One of the things that Dove had to admit that he didn't miss was the lack of marauders when he was locked in the Mint. Penny was buried in a snowbank, with the camera watching, and his stack of rocks were beneath him. Hopefully he didn't have to kill these poor idiots. The armored truck drove up, stopping just over twenty feet away, its chained wheels crunching on the snow. Five bandits hopped out of the vehicle, leaving only one rifleman in the truck's flatbed. The five men, no, boys started snickering as they began surrounding him. Youngest looked sixteen. Oldest looked like he was in his early twenties. Young kids. What a shame. Rookies.

"Let me guess," began Dove. "You're going to ask for all my gear, strip me naked, and leave me out in the cold, dead, while you guys only get like 40% of the cut when you go back to your boss."

The biggest boy snorted. "We get 60%. And if you know what we're going to ask, why ain't you doing so?"

"Because I am feeling altruistic today." Dove said, as he stretched his hamstrings. "Besides, your boss gets 40% for not having to do anything?"

"He looks after us!" Yelps one of the younger boys.

"A-huh. Sure."

"Of course, the dirty dog doesn't believe us." Snarls the biggest boy. "God damn ugly faunus prick. Must be the reason why he wears the mask. Must know he's so ugly, that not even the sun wants to look at its inbred face." The other boys laughed at the joke. If it could be called as such.

Dove shrugged. "I mean, that's not entirely wrong. So, you going to put me down like the dog I am?"

"Gunny!" Barks the biggest boy. The boy in the truck aims at Dove, propping the stock into his shoulder. "Fire when ready."

"Any last words, dirty mutt? I'll make sure to carve them into you." Growls the boy called Gunny.

"In the mouth please." The rifle shot spiraled and smashed into Dove's mouth plate. His head snapped back, and he dropped backwards. Bullet didn't even punch through the plate, and the boys were already celebrating a well-done raid. Not that they saw. Just let them get closer. Then begin the lessons. Not really for them. More for Penny. She might get her body back sooner than they both expected, and probably should know some of the weaknesses it has so she doesn't end up in a box for an extended duration again. They were probably not going to survive much longer, even if Dove didn't kill them here. Not that he was going to try to, but accidents happen.

A few of the boys started to surround him. "Man, this guy went down easier than I thought he would." Said one of them as he prodded Dove's body with a mace. Not him.

"What big talk from such a little man. Pathetic." Snarled another, as he spat on Dove's armor, cradling his handgun between his crossed arms. This one. Just had to wait.

The first one started checking Dove's beltline. "Hey, Brownstone, any idea how to get this off of him? We might be able to use this plating for something else."

"Maybe around the neck." The boy named Brownstone kneeled near Dove's head. Dove's head fired forward, the crested, jagged helmet bashing into the teeth of the boy. He fell back, and with one hand cradling his bloodied mouth, he fired a few rounds at Dove. They skipped off his armor. "He's not down!" Screamed Brownstone through his bloody spittle.

Dove grabbed the other boy and threw him to the ground as he stood back up, strutting towards Brownstone, emptying his magazine. "Rule number one, never assume that the enemy is down." Dove slapped the gun out of the boy's hands. "Two. Keep a good grip on your weapon."

"Screw you!" Screamed Brownstone as he drew out a knife from his belt. The other boys should either be recovering or getting back up.

"Three," Dove instructed as he grabbed the boy's wrist, intercepting the stab. He then grabbed his shirt, and threw the boy over his shoulder, into the snow with a succinct thud. "Even if you have aura, you can still be grappled." The boy groaned in response. A mace thudded against his shoulder plate. Dear brothers, these boys were not prepared for anyone under the age of sixty. Dove grabbed the limp wrist with both hands, and spun Brownstone into the mace wielding boy. The two slammed into each other, making an incoherent pile of jumbled limbs and general aches. "Four. Be aware of your teammates."

"Gunny! Fire at will!" Screamed the biggest boy, as the last three closed the distance.

Dove let the shots pepper his thick armor and hurled one of the stones from his pile at the gunner. While the shot was not accurate, the stone smashed into one of the windows of the car, cratering it. "Five, use your aura wisely." Dove then parried a sword swing with his bulky armor. "Everything to do with it has an opportunity cost."

"What are you going on about, you geezer!" Raved the biggest boy as he slammed his oversized letter opener against Dove's armor plating. There was a reason why he wore nearly 60 pounds of armor.

"Do you have aura?" Dove asked, as he backhanded the blade away from himself, forcing the boy to over-commit to a swing. The other two were trying to score hits on him, but between their overzealous leader and the rifle man, they simply could not safely find openings.

"Of course, I do, freak. Better question is how do you faunus freaks unlock auras yourselves, when y'all don't got souls."

"Good." Dove redirected another blow, and wrenched the boy's arm behind his back, putting him between himself and the shooter. "Please keep it up for the duration of this lesson."

"Why you little- gack!" started the boy before a jagged armored arm wrapped around his throat in a choke hold.

"Addendum to rule number three, you can still be choked, as well as crushed. The aura will prevent any piercing as well as delay the suffocation, but even it cannot prevent the inevitable." The big boy continued to be jerked to the left and right to catch his comrade's blows. Dove then dropped his choke hold on the boy to wrench both of his arms backwards, spinning the arms a full 220 degrees directly down and back. With a foot on the middle of the boy's back, and a sickening pop, the arms pulled out of their sockets. "Rule number five, your joints can still be dislocated." The boy was left screaming on the floor, aura intact.

Two bodies jumped onto him from behind, beginning to pound on his armor, trying to find chinks in it. "We got him boss. Just got to Shade of the Colossus this!" Yelped on the younger boys on him. Most likely the one with the club.

"Is that the game where a small guy stabs very specific points on very large creatures?" Asked Dove while he was spinning and bucking in an attempt to shake them off.

The younger of the two boys paused. "Yeah. Why?"

Dove hopped backwards, and landed his 240-pound frame, including the armor, onto the boy. "Addendum to rule three, don't grapple things you know can crush you via body weight, without any damage to itself." The older of the boys rolled off, but the younger one was a whining mess. Not dead, but wouldn't be surprised if he was winded, if not had his aura broken by that. Dove rolled out of the way, just in time for one of the other boys to bring his broadsword down onto the younger boys. "Rule four, dinguses!"

Two shots peppered his back, as he looked back, only to see the truck bearing down upon him. The gunner and a pal of his were now using the truck for offense. Very good. They were learning. Sort of. "Soooeyyyy!" Cried out the driver as he smashed into Dove. Crushing the younger boy with the tires in the process. There goes the goal of no fatalities.

Dove was very glad he had aura and had been barely using it until this point of the fight. He would still most definitely have bruised ribs at the end of this. However, dear brothers above, did getting hit by an armored truck still hurt. He clawed at the hood of the car to remain on the front, instead of being dragged under. Gunny was still taking shots at him, rounds skipping off of him and the hood. "What is you kids' problems!"

"We're just taking what we deserve you faunus scum," declared Gunny, as he continued to put shots downrange, fruitlessly. "For our fallen brothers."

"Rule four! You're the idiots who killed him!"

"They wouldn't have been into that position if you had just died like the rest!" Screamed out Gunny.

"What is that-" accused Dove before he was interrupted by the truck slamming face first into a snowbank. The truck began to reverse, before slamming into Dove again. And again. Upon the fourth reversal, Dove dove underneath the face of the truck, and scrambled past the bed. He climbed onto the flatbed behind the Gunner, peeled off the dented armor piece off of his abdomen, and with the form of a professional batter, slammed the face of Gunny into the back window. The boy crumpled as his head broke the back window, and the rifle dropped into the snow, under the stained chained tires. "Rule five, addendum." Panted Dove. "Concussions, are internal damage."

The driver looked back at his concussed teammate's face, hanging only a foot behind him. The boy began cursing as he began to reverse, and spin in an attempt to get Dove off. "Brother, oh brothers, dear lords!" Frantically cursed the driver as his comrades neared his bucking truck.

Dove kicked Gunny fully through the back window and launched himself feet first into the head of the driver. In a death roll, the truck tumbled. Gunny slammed around awkwardly in the back seat and landed crooked on his neck. Dove found himself ejected through the passenger window, tumbling through the snow. Dove looked up to see the truck on its side, and the driver crawling out through one of the broken windows. The other two were still making their way over. Dove quickly shunted his foot into the nose of the driver, knocking him out, and leaving a nice red puddle in the snow. "So." Heaved Dove, as he regained himself. "What lesson you two want to relearn next?"

"How about you relearn your place." Spat one of them.

"I have no idea why any of you think I'm a faunus." Admitted Dove as he unclipped his sheathed sword from his belt.

"You're not?" Asked the other boy.

"I'm not. I just wear the mask cause it's convenient."

"How so?"

"Protection from the elements, and it prevents snow blindness." Dove yawned and massaged his jaw. "No idea why you two are still trying to be fashion icons."

"We're meant to be like Robin Hue, and his gang of brigands."

"Oh, you're robbin' something, all right."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Snarled the first boy.

"You've killed as many of your own teammates as I have, if not more. You're robbing their lives."

The boy adjusted his glaive. "Very funny. Let's teach this joker a lesson."

The other boy slammed his sledgehammer into the snow in what was supposed to be an act of intimidation. "Sounds good."

"Rule six. Force is what does damage to aura, not edges," Dove instructed as he deflected the glaive, and parried the hammer. With a second swing of the sword, the hammer bro had to take a step back or take a mouthful of sheath. The glaive cut down and skidded off of Dove's shoulder plate. The boy's hands were pommel struck for that recklessly targeted attack. "Though I am impressed you two work this well together."

"Why won't you die!" Hissed the hammer bro as he prodded at Dove's defenses, trying to prompt an opening for his comrade.

"Don't feel like it." Dove took the weak blow, and with a draw of his sword, chopped a chunk out of the shaft of the glaive. The glaive dropped like a guillotine, slamming into Dove's residual aura, and snapped. The head flew into the air and dropped into the snow.

The boy looked down at his newly christened quarter staff. "Can we just call it quits? We go our way you go yours?"

His hammer bro looked at him in disgust. "And just let him go? After what he did to our brothers? Our pack? You're just going home a coward?"

"We're not winning this. He's got at least ten years of solid experience on us." Stammered the spearman. "He's been toying with us, this entire time. He hasn't needed to use his aura until recently. He only just drew his sword. And it's obviously Huntsman grade. Don't you get it?"

"That you're a coward?" The hammer bro's strike was offset by a sheath blow, and his aura tanked a sword strike to his ribs. "He's got less aura than us. Don't be a weakling now!"

Dove locked his foe's weapon beneath his sheath as he aimed his gun sword at the hammer bro and unloaded his cylinder into his face. The first five slammed into his aura, the sixth tore a chunk out of his cheek, exposing the warped bone to the air. The boy went down screaming clutching his face. Dove ejected the shells from the cylinder, letting the cases steam in the snow. "Rule seven." Spat Dove, letting the bloody spittle rest in the snow for a moment. "Fights attract grimm."

"What?" Asked the spear wielder before a small two-legged lizard slammed into his back. He tried bringing up his staff to stop the clamping teeth from chewing through him. "Help! Please! I'm sorry!" Screamed the boy in desperation.

"Rule seven, addendum. Aura amplifies emotions." The Creep's jaws snapped through the wooden shaft, and began burrowing into the boy's gut, akin to a maggot in the flesh of a dog. Dove frankly found difficulty finding pity for the boy, not just because the act of pity would attract the Creep's attention itself. "Welp, I'll be taking your truck."


Penny was riding in the shotgun seat of the truck as they continued towards the coast. Dove had been silent since the fight and had taken off his mask to ice his wounds. His lip was busted, and he had been spitting blood since. And yet, he still had time to look over in concern.

"So, what did we learn?"

"I do not think that there is a future for humanity if most people are like that." Morosely commented Penny.

"That's an understatement." Dove looked nice when he smiled, even if he looked more purple than peach.