The Warframe On Remnant

Rust, Dust, and Guts

The girls looked at their mentor with expressions of shock and disbelief as the green haired Hunter carried an attitude of excitement before them.

"Professor Oobleck?" Weiss exclaimed.

"Yes, and I'm afraid those bags won't be necessary." Professor Oobleck continued on and explained the mission to the four young Huntresses in such an incredibly fast pace that nobody understood a single word he said.

- - - - -

2 Hours later...

The abandoned expansion of Vale was desolate, dusty, and lifelessly gray. As Sybarin paced the ruins, he notices that all the buildings are still incomplete. Those that haven't crumbled yet still had concrete walls and missing windows. Ozpin did say the place was incomplete, but it didn't occur to Sybarin it was abandoned so early in construction.

Amidst the dead silence, Sybarin's communication buzzed to life with Aya on the other end, "There's nothing here... our Codex scanners are not picking up any life forms in this district. Do you think they already left?"

Sybarin paused for a moment and took in his surroundings before replying to her, "Keep looking. There's no way they could have left without any suspicion."

- - - - -

Aya sighed as she turned her communications off. The city was eerily quiet, so much to the point her footsteps sound like stomps. This sort of silence for them is also very dangerous considering how loud the smallest sounds can be, and how much farther ones can bounce. When RWBY landed, they already got into a firefight, and the chaos was clearly audible from the other side of the city while she was making her way to them.

Stealth is going to be very difficult in this place, and deploying an archwing will be a terrible mistake. Hopefully Praeton's also already realized that.

- - - - -

Praeton tailed Professor Oobleck and RWBY behind crumbled buildings and rubble, maintaining a good distance from them to sense or hear him. Their direct combat skills are not as parallel as the Tennos, but their instincts can be a lot sharper if they're thrown in hostile territory.

As the group entered a crossroads intersection, Praeton holds and observes as a pack of Grimm approaches them. Although he was concerned for them with the overwhelming number of Beowolves, Sybarin had told them before that they're more capable than they look. Praeton had seen their dynamic before in the highway battle, but it was only one big opponent, this one's conditions are different, so he wanted to see their capabilities for himself.

- - - - -

Gunshots and explosions echoed through the city, followed by several howls from nearby Grimm.

"They can manage the pressure, yes?" Tayla asked, turning to Sybarin.

"Professor Oobleck is with them. I don't know much, but if he's the one shadowing them in here, then he's not an average Huntsman."

"Don't you find it a bit odd out here..." 

"What do you mean?"

Tayla paused, turning to her environment, "We haven't even encountered anything yet, and it's been far too quiet when we arrived."

Tayla was right, and Sybarin could sense it. If there is a hideout out here, then there should have at least been some signs; a footprints, some tent cloths, or at least some discarded bullet cases because there's no way an entire group could have stationed here and not have a fight. Unless...

"That can't be. Why would they?" Sybarin murmured to himself.

"Why, what?" Tayla asked, fully turning to him.

He shook his head and continued onwards, "No, it's nothing... I just noticed it fell quiet again."

- - - - -

Another a few hours of nothing and silence had passed. There was absolutely nothing there except for the seldom encounter of a few drifting Beowolves and the occasional wind howl. By then, the middle of the afternoon had already fallen.

Tayla wasn't very new to this, but she isn't very familiar to it either. Enemies rarely ever do this in the Origin System considering the given conditions of their universe. It was always about having the biggest numbers and the hardest punch than the other guy. The only ones to use the tactic of hunter and prey more are the Tenno, but even then it's almost just as rare.

Curiosity mixed in her head about Sybarin's past. He's the only one who actually knows the universe before the Orokin. Being such an entity is already amazing, having to live through 2 different eras, especially from a forgotten time. So many questions could be asked of that.

"You've been looking at me funny for the past 2 hours." Sybarin stopped, and turned to face her, "What's bothering you?"

Tayla lost her speech for a moment but was able to pull it back quickly, "It's just, you said before that you were born eons ago. And that 'old' you resurfaced, how was it like back then?"

Sybarin paused for a moment and turned away from her, "Praeton asked me the same question last night." he glanced a look back at her before he continued walking, "People were everywhere, there were no deficit clones, no space ships, no interplanetary travel... no Empire." he sighed before continuing, "Kids like us would have been at high school, talking about the next party, or the latest gossip, the newest social trend, or just straight up glued to the smartphones."

"Smartphones?" she looked at him in confusion.

"Those things are like hand-sized touchscreen devices, like the Scrolls, but more advanced in performance and capabilities... from what I can remember."

"What about the other planets? How did they look like? Before the Orokin."

"Humanity was all crammed in Earth." Sybarin replied, "Buildings stood high up the skies and sheltered hundreds of tenants each. When the morning comes, the streets would be filled with cars and rushing people to work... it was an everyday life."

"That sounds like a better world to live in." Tayla commented.

"You'd be disappointed."

She turned her head to him, "Why?"

"If you lived there, you would be so insignificant, and people will hate you just so that they have someone to hate. That was my life, why do you think I became a guinea pig at such a young age?"

"Why would people hate each other so much? They're in perfect harmony and it's rather hard to believe people in settlements at your time would be in such a way."

"They all had the same arrogance the Grineer did."

"And you?"

Sybarin paused a moment and peeked a glance at her, "Sometimes... I wished I also did."