I nearly forgot to mention that we broke 200 followers some time ago. Thanks for the support everyone.
"Still got them on scope?"
"Yeah, we're still tracki- shit, feed just went offline. Same with the signal."
"The hell? All our tracking equipment just went offline."
"You think they shot our drone down? What about the strike package?"
"Hold up… I just got SIGINT back online. No sign of them."
"Did they just vanish?"
"Pretty sure they did."
"Fuck."
"Yeah."
Two Intelligence Officers in regard to the incident that had taken place just hours before a raid on a Sabyr Brigade company took place. The same company had vanished from all tracking devices and was unable to be picked up again by any of them. Suspected use of advanced electronic warfare devices to disable any tracking devices, then in a short timeframe, vanish.
This is classified.
Chapter 12: Charlie Foxtrot
"We're not going to go with you like some criminals!" Blake snarled, whipping Gambol Shroud around at the SOG men arrayed against them. "We haven't done anything but try to help!"
"Whoa! We're not arresting you, we just want to question you for a bit to make sure everything was within the law," The SOG major raised a hand up, as if it would calm down the agitated huntresses.
Yang already had Ember Celica deployed, while Weiss and Ruby begrudgingly pulled out their respective weapons. Weiss looked torn, halfheartedly pulling out his rapier, whatever it was called, and looking around at the SOG Operatives, eyes searching for a peaceful resolution. The red reaper among them paused for a second, before following everyone else's lead.
Jaune twisted to look around. Twenty something SOG Operatives, each easily on the same level as an Atlas Specialist, stood arrayed against the four Huntresses-in-Training. His section was slow to react, looking up from their seats around their wrecked LAV to see the standoff in front of them, they scrambled for their weapons, not yet raising them at anyone. Planting a hand behind him, Jaune slowly raised himself off the ground, elbowing Thistle lightly to get him to follow.
There had to be something he could do to sort this all out. Surely RWBY had just stumbled on the White Fang warehouse and decided rashly to intervene. It sure was within their rights as Beacon students, Jaune had read up about it. Actively going out to find trouble was probably against the rules somewhere. But would intervening get him in even more shit with everyone? A casual decision nearly got Lavender killed. Jaune bit his lip, deciding just this one time, he would wait a second before doing anything. Even still, he stood up, warily scanning the scene.
"Are you kidding me? You cops do nothing for weeks on end against the White Fang. We finally decide to act in your place and you all show up and mess it up!" Blake swung her glowing amber eyes across the unflinching line of SOG Operatives, her glare hot enough to burn down a house. Nonetheless, the SOG Operatives stood fast.
Yang's eyes flash red for a second, before turning back to its normal lilac colour, "Yeah! Are you even cops?" she sneered, leaning forward at the Operatives. "I don't think Vomit Boy over there could be a cop."
Ruby winced at the slight, shooting an apologetic smile at Jaune. Weiss stood off to the side, studying the Contractors surrounding her with sharp, analytical eyes. Leaning over to whisper something inaudible to her team, Weiss glanced at Jaune with a pointed look. Help us, it seemed to say.
All of the SOG Operatives shuffled in place at the slight, before the Major started to grumble, "Great, now we really know we're dealing with vigilantes."
"This is such shit," Jay growled beside him, letting his machine gun hang in front of him, a twitch towards pointing it to RWBY. "We help them and now she talks shit?"
"Shut up for the moment Jay," Jaune started to walk forward, ignoring Jay's small sound of confusion. Catching RWBY's attention, he gathered every last dreg of charisma he could muster. "Look, guys, we just need to take you in for a bit, just to make sure everything follows the timeline properly and to clear everyone of fault," and to figure out who'll pay for the property damage, he didn't add. "Hell, Beacon will probably come over and spring you out after they hear about it. You guys didn't do anything illegal, like actively seek out a criminal operation, right?"
An apologetic wince from Ruby, and a death glare from Blake and Yang.
So they had tried hunting down the White Fang, likely let loose whatever Jaune and his section had just fought, and caused probably enormous damage and injuries to bystanders. Adding to that, Razz probably never would've fallen off the highway if they never intervened.
Jaune took a deep breath, closing his eyes and mentally counting to three. RWBY wasn't responsible, it was that asshole Torchwick. Besides, Razz's luck would have run out anyways eventually, as cruel as it sounded.
"You guys just happened on the warehouse, right?" he said the last word more forcefully than the rest, making a point to look right at them.
Ruby shuffled on the spot, biting her lip in an act of unconvincing innocence. Her eyes lit up at his words, perking her head up. "Yeah! Yeah, we definitely did… whatever you just said."
The SOG Major frowned from his spot from the line of SOG's firing line, "Fucking hell, they definitely did something wrong."
And poof, their chances of a peaceful resolution were crushed just a little as SOG resteadied their rifles onto RWBY.
Cursing as Jaune ran over to the Major, he was cut short by a SOG man moving right in front of him, expression concealed by the black balaclava he wore, "Sir! With all due respe-" Jaune shouted past the SOG man. He couldn't let this end in a huge fight. RWBY would be massacred by the SOG, no matter how good they were.
"If you got something to say, just say it, Contractor," the Major never took his eyes off the girls in their line of fire. "Let him through Perkins. Also get your men out of our killzone Contractor." the Major reached up to his radio, lowering his voice to a whisper. "Prep anti-huntsmen protocols."
Well, shit.
"Sir," Jaune stepped right up to the SOG Major, lowering his own voice to a whisper. A SOG Operative right next to him flinched, but kept a firm grip on his rifle, staring right at Jaune. Regardless, Jaune stood right next to the Major. "These are Beacon Huntresses. If we escalate right now, we might cause an incident that we can't go back on."
"They broke the law Contractor," the Major looked over his shoulder at him. "I don't care that they're fucking Huntresses from Beacon, we're here to take them in and they can prove their innocence later. They'll probably be bailed out by the mighty Oz." the Major scowled, turning back to RWBY. "I know that by personal experience..."
"Then why the hell are you insisting on trying to take them in? We can just wait them out and get Beacon over here."
The Major raised an eyebrow at him, before turning back to the girls, a grin tugging at the corner of his face. Wait, had Jaune just yelled at a superior officer? Him? A lowly Contractor? The expression of the SOG Operative next to him told him just the severity of his act. "Watch your mouth around superior officers, some might not like that. To answer your question, do you fucking realize how many of these Huntresses-in-Training have jumped into my operations?" the Major shook his head, "Now fuck off Contractor, before I decide to detain you."
The Major stared him down, his stare intense and hard, "I'm not joking Contractor, now fuck off and hold the perimeter."
Jaune looked around with a half open mouth. Two SOG Operatives stood by, their weapons not raised but arms clearly tensing up. All around him, the SOG Operatives were breaking out masks and prepping their red marked gas grenades, while RWBY stood in a ring arrayed against the Operatives, whispering among themselves.
A SOG Officer unwilling to stand down, likely for some innate want for justice. Four Huntresses who were probably vigilantes and refusing to cooperate, and his section stuck in the middle of all of it. There was no way he could just stand aside and watch it happen. What could he possibly do?
There was one way… he'd end up likely punished, maybe even thrown out of Striker Group. He didn't even know if his section would follow along. But If there was a fight, it would be hardly one. RWBY might as well jump off a bridge.
RWBY were his friends, or his former friends. He couldn't let them fight on a good conscience. They might've turned against him back then, but Jaune wouldn't let anyone get hurt, not anymore, not without a fight.
Guilt slammed against his conscience, his mind screamed to follow the orders, but Jaune took a step forward, seemingly towards his section, but in reality, to put him in front of the guns.
Fortunately for his short career as a Private Military Contractor, he didn't have to follow through, because of the sound of vehicles rumbling across the paved ground. Jaune spun around, to see the rest of his LAV platoon screeching at full speed towards him in the distance, followed behind by the VPD's dinky police cars.
"This is Raider 3 Actual, we're coming up on your position, time now, over," came the sweet voice of Captain Alabaster. The next transmission came over the platoon net, "3-2, secure that Paladin wreck, over."
Jaune started a jog towards the fast approaching LAVs, before clicking his radio to his section net, "Everyone, I'm going to talk to Alabaster, make sure they don't do anything hasty before then. Just don't do anything that would tank your career."
Next came Jay's hearty laugh over the radio, "Whatever you say Jaune. Affirmative on that. We'll make sure not to destroy our future prospects."
"I won't expect you to," the LAV in front of him screeched to a halt as Jaune waved his hands frantically over his head. The clear white painted numbers on the turret denoted the LAV as Alabaster's. The Captain might as well have been close to the only way out of his situation without a one sided fight. Jaune quickly leapt onto the LAV, going straight to the commander's hatch. "Sir! I need to talk to you!"
Another LAV screeched past him, heading directly for the confrontation ahead. Jaune could only hope the SOG Major didn't use that as an excuse to immediately start shooting. The hatch in front of him clicked open as Alabaster poked his head out, "The fuck are you doing Arc?"
"Sir," he gasped, quickly checking behind him to make sure a massive fight hadn't sparked off behind him. Nothing yet, good. "Those are Beacon Huntresses back there. The Major there wants to escalate the shit out of the situation. We can resolve this peacefully, and if the Major escalates, we're going to be in so much shit. Can you imagine what the Council might do if we purposefully escalate this?" Jaune threw up his hands, letting loose an exasperated sigh. "We can resolve this pea-"
"Fuck Arc!" Alabaster swore, bringing his hand to his radio. "I get it. If they get hurt by us our future contracts eat shit and die. Now get off my LAV and go to your section." Alabaster turned away, clicking his radio transmission button. "Stalker Actual, this is Raider 3 Actual. Message, over."
Jaune dropped down from the LAV, confident at least that if anything happened, he tried everything he could short of actual mutiny.
It occurred to him that he had considered mutiny over some girls that may or may not hate him over faking his way into Beacon. Whether it was all of them or just one of them angry at him was kind of blurry. Whatever, it was time to see what was happening.
"Get out of the way Contractor!" yelled the Major, pointing his own rifle right in RWBY's direction, and therefore… his own section.
Jaune blinked.
His section, or at least the half of his section that were uninjured, stood calmly, placing themselves in between RWBY and the SOG. What the hell happened to not disobeying orders? Fuck! There was no way he was going to let them take the blame for him.
"Guys!" Jaune broke into a sprint towards the SOG firing line. One operative spun around, nearly smacking him in the head, instead keeping his rifle low, but still very much there. "Just follow his orders. Get over here and stop pushing yourself further into this shit."
Jay smirked, throwing up a mock salute, "Gotcha Jaune."
Jaune watched from just behind the Major as his section walked away from RWBY, back to Thistle and Vi, who were standing shakily by the side, supporting themselves on the LAV. RWBY meanwhile, seemed to realize just the predicament they were in, Weiss quietly berating her teammates for their actions.
"Sorry about that sir," Jaune said, warily taking one step forward to the officer. "I take all responsibility for their actions. It was my orders they were following."
The Major didn't look back, and kept looking at RWBY, who were shuffling around nervously, "We'll talk about that later at your punishment." the Major raised his hand to his radio, looking around at his men. All of them wearing gasmasks, some holding grenade launchers, and some just holding gas grenades. They were ready to act, and the Major was willing to attack.
Just then, the Major's radio speaker box actuated with the sound of the SOG Lieutenant Colonel, who was the Task Force commander, "This is Stalker Actual, all units back off the Huntresses. I say again, all units back off the Huntresses. Maintain a perimeter but do not engage. A Beacon representative will be coming in on a Bullhead to take care of the Huntresses. I say again, do not engage, over."
"Fuck," muttered the Major, just audible enough for Jaune to hear. "Stalker Actual, this is Stalker 1 Actual, affirmative. We'll wait for the representative, over."
"Roger 1 Actual, Stalker Actual out."
A sigh of relief from Jaune. The Major twisted around, glaring at Jaune, "Fuck off Contractor. You're the one who fucked this up."
Jaune nodded sharply. No saluting in the field, "Yessir."
Quickly making off to regroup with the rest of his section, he passed by all of the other SOG Operatives. Expressions concealed by their masks, their grips were still tight on their rifles, hawk eyes watching everyone's moves closely. A casual scan around revealed they were even keeping tabs on their LAVs, having some of their men hanging back, watching the LAVs from a distance.
These guys sure didn't trust them.
Jaune approached their wrecked LAV, the dull blood splatter on the ground a reminder of Razz's injury. His section stood around the wreckage, quietly talking among themselves, Lavender warily watching the SOG Operatives around them from on top of the LAV.
"Well wasn't that something?" chuckled Thistle from his place leaning against the wreckage of their LAV. "Sacrificing your career to save a few Huntresses. Also, your own section deciding to sacrifice themselves with you. Group career suicide? Hell yeah!"
"What the hell were you guys thinking?" Jaune stepped right past Thistle, right up to Jay, tossing off his battered helmet. "Fuck, you even said it yourself. You wouldn't disobey the Major's orders. What fucking happened?"
Jay shrugged, "Since you were so intent on sinking your own ship, we figured we might as well come along for the ride."
Lavender shook her head from her position on the LAV, "No way we're letting you get screwed alone."
The rest of the team chorused their agreement, shooting crazy grins his way.
"Are you guys fucking crazy?" running one hand through his hair, he pinched his nose and groaned. "Alright, if things go sideways, I ordered you guys to do that and you were misled by me, got it? No objections. If my career gets tanked, I at least have a place to go to. Half of you literally were living out on the streets before this. So if you guys get fired, you have no place to go."
Awkward silence from his section.
Jaune shot a quick look over his shoulder. SOG were still holding back, and RWBY were inching closer to him and his section. "Look, I appreciate the thought, but this is my idea. I'll take any blame that comes for it. We'll figure all this out later, alright?"
"You're a dumb shit Jaune," Thistle said, closing his eyes as he leant back on the LAV, Vi sitting right next to him. "Does falling on your sword make you think you're cool?"
Jaune shook his head, "No, I'm no-"
"Fuck it dude," Thistle winced as he pulled himself onto his feet. "I'm going to stand by you the entire way. Plus I have somewhere to go after, so nothing will happen if I get kicked off."
Jaune could only watch as the rest of his section came up and said that they'd be with him the whole way, saying they didn't care where they ended up after.
"Fine," he conceded. Chuckling to himself the next moment as a piece of humour came to him. "Hell, if things go bad and we all get tossed out, how 'bout we just become a band of mercs for hire?"
"Not a bad idea," said Thistle, scratching the barely visible stubble on his chin. "What if we pool our lien together and buy a LAV?"
"What would we call ourselves?" Lavender asked herself, looking off into the distance. "A-motley-band-of-washed-up-mercs?"
"Alright, shut it," interrupted Jaune, raising a hand. "We gotta go report back to Alabaster. Hopefully, he'll have an idea of what to do wi-"
The whine of bullhead engines filled the air. Jaune spun around on his heel to find the source of the sound. Was it Sabyr Group coming to ambush them? Or was it Roman again? Neither made much sense with a platoon of Specialist level combatants present. The singular bullhead descended onto the large space, blowing a light sheen of dust around. Above it circled two Snakeheads, each sporting a fierce set of armaments. So whoever was in the Bullhead was friendly at least.
The sidedoor opened to reveal Glynda Goodwitch herself stepping out of the Bullhead.
Somehow, Jaune only noticed the Beacon insignia on the aircraft just then.
There was an "oh shit" muttered from somewhere in team RWBY as Goodwitch fixed her glare right on the girls. The disciplinarian began storming her way over to team RWBY, a terrifying expression painted on her face.
"Is this the point where we fuck off?" whispered Jay, leaning over to Jaune.
"Maybe."
Both of them remained rooted in their positions, both eager to see what would come next, for different reasons.
"Do you realize what you girls have done?" yelled Goodwitch as she came to a stop just before RWBY. "You've interfered with a police operation, caused countless amounts of property damage. You should be grateful that no civilians have been found dead, otherwise, I might personally tell these men right here to arrest you on the spot." Goodwitch took a deep breath, staring at the sky, before turning her gaze back at the shrinking forms of team RWBY. "What I will do is bring you back to Beacon on that Bullhead over there before you cause any more problems for me."
Yang, of course, decided that the best course of action in this situation had to be to argue with Goodwitch, "Are you saying somehow that Jaune is a policeman?"
Even SOG flinched at the outburst.
Goodwitch's eyes flicked to Jaune, who waved nervously. Surprise tugged at her face, before returning to her normal, terrifying expression, "This is a police supported operation. You, however, from what I heard, messed most of it up."
"Bu-" Blake began, her voice already weak.
"No buts!" shouted Goodwitch. She swung her riding crop to point to the Bullhead. "Bullhead, now."
There were no other objections from the girls as they shuffled to the Bullhead. His section watched with detached disinterest as the girls shrank under Goodwitch's glare. They were practically done with all the problems those girls had caused. Ruby looked back at Jaune, mouthing the words, sorry, before scrambling into the Bullhead.
Well, that was finally dealt with.
"Any thoughts on that dude?" Thistle said, watching the retreating Huntresses.
Jaune scratched his head as Goodwitch walked in the Major's direction, "Nah, not really. Looks like she's going to talk to the Major though."
"What even was his name?"
Jay grunted, leaning against the LAV like everyone else, "I asked, they're pretty tight lipped about their identities. Didn't stop me from getting a few of their names though, but not the Major's name."
"Wait, shut up, sounds like she's talking to him," Jaune canted his head to listen intently as Goodwitch's words filled the air.
"... for their actions. I'll make sure those girls will receive proper punishment," Glynda said, sorrow clear on her face. "Did any of your people get injured? I didn't hear anything about it when your commander established communications with me."
"Only one guy somehow. One of the LAV guys, and their section commander," the Major pointed a hand at Jaune's beat up section, still sitting by their busted LAV. "And I'm pretty sure that's what you said the last time this shit happened..."
"What?" she twisted around from Jaune's section at the Major's last words. "What do you mean by 'the last time'?"
"This ain't the first time your students have interfered in my raids Goodwitch," the Major grunted, putting all his weight on his back leg. "Always, 'these girls will receive proper punishment'. Just keeps happening and these fucking first years think they're hotshit for stopping a robbery. They just don't fucking know they fucked up an operation to find the head of the snake." the Major pulled something out of his vest, a cigarette. "We fucking had them trapped there. Nobody knew we were coming, we could've bagged Torchwick there. But your overexcited Huntresses fucked it up."
The Major took a drag of his cigarette, staring out at the busy city above them, none the wiser to the battle that had just taken place, "Apologies if I'm crass, sort of done with this shit now. Also, would you mind giving your students lessons on not fucking with our ops?"
As Goodwitch stammered out a reply, 3 Section tried their hardest to listen in, ears keen to listen in on some "Top tier" entertainment, as Thistle remarked.
Jaune tuned out Goodwitch speaking when Alabaster suddenly came over the speaker box of his radio. "3-3, this is 3 Actual. Regroup on my LAV, over."
"Roger 3 Actual, we'll get heading over to you now, over," Jaune said back. His helmet remained clipped to his vest, with that his headset that the radio transmissions normally came through. He'd activated the speaker box on his radio because it that, and everyone in his section had heard Alabaster over it.
"Affirmative 3-3. 3 Actual out."
Jaune clapped his hands together, letting his rifle hang from the sling in front of him. The soft clang of metal on metal as he jumped off from his seat on top of the LAV reminded him that he still had Crocea Mors strapped to his belt, 'You heard him, let's get going. We'll just take a small detour close by that shitshow behind us." he added the last part quietly.
His section shrugged, and pulled themselves up or off the various places they were sitting. Jaune led the section past the Major and Goodwitch conversing, pushing past a few wary SOG Operatives. Alabaster's LAV was just in front of them, but Jaune slowed down just a tiny bit to listen in better to the two authority figures beside them.
"... eacon will pay for any damages that have occurred," assured Goodwitch. "I wouldn't have it otherwise, considering what my students have done."
"Good," responded the Major. "If it were otherwise I'm pretty sure you'd have an army of lawyers at your doorstep. I'd also really like to have a personal word with those girls on interfering with our operations. I don't want them fucking up anything else."
Goodwitch nodded curtly, "That can be arranged." her eyes flicked to Jaune and his entourage passing by the two of them. "Mr. Arc, do you mind staying here for a second?"
What the fuck did she want?
He could almost hear Thistle mentally snickering. Both from Goodwitch's request, and the fact he can always tell when Jaune swore, even when it was mentally.
Asshole.
"Yeah?" Jaune turned around. They were so close to just getting back to base and relaxing. The last thing he wanted was to get entangled with Beacon again. "What do you want?"
Goodwitch blinked. It wasn't often students talked back to her. She shook her head as she reminded herself that Jaune was no longer one of her students, and she couldn't as easily command him around, "Nothing bad, I just want to have a word with you after."
Jaune cocked his head towards his team, "Go on ahead, I'll catch up."
"Naw man, we're fine chilling her with you." Thistle stopped in his tracks, hobbling next to Jaune as he clutched his side.
"Thistle, fuck off to the medic already, will you?"
Thistle grinned, "I'll do it since it got you to swear."
And so the rest of his section followed along, leaving Jaune to wait awkwardly by as the two adults in front of him quickly went over details of… something? In truth, Jaune started to tune them out and he started playing a small game of see-which-SOG-Operative-was-getting-bored. All of them remained attentive and alert the whole time.
"Contractor Arc?" came the voice of the Major, looking intently at him.
"Huh?" Jaune jolted up. Last he checked, he was daydreaming about… something. "Sir, I definitely didn't just fall asleep standing here, no sir."
"Well we're done, so get your shit into gear and do you talk with Goodwitch," the Major said, walking away.
Goodwitch adjusted her glasses before looking Jaune up and down. Had it been any other person, he might've felt happy that a girl was checking him out, but with Goodwitch it was just subdued embarrassment, "So what do you want to talk to me for ma'am?"
"You certainly turned around fast since you were kicked out," Goodwitch said, looking him in the eyes. "I expected you to just go back to Ansel and live out your days doing something… less dangerous."
Exhaling, Jaune broke away from the staring contest she was having with him, "What can I say? I do the unexpected. Like forging my transcripts and expecting it to last."
"Ozpin and his games... " Goodwitch shook her head, turning away to her Bullhead. "There's a chance that Ozpin will want to speak with you about your newfound position in the next few days. I just want to tell you that beforehand. I'm also sorry about your section commander, I'll make sure the girls understand the full extent of their actions." Her eyes flicked up behind him, before she turned on her heels. "Goodbye Mr. Arc.."
And so she left.
Someone came up beside him. A quick look confirmed it was Alabaster.
"Interesting characters here," the Captain began. "You did good."
"Not good enough apparently. Nearly got RWBY into a fight they wouldn't win."
"I assume that's the Huntresses?"
"Yeah."
Silence from them, the background noise of the Contractors moving around filling the air.
Alabaster pulled a cigarette out of his vest, lighting it casually, "Don't blame yourself over Razz. There's nothing you could've done about it. It was all out of your control. Before you ask, yes, Razz is fine. His legs are pretty fucked up so he'll be out of commission for a while at least."
"What does that even mean?"
"It means you," Alabaster poked him in the chest, "will be the section commander for now. At least until we find a replacement, which will never fucking happen with these manpower shortages."
"I disobeyed a few orders here sir. You think I'm going to get kicked out?"
Alabaster snorted, "We're already short on guys. No way we're wasting all this money on you to kick you out on this. Punishment, sure, but we've made an investment. I'll stand by you the whole way through. Get back to your section and hang out with them, it'll be good for you. After this, we'll head back to base and debrief this fucking mess. All good?"
"Yeah."
Alabaster turned and left, leaving Jaune standing there, watching as the Beacon Bullhead lifted off the ground and flew away. The SOG Operatives watched, emotions hidden by their masks, rifles at the ready.
Maybe there was irony in the situation, but Jaune couldn't pin it down.
/ - /
"That was pretty intense."
Iris gasped beside him, shooting him a dirty look, "You say that so fucking casually. I nearly died!"
"Eh," Cedric shrugged. "Aura would've protected you."
They stood in front of the huge gaping hole made by the Paladin that had crashed through. Several White Fang kneeled against a wall nearby, guarded by a few SOG Operatives who had descended from their Bullheads and knocked together a few heads after Cedric had gotten control of the situation. The prospective White Fang Recruits sat in a cluster away from everyone else. Some crying, some angry, others suffering a complete breakdown.
The actual White Fang were completely stoic.
"Please, let me go!"
Well, mostly stoic.
A pile of pitch black body bags laid empty, ready to be filled. Apparently the investigators wanted an untouched crime scene, whatever that meant.
"I really don't envy you wetwork guys anymore," Iris reached up to touch the black eye on her face. It marred the otherwise flawless face, along with the splatter of blood that was yet to be cleaned. "Oh the occasional snatch and grab I'm down to come along on, but I'll leave raiding to you and your wetwork buddies."
Cedric looked over with an amused smile, "You should be more careful when entering a building. I was nearly assaulted myself trying to help you."
"Didn't end up well for them, did they?" she gestured to inside the warehouse, which had a dead body just in sight of the gaping hole. "You're crazy, deciding to charge in a warehouse full of White Fang and yelling at them to get on the ground."
"Did it not work?"
Iris crossed her arms and looked at him sternly, "You shot half of the White Fang before they decided to surrender. And no, you can't just go around breaching buildings by yourself. I, as your handler, won't allow it."
He snorted, starting to walk forward to take another look at the prisoners, "Weren't you joking about it earlier?"
"That doesn't mean I actually mean it!" Iris made after him, slowing to a walk beside him as they walked down the line of prisoners. "I swear, if you don't get a medal for this, I'll personally raid the CEO's office and take him hostage. That shit you pulled was insane."
A small grin spread across his face as they passed one White Fang member being pushed along by a SOG Operative, "Wide range of emotions there Iris. One side berating me for doing it, the other wanting me to have a medal. Which one are you gonna pick?"
"Just because you do something stupid that definitely merits a medal, doesn't mean I'm not going to try and stop you from killing yourself next time," she massaged her nose, looking up at Cedric, a mocking tone already tinging the edge of her voice. "Look at me! I'm Cedric, I have a gun. You know what I'll do? Fucking charge a warehouse of White Fang by myself and practically force his handler to chase after him. Then what do I do? Force my handler to go and do shit that's definitely not within her job purview and get her fucking punched by a White Fang dude. Oh shit, here comes Cedric blasting everyone away and saving his handler!"
Iris jabbed a sharp elbow straight into Cedric's ribcage before continuing, "That's for making me run after you to cover your ass, and saving me when I could've taken that guy."
"Sounds li-" Cedric twitched his eye to the right to catch a sharp movement. One police officer was rearing up his fist to strike at a defenceless White Fang prisoner. "Hey! No fucking hitting him!"
The officer looked up at Cedric, sneering at the Contractor, "Are you trying to defend this animal merc? Don't forget we're the ones paying you right now."
Turning around to fully face the officer, Cedric stood well over a foot taller than the officer, "We don't abuse prisoners in our care. That shit's reserved for the actual mercenaries. We are a professional contracting firm that won't have shit like this while we're here, you understand?"
The officer gulped as he looked upwards at the imposing Contractors. Wasn't this the guy that stormed the warehouse by himself? "G-got it." the officer quickly made his retreat to his other police officer friends.
"Fuck me," Cedric whispered, looking down on the shackled Faunus kneeling on the ground. "You alright?"
"T-tha-" the Faunus' eyes widened when he turned to look at Cedric. "You're the one that killed everyone! You monster!"
Cedric spun around immediately and walked away with Iris following behind. The White Fang member started immediately babbling something about vengeance and devils.
"Do you actually believe anything you just said?" Iris quietly came up to his side.
Cedric yanked a cigarette out of his plate carrier, watching the proceedings in front of him numbly, "Most of it, at least for us. Can't speak for the black ops guys, who fucking knows what they do."
"Remember Cedric, we're here to be expendable, and to do the unsavoury shit that needs to be done," a hand on his shoulder. "Don't get caught up with all this do good shit. We have a job to do."
A puff of smoke floated away in front of him, the cigarette's soft flame a pinprick of light in the night, "I know that too well Iris. I just prefer this above board military shit more than the wetworks at this point, but I'll do both either way. As long as it isn't morally greyer than this entire industrial block."
"Something about your past I'm guessing?"
"Yep," another puff of smoke floated in front of his face.
"You ever going to tell me about it?"
Blood, death, and guilt.
"You gonna get that eye checked out?"
A hand roughly grabbed his arm, swinging him around him he was face to face with Iris. There was a burning passion in her eyes, one that wanted an answer, "You're deflecting, and you're shit at deflecting. What's up?"
Thankfully, the radio interrupted them.
"All stations, this is Guardian, regroup on point Tango. We're going to debrief and get ready for our next operation, out."
Iris kept glaring at Cedric, her intense blue eyes burning a hole through Cedric's skull, "Saved by the bell Ced." she began walking away, leaving Cedric standing there.
"My name's not Ced!" he called out. Sighing, he followed along. He'd have to deal with her later. Maybe he could tell her…
Fucking decisions, he hated having to make them.
/ - /
"How, in the living fuck, do you get a Paladin destroyed?"
Lieutenant Arberwood chased after Roman as he jumped off the Bullhead. The Lieutenant had been berating the thief the entire flight, either for giving chase to the Huntresses or committing to a fight that he probably couldn't win. Ivers was just enjoying the show, casually sneaking in bites of his popcorn using his semblance.
After a long flight in the Bullhead, they had finally arrived at their destination, another discrete warehouse that was apparently safe. Ivers just wondered how long it was until it was too hit by Striker Group's SOG. Ivers jumped off the Bullhead, landing on his feet with a soft thump.
"Those girls are stronger than they look," Roman waved a hand at Arberwood, scowling ever so slightly. "While losing a Paladin wasn't exactly in the cards, we don't need all of them to do what we need to."
"You haven't even told us what you need them for," Arberwood glared at the thief while keeping pace with him, "I lost a good man stealing those for you. It wasn't exactly easy to raid an Atlas cargo train."
"I'm following what you military fellows call, 'Operational Security' I still don't know quite the whole picture, I just work here, remember?" Roman turned to the Lieutenant, stopping in his tracks. "I appreciate the help you've been giving me, I really do, it's hard to get decent help nowadays with all this riff raff running around. Not only can you fight on a Huntsman's level, you also know how to fight those Striker Group fellows."
"Yes," snarled Arberwood, his expression hidden by his mask. "Them."
"I sense a strong urge to kill from you, I take it you and them must not be on the best of terms," Roman twirled his cane around, starting to walk towards the warehouse again.
Ivers didn't particularly like Roman, but he didn't particularly hate him either. He was just like them, but maybe with a bit more flare and dramatism. Sabyr Brigade was cold and ruthless, unlike Roman's flashy style. Ivers had a feeling Roman considered them only a bit higher than street thugs. No style, he would've say, just killing and raiding.
Well, Ivers didn't particularly know how Sabyr Brigade had gotten the reputation of being glorified bandits, but it sure as hell was widespread.
A familiar flash of white, pink, and brown appeared by his side. It was Neo, skipping along happily, looking at him with an expectant look.
Why was it that Arberwood had him babysit the psycho killer? Oh, Roman had bent over double when Neo realized his semblance, and the opportunities for her.
Ivers materialized a container of Neapolitan ice cream out of thin air. Cold and fresh as if it just came out of the freezer. Neo gleefully snatched it from his hands, tossing an arm around him in her impression of a hug and happily bouncing away, with her prize secured.
His semblance was storing shit in a pocket dimension, not being a fucking mobile freezer!
Oh his pride didn't matter to the Lieutenant though, when he saw an opportunity to gain the trust of Roman's little psycho, he practically forced Ivers to follow along.
Didn't help that Roman snickered from in front of the group.
"Oh shut up please!" Ivers groaned, tearing off his mask and rubbing his face with a hand. "You try having a semblance that's being misused as a glorified refrigerator. It feels fucking terrible!"
"Hey," Arberwood snapped his fingers in Ivers' direction. "Mask on. Last thing we want is someone exposing our identities."
"Aight sir," Ivers quickly covered his face with the mask, his face disappearing underneath the facemask. "Yours is already compromised though."
"Don't I know that."
Roman and Arberwood continued arguing, something about Arberwood wanting to know the full picture, so he can request support accordingly. Ivers tuned him out, instead slipping into his own thoughts as he walked beside the Psycho to his right, and the other Sabyr Brigade troopers to his left. Masked and faceless, they struck an imposing image in with white cloaks.
Ivers remembered being roused in the middle of the night just before they arrived in Vale. They had been rushed through a short briefing, reminiscent of an actual military, but not quite. Their employers had requested their best Hunter Killer team from their reconnaissance cell, which apparently had been them.
Chief, Verda, him, and the recently defected Lieutenant Arberwood.
It had taken a while for Arberwood to earn their trust, but after several suicide missions, company headquarters decided to place him in command of the recon cell. So when Ivers heard that Arberwood was coming along for the mission, well, he was surprised to say the least.
"Hey, Ivers, you hear me?" Verda, face hidden behind his faceplate mask, turned to him, his voice coming to him through the headset Ivers wore.
Ivers turned to look at the blank faceplate where there should've been a face. It sure did do wonders for intimidation. It provided them a heads up display that had all sorts of things going on. They had only received it just before they stepped off for Vale. Gifts from their benefactor apparently, "Yeah dude. What do you want?"
"You see that Striker Group kid we found right?" ahead, Roman and Arberwood pushed through some doors of a warehouse, motioning for them to enter in after them.
Ivers was the first one through the doors after Arberwood. A long hallway laid ahead of them, complete with flickering lights and an ominous feeling. Did all their warehouses just have shit lightning? Oh wait! It was because they were working with the White Fang, who all had natural nightvision. With that, he clicked on the internal short range motion tracker in his mask. No sense being caught off guard.
"Yeah, kind of looked like one of the dead guys we find in that village. Think he played dead?"
"No shit, I zoomed in and he looked exactly like that kid we found."
"Fuck me, guess we should dead check the ones we find," up ahead, both Roman and Arberwood were already pushing through the next set of doors, the rest of the entourage following close behind.
A tap on his shoulder.
Ivers spun around and nearly jammed his rifle barrel straight into Neo's face. His trigger finger was just barely a pound from firing a round straight into her sternum. Letting his finger off the trigger, he let his rifle drop as he breathed a sigh of relief. Jeez wouldn't that have been a disaster, "What do you want?"
Neo kept staring at him, not hearing his previous words.
Ivers cursed mentally. He still wasn't used to having his words not automatically being heard by everyone around him. Useful for stealth operations in conjunction with other people with the mask, not so good with talking to everyone else. He quickly repeated himself, this time having set his mask to transmit externally.
More ice cream. Was this girl's appetite insatiable? With a groan, he materialized yet another container, which she gleefully snatched away.
"Are you sure you aren't her pet at this point?" came Verda over his headset, his blank faceplate looking at him as they walked through the doors in front of them.
"Fuck off. Lieutenant's orders."
"You hear about the rumours of Tyrian asking about sending the entire company into Vale? Crazy fucking stuff."
"Hey," it was Chief, the gruff voice immediately recognizable on the internal team net. "Keep the net clear for now. Keep spreading rumours for another time. Form a line on the back wall of this room and keep an eye out, we have new people coming."
A cloaked figure pushed past both Verda and Ivers. He knew full well that it was Chief, the old veteran operative, whose age was a running bet among the company. Some people said that he was one of the original operatives in what had come before Sabyr Brigade. Even still, Chief remained a lithe and ruthless fighter. Noone was yet to best him in close combat, not even Arberwood, who'd put up the closest fight among them.
Ivers planted himself by the door, while Verda and Chief placed themselves in the corners of the room, each watching their own sector in the room. Neo had disappeared, no doubt watching from somewhere nearby. Meanwhile, Roman and Arberwood walked up to the middle of the room, where a table laid, complete with a ceiling light shining down on it.
Interesting setup to say the least. Ivers quickly activated the nightvision function on his mask to scan around in the darkness.
There he was, fucking Adam Taurus himself. The bull strode into the light from the darkness, glaring at everyone in the room.
"You've single handedly gotten all of my men at that warehouse arrested, along with a warehouse of prospective White Fang recruits," snarled the masked bull, stalking straight to the middle of the room, slamming his hands down on the table. "Some of those members were my men. They were some of my higher quality operatives. And who is he?" Adam gestured to Arberwood in front of him, before snapping to the three Sabyr Brigade men lined up against the back wall, "And who are they?"
"Relax," Roman raised up his hands in an apologetic manner, only to seem mocking of the man in front of him. "They're extra help given to me by Cinder. They can be trusted, well, as well as anyone can be trusted."
Ivers shifted around to look at all the new White Fang grunts filing into the room. These weren't the same quality of grunts he'd seen earlier. No, these ones moved with an air of assuredness. There were at least ten of them in the room, hidden in the parts shrouded by darkness. If anything happened, Ivers and everyone were practically toast with the amount of fire the White Fang could put down with just their amount of guns. If they were halfway accurate, the grunts could probably take down at least one of them.
Also, Adam was pretty wrong about them being responsible for the raid, and Ivers took offence to that.
"For the record," Ivers turned to face the Bull at the table, his external mic projecting his voice. "Striker Group already had its eyes on the warehouse. They would've all gotten captured either way. Also, they'll definitely fucking break under pressure. Striker Group is pretty good at their job."
"And who are you?" sneered Adam, the Grimm mask staring right into the comparably emotionless facemask.
Arberwood's voice rang through his headset, "Ivers, shut up."
"I would tell you," a deep chuckle. "But my LT here says to shut up."
Which he promptly did, despite Adam's protests.
Arberwood sighed, looking up at Adam, "We're Sabyr Brigade. A whole bunch of mercenaries with a bone to pick with Striker Group."
"Mercenaries," Adam said the word as if it was poison. "Pah, you only fight for money. Tell me, would you shoot civilians for money?"
Arberwood stayed silent, staring at the man in front of him.
"I'll shoot whatever I need to shoot," Ivers interrupted, stepping out to look at Adam. "Just not without reason. Shit, if you pay me to shoot at a school full of children, there better be a good reason for that shit."
"Ahem," Roman cleared his throat, taking a look around the room with an unreadable look. "If I may, can we get back to the topic on hand?"
"Fine, you'll be heading to Mountain Glenn?"
A nod from Roman.
"With these men? The White Fang there are good enough for what you have in mind."
"Of course. They're given to me, so I will use it," Roman pulled out a cigar, lighting it with a flick of his lighter.
The rest of the conversation was details, details Ivers couldn't be bothered to remember. Something about Mountain Glenn, Paladins, and moving the last of the supplies there. Some other details about logistics, which he sure as hell couldn't be bothered to remember. Instead, he made a game of trying to spot which White Fang operatives fell asleep first with his comrades over the team's intranet. Surprisingly, none of them did. So these guys were the real deal, huh?
"Everyone, we're leaving," came Arberwood's terse voice as they backed away from the table, hands off their rifles. Ivers quickly opened the door, letting everyone go out before leaving himself, making sure his eyes always remained glued to the ongoings in the warehouse.
The journey to the outside was done in silence.
Roman was the first to break the silence, first by letting his cigarette fall to the ground, stamping down on it with his cane as they walked past, "You'll be sure to get the rest of your company to Mountain Glenn. I want them there for extra help making sure everything stays secure. I don't trust those animals to do anything but be a meatshield."
"I'll make sure to send up the request," Arberwood replied, jumping onto the Bullhead and making sure he was seated as far away from Roman as he could.
Ivers quickly boarded, belting himself into a seat next to the doors. A familiar presence made itself known next to him. Turning around revealed Neo shooting him a look. More icecream? Maybe it was time to give her one of the bigger containers…
She snatched it immediately from his hands and started digging in.
"You have any idea what's going on Ivers?" Verda's voice came over his headset. It was on a private channel, neither Chief nor Arberwood could hear them.
"No fucking idea dude. If Roman wants the entire company there, then something big's going on."
"Why'd you think he asked about shooting civilians? I mean, I'd do it, but I just gotta know what it's for."
"Dunno," Ivers stared out at Vale as the Bullhead lifted off the pad beneath them. The door soon closed, his only view of the city below now through a window.
"I hate being kept in the dark about this shit."
"Just point your rifle where they tell you to point, and you'll be good."
The radio line went silent.
Ivers already had his doubts about what he just said. His world had certainly become more complicated than, "execute a raid on his criminal's base for this other criminal" or "raid this village here". His job already required a flexible moral system, which he had in spades, but the shit he was doing was becoming more and more confused every day.
Something appeared in front of him. It was a spoon full of the same multicoloured ice cream he'd given Neo.
Neo raised an eyebrow at Ivers from beside him, lifting up the proffered scoop of icecream to where his mouth would've been had it not been for the mask. She wanted to feed him her ice cream now? Ivers looked up at Arberwood, who just shrugged at him, before turning back to Roman, assumably saying something to him.
Hearts and minds, or something.
Ivers took off his mask opening his mouth to only find the spoon shoved forcefully down his throat. He nearly choked on it before swallowing the ice cream and jerking his mouth away from the spoon. Ivers stared over at the psychopathic killer next to him. She was smiling! She jammed her spoon down his throat and she was smiling!
Why the hell was he tasked with getting close with the psychopath again?
Oh yeah, because the little monster decided to latch onto him.
Fuck his life.
Snickers from Roman, the asshole.
Seriously, fuck his life.
Ah yes, a chapter where we get a new POV.
Originally was going to add another scene, but uh, I don't want to write another 10k chapter right after the last, so cut scene amirite?
Yeah that first scene was something like 4k words, so half the chapter.
Responding to a guest review: Yes, I know that Jaune's Semblance is Aura Amp, but in this case, Razz just sees the Aura healing him up. I sort of see it as Jaune sending his Aura into the other person to amplify the other person's ability at the cost of his own Aura. So Razz had basically no Aura, and so pushing Jaune's aura into Razz basically made it seem like it was healing him.
Yeah, there'll be something on that next chapter. I also lmaoed at the amount of people making jokes about their hypocrisy, was fun reading through that.
Thanks for the reviews last chapter, I was pretty amazed to see something like 11 reviews on that chapter. Thanks.
I appreciate the reviews and support. Remember to leave one (Inb4 I get only one for this chapter lmao)
Remember, the boogaloo is a meme, plz no boogaloo for real. The last thing I want to put on my 2020 punch card is "Actual Civil war with armed conflict."
Stay safe.
Tophat out.