuations had been going on all across the kingdom, and Patch was no exception. The bulk of its population already lived in the island's main port, and thanks to its shallow waters and close proximity to the kingdom capital, it was quite secure. Avery was stationed there at the moment, helping to oversee the defenses. The more remote homesteads, like Tai's, were a bit more of an issue. Many were reluctant to leave their homes for vague explanations at best.

Given how Tai was completely in the loop, he had no issue with taking the girls and leaving their home for a bit. They could've taken shelter in Patch's port like the others, but Tai wanted to ensure that his daughters were as safe as possible, so he took them into Vale itself. Qrow didn't blame him, and he, with Ozpin's help, was able to get them into a nice hotel. Ruby and Yang didn't even know what was going on. They thought they were simply on vacation and having the time of their lives. At least until the Remnant Liberation Army fucked things up.

The sound of rumbling thunder overhead cut through his thoughts and drew his attention skyward, and he frowned. Through the storm clouds, illuminated by periodic flashes of red lightning and the occasional break in the cloud cover, he could see the gargantuan forms of Tempests. At least three of them, probably more given the size and strength of the maelstrom they were generating. Their presence had caught everyone completely off-guard. More importantly, the storm and the Grimm were preventing the UNSC from sending in desperately needed reinforcements. Something he was reminded of when he spotted a Pelican attempting to break through, only to get shot down by a combination of lightning strikes and Tempest tentacles. A flight of F-99 Wombat drone fighters attempted to fire rockets into them, but the rockets veered off course and exploded uselessly into the city skyline if they weren't intercepted by the lightning.

Clutching his fist tightly, Qrow had to stop himself from cursing. There was only one reason why Tempests would be here, and their presence was no coincidence. The RLA didn't act alone; they had help, and there was only one person on Remnant who would benefit from all this chaos and devastation.

But he could worry about Salem later. Right now, he had to help keep the Grimm at bay long enough for the UNSC to finish evacuating the people underground. If they were reluctant to comply before, now they were in a mad dash to get onto the train. To do that, they needed time, and that meant holding the Grimm off for as long as possible. Overhead, Falcons and Hornets gave close air support by firing rockets, grenades, and bullets into the Grimm hordes below. Resounding booms of Scorpions firing their main cannons echoed across the city, and every so often he'd see Warthogs racing down the street, firing their mounted machine guns, gauss cannons, and rocket launchers at any Grimm in their way. So far, they were holding the line, but he doubted their good fortune would last forever.

"Branwen, Colonel Hoffman is requesting your presence in the command center," Lieutenant Anya Stroud called out through his scroll.

"On my way," Qrow replied, then immediately shouted to the Lieutenant overseeing the sector's defense, "Kim, I gotta go! You good here?"

"We're solid! Tai, bolster the left flank! Barrick, get on that machine gun!" Lieutenant Minh Young Kim replied before immediately refocusing his attention onto the battle surrounding them.

Confident that the Serans had everything under control for the moment, Qrow ran down the nearest subway entrance into the underground section of Mountain Glenn. Inside, the chaos of the battle above was replaced by the chaos of the evacuation below. Thousands of people were yelling and screaming as they desperately tried to push their way to the front of the line. Along the tracks was a massive train filled with hundreds of people. Soldiers were tossing everything nonessential over the side to make room for more. With comfort a luxury they couldn't afford, they were trying to maximize as much space as possible and cram everyone in.

"Get back in line and calm down!" a fully armored Seran shouted, pushing back a man to allow a woman and her children space to proceed.

"Why do they get to go?!" the enraged civilian screamed back, but the soldier was unperturbed.

"They were in line first, so they get on first! Wait your turn or I'll send you to the back of the line!"

The civilian looked like he wanted to argue, but a quick shuffle of the Seran's rifle was enough to get him and everyone else to back down. The sounds of gunfire and explosions coming from the upper levels briefly caused everyone's heads to shift upward, which only seemed to aggravate the terrified civilians even more. When they heard several explosions and gunfire coming from their level, everyone screamed as several troopers rushed past to close a newly emerged hole that formed in the wall as several Centinels burst outward.

"E-hole! Take it out!" one of the Serans shouted, followed by several fragmentation grenades getting tossed in. The subsequent detonations caused the hole to collapse in on itself, bisecting the Grimm still burrowing out of it and reducing them to dust.

"Damn grubs!" a Seran complained, then gestured towards the train with his Lancer. "Get these people moving now!"

As the guards complied with the demand, Qrow continued moving towards the command center. It wasn't much of one. It used to be the security station for the rail yard, and with its easy access to the station's intercom, security cameras, and doors, the UNSC had quickly claimed it for their own once the evacuation began, turning it into a proper CIC. Inside, Qrow could see dozens of controllers manning stations, issuing orders and directing reinforcements to critical areas. A holographic map of Mountain Glenn was displayed in the central holotable, giving a real-time readout of the situation. The UNSC's forces were represented by green dots scattered around the display, the largest cluster of which was around the train station. Others were smaller islands, all of which were surrounded by a sea of red depicting the Grimm. Leaning over the top of the holotable was Colonel Hoffman, wearing a full set of armor save for a cap atop his head.

"We're getting pushed in from all sides," Hoffman complained as he idly moved the display's focus to another section of the city. "Damn grubs, popping up wherever they want even behind our defenses. Never thought I'd see the day where I'd rather be fighting the Covenant."

"Don't give the Centinels all the credit. There's plenty of Creeps doing their own share of tunnelling, too," Qrow said, announcing his presence which Hoffman regarded for a moment before grunting in agreement.

"You're telling me. It's like I never left home," Hoffman replied as he shook his head in exasperation. "Apparently, the good people of Mountain Glenn were drilling tunnels all over the place to expand. When this goddamn Grimmtide kicked off, those tunnels were among the first places to get breached. Seems like there was a whole shitload of Grimm underground, just waiting for someone to catch their attention."

"More like ten shitloads," Qrow joked sarcastically, causing Hoffman to give the Huntsman a faint, amused smile before steeling himself once again.

"Either way, Mountain Glenn was doomed from the start. It was only a matter of time before the people here breached those hidden pockets. Thank God we were here to get them out before shit hit the fan. I don't want to think about what would've happened if we weren't."

Hoffman shook his head and sighed, then matched his gaze with Qrow's and continued, "But I didn't ask you to come down here and listen to me bitching. We're having a bit of a situation topside."

"And that would be?" Qrow asked while crossing his arms over his chest, and Lieutenant Stroud walked over and handed Qrow a data pad displaying the Tempests. He frowned and muttered, "Of course."

"With those Tempests in the air, we are almost completely cut off from reinforcements. Any dropships or ODSTs that attempt to get through get shot down," Stroud revealed. "The storms they're generating are putting out so much electromagnetic interference that our ships can't get a target lock on them. If we call in orbit-to-ground strikes, we risk hitting our own forces, or Vale itself."

"Needless to say, that isn't an option," Hoffman grumpily added, and Qrow nodded in agreement.

"I saw a flight of Wombats attempting to shoot them down earlier," Qrow replied. "They did nothing; the rockets were either intercepted or went off-course. Didn't see what happened after that."

"We lost contact with the drones not too long ago," Stroud told him. "We have a flight of F-23 Falcatas on standby, but we can't risk losing the pilots to the storm."

"Those Tempest assholes are, to put it plainly, fucking up everything," Hoffman declared, to which the Lieutenant nodded in agreement.

"I can see that. What do you need me for, then?" Qrow asked with a huff. "I'm good, don't get me wrong, but there isn't anything I can do against a Leviathan-class Grimm by myself. Must less ones that fly."

"Wasn't expecting you to," Hoffman admitted before shifting the holotable to focus on a massive tower in the center of Mountain Glenn, one that was still relatively intact. Pointing at the skyscraper, Hoffman revealed, "This is Merlot Tower, the former home of Merlot Industries."

"I'm aware," Qrow said through a disgusted scowl before pointing upward. "Doctor Merlot was a madman who thought he could control the Grimm. Started experimenting on them, and when he ran out he started drawing more in to the city on purpose. Three guesses as to how that turned out, and the first two don't count."

"I've read the reports. Thousands died, including himself, and the survivors were forced underground," Stroud replied, then shook her head. "But that's not important. What is important is that the UNSC determined Merlot Tower's centralized location and high vantage point offered a crucial position for the city's evacuation. We were setting up anti-air defenses, including a Mark 2488 Onager, when the Grimmtide kicked off."

"An Onager? What's that?" Qrow asked, unfamiliar with the weapon, then whistled when the holotable promptly displayed it.

"This is an Onager," Hoffman declared as the mass driver rotated. "It fires a fifteen centimeter ferric-tungsten hollow-point round through five linearly arranged magnetic coils with 1.1 gigajoules of kinetic energy on impact at twenty rounds a minute. In other words, it's a ground-mounted MAC, and it'll punch right through those Tempests like balloons."

"Certainly looks like it. Given how those Tempests are still up, though, I imagine something went wrong."

"That's putting it lightly. The AA-guns were supposed to be automated, including the Onager, but with the storm putting out so much EM interference, they haven't been able to fire," Hoffman pointed out, then frowned. "This is why you don't rely on automation like those damn robots Atlas likes to use. When shit like that breaks, you're left hung out to dry."

"Regardless, we sent troops to retake the tower and fire the emplacements manually," Lieutenant Stroud picked up where the Colonel left off. "We lost contact with them shortly afterwards."

"Right, right," Qrow muttered. "And you need me to finish the job."

"If you're so inclined," Hoffman admitted. "Look, I know I can't order you to do shit you don't wanna do. The only reason why we have a bunch of you Huntsmen here in the first place was because they have standing contracts with Vale. But I like to think we have a good working relationship, and if you could lend a hand, it would save a lot of my guys."

Qrow nodded, knowing exactly where Colonel Hoffman was coming from. He wasn't the only Huntsman currently operating in the area. There were at least a dozen Huntsmen in Mountain Glenn alone, assisting with the evacuation. But unlike him, the others weren't keen on following orders from anyone, much less a foreign military. They had their contracts with Vale, and as far as they were concerned the terms of their contracts were the only things they had to worry about. The Grimmtide didn't help matters, as most of the Huntsmen went off to take care of the things they considered to be most urgent, leaving only a handful who actually stuck around to help the soldiers.

It wasn't hard to come to a decision, and Qrow nodded before replying, "Those Tempests are everyone's problem. I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," Stroud replied, clear relief on her face while Hoffman nodded stoically in appreciation. Before Qrow could head off, however, she quickly added, "Also…if you find Delta-One, they could use the assist."

"Marcus is fine, Anya. He's one tough sunovabitch," Hoffman pointed out, but Stroud simply gave Qrow a pleading look regardless. It was one he'd seen before. Qrow didn't know who this 'Marcus' fellow was, but he got the feeling that he and the Lieutenant were close.

He nodded affirmatively at her, and when she nodded back appreciatively, he made his leave. Racing up the stairwell, he briefly paused to see a Scorpion rumbling by, firing its main cannon at an emerging Deathstalker nearly as large as the tank itself. The ninety millimeter tungsten shells punched smoking holes in the monster's thick white shell, and it succumbed to the barrage only a few giant arachnid steps from the hole it'd burst out from. Many of the Serans cheered, only for a pack of Beowolves to leap out of the smoke cover of the dissolving beast and descend upon the Scorpion.

A hurried shot from the cannon took out a handful in the center, and the sweep of its machine gun cut down a few more, but the rest of the scattered pack easily reached the slowly reversing vehicle. The dumber Beowolves clawed futilely at the tank's ceramic-titanium armor, but others leapt onto the canopy to tear it open like a tin can. The soldiers nearby fired at the pack of Grimm to try and save the tank, with Qrow contributing his own shotgun shells to the attempt, but by the time they cleared the Beowolves the tank cabin was already left a bloody mess. With the Scorpion unmanned, several other Grimm attempted to break through the line, but thankfully a trio of Falcons arrived overhead to rain fire down upon them.

Qrow wanted to help push the Grimm back, but seeing the silhouette of the Tempests flash through the storm reminded him of their higher priority. So he kept running, moving into a nearby alleyway that was out of sight from anyone else before transforming into a crow. As he flew through the air, he saw other UNSC forces bravely fighting the Grimm, turning the entire urban ruins into a warzone.

'Gods, I hope Avery is having a better time than I am,' Qrow thought to himself, then kept flying straight towards Merlot Tower.

[~]

Patch, Eastern Sanus, Kingdom of Vale

Standing at the edge of the port, Sergeant Avery Johnson looked out towards the sea with his standard-issue binoculars. The water was churning violently on the horizon as a dark shape clawed its way out from the depths. It soon began to emerge, revealing a massive beast with an axe-like horn in the middle of its head. Rows of bony armor crossed his chest, back, arms and legs, and with a mighty roar it announced its presence to the people of the island.

"Leviathan-class Grimm! I repeat, we have a Leviathan-class Grimm!" Private Jenkins shouted into the radio as the Grimm properly began making its way towards them. Around the port, amidst the wailing siren and all the gunfire and explosions as his fellow marines and Army troopers fought off the minor Grimm already on the island, people's terrified screams got louder and more pronounced. This seemed to have a bolstering effect on the Grimm, making them even more ferocious.

"Do we have anything that can take that thing out?" Mendoza asked, his voice trembling in fear and anxiety.

"We have a few Scorpions and Hornets, but I doubt they'll do much against something that big," Johnson admitted.

"Great, so we're screwed," Bisenti remarked, but Johnson shook his head.

"Nope, 'cause I ain't got time for this bullshit," Johnson retorted, quickly assessing that the Grimm was far enough away from both Patch and Vale to minimize the risk of collateral damage, thanks to the shallow waters around the island forcing the big bastard to expose itself at a reasonably safe distance. "Jenkins, call up the Two for Flinching. I want an orbital bombardment on that son of a bitch."

Jenkins immediately complied with the order, and Johnson continued staring out through the binoculars at the Grimm coming towards them. A moment later, dozens of guided Streak missiles flew down through the upper atmosphere, slamming right into the Grimm and consuming it in a cloud of explosions. Water went flying in all directions, and a faint shockwave could be felt even from all the way at the island's port. When the mist settled, Johnson couldn't help but feel disappointed that the Leviathan-class Grimm was still standing, albeit limping forward with a third of its body gone in various chunks.

The titanic creature let loose a wet screech of rage and what could be construed as pain, and glared balefully up to where the missiles came from. It locked its multiple sets of eyes on the faint grey oblong of the UNSC ship miles overhead, before its throat swelled and it spat out a lance of pressurized seawater. Unfortunately for the Leviathan-class, its super-sized water-cutter jet, which probably would've sliced all of the port's buildings in half if it had been allowed to reach the island, couldn't even make it up to the clouds that its target was hovering safely above, before losing cohesion and falling back to the surface as a rain column.

"Call in a MAC strike. Put that thing out of its misery," Johnson quickly ordered over the Grimm's last roar of frustration.

"A MAC strike? In atmosphere?" Mendoza asked in shock, hardly able to believe his sergeant's words.

Johnson merely smiled as the UNSC Two for Flinching a Lancer-class fast-attack corvette, descended from the clouds and aimed its 5D7C2 magnetic accelerator cannon right at the Grimm's head. A few moments later, the MAC fired, piercing right through the neck and continuing onward out into the ocean. A massive explosion of water was sent skyward, along with bits and pieces of the Grimm that rained down around them. The Grimm's head even landed in the middle of the loading dock, the blade from its horn stabbing into the concrete with a deafening crack, before starting to disappear into black smoke.

Smiling to himself as everyone began to cheer victoriously, Johnson lit a Sweet Williams cigar and breathed in a cloud of its smoke. Turning around, he couldn't help but notice that the remaining terrestrial Grimm, previously invigorated by the Leviathan's presence and the despair it had invoked, were now beginning to falter in the face of renewed human morale. With his cigar still held in his mouth between his teeth, Johnson flicked off the safety of his MA2B rifle and began making his way towards the front lines.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Let's mop these bastards up!" Johnson declared, and the rest of his men shouted in agreement as they joined him.

[~]

Mountain Glenn, Eastern Sanus, Kingdom of Vale

As Qrow flew as fast as he could towards Merlot Tower, he made sure to pay attention to the battle still going on around him. Explosions and bullets filled the air as Nevermores, Lancers, and other flying Grimm dueled with Hornets, Falcons, and small ground-based AA-guns. No one was watching out for a seemingly normal crow as both factions were far more focused on killing each other. But that also meant they wouldn't care if he got in the way, forcing him to make frequent detours through the bombed-out buildings and streets of Mountain Glenn.

Thanks to his small size and agility, he was able to go wherever he wanted, something he demonstrated as he flew through the window of what used to be an office building. Coming out the other side, he squawked in surprise and came to an abrupt stop as a Falcon swarming with Griffons spiraled out of control. The aircraft was on fire, and soldiers inside desperately tried to shoot the beasts off of them. Before Qrow could shift back into his human form and lend a hand, the Falcon crashed into the side of the building, exploding and sending its burning carcass to the streets below. The Griffons died in the impact as well, but that was a small consolation in his opinion.

Biting back a curse, Qrow briefly looked down as he saw packs of Beowolves and Ursas swarm over the ruined aircraft, a Goliath trudging behind them as they made their way towards the nearest UNSC emplacement. At the far end of the street, machine guns opened fire, cutting into the horde and reducing them to black mist. The .50 caliber rounds did little to the Goliath, however, which simply trumpeted and picked up the pace as it charged towards them. Each step made the ground and buildings shake, and several long-abandoned cars were crushed underneath the Grimm. The soldiers added rockets and grenades to their attack, and landmines sat ready to take its massive feet out from under it. But the smaller and faster Beowolves, Creeps, and Ursas took them out before they could be used against the Goliath, and the rockets were barely even slowing it down.

Realizing that, without any assistance, the soldiers were done for, Qrow came to a decision. He swooped down at breakneck speed, transforming back into a human with Harbinger in its scythe-configuration raised behind him. With a wordless yell, he fired his shotgun barrels to maximize his momentum and swung the blade right through the back of the Goliath's skull, deeply enough for the tip to burst out through its forehead like a small horn. It sputtered for a moment, and its inertia kept it going for several more feet. But ponderously, inevitably, it collapsed to a heap right in front of the sandbags.

Grunting in exertion, Qrow removed his weapon from the Goliath and hopped down as it turned into smoke. Without their Alpha, the cohesion of the remaining Grimm disappeared, allowing the machine-gunners to finish picking them off. Addressing the sergeant, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"We are now," the sergeant replied, giving Qrow a respectful nod. "Gotta say, your timing couldn't have been better. If you hadn't shown up, that thing would've run right over us."

"That's what it looked like," Qrow said, taking the opportunity to empty Harbinger's shotgun into a few remaining stragglers. With the coast relatively clear, he added while reloading his weapon, "Listen, you and your men should fall back. It's not safe here anymore."

"Don't need to tell us twice," the sergeant agreed, then turned towards the others. "Alpha-Two, pack your shit up, we are leaving! Stratton, make sure that fabricator is loaded up. Rojas, help him."

Looking back at Qrow, the sergeant asked, "You coming with? We could use the assist."

Qrow shook his head and answered, "I can't. Heading to the tower. Gonna try and get those AA-guns back online."

"Really? Hoffman managed to rope you into that?" Corporal Jace Stratton asked as he glanced up towards Merlot Tower while he and Rojas carried the field fabricator along the ground them. He then added, "Well, I'd offer to come with ya, but we're running low on supplies. Honestly, we'd probably just slow you down."

"Don't worry about it," Qrow replied as he turned to leave.

"By the way, if you see Marcus, tell him he owes me twenty credits," Stratton quickly called out as he and the rest of Alpha-Two loaded their remaining supplies into a Razorback and prepared to drive off.

Not bothering to stick around and see them leave, Qrow simply ran back out into the street and around the corner. Once he was out of sight, he transformed back into a bird and took off into the air once again. He was much closer to Merlot Tower by this point, but he was still several kilometers away. If it weren't for the hectic battle going on around him, he'd probably be there by now. As it stood, going straight to Merlot Tower as the crow flies could result in him getting intercepted, and if that happened the odds of the AA guns getting brought back online would decrease even more.

Part of him wondered why none of the other Huntsmen were trying to get to the tower as well. They might not be under any obligation to follow UNSC orders, but they had to understand that taking down those Tempests was in everyone's best interest. Even the most anti-military Huntsmen like himself could put aside their pride to lend a hand. Of course, it was possible that, given his prior relationship with the UNSC, Qrow was the first one that came to Colonel Hoffman's mind. That was probably the reason. Even if the other Huntsmen probably wouldn't say no to turning those guns back on, with Qrow it was an absolute certainty. Stroud would probably have to walk him through the steps to actually do that, though. He wasn't exactly the best with computers.

Qrow was stricken from his thoughts when he saw a body lying on the street below. It caught his attention because it was colorful and unique, unlike the uniform Serans he'd already lost count of. Realizing the body belonged to a Huntress, Qrow diverted course and flew down. Transforming back into a human, he quickly scanned his surroundings for any sign of danger. Sensing nothing in the immediate area, Qrow inspected the body and frowned.

He didn't know the identity of the dead Huntress. All he could tell was that she liked the color blue a lot, given her wardrobe, and her weapon appeared to be a crossbow that could transform into a one-handed axe. A weapon that was now shattered into a dozen little pieces, fading into the destroyed city around them. Her body was covered in cuts and bruises, with a gaping hole where her heart used to be, and her blank, expressionless eyes stared up into the sky above.

Frowning to himself, Qrow gently probed at the cuts with his fingers. They didn't seem to come from claws, as there were only single cuts rather than rows. But they were far rougher than the type of wounds a metallic blade would leave behind. They were too jagged and uneven. He'd never seen something like this before, and the mystery made him clench his fist.

As far as he could tell, there were only three options as to what killed his fellow Huntsman. One, she was murdered by UNSC forces here, which he felt was exceedingly unlikely. Both because he doubted any marine could take out a Huntress on their own, and because the UNSC had no reason to target a Huntress unless she was actively working against them like Haki Felt. Not to mention she'd almost certainly have been killed by bullets or explosives in that case, rather than whatever melee weapon did this.

Two, a Remnantian criminal just so happened to be in the area and murdered her. Unless the criminal was an assassin working for Salem, that was unlikely as well. Given the Grimm Queen's obvious involvement in the Tempests he was tasked with destroying, though, he couldn't dismiss the possibility out of hand. Three, and the most likely in his opinion, she was killed by a Grimm. What kind, he didn't know, and the fact that there was even a body left behind for him to find rather than it being eaten threw things off for him even more, but after he turned on the AA batteries he'd be sure to find out. Any other time, he'd drop what he was doing to give chase before the trail went cold, but right now he had other, more important priorities.

Taking to the skies once again, he kept his eyes peeled for any sign of danger. There were still packs and flocks of Grimm moving around, constantly skirmishing with the UNSC forces holding the city. But none were paying attention to him, meaning he was mostly safe. On the ground, he saw the remains of the forces Hoffman had previously sent to Merlot Tower. The burning wrecks of Warthogs, Razorbacks, Scorpions and a few crashed aircraft littered the streets, along with dozens of dead Serans. Some of them appeared to have tried to set up fortifications, but judging by the state of their bodies they didn't last very long. Most of the fabricators were in similar states of disrepair, but strangely some of them looked relatively intact, with only their power cores and material cartridges empty.

As he kept going, he noticed what appeared to be a streak of fortified areas making a rough line towards Merlot Tower. At first, he thought it was different groups of soldiers all trying to do the same thing. Then, as the line kept going, he started seeing fewer and fewer bodies. Not only that, but the fortifications seemed fresher. Realizing that this could mean there were survivors, Qrow decided to take a detour and follow them, hoping his gut instinct was right. Besides, he was only a few blocks away from the tower at this point, and any help would be appreciated.

In the distance, he could hear the sounds of gunfire and explosions which echoed across the buildings. Most were far away, accompanied by large explosions as distant Kodiaks fired their artillery shells into large clusters of Grimm. But, to his surprise, one cluster was getting louder and louder, telling him it was much closer.

"Whoo!" he heard a man yell excitedly from the next street over. "Oh, yeah! Take it all! Yeah, baby! Come get some! Whoo-hoo-hoo! Get some!"

Realizing that he had, indeed, found survivors of the ill-fated convoy, Qrow shifted back into human form and sprinted as fast as he could towards them. The incessant cacophony of small arms fire became almost ear splitting, and as he broke through the alleyway he was greeted by a bulky man wearing a white Army BDU with dark skin who proudly showed off his bare, muscular arms for the world to see as he shoulder-checked a Beowolf into a nearby dumpster. Without breaking his momentum, the man kept going, firing a burst from his Lancer into the head of a Creep, popping it like a balloon, before spinning around a charging Ursa. As he spun to the side, he simultaneously pulled out and primed a fragmentation grenade, lightly tossing it to the Grimm with a "Wop!" before sprinting away. The Ursa obligingly caught the unfamiliar object between its claws with a confused sounding grunt, and a moment later the grenade exploded, reducing the Grimm to a puff of smoke.

"That's right, baby! Nobody plays the game like the Cole Train! Whoo!" the soldier, who Qrow assumed had to be named Cole, proudly declared. Only then did the Seran finally notice Qrow, and he beamed while saying, "Well, hello there! You come to play?"

Looking around at the broken courtyard around them, Qrow nodded while saying, "Something like that."

"Hey, the more the merrier! Come on, my squad's over there," Cole announced, then started sprinting towards the nearby gunfire and explosions.

Following the man, Qrow soon came across a large battle as four other Serans, each as muscular as Cole, fought off a large swarm of Grimm. One, the only soldier wearing a full set of armor, was manning a machine gun, firing it while laughing like a madman anywhere he saw black and white. The rest, aside from typical shooting glasses or eye pieces that the rest of the UNSC deployed, weren't wearing any headgear at all. One had a doo rag covering the top of his head, and another had a pair of welding goggles on his forehead, but otherwise they left their heads exposed.

"Cole, did you get them?!" the soldier with the goggles asked as he fired his Lancer into the crowd. "And who's this asshole?!"

"I got 'em, Baird!" Cole answered as he ran to the fabricator and inserted a fresh material cartridge and power core into it. As munitions started getting printed out, Cole turned to Qrow and said, "And this is… Man, I just realized, I never got your name."

"Qrow," he simply replied, and Cole nodded while flashing a brief smile.

"This is Qrow. He and I ran into each other on my way back."

"Fan-fucking-tastic!" Baird sarcastically remarked as he, using the fabricator's terminal, programmed a new set of instructions. It quickly produced a rocket launcher, which he immediately grabbed and fired at a swooping Nevermore, hitting the avian Grimm right in the center of its chest.

Locking on and firing the second radar-guided rocket into another Nevermore, Baird continued, "Where the hell were you this entire time?!"

"I was going to ask you the same thing," Qrow replied as he bisected a leaping Beowolf with a single swipe of Harbinger's blade.

"In the shit! Up to here!" Baird immediately replied while holding the palm of his hand above his head.

"…Fair enough," Qrow remarked, then turned his head towards who he had to assume was the squad's sergeant, who was currently yelling at the top of his lungs while doing a bayonet charge at a nearby Beowolf. Plunging the Lancer's blade into the surprised Grimm's chest, he hoisted the beast over his head with sheer muscle and blew a hole in its torso with a point blank burst, before tossing its lifeless carcass to the side and firing his weapon at the next target.

"Bring it!" the man yelled after quickly reloading with a practiced flourish once his Lancer ran dry. Beside him, another Seran soldier, who had a heart-shaped tattoo on his right arm that read 'Maria' on it, fired his Lancer into a Creep. Downing the creature but not quite killing it, he ran forward as it tried to drag itself along with its one working limb and kicked it onto its back, then curb stomped its head into a chunky paste.

"Ooh, nasty!" the soldier remarked before rejoining the rest of his squad and Qrow in fighting off the remaining Grimm.

The rest of the fight was hectic, but it didn't last very long as the last of the enemies were put down. A Centinel leapt out of the ground and almost managed to get Baird, who was constantly pumping out fresh munitions and supplies from the fabricator, but he was saved by a hovering drone which spewed a thin but intense stream of flame that burned it to ash from the head down. At first Qrow wasn't sure how such a small machine could lift one of the UNSC's cumbersome flamethrowers and its liquid fuel, until he recognized what appeared to be a small Burn Dust canister plugged into its body instead. Once the Grimm were finally put down, Qrow and the others finally had a chance to breathe, and he idly flicked some Grimm blood off Harbinger's blade.

"Sarge, I think we're good," the helmeted soldier remarked as he hopped off his machine gun, and the sergeant nodded as he turned his attention squarely to Qrow, allowing him to see his nametag which read 'Fenix.'

"Make sure nothing gets in. Dom, go with Carmine," Sergeant Fenix ordered. "Baird, how long until we're topped off on ammo?"

"Few more minutes, then we'll be ready to go," Baird answered, and Fenix nodded.

"So," he began. "You're Qrow. I'm assuming Qrow Branwen?"

"That's right." Qrow confirmed. "You've heard of me?"

"Your name is distinctive, in case you haven't noticed," Fenix grunted. "Sergeant Marcus Fenix, Delta-One. What are you doing here, Branwen?"

Qrow raised his eyebrow. Realizing this must be the Marcus he'd heard about, he couldn't help but joke, "Telling you that some guy named Jace said you owed him twenty credits."

"Of course," Marcus sighed while shaking his head, a ghost of a relieved smile gracing his lips before staring right back at the Huntsman. "I'm assuming Hoffman sent you here for the tower, same as us?"

"He did," Qrow replied. "Gonna be honest, after the carnage I saw on my way up here, didn't expect to see anyone still alive."

"Yeah, it was a bit touch and go for a bit," Cole admitted. "But ain't nothing gonna get in Delta Squad's way."

Raising an eyebrow, Qrow asked, "I take it you're responsible for the line of fortifications I passed on my way here?"

"We are," Baird answered. "The convoy got hit hard. Rather than take that as an excuse to fall back, we, the sane individuals we are, decided to keep pressing forward. For the past…fuck, I don't know how long, it's been 'move forward, hold up here, fight off Grimm,' and all that shit. Thankfully, our fabricator survived, but we've had to refill it twice now."

Glancing at the fabricator, which Baird was collapsing to make it easier to move, he couldn't help but feel impressed at the fact that they managed to get this far. Delta-One was only a few blocks away from the tower, and while he certainly helped them there at the end, he got the sense that they could've gotten there themselves. Nodding in appreciation, he noticed Dom and the armored soldier return, and the hover drone used its tiny arms to hand the soldiers canisters of biofoam which they promptly used to dress up their injuries.

Shaking his head and hearing a rumble of thunder overhead, Qrow declared, "We need to get to that tower. The longer those Tempests stay in the air, the worse things are going to get."

"Oh yeah, totally," Baird sarcastically grumbled. "I swear, this planet is fucking insane. First you got all the superpowered bullshit, then the magic fucking crystals. Sure, they let me upgrade JACK, but working with the damn things was a bitch and a half. Now we got jellyfish the size of mountains and with the power of fucking Zeus hanging over us. All we need now is razor hail and we'll be set."

"Can it, Baird," Marcus told Corporal Damon Baird, who promptly rolled his eyes while he and Private Augustus Cole picked up the fabricator, one holding each end.

With Qrow, Marcus, and Dom leading the way, and Carmine taking up the rear, they returned to their trek towards the tower. As they went, Qrow kept his eyes peeled for any sign of danger. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but he couldn't help but feel that they were being watched.

[~]

On a rooftop overlooking the center of Mountain Glenn, a pair of armored soldiers laid prone. One was looking through the scope of her sniper rifle. The other was using his helmet's built-in binoculars to serve as her spotter. Neither said a word as they searched for their target, a Grimm they had been hunting since before the Grimmtide began, and whose threat had only increased since then. For several minutes, complete silence filled the air between them. Then, she saw it.

"Blue-One, this is Blue-Four. I got eyes on target," Linda-058 reported as the flash of black and white passed by her scope.

"Do you have a shot?" John-117 asked. He, along with Kelly-087, were below them on the street, collecting dog tags of fallen soldiers.

"Negative, too much in the way," she revealed, then paused as she tracked where it was most likely going and saw the HUD markers designating friendlies. She quickly revealed, "Be advised, Alpha Grimm is closing in on UNSC personnel and Huntsman asset."

"Chief, it's already killed two Huntsmen," Fred-104 pointed out, "and who knows how many others."

"If we move quickly, we might be able to take it out before it gets to them," Kelly-087 added.

John-117 was quiet for a moment as he pondered their next course of action, then quickly ordered, "Move to intercept, now."

At once, the Spartan-IIs stood up from their perch, with Fred and Linda jumping down to join John and Kelly. Together, they sprinted as fast as they could, hoping they wouldn't be too late.

[~[~]

Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Dust and Echoes! Been a while since I've been able to update this story, and it's very welcome on my end. Special thanks to NaanContributor and Jesse K for their help in bringing this chapter to life! Quite a bit has happened in my life since the last time I updated. I got a new job, and I've settled in quite nicely. That obviously took a lot of time and attention away from updating my stories, but thankfully that shouldn't be a concern now.

The Grimmtide has fully kicked off all across Remnant, pushing the UNSC's alliance with Remnant to its breaking point. While Qrow works with the UNSC Army to evacuate the underground population of Mountain Glenn, young Ren and Nora have to experience the Fall of Kuroyuri. Thankfully, ODSTs are there to lend some much needed aid, so hopefully the Fall of Mountain Glenn won't be as bad as it was in canon.

This chapter also was the grand introduction of the UEG colony of Sera, or rather its inhabitants. The entire planet is one massive expy of the Gears of War franchise, with Delta Squad being front and center. It was a lot of fun to write these guys, and you're going to enjoy them during Grimmtide, Part 2. Much like Task Force 141, expect to see these guys again in minor, recurring roles throughout the rest of this story.

Speaking of, with the start of the New Year, I come bearing news. My readers on Spacebattles already know this, but in case you missed the announcement, I am changing the update schedule for my story rotations. For the past few years, I've been writing four stories at once: Dust and Echoes (RWBY/Halo), Hunters of Justice (RWBY/DC), Outsiders (Familiar of Zero/Pokemon), and Familiar Evil (Familiar of Zero/Resident Evil). To ensure that my stories all get the love and attention they deserve, I've been writing a single chapter per story then moving onto the next one, with Outsiders typically being updated between the others as it uses a different editing team (don't want to overwhelm my editors too much). This, while ensuring I don't get narrative burnout working on the same story too much, has created an issue where I would leave you guys on big, unresolved cliffhangers for months, and would make it difficult for me to pick up where I left off on such a pressing issue. As such, I am changing things up.

None of my stories are being dropped. I fully intend to finish all of my stories then write new ones (after a break; I'm going to finish one story and immediately start another. I'm looking forward to not having to update 4 stories at once). Instead, I'll be writing multiple chapters per story rotation, enough so that the current narrative arc comes to a natural stopping point. Sometimes, it'll still end with a cliffhanger. That is unavoidable. But the break point will leave less things hanging, and should hopefully help with the writing process as I can keep my writing flow going forward. With D&E, I am writing four chapters in total during this rotation: "Grimmtide, Part 1 and Part 2," and two aftermath chapters that deal with the fallout of the Grimmtide. Originally, the fallout chapters were going to just be one chapter, but it got too big and so I had to split it. "Part 2" and the first Aftermath chapter (I'm not telling you guys the titles of the Aftermath chapters as that would be spoilers) is already written, with "Part 2"'s editing about to start this week. The 2nd Aftermath chapter will start getting written this week. Once that chapter is done, the Grimmtide Mini-Arc will be completed, and D&E will take a break as I move on to my other stories.

Essentially, I am adopting a sort of Steven-bomb approach, where the amount of content you get per update is higher but the updates themselves may take a big longer to get to. Hopefully not too much. Based off what's currently gone on, the rate of writing should improve. We think this'll be more satisfactory for everyone.

Now then, to answer a few of your guys' questions:

No, Harriet did not go on their scouting mission. She went back with the others.

Some characters that died in canon may survive. Others will still die. Others that lived may die. It all depends on the needs of the story, and I won't confirm where things will go one way or another. You'll just have to wait and see.

Catachan is a 40k and doesn't fall under the Microsoft umbrella. The rules to be an expy world in Dust and Echoes is that they have to be Microsoft owned. That means franchises like Halo, Call of Duty, Gears of War, Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, Banjo-Kazooie, and so on. No, me listing those franchises does not mean I'm guaranteed to use them. These expies are for fun and worldbuilding, but this story is still RWBY/Halo. That isn't changing.

Please don't ask when I'll update my stories. I've had to delete many guest reviews pestering me about that. It gets very annoying and is considered poor etiquette.

There will be good and bad Covenant POV characters. But at this stage in the story, the Covenant are firmly in the antagonist slot, so expect more bad POV characters.

You'll find out more about the RLA in future chapters.

I haven't read Ruby-B312, so I didn't know that. I actually don't read as much fanfic as I used to. Consequences of writing my own; too much of my time is taken up and my standards have now been raised so most don't appeal to me anymore.

Nah, they have limestone. Just no oil. Explanations will come.

You'll find out who the leaker is soon.

Thank you. I've been trying to make the UNSC and Remnant roughly even. Yes, as an organization completely outweighs all of Remnant combined. That is unavoidable. But each side still has their strengths, weaknesses, flaws, and more. I intend to cover all of them equally. The Grimmtide chapters are a perfect way to hightlight that, as we see the UNSC's strengths - their ability to respond on a planetary scale rapidly as well as their dedication to protecting human lives - and some of Remnant's weaknesses - namely, the Ozluminati's penchant for secrecy from allies that tend to bite them in the ass (mostly from Ozpin) and their Huntsmen sometimes being a bit too independent for their own good. Future chapters will flip that dynamic and highlight the UNSC's weaknesses and Remnant's strengths. Both sides are equal in this story, and if you want a UNSC stomp fic, go somewhere else because it ain't happening here. As for Gears expies, it's just the humans. No Locust, no Imulsion, no COG. The UIR were here, but they've been refashioned as Insurrectionists in this Halo timeline.

Johnson's great, I love writing him.

Aura does enhance combat ability and strength. See Volume 2 where RWBY were kicking around cars and Yang got punched through a concrete pillar. Stop trying to hype up Halo at the expense of RWBY, and vice versa. That isn't what I'm doing here. The Insurrection are bad guys, especially the ones who are left. But the UNSC are not saints, especially pre-war, and I intend to highlight that.

ARTEMIS armor has been renamed to IOKHEIRA armor, named after Artemis' arrows. Also, the Prologue is more soft-canon at this point. Things will go differently than how it was portrayed, but the boarder points will remain.

The Ross-Zeigler blip is an in-universe thing from Halo. It marks the time when the Halos were fired 100k years ago, but no one really recognizes that. It's been dismissed at this point. Obviously, they were wrong.

You'll find out what the Brothers were in future chapters.

ONI did not leak the information. They had no reason nor desire to. They were trying to avoid this outcome entirely and now scrambling to pick up the pieces. Will they make use of a good crisis afterwards? Probably, but that doesn't mean they wanted to cause this crisis in the first place.

Yeah, as you saw from Qrow, Salem was responsible for this. Her motivations towards doing so will be revealed by the end of this narrative rotation.

That's it for this time! If any of you have a TV Tropes account, any assistance in updating the TV Tropes page would be greatly appreciated! We hope you enjoy!