The Following is a fan written story.

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Pyrrha's feet ached.

She had no idea how long she'd been going. Moving from small settlement to small settlement, isolate house to house and actively avoiding patrols from those creatures. Yes, patrols. And there was more than one type of them. She'd seen the bird-like creatures leading a pack of smaller squat beings that chattered and barked in high pitched voices as they breathed from some kind of tank strapped to their backs.

So at the very least these things seemed intelligent considering they had a basic understanding of how formation fighting worked.

Now normally her training as a Huntress would dictate that she engage these creatures, lest they hurt anyone else. Two things stopped her from pursuing that thought process. One, she had absolutely no idea how the weapons she had worked.

Oh, sure they still operated under the tried and true "point the business end at the bad guys and pull the trigger to drop 'em" method, but she still had absolutely no idea how to reload them or, in the case of the pistol, what ammunition they took. Even then she had no real way to reload them as she couldn't find the toggles to eject a magazine and had no such magazines to actually reload them even if she knew where they were. She effectively had limited ammo and wanted to preserve it as best as she could.

And two, she was pretty certain that most of the homes in the areas patrolled by these being were devoid of living people. Either they'd managed to flee or, judging by the bodies she'd come across, gunned down before they realized what was going on.

So now Pyrrha was in self-preservation mode until she could reconnect with Beacon or…somebody, and figure out what the hell was going on with these creatures. Why were they attacking people out of nowhere? How did they get weapons like these? Ruby would've gone into an excitement induced coma if she'd gotten to hold the pistol now strapped to Pyrrha's waist.

And then there was the big glaring one; where were the Grimm? With all this going on there should be swarms of them taking the fight to the creatures by now! Had all the humans been killed so quickly that there hadn't been enough time for the Grimm to notice their emotions? Even then why weren't they following the emotions of the creatures? Were the Grimm just unable to sense the emotions of these beings?

It was certainly possible, if a little bit unbelievable.

Pyrrha shelved her thoughts as she prepared to move. Crouching inside of a building that she was almost certain was some kind of garage, she waited for a pack of the smaller creatures to waddle past. The sun was coming up, and it was going to get a lot harder to keep herself hidden from these beings. Maybe she should look into getting her hair dyed when she got back if for no other reason than to blend in.

The pack left her line of sight and she poked her head out of the door to check for potential threats. It looked clear and she eased her way out in the open, rifle up and ready to engage anything that might get the drop on her. Setting off down the dirt road in the opposite direction from the pack, her eyes momentarily landed on her current goal.

A massive gray colored dish peeked out from behind a hill, red warning lights flashing in predictable intervals. She had no idea what actual purpose the dish served, but she was certain she might be able to get some kind of communication equipment that she could use to get a message out. Even better the thing could very well be a communication hub itself!*

Her foot caught the edge of a rock, its edge cutting painfully into the sole of her foot. Pyrrha stumbled, hissing through clenched teeth. Catching herself, she pulled her foot up to check it. She wasn't injured but the fact that she felt that made her again long for a pair of shoes. Any pair of shoes.

Maybe it would be a good time to take a breather and get some rest. After all that facility wasn't going anywhere, she'd just need to find someplace where she would be safe to bunker down for a while.

She headed to the right of the road and up a small hill, moving into the trees of a tiny wooded area. She'd noticed most of the patrols staying around the buildings of the area, and so she thought it best to say in the woods to rest rather than risk discovery in some dead person's house.

After a short walk through the bush she found a tree that had a lot of low-hanging branches. It would be good for a temporary shelter. Pyrrha pushed some of the branches aside and sat up against the trunk of the tree, letting the branches fall back into place and provide her with cover. She let the rifle fall against her shoulder, careful to keep the needle-like crystals from digging into her skin.

It was cooler here under the shade of the tree and she had to suppress a shiver. It was already cold up in the mountains and being in the shade certainly didn't help. She'd have to endure it for now, but eventually she'd be back to civilization and to somewhere warm. A pair of pants or a jacket would be nice too, actually.

I wonder how everyone's doing? Beacon had been hit hard and likely there had been a lot of people hurt. At least Jaune would be safe for a while inside that locker she'd shoved him in. She was sure that he'd be okay at the end of it. What she wasn't sure about was if he'd ever forgive her for that though. She had also embedded him into a pillar using her semblance once already. Some girlfriend material she turned out to be.

She was worried for Ren and Nora though, admittedly she'd lost contact with them and had no idea if they'd been in trouble and if they were okay. At the very least she knew they were good fighters and partners. They'd have each other's backs in a pinch.

What about team RWBY? Oh god, Ruby. Pyrrha could remember the look on Ruby's face when she'd shown up. The poor girl was so innocent, she's probably bawling her eyes out right now. Pyrrha was likely going to be the victim of a spine crushing hug from the little rose when she got back to beacon.

She'd likely have to apologise to the poor girl for scaring her like that. And to Jaune for shoving him in a locker and taking that woman on alone.

A series of sharp cracks jolted Pyrrha from her thoughts.

Gunfire, automatic weapons it sounded like. They were far off it sounded like, and there was more than one. Humans? Faunus? Those creatures? She had no idea, but whoever or whatever it was they were fighting something.

She picked up the rifle and pushed out of her hiding spot. Her break would have to wait. She needed to know if the people under attack were friendly. Maybe she wouldn't have to walk all the way to the massive dish after all. Hopefully she wouldn't be too late to help.

"We've got incoming!" Mendoza shouted from his position on the second floor of the house.

"I see them! Jackals supported by Grunts coming down the road!" Locklear called out, bunkering down behind a rock on the right side of the front door. Her shotgun was primed and ready but the enemy was too far away for her to make any use of it. However, the corpses of two jackals and quite a few grunts could attest to how lethal she could be when she could break out the boomstick.

Meanwhile, Travis was panicking slightly inside the house. He couldn't raise Command on his radio, or any of the other fireteams for that matter. 3 Charlie was effectively cut off and on their own.

Against the Covenant…

On Reach…

Where they were essentially pinned inside of a house under waves of attacks…

"I can't raise anyone on comms!" Travis called out to the other two members of the fireteam, running to take cover below the lip of a blown-out window.

"Just our luck!" Locklear called back. "Covies are on Reach and we can't even warn anyone!"

"Might be best to worry about that after we kill these freaks!" Mendoza reminded them before the sharp report of his DMR sounded out of the second-floor window. The Covenant had definitely come within range of the team's marksman.

"Agreed." Travis stated as he sighted up the formation of Covenant. Skirmishers darted ahead of the group, flitting in and out between cover. Travis could spot three of them among the group. Behind them were four shield-toting Jackals, backed up by a contingent of somewhere between twenty and thirty Grunts.

This pack was the biggest one yet by far. Three marines versus over ten times that many Covenant, not great odds. Well, upstairs Mendoza was trying to even those odds.

Looking through the scope on the top of his DMR gave him a much better look at the opposition and for the most part he could figure that the numbers they faced were just that…numbers. These Covenant didn't look like they were outfitted or structured to make efficient use of those numbers.

While he'd never seen Covenant in person, Mendoza and the rest of the Army Troopers in service had been given a crash course in identifying the Covenant's rank structure and how it applied to the different races that composed the alien hegemony. Specifically, what markers to look for that denoted different ranks.

Every single one of these guys was part of the rank-and-file, no advanced decision makers present. Furthermore, none of the aliens present had any sort of long range engagement capacity, entirely lacking any form of marksman weapon. Essentially their weaponry was limited to plasma pistols and needlers.

That being said however, they still had the sheer numbers advantage over the Troopers. "Locklear, fall back into the house." Mendoza advised over the TEAMCOM. "You're not gonna want to be out there when the fight starts in full."

"Seven copies, moving back into the house." Locklear reported as she broke cover and darted back into the abandoned house, swinging around to crouch down on the left side of the front door. Travis had the only window on the first floor, or at least the only one facing the enemy. She'd take the door, making sure the Covies didn't breach the house. Made more sense to give Travis the window anyway, he had more reach with that assault rifle anyway.

Now, let it be said that 3 Charlie was not a squad of pushovers. They were operating under Special Warfare Group 3 of the UNSC Army Corps. They took the dirty jobs that were too tough for the regular Trooper squads to touch. They were among the best in the Army, and many of their veterans had found new postings in the ODSTs.

But now being down to less than half of their number, out of contact with Command, and facing down a squad of Covenant that outnumbered them twelve to one was not the most ideal situations for any fireteam. Still they had their mission, survive long enough to warm command of the Covenant Threat to initiate Winter Contingency. Simple as that.

It was with that thought in mind that Travis and Mendoza opened up in earnest. The fight had begun.

Pyrrha raced towards the sounds of gunfire coming from below her on the slope of the mountain. Well 'raced' may not exactly be the right word. More like 'darted quickly between cover'. She kept her eyes open for any potential enemies. She may not be a full-fledged Huntress yet, but that didn't mean she wasn't careful.

She could here more weapons now, firing over the sound of high pitched and panicked cries. Those smaller tank-wearing creatures were in the battle, and from the sounds of it there was a lot of them.

She found herself on the edge of a small but steep hill in relatively short order. There it was, the battle raging down below. She could see people trapped in a building off to her left, they were firing from cover at an approaching mass of creatures. The vast majority of the attacking force was comprised of the smaller waddlers, but were supported by two kinds of bird creatures. One was the type she'd encountered in that house. The second lacked feathers and took cover behind bright blue glowing shields that reminded her very much of her shield Akouo in design.

So far it looked like the creatures weren't making much headway in the fight. Many of the smaller ones lay dead in a rapidly expanding pool of blue blood. It was starting to swing in their favor as the sheer volume of fire the group was pouring into the building was keeping the defenders in cover and unable to shoot back.

Time to even the odds a little. Pyrrha braced the strange rifle against her shoulder and tried to sight up one of the creatures. Two problems presented themselves. One, this thing didn't have any gunsights. Two, there was this big block of material in the middle of the gun that it even harder to accurately aim this thing.

What's the point of a rifle if you can't aim it properly?

Not that she had much option. She took 'aim' at one of the feathery creatures skulking around one of the boulders closer to Pyrrha's position. She wouldn't have to be too precise at this distance, still it would be nicer to have some way to aim he weapon properly so she wouldn't waste ammo.

She pulled the trigger and let the pink crystal fly. The creature was caught in the shoulder before a second one punched into its chest. Despite its spindly appearance, the creature was tough and it took another crystal from Pyrrha's rifle and subsequent explosion to put it down for good.

Pyrrha switched targets, this time focusing on the mass of waddlers who sprayed green globs and slow moving pink crystals as they advanced on the defenders. One went down with one lucky shot to the head and his friends stopped in their tracks, searching for who killed him. They had their answer when she rained fire down on them.

They squealed in panic and broke formation, some diving out of the way as others simply threw up their arms and fled back the way they came. Pyrrha kept firing as two more went down, but now with them scattered she ran the very real chance of missing her shots. Now she had another more pressing problem though. The two remaining feathered creatures had spotted her, and now they were charging up the hill as fast as their legs could carry them.

Which turned out was…pretty fast actually.

She fired at the closest one as it closed the distance, hoping to catch it before it got too close and managing to land a hit on its thigh. Upon squeezing off a second shot though the creature dove to the right. It rolled before coming up to a low crouch and aiming its weapon. Green globs of energy flew at her and she had to duck behind a nearby tree.

Just then his friend swung around racing at top speed as he too fired his weapon. And Pyrrha didn't have the cover of the tree. She ducked under the shots, levelling the rifle at the second bird creature and unloaded three shots at it. The first two missed but the third caught it in the leg, causing it to stumble.

Before she could finish it the first came at her again gun blazing green. She rolled out of the way, not willing to test how her aura would hold up against these weapons quite yet. Again she leveled the weapon at the creature but now the two were keeping each other covered. She couldn't get a shot off and was forced to dive for nearby cover.

Now Pyrrha was stuck crouching behind a nearby rock as the two creatures began pouring fire at her cover. She could feel the heat of the rock on her back and could smell the ozone as the air was superheated by every bolt sent downrange. She tried to peek out of cover but a bolt sailing passed her face made her reconsider that idea for a second.

Not fans of playing fair are they?

She'd dealt with much worse odds than this before. She ducked back out of cover and opened up on the first thing she could set her sights on. Three rounds hit one of the creatures square in the chest and stomach, a split second later it was consumed by a pink explosion.

Nora would love this thing.

The second one didn't seem to take too kindly to its friend being turned into bacon bits and growled at Pyrrha as it opened fire. The Huntress dodged to the side and fired off two rounds, trying to get it in the head. One shot went wide but the other found its mark. Its head jerked up and to the side as the crystal lodged itself in its skull and the creature fell over dead.

She didn't pause to inspect her two kills, not when there was still a battle being fought down the hill. She double checked her current ammo on the rifle. If she was guessing this right, those six crystals sticking out of the top were the six shots she had left. Maybe firing wildly might not be the best idea.

Nearing the edge of the slope, Pyrrha looked down and saw a pack of about six of the waddlers trying to clamber up the slope towards her. The rest of their friends were still trying to get into the building being covered by the shielded creatures. Now that Pyrrha had thinned out the herd, and wow was that ever an accurate term to describe what she was doing, the defenders inside were finding greater opportunities to get shots off. They waddlers were being cut down without mercy down below.

Between that and the sight of the six sent after her trying to scrabble up the steep slope made her almost sorry for the little guys as she lined up a shot. Keyword here being "almost". That was heavily outweighed by the fact that they'd attacked innocents, slaughtered them in their homes. Families were killed in cold blood, and these creatures were the ones responsible. There was a proverbial bullet for each of them.

It was pathetically easy at this range for Pyrrha to put one of the lethal crystals into the skulls of the little beings, and they dropped like stones. Their little screams of shock and pain as they died only served to magnify how sad they were. At least one tried to put up a fight, as his arm cocked backward holding onto a glowing blue orb. Too bad he was throwing uphill, and that he wasn't possessing a good pitching arm. The orb hit the ground about halfway between him and Pyrrha as the Huntress dropped him.

The orb clung to the grasses, hissing as it did. It suddenly flared and the air was filled with a high-pitched whine. There was a sudden explosion as it detonated, revealing its intended purpose. That was a grenade just now.

Pyrrha blinked, trying to clear the stars from her vision. That thing was bright when it blew up. Down below the rest of the waddlers were finally running back to the safety of cover as they were cut down by the dual threat of what sounded like a machine gun and a semi-automatic. Only seven enemies left in total it looked like, and four of them were cowering behind their shields.

She was out of ammo in her rifle, and had no way to reload it. It was dead weight now. She tossed it aside and drew the strange pistol from her hip. Time to break the enemy's line. Pyrrha descended the hill, avoiding the scorched grasses left in the wake of the grenade's explosion. She only started firing when she reached the bottom, putting four globs into waddler cowering behind a nearby rock. It's flesh sizzled as the bolts hit home, its skin blackening a boiling away with every hit.

She vaulted over the rock as the creature fell over dead, firing the pistol one-handed at the shield-bearer on the other side. The shots splashed against the shield, which seemed to flare and change colors slightly. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Apparently bad as the creature turned its attention fully to Pyrrha and opened fire. Pyrrha was back over the rock in the span of a second to escape the hail of green bolts. She ducked around the rock to fire off more rounds at the creatures shield, again the bolts seemed to splash harmlessly against the shield.

Made her wish for Akouo right now.

Mendoza wasn't going to lie, a few minutes ago things were starting to look dicey. The Covies had them well and truly pinned by their superior numbers. It was really only a matter of time before they got in through the bottom floor, and after that the fight was going to get a hell of a lot worse.

That was until somebody with a covie Needle Rifle started shooting at the Covenant outside, killing a Skirmisher and three Grunts, before the remaining two Skirmishers broke off with a pack of six Grunts to engage.

That much less enemy fire prove a blessing for 3 Charlie. Mendoza, Travis and Locklear had taken that moment to pour on the counterfire as the Grunts scrambled back for cover and regrouped. Mendoza had tried to take out on of the Jackals standing there with its big ugly shield. These ones were pretty crafty though as they would shift left and right to keep him from putting a shot on their exposed weapon hands.

The Grunts had regrouped and tried to mount another assault on their position, but with less fire coming in 3 Charlie had made quick work of them, Mendoza himself raking up a nice 5 kills before the Grunts had once again broken and run for cover.

It was a that point that their new friend decided to make themselves know. Or rather, she did. Vaulting over a rock right in the middle of the Covenant position with a plasma pistol blazing towards the shield of a Jackal. She was tall, that much Mendoza could tell from his position, and that she was most definitely barefoot, wearing a red skirt, a brown corset, and was a civvie!

"Well this is embarrassing." He muttered to himself before opening the TEAMCOM. "Civilian in the line of fire!"

"I see her!" Locklear called back. "We need to give her covering fire!"

Mendoza zeroed in on the Jackal that their redheaded friend was shooting back at, and a smirk slowly made its way onto his face. "Oh, I can do a lot better than that." He chuckled as he squeezed off a round. The Jackal suddenly found itself with a new hole in its weapon hand and it staggered from shock and surprise.

Its head poked out from behind the top of its shield.

Mendoza fired again.

The Jackal pitched over backward as the round ripped through its skull and out the other side.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you headshot Jackals." He stated, pulling the toggle for the magazine release. He slammed a new mag home and resumed his overwatch duties. Namely, making the Covies' jobs a whole lot harder.

Pyrrha heard both shots from the defenders rifle and peeked around the corner to find the shield toting alien lying dead on the ground. At least that one knows how to use his weapon. She made to duck around the rock to resume her assault on the creatures' position when a she heard a zap from the right, which was quickly followed by the feeling of heat on her neck and the smell of burnt hair.

She whipped her head around and found another one of the shield carriers coming around a pile of crates nearby, blasting away with its weapon at her. She let off a few shots of her own at the shield before shifting quickly around the rock to avoid the incoming fire.

Well these guys are proving to be a bit problematic. REALLY missing Akouo right about now!

She tried to duck out of cover again but was met with a hail of fire which forced her to duck back. The volume of fire was not letting up and now she was pinned unless she wanted to pit her aura against those weapons.

Two more cracks of the rifle rang out and the shooting stopped. Again she peeked out behind the rock to find a dead creature lying not too far off. She looked back at the house and, from the second floor window, saw light glinting off of the scope of a rifle. I'll have to remember to thank him later.

Now the other occupants of the building decided to take the fight to the enemy. Two soldiers wearing beige-brown rushed out of the house, one male and one female. The male soldier opened up with his assault rifle past Pyrrha's cover while the woman charged around another larger rock. Pyrrha heard two loud booms of a shotgun from the other side.

She broke cover as more gunfire joined in, she barely had time to close the distance between herself and the last two shield bearers before the sniper on the second floor decided to beat her to it. She saw one of them stagger as she weaved between fire, a bullet drawing purple blood from its hand. The creature's head poked out behind its shield and was met by another round that killed it outright.

She took aim at the second and sighted up the weapon poking out of a notch in the shield. The bolt slammed home and the creature screeched in pain, the top of its head poking out of the shield. Pyrrha fired off four shots into its head and it dropped amid the sound of sizzling flesh.

Pyrrha kept her weapon at the ready scanning for any enemies. She didn't want to start speaking to these soldiers and have one of them suddenly get shot in the face.

Although, maybe she didn't have to worry about any of the creatures shooting her in the face…

Travis was not exactly liking the new arrival.

Oh, don't take it the wrong way, he was just as thankful for her showing up and diverting the Covenant's attention as much as the next Trooper. But see the problem was just how she'd done it.

Where in the hell had she learned how to fight like that? There was no way a regular human could dodge plasma fire like that. Hell, she was moving more like a Skirmisher out there than anything else.

His thoughts immediately went to the Spartans. He'd seen the enigmatic soldiers on declassified combat videos. The lightning quick moves and outright suicidal tactics matched up all right, but Spartans were also huge hulking walking tanks with their faces covered by a golden visor. This…girl, was not wearing anything remotely considered armor. It wasn't even a UNSC Battle Dress Uniform let alone whatever the fuck was that armor the Spartans wear.

And before anyone even thinks of insinuating that a civilian with a death wish could pick a random weapon and do what she just did…yeah, no…that doesn't happen without us having one very dead civvie and a bunch of laughing Grunts.

So three questions were at the forefront of Travis' mind. Who was she, what was she, and where did she learn to fight like that.

"Mendoza, keep an eye on our new friend." He ordered through the TEAMCOM as he lowered his assault rifle.

"You thinkin' she's an Innie?" The Marksman said from the second floor.

"Maybe."

"With all due respect, how many Innies have you seen that dress like that?"

Not many, Travis had to admit. Still, he didn't want to take any chances against someone who had just gone toe-to-toe with a Covenant formation while looking like a redheaded target sign. Barefoot.

Still, not like he needed to be hostile about it. After all, she'd just saved his sorry ass.

Pyrrha heard someone clearing their throat behind her and turned to see one of the soldiers standing with his assault rifle held across his stomach a few paces away. With his beige colored helmet and visor over his eyes, she had a hard time figuring out the mans features. All she knew was that he looked young, maybe early twenties, had a strong jaw and the stubble of a beard beginning to appear on his face.

"Corporal Travis, UNSC Army." He introduced, motioning to himself with his free hand. "Y'know its not everyday we see someone willing to jump into the thick of an enemy formation, miss…?"

"Pyrrha Nikos." She answered as the woman with the shotgun came around to the right, holding her weapon in much the same fashion as Travis.

She was incredibly short, at least from Pyrrha's point of view. Barely reaching over five feet, but made up for it with a much more muscular stature, even under the body armor and heavy jacket. She could see the woman's eyes as the rest of her face was covered by a black balaclava under her helmet.

"Well then, Miss Nikos, I suppose you wouldn't mind telling me which unit you're attached to?" Travis asked, causing Pyrrha to quirk an eyebrow at him. "With combat skills like that I'd imagine it'd be something to do with Special Operations?"

"I'm sorry sir, but I'm not affiliated with any military." She answered truthfully.

"So, you're a civilian then?" Travis said, interrupting Pyrrha before she could continue. The woman, who's name Pyrrha still didn't know, tilted her head to one side.

"No, I'm a Huntress actually…well, Huntress-in-training."

There was very uncomfortable silence as the two soldiers scrutinized Pyrrha with the most genuine looks of confusion from what she could see of their faces. Do they not know what a Huntress is?

"Huntress hunh? Is that like a Mercenary group or something?" Travis asked, an eyebrow cocked in Pyrrha's direction.

"Uhm, no." And she though Jaune had been clueless on his first day at Beacon. Who could they not know what a Huntsman or Huntress was? "You…really don't know what a Huntress is?"

"Can't say that I do actually." Travis answered with a shrug of his shoulders. "Why don't you enlighten me?"

"As much as I'd hate to break up the game of twenty questions, I'd like to point out that we're basically standing out in the open here." The woman suddenly piped up. "Might be better to continue this little conversation somewhere else, just saying." She motioned towards the building they'd been holed up in earlier with her shotgun.

Travis nodded briskly. "Right, we can continue this inside." He agreed as the woman turned and lead the way back to their cover. "Miss Nikos?" Travis nodded towards the building. Pyrrha understood and began walking towards the house, Travis falling in step with her to her right.

Pyrrha glanced up at the second floor window she'd seen the sniper, finding him giving her a quick two-finger salute as she entered the building. It would've been nice inside had the place not been trashed, the remains of a torn-up couch attesting to that.

"So…" Travis began, stopping next to said couch. "About that explanation…?"

Well this took a lot longer than expected, and I apologise for that. But at the end of the day I wanted it done right.

If we're being honest though this chapter was originally going to be a lot longer, but then I thought about it as I went and decided that this would be a good place to end it. So long story short, this is effectively part one of what had been originally a much longer chapter.

That being said, I'd like to say thanks to those who are giving this story a chance. I'm not too confident in my writing skills and it means a lot that you're giving this story a go. I'm hoping that I can stay true to Pyrrha's character (might have to rewatch RWBY to get it fresh in my mind) and characterize the rest of 3 Charlie well enough (since they might have something to do with the plot, maybe).

I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.

ACE AWAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!