Vytal, Alfred Wilson Planetary Headquarters

November 7th, 0852 Local Time, 2552

Morning dew, cold winds, and frequent rain were three things that Richard was quickly beginning to associate with the island of Vytal. Most people might've found the weather to be depressing, but not him. Compared to storms of glass shards that were carried by winds stronger than hurricanes, a light drizzle of rain was far from worthy of complaining about, especially since the sun was still out.

"You know, given the deadline, this place isn't half bad." Bradford commented. He and Richard were walking through the UNSC's new planetary headquarters, running a few last-minute inspections before they welcomed their new guests. "I guess the construction unions on this planet must run a tight ship."

"I'm not surprised." Richard replied. "With the Grimm, these people have to be able to build their fortifications quickly. It's a matter of life and death for them."

"I hadn't thought about it like that…" Bradford gave a whistle of sympathy. "Still, the next time we come down here, remind me to bring my sweater. I'm getting far too old for winds like this."

Richard smiled, it was nice to just have a pleasant conversation with his Officers now and again. Unfortunately, as if to remind them both that there was work to be done, Thomas came running down the freshly-paved road from the Command Center. He was clearly a little bit agitated, and granted, Thomas always looked a bit agitated, but this was a bit more severe than usual.

"Take it easy, Lieutenant. Why the rush?" Richard asked.

Thomas came to a halt, still panting from his sprint across the base. "Your Neural Lace must be broken, you haven't been getting any of my messages."

Richard raised an eyebrow as he took a moment to inspect his CNI, but found nothing out of the ordinary. He even saw all of the messages that Thomas had sent him earlier, and the replies that he had sent. "What are you talking about? I've been replying to your messages all morning."

Thomas froze in thought for a moment, before taking the radio off of his belt, pressing a single button, and sighing in annoyance. "My apologies, Commander. Apparently my damn receiver was off…"

He's a bit high-strung. Richard thought. A mistake like that was something that he'd expect from a junior Lieutenant fresh from the Academy, not a seasoned ONI Agent.

"Take it easy Thomas, today's a big day!" Bradford said. "We aren't exactly going to be making a good first impression on our new recruits if we can't even communicate properly!"

"First impressions?!" Thomas demanded. "The Gunnery Sergeant has left them in the rain for the last half-hour on the Parade Grounds! Besides, a toss-up with my radio is the least of my worries right now. Eagle Two arrived with Mags less than ten minutes ago!"

"A Darter isn't making their delivery on time… and you're surprised?" Bradford cheekily asked. The UNSC Darter was many things, but fast was not one of them.

Thomas glared and shook his head. "This isn't just one late person! It's a goddamn miracle that we have all of the recruits here! I don't even want to think about what it's going to take to ship the washouts home…"

"Try not to worry too much, Lieutenant. We made it through Argus and the Vytal Conference, I'm sure that we're not about to fall apart now." Richard spoke up. It would probably take a lot more than a few reassuring words to keep Thomas from balancing on the edge of a full-blown panic attack, but it certainly couldn't hurt.

Thomas seemed to pick up on the fact that he was losing his composure, and after a few long, deep breaths, he looked a little bit less skittish. "Right… right, sorry, I've just been very busy."

Haven't we all. Richard thought, his head aching even more at the thought of just how goddamn tired he was. More or less every man and woman under his command was suffering from some degree of fatigue thanks to all of the operations that they were being forced to run across Remnant, all while understaffed. "Hopefully getting a few extra hands on deck will help with that. Speaking of which, where's Mags?"

"She should still be in the Command Center." Thomas answered. "Whatever you need to discuss with her, you should keep it quick. The recruits will be assembled on the Parade Grounds in less than half an hour, and your introduction is the first thing on their schedules."

Terrific, another speech. Well, at least this time I won't be talking to politicians, and it won't be televised. Richard thought. Moral complications aside, he'd actually enjoyed his role in training the Spartans of Gamma Company, and he was looking forward to seeing some of Remnant's citizens take on the proud title of UNSC Marine. Of course, they'd have to work for it first.

The three of them made their way to the Command Center, which from the outside, was potentially the ugliest building that Richard had ever seen. It was a blocky, mud-covered slab of concrete upon the landscape, designed to withstand direct impacts from heavy artillery shells and protect the occupants. It wasn't much prettier on the inside either, as much of the flooring had yet to be installed and the wiring for the terminals was simply laid out across the floors.

I guess expecting something like the Observation Tower at Camp Currahee was a little optimistic… but this will do. Richard thought. He'd take "ugly" over "dysfunctional" any day, Mags on the other hand…

"No offense, Commander, but this place is an absolute dump." She said, although she did so with a broad, confident smile. "Good to see you again, by the way."

"Likewise, Margaret." Richard replied as they shook hands. "So, have you seen the fresh blood yet?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Fresh blood?...oh, the cadets. Yeah, I've been looking at their files all day, I didn't expect there to be so many!"

Her surprise was certainly understandable, as from what Richard had learned about the Huntsmen Academies from Ozpin, they only produced several hundred Huntsmen a year between all four of them. By contrast, there were currently around three-thousand candidates all waiting to begin their training on the other end of the base, all waiting for the chance to become a Marine.

That's all we can really give them, a chance. Richard thought. As much as he would've loved to press three-thousand extra people into service, the UNSC just didn't have the resources to train that many people.

"We don't plan on actually keeping all of them, you realize." Thomas spoke up, he was clearly on the same train of thought that Richard was. "Curie predicts that the vast majority of them will quit or drop out by the end of the first week."

Mags nodded. "I believe it. I wasn't sure how much of that plan you sent me was actually stuff you were planning to do but… well, let's just say it's a little rougher than the stuff that I got taught at Beacon."

"Little rougher… don't you people do gladiator fights? And send children to fight gigantic scorpions unsupported?" Thomas incredulously demanded.

Richard interrupted before Mags could answer. "We're getting off-topic here. Margaret, I wanted to make sure that you're up to speed on what we need from you."

Mags shook her head and grinned disingenuously. "Oh, please, go ahead, I have no clue what you need me to do."

And this is why I wanted to check in with her, just in case we did something stupid, like forget to give her any instructions. Richard thought, frustrated with himself more so than anything else. "For now, I need you right here. Once the introductions are done, check in with Gunny Moerdani, he'll point out where you're needed."

"Seems easy enough, Aye Sir." She replied.

"Commander, if I might interrupt?" Thomas interjected. "There's a few issues with our recruits that I wanted to go over with you while we've still got a few minutes."

This is a little bit late… ah well, I suppose it's better to get this done now than never. Richard thought. "What kind of issues?"

"Well, for starters, we have Iana Amiki." Thomas explained. "She claims to be a citizen of the Kingdom of Mistral. However, when Curie went to retrieve her records, she found nothing matching anybody with that name. No birth certificate, no driver's license or bank information, nothing."

"It could be a problem with Mistral's records. Maybe her files got corrupted, or something like that." Richard pointed out. While it would be easy to immediately suspect that something nefarious was afoot, he'd also experienced more than a few false alarms when it came to security breaches throughout his career. "Here, bring up her file, I want to have a look for myself."

Thomas did as he requested and brought the recruit's file up on one of the terminals. The picture they had on file was of a young woman with brown hair, blue-gray eyes, and a light tan. Thomas scrolled down to look at her records, but Mags spoke up to stop them.

"Wait." She said, her voice devoid of the levity and excitement that had been previously present. "Scroll back up to that picture."

Thomas raised an eyebrow at the odd request, but did as she asked. As soon as Mags got a good look at the woman's face, her jaw dropped.

"Oh my goodness…" Mags softly spoke. "...What is she doing here?"

"You know her?" Richard rhetorically asked.

She shook her head clear and blinked the shock from her eyes. "That's Ilia! I remember her from when I was with the White Fang, but she was just a kid back then. I didn't think that I'd ever actually see her again…"

Alarm bells softly rang out in Richard's head, and by the way Thomas tensed up, he was feeling the same way. "This woman, Ilia, was with the White Fang?"

Mags narrowed her eyes at Thomas, clearly wary of his suspicious tone. "A lot more people than you seem to think. The White Fang didn't always resort to terrorism, and wouldn't you know it, they were quite a bit more popular back then."

"I'm familiar with the White Fang's history, Lieutenant." Thomas tersely replied. "What I'm not familiar with is your old friend here, who may I remind you, has been operating under a false name."

That is more than a little bit suspicious. Richard thought. Suddenly, the idea of her being a hostile infiltrator didn't seem so unrealistic. "Margaret, when was the last time that you spoke to Ilia?"

Mags gave a low whistle as she thought. "I'm not sure, it was before I left the White Fang. I know she wasn't there for the big fight, beyond that-"

"So you don't know if she ever left." Thomas interjected. "Commander, I hate to say it, but I believe that we have a spy in our midst."

"Don't be so hasty!" Mags hastily spoke up before Richard could respond, perhaps a bit more loudly than she had intended. "Look, if you really want me to, I can go and talk to her. I'm certain that she'd be more than willing to talk this out."

"And what if she attacks you? She could have a bomb!" Thomas pointed out. "There's a lot of unprotected people on the Parade Grounds right now, the risk of collateral damage is too great! A squad of Marines would have a much better chance of peacefully arresting-"

Margaret's existing frown had developed into a full-on glare as she stared Thomas down. "Arresting?! Even if Ilia was a spy, she wouldn't just attack me, she was my friend!"

"You said the last time that you spoke to Ilia was years ago! How do you know she hasn't changed since then?" Thomas countered. " Are you willing to risk the lives of others by ignoring the risk that she's dangerous?"

While they argued, Richard kept his mind in the present, and focused on the most important fact. Ilia had used a fake name, and whether she intended to take hostile action against the UNSC or not, she clearly didn't want her background in the White Fang to be known about.

Mags was also hesitant to tell us about her past, so perhaps Ilia simply feels the same way, and is looking for a fresh start in life. He theorized. At the same time, he couldn't ignore the possibility that the White Fang had sent an infiltrator into his ranks. Then again, if the White Fang were planning to infiltrate us, Silver would've warned us about it.

"Lock it down, both of you!" Richard yelled, immediately silencing Mags and Thomas. "Lieutenant, I would like you to have one of the Instructors approach Ilia and bring her to the barracks, preferably one of the offices. If she asks why, she is to be told that Doctor Chase detected an anomaly with her blood sample, and would like to discuss it in private with her. In the event that she is a hostile infiltrator, we need to isolate her before we can make our move."

Thomas nodded and went to carry out his orders, while Mags stepped forward and gave Richard a very tentative look. Despite her outwardly calm demeanor, Richard could sense the faintest hint of panic in her eyes.

"Commander. I promise you, Ilia isn't-" She stammered, but Richard raised a hand to cut her off.

"Regardless of how you feel about her, she came here under a false identity, we must take precautions." Richard stated. "Which is why I need you to go and talk to her and find out whether or not she's a threat."

Mags let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Thank you, Commander."

"I wasn't done. If you're wrong, and Ilia is here on behalf of the White Fang, you are to bring her into custody." Richard sternly said. "I understand that this woman is your friend, but if she is a danger-"

"I'll do it." Mags immediately reassured him. Her answer was hasty, but there was a hollow dread in her voice that convinced him that she was genuinely prepared to take down her friend if the situation called for it.

"Alert me if the situation deteriorates, but otherwise, I need to worry about the rest of the recruits." Richard said. "Good luck, Mags."

There was a distant look in her eye as she answered him. "I'm gonna need it…"

Vytal, Alfred Wilson Planetary Headquarters

November 7th, 0931 Local Time, 2552

There were few times in Ilia's entire life that she had ever felt so anxious. She already had a bit of trouble with crowds, but it was made far worse knowing that if her true identity were to somehow be discovered, she would almost certainly be killed. Nobody here had any love for the White Fang, including the Faunus, of whom made up the bulk of the people present. The only thing that gave her any real comfort was her genuine intentions; for better or for worse, she was here to join the UNSC.

It's not too late to back out now. Ilia's doubts about her decision continued to nag away at her, even though it was, in fact, far too late to go back now. Even if she had wanted to return to the White Fang, they would see her as a traitor for trying to leave in the first place, and there was only punishment for any traitor to the White Fang.

"Iana Amiki?" A voice shouted above the chatter of the crowd, snapping Ilia out of her thoughts and sending her heart racing. "Has anybody seen Iana Amiki?"

Ilia turned to see that it was one of the Marines who was calling for her by her false identity, which made her breath hitch in momentary fear. Had the UNSC managed to decipher her real identity?

"I'm here!" Ilia shouted in response as she stepped forward towards the Marine. Years of experience as a spy for the White Fang meant that even though she was ridden with fear and anxiety, she could still speak and act confidently.

"I need you to come with me." The Marine ominously said, which did nothing to ease her paranoia. "Doctor Chase wants to talk to you in private, she says there's something wrong with your blood sample."

Despite having just received what was almost certainly bad news, Ilia had to fight the urge to sigh with relief, she hadn't been discovered after all. "It's not anything dangerous, is it?"

The Marine hesitated for a moment, and for a moment, her fears of being discovered surfaced again, until they gave her a very anticlimactic answer. "I've got no clue ma'am, but they sent me instead of a Corpsman, so it can't be that bad."

The Marine led her into a metal building with rounded sides. Inside, she was led into what looked like an office.

"Take a seat and wait here, the Doctor will be with you shortly." The Marine said, before leaving without another word.

She did as she was told and took a seat, but couldn't get the feeling that something was wrong out of her gut. If this is the Doctor's Office, why aren't they already here? Are they just busy with somebody else?

Ilia didn't have to wait long, as only a minute or so later, the door opened…

"Hello Ilia." A familiar voice said, practically stopping her heart from the shock. "It's been a while."

Already aware of what she would see, she turned to see Mags walk through the door, before shutting it behind her. A host of panicked, very-poorly orchestrated thoughts raced through Ilia's mind like bolts of lightning as she struggled to think of what to do.

If Mags is here… then they must have known who I was from the very beginning! I walked right into a trap! She realized. A glance around the room confirmed what she was afraid of, there was no way out except for the very same door that Mags was guarding.

"Relax!" Mags softly spoke, holding up both of her hands as a gesture that she meant no harm. "I just want to talk."

As much as Ilia wanted to take Mags at her word, she found her old friend's claims hard to believe. Even so, she didn't have much choice in the matter but to stay seated and hear Mags out, as running away now was more or less impossible.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice was little more than a squeak, but she was far too scared to be embarrassed about that.

"I could ask you the same thing." Mags replied. "How about you go first, and then I'll tell you why I'm here."

Stubborn as always. Ilia noted. It seemed that even years after Mags had left the White Fang, she hadn't changed a whole lot. "I'm here to join the UNSC, the same as everyone else."

Mags hummed aloud, although Ilia noticed that her posture did relax a bit. "What about the White Fang? We both know what they do to 'deserters'."

"To hell with the White Fang!" Ilia snapped, far more aggressively than she'd intended too. It wasn't Mags' fault, she wouldn't have known about the lingering doubts and frustrations that had been weighing on her mind even before the UNSC had shown up. "What were they doing while the UNSC was off saving our people from the Schnees? Nothing! They were sitting back and watching from Menagerie as people we didn't even know did our job for us, like cowards!"

Oddly enough, Mags seemed to be calmed by her outburst more than anything. "...I see. Do you still want to know why I'm here?"

Ilia silently nodded as she continued to try to piece together what was eventually going to happen to her. Mags had been pretty friendly so far, but what would the UNSC think once they learned that she had still been with the White Fang up until a few days ago? If they were anything like the Atlesian Military, she probably didn't have a kind fate in store for her. Would Mags even help me escape?

While she was thinking, Mags delivered the answer that she'd promised. "The Commander of the UNSC invited me to come and help train their new recruits. I've been working with them for a little while now, they're even helping me refit my ship."

Ilia blinked in utter surprise, Mags was working with the UNSC? Granted, that would explain why she was here, but Mags was in the exact same boat that she was. "But… what if they find out that you used to be in the White Fang?"

"They know, I told them myself." Mags nonchalantly answered. Ilia's shock must've been self-evident, as Mags gave her a nod of sympathy. "Yeah, believe me, I was feeling really anxious about it too, but apparently we aren't the only ex-criminals around these parts."

Despite herself, Ilia started feeling a bit hopeful again. If they'd been willing to take in Mags, perhaps they'd be willing to take her in as well. "So you're saying that I don't need to hide who I am?"

Mags awkwardly scratched the back of her head. "Well uh, I'm afraid that ship has sailed already, so to speak. I took the liberty of vouching on your behalf to the Commander, and talking down some pudgy dickhead who wanted to have you arrested. They thought that you might be here to act as a spy."

As much as Ilia hated to admit it, she could see the logic. If the White Fang had the resources to get one of their members all the way to Vytal to pose as a recruit, then they absolutely would have. Having a man on the inside of the UNSC would be an incredible asset. It would hardly be the first time that I've performed an infiltration…

"I didn't!" " Ilia exclaimed. "I'm leaving the White Fang behind, I swear!

"I know." Mags calmly reassured her. "I trust you, Ilia. I know it's been a while since we saw each other, but you were always a good kid. The UNSC's gonna be damn lucky to have you."

"Do you really think that they'd still take me? I mean, I lied about who I was." Ilia pointed out.

Mags expression soured and her eyes narrowed, but Ilia somehow got the feeling that Mags' anger wasn't directed towards her. "They will give you a chance, I'll make them, you can count on that."

Ilia's eyes widened, she hadn't expected Mags to sound so forceful. "Thank you but… I'm not sure if you can really force them to do anything."

Mags' expression didn't waver in the slightest. "Watch me. I beat their Marines in a wargame already, winning an argument is gonna be a hell of a lot easier than that."

A few nervous butterflies remained in Ilia's stomach, but for the most part, she felt a lot more calm, even a little bit encouraged. If Mags could make a new place for herself in the world after leaving the White Fang, then so could she. "...Thanks Mags."

"Don't mention it kiddo." She replied with a familiar, broad grin. "Now come on, I think with your help, I can convince the Commander to let you join in with the rest of the recruits."

Menagerie, White Fang Camp

November 7th, 1801 Local Time, 2552

It was already late in the afternoon by the time that Vermillion and her Commandos made it back to camp. Traveling through the rainforest was very slow, even with the help of some boats to travel down the rivers, but secrecy was paramount towards ensuring the safety of the White Fang's hideaway. One day, it's going to be the Humans who are forced to hide, not us!

Sienna met her and her Commandos by the entrance to camp, and although it was immediately obvious that things hadn't gone well, she seemed relieved by the amount of Faunus who had made it back alive. "Where are Connor and his men?"

"Dead or captured." Vermillion bluntly replied. "He made the foolish decision not to wait for us before luring in the UNSC, and everyone under his command paid the price for his stupidity."

Of course, she knew that there was more to it than that. The UNSC had known about the trap from the very beginning, but sharing that information now, in front of all of her men and Sienna's guards, would be a death sentence to morale. Her own commandos knew the truth of the matter, but she had sworn them to secrecy already.

Sienna sighed, the misery in her voice only masked by the frustration and anger. "Meet me in my tent as soon as you're available, I want to know everything."

"Yes, my lady." Vermillion replied.

Before she put away her gear, she chose to make a stop by her number one suspect for the UNSC's unusually apt intel. She found Doctor Watts in his own tent, tinkering with, of all things, a rifle that was furnished in wood. He didn't notice her approaching, and took no small satisfaction in how he jolted in surprise when she spoke.

"Out of all the very nice materials that the Warriors worked so hard to get you, you chose to furnish your gun in wood?" She sassily asked.

Once he had recovered from the shock, he gave her a dirty glare. "You would do well not to jump to conclusions. I've chosen wood not because it is plentiful, but because of its poor conductivity. On the note of my work, how has your arm been serving you?"

"Perfectly fine, although I'm afraid that I didn't get a chance to partake in the battle as much as I would have liked." Vermillion said. She gave him the same half-baked explanation as to the defeat that she had given to Sienna, as she definitely didn't want a Human running around with the knowledge that the UNSC had known what was coming.

Watts gave a surprisingly genuine sigh. "I empathize with you more than you might realize, Vermillion. For however intelligent one might be, there is little we can do to fix the stupidity of our lessers."

On one hand, Vermillion wanted to punch that stupid mustache off his face for disrespecting a fallen comrade. On the other hand, she also knew that he was kind of right, and Connor's presumed death had been mostly his own fault. In a way, I suppose it's good that he triggered the bait early, it meant that my team didn't get caught in the battle.

"Connor was an idiot, but at least he had the dignity of dying in battle." Vermillion sternly said. "When you die, what will you be left with?"

To her surprise, Watts replied with a morbid chuckle, not unlike what she'd come to expect from his friend Tyrian. "Who said that I would ever visit the grave?"

She was admittedly a bit disturbed by his creepy laugh and the sheer confidence in his voice, so she decided to end her interrogation there. In truth, it was very hard to read Doctor Watts, he clearly had his own secrets, but it was hard to say whether or not he was quietly feeding the UNSC information on the White Fang's activities.

Once she'd put away her weapons and taken a moment to clean herself up a bit, she made her way to Sienna Khan's tent, where she found the High Leader on her own. "My lady, I am here, as you requested."

"Good, we have much to discuss." Sienna's tone was stern, but there was a visible sense of relief in her eyes. "First off, thank you for bringing your team home safely. Your men told me about your decision to leave Connor and his forces behind, and I know that couldn't have been easy."

There were a million angry ways that she could have responded, but ultimately, she went with something a bit less hostile. "It wasn't. Connor was an idiot, but he was still one of us, and the warriors he had with him fought bravely to the last."

Sienna quietly and sadly nodded. "They've told me about Connor's mistakes as well, and your theory that the UNSC knew about the trap from the start… Are you certain, Vermillion? You recognize the implications of what that means."

"We have a spy in our midst." Vermillion stated. She'd been less confident earlier in the day, but the evidence was too solid to ignore. "I suspect the Human, Watts-"

"Oh believe me, you aren't the first." Sienna interrupted her, and Vermillion felt a twinge of satisfaction at the quietly boiling rage just beneath her voice. "However, I don't believe it's him. He wasn't involved in the mission at all, he didn't even know what your plan was, let alone the time that it would take place."

Vermillion opened her mouth to argue, but realized that Sienna had an excellent point. How could Watts have warned the UNSC if he didn't have the information to warn them with? As hard as it was to admit it, Watts clearly wasn't the mole.

"Then, who did know?" Vermillion asked. "It must have been somebody tied to the planning, which shortens our list of suspects."

Sienna nodded. "And they'd need a way to get a message to the UNSC discreetly, so they'd need to be of a high enough rank to use the radio equipment, or skilled enough to steal it without it being noticed."

Vermillion scowled, even with those qualifications, there were still dozens of people across the whole of the White Fang who fit that exact bill. They would need some way to narrow down the suspects further if they were to have any help at finding the rat.

"This needs to remain a secret, between us and your commandos." Sienna stated. "If word gets out that there's a spy in our ranks, morale will plummet."

"And the spy would be warned that we know about them." Vermillion added in agreement. "I'll try to come up with a way to lure the rat out of hiding, but we'll need to be quick. If they can tell the UNSC where our camps are…"

Sienna didn't seem worried. "That shouldn't be too much of a problem. Our maps are kept under armed guard at all times for exactly a situation like this, and even then, finding out our exact locations will be more or less impossible this far from any landmarks. Still, finding this mole and making an example out of them should be our top priority."

Vermillion gave a wide smile at that idea. "Then we won't waste any more time."

Author's Note: Hey folks, I think it's about time I shed a little bit of light on the future of The Men From Onyx going forward. Don't worry, it ain't cancelled. This is all personal behind the scenes stuff, so if you don't care (which I wouldn't blame you) then don't feel any need to keep reading this.

So, I've not shared this with many of my readers, but one day I hope to become an independent author. I recognize that self-publishing is very much a minefield of a career path, but to be quite honest, it's probably my best bet for a career besides doing retail for the rest of my life. It certainly helps that I like writing, which leads me on to my next point;

The Men From Onyx is a fanfiction, based off of two licensed and trademarked franchises. Even if I wanted to monetize this story (I don't, btw) I simply couldn't, and as I continue on with my life and devote dozens of more hours towards writing this monolithic passion project of mine, I've come to the realization that I need to adjust my priorities a bit.

In the future, I'll be continuing to update The Men From Onyx, perhaps a bit less frequently than before, but hopefully still at a reasonable pace. Although I've considered cutting down the story's length and content for the sake of my time, I've decided against compromising my vision for this story. I'll be finishing this, it just might take a little bit longer.

I will also be sure to let you all know when my original projects start to see the light of day. I can't say anything too certain about what that might entail, but know this, fans of all things maritime will not be disappointed.