A/N: Here's a fun one that does a great job of showcasing both XCOM's ingenuity and its... absurd antics. Plus, I'll never say no to more Sienna.


Title: Tanks for the Assist

Author: FloridaMan

Humans were an odd sight in Kuo Kuana, Gris thought. You'd get the occasional tourist group or even someone visiting a friend on the island, but they were harmless unless drunk. But these two humans that XCOM left behind? Gris wasn't sure what to make of them. The thought of working with human soldiers irritated him, but they were nothing like the soldiers of Atlas, and neither were they like any Hunter he'd heard of. Sienna said they were more like mercenaries, but even then they didn't have aura like most soldiers would. What sort of mercenary group wouldn't unlock its soldier's aura? Ghira had his unlocked, and he was a pacifist!

Gris shook the thoughts from his head and focused once more at the task at hand. Two of the soldiers, Boris and David, were running around town with the punks from that upstart gang, the Crimson Fist. Normally the soldiers would be setting up some fancy communication equipment while their engineer taught his White Fang brothers how to use it, but this was hardly the same.

"What are you up to?" Gris muttered to himself.

"You know, they're really not bad for humans, once you get to know them," a voice to his side said.

Gris pulled back from the corner of the building he hid behind and glared at his friend, Vera, a cockatiel faunus who he recruited for this surveillance task. She leaned against the wall and crunched on sunflower seeds, spitting the husks out often.

"They're up to something, Vera, I can feel it," Gris said, clenching his fist. "All that goodwill could be just an act to lower our guard. They're hiding something."

Vera spat out some more seeds. "Oh yeah, like what? They're actually aliens here to harvest our organs?"

Gris rubbed his chin in thought. "Aliens, hmm, they could be if their behavior is anything to go by." They certainly talked about alien concepts, like Russia and America, whatever those were. "But I don't think it's our organs they want." He flinched as several spit-covered seeds splattered on his shoulder. He glared at Vera who only returned an unamused look.

"I was joking, Gris. You're so paranoid," Vera said.

Gris brushed off the seeds and jabbed a finger at her. "It's only paranoia if I'm wrong!"

"Which you are." Vera tossed a few more seeds in her mouth.

"Which I'm not," Gris corrected her. "I've been watching them all week. They're up to something." Gris whipped out his scroll and pulled up some photos. "Look at this. I saw them plotting something with that gang at the bar a week ago."

Vera leaned in to get a better look. "It looks like they're having a nice drink after a long day. Something I'm considering doing after this."

"They were plotting! I got a bit closer and I overheard them talking about building something. Sounded like a weapon from the way they were going on about it. So I followed them the next day and you know what I found?"

Vera sighed. "What did you find, Gris?"

"They took over one of the motor pool repair houses!" Gris pointed in the direction of the XCOM soldiers. "They walked right in like they owned the place and took it for their own. Our brothers working the place didn't even get a chance to protest. In fact, they were pressed into whatever evil project these humans have cooking up."

Vera raised an eyebrow at that, but her expression remained in disbelief. "Really? Three humans managed to boss around ten or more faunus? I know XCOM has some pretty great fighters, but have a little faith in our own abilities why don't you?. We're not some goons in a kid's cartoon show."

"Then explain this!" Gris swiped through several more pictures. Each one of the aforementioned repair house, signs of activity as the pictures moved from day to night and back to day. "They've been working around the clock. I tried to get closer for a peek but those two-bit gang kids pushed me away. Me! A White Fang member!"

Vera frowned and brushed her hand through her pale green mohawk. "So they're working on something. What makes you so sure it's a weapon?"

Gris smiled. She was starting to catch on. "Because they've been gathering metal parts. Wheels, plates, nuts and bolts, you name it. The other day they were hauling in crates of dust and welding equipment. And one of the trucks is missing from the motor pool."

Vera swiped through the pictures and sighed. "Okay, let's assume for the moment that they are up to something. What are you going to do about it?"

Gris' smile took on a wicked edge. "I'm glad you asked."


It was a fine and pleasant day on Menagerie and nothing had gone wrong.

That should have been Sienna's first warning.

She tried not to pinch the bridge of her nose after processing the words of her subordinate, Gris. He did have his heart in the right place, but sometimes it took effort to not berate him for his silly conspiracies. Just because he found out the frog girl he crushed on didn't swing that way didn't mean there were chemicals in the water turning them gay. Frankly, she had half a mind to dismiss him when he entered the door, but when he mentioned XCOM, she had to listen.

So she really shouldn't have been surprised when he brought up this far fetched conspiracy idea of his, nor at the 'evidence' he procured.

If it was any consolation, his partner Vera seemed just as tired as Sienna felt.

"Gris, I have been informed that those XCOM engineers have been working on vehicle enhancements. Repairs and such. I appreciate the effort and your concern but it really isn't what you think. I already have the requisition orders for parts. They're the same parts our engineers order."

Gris' face fell. "But High Leader, they've been blocking our access to the repair bay and hauling in all kinds of scrap. I don't believe these humans are trying to help us! They've brainwashed our fellow faunus into helping them with something that could harm us!"

It took a great deal of effort not to sigh. Could he not see past his own crackpot theories? The only reason she didn't fire him is because he was a great tracker.

Might as well nip this in the bud. Sienna stood up. "Very well then, I shall go with you to the motor pool and if this turns out to be a waste of time, you will be doing double shifts for a week."

Unfortunately, the threat didn't seem to do much to discourage his enthusiasm, but bolster it. "I promise you it won't be, High Leader."

Followed by the two subordinates, Sienna led the way to the motor pool. Sure enough, she just caught the sight of a few of the upstart gang members carrying boxes of parts into the repair bay and shutting the door. Flashes of light indicated welding and she could hear the hammering and wrenching from here. A worm of doubt tried to consider Gris' words as possible truth but she quickly tore that worm out and fed it to an imaginary bird.

Sienna marched right up to the doors and knocked on it. "Open up," she commanded.

The sounds quickly died for a moment and Sienna could hear some whispering before they started up again. Sienna's eyes narrowed at the door and she pounded on the door once more. "Open up! I will not ask again."

The door opened up and one of the XCOM operatives stepped out before it quickly shut again. Steve, if she recalled the name right. He looked Valish in appearance, but claimed he was 'American', whatever that meant.

"Afternoon, ma'am," he said with a salute. "What can I do for you?" No signs of deception that Sienna could spot.

"One of my operatives was concerned about the usage of the repair bay for personal use. I'm just here to verify such claims."

"We can assure you that such claims are false and we're working hard on your vehicles to make sure they're in top shape," Steve said quite smoothly. Sienna couldn't tell if he was practiced at this or telling the truth, but something was off here.

"Then I suppose you wouldn't mind me inspecting what is being repaired, then?"

A flash of panic crossed Steve's eyes so quick that Sienna would have missed it if she wasn't paying attention. Aha!

"I understand that, but for safety reasons we can't allow you in until certain equipment isn't in use." The excuse rolled off the man's tongue.

Sienna vaguely remembered a warning from Bradford saying to not leave his operatives unsupervised for too long, lest they get up to 'List-worthy' antics. Was this what he meant?

"Is that so?" Sienna asked, folding her arms across her chest. "Can you not pause for a few moments then?"

"We could, but we're also on a tight deadline to finish the current project."

"A project that's taken several days and round the clock shifts to finish?" Sienna's eyebrow raised.

Steve floundered for a response when another voice boomed from inside. "Jig's up, man. Might as well show her what we've been cooking up."

Steve sighed. "Damn it. There goes that surprise."

Sienna watched curiously as Steve grabbed the bottom of the roll up door and threw it open. Curiosity turned to shock as she found herself staring at the front of a large turret barrel. It was unlike any vehicle Sienna had ever seen, completely armored from top to bottom with treads in place of wheels, a singular turret on top that appeared to rotate, and a barrel that didn't look like it fired Dust. Almost a dozen faunus along with the human engineers were crawling over it trying to weld, wrench, and work the metal together.

"Allow me to present the first Remnant version of one of the greatest vehicles ever made for combat," Steve said with a flourish, "the Tiger Tank."

Somewhere in the back, someone blew a party horn.

"AHA! I knew it!" Gris cried out from behind Sienna. "No one believed me, but I was right!"

Vera just sighed tiredly. Gris was going to be insufferable for a while.

"That's enough, Gris," Sienna chastised. She looked at Steve with a hard glare, but he seemed unfazed. "I was led to believe you were working on repairs in your reports, not making…." she gestured at the vehicle, "this."

Steve nodded. "We were, but when we got a hold of a lot of broken scraps from after the Grimm attack, and had a few drinks, we thought we might surprise you all with a gift and an upgrade to your arsenal." He patted the barrel. "Once we're done with this, it'll cut through the larger Grimm like butter."

Sienna did like the sound of that, but she was still miffed at the subterfuge. "Very well then, if you all seem so keen on working then after you finish this, I expect you to finish the other repairs with the same scheduling until they're all done." Let them cook in that for a week or two.

"Hear that, kids? We're keeping the tank!" Steve shouted.

The faunii, who Sienna recognized as the former gang members, all cheered.

"In honor of her generosity, I think we should rename this Tiger to the 'Sienna'," Steve said. "So you might want to change that pin-up drawing for the side, Granite!" A thumbs up was the response.

Sienna left the scene and hoped she still had some liquor in her desk. Now she saw what Bradford meant about the supervision. He had a lot more explaining to do as well.