"I'm sorry honey, we won't be home again until the weekend. Aunt Gracia will be here to take care of you, I know you two really bonded last time, so that's why she's here. I promise we'll bring something back."

"Okay! Bye mom, bye dad!"

"Be good kiddo."

"Jesus Christ! What the fuck happened to him?"

"Are you just gonna stand there? HELP HIM!"

"WHOA! He was his father the whole time?!"

"Hell yeah! I remember when your mother and I were younger, we were watching this on the big screen, everyone just gasped. It was hilarious when we watched it a second time! Just hearing the utter disbelief of the audience, it was hilarious!"

"So much for playing the hero…"

"That's what I said!"

"Enough! Is Rye gonna be alright!?"

"It's gonna be alright, Rye. You hear? It won't be too different from our regular routine. Just... more permanent."

"What the… fuck? I didn't even say goodbye or anything? Who the fuck did this? Who killed them?"

"I-I don't know. You know their jobs weren't exactly risk free. But whatever happens, promise me that we'll have each other's back, okay? Cause we only got each other from now on."

"Roll him in now! Get him to surgery!"

"Hey, hey, HEY! Just stay with us pal!"

*BANG, BANG, BANG*

"RYE! GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!"

*BANG, BANG*

"FUCK THAT! YOU'RE THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE, WE MADE A FUCKING PROMISE, REMEMBER?!"

"Please Rye, for my sake, and for the sake of your parents, just live. I can't die knowing you're gone too. Get the cops… live."

"Please Auntie, please…"

"I lost too much blood kid. Just go, I'll only slow you down… and hey… j-just remember, your parents and I love you so very much."

"Come on Rye, come on. Howler said you've been through so much worse, this has to be a walk in the park."

"Miss Nikos, we have to remain calm. With injuries like these, even veteran huntsmen and huntresses who've mastered aura manipulation can't heal over night."

"I know, but still, I can't help it. I know Yang will be fine, but Rye…"

"You must've seen him injured dozens of times before this."

"Yes, but nothing that could actually knock him out of the fight!"

"We've faced an enemy that Rye didn't even see coming. Things like this happen. I... we just need to hope for the best."

"The outbreak in Britain has continued to grow, as now Scotland is in danger to be affected as well. Foreign help is now being sent to Britain, in order to hopefully contain this mysterious threat, that so far has claimed over five hundred thousand lives. Civilians are still being evacuated abroad, to other countries such as Ireland, France, Iceland, and Canada. As for foreign help, the European Union has offered to send military aid, along with various other nations worldw…"

"Yo Rye, think we'll be heading there? I mean, I know some of our people are in Mali, but this seems a bit, I don't know… more threatening?"

"I don't know, but I do know that I need to talk to the CO. I'll see you around."

"RYE! WAKE UP!"

"Carpner."

"Fury, sup?"

"Still going on with that name?"

"Hey it suits you, I'm not wrong am I? Anyways, you got a helluva promotion, get to run this rig for the Op?"

"Someone's gotta do it."

"Which means I have more of a reason to keep calling you Fury."

"RYE, PLEASE WAKE UP! WE GOTTA GO!"

"Arc."

"Pardon?"

"My last name, it's Arc. Maybelline Arc."

"Its nice to meet you Maybelline Arc."

"RYE!"


*SMACK*

Groggily, Rye opens his eyes slowly, only to quickly shut them, the bright light from his surroundings were piercing his vision. Letting out a painful groan, he attempted to get up, only to be met with multiple stings of pain emanating from all over his back and head. Everything hurt, his eyes felt as if it wanted to remain shut from the bright world, his back felt sore, hot, tight and overall strained. He wanted to move, only to be meant with the feeling of something opening, and hurting. The same feeling occurred when he attempted to curl his toes, a reaction due to his pain. From his right foot, pain shot out, as if someone had pierced it. His head didn't feel any better, the constant throb pulsating every few moments, it felt worse when he was exclusively thinking about it. His ears rung from a loud blaring alarm, which made his rude awakening all the more uncomfortable.

"Rye? Come on Rye! Slowly get up, I'll help you, just work with me here!"

A familiar voice sounded to his right, as he made another attempt to open his eyes. Slowly but surely, carefully opening his eyes, he saw a blur of a figure with short yet very vibrant red hair. The rest was a blur of black, grey and brown, with the only thing standing out from the drab colours was the hair. Quickly blinking a few times, bright green eyes started to take shape, and a friendly face formed from the blur. She looked rugged, worn out, dirt and grime littered her entire body, with splats of blood here and there. It looks as if she hasn't had a showered in days, a look all too familiar to Rye.

"Mabel?" Rye slowly said.

She shook her head. "No, remember? It's Pyrrha now, Rye, oh Oum, you don't have amnesia or something, do you?"

Rye thought about that word, it'd be ironic if he forgot what amnesia meant. Luckily the exact same thought occurred to him. But that wasn't the only thing that popped in his mind, it was then the sudden flash of memories returned to him.

A robotic enemy looking similar to that of the DAR model. Except it had rocket pods attached to both his shoulders, and it glowed an intimidating red light.

Pain sourcing from his right foot, as he fell to the ground, screaming bloody murder, while clutching his foot. Blood quickly soaking his hands, but his adrenaline kicked in when he remembered a certain robot creeping towards them.

After seeing and hearing the rockets being fired, he quickly dived for Weiss, so much for no heroics.

"RYE?! GET OFF ME THIS INSTANT, I'LL MAKE SURE WIN-"

*BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BBBBOOOOMMMMM*

Darkness.

Rye shot up, doing his best to ignore the pain, but his body refused to budge. He tried to get up, but only his upper torso got a couple centimeters off the bed.

"WEI- UGH, fuck…" Rye groaned, doing his best to ignore the pain.

Pyrrha immediately, yet also gently placed her hands on him. "Easy there Rye, it's been three days since the mission, and you're still recovering."

Rye looked dazed, trying to comprehend what was just said. Three days, the robots, his injuries, his location, and the well-being of his team. He pressed one of his hands on the side of his head, attempting to relieve the aching sensation from his throbbing cranium. "Three days, three months, three years. Why is it always three, I swear." He muttered to himself, then remembering his priorities. "Wait, shit, where's Weiss? Is she okay?"

Pyrrha let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Oum. She's okay Rye, everyone's okay, well, mostly okay."

"What does…"

"Look, it doesn't matter right now! Rye, I gotta get you out of here! They're doing the Firewall protocol, and we need to evacuate!" Pyrrha exclaimed, as she then moved to his closet, finding his now clean clothes and combat gear. The same he wore the day he got injured.

Rye first took a moment to process what she said. Most notably, the 'Firewall' part, which to anyone else, sounds like an over dramatic yet epic fantasy sort of thing. Yet in this context, it is what it sounds like, a literal man made wall of fire.

Then it clicked. "Wait, oh fuck! We're in the frontlines, aren't we?"

"Yes! We are, now come on! We need you to get dressed and get out!" Pyrrha bundled all of Rye's clothes, and dropped them on his bed.

At this point, Rye was steadying his breathing, in a attempt to calm down. He could already hear the absolute chaos happening right outside the door, and the alarm blaring on the PA system isn't helping. "Oh my… fuck! Ok, ok, ok, help me up and get dressed, we gotta move, asap!"

Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder, her other on his own hand. She looked at him. "Ready?" He nodded immediately, mostly out of urgency, he wasn't ready at all for the pain. That and the sore feeling of being bedridden for three days. "On three, ok-"

"Hold up there Nikos! Whenever they say 'on three,' they always go right after for some reason! Just say after three, so I'll be good on three, instead of on two! Okay?" The two just stared at one another, with Pyrrha contemplating why this was an issue in the first place.

But knowing the urgency of their current situation, she just had one thought. 'Fuck it!' Pyrrha looked back at Rye with subtle smile. A smile he immediately noticed. Then she just muttered a word. "Three."

"Huh?"

She pulled him up, with Rye now sitting up right. "ARGH! YOU FUCK!" He cursed. In which Pyrrha just rolled her eyes.

The next five minutes were of Rye getting out of his hospital gown. He didn't need to turn around to know that the colour on Pyrrha's face matches perfectly with her hair. Luckily for the champion, some common decency kicked in, and she turned away from the sight. After getting his boxers on, that's when Pyrrha started to help Rye, getting his boots on, then jeans, shirt, hoodie, and finally his combat gear on.

After five minutes of dressing up, Rye was now upright, with his right arm draped around Pyrrha's shoulder. The champion had her left arm around his body, and her right hand was holding onto Rye's hand.

"Alright Rye, you gotta help me out here. I know you're still sore, and oh Oum you're still recovering, but you need to move too if we want to go faster." Pyrrha worriedly said, as she looked at the weakened form of her squad leader. Only to be taken aback by his response.

Rye was softly laughing, he looked up to be met with Pyrrha's confusion. "Out of context, that sounds so bad."

Pyrrha could only smile as she shook her head in disbelief. "I see why Weiss wanted me squad leader now." She giggled as Rye chuckled at her response.

So after, they got moving. The duo moved to the door, Rye did the honours, and they were met with the scene that is best described in a single phrase.

Semi-organized chaos.

"LETS GO, LETS GO! FIREWALL IN EFFECT IN THIRTY MINUTES!"

"Where's her medicine? She needs it, or else she won't survive the Evac!"

"Sasha! Nam nuzhny koridory, chtoby patsiyenty mogli dvigat'sya!"

"Doctor Anders! Staff Sargent Bretton requires your attention!"

"Leutnant! Lass uns umziehen, wir gehen!"

"Les hélicoptères d'évacuation sont situés dans une ferme. Suivez les camions et allez-y."

"She said it's at a farm, just follow the convoy there, and you'll find it, you can't miss it."

"Deja esos suministros! ¡Solo agarra las necesidades!"

"Gorelki pribyvayut! My dolzhny uyti!"

Rye stared at all the people rushing passed them. Doctors, nurses, soldiers, technicians, and a few civilians, all zipping pass to get to their intended destination. People from all over the world, mostly Europeans, but there were others as well. Papers littered the ground, some furniture over turned and moved to the side to make room, all the lights were on, people were shouting orders, answers, and requests, all the while the blaring alarm playing in the background. It was a sensory overload for Rye, considering he was just on a hospital bed recovering from his wounds mere minutes ago.

Pyrrha was still by Rye's side, looking for a specific individual, along with a route through the traffic of the hospital.

"There he is!" Pyrrha said aloud, but was barely audible to Rye, due to the blustering volume of the hallway. Pyrrha started tugging towards a direction, gesturing Rye to move to their left, towards the exit. Due to Rye's condition, they moved limply to their desired direction, as they navigated the bustling crowd. Dodging people, wheelchairs, stretchers, utility carts filled with important supplies, anything and everything required during a quick evacuation of a hospital.

Before reaching the exit though, they stopped by a clearly busy and very stressed doctor. He was visibly stressed and disheveled, as if he was trying to hold a grip on his own sanity. He was talking with two other doctors, one male a female, while also skimming through notes on his clipboard. Pyrrha called out to him.

"Sir! Doctor! Rye and I are leaving! Just a heads up!" Pyrrha shouted, making her voice clear and loud enough to be heard.

Luckily the doctor heard them. "Yeah, yeah okay! Just go already then! You're taking up too much space and that's one less person I have to think about! Go!" The doctor snapped back at Pyrrha.

Rye was about to retort but then Pyrrha just moved along. "We don't have time Rye! He's just stressed, let's go."

Without any argument, Pyrrha helped Rye to the elevators, catching one that was barely able to fit them. Once on the ground floor, they once again carefully navigated the lobby. Rye expected his team waiting for him in the lobby, except it was filled to the brim with patients and soldiers, all possibly waiting for orders, their ticket or method out of this area.

Unable to further examine their surroundings, the duo made it out the hospital, and was once a gain met with a sight.

Military transports, from troop carrying trucks, lighter and quicker armoured cars, to even repurposed civilian vehicles were outside the hospital. With all matter of people being loaded into them, from evacuating civilians, personnel, soldiers and their wounded. The siren lights from some police cars and a lot of ambulances filled the gloomy day with red and blue. Along with the shouting, sirens, alarms, and PA announcements coming in at all languages, were the distant sounds of warfare.

*CRACK, CRACK*

*POP*

*POP, POP*

*BWOOM*

*CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK*

*POP, PO-*

*BWOOM, BOOM, BOOM*

"How far are we from the frontlines?" Rye asked, as they moved.

"Not very far, that's why everyone's at a rush." Pyrrha replied quickly. "There's our ride! Come on Rye, we need to move, now!"

A decent distance away from the hospital was a small convoy of one Humvee and two UAZs, all looking to escort an MRAP. The Russian soldiers stood close to their respective vehicle, on guard and ready to respond to any threat and situation with ease. At the Humvee and MRAP, US Special forces stood, they stood ready for anything to go awry. Ironically, because of the whole multi-joint military coalition called Operation Tripwire, or Tripwire for short, the two groups of soldiers stuck to their own. Sometimes some soldiers from both sides would take a quick glance at one another, but other than that and communications/orders, that was the only interaction between the two forces. Nothing's overnight, right?

As the duo got closer, the back doors of the MRAP opened, revealing the rest of team Remnant. The Schnee sisters were the only ones to actually exit the vehicle, to meet up with the closing forms of Pyrrha and Rye. With Weiss being the faster one, she got up to Rye, panting slightly but nonetheless presentable, as any Schnee should look.

"Rye! Oh by the gods, you're okay! I just... I-I…" Surprising herself and the others around her, Weiss propelled herself forward. Wrapping her arms around Rye, her head in the crook of his neck. There were a few sniffles to be heard, coming from the former heiress.

"Weiss! Please be careful! He's still injured!" Pyrrha was still holding on to Rye, although she was taken back by the gesture. It reminded her of when she watched Yang and Weiss get reunited in volume five.

"Oh!" She instantly backed out, taking a few steps back. Now standing beside her sister. "I'm sorry Rye! I didn't me-"

"Weiss, it's alright, I'm okay. I really appreciate your concern." He smiled at the blushing heiress, as she just realized what she had done. Her elder sister did as well, and just flicked her head.

"Ah!" Weiss begun to sooth that small part, as she thought, 'At least it wasn't a slap, unlike last time… that means we're bonding!'

Unbeknownst to the former heiress, she begun to dazedly smile to herself. While Weiss was in her own world, Winter approached Rye, and gave him a tight hug.

"I'm glad you're okay too. You have no idea how much it means to me, to know that you put your life in the line to save my sister." Winter pulled away, but her arms remained resting on his shoulders.

"Well, I'm sure it's not too different from the personnel tasked to keep Weiss safe in your father's company… right?"

Winter frowned, slightly looking away from Rye. "Well, actually…"

"Ahem." The two looked at the redheaded champion, as she pointed at the man and the woman near them. They stood there, as if contemplating whether they should make their presence known. It was even weirder that they were fully decked out with their guns and equipment, and they stood there like awkward teenagers afraid to speak out against their parents.

Yet besides looking a bit awkward, the female Russian officer looked nonetheless intrigued, curious how long their conversation would go on, as well as what they were talking about. Her eyes greatly conveyed her current thoughts, as they looked slightly suggestive. This prompted Winter to remove her hands on Rye's shoulders. While the male American officer had a bored expression that screamed, 'you guys done yet?'

"Update?" Pyrrha asked.

"Oh, um…" The American officer composed himself quickly. "Sir, we need to move now. Firewall will be in effect in twenty minutes." He said.

"Okay, thank you sir. Winter, Rye, enough talking, we have to go." Pyrrha started tugging towards the MRAP.

Rye groaned. "Yes mom." Then felt a sharp pain on his head. "Ah! Fuck, Winter?"

"Don't be immature, and watch your language." Winter stated in an authoritative yet gentle tone. In other words, very motherly. Winter then quite literally slapped Weiss out of her dreaming state, and gestured her to follow.

They started to move towards the vehicle. The two high ranking officers of both nations yelled out orders in their own tongues, orders of prepping up and moving out. Rye was walking towards the MRAP, with the help of Pyrrha, until he heard the thunderous sound of a convoy moving towards them. He looked over to the street they were on, towards sound of the trucks, to find the image of something both badass, yet terrifying in context. They were the standard military transport trucks, but on the bed where troops are supposed to sit, were instead… them.

The Burners.

Men and woman from various nations, wearing that fire proximity suits that looked to be made out of tin foil. It covered everything, their hoods were up, and were wearing gasmasks. Over their torso, they wore a standard body armour in case of any engagement with the zeds, along with holsters were their pistols on their thighs. Last but not least, the reason why they were called the burners. Their signature flamethrowers. The flamethrowers came in all various types and sizes, ranging from various eras. Some of them even had old flamethrowers from World War Two, of course they were modified to reach modern safety regulations. But most had modern flamethrowers, those models didn't require the canister to hold the fuel on their backs, instead they had smaller canisters on said weapons, and replace them every time they ran empty.

Behind the convoy of Burners were the vehicles meant to help them. Russian BTRs were following them, the main cannon on each were replaced by a special type of cannon. This cannon was like an oversized flamethrower itself, inspired by tanks from World War Two, such as some Sherman Tanks that used the same concept, as well as the Churchill Crocodile tank. As a matter of fact, soldiers and mercs actually dub these Russian flamethrower BTRs, Crocodiles. But due to the fact that they basically carried the fuel for the flamethrower, once destroyed, it made one hell of a mess. As a result, they required more armour, and in part, made them slower.

The burners all turned to look at the group. Pyrrha looked at them with a hint of hesitation, while the Schnee sisters looked with awe and anxiousness.

"Burners." Pyrrha simply stated, as they then continued to now step inside the MRAP.

"What are they?" Weiss asked.

"I'll tell you guys on the ride to wherever we're going." Rye replied, as they stepped inside.


"Rye!" Ruby reacted by launching herself at her squad leader, all the while the man himself was sitting down. She was hugging him, all the while mumbling about how glad she was to see him safe. "Imsogladyouresafe,imeanwewereallworriedaboutyouandYang,Yang'sdoingfine,thankOum,an-" At that moment, she stopped only for a moment to pant for a bit. She then took a very deep breath, like she was about to continue, until Yang placed her only arm on her sister's shoulder.

"Relax Ruby, you're overwhelming the poor guy." Yang said in a strangely calm yet slightly somber tone. She looked over at Rye. "How yo-"

"You guys alright back there?" Yang was interrupted by the driver of the MRAP. Yang looked slightly annoyed, and Rye felt bad, as he looked over to the driver. Only to feel a tap on his thigh, coming from Pyrrha.

She gave him a reassuring nod, and looked at the driver. "We are fine, thank you for your concern."

The driver responded. "Good, buckle up kiddies." He reached over to the radio. "We're Oscar Mike! Let's move out!" Not a second later and the beast of an armoured truck started moving.

Rye looked back at Yang, giving her all of his attention. "I'm okay Yang, thanks for asking." He then just noticed her right arm. "Oh my god, Yang…"

"I know, I know, it's not as bad as it looks. But I'm fine, I won't shut down or anything like last time. Just a bunch of bad memories resurfaced is all, at least I get a cute nanny next to me this whole time." Yang took a glance at Blake, whole blushed at the comment and looked away. It was then Rye noticed the black box that the Faunus was carrying.

Blake looked back, to find what Rye was gazing at. "Its Yang's right arm." She clarified. "It isn't all too damaged, I think. Other than the part of it that was violently torn from her, just a bunch of wires to reconnect and what not. Right?"

"I don't know Blake, that's some Atlas engineering, and it was built by the best." Winter commented as she looked at the box. "But like I said a couple days ago, I can provide assistance on the repair of the arm. Remember? I was the one overlooking the project."

Blake and Yang nodded as this completely took Rye by surprise. "You did?" He asked.

Winter nodded. "I heard and saw what happened at Beacon. Weiss also explained it to me, as well as General Ironwood. He spoke about how team RWBY fought valiantly, and wanted to repay that. When I heard it was a member of my dearest sister's team, I accepted when he offered me to overlook the project. We soon finished, and sent it to Patch."

Yang had a heartwarming smile on her, still thankful to the elder Schnee. She slowly got up towards Winter, and gave her a one-armed hug.

"Thank you." She mumbled to her. Winter smiled back and returned the hug. To Winter, she thought the appreciation was purely for the new arm. Without it, she wouldn't be able to fight. But to Yang, it was much more than that. It helped Yang out of her dark zone, the lowest of lows, and even helped her with her PTSD. To her, it was more than an replacement arm, it was a literal helping hand, pun intended.

The rest of the team smiled at the sight, especially Rye, as this was a new development for him. For the younger sisters, it was a different story.

Weiss was extremely proud of her sister, and proud to be by her side, proud to be a Schnee. She was not aware that she overlooked the development of Yang's new arm until her sister announced it. It was a pleasant surprise, knowing that she had a hand in Yang's newfound happiness and confidence. Then she realized how much the brawler had influenced her, 'had a hand, seriously?' She thought.

Meanwhile, Ruby was almost ecstatic about this development. As the resident weapon nut of the group, she always wondered how such a compact arm had so many uses and capabilities. It's a technological marvel, and once again Atlas has really outdone themselves. To know the person who oversaw such a unique weapon, she could go on and on, asking Winter how various pieces work and whatnot. Poor Winter, she currently doesn't know about the storm she just brewed for herself.

"That's nice to know, with Winter, some of the world's brightest minds in the Platform, and captured Horzine tech, we can fix up Yang's arm in no time." He then look curiously at Pyrrha. "About the Platform, we are heading there right?"

Pyrrha nodded. "Yes, we are needed back at the Platform. You need to report back to the council, and debrief. Between the new enemy type, and the Firewall, the Council needs to know what's happening in all this chaos."

"Ahem." Everyone looked at Blake, who had a very confused yet determined face. As if she wanted answers. "Speaking about this whole 'firewall.'" She air quoted firewall. "What is happening out there? What is this firewall? Nobody has explained what's happening to us, and Pyrrha's been busy trying to deal with some of the responsibilities of temporary squad leader, as well as you being hospitalized." She pointed at Rye, she looked exacerbated with everything that's going on.

Ruby nodded. "Yeah, all of us has been worried. Not knowing what to do, everyone screaming and shouting, we even heard the fighting in the frontlines intensifying drastically, its been a terrifying couple of hours since we all woke up."

Rye nodded. "I understand, and overall, the Firewall Protocol isn't a good sign. That's why a lot of people are panicking this much. The Firewall Protocol is an unique evacuation order, and as the name implies, the Burners and their Crocodiles-"

"Crocodiles?" Yang curiously asked.

Rye nodded. "Yeah, it's just a nickname for their flamer IFVs. Anyways, the Burners and their Crocodiles are mobilized to torch a certain amount of area. Literally creating a wall of fire, the trash zeds, er… the cannon fodder zeds are easily susceptible to fire, meaning the retreating forces only have to concern themselves with some medium and all large Zed types."

There was a moment of silence, the a majority of the team, minus Pyrrha and Rye, was trying to understand why this causes the Tripwire forces to panic. But they were all hinging on something that they though was true.

"That doesn't sound too bad. You do always extinguish the fire? Correct?" Weiss asks, voicing the everyone's thoughts.

Rye titled his head from side-to-side, while Pyrrha slightly cringed. "Only when the fire does more harm then good. Then we risk firefighting aircraft to extinguish the flames." She responded.

"Specifically how much more harm?" Blake cautiously asked, she knew something was up with this whole procedure once Rye started explaining it's specifics.

He somberly answered. "Once it's starts destroying more of the environment than killing zeds."

Blake narrowed her eyes. "So that means…" Rye interrupted her.

"Yes, we let it destroy forests, villages, towns and sometimes small cities, until it dies out or it becomes too uncontrollable."

"Wait a minute." Winter exclaimed, if it weren't for the low ceiling, she'd be standing. "You told us, and me specifically that the Council refuses to use airstrikes, and now you're telling me…" She pointed at Rye, "… that they're willing to destroy acres of land to kill as many zeds as possible to cover our retreat?"

"That's kinda weird, like their bending their own rules." Ruby worriedly said, hoping Rye would have something to say to defend their actions.

Rye only raised his hands up towards Winter, gesturing her to calm down. "I know it looks bad, and trust me, you're in the majority here, a lot of people here dread the order. Its either leave a ton of equipment behind so you can start running for your life, or burn. But think of it this way; a whole continent is already out of our control, and the frontlines is the only area that is making sure the war doesn't reach the entire world. We're desperate here, we lose men and women every single day, resources are being used up for this war, and people are scared... Sometimes we have to break our own rules in order to save as many people as we can. You wanna know another reason why the council called airstrikes an 'emergency tactic' only? It's because to compensate for the damages done in the frontlines."

Rye felt even more exhausted than he did before. He was still recovering when he was awoken, and now this conversation has really mentally drained him. Pyrrha placed both of her hands on his shoulder, and gently leaned him back onto the seat, as he was sitting up before to make his point. She was deeply worried for him, in all their time together, he has been the one to look after her. Now, it was the other way around, and she made a vow to herself that she'd do her best to look after her brother-like figure.

Winter was taken aback by him, he wasn't by any means shouting at her, but she could hear the sincerity in his voice. He truly despises this order, but it was one of the only way they could safely retreat in order to establish another secured line of defense.

She paused and leaned back on her seat. "I apologiz-"

"Don't apologize Winter." Rye interrupted her, she looked back at the wounded man. "I'd be upset too."

Winter nodded, although now she was a bit hesitant, even if she didn't show it. She did feel bad for almost shouting at an injured man out of frustration, but at the same time, her urge to remain professional and proper was strongly there. Especially the fact that they weren't alone anymore and in front of her own team. So she decided to give him a small gesture, letting him know that she really was sorry.

Since they were beside each other, specifically to his right, her left hand dropped from her thigh, and she grabbed onto his hand. Her grip was gentle, yet tight, conveying all she could in such a small gesture. She heard him gasp, and Rye turned to her direction. She didn't look at him, only spared him a quick glance, but she did also have a small smile, and a faint blush. Rye smiled back, and then he too held her hand as well. A few moments passed, and Winter wanted to continue holding his hand, but alas her etiquette took hold of her. She lets go him, the blush still present, although a small part of her was longing for his touch.


They were in the air, specifically on a weird looking helicopter that was called a Chinook. To Blake and the Schnee sisters, seeing the blades that close to one another was just pure anxiety for them. To Ruby it looked pretty cool, she was fascinated by helicopters in general, as they worked and looked uniquely different from the Bullheads back at Remnant. For Yang, she didn't really care.

Before this however, their trip on the MRAP didn't last any longer, as they arrived at a make shift landing area for helicopters. The whole area was comprised of three farm properties, with all it growing fields cut down and converted to landing pads. The helicopters there were about to take off, as the team and the US Special Forces tasked with escorting them also got on the same helicopter they were on. Now, a small convoy of chinooks, Black Hawks, MI-8s and KA-60s were moving in formation, their destination was the Forward Operating Base responsible for the sector they were currently on right now. Once there, they are to catch a flight to The Platform, debrief and receive a much needed rest for all the members of team Remnant.

They were all leaning on their seats, Ruby was sitting nearest to the exit ramp, which was actually open. On the ramp, was a gunner mounted on a stationary gun, looking down for anything that threatened the helicopter. But while Ruby was looking at the gunner, she too noticed what he was looking at. Below them, but not right below the Chinook, the colour of fiery orange caught her attention, she stared at the source with a mix of awe and fear. Fire, a long line of fire, she could tell that at ground level, it's easy to see why many called it Firewall. But up above, it looked like a nasty scar on mother nature, a scar that continued to grow.

"Oh Oum…" She mumbled to herself, which caught the attention of her partner and her sister. They both looked out the ramp to see the same scary scar.

"What the…"

"Oh my…"

That caught the attention of the team, and they too looked out to see the destruction first hand. Fire, a lot of it, a line of fire reaching beyond what they could see. Seeing that only made Rye more worried. He looked at Pyrrha. "Which one is it?"

Pyrrha grimly shook her head. "Alpha-Hedron."

Rye let out a frustrated sigh, and leaned back on his seat. "Shit…"

"Why? What does that mean?" Yang asked.

Rye looked at his team. "There are two variations of Firewall, Beta-Maulter, and Alpha-Hedron."

"Difference being?" Blake asked.

"Beta-Maulter is a whole sector requiring to initiate the Firewall Protocol. While Alpha-Hedron is the entire frontlines."

The entire team looked at one-another, all wearing the same nervous expression. One by one they all glanced back at the fiery scene from above. If one were to look more carefully at the ground, they'd see the small figures of soldiers and Burners. The soldiers would be trying to kill the bigger zeds, with the help of anti-personnel vehicles and tanks. While the Burners and their Crocodiles would continue to spray their fire down range, engulfing every tree, bush, rock and Zed in flames. The horde itself was ridiculously massive, the numbers were unclear, but from above, it appeared to number in the hundreds of thousands, or even more.

The ground forces were not entirely alone, as they too had air support. There were attack helicopters and jets giving fire support to the troops on the ground, firing their heavy ordinances at a select cluster of zeds in order to kill as many with as little firepower as possible.

Everyone in the Chinook was looking at the scene. Either through the windows, or the much clearer and bigger picture through the ramp, they all agreed, it was one of the most terrifying sights of this war. The scale, the ordinance, the desperation, it was all present on the ground, and they felt like the birds casually flying above the death and destruction, oblivious and helpless. In some form or another, it strengthen their resolve to fight, because the consequences of purely just watching the war, was just too much to even imagine.

Suddenly, everyone remembered their worse fear of being in the flying vehicle.

*BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP*

*BOOM*

An explosion took place near their Chinook. The helicopter violently shook, and to those who trances were not broken by the sudden beeping, they were now from the explosion.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK?"

"Take me out dinner first, would ya!?"

Those were some of the complaints coming from the soldiers sitting with Team Remnant.

*BOOM*

"EEEEEEKKKK!" Ruby squealed, terrified of the thoughts of crashing. Even with one arm, Yang's sisterly instinct kicked in, and hugged Ruby with all her might. Assuring her and herself that everything is going to be alright.

"Ladies and gentlemen, hold on to something quick, ride's about to get rough!" One of the pilots yelled at the back. Following the advice, the soldiers either grabbed their seats, or the railing above them for support.

*BOOM*

*CRACK*

*POP, POP, POP, POP, POP*

The explosion was close enough crack the windows on the left side of the helicopter. As a response, the flares were deployed.

*THF, THFTHF*

Everyone had at least a semblance of a grip on anything they could get their hands on. Their eyes wide and senses on overdrive, bracing when needed. The helicopter was either vibrating from the bullets that were ricocheting on the exterior, or shook from the force of an nearby explosion. The soldiers were handling it well, as they were used to such conditions when travelling in a helicopter such as this. Team Remnant was handling it… as best as they could. Some were handling it well, such as Rye, Pyrrha and Winter, having experience in the military vehicles helped. While the others were handling it better than Rye expected them to. With Blake being the in-between.

*BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP*

*BOOM*

Like mentioned earlier, Rye was surprised by how RWBY were handling this intense experience. By all means, they were not calm, out of all of them only Ruby seemed to outwardly display her unease as they flew over incoming flak fire. But in the other hand, they also were not in a panic, as if they somehow got used to being in this sort of danger, without their auras.

*THFTHFTHFTHFTHFTHF*

Yang kept her sisterly eye on Ruby, enveloping the rose in a hug, one in which the rose melted into. Without context, one could say she looked adorable, like a puppy melting into their owner's touch, but over the sound of a beeping helicopter and explosions, the feeling turns into sympathy. Ruby seemed to take comfort in both Yang's hug, and the tail gunner shooting towards the Patriarchs' positions. It was very 'Ruby Rose' of her, her sister and guns giving her comfort, Rye wished he had a cookie to give to the red reaper.

*BOOM*

*BOOM, BOOM*

*THFTHFTHFTHFTHFTHF*

Besides the sisters, Weiss was in the middle of a breathing exercise, calming herself down from the chaos outside. The chaos that has the very real potential of bringing their bird down. While Blake just had her eyes closed and her head on the head rest behind her. A look of pure concentration as she looked to be actively trying to block everything out. To Rye's right, Pyrrha was gripping him, while also keeping an eye outside the ramp. Pyrrha's grip on him seemed to be her only display of anxiousness, he could feel the bruise forming.

To Pyrrha, she felt like she owed a massive life long debt to the man beside her. Ever since she got here, he was the one who gave her hospitality, care, kindness and love. He did his best to make her stay with him as natural and welcoming ever since, and he was partially the reason why she now has so much hope. Hope of returning to Remnant, hope in seeing him again, the lovable Jaune Arc. Right now, he was wounded, more so than she has ever seen, and she was going to do her damn best to make sure he's well and recovered in the end.

Rye looked to his left, to the elder Schnee beside him. As he did, she turned to face him as well. He was met with a neutral yet expectant expression. All he responded was with a smile and a shrug, hoping to instil the reassurance that they'll all be fine by the end. In return, she gave him a smile as well, albeit smaller.

*BEEP, BEEP, BEE-*

*THFTHFTHFTHFTHFTHF*

*CLING, CLANG, CLANG*

After a painstakingly long minute and a half, the beeping stopped. The familiar sound of clinging and clanging of a reloading machine gun was heard, and Rye breathed a sigh of relief.

"We're in the clear people, you can unclench your asscheeks." The pilot said to the back, hearing some chuckles from the soldiers. Yang covered Ruby's ears quickly enough, but couldn't help a grin forming.

"So immature…" Winter muttered, as she crossed her arms and looked visibly relaxed after the terrifying flight.

Rye heard and gently elbowed her on her arm. "Hey, a bit of humour can't hurt, and its good for morale as well."

Winter nodded. "I'm well aware of the benefits of humour, but I believe this isn't the appropriate time for as such."

For a moment, Rye only looked at her, studying her mood and face, trying to find the right response. Before an imaginary light bulb popped up above him that made him grin. "Oh I see, you were that scared huh?"

That certainly got the elder Schnee's attention. She looked back at him incredulously. "What? You're ridiculous! I wasn't scared."

Rye shook his head and raised his hands. "Its okay, it's okay, it's only natural to be scared. To be honest, I was on the edge of my seat as well." He admitted, casually leaning back onto his seat.

Winter couldn't help but tease him in return. "Oh really?" She smiled. "I thought soldier boy here is our fearless leader?"

Rye only chuckled. "That's a very 'Yang' thing to say there Winter. Plus if I was fearless, we would've died on our first DEZ drop in Paris. Besides, at least I was calmer than a certain someone here."

Winter groaned. "Ugh... You're starting to sound like Qrow."

"At least I didn't call you an Ice Queen." He shrugged.

"You just did." She crossed her arms.

He looked at her. "I just said the name, I wasn't directly calling you an Ice Queen."

Winter turned to him with a slightly annoyed look. "You just did that time!"

Rye chuckled again while turning away and closing his eyes. "Ah, silence you boob!"

Yang tried to hold back her giggles, but everyone heard the tiny breath escaping her. At that, there were small giggles around, including from Ruby, in which Yang covered her ears to protect the innocent rosebud.

"Yaaaaaannnnngggggg…."

"Seriously!? Still going about that?" Winter exclaimed while having a red face. She quickly yet worriedly looked around.

"I'm sorry, I'll be honest I couldn't resist." Rye guiltily smiled.

The barking conversation continued, with exclaims, wild hand gestures and exaggerated facial expressions. The soldiers on the other side just stared at the chaos. One of them just looked at the other, and even through the goggles and tan balaclava, his look of confusion was clear as day. The other soldier just looked at him and shrugged.

"Geez you two, just get a room." Yang casually commented, hoping to see what sort of firestorm she just brewed for herself.

Simultaneously, Rye and Winter gave her heated stares. "What's that supposed to mean?" They both said in unison. Realizing what they just done, they both glanced at one another for a moment, before looking away. Blushes present on both of them.

Yang just smiled, feeling much better than she had been for the last couple days.


They landed on the base, but they couldn't take the time to actually take a good look at their surroundings. The best look they all had was during their descent. From what RWWBY can tell, it was hectic. Soldiers, doctors, medics, ground workers and all sorts of personnel moving in all directions. Helicopters and planes taking off, going either towards the frontlines or deeper inland towards the newer frontlines that was currently being established. Its what Rye always refer to it as, 'Organized Chaos,' and it was a term that accurately described the scene they saw. There were very few accidents, as everyone knew that they can't afford to have an incident. So to RWWBY everything looked like the twin blades of a Chinook, an anxiety machine that looks like it'll fail at any moment, when in reality it was all fine.

When they were on the ground, it was a much different story, as it was all a blur to them. Immediately after disembarking the Chinook, they were escorted by the another group of soldiers through the base and into their awaiting plane. But the journey to the plane was the mentioned blur, as they never had the time to stop and look anywhere. They sped walk pass crates, vehicles, people, sometimes they couldn't distinguish between the three. The sound was overwhelming, from shouting orders, engines of both ground vehicles, helicopters and planes, to the distant fighting, which sounded awfully close. Throughout the walk, no one spoke, or no one was heard, as the background noise was impossible to isolate.

Minutes passed as they came up to a very large plane. Unlike the others, Rye recognized it as a C-130, a plane usually meant to deliver large amounts of equipment, supplies, great amounts of soldiers, or generally large stuff. But this one was filled to the brim with soldiers both wounded and not. Specifically, those who aren't wounded, looked to be transferring to The Platform.

After saying a quick hello and goodbye to a intimidating old man who Rye said was one of the leading Generals of the frontlines, they entered and flew back to The Platform. The overall flight was mostly uneventful, as they didn't know how to pass the time. The flight wasn't the most comfortable as well, and the sight of heavily injured soldiers meant the usual playfulness of the team was toned down or nonexistent.

The only eventful thing that happened, occurred at the expense of Rye and Winter, as for some reason, (the reason being that R_Y hatched a scheme for the two to sit next to each other), sat next to each other and fell asleep, leaning against one another. To Pyrrha, it reminded her of that one WhiteRose meme she saw of Ruby and Weiss leaning against one another, as Yang wrote something very 'insightful' on their cheeks. The only difference between that meme and the moment between Rye and Winter, is that instead of any teasing scribbles, Yang borrowed Pyrrha's smart phone and took some blackmail pictures. Pyrrha really wanted to stop the brawler and delete the pictures… but they looked adorable, and she couldn't help but tease them, even a little.

After landing, and a very entertaining scene of Rye and Winter simultaneously waking up, they exited the plane to find Howler waiting for them.

"Glad all of you made it." He smiled at everyone, and looked at Rye. "I know you're injured Carpner, but the council wants to talk to you. Afterwards, you have the week to recover." He frowned, as if he wanted him to rest as soon as possible.

Rye looked disappointed and tired. "Fine…" He groaned out as he look at Pyrrha. "Mabel, take the girls back to the room…" He looked at his team. "… all of you rest, got that?"

"Actually Carpner," Howler started to speak. "The Council would also like to speak with Team Remnant as well. Concerning your status as an actual team."

They all looked at one another, all wanting the same thing, some R&R. The mission, their time in the frontlines, and the not-so-comfortable flight here has almost drained them all. But nonetheless they followed Howler.


They boarded a cargo elevator, that had a few supplies that's about to be placed in storage, along with the personnel accompanying the cargo. The doors were about to close.

"Oh and Carpner, I forgot to inform you about…"

"Oi! Is that how you treat a lady? By closing the door on her? How rude!" Howler was interrupted by a voice that Rye knew all too well. The muffled voice with a British accent that strangely sounded like Chloe Frazer from Uncharted. Rye couldn't help but let out a laugh. Before the doors were about to completely close, a hand got in its way, stopping it halfway. From there, a familiar figure steps into sight, both Isaac and Rye rolled their eyes and shook their heads.

The rest of the team, including Pyrrha, only had a confused look, staring at a very female Mr. Foster. With both hands on each sliding door, she forced the doors open with what looked to have been little effort. In the elevator, the worker's jaws all collectively dropped, knowing that she just pried open doors that were meant to keep Fleshpounds out.

There she stood, the one, and only… Mrs. Foster. Light grey gasmask, with a green filter, brown vest, white dress shirt, light brown dress pants, elbow pads, a USAS-12 and duffle bag hanging behind her… she's ready for war.

She stood there, looking as confident as Yang when she busted down Junior's club, hands on her hips, standing tall and proudly, her sizable cleavage sticking out. She looks at Rye.

"Oh lookie here! My favourite Canadian, oh how much I missed your adorable face." She walked over to the still injured Rye, as he was still hanging onto Pyrrha. She pinched his cheeks. "You've grown more handsome I see, I bet the ladies are just climbing over each other to get you."

"Ow, ow, ow, ow." Rye complained, as she tugged on his cheeks. It was then they all felt the elevator moving down. "You can stop you know, I'm not exactly in the greatest of conditions."

Mrs. Foster took a good look. "Indeed you don't! You looked like hammered shit."

"Eep!" Ruby squeaked at the bad word and covered her ears. Mrs. Foster heard the squeak and turned to her right, seeing team Remnant.

"You girls look awfully young to be fighting in such a war." She said in her usual elegant voice.

"Actually they're with me." Rye said as he used his free hand to rub his sore cheeks. Pyrrha used her free hand as well to help, but also teasingly squeeze them as well, she couldn't help it. It brought a smile to her. "They're my team." Rye continued, slapping Pyrrha's hand away.

Mrs. Foster looked at him. "Your team you say? Hmm… is that what they're calling harems these days?"

"W-w-w-w-what?" Rye startled out, as his face turned red. The rest of the team blushed heavily as well, but Ruby. Who was about to ask what that was until Yang just place a hand over her mouth. "N-no! Nothing like that!"

Mrs. Foster just giggled and swiped her hand down. "I'm just teasing you Carpner! You're so easy to tease, and so adorable as well!" She pinched his cheeks again.

"AAHH! STAHP IT!" Rye cried out loud.

"Enough Foster, the young lad is being overwhelmed." Howler interferes, as he takes a step towards Mrs. Foster. She stops and faces him.

"Fury! Oh how I missed you as well!" She hugs him tight, which Howler seems to be unfazed and returns the gesture with a smile. They separate. "Now then, where is my dearest husband?"

That caught Rye off guard. "H-H-H-Husband?"

Mrs. Foster nodded. "Yes, my husband. Looks like me but isn't as pretty and doesn't have these magnificent tits of mine." She shook them both, with Rye and Howler looking away from the sight. The bystanders continued to stare.

"He's most likely with his team. They're in the same room, you don't have to look far." Howler was happy to reply, as Rye kept stumbling over his words.

He calmed down long enough to ask the important question in his head. "WHEN DID YOU GET MARRIED!?"

Mrs. Foster just looked at him. "Settle down there cowboy, you know I thought it was obvious by the name."

Rye nodded. "Yeah, but I thought it was just a name, much like how Rob keeps calling himself Shadow Ferret." He said in disbelieving tone.

Mrs. Foster just shrugged. "Well, it's official now!" Enthusiastically replied.

But there was still one thing in his mind. "Wait a minute. How come Foster is still here yet you had a year-and-a-half break?"

Mrs. Foster looked up in thought, before shrugging and looking back at him. "The night after our wedding, we consummated, and to my delight, he came inside me!" Mrs. Foster cheerfully said.

Rye just stared incredulously at her before face palming. "TMI."

"Yang, what does she me-"

"BLAKE!" Yang called out loud. Understanding what needed to be done, Blake took out Yang's mechanical arm and used it cover Ruby's mouth. While Yang used her left arm to cover both of Ruby's ears and eyes.

"Why am I here again?" Weiss thought out loud and Winter just sighed in defeat.

"STORAGE AREA." The automated voice of the elevator thankfully called out loud.

"Well this is as far as this thing goes. Come on Remnant, let's move." Howler called out as he began walking out. Closely being followed by Pyrrha, who was still carrying Rye, and the rest of the team. Mrs. Foster just shrugged and went her merry way.

"So that's the legendary Mrs. Foster that you mentioned. She's quite… exotic?" Pyrrha said, not knowing what to make of Mrs. Foster.

"I don't know about you guys, but I kind of like her." Yang smiled fondly about the older woman.

Weiss sighed. "That's purely because she's like an older version of you Yang! Except she doesn't say any puns!"

"Yeah, makes me nostalgic." Ruby said, as she quickly hugged Yang. Being a loving sister, she hugged her back.

No one admits it, but RWBY actually does miss the old Yang, the big sis of the group, and occasional mother figure as well. They could easily tell that Mrs. Foster is definitely same or at least similar, and smiled at the thought.

"I'm glad you girls like her, Mrs. Foster was like mom figure to me, even though we didn't speak as much as I would've wanted. Although, there is a reason why so many are wary of her." Rye spoke.

Blake slightly frowned. "What are you talking about."

Howler huffed in amusement before turning to her. "Much like Ms. Xiao Long, she became very well-known for causing so much property damage. Sometimes to the point where some Killing Floors were rendered unfit for operation."

The team's eyes widened. "Well, it can't be all that bad right?" Ruby cautiously asked.

Howler nodded. "You're Ms. Rose, because in doing so, she takes down a whole swarms."

"Wait… what!?" Pyrrha exclaimed, as they entered another elevator.

Rye nodded as well. "Yeah, she's a scary woman. It wasn't just her though, it was just the two Fosters, everyone called them 'The Hazardous Duo.'"

"Wait? They're 'The Hazardous Duo!?'" Pyrrha gawked. Pure shock yet some excitement emanating from her.

Howler and Rye just happily nodded to her as the commander led them all in an elevator.

"Umm… are we missing something here?" Winter spoke on behalf of the confused RWBY and herself. But her voice was either unheard or ignored as Howler dug into his pocket.

"Oh, and umm… these things aren't publicly celebrated, so don't feel as if this was rushed or all of a sudden. Since your last mission, I've decided to welcome you Ms. Nikos." Howler fished out a patch, a patch that was familiar to both Rye and Pyrrha. She stared at it for a few moments, surprised yet incredibly honoured to be accepted into the group.

To RWWBY, the patch looked like an ancient Mistrallian helmet, only worn by the greatest warriors that were forged in intense training and even harder combat scenarios. But to Rye and Howler, they recognize the symbol as an icon of a bronze Spartan helmet with a biohazard symbol on the forehead.

"Welcome to ZedEx Ms. Nikos." Howler proudly smiled at the young woman beside him.

Pyrrha only gave a determined grin. "I won't let you down sir!" She said with a straight posture, and confidence emanating from her demeanour.

Winter immediately recognized the act as some sort of promotion, a promotion into a special task force. She couldn't help but remember when she was promoted to Specialist, although it was from a more successful mission that led to her earning the rank. But nonetheless, she couldn't help but smile at the champion, she automatically knew she deserves it.

"Wait, what's happening? This is a sudden information dump for us, can you give us some context?" Weiss was slightly overwhelmed from the sudden exposition, that only led to her being curious about the day's events. In turn, she could be speaking for the rest of team RWBY, maybe even Winter.

"I'm sure Rye can explain once you all get back from the debrief." Howler smiled.

*Ding*

The elevator doors opened to a busy hallway, with Howler going in, and the rest following.


"This is a waste of time, and outrageous! I doubt being a Huntress and a mercenary in Tripwire are all that different!"

"They did face an unexpected opponent in the field. Unlike other more experienced teams, this was their first alone. You can't expect that much from a new team. Even more so for people from a different world."

"A world clearly more hostile than ours. We don't have Grimm, or evil witches hellbent on the destruction of human and Faunus kind! Sure they maybe great warriors in Remnant, but this is our world, a world with physics being applied correctly at a daily basis! They're no better than a bunch of athletic girls dreaming of living in a fantasy world!"

"That's a horribly arrogant thing to say! I'm proof that your so called 'athletic girl dreaming of living in a fantasy world,' can make the cut and succeed!" Pyrrha called out against the council. She now slightly understood what Jaune may have gone through. People believing you couldn't protect yourself or fight for others.

"If I'm being honest, it's not great proof either. You're considered the best of the best in Remnant, yet you just manage to barely fit in here. That's not a good impression to go by, and leaves us wondering how well others from your world will fit in here. Since the last mission, now we know the answer…" The councillor turned her head to the rest of team Remnant with scrutiny. "Frankly, I do not understand why Commander Howler brought you into his task force. You're clearly not ready for such a undertaking."

"If I see potential, I give chances. If all I see is failure, I wouldn't even do a double take. Plus it's been nothing but successful missions in my task force, meaning I picked the right people for my task force." He narrowed his eyes and looked at all the faces in the screens. Irritation was clear to see in his eyes. "This meeting isn't about Ms. Nikos' promotion into my task force. But I do have to ask." His tone, sharp and deadly, as if he had a wrath of all the gods brewing within him. "Are you doubting my judgement?"

"Okay…" Rye suddenly spoke up, trying to calm everyone down. "Lets get back to what we were talking about, shall we? Anyways, you can't fault a new team for failing, especially for a factor that we never saw coming. I got incapacitated while fighting those things, and I'm not tooting my own horn here, but I'm not oblivious to my own skill as well, but I'm considered one of the best here."

"A title that we seriously need to reconsider." A councilmen hissed out. Rye looked back at him with a face that meshed anger and disgust.

"Mr. Carpner, most of us don't doubt your skill. But some of us do believe it's being wasted in babysitting these girls. If Ms. Weiss Schnee just focused her attention on the clear threat of that rocket robot thing, maybe those soldiers would've survived. Instead, she sought to make sure you were okay, doubting your resilience, and you ended up saving her life instead, by using your own." A councilwoman explained to him, further morphing Rye's face into a deeper frown.

Although those words had a different affect on the former heiress. She never wanted to think about what happened down there, so it wasn't until now that she begun to extensively think about all that had happened. Now… she saw what she believed to be the errors of her ways. She could've saved those men, as horrible as that Bliens was, he was still a person in the end. Those other men, even the wounded, were all innocent, now dead, and Weiss could've done something to prevent it. Memories flashed before her, of her father punishing her for even the smallest of imperfections. Her drive to please her father led to her superiority complex, and bitter introductions to her team, in which she considers them more of a family than her own father.

Hands rolled up into a fist, as they begun trembling as she spiraled down her own rabbit hole. Her eyes fixated on a single point, a random point on the meeting table before her. Thoughts of uselessness, regret, imperfection, and failure all spiraled in her mind, plaguing her, as she sat there trembling.

Her older sister sitting next to her was quick to act, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. Now concerned for her younger sister's wellbeing, she looked pleadingly to Rye, who in turn looked from the heiress to her. He too felt sympathy to the former heiress. Now mad, Winter looked over to the screen, brows furrowed and ready to let the blizzard lose.

"Winter wa-"

"How DARE YOU SPEAK THAT WAY TO MY LITTLE SIS-"

"All of you! Thats ENOUGH!"

Diana was quick to intervene between the team and the councillors. As being a high ranking member of the council, and due to her track record, she proved to be the best mediator for meetings such as these. Being able to calm down and appease both sides, but in this case, she honestly had a small soft spot for the team. All the girls were sweet and beautiful in their own ways, and Rye had a hard time before this war broke out. Having a beautiful team like them is something that she knew Rye needed.

"If everyone would please relax, shouting at each other will not get us anywhere." Diana looked at Winter. "Nor would throwing insults." She glared at the other screens, which just looked like she was staring straight ahead. The only indication of her actually looking at the other screens would be her eyes slightly flicking at various directions, other than the camera.

"The best thing we can do, is simply give one more test mission, since we now know what're dealing with."

"Ludwig! We simply can't keep giving chances, if they failed the test, no matter how or why, it simply should be that!"

Diana frowned. "We should all know that some of the greatest things to ever exist, never had the best beginnings. I am simply giving a second chance, after that, they are truly done." Through an authoritative tone, she declared. "Failure would mean that Team Remnant would be dissolved, Rye Carpner and Pyrrha Nikos would be transferred to a new team. Team RWBY and Winter Schnee would be sent to a specialized residence under the watch of Tripwire personnel, most likely a few soldiers from ZedEx. Until a way back to Remnant is found, they will remain there until further notice, is that understood Mr. Carpner?"

Rye looked back at Diana with a neutral look. It certainly was a fair deal, it just meant that a lot was in the line when it came to their next mission.

"That not fair! We want to help, it's in our training and morals to help. We can't just sit around and watch people die and world slowing being destroyed! Even if it's not our world, there are still innocent people, people who we can help defend. An evil to fight back against!" Blake valiantly proclaimed, as she stood up as well, further making her point.

"Ms. Belladonna is right. Not only that but Horzine is also a threat to Remnant, since they manage to find a way to make contact with our world. This is much our fight as it is yours! As a soldier, a Huntress and a human from Remnant, it's my duty to prevent such a threat from ever spilling blood in Remnant." Winter agreed, her tone as if she was professionally speaking towards a superior officer.

"I know you two, I know. That why you have this last chance. There's a difference between being a helpful ally, against being a useless burden. This next mission will determine which one your team belongs to." Although blunt, Diana does not sugar-coat her honesty.

There was a moment of silence, for everyone to think about what has been discussed.

"We understand." Rye simply said with a nod. Diana just returned the nod.

"Now, speaking about new opponents, we need to discuss this. But alas, this meeting needs to be cut short, I'm sure there are other things that are needed to be tended to. So, Howler…"

Howler hummed.

"Next report we need to know what these things are. If they're such a threat that the Firewall Protocol needed to be issued, than we need to be kept in the loop. Get your top researchers to it, understood?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Anything else that requires to be discussed?" Silence. "Very well, this meeting is adjourned."

With that, the screens of the various military officials, politicians and other representatives blackout, leaving only the screen of Diana Ludwig. Her face now take enlarges to take up the entirety of the screen, as she looks at the team. There was a moment of silence before she spoke.

"I… want to apologize for my colleges and my own behavior. I don't mean to scare any of you girls but my job is to act as a neutral third party, to strive for compromise and consensus."

"But wasn't even fair for us! All we want to do is help, it's in our nature as Huntresses! We're just not used to fighting these zombie things… hell, this place is one heckuva detour. We were just trying to get away from a heckton of Grimm!" Yang exclaimed as her arm shot upwards in annoyance.

Sitting to her left, Ruby took hold of Yang's hand, intertwining their fingers. Lowering her hand, Ruby just leaned on her older sister's shoulder, it's a subtle gesture, but one profound enough to settle Yang down. As she too gently leaned onto her younger sister's formed.

"I do have to agree with Yang, we didn't ask for this, and we're still offering our help. Yet they treat us more like burdens then guests." Blake continued.

"They're a bunch of stereotypical politicians. Winter and I do know their types, something we both agree on staying away from, how do work with them?" Weiss asked Diana.

"It isn't easy, beside the war effort there's also maintaining order around the world, as well as maintaining the coalition as much as possible. This multi-national operation is only possible because of the current treaty that upholds the coalition. This war is straining this Earth and the pressure is especially being felt by this council. They have other responsibilities that isn't this operation. Other countries to maintain, European nation's own citizens are now refugees in foreign land, logistics, morale, so many cogs in this machine called 'war.' Please excuse them as they want to end this war as quickly as possible."

Winter couldn't help ponder about the actual behind the scenes of a war. Appropriate, due to a fact that she is part of a military back at Remnant. "I wouldn't know, actually no one in Remnant would really know. It's been so long since the last war, eighty years ago." She thought about it more, resources of all kind, metals for mass production of vehicles, weapons and equipment, food for soldiers and refugees, how would they get those resources to those active personnel, morale of not only soldiers but citizens as well, and so much more to think about. "That's quite a daunting task…" She looked up to Diana.

The councilwoman nodded. "It is Ms. Winter Schnee. You can imagine how strenuous it can be, and that can affect ones mood and judgement. You can't completely blame them for their sour attitudes. When either party steps beyond the line, it's people like me who have to put them back in place."

"How do you cope with the pressure?" Blake asked, curious, yet also quite concerned. Sure the woman can seem blunt, but there is something quite soothing about her.

Diana smiled sadly. "I have my ways Ms. Belladonna. Much like yourself, books are a way for me to escape my duties. Although lately I haven't had the time to, something like reading should be a hour or so session." Blake couldn't help but smile at a fellow bookworm. "But other than that, well… have a good motivation and it'll fuel you for years."

"Diana…" Howler started with her first name. Usually they'd use formalities, but his tone was like how a friend would comfort another. With a soft expression he continued. "… please take a small break. As being one of the heads of the council, it'll prove beneficial to you and everyone around you." He paused, as if hesitating a bit. "I'm sure your daughters will understand."

The councilwoman's expression momentarily switched into one of pain, before turning into a sad frown. "Yeah…" She quietly said, placing a hand over her heart.

The people in the room, minus Rye and Isaac was a bit confused with the interaction between the three. The most they can pick up was a past history between the three of them, before Pyrrha arrived on Earth. The only exception was Yang, as she only slightly narrowed her eyes at the older woman.

"But enough about little old me, girls?" She focused her attention to the girls of team Remnant. "May I ask how you girls are handling all this? Must be quite… overwhelming, I guess."

Yang cringed and hissed. "Yeah… I'm pretty sure you know how I feel, coming from my rant earlier."

"I'm sorry Ms. Xiao-Long, I really am. I am trying to hold back the wolves before they tear you a new one. Besides that, we're also trying to find the solution to getting you girls safely home as well."

One thing that Yang did pick up on was the strangely motherly tone coming from the councilwoman. A feeling that she hasn't had in a long time, ever since Summer passed away.

"Its fine, I think I should be the one apologizing, for my earlier rant…" Yang trailed off.

"Please don't apologize Ms. Xiao-Long, I understand you girls' frustration. From school, to the fall of Beacon, the battle in Haven Academy, Salem and now being in another world, learning that we've seen your adventures through a show, the current specimen war, and wanting to go home, its a lot to take in for you girls." One thing is for sure for the young woman of team Remnant, is that they haven't really thought of their situation in that light. Thinking about it like that, it's immense, literally flipping their world and logic upside-down.

"Please don't fret little ones, that's why we're here, and that's why I want to make your stay here as comfortable as possible. With the war against this Salem, and now participating in a war that doesn't affect you, yet you still volunteered to fight in, you girls deserve the comfort."

Howler affirmed. "Yes, although this is a new situation for us, that doesn't mean we're not doing anything about it. I have some of my most trusted and best people to find a way to get you girls back home where you are needed. Luckily, one of them is your knuckleheaded squad leader." Howler chuckled, and the team giggled at Howler's description of Rye.

Carpner just rolled his eyes. "Har, har Howler, as least with my knucklehead I can head butt a Fleshpound to death."

Howler shook his head. "I don't think that something you should be praising about yourself."

Diana giggled as well. "Well it seems these two are doing their jobs. As for me, girls?" RWWBYP all looked at the councilwoman. "If there's anything you require, anything to make your stay with us more comfort, please do not hesitate to tell Mr. Carpner so he can contact me."

"Councilwoman!" Weiss got her attention. "You don't have to do this for us, our current amenities are more than enough to suffice. We'd hate for you to use your power just for us, and then get in trouble."

That's when they heard a nervous chuckle from Ruby. "Well…um… actually…"

"RUBY, SHUSH!"

"No, no Ms. Schnee, it's quite alright." Diana shook her hands and head. "Its not going to be too troublesome Ms. Schnee. The only reason why I'm offering is because, well… as being the titular characters here, your journey is only going to get more hazardous by the episode. Not to mention your volunteered part in our war, we greatly appreciate it."

"Odd way for the council to show that appreciation." Winter mumbled, but was heard.

"Yes I know, I won't lie or deflect it. But nonetheless, if you do need something, don't hesitate. I know Ms. Belladonna would love some books to read, I can make a quick requisition for her and have it delivered soon."

Blake's eyes lit up with excitement, only for it to be slightly suppress as she calmed down to her usual state. "You're too kind Councilwoman, but I don't know if I could accept it."

Diana was having none of it. "Don't worry Ms. Belladonna, I insist." She turned to Rye. "And you!"

"Eh?"

"Don't even think about exploiting my generosity to these nice girls! I'll be looking over each request and I'll know if one is actual request from you."

Rye pondered. "I wasn't even thinking about it. But now that you mentioned it…"

"Don't even try."

Rye raised his arms to defend himself. "Hey, you did put the idea in my mind."

The councilwoman smiled at the man, before it slightly faltered. It was noticed by all, but only the elder Schnee voiced out.

"Are you well Ms. Ludwig?"

"I um… I am, thank you for asking. I'm just slightly exhausted."

"You are? Come on councilwoman, you really should just go and get some rest now. You need it." Rye smiled at her, as he leaned back on his seat, enticing her into a nap.

"I appreciate the thought Rye, but there are a few details I need to sort out with you guys." She composed herself and wiped her eyes, staying away from where she applied her makeup.

"Why didn't you just get straight to the point?" Rye asked.

"Hey! This is one of the only times where I can have some time to relax and have some small talk. There's not many people who I can have a nice chat with, and you girls seem like nice company."

"Aw, thank you!" Ruby cheerfully said.

"Now, team Remnant is going to have a week off so Mr. Carpner is fully recovered and Ms. Xiao-Long's arm to be fully repaired. From various memos including one coming from one Dr. Ables, he informed me that Winter has volunteered to help in the repair of Ms. Xiao-Long's arm, as she previously oversaw the arm's development." Diana looks at Winter. She nodded, confirming the information.

"Okay, and Howler, please remember to collect all the necessary information about the new enemy types, and file a report to the council. We need to know what we're fighting, and for any weaknesses as well."

Howler nodded. "Gladly."

The councilwoman turned to the girls. "And Team Remnant, I umm… I heard volume six just came out. How far are you girls into the show?"

Ruby perked her head up. "Um… not much actually…" She adorably scratched the back of her head. "We just watched our trailers, but then Rye wanted us to go to sleep right away." She looked over to her team leader and stuck her tongue. In which Rye happily responded in the same way.

Diana covered her mouth as she giggled. "How strange. I never knew Rye had such discipline in him."

"That's what we all said!" Team RWBY, Winter and even Pyrrha said in unison. They first glanced at each other, surprised that they actually managed to pull something like that off. A moment later, they all erupted in laughter.

Howler then begun laughing at Rye's expense, and Diana herself just smiled at the scene. It reminded her too much of her daughters.

Rye wore an amused grin, shaking in head in disbelief. He exaggeratingly gestured himself, and with a tone of mock shock he addressed them. "Betrayed by my own team for being responsible!?" He wildly pointed at them. "Shaaaaammmmee! All of you! Shaaaaammmmmmeeeee!" He then relented and began chucking as well. "Well, I can't stay mad at my team. You guys are pretty awesome." He said with a sincere smile.

Calming down from her stupor, Ruby spoke on behalf of the entire team. "We think you pretty cool Rye." She said in the sweetest of tones.

"You girls have such a unique bond between each other. The show's proof of it, and it's fans have seen it. So you girls better be careful out there, you'll need each other's back, okay? You don't really belong here in this world, and you are all needed back in Remnant, it'll be an insult to yourself if you die here." She sniffled, trying to hold back her own tears. "You girls remind me too much of own daughters. I'm sure they would love you all, I just hope… t-that you won't follow their…" She paused trying to hold back her own tears. "Sorry…"

"Don't apologize Ms. Ludwig, we understand." Ruby spoke in a gentle and sincere tone.

Diana mouthed a thank you to the rosebud, and looked over at her team leader. "Rye… these girls are true gems with the best intentions. You better take good care of them."

Rye gave the councilwoman a gentle smile, as he turned to face the his team on the other side of the table, minus Pyrrha, who was sitting next to him for his care. Looking over his team, from the lovable Ruby Rose, the protective Yang Xiao-Long, the fiercely loyal Weiss Schnee, the righteous Blake Belladonna, the soft-hearted Winter Schnee, to the gentle Pyrrha Nikos. He curled his hands into a determined fist, even though he was determined before, but looking at his team only made him even more so. Still looking at his team, he answered. "Like they're my family."

He felt a hand being placed over his fist, and traced it back to Pyrrha, who gave him a bright and reassuring smile.

"With that in mind, you girls surely are under the best care this operation has to offer."

It was a nice moment for all present in the room. Sadly it had to end.

"I think we should cut it here, not that I don't want it to continue, it's just that I have a Platform to run." Howler said as he got up.

Rye nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I'm not too good at the whole 'heart-to-heart' thingy. Plus, I'm kinda tired." He added sheepishly.

Diana smiled. "I understand, you are still recovering. Quite frankly I'm surprised you even attended this conference, I hope it hasn't strained you."

Rye waved it off. "Not at all, and if I wasn't here, we wouldn't be having a great talk right now, so it was all worth it." He said as Pyrrha helped him up.

"I'm glad then Mr. Carpner, until then I hope you make a full recovery. And girls…" Diana caught the rest of the team's attention, as they were getting up from their seats. "You all have a week until your next mission. I advise you get debriefed about those robots things, get some extra training in as well. But also…" Her face softened. "… relax as well, I highly advise you watch the show now."

"We will Councilwoman Ludwig." Blake happily replied.

"Rye, you guys can head back, I need a moment with Ludwig." Howler said.

He nodded, and thanks to Pyrrha, was escorted out, back to their room. When the doors closed, Howler looked back at the councilwoman with sad look.

"You know you can't use those girls to replace your daughters."

Diana sighed. "I know…"


Now back on his own bed, Rye relaxed as he desperately wanted to fall asleep. It's been awhile since he's slept on his own bed, with the previous owner being Winter. She insisted that he needed a real bed to actually recover, with the couch being where she'd be sleeping for the week. Luckily he managed to convince her that once he's all good, he'll return to the couch, his politeness overwriting his own desire to stay on his own bed.

"She's a really nice politician! Better than the rest of the cranky people on the council." Ruby said as she disassembled her AMR, and began cleaning it.

"Yeah, with a name like Ludwig, she's like one of those characters that sounds intimidating, then you realize she's on your side, and intimidates your enemies." Yang sat on her bed, looking at Ember Celica.

"But I wonder what happened to her daughters…" Ruby couldn't help but think out loud.

"I don't think we should talking about her daughters behind her back." Weiss was sitting on one of the stools sipping on the tea she made. Beside her was Winter, who was doing the same.

"That implies that we're going to say bad things behind her back. But I don't think there is anything negative about her, she did compare us to her own daughters." Blake sat in the couch, a book in hand. She apparently started on the novelization of Beauty and the Beast.

"And that's one hell of a compliment if you guys ask me." Rye said as he sat on his bed, tucked in. On the bed next him, sleeping soundly was Pyrrha. By how she acted earlier, it was clear that she was masking how tired she actually was.

Yang looked at Rye. "How so? I know not all mom's love their children, she could be comparing us to how badly she didn't like her daughters."

Rye gave Yang a soft look. "Come on Yang, you don't truly believe that. I'll never know what you went through, but I can ensure you that Ludwig isn't the same." He turns to look at his team.

"Diana Ludwig is a German official working in the United Nations, in a very similar position as she's in right now. On top of being an excellent mediator, she was also an extremely devoted mother to three daughters, often putting her family over her own work. That's what happens when you're a single mom I guess."

Ruby gasped. "What happened to their father?" She asked, forgetting about her cleaning.

Rye shrugged. "I don't know all the details, but I do know is that he passed away fighting in a recent war, leaving Diana to take care of the kids. While I never knew her daughters personally, I'm sure they were all like her mother." Rye thought about how her daughters would look and act like. For some reason, he thought they would be triplets, all looking the same with blonde hair, much like their mother. But no doubt he knew they were kind-hearted like Diana.

"Oh…" That was all the little reaper could say. She knew first hand about how tough life could be for a single parent.

"Anyways, if it wasn't business that Diana talks about, the next thing would be her own daughters. Always talking about the better times, the happier memories, a much simpler time in a complicated world. That changed when the outbreak occurred, and spread throughout Europe.

"When the war started in Europe, Diana's daughters joined an international humanitarian organization called International Committee of the Red Cross, or the ICRC. They begun to help the refugees from affected countries, treat their various wounds, feed the malnourished, help with any labours, that sort of thing. Then two months into the war, it reached a country called Denmark, where they were stationed.

"They were at military post under the protection of the Norwegian army. It also served as an evacuation point via ferries for the fleeing refugees and survivors, wanting to escape the incoming Zed horde. It was chaos as people rammed the military barricades, as the soldiers were trying to keep order. Some people died from their attempt to keep order."

"Were you there?" Weiss asks.

Rye shook his head. "Not really, I'll get into it in a sec. But I read all this from a report, and saw some footage of what happened. Anyways, back to it; yeah it was chaos. Some groups of survivors were armed because they had to fend off the zeds alone, they ended up using their weapons on the soldiers, and ended up forcibly taking over a ferry and using it to escape. During the time, armed survivors and refugees were labeled bandits and hostiles, because most armed individuals used force to flee the horde or get what they wanted from other survivors. Rules were that once reaching military personnel or any sort of official rescuers, you were to surrender your weapons. So with this in mind, and the excuse of fog of war, the leading CO of the mission ordered any of the incoming ferries with little to no military presence on board, to be shot and sunk. Which if you're wondering, were most of the civilian ferries."

"Who in their right minds would order something like that?" Winter questioned.

Rye raised his arms to defend himself. "Not me. I'm not gonna defend the guy who ordered that. He got court martialed and is now serving the maximum punishment for killing that many civilians."

This easily calmed the Schnee down, as Rye continued his story. "It was the last ferry, reserved only for retreating military and humanitarian personnel. It was about to leave and because of it, people were now desperately climbing on top of one another, climbing the fences and assaulting arm soldiers. At that point, there was no order, not even a chain of command because the Zed horde was literally on them."

Rye paused, he closed his eyes and let out a breath before continuing. "In the end of the day, the ferry never left." Everyone's mood significantly darkened, which made them slightly irritated as not long ago, they were in decent spirits. "I was sent to search for survivors, along with some FSKs. If you were curious on how Diana and I met, she knew I was going on that mission, and personally asked me to search for her daughters. I won't get into details, it's too… graphic, but I'm sure you all know the ending."

"Anna! Helena! Beatrice! Are any of you there? Anyone!? Answer me!"

*MUNCH* *CRUNCH, CRUNCH* *MUNCH*

"Oh my god..."

*ROAR*

"Fuck you, you double bladed FREAK!"

*BANG, BANG*

"It wasn't a pretty sight, the whole area was a sea of red. And since then, Diana hasn't stop working, doing anything she can in her power to avenge her daughters. And since then, I could tell she wasn't the same woman, more broken, only being held together by the hope of taking down Horzine, and being apart of the men and women who were responsible in taking the terrorist organization down."

There was a piercing silence that reigned over the atmosphere of the room, with the exception of Pyrrha's breath. No one could ever imagine the pain a mother goes through when losing her children, especially all of them in one fell swoop. Her cries would forever haunt Rye, along with other nightmarish sights and sounds he experienced during this war.

"I'm sorry I doubted her." Yang broke the silence with a guilty expression as she apologized.

Rye only sadly smiled at her. "Like I said, I'll never know how it feels to be abandoned like that. But I understand why someone would feel that way. Okay?"

Yang gave him a nod. "Okay, I get it, think before you say."

"Yeah." He sincerely smiled, as an awkward silence followed. How would one proceed after hearing such a tragic tale? "Hey, I know it may seem inappropriate following something like that but, you girls wanna watch RWBY volume one?"

"Rye…" Weiss started.

"I know, I know, I know. It's bad timing but... I don't know, how else are we going to move on?"

"Well, maybe we could all take a nap. I know we're all tired, and it is getting kind of late. How about tomorrow we take a much needed break, and first thing tomorrow morning after breakfast, or during, we watch volume one. I am curious to see how Weiss did on her first semester." Winter said.

"Last I checked, Rye was the team leader here." Blake said, her eyes learning from above her book, hiding her small grin.

Winter shrugged. "I'm just throwing my suggestion out there."

"Well, I think it's a swell idea Winter. Anyone else agrees?" Rye asked around. Getting all agreements, and knowing Pyrrha, she would love to watch RWBY with the titular team beside her, like any RWBY fan's dream.

Everyone in the room got ready for bed, all the while Rye simply rested his head on the pillow. But before he could get some shut eye, a shadow fell over him. He looked over to find the Faunus of the team. He slowly got up.

"Can I help you Blake?"

"I'm just curious about one thing." Blake said.

"Shoot."

A pause occurred as it looked like Blake wondered if what she's doing was a good idea. She shook those thoughts away and proceeded.

"Back at the talk with Ludwig, she said that we were under the best care, that meant you." Another pause later, she continued. "What does she mean?"

Unsavoury memories came flooding back in his head. The loud gunfire, and screams, the crying, and the lonely silence that came afterwards. All of it still haunts him.

"Another time Blake, I think that's enough story time for today, savvy?"

"Savvy?"

"Do you get it."

"No I don't know what savvy means."

"N-no, no, savvy means, 'do you get it?'"

"Oh… then now are we talking about did we understand what savvy means, or the other thing?"

"Just go to bed Blake, another time, I promise." Blake stood there for a moment, still curious and stubborn to let it go. But noticing him trying to steer the conversation away, she relented, as she wanted to respect his privacy.

Rye laid back down on the bed, his unsavoury memories now still fresh in his mind. He knew he wasn't going to have a pleasant sleep, but just hoped that the next day would be a better day.


Note: Apparently, 'coming soon' to me, means a whole month later. I'm an idiot, I made this chapter a tad bit longer to compensate for it. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'm so sorry for the delay, I have no excuses honestly. Next time I post something in this story, it can be another flashback, or it'll just continue the story, whatever you readers want!

Has any one played The Evil Within games? I highly recommend them, they're damn good games in my opinion. Especially the second game, which I recently got and finished, and my god, playing the second game made me appreciate the first game even more. If you are planning to play the second game, I highly recommend you play the first game, well… first. Trust me, cause the ending of the second game will make you appreciate your experience back in the first game, well that's what happened to me anyways. So why am I bringing this up? It was because I didn't have an inspiration for the Diana Ludwig, and after finishing The Evil Within 2 that changed. In the game;

SPOILERS HERE SO BE WARNED [Myra Hanson, the mother of Lily, became my inspiration for Diana Ludwig.]

So yeah, when I was typing this chapter, I instantly knew that I wanted Diana Ludwig to have similarities to that particular character from The Evil Within 2.

And one last inspiration for this chapter was the movie Battle Los Angeles, most notably the awesome Chinook scene of the soldier getting deployed. If you know that scene, then you'll find my obvious reference to it!

Anyways enough commentary! I hoped you enjoyed this chapter! The next chapter will be their second attempt to get certified as an official merc team! Will they succeed? Stay tune! As always I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors in this chapter, I will reread and make those changes when I upload the new chapter. Anyways, until next time, peace out readers!