I do not own RvB, the lore, and items of Halo, nor RWBY. They belong to 343 Industries and Rooster Teeth.
Patience was a word Locus was all too familiar with. Patience was something Locus would be used to doing when he was given orders or when he was on a mission. Patience was now one thing Locus could not seem to endure any further. Having to work with a partner whose ego dictates whatever he does was just tolerable to a point. But now add a handful of idiots to the equation, then the word itself would be just as worthy as shit you would flush down the toilet and forget about it.
Throughout his career, he acts as a professional and an exemplary soldier who follows through whatever commands that were issued. He was also the type to never disobey orders. Although right now, if he had known he was going to work alongside these idiots, he would have suggested declining. But unfortunately, luck wasn't on his side. Now he was there, standing guard at the temple while his partner and the leader of the Blues were busy bickering. If only his helmet had an option to mute his ears, that would have been helpful.
A few seconds later, three blips have been spotted on his tracker. Although it was yellow which was designated as friendly.
"Find some cover" he ordered to his two companions.
"Why? What's wrong?" Church was the first to ask.
Locus turned to him and replied.
"Check your motion trackers."
Church did what was told and saw the yellow dots pop up on his radar. Felix expertly hid behind the rubble while Church crouched low and looked into his scope. Locus meanwhile, easily activated his camouflage.
As the three waited, a familiar voice echoed.
"Caboose! Would you just fucking shut up!? We are here! There, look at the temple. Touch it if you still don't believe what you are seeing."
"Oh my god, there's the temple! Tucker look, look!"
"That is what I just said, you idiot."
Church snorted as he got up when he saw the two dipshits, no scratch that, he could see Doc; three doofuses walk to where they were loitering.
"Hey idiots, over here!" Church called them as he waved his arm.
"Oh my god! It's Church! Church, did you miss me!?" Caboose dashed towards him. As he ran, a shot from a rifle went over his head but he did not even notice it and went straight toward his best friend.
"Damn it, I missed him!" Church cursed.
"I knew you did!"
"Fuck, no!"
Caboose then tackled Church with a dive hug that sent both troopers tumbling in the ground.
"Church, how did you get here before me? Did you teleport?" Caboose asked
"Get off Caboose, and no. I did not teleport all the way here."
"But you arrived here before us." The dumb blue argued.
"That doesn't necessarily mean that I have the power to directly transport myself here!" Church snapped but was ignored by the other blue. Locus and Felix revealed themselves to the others as the former approached Tucker who was examining some chess pieces.
"Have you found the others?" Locus asked the aqua sim trooper.
"Sorry dude didn't see any of the reds. We only managed to stumble here because Freckles guided us." Tucker replied to the mercenary. "Freckles?" Locus asked as he was confused by the name.
Tucker realized that Locus did not witness all their misadventures at Blood Gulch so he informed the mercenary of some of the details.
"Oh, Freckles is Caboose's gun's AI."
"Why would you implant a firearm with artificial intelligence?"
"That's because it prevents Caboose from shooting us accidentally all the time."
The statement once again confused the mercenary. "Didn't he undergo training?" Locus asked Tucker. Tucker shrugged back and responded "I dunno man, the idiot is just so retarded that it would take more than one professional to psychoanalyze him. Also, before he became a gun, Freckles was once a Mantis assault droid. We begged command to just transfer him into Caboose's gun because it saved us from the lethality of a killer droid who listens to whatever Caboose says." He shuddered and then said, "I do not want a repeat of that."
"Hmmm," Locus grunted. "You happen to be the most bizarre group of soldiers I have ever met. I'm surprised you've managed to even get this far."
Tucker shook his head and grinned "Hoho dude, we've just about experienced many near-death situations on whatever shit we do, and yeah, I'm surprised as well on how we are still living. But to sum it all up, we generate our own field of logic."
"Go on…"
"Yep, our own field of logic. What applies in the real world can't be applied to us, so I think that might be my answer as to why I'm, I mean we are still alive and kicking."
"WE ARE GONNA DIE!"
Tucker and Locus heard someone yell and then saw Lopez blast off into the sky with thrusters with the rest of the reds dangling precariously on his legs, while Sarge, being the leader that he was, sat on Lopez's shoulders.
Tucker turned to Locus and finished what he said. "You see what I mean?"
"Yeehaw, ride 'em up cowboy!" Sarge exclaimed.
"Ah, I'm slipping!" Simmons shouted. Grif, who was grabbing Simmon's leg, looked up in horror and shouted back with his helmet's loud speaker active. "Just hang on!"
"Fuck, you're too heavy Grif!"
Donut, who was on Lopez's other leg appreciated the forest view below him. "Oh wow, the scene up here is so beautiful."
Lopez's body couldn't take the strain of Red Team's combined weight any longer so his jets totally shut off which resulted in the reds plummeting onto the temple, destroying some parts of it.
*CRASH!*
"Well, that was stupid," Felix muttered.
"Are you guys okay!?" Doc said as he rushed to check on the reds. Grif groaned as he emerged from the rubble. "That was suicide." He muttered bitterly.
"Oh, quit complaining dirtbag, that was a perfectly smooth landing." Sarge retorted
"By smooth, you mean crash awkwardly into the temple? Yeah Sarge, it was so smooth." Grif snarked.
"Grif, we are wearing state-of-the-art power armor. You're body's fine. Stop being so melodramatic." Simmons shot back, but Grif still refused to calm down.
"Simmons, we would have died there. More importantly, I would have died there. I still have so much to live for."
Sarge then grumbled "Ah, yup. Now I remember why the landing wasn't perfect, Grif is still standing. Rats, I wish he deactivated his armor, then I would watch him fall to his brutal demise."
Locus coughed, stopping the squabble and bringing the attention to him.
"Enough. Part one of the objective is complete, now we move to phase two" he spoke.
"What's phase two?" Church asked.
"Grab the relics, they're right behind you." Locus answered.
"What, you mean these chess pieces?" Tucker said as he picked up and examined one.
"Affirmative" came Locus' reply.
"But, which do we choose?" piped up Donut. Everyone then saw the altar in which the pieces were situated. There were plenty that have already been taken, so it meant that some have already claimed them.
"Just grab whatever you want. This whole thing is starting to bug me, so whatever." Felix sighed as he grabbed a king. Everyone did the same. "So, what now? Do we go back to Beacon?" Doc asked.
"Yup, we go back to the fucking academy, and then eat a whole buffet, and then probably relax." Church stated with some slight excitement.
"Took the words right of my mouth." Followed Grif.
Simmons examined a piece first before turning to them. "You know, I'd doubt they'd do that."
"Why would you? We risked our lives back there, there's gotta be some big reward that awaits us." Grif replied.
"Look, I see it!" a voice proclaimed.
The others were fumbling on what to do as they heard footsteps and voices coming towards them.
"What do we do Locus?" Church asked hurriedly. The mercenary was silent, unable to come up with something.
Grif then volunteered. "Guys, I know what to do!"
Everyone turned to him with unease and doubt. "This better good moron," Simmons said.
"Trust me." Grif smirked. "Hand me some ice dust from the vials and the bullets."
"See guys, I told you it… was…here." The leading male trailed off. He was a tall guy with orange hair and wearing steel armor. His companions were composed of a mohawked dude with green attire, a blue-haired boy armed with a halberd, and a squint-eyed guy who also wore armor.
"What the hell is this?" the mohawk kid asked, befuddled by what he saw. At the side of the temple, there were hastily scattered snowmen that looked like they were newly made.
"What are all these snowmen here doing in the middle of the forest? There isn't any snow and it's not even winter." The blue-haired boy spoke up.
"Probably someone with a snow semblance?" the last dude guessed.
"I don't care. Whoever did this was crappy at doing it. Come on, let's grab the fucking relics and go." the leader ordered.
As the four guys walked off and were out of sight, the snowmen came crumbling down which, revealed the mercenaries and the sim troopers who were hiding in them.
"Holy fuck, I can't believe that worked," Church spoke with astonishment.
"Huh, guess I was wrong about you idiots being incompetent," Felix stated as he dusted his armor clean from the snow.
"Yeah, wait what!?" Church deactivated his armor and glared right at Felix. The merc simply shrugged before replying. "You heard me, turns out I was wrong after all." That was all he said before walking to Locus.
"Impressive," muttered Locus. I guess what Tucker said really was true. Them acting the way they do and coming up with crazy decisions really worked in the end.
Over at the reds' side, they were huddling around the orange soldier who saved their ass with quick thinking.
"You know Grif, maybe I was wrong about you being a huge and lazy dirtbag after all. All those insults and roasts I said about you, they mean nothing now." Sarge patted Grif in his back. However, the orange soldier was silent and clutched his stomach.
"Something wrong man?" Simmons asked.
Grif only groaned in response as he fell down.
"Is he alright?" Doc said as the rest of them went over to the lying soldier moaning on the ground.
"Ughhh, it hurts," Grif whined.
"It's okay man, compliments can really be heart touching after all. You just have to keep doing a good job and then you will be showered with praises" his partner Simmons lectured.
"Not that asshole, my stomach hurts," Grif replied.
"Whoops, my bad. Why did it hurt all of a sudden?"
Doc kneeled beside Grif and scanned him with his med scanner. "I'm just gonna give him a quick scan."
"Hey, Simmons?"
"Yeah, dude?"
"Remember earlier, when I complained that we didn't have snacks?"
"Uhuh."
"Turns out, I had one in my pocket this whole time, urghhh.. I've been saving it for a special occasion."
"What did you save?"
"A twinkie, in my pocket."
"So?"
Grif paused, before answering back. "I've kept it in here since basic…"
Simmons' eyes bulged before snapping at Grif. "You hid that thing in there? You fucking dickhead, those things only last for 26 days! Now you're slowly dying of food poisoning. How fucking brilliant of you Grif. Really proud of you there, buddy."
Grif groaned as he felt the pain. "Oh shit, I think a big one's coming out. It's gonna come out hard."
"Bow chicka bow wow!" Tucker yelled from behind.
"Insides, stiff for so long, need to release."
"Bow chicka bow wow!" Tucker repeated.
"Shut up douchebag!" Simmons shouted.
"Need… to…. *BURP*!"
The huge belch, amplified by the speakers of his helmet, sent a huge echo and reverbed throughout the forest. There was silence for a few moments until glowing predator-like eyes set their sights on them from every angle and side of the trees.
"You know what Grif, I take back all the nice things I'm about to say to you, dirtbag."
*Blap*
"Ow!"
Sarge whacked Grif with the butt of his shotgun.
"Why the fuck do these things keep happening to us?" Church groaned as he aimed his sniper rifle at the hundreds of grimm that must have heard Grif's humongous belch within a two-hundred-meter radius.
The creatures of darkness growled and charged straight towards the group.
"Everyone, take your positions!" Locus ordered.
The group formed a defensive position and aimed their weapons. Grimm poured out by the numbers and barreled straight towards the soldiers who were trying to maintain a strong defense.
"Weapons free!"
And after that, a barrage of bullets and explosives was fired at the creatures of darkness. The noise of gunfire filled the Emerald Forest as the troopers and mercenaries from Gulch battled against the eldritch beings that tried to kill them. Wave after wave, the monsters didn't stop in their relentless assault.
"Damn it, these fuckers won't stop coming!" Church cursed. A nevermore launched projectile feathers straight towards him but they just bounced off harmlessly from his armor. But it did nothing to calm Church's fury so he killed it with a clean, armor-piercing shot to its head.
"Take that dipshit!"
Over at Tucker and Caboose's side, they were slightly doing better with, Freckles killing each grimm with such precise accuracy.
(TARGET ELIMINATED) (TARGET ELIMINATED) (TARGET ELIMINATED)
"Oh yeah! You want some bullets, bitches!?" Tucker taunted as he shot grimm dead in their tracks. He turned to Doc who was hesitant to use his rocket launcher.
"Doc, what are you standing there for man? Come on! Use the damn thing, we need all the firepower we can get!"
"But what if I miss or harm you guys?"
"No time to be a pacifist!"
"Okay, uhh…"
The purple medic fumbled with the controls, but then managed to shoot a rocket, only to be dodged by an ursa, but eliminated the other grimm behind it.
"Wow, you need more practice with that." Tucker deadpanned.
"Doesn't this weapon have a tracking ability?" Doc questioned as he studied the buttons that were present.
"How about you just emp them with your scanner," Tucker suggested.
"You mean E. M. P." Simmons countered
"Shut up, let's just call it emp. It's quicker" Tucker turned back to Doc. "You know what, just give me that."
"Oh, okay. Just be careful with it." The medic pleaded.
Tucker inspected the controls first until charging it.
"Alright." He muttered as the med scanner glowed a bright green. "Needs more power." He grabbed an electric dust crystal from his pocket and then shot the overcharged scanner, creating a large electromagnetic pulse killing plenty of grimm while taking out the hidden cameras that were in the trees.
"Booyah!"
"Professor?"
"Yes, Glynda?"
Goodwitch pressed the button on her tablet scroll and showed static on the screen. "There appears to be a problem with the cameras near the temple, I tried to check if there are students still there but the feed has been cut off."
Ozpin took a sip from his mug before replying. "Hmm, odd."
"Gods, there's just no end to them" Felix cursed as his ammo began to slowly dwindle. He switched temporarily from his DMR to his sticky detonator, as he dodged a swipe from a deathstalker and implanted it with a sticky detonator. The bomb then exploded, greatly injuring the grimm, which was then finished off with Locus' railgun.
After witnessing what Grif did with the ice dust, an idea formed in Church's head. "Hey Locus, didn't you say this dust is highly volatile in powdered form?"
"Yes."
"How about we spread around the powder of these fire dust bullets and crystals and then ignite them so the grimm burn to hell all at once."
Locus analyzed what Church said and agreed to it. "An effective method."
"So, do we do it?" asked the leader of the blues.
"Affirmative."
"I knew it, I'm awesome with plans," Church said with confidence as his plan was approved.
Locus turned to the others and said "Everyone, fall back!"
"Fall back!? I'm having a hot streak right now!" Sarge protested. "We can't retreat!"
"We have a plan, just roll with it!" Church hissed.
"As if I'm taking orders from a blue!"
"Just listen to him, sergeant." Locus commanded.
"Ah, fine numbnuts" Sarge begrudgingly conceded
The sim troopers did what was ordered and retreated to the temple for cover. "What now?" Donut asked.
"Now, we spread this dust around so the grimm get covered with it. Once Locus ignites those fuckers, they get blasted to oblivion and we live." Church replied. Everyone then opened the dust vials and threw them around the grimm who were steadily approaching. Donut managed to do it so quickly because he had an amazing throwing arm.
Church nodded as his plan is coming to a success. He looked at Locus who was preparing a grenade. The two shared nods but before Locus could signal that he was about to chuck the grenade, Caboose got fascinated by the sprinkling dust. The blue deactivated his armor so he could touch it with his bare hands.
"Ooh, they're like glitter. Touch."
Church looked with horror and yelled for his teammate to stop. "Caboose NO!"
"Oh, crap…" Felix muttered.
"Uh oh, ah ah, ah! Achoo…"
Church uttered what probably might be his last curse of annoyance. "Son of a bi-"
As Ozpin and Glynda were busy examining what was wrong, the professors were startled by a loud noise.
*KABOOM!*
The two looked from the cliffs and saw a massive cloud of fire and smoke rise up from the far end of the forest.
The students who made it back watched with both astonishment and horror from what just they just witnessed.
Ozpin quickly snapped his head to Glynda and ordered his deputy. "Call for a search and rescue team now!"
Pure destruction came as a result of the hard fighting. A fairly large part of the forest which was supposed to be lush vegetation turned into burnt and fallen trees. The surrounding grass was singed to ashes. Grim corpses were decimated and degrading. And lastly, a fully destroyed temple where the 'relics' were once contained. These were the results of what was supposed to be an effective plan, turned accident that somehow miraculously worked.
The only signs of life that were present were 11 armored soldiers witnessing the aftermath of their handiwork.
"Tucker did it." Caboose was the first one to speak after the long silence.
"I'm standing right here moron."
"Tucker said it."
"Oh my god, just shut up."
Church shook his head and said, "Both of you shut up!" "
Meanwhile, Grif and Simmons shared a more positive thought of the mishap.
"That, was one of the coolest things I've ever seen, period," Grif said to his partner as he took off his helmet and scratched his chin.
"You've got that right." Said Simmons.
"Estoy sorprendido de que hubiéramos sobrevivido (I'm surprised that we had survived that)" Lopez muttered.
"Silly Lopez" Sarge chuckled. "The explosion would have been better if Grif burned alongside those grimm." The red sergeant mistranslated the robot's words yet again. Lopez just ignored it as usual.
"Good Lord that explosion was huge! I wonder why we didn't get blasted sky high." Doc exclaimed.
They stood there for a few more seconds until the group heard the sounds of an aircraft approaching them.
"Who are those guys?"
"Dunno, probably the police."
"The police!?" Grif panicked. "I can't go to prison!"
Church then turned to Locus and asked "Seriously man, what do we do?" Unfortunately, only the air was present when he asked his question. The last thing Church saw was Felix making a mad dash away from the group. Locus must have cloaked himself and ran too, that jerk.
"Alright everyone, deactivate all your armors! We can't be seen wearing them!" Church shouted as the plane engines grew closer. They were still shrouded behind the plume of smoke but they weren't taking any chances. The rest did what was told and turned their heads to Church, who covered his head with his hoodie.
"What now?" Tucker asked.
"I think the best solution, is we fucking run."
"Why?"
A loudspeaker then spoke up. "Hello! Is anyone there!? Can you hear me?"
"I think that answers it."
Both Locus and Felix managed to hide in a safe spot and were taking a breather, that is until they heard the screams of their companions running towards them.
"Oh, thank god, we found you two." Doc sighed with relief.
Locus only sighed in annoyance while Felix flipped them the middle finger.
"Hey up yours, dickhead, you two abandoned us." Church snapped.
Felix crossed his arms and spoke to Church. "Don't blame us, idiot. We weren't gonna stand by and be interrogated by the authorities. It would jeopardize the mission."
"What my partner said is correct, our true identities must not be found out by them. We only need to show ourselves to the headmaster at the right time. We mustn't get ratted out publicly."
"How about we just go back, we had a long day. Let's just get this stupid initiation over already." Grif said exasperatedly.
"Ditto." Doc agreed.
"Alright, let's go," Locus said as he and Felix also deactivated their armor like the reds and blues. The soldiers from Gulch walked slowly back to the school where the headmaster and his deputy welcomed them.
"Why hello there, gentlemen. We didn't manage to monitor your group on our screens. Did you-" Before Ozpin could ask them, Tucker grabbed each of the chess pieces they've collected and thrown them onto the ground, in front of the headmaster's feet.
"Oh, I see." Ozpin wasn't fazed by the rude gesture. Glynda however, glared at them with disapproval for Tucker's action.
"Congratulations on returning here. Were you in the vicinity of the explosion that occurred earlier?"
Locus chose to answer. "No, we weren't. We've managed to secure the relics and escape before that explosion. We also do not know the cause of the explosion."
"Very well then, you may go inside the school. There are snacks and refreshments available before we proceed to the final part of this initiation."
After hearing that, they strolled their way back inside, completely done for the day.
"And, cut to end!" Caboose exclaimed.
"Wait, what?" Tucker asked, confused by what Caboose just sa-
END.
I apologize if I had many errors with the properties of dust in RWBY. See you guys next time.
Edited 10/15/'23