ARES:Gods of War

Rise of Evil Part 2

The squads waded through the deep snow in search for their quarry. Rippling whirlwinds and the screaming wind kept verbal communication to a minimum, with the group increadingly relying on hand signals to both keep close together and to keep moving in the same direction. Snow White, the lead of the pack, hefted her heavy gear through the layers of her namesake, pushing through with little regard. She wore the hood of her poncho over her head and her strange extending mask over her face to protect from the wind.

The others had had to don balaclavas and cover their faces with scarves and goggles in order to advance through the hellish conditions. Rapi murmured to herself, "This is bad..." before radioing, "Snow White! We should find a shelter!" though she could hear the reverb of her communication and a small feedback loop that screeched in her ear. Snow White, however, seemed to have heard it. She raised her left hand and gave Rapi a thumbs up, then opened that same hand and chopped left twice.

The squads, forming a column as a platoon, advanced further on foot, toward another of the nearby shelters. These shelters, however, were a compound made up of a series of abandoned buildings. Snow gave an all-clear signal to ensure that the Spartans and the others knew she'd gone in beforehand. Entering the cabins made of concrete and wood, the group found a surprisingly warm, insulated area to rest in. Admittedly, it was all a bit dusty, but at least it proved to be shelter from the storm.

Anis breathed a sigh as she pulled her balaclava and goggles off her face, then murmured, "This is, what, the third time we've gone in to hide from a blizzard? How the heck's the weather out here this bad?" while not taking into consideration the facts that they were up North and that the area was actually pretty mild in comparison to how the northernmost outposts of humanity felt in times like this.

Something that Ludmilla reminded her about by stating, "There's much worse weather out there than a mild snowstorm," as she sat herself down with Alice. She pulled out a tracker system and saw slight interference, but noted another friendly contact approaching. She said, "We might be joined by Neve soon. Beware, she's cuddly," with a smirk. She set the device down and watched as Snow White undid the straps on her gear and set it aside, immediately going on to perform maintenance again.

"The White Knight seems wary," Alice said, "Are you okay?"

Snow looked at her as the mask retracted, her eyes glowing auburn. She nodded, "I'm fine. Just making sure my weapons are at 100% for the upcoming battle..." then pulled an old, rusty-looking wrench out of a tool kit she had on her and started undoing one of the plates on the missile launcher system she had attached to her weapons. The Seven Dwarves were a really impressive weapon system.

"Oh, okay," Smiled the girl. She remained sat beside Ludmilla, while Luda herself watched the Chief and his Spartans talk a plan out with the Commander. Seemed almost like they were all offering up to fight Chatterbox. Snow White noticed this, too, and had the same thought as Ludmilla. If there was anyone that could probably take on Chatterbox, it was probably the four Spartans present in the room and her.

After ensuring that the launcher would function and that the rest of her weapons were in top shape, Snow whistled toward the Commander and the Spartans. She waved them over and said, "I want to talk to the Master Chief and Commander in private for a little, Linda. Do you mind?" to which the Sniper shook her head. She took Will and Sam to the back of the room where they could exchange small-talk, with the redhead sniper showing the first kind of emotion she'd shown since Snow knew her. Joy.

Snow led the Spartan and Commander to an area out of earshot of everyone else and crossed her arms, then said, "Chatterbox is here for a reason. There's a technology of some kind nearby that neither he, nor his masters could figure out. I think it's one of the things your friends at that Research Base were checking before Land Eater came in to try and kill them."