Author's Note: Hey guys, I hope you are all healthy, here's the next chapter.

Lord Demolitions: Probably not, and if I do feature any of those guns, they won't be a major part as my main focus are my characters.

WINTER TERROR: Thank you a man, even though I prefer to keep my fights short, I do make sure to fill them with a lot of detail. I don't like my fights being dragged out, and I know my characters wouldn't like it either as they train how they would fight in combat, which in combat means trying to kill or incapacitate the enemy before they do the same to you. Also, I am trying to work my way into including their tank more as that was more or less one of the main characters. I just haven't found a really good spot yet to show her off in a while, and I am trying to find any chance I get to show off the tech and equipment the guys are working on. For now, while they're still at Beacon, it'll be a bit before we get a chance as I still am, I am holding off on major military engagements until the later seasons when actual conflict starts off.

Combine117: Dude, you're not giving Atlas enough credit, the US launched their first functioning communications satellite only five years after Sputnik was launched and four after the first US satellite was launched. It won't be impossible, it would just be really expensive like how it is when sending anything into space, and I'm not talking about a space station, or spy satellites. For accurate GPS coverage, you need four satellites in medium Earth orbit, and for global communications, you need three in geostationary Earth orbit. For our GPS constellation, the US alone successfully launched ten in seven years between 1978-1985 with only one failure. It would take some time and money, but I would say the Atlas military, with dedicated funding, could easily be experimenting with that stuff in only a few years. You also have to remember that they aren't working from complete scratch like the US and the USSR, Nazi scientists or not.

Beta-read by Karaya 2

Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY

What About Jaune?

The door to the hanger suddenly opens up and in walks Nathanial with Pyrrah trailing behind her.

"And I am telling them that it is really a pointless idea," he tells hers.

Pyrrah nods as Nathaniel rambles.

"It wasn't just me either," Nathanial laughs.

"Kowalski?" a mechanic calls out as he runs up to the two.

"Yeah?"

"Have you seen Chief Malarkey?" he asks, "A package came for him, and he needs to sign for it."

"Oh, I know what it is, give it here," Nathaniel mumbles grabbing the clipboard. He quickly scribbles his signature and hands it back, saying "Leave it by his office."

"Anyway, it wasn't just me who told the guy it was a waste of time," Kowalski continues, "Everyone at the poker table thought so, but it didn't matter, the guy was dead set on getting it done."

"So, what did you do?" inquired Pyrrha.

"I made a bet," he replies, "If he can build a piece of body armor that could stop an ordinary, civilian .50 BMG FMJ round, then we would have him a round of beer. The conditions were that the vest, the plate….whatever, if it managed to stop the round," he pauses as he opens another door, "On a further note, the wearer had to survive the impact and would be treated as though they didn't have an aura. If he lost, he would buy us a round instead."

"Just an ordinary FMJ round?" Pyrrha asks.

"It's a good benchmark," he replies back, "Because in order to stop a .50 BMG, you would need, bare minimum, a quarter to a half-inch plate of armored steel."

Pyrrha blinked owlishly, she was having trouble wrapping her mind around that amount of stopping power in an ordinary surplus round.

"Wouldn't that make the armor incredibly heavy, though?" she balks.

"Hey, I just said he had to build a functional vest, I didn't say it had to combat ready," he chuckles, "Oh, and we gave him three weeks."

"How'd he do?" Pyrrah asks.

"Hold that though," he tells her before walking forward to the humvee line.

"Specialist," one of the soldiers called out, "HQ-14 is down," he pointed at the truck, "We can't start it."

Nathaniel nods, "Alright, go to the cages and grab the salve cables, see if you can jump start it, if that doesn't work, then make sure you write that down on your PMCS sheets, we have enough issues with stuff breaking down as it is."

The pair then pass by another group working on a parked APC, Nathnial walks over and checks on them as well.

"There she is," Nathnail chuckles, he turns to Pyrrha and explains "This was one of my personal projects, we call it the dragoon."

"It looks menacing," Pyrrah whistles.

"That she is," he smiles back, "But she'll carry a fully equipped squad safely into combat and back."

'Hey Kowalski!" the driver commander calls down.

"How did last week's test go, sir?" he replies.

"She did great, it's what happened afterwards, that is the problem,'' the commander explains as he climbed down from the hatch. He continues, "When we were driving back to base, some asshole on the I-95 was on his phone and didn't see us as he tried to merge into our lane. This forced us to swerve, and we went over the edge of the road and into the trench."

"Is everyone alright?" Nathaniel asks.

The commander nods, "Smith has a concussion, and I was rattled a bit, but over all we're okay." He then pointed back to the APC, "We landed pretty hard and may have over stressed the axles and suspension, and we don't currently have the parts to fix it."

Kowlaksi looked over the files before thoughtfully replying, "Don't bother ordering new parts, they won't get here in time for the general's arrival, let me look into this."

"Thanks for the help."

"Just doing my job sir," Kowalski smiles before walking off.

"Having trouble?" asks Pyrrha while glancing back at the motor-pool.

"Nothing more than usual," he grunts. "Where was I?"

"3 weeks," she says simply.

"Right," he quickly murmurs, "So, 3 weeks later, he comes by with this new vest he built. It wasn't made of steel, rather ceramics so it was fairly light," he motions around his chest, "And it offered decent torso coverage."

He reaches a security checkpoint where he inserts a card and punches his pin.

"So, we slapped it around a human torso mock-up, plaster bones, ballistic gel….you know, stuff like that. Then we backed up to say….50 yards?" he guessed, "Basically point-blank, loaded in a single FMJ round into it and fired it dead center into the torso."

"Oh," Pyrrha hummed, "How did it hold up?"

Nathaniel's eyebrows perked up as he recalled the events that day.

"Well," he murmurs with a bemused smile, "To his credit, the round didn't penetrate."

"Really?" Pyrrhs's eyes widened in surprise.

"I know," he agreed, "I have seen up-armored vehicles that failed to stop that round, and that vest managed to do it." He then shrugs, "I mean, he still lost the bet but, not bad."

"So the person didn't survive then," Pyrrha stated more than asked.

"We were going to test an AP tracer round but…." he lets out a sharp exhale, "Short story is, had a person been wearing the vest, he would have been dead, aura or no aura. Long story, he's really dead."

"Oh," Pyrrha mumbles. "Would a person with aura really not fair that much better?"

"I would spare you the gory details….." he pauses and then shrugs before he pulls out his phone to go over the report, "Okay so, the chest basically had the consistency of mashed-potatoes, the rib-cage was pulverized, and the spine was broken in at least four different places."

Pyrrha visibly winces at the report.

"It wouldn't have been an instant death either," Nathaniel adds, "Ironically, this is where having an aura would actually be worse for you," he jokes darkly as Pyrrha became morbidly curious. "Because if a person without aura got hit, he would probably have long passed out from the pain, if not, then chances are they would expire rather quickly. The sad thing about aura is, if it didn't outright get shattered, then it will most likely keep the victim conscious while their internal organs liquefy."

Pyrrha shuddered at the thought. As the two come up to a locker where he pauses and adds one last note.

"I guess there is one bright side," he mused before turning to Pyrrha, "At least the victim will get to have an open-casket funeral. Anywhere, here…."

He unlocks the seal and pulls out the drawer containing a set of her new armor.

"Hardened Kevlar plates over titanium dipped, tri-weave fibers," the breastplate flicks for further emphasis, "For flexibility."

Pyrrha carefully picks up one of the bronze colored bracers for a closer look.

"Compared to the last set, you'll be lighter, faster, and more agile," he explains.

While examining the bracer, Pyrrha inadvertently swipes a switch on it and causes a set of spikes to fold out from the bracer before propelling forward and embedding themselves into a nearby filing-cabinet. Pyrrha looks back to Nathaniel sheepishly as he stares at her with a blank expression.

"Perhaps you should read the instructions first?" he offers.

"Yeah," she whispers apologetically before placing the bracer back.

He turns back to the armor and warns "Now there is a trade-off, the separation of the plates will make you more vulnerable to knives and gunfire."

He pulls out a deep red cloak and shows it to her, "Now, to cover for the gaps around your neck ,arms, and thighs without restricting your movement." He pulls out a flat piece of material from a drawer, "Silicon carbide disks, ceramic matrices, and compound laminate, it's the same material sewn into the lining of the skirt. This is cutting edge body armor that is rated as Type-IIIA, meaning it'll easily stop handgun cartridges ranging from 9 mm to .44 magnum."

"And the trade-offs?" she asks.

"Rifle rounds 5.56 and up will have no problem penetrating it, and there are still some rather blatant gaps in the armor in order to maintain flexibility, most notably around the thighs and arms." He pulls out the helmet, "For the helmet, we went with a Corinthian style, but I've slightly increased the distance between the cheek-plates, thus allowing for more downward visibility with a higher risk of something getting through."

"Well we wouldn't want to make things too easy now would we?" she jokingly smirks.

Nathaniel lets out a snort before adding "Either way, this will still provide higher protection compared to most things you'll see huntsmen wear without much of an increase in weight nor loss of movement. It's definitely leagues better than your original armor."

Suddenly, Pyrrha asks randomly "How would this hold up against dogs?"

Nathaniel quirks and eyebrow at her before responding with another question "You talking rottweilers or chihuahuas?"

Pyyrha blushes with embarrassment as she further thought about her question.

"It should do fine against cats," Nathnial jokes making her chuckle. He then pulls out a clipboard and hands it to her. "Okay, there is some paperwork that you will have to sign before I officially transfer ownership to you. I also must warn you, that this will kinda limit who you can go to for repairs on your armor as I can almost guarantee that your average smith down-town won't have access to the materials necessary, so if you need anything, come straight to me."

(AN: It should look like the female hero from Assassin's Creed Odyssey.)

Pyrrha nods before signing the forms.

"Can you have it sent to my room?" she asks.

"Sure," he replies, "You do plan on telling them before you walk out in it for your first time?"

"Of course," she huffs matter-of-factly.

Nathnial smiles as he closes the pelican case and locks it.

"Will that be all?"

"Um," she pauses for a moment before replying "No, uh….you wouldn't happen to also be able to help me with getting a ranged weapon?"

"You mean guns?" Nathnaial asks incredulously. 'Why do you gotta word it like that?' He thinks to himself.

"Pistols preferably," she nods enthusiastically.

"Really pulling out all the stops, aren't you?" Nathaniel asked rhetorically.

"It's for my partner," she corrected.

Nathaniel's eyebrows quirk up, "I thought he was dead set on using his sword and shield, and only his sword and shield."

"I'm aiming to change his mind," she replies sternly, "It would be one of many things I am going to try to do for him."

"And, how is the legally blond doing these days?" he asks as he sits down on his desk and logs onto his computer.

"He could be doing better," Pyrrha stated.

"I can see what you mean," Nathanial replies sympathetically. "Not everyone is built to fight, why do you think I prefer driving and fixing things or why Evan likes to fly?"

"It's not just fighting he needs help with," Pyrrha replies, drawing his attention once again.

"His grades are slipping too," she replies, "He needs help, but he doesn't seem to realize that us: me, Nora, Ren, heck, even Ruby….we're all there to help him, all he has to do is ask. Either that or he just doesn't want our help."

"He does seem quite a bit….unprepared for what is required of him here," Nathnial murmurs while trying to find the right words without potential upsetting the champion. "What combat school did he say he went to?"

"He didn't," Pyrrah murmurs as she begins to ponder.

"How did he get in then?" he asks.

"He never talks about it," she replies as they both grew equally suspicious, "Whenever we bring it up….he just mentions his transcripts and then tries to change the subject."

With that blatant red flag raised, Nathanial's mind began to ponder as well, and at that moment, Pyrrha has an epiphany.

"So that's it isn't it?" she asks aloud.

"Pyrrha," Nathaniel says softly.

"He didn't have his aura activated either, which on its own isn't a problem as some people don't get it activated until right around now anyways but…." Pyrrah sighs, "When I asked, he didn't even know what it was. I literally had to explain it to him."

Pyrrha lowered her hand into her hands and started massaging her forehead.

"You know we have to tell someone about this right?" Nathaniel asks.

Pyrrha fearfully looks up to him.

"I'm not saying that we need to report him to Ozpin or Goodwitch, getting him kicked out now doesn't do anyone any good," he explains, "But we have to tell someone, your team has a right to know the truth."

"What do we do?" she asks softly.

"We can't go to CPT. Anderson," he states, "If we go straight to him, Jaune is at best getting expelled."

"If you really want Jaune to stay here, then he needs to get to work now," Nathaniel stated, pressing the emergency of his statement. "We're not talking about just him anymore, right now he is a liability that will put you and your team at risk, so we have to move fast."

Pyrrha narrows her eyes before nodding.

"He's going to need quite a bit of convincing then, he's a little stubborn," Pyrrha ponders.

"That means he needs to be broken down first, best bet is SSG Streicher," he shrugs.

"Why not Alex?" Pyrrha asks curiously.

"It's not his domain," Nathnaile shook his head, "Streicher is an actual trained Drill SGT and specializes in this kind of thing. Also, there's a good chance he wouldn't survive if we let Alex loose on him."

Nathaniel at that moment reaches into his pocket, procures his dip can and places some into his mouth.

Pyrrha nods, "Okay."

He picks up an empty water bottle and spits into it.

"I don't think I'm going to be ready for this," Pyrrha sighs and lowers her head.

"Who ever is?" Nathaniel shrugs, "at this point, I don't think you have a choice unless you want to lose a team leader of all people."

"You really think this will work?" she asks.

"I don't know," he shook his head, "I do know that Robert would never touch him if he didn't have potential."

Pyrrha remains silent as she listens.

"I have been under much worse leadership than him," Nahniel reasons, "With the right push…. I think he could take you guys pretty far."

A few more seconds a silence passes before he asks "Do you want to tell your team or should I?"

"I'll handle it," she says quietly, "Jaune's going to be in for a rude awakening isn't he?"

"If you don't want to do this, we can try to find another way," Nathaniel offers.

"No," she replies simply.

"I'll make the call, and we'll wait for 1LT Basuda to come back with a confirmation since it's still not confirmed whether or not he did fake his transcripts," Nathnaiel reminded. "We'll need to keep this only between us for now."

"Alright," she says softly.

Author's Notes: Okay, looks like we're going to stay with the "once a month" posting for now, at least until my semester officially ends. I hope you enjoyed this story, I am still trying to build my reading audience for this story, so please leave a review if you have something to say, I read them all. I'll see you guys in a bit, as always, Big Brother is watching….always.