[Off-Worlder]
MHA/RWBY/Halo/Marvel | Isekai | Symbiote!OC | OC-centric | OC/Midnight (minor) | Mentioned Izuku Midoriya | Mentioned Nemuri Kayama | Mentioned Peter Parker | Mentioned Master Chief
Lucas Mercer wasn't a stranger to the unknown. Like Captain Midoriya, Commander Peter Parker and the Master Chief, he welcomed it most of the time, unlike others who feared it. The first thing he noticed was that it was cold, not like Sword Base on Reach but more along the lines of a cold morning in Japan. The second thing was that he was in the woods, the quiet woods that put him on alert so much that he didn't notice some things at first.
"Luca? Where are we?" A dark-red slimy head sprouted from his chest, its light-red eyes looking around in wonder. His blood-red symbiote, Apex, was back, after he lost it in his last fight alongside Spartan-B312 against a platoon of Covenant soldiers. But he lost his custom UNSC cropped jacket. His guns were also holstered on his back, making him wonder. He raised his left arm to look on his TACPAD, and saw that it had no signal.
"What..." He muttered, willing his symbiote to cover his face and body. Looking around he saw a small pod and put it in his left pocket, which made him reach toward the right pocket on his blue combat pants and pull out a large locket, letting it dangle in his hands. 'Nemuri...' he thought longingly as he stared at the photo of his raven-haired wife in the locket for a minute. He sighed then put it away before heading off in a direction.
This wasn't Reach. Hours ago, Reach became nothing more than a fallen bastion of humanity; he didn't know how he got here to be honest. It confused him and that bothered him. Confusion led to poor decisions, and that led to mistakes that could be made.
In a settlement Lucas entered a diner as he followed the mayor, as thanks for neutralizing a group of bandits that attacked the settlement. After ordering what he wanted, some of the people who saw him in action followed him in when the Mayor left after paying for Lucas's meal.
"What's your name?" One of them asked. At first, he was silent. Then he realized that they had been waiting for an answer for what he assumed was a few minutes.
"Apex." He answered, using an alias instead of his actual name. Some people winced at his low voice.
"That's more like a codename. Are you part of a new squad or something?" Another one asked. "Hm?" He tilted his head. "Yeah. Looking at you, one would think you're from some new elite force or something with all those gadgets on you." The person pointed towards his guns and the TACPAD on his arm.
"No." He answered curtly.
"You a huntsman or something then?" The same person asked. "What's that?" He asked. He didn't know what these people were talking about. Atlas seemed to be a military on this planet but as far as he knew, there wasn't anything stronger than the UNSC, maybe the Covenant but even they were still going to lose to humanity in the end. If there was a strong military than it would've picked up on the UNSC's radar.
"You alright there, pal?" One asked. "I'm fine. What were you saying about Huntsmen?" He asked. Some looked at him weird and he could hear their confused whispers about him not knowing about those two things. He listened to the various people explain about the world to him, from Atlas and their military, to the other kingdoms and their academies. The more the people explained, the more he became worried when he figured he wasn't in UNSC territory. Maybe he got teleported to a lost colony planet, but even that was a long shot; he knows that neither the UNSC nor the Covenant know of this world, especially when he considered the apparently primitive technology this world possessed.
'We need to leave. Send out a signal to the UNSC. Hell, anyone we know. Staying on an uncharted world spelled all sorts of problems for us. It could eventually lead to the revelation of where we're from.' Apex said in Lucas's mind, and he agreed.
He did NOT want to find out what happens if some higher foreign power got a hold of his tech, or found out that he wasn't from this world. He asked more questions about the planet and soaked up everything he could about it before taking a bit of supplies then leaving. Part of him wanted to stay and help these people rebuild their little settlement but he couldn't trust even one of them not to report him to this Atlas if they got the chance.
He didn't know about this world one bit but he would learn quickly like everything else he mastered. If he could then he'd send signals and hope a UNSC ship could pick him up. There must be a reason as to why he's stuck on this rock rather than be in the afterlife or being a smoldering, burnt corpse on Reach waiting to be found by the UNSC and brought back to his currently pregnant wife.
If he was alive and not a shriveled up corpse on Reach then it meant he could continue to fight. And if he can continue to fight, then he could certainly find a way home.
The most he took from these people was a faded-red hooded capelet with a spider clasp that covered him from the neck to the waist, a map, some food and drink to last him a few days, a belt pouch full of lien (Remnant's currency, apparently) from the mayor, and their thanks for saving them. He didn't need praise for saving innocents. No, what he needed was to get back to the UNSC so they could get him back in the fight against the Covenant, and to get back to Nemuri.
He just didn't know how long it would take before he was found on this uncharted planet.
It had been a while since he first arrived here in Remnant and there was still nothing but hope of getting off this world in his heart. That was all he could do at this point, give them a little hope.
Lucas had been busy. He travelled across the land killing Grimm, bandits, and less than savory individuals who targeted either him or civilians. He didn't care that he'd built up quite the reputation for some frontier towns in the four Kingdoms.
If anything, he was more of a local legend within the frontier. A masked man who wore a faded capelet and did his deeds before leaving shortly, often taking a reward that sometimes consisted only of lien and supplies. Some heard him talk while others didn't get the chance to. Some didn't want to even hear him utter a single word.
Inhabitants from the settlements speculated about him. Where did he come from? Who was he? WHAT was he? Was he some sort of government experiment? No one knew. All they knew was that he traveled a lot and never stopped to make it hard for anyone to pinpoint where he would end up next. Silence was what they knew him for. Well, that and a gaze that seemed to make even some of the most veteran Huntsmen shiver. A gaze that many would associate to that of an apex predator before it mauled its prey.
Despite it all though, Lucas is only a man who wanted to leave this planet sooner than later. He didn't have much of a preference in regards to places he'd go to; some places suited him better than others but beggars couldn't be choosers. His capelet made it easier for him to make his would-be captors assume that it would hinder his maneuverability a bit. He was always thinking too. Planning the next move, the next way of getting to the location, and the time it would take.
Sometimes he crossed paths with various Huntsmen and Huntresses during his time here, and most of them didn't see eye to eye with him. Then again, he was always the bigger person when push came to shove. Some of them were nothing but pathetic braggards who lose the fight within the first 7 seconds like the middle-aged redhead he killed some days ago, who turned out to be the current patriarch of the Winchester family. Others had more bite than bark and it simply made him react as he was trained. Some he maimed, others he killed. All of it didn't matter. Captain Midoriya, Commander Parker and the Master Chief had a hand in his training, and they trained him to never drop his guard for even a millisecond. Oftentimes it served in his favor when he could use that against them and that gave him opportunities to initiate a quick and sometimes brutal elimination.
Some regions called him a red demon that scared some people. To most; a local legend that went around taking out any threat then leaving shortly after. Settling down in one place didn't sit right with him, hence he was always moving. The longest he's stayed somewhere was either a week at least or a month at most, and that's usually if he was lost and needed information. Certain places he avoided like a plague. The city of Atlas, the academies, and other major places where he'd stick out like a sore thumb.
Staying away from those crowded places and always staying in the outskirts helped in his survival. Someone had to keep an eye on the outer settlements. He was only one man and couldn't save every single settlement nor every person, it seemed more efficient than going to any of Remnant's academies and dealing with whatever problems they have. At best they tried to recruit him. At worst they'll try to capture him and force him to relinquish his possessions.
Shaking his head of these thoughts, he sent another signal to any UNSC vessel that could possibly be patrolling then began to start walking in a random direction. Vacuo was one of those desert regions that often held the kind of people that anyone would consider to be "scumbags". Raiders in this region are apparently more violent compared to the ones back in Mistral.
It didn't matter; they all fell eventually.
His last several months here, he'd been busy quietly bringing down a violent syndicate within the continent. It took him about three weeks in a month to find out their influence and gather the intel he needed to bring them down, and the next seven days going around bringing it down without putting civilians in the way. They knew about him. Whenever he struck, there was always nothing left. No bodies in their complexes or camps, no way to tell where he came from nor how he got there. Just... an empty camp with nothing left. Entire camps gone in a single night. Sometimes they were all missing, their supplies ransacked in the process; other times their corpses were displayed in a gory fashion, with the leader strung up in a Blood Eagle; body chained in the air with both arms wide open, and blood down the legs from their opened backs. By the time they realized what he was, it would already be too late. He had practically erased their presence from the city and surrounding settlements. The government seemed to have trouble finding him also, whenever they caught wind of him he'd usually be already gone.
Lucas found it a bit funny that they still couldn't catch him when he didn't even have any vehicle other than the ships he attached himself onto when in Symbiote mode.
Vacuo was just another continent that he didn't seem to care much about. The inhabitants were interesting and he'd say that much, but nothing really struck him too impressed. He left when a squad of military personnel had trailed him. While they did manage to surround him with their numbers, he'd usually end up killing a healthy portion of them after they fired a shot at him.
The same thing happened in Atlas a year after his arrival on Remnant; killing an entire platoon for trying to capture him and from that point on, he kept himself even more hidden in the wild than before. He learned that in order to actually survive in that kingdom that he needed to be more careful than before. Though they did have some interesting concepts of technology, it was nothing he hasn't seen before.
As he'd done countless times, he hitched a ride on a ship and traveled to the next continent, which it turned out to be Vale. It's been a while since he's actually been here, usually the ships he catches a ride on lead him to the other three kingdoms. It had been over two and a half years since he's actually been there and this had been his most preferred continent. It held the right temperature that he was comfortable roaming in and had an interesting mix of people from the other three kingdoms. Mistral was the only other kingdom that he preferred to travel in but the other two didn't strike him too impressed.
The protests within this kingdom seemed more frequent this time around. Some weren't as bad as others but they all held the same message screaming 'We want rights!'. Didn't they realize that there could be protests in more appropriate places? Not in the middle of streets where people needed to get to places or when an ambulance needed to pass by.
Whatever, he didn't care about racism nor did he ever attempt to care. He was simply unfeeling towards it, like a drop of rain that seemed to pass off his back like anything else.
A year had passed since he's been here, and to say things stayed the same is a massive understatement. Despite some things changing, nothing really happened that he hasn't heard about. Just more protests, strikes, and other topics he couldn't care less about. All the noise coming from the protests and strikes made Lucas buy a pair of earmuffs to keep Apex from complaining too much, even though loud noises don't really affect the symbiote all that much.
The outskirts didn't have that most of the time but the city seemed to have loads of them. Then again, the outskirts didn't really have that much discrimination in them, considering that most of the time, humans and Faunus in the outskirts adopted the collectivist mentality.
It was the main reason he stayed out of the city's walls; too much attention could be brought to him. Plus, the outer settlements required much more of his attention and they were more appealing to him than the city.
Although the city was structured, it wasn't all that different from the Philippines' structure before he joined the UNSC. None of it all mattered though. Their skewed politics nor their problems weren't his, and Lucas won't expose himself into the limelight because some rich snob who valued maintaining a hold on his undeserved privileges over actually doing his job decided Lucas should play politician. He stayed out of the city since he killed two robbers that targeted a dust shop in the previous year. Sure, he could've incapacitated them but there was no telling what connections they had and killing them just made sure that they wouldn't pull another stunt like that again.
Well, that and Apex wanted a meal that wasn't either chocolate or squirrel meat this time around, so Lucas decide to kill two birds with one stone.
So here he was again, swinging from tree to tree in the forest until he could find a settlement that had bullheads he could hitch a ride on. The only sounds that were really around him were the birds chirping, leaves swaying in the wind, water in the distance, and wildlife going about their business. He looked down at his TACPAD as he swung and sent another signal like he did regularly. Instead of doing it every day like he had done in the past, the decided to do it every three or six days to avoid someone picking up on the signal.
The back side of his capelet trailed behind him as he swung. It was nothing special, just a faded-red capelet that tattered a bit over the two years but it is one that he's grown attached to. It kept him hidden from prying eyes since most wrote him off as a traveler, but it also kept him warm when he needed breathing room. Well, that and it reminded him of a childhood drawing.
He kept his possessions on himself almost all the time because as of now, they were the only things he had left of the UNSC and his past life. He'd rather die alone in an explosion than hand them over willingly.
Now if only he could be left alone by the trio that consisted of a bumbling drunk, a blonde MILF, and a four-eyed bastard that Apex has a bad feeling about...
"Wow. Just wow," a huntsman said bitterly, seconds after Lucas shut the door in his and his colleagues' faces. He had short raven-black hair and a stubble on his face. "A year and a half spent trying to find this guy and we get rejected in minutes," he continued. A blonde woman grunted in agreement, fixing her glasses as she did.
"Now, now, Qrow; don't write him off just yet," the silver-haired leader of the trio hummed, holding a hilted cane. "I have a feeling he might reconsider."
"I don't mean any disrespect, Ozpin, but he doesn't give a shit what we think. He already made it clear he ain't joining us, so why even keep trying?" Qrow asked. "Plus Ironwood's been wanting his head ever since he massacred the first Atlesian platoon that tried to capture him 7 months ago, so telling him that we're friends of the General didn't exactly help our case."
"Call it a hunch," Ozpin said stubbornly.
"I want to agree with you, Ozpin, but Qrow has a point. This 'Apex' character completely ignored us the entire time before shutting the door in our faces. It's clearly obvious he doesn't care," the blonde woman said, turning to leave alongside Qrow, who took a swig of alcohol from his flask.
"Things like this take time, Glynda. I'm sure he'll come around," Ozpin said, joining the other two.
"Press X to doubt." Qrow said blandly, and Glynda looked at him with a deadpan expression as they left the inn. Meanwhile, inside his room, Lucas stared at the trio from the window.
'Keep smoking that copium, cunt. At some point you're gonna slip up and piss me off, and I'm gonna enjoy ripping you in half when that time comes.' He thought, glaring at the back of their heads as they left.
Taking his mind off the trio that sought him out, he went back to sending another signal on his TACPAD. When he was done, he took out his locket, looking at the image of his wife on it before turning in for the night.
Somewhere, in an unknown structure hidden away from curious eyes, a floating spherical robot received an unknown signal from its control room. Upon scanning it, the robot perked up.
"A Reclaimer? Here?!" It spoke jovially, its robotic feminine voice echoing in the room. "At last! I must send a signal back to the sender. We have much to do once they get here!"