Main theme: Metro Exodus rap by Jt Music, featuring Andrea Storm Kaden
Theme: Eddie's Blues by Ludwig Göransson

The room was dark around them, the 5 fingered table barely lit up by soft white lights in the middle and ends of the starfish table. The room itself was shaped like a pentagon, with black walls that had equally black doors built into them. and white lights that ran up the edges, all of them giving the room an unhealthy grey glow.

Raven Branwen kept her face stoic, as always, and her hands at her sides, but on the inside, she was seething, as always when she went to these meetings, where messengers and accountants and busy-men pretended that they knew what they were talking about and did whatever they could to test her patience.

It was always the same. Everyday, she would be forced into these meetings, having to listen to battlefield reports, monetary costs and expenses, tribute counts and requests for funding for certain groups, and so on, so forth. So unlike the bandit clan that she had lead years ago.

Inwardly, she growled. When she had taken over leadership of the Bandit Tribe all of those years ago, life had been simple. She raided towns, she took everything that they had, and she let the Grimm kill the stragglers. Anyone that couldn't keep up with her were too weak to stay with her, and were left to die. So simple, so forward.

So, when she began to subvert, take over, and make alliances with many other bandit tribes, private military companies, and many other armed groups, she had that it would be the same, but on a larger scale. Since she had aligned them all together into a cohesive alliance, if Salem came at her, then she would have a lot of bodies to throw at her whilst she made her getaway, as well as an expendable army of which to continue her bandit raids and operations, just on a much larger scale, all across Mistral, and even the entirety of Amina.

And if they were too weak to catch up with her, then they would be cast off. She would separate the wheat from the chaff, and leave them stronger for it.

But then, things had slowed down dramatically. As it turned out, she couldn't just cast off those whom she thought were weak, because, as it turned out, those same groups would just lead rebellions against her loyal forces, and left her with very little allies in the newly formed Bandit Confederation. She had almost been kicked out of her own damned alliance because of it.

So, she had to let those same weaklings re-join her Confederation, and let them leech off of her empire for all of the worth that they were, just to keep a few weak willed morons happy.

And then, she had to worry about civilians. Civilians! Apparently, a lot of these clans and companies that she had brought under her heel were either protecting several different settlements, or were taking tribute from them, or whatever, so now, she had to deal with keeping these... Things, well fed, just so it would keep them happy, as if they were even worth anything more than just flesh and sex for those under her command.

And now, instead of doing what she actually wanted with her empire, like leading bandit raids, hoarding great treasures, and even spreading out into the other kingdoms and continents, she had to spend her days in boardrooms and meetings, discussing bank details, vehicle costs and maintenance, medical costs (If they were too injured or sick to fight, then they were worth nothing and should be left to die. Why can't everyone else see that?), And so on, so forth, all the while try- And slowly failing- To hide the fact that she was steadily wishing to cut off each and every one of their heads and leave them at that.

Today, in particular, was rather taxing on her patience. When she had been called into this meeting, she had hoped that it would be for a good reason this time, like every other day. And, like always, it wasn't.

"There have been skirmishes with these new Grimm forces into our northern and western territories", said one of the warlords under her command, pressing a pile of papers and notes onto his side of the table as he then went, "They've been launching single squad raids against the outlying towns and settlements in our borders, but never anything more. I've relocated some of our troops from our inner territories, but nothing more. I recommend that everyone else hold off on sending anymore soldiers to the borders as well."

"Why?" asked another man on the table end to Raven's left. He was a representative for the PMCs that had been absorbed into the Bandit Confederation, a portly man whom Raven hated, "We should be securing out borders from these lifeless child killers, not cowering away!"

"I understand the sentiment, Johnson, but these raids conducted by the Grimm are probing attacks, by my estimate. Feints made to test our strength. If we bring all of our forces to bare, then the Grimm will see them and swallow them whole."

"The point of war is sending your troops to die and win", Raven felt the need to interject with, getting a glare from the man she was addressing. Not that she cared, "Are you saying we cower away within our territories and let the Grimm run amok in our borders", she leaned back against her chair, soaking in the looks from the other 4 in the room, "I say we launch a counterattack. We bring all of our men to bare, and we march on the Grimm, and wipe them all out. We will not hide away in our borders like a bunch of cowards."

"Not advisable in the slightest", said the only other woman at the starfish table, who wore a slapdash army uniform, only with the helmet off, "We don't know enough about these new Grimm to start a campaign of that size. For all we know, if we do launch an assault, they might be led into a trap and slaughtered. Plus, if we do launch an attack like that into uncharted territory-"

"I'll send scouts out into the Grimm territories to begin getting a better gauge of their numbers", said the man from before.

"Good idea. Anyways, if we do launch an attack like that, then that'll leave our borders extremely underpowered and vulnerable, and our tribute settlements will be exposed."

"Then start rounding up all of the people in those settlements and start handing them guns. Send them out into the front and let them prove themselves", Raven interjected with, coming up with an idea to at least get something out of the useless resource leeches.

"We've already started conscripting the healthiest men and women from our settlements into our forces, but they will need to be trained and well armed, and that'll take time", the woman paused once more, briefly sorting out the pile of papers before her, before going, "I say we go ahead with Raziel's suggestion: We hold back our forces, keep them in reserve, and let them Grimm think that we are weaker than we actually are. We'll keep the borders well defended, but if the Grimm do launch an attack, then we'll draw them out into a front of our own choosing and overwhelm them. If we do want to launch a major offensive, then we should hold off on it, at least until we either get a reply from Mistral about an alliance, or we finally get the Builder Engine up and running."

"...", Raven was left internally seething in her seat. Back when she was in charge of the Branwen Tribe, no one had dared to question her words, or her commands, or anything at all. She was feared, she was respected, she was in command of them all.

And now, here she was, her words being ignored and subverted by those that are lesser and weaker than her. When had things gone so wrong for her?

Chewing the inside of her lip, Raven then decided to ask, "How much progress is left on the Builder Engine?"

It was the woman who's name she never cared enough to remember who answered, "It's going well, actually. We've got a lot of automated systems up and running, as well as the Harvester systems, but... A lot of our men don't see the point of pooling so much of our resources into a singular asset, especially when it drains a lot of manpower and supplies to our air fleet, and the accountants down below are constantly ranting about risks and expenses and-"

"I don't care", Raven said, "The Builder Engine will feed itself, and the fear incited from the sight alone will bring our enemies to heel, Grimm or otherwise."

The woman didn't say anything at that, but the last man who was there, who hadn't yet said anything, now came out with, "What about a possible alliance with Mistral? Have we received any reply about that?"

"No, not yet", said the first man from before, "But we're still holding out on them at least replying to our messages. However, with everything that's been going on in Mistral right now, I don't think that they're going to be listening."

There was a knock on the door behind Raven, and she looked behind herself to see her second in command in the Branwen Tribe, Vernal, poking her head through the door, and gesturing for Raven to meet her outside. Raven silently thanked her for giving her an excuse to get out of this nonsense meeting of useless bureaucrats, and she got up from her seat, "Excuse me for a moment", and then followed Vernal out of the darkened room, and into the empty grey hallway, "What is it, Vernal?"

"Nothing much, it's just something that I thought you should know", Vernal responded with, a scroll in her hand with 2 faces that she couldn't care any less about on there.

"Oh", Raven crossed her arms, now realising that this was something that wouldn't keep her out of the meeting for so long, "This better be important, Vernal."

"Well, okay then", Vernal flicked her eyes over the scroll, "Well, I just thought that you should know what happened to... Er, your, er", she decided to stop for a second, before finishing, "Your daughter and brother, I mean. That Qrow guy and Yang girl."

Raven raised an eyebrow.

"Um, well, for that Yang girl, I had to reach out to a bunch of contacts to do this, but, from what I've heard, she's still alive, but she was crippled during the Initiation Massacre, and is walking around with a metal spine because of it now-"

"I don't care", Raven snapped at her, realising that Vernal must've thought that she was preforming a nice gesture or something by doing this, "If she got herself injured and crippled, then it was because she was too weak to stop herself from being injured. As such, I couldn't care any less."

"Er, well, okay then", Vernal went, "But... It's also about your brother. Qrow."

"Oh? And why should I-"

"He's dead", Vernal said to her, "Qrow is dead."

"...Oh", she blithely went, "What a shame."

She took a hold of the door handle and readied to pull it open, but not before gabbing a finger into Vernal's chest.

"Next time you interrupt me, makes sure it's about something that's actually important."

She pulled the door open and let herself back into the meeting room.

"Now, where were we?"