The Red Bear Strikes

Ch.2

Author's notes: I was planning to release the second chapter in February, but then the war in Ukraine started. It makes me uneasy that I was writing about the Russian Military in this fanfic, fearing that it might be insensitive to the current events in the world.

Then I remember, I'm writing a fictional story about an RTS game mod, where we have terrorists with bioweapons, China being nuke happy, America having a space laser, Europe actually being united, and Russians with Tesla weapons. And while yes, C&C Generals and ROTR is heavily grounded in reality and borrowed some real-life history, it is still the chaotic RTS game we all know and love.

So yes, I'm still writing a fictional story about a crazier alternate universe of earth. And while it's inevitable, I wish for people to understand that this is all fiction, and not me supporting the Russian invasion, because I do not support old men sending younger men to die in their pointless, destructive wars. Plus, I plan to send in other factions in ROTR in the future like the ECA, USA, and maybe even China, so you can imagine the multi-national fun roaming around Remnant.

Now, let us hope and pray that the war would stop and end with a better outcome for everyone.

XXXXX

"Alright Zherdev, just like the last village, you go inside, check their news, interact with the locals a bit, and leave." Aleksey rolled his eyes as his officer reminded him of his objective again through the radio.

It was almost a week since the recon run made by the MiGs, and when the news of potential conflict came up, all troops were ordered for high-alert. And after that, the general ordered recon and Intel units to spread out and check on the villages mapped by the same planes.

And Aleksey was part of the recon groups in the 19th mechanized battalion.

Of course, he felt more of an intelligence agent if anything as his squad decided he'll be the one looking at the villages a closer look, mainly because Aleksey was Half-American, meaning he can speak English naturally without a noticeable accent and was fairly sociable as well as average in appearance to not stand out. He was a fair choice for the task, much to the annoyance to the young soldier.

To fit in, he was wearing the typical outfit for people who lives in the countryside. Boots, brown cargo pants, and a thick coat as protection to the elements, and since this world is full of evil creatures known as Grimm, he was handed an old Mosin-Nagant Rifle for his own defense as well as a way to look the part as some outsider wandering in the forest. Because if he'd look out of place if he carried his Vintorez around.

At the moment, Aleks was moving on a dirt path in the woods, walking towards a village nearby to do his objective. His squad was half-a-kilometer away in the tree-lines, tracking and guiding him, as well provide support if he needs it. Of course, he isn't very concerned with his simple tasks, as his only concern is to no look out of place or deal with some few Grimm that he encounters, and the 7.62x54mm round from his rifle was more than enough to deal with the small fries, the large ones was easy to be heard and he simply runs away from them.

To be honest, he was more lost in his thoughts of what he learned from this world. Before he was sent to the intel gathering task, the first intelligence groups already shared them the things they learned from the field. For one, the dark creatures were called Grimm because they were 'demons' that walk among the surface, creatures of darkness. They were all skeptical about such fact, but from how the Grimm dissipates when they die, or how they don't need to eat… such fact might be possible.

After all, they are in a different world where some humans have some animal parts poking out…

Just like that one man that just walked past Aleksey, he had a goat's horn poking out of his head. They were referred as Faunus from what he heard from both his fellow soldiers and locals from the other villages. And he saw plenty of them too, as his hidden camera on his chest recorded and seen plenty of them having different animal traits. He saw a man with a tiger's tail, a woman with cat ears, and etc.

It was an odd sight… he felt like he just stepped into some fantasy book. Demonic creatures and humans with physical animal traits, a fairly common trope in a fantasy series. Though, he heard that those Faunus are also a victim of racism… and after hearing some insults pointed towards the Faunus, it wasn't pleasant to hear.

Before Aleksey can lose himself in his thoughts, he can see the sight of the village nearby. Its walls were made out of thick logs and wooden spikes were possibly made to slow down the Grimm. On the wall's platform were armed men, some had spears, others had a hunting shotgun in hand as lookout.

Aleksey was cautious at first, but like in the other villages, the guardsmen on the walls didn't paid no mind to his presence and only signaled him to shoulder his rifle, which he followed as he entered the partially opened gate. It was quite strange to see many heavily armed figures to not bother with him an armed outsider. But it wasn't hard to figure out why weapons being carried openly are common in this world due to the Grimm outside.

As he got inside the walls of the village, he was greeted the sight of houses made up of traditional wood, and would've looked like they really came from some fantasy novel if it weren't for the fact that these houses had some modern amenities. Some of the buildings acted as stores, one of the larger houses acted as a little hospital judging from all the medical posters on its walls, a clearing with a small landing pad for some aircraft, and the occasional truck that was parked nearby.

It honestly felt like travelling in some slightly less modern countryside village.

But going back to his original task, he looked for news relating to them around the village. It didn't take long for him to find a newspaper stand with papers about the 'UFO' that flew above Vale. Some were a few days outdated, others are quite recent. Fishing out some lien he bought the newspapers and leaned back on a wall to 'read' the news.

He made sure his chest mounted camera can see the news clearly as he began checking the news related to the MiG's recon run as well as checking other unrelated news, because it gave him some insights about the world he was in. It was honestly fun slowly learning about this world by simply roaming around, and checking bits of info in the newspaper.

The young soldier double checked some newspapers and some of them as they were already news he saw days ago, some news were just different articles same topics, though the last one had an interesting headline.

'ATLAS CLAIMS THAT THEY DO NOT OWN ANY AIRCRAFT CAPABLE OF REACHING MACH 3'

If there was one thing that was consistent from the news, is that 'Atlas' was a kingdom known for its military might and technological prowess, and 'Vale' was its ally. Right now, it seems that there's a fair amount of accusations that the Kingdom of Atlas was the one who trespassed Vale's airspace with their experimental aircraft.

In the article, it talks about Atlesian officials saying that they don't have an aircraft capable of reaching intense speeds, as well as not crazy enough to test such aircrafts on their ally's airspace. It even mentioned that the fastest Atlesian aircraft they have were a special variant of the Bullhead, and it was only capable of speeding up to mach 1.5 for a short period of time.

Aleksey hums as he made sure that his camera saw the article, his squad who was watching the recording would likely taken interest and saved it for the report after this mission. Right now, it confirms that the people of this world aren't aware of the expeditionary forces from Russia and Ukraine, and only saw a glimpse of them. Even then, they are likely busy on some conspiracy theories or blaming this 'Atlas' country.

On the note of Atlas, it also confirms that this kingdom was worth looking at as they were obviously a threat especially when he heard that they are this world's leading military power and technological development. One has to know their surroundings after all, and Atlas is a factor worth checking. While he doesn't know much about their capabilities, he'd rather not ignore or underestimate them.

Aleksey then looks around for anything resembling as a book store, maybe he can find a book or magazine talking about weapons. Back in the Cold War, Soviet spies would simply read newspapers or books that had general information about the weapons developed in the West. It wasn't the best, as classified info was hidden from the public, but general info was good enough to give one a basic idea.

A few minutes later, Aleksey managed to find a small general store with plenty of books shelved on one corner, he looked around and for any books relating to weapons but he ended up finding some interesting useful books for his mission like 'Safety Guides for Dust' and 'Remnant History', the former because he and other intel agents learned that dust is an energy source used by everyone in this world.

Some even managed to buy some and took it back to base for the researchers to check.

The second book was the basic history of the world he is on, Remnant. It was the name of this world and seeing that Aleksey was generally interested in history as well as his curiosity made him pick it up. That and the researchers would like to know more about this world so it was necessary to buy.

Not long after, the young soldier would find a magazine relating to aircrafts. Not exactly he was looking for but the book also shows military aircraft, skimming through the book for a bit, it was good enough to give him and his superiors a general idea of what this world is capable of in terms of airpower. Plus, the 'airships' aren't some helium filled balloons, they look like ships to be honest, and the book said that it was an educational one, and not fictional.

Taking his pick, he brought it to the counter to have it checked out, but there was one issue…

"600 lien?" Aleksey looks at the cashier with a raised brow. "Really?"

"Yeah kid, 200 lien each. You gonna pay up?" The cashier gave him an expecting look, and Aleksey wasn't exactly swimming in cash as he only has 300 lien on his pocket. Maybe he should've expected it too as the other villages were quite small, this village on the other hand was bigger and a little more developed, so of course prices would be a little higher.

As Aleksey was about to turn around to return the books he won't be able to pay for, only for a new voice to interrupt. "A-aren't those things costs like 20 lien? I-I mean, those are second hand too…"

Aleksey looks to his books, and despite it being in good condition, he now noticed some of the pages is a little folded as well as it was obviously used, not to mention, they weren't the best quality to be that expensive either. He then looks to the direction of a voice and saw a somewhat shy girl in red coat and nodded to her in thanks, before looking back at the cashier with a glare.

"O-oh, ah… sorry, I-I thought they were brand new…" The cashier made excuses as he shrunk under the glare of the soldier as well as other customers. "T-that'll be 60 lien."

Aleksey kept glaring at the cashier for the attempted scam until he finally exits the store, before waiting for the girl in red to get her stuff checked out.

"Hey." The girl in red coat paused in shock as Aleksey called out for her. "Thanks for pointing out that my books were second hand, I never thought I was being scammed there."

"A-ah, well I-I'm welcome." Aleksey asked himself if he heard that right, before the stuttering girl immediately noticed her error as her eyes widened. "Ah! W-wait no! I-I meant your welcome! Not I'm welcome!"

Aleksey can only chuckle a bit as the socially awkward girl cringed at her mistake, he'd have teased her but he'd rather not torture her awkwardness, especially that she's just a stranger. "Well no matter. Thank you again for pointing that out. I live in the wilderness so I'm not used to people taking advantage of me."

"A-ah, its okay, its okay. Y-you're welcome." The girl finally calms down a bit, before finding herself not being able to add anymore words to her sentence. Her social awkwardness kicks in again, trying to find a way to properly end the possible conversation! "My name's Ruby by the way!"

"Oh, well Ruby my name's Aleksey." Ruby Rose cringed internally when the young man in-front of her extended his hand for a handshake. She was trying to end the encounter of socializing, not adding more to the fire! But before she can continue, she then remembers her plan to prove her older sister wrong by proving her she can actually socialize!

Ruby shook Aleksey's hand with some hesitance, it wasn't always people willingly talked to her, let alone approach her. In the soldier's mind, he was getting worried if he did something wrong in a cultural sense. Maybe this girl, Ruby, is stuttering because a handshake to woman means marriage.

Hopefully that wasn't the case…

"Oh my goodness," Before Aleksey and Ruby can say anything else, another voice interrupted them. "My baby sister is actually talking to someone, a boy no less!"

"Yang!" Ruby turns to the blonde girl. "I-it isn't what you think!"

"What do you think I'm thinking?" The blonde, who was known as Yang, gave Ruby a smug look.

"You're thinking he's my boyfriend!" Ruby exclaims, still flustered, only to realize she dug her own grave when Yang gave a very smug and amused smile.

"Boyfriend? But I thought you were just making a normal friend… I guess my baby sister is bolder than I thought~" Yang chuckles as Ruby whines in frustration. Meanwhile, Aleksey wasn't exactly sure on how to respond yet, more concerned if he did something culturally inappropriate. Fortunately, it didn't seem to be the case as the people nearby ignored them, and the blonde woman, Yang, didn't show any signs of being offended as she teased Ruby.

"You must be interesting enough that my little sister willingly shake your hands." The blonde extends her arms for a handshake. "The name's Yang, you?"

"Aleksey." He shook Yang's hands as he nodded. "And I was just thanking your sister for saving me from being scammed by the cashier on that store. I needed some books and I'm not exactly rich."

"Heh, my little sister has always been the one for helping others. Though, as you might've noticed, she's a little socially awkward." Yang says with an amused yet proud smile. "So, you look like you didn't come from here."

"Ah, yeah, I came far from here. I'm not even sure far at this point." It wasn't lie really, he came from a different world, and the base housing the portal was 200km away from here. It was the same answer other agents have said when the locals asked them on where they came from, and from how no one bothers to ask, it was a fairly common answer, and quite reasonable too.

"Ah, so you've came from some Frontier village, you must be brave and skilled to get this far alone and only using an old rifle." Yang points out the Mosin-Nagant slinging on Aleksey's back.

"Just because it's old doesn't mean it's bad." Ruby suddenly chimes in as she closed in to Aleksey the moment he held his rifle, and for some reason she's no longer nervous as she began looking at his Mosin-Nagant. "The barrel is sufficiently long enough to launch any rounds at high-velocity and effective enough to cripple or kill grimm in one shot. Plus, it's also a bolt-action rifle, it's unlikely to jam and can be easily maintained, a very great gun for anyone living outside the walls."

Ruby then went onto the details of his rifle, examining its weight, length, ergonomics, even the mechanisms of the bolt, to the point that she managed to quickly field-strip it under a minute.

"She's quite the nerd when it comes to weapons." Yang whispered to Aleks as Ruby continues to ramble about his rifle, specifically being surprised that his rifle works quite well despite its age.

"Oh, it's even chambered in Vacuo's 7.62X54mm rounds from Genie arms! These rounds has are quite reliable on knocking out Grimm!" Ruby says, looking at the bullets she unloaded. "Though, they are quite rare around here in Vale. Where'd you got these Aleksey?"

"Ah… they were locally made. My village had some tools as well as the gunsmiths to produce those munitions." Again, not entirely a lie, as in his world, Slavic countries produces those rounds. He also took note of this 'Vacuo' place. Plus, this world producing similar calibers and cartridges was also worth noting, because he and other agents took note that munitions were the same, like 9mm, , 12gauge, and etc. And from what Ruby said, Soviet made munitions' also exist as this Vacuo place produces 7.62x54mm, and likely other similar rounds.

"That's cool! That means you don't have the trouble of trying to find special rounds somewhere!" Ruby exclaims as she quickly reassembled his Mosin. "Here! Take care of that rifle! It has great quality for something locally made let alone its age! Plus, it's a classic! Not many people these days care for older designs! Wanna see my weapon?!"

Behind Ruby, Yang shook her head and hands mouthing 'no' before Aleksey did the opposite and nods to her little sister. "My rifle isn't really something worth to be exciting about, but sure, I can see your weapon."

Yang facepalmed as Ruby gave out squee of excitement, finally being able to talk about her interests! "Then here's my baby!" She grabbed something that would appear to be a rifle behind her coat and raised it high. "Crescent Rose!"

And suddenly, the gun whirs a bit as it transforms into a scythe.

"What the…?" It was all Aleksey can mutter as Ruby proudly shows-off her… Rifle Scythe.

"She's awesome right?!" Ruby was jumping in joy internally as she showed off her pride and joy. Not many people are that impressed when she's showing off her weapon, but it looks like she found someone that is impressed with her work!

"Y-yeah… did that thing just transformed into a Scythe…?" Aleksey looks in visible surprise as he looks at her weapon, wondering on how it works.

"Yep!" Ruby then transforms it back to a rifle. "It's a High-Caliber Sniper-Scythe! I made it when I was young! Isn't it cool?!"

"Yeah… but why?" Really, Aleksey has a lot of questions to ask, but can't think of a better question than asking Ruby on why she made such a weapon.

"I need a great weapon to be a huntress of course!"

Huntsmen, Huntress. In the past few days, those were words that are said with importance from the locals. He and other agents didn't know or haven't seen these people that are referred as 'Hunters' as they initially thought they were just someone with the profession of hunting down animals as a way for a village to gather food.

But apparently, they were soon corrected that 'hunters' are commonly known as people with the occupation to protect people from Grimm and they are often known to carry specialized weapons and have something called 'Semblance'. They roam around the world and take jobs relating to protecting people, and hunting down Grimm. Unfortunately, none of Intel groups have yet to see any hunters, but right now, the girl in-front of him, Ruby, was starting to fit the description of a Hunter.

"Zherdev." The hidden ear piece crackled as his superior radioed him. "We don't know much about these 'Hunters' but from what we heard, they are important in this world. That girl claims she is one, so try and ask more questions about it."

"You're a hunter?" Aleksey immediately followed the order. "I-I'm sorry if I'm being naïve, but from where I came from, Hunters are kinda rare."

"Oh? Is this your first time seeing pretty huntresses like us?" Yang says in a teasing smirk, as her bracelets shifted into gauntlets with shotgun shells poking out, which Aleksey looks with some curiosity.

"I'm not lying. I haven't seen Hunters in my life. I only heard of them from stories I'm afraid." Not a lie, as Aleksey heard of these types of people before from the locals and didn't know what to expect. So seeing them pop-out odd weapons was… surprising to say lightly.

"Oh! Well we're heroes and warriors against the evil grimm!" Ruby cheerily chimes in. "We defend the people against Grimm or criminals that threaten peace! It's like heroes from comic books! We come in and save the day!"

"Yeah, though to be more accurate, we're Hunters-in-training. I and Ruby here decided to train by taking some extra jobs on clearing small pockets of Grimm in the area." Yang explains as she raised her fist, showing off her Gauntlets with pride. "And I say we're doing a great job on such task!"

"So you guys live here?" Aleksey curiously asked, eyeing at the odd weapons of Ruby and Yang.

"Nah, we live in Patch, the island nearby." Yang says, deactivating her gauntlets back to bracelets as she pointed her thumbs to her back. The map did say they were near the sea and a small island was nearby. "And just like what I said, we're visiting other nearby villages for practical experience. Soon enough, I'll be entering Beacon, a Huntsman Academy."

"And I'll be following Yang once I get a little older and become a hero!" Ruby says with passion and determination as she expertly flips her scythe.

"So I gotta ask, why the… transforming weapons?" Aleksey had to ask about that one.

"Oh? Well as you know there are many types of Grimm and since us Hunters are low in numbers, we have to adapt to the situation quickly." Ruby points to her scythe. "This is for dealing with large grimms or when they are too close." She then lets Crescent Rose transform to a Rifle. "And this is to deal with distant grimm, especially the ones that are flying! Plus, we prefer transforming weapons because switching is slower and gives the risk of us accidentally dropping it in a battle."

"Yeah, us Hunters needs to be versatile and all that." Yang shrugs before deploying her Gauntlets again. "Ember Celica is for beating the crap out of Grimm, with a little built in shotgun for range work. Though, many Hunters are trained to fight in-close range and in melee. Because you know, you'd likely run out of ammo against an enemy that are always great in numbers."

"Huh, well that makes sense, but are you not concerned of your weapons failing…? I mean, so many moving parts… if one piece gets damaged it could stop in a critical moment…" Aleksey says, because as much as it was cool, he was nervous about weapons suddenly breaking down in combat.

"Eh, we use Aura for that." Yang simply says and noticed Aleksey's confusion. "Y-you don't know Aura…?"

"I-I'm afraid not…"

"Wait, you seriously don't know?" Aleksey can only chuckle in nervousness as he felt like an idiot for not knowing a common knowledge in this world. Both the girls glanced with one another with Yang giving out a somewhat surprised look. "What kind of rock have you been living under in?"

"Well I did say I came from a far away land…" He then pulls out the books he bought. "Why'd you think I was buying these in the first place…?"

"O-oh… sorry." Yang apologized, feeling rude. "W-well don't worry about it, plenty of people knows Aura but don't know how it exactly works."

"Yeah, basically, Aura is the manifestation of the soul, any living beings have it." Ruby said, activating her Aura and surprising Aleksey when he saw the feint glow around her. "It can protect us from damages too, isn't it cool?!"

"Wha… and really…? It protects you from damage…?" Aleksey asks, not sure of he was seeing or hearing it right.

"Yeah, I mean look at this-" Yang used Ruby's scythe to give her small cut, as expected it was bleeding. But then she activated her aura, and the cut healed, she then tries to cut herself again, but her 'Aura' shimmers, protecting her from the blade. "Not only it protects, but helps you heal as well."

"Whoa… and you're saying that everyone has it?" Aleksey asked.

"Everyone has potential to have it. It just needs to be unlocked by other aura users." Yang says, and it gave Aleksey and his superiors some concerns as well as plenty of interests about Aura.

"So… not everyone has it?" Aleksey had to ask, it seems like this was a very necessary info to learn now.

"Nah. While having aura is beneficial as it provides protection and faster healing, it also requires some training to use it effectively not to mention, the Grimm can easily sense an Aura user." Yang exclaims before pointing over the walls. "As you know, our ever lovable soulless friends, the Grimm, are attracted to negative emotions. If one has their aura activated, their emotions can be easily sensed by the Grimm."

"And if Aura is unlocked to the untrained masses…" Aleksey figured it out as Yang and Ruby nods in serious manner.

"Yeah, there's a reason we only unlock Aura to a select few like us Hunters."

"On the plus side, we Hunters can easily attract Grimm to us and away from the innocents, making it a little easier if we're defending them." Ruby pointed out the upsides of Aura to lighten the mood.

Aleksey was quiet for a bit, taking all the information in. Grimm is attracted to negative emotions, and while Aura can act like a shield, it also makes it easy to be noticed by the Grimm. That was info worth taking note of, and he was sure the eggheads and other agents are taking note of this conversation.

"Wow… I guess I'm not getting my Aura unlocked then." Aleksey broke the silence after a few seconds as well as making a good implication that he doesn't want his Aura to be unlocked. Hell, he wasn't even sure if he even has Aura with him as he came from a different world.

"Heh, don't worry about it, want to ask us more with snacks? My treat." Yang offers with Aleksey shaking his head in modesty.

"Eh, no thanks, I don't want to trouble you."

"Oh come on Aleksey, you're a pretty cool guy." And then she gave off a teasing smirk. "Plus, aren't you my sister's boyfriend?"

"Yang!" Ruby whines in annoyance and embarrassment of being teased as Aleksey can only chuckle and accept the blonde's offer.

XXXXX

Ukrainian General Andriy Melnyk, the man in-charge of security of the portal both in earth, and here in Remnant. The man expected many things to happen in like the moment he became a general for his homeland, but exploring and guarding a door to a new world wasn't in the list of what he expected in his career.

Because really, a portal to a different world only appears in entertainment like sci-fi and fantasy novels, and a world where unexplainable things like, dark creatures dissipating when they die, or a strange energy source that is called 'dust'. A premise like that wouldn't sound or look out of place in a book or in television, but in real-life?

He'll want to check if his sanity is fine if that's the case, and maybe check if the anomalies from STALKER are starting to exist.

But Andriy wasn't complaining with his current task, even with the oddities this world has shown, he enjoyed the beautiful view of the nature, as well as the fresh air, unmolested by industrialization. All its missing now is the peace and quiet as every hour, periodic gunfire would erupt to kill any those dark creatures that dares to get close to the base.

He honestly thought that killing those things were threatening them to extinction at first, but after their intelligence agents returns with info, those creatures were actually demons according to the locals, and killing Grimm is actually a good thing.

Between killing people, he'd choose defending oneself from the Grimm for obvious morality reasons. Andriy saw what conflict can do to people, studying in Germany when the war on terror kicked in, he was filled in fear when the GLA caused chaos in Europe. All the innocent lives lost, all the cruel deaths from toxic weapons, he hated those sights. It was even worse when the GLA was actually winning, even forcing the Americans to go to isolation, with China coming into Europe to save them. Even then, those madmen were liberal with the usage of nukes.

Even after years after the defeat of the GLA, conflict had to follow him back to his homeland. Ukrainian Civil War, were the Pro ECA west vs Pro-Russian East came clashing against one another. While the Civil War was brief, it was still bloody. He was part of the West, but when the ECA refused to help, he felt somewhat betrayed. Even worse, when the Russians intervened successfully, he feared that their large neighbor in the East would take advantage of them.

Fortunately, Russia's old corrupt government was replaced with Suvorov's administration decades ago. Their current government is more reasonable and actually helpful. There's a reason why they assisted them on securing and researching the portal that appeared in Pripyat with a fair promise of many scientific achievements. And his task of guarding researchers against creatures of darkness was a noble goal compared to fighting in pointless wars.

Currently, he looked outside the window to see Ukrainian and Russian Kodiak tanks, as well as Tunguska mobile AA exiting the portal. They were supposed to replace the old T-64 Rhinos and the Shilka AA in-case they found themselves in a conflict against the civilization here in Remnant. Andriy grimaced at that, even in a different world, war always follows.

He really hoped that it wouldn't end with them being hostile when the inevitable time they'll introduce themselves to this world.

"General. The officials have arrived for the tour." A soldier reported in.

"Oh, it's time already? Well I guess I should get going then." Andriy emptied his cup of tea before walking away. Peace or War, it's always going to make him busy.

Hopefully, nothing would interrupt them in this nice day.

XXXXX

"So not only aura protects and heals, but can also extend to your weapons to protect it?"

"Yep! There's a reason why a lot of transforming weapons don't jam or break as often. You have aura enhancing the mechanisms to ensure it works! That and lots of precise engineering!" Ruby summarized the other enhancing effects of Aura to Aleksey as they ate in a small café, with Ruby munching on some cookies, while Yang drank soda, and him eating some bread.

"Wow, and semblances… those things are pretty much superpowers. That's quite one hell of a combo for one person." Aleksey exclaims in honest surprise. He can't deny that huntsmen are pretty much superheroes with their odd, yet cool looking weapons, and Aura shielding them, as well as their Semblances supplementing their fighting skills.

"Yep! I can even show you how Crescent Rose and my semblance mix so awesomely together!" Ruby exclaims excitedly, especially when she saw Aleksey actually showing both interest in her weapon and herself.

"Heh, once we get outside the walls we can go hunting some Grimm." Yang then pauses as he looks to Aleksey. "You can fight right?"

"Well I wouldn't be here right now if can't fight right?" Aleksey shrugs with as he crosses his arms in confidence. The moment he entered the portal with the coalition, he already started fighting Grimm where he and the troops immediately learned where to shoot Grimm effectively to put them down quickly, as well as maneuvering around the wave of Grimm to prevent getting overrun. Not to mention, he was out in the field for days now, where he fought Grimm on his own with nothing but a rifle. Granted, he knew how to keep his distance and shoot accurately and quickly as well as running away from larger Grimm.

"All right! Looks like we have some practice in the woods!" Yang then turns back to Aleksey again. "And you sure you don't want your Aura unlocked…?"

"Eh… no thanks." Aleksey shook his head, he was actually interested to have one, but he came from a different world, so there's a good chance he can't have aura and such discovery might expose of who he really was. "I'd rather be away from the Grimm's radar, plus, I prefer to shoot them from afar anyways."

"Oh well, Ruby, keep a watch on Aleks just to be safe while we're outside the walls, you know the drill." Yang said as she stood up from her chair.

"Don't worry Yang, it's not like I would forget something important from Dad's lessons." Ruby follows as Aleksey shrugs. He doesn't mind being under the watch of the two especially if they're taking their jobs seriously. Plus, from all he heard, he expects much from these 'Hunters'.

But as they walk up to the gate, there was a commotion as the people looked at the guards rushing to open the gate before groups of men rushed in.

"Move out of the way, we got wounded!" The leading man shouted as the crowd dispersed to side of the streets where they'll see several people heavily wounded and bleeding as they were brought inside.

And before anyone can ask for what's going on, the guards rushed to close the gate, and a man with a hunting rifle immediately moved in-front of the crowd and announced in a somewhat panicked voice: "Everyone! Hide in the town hall! We have a huge wave of Grimm coming towards this village!"

In an instant, the villagers who were simply minding their own businesses earlier quickly dropped what they were doing and fearfully ran to hide in the reinforced town hall.

"Shit!" Yang cursed as the moment quickly became serious before turning to the guards. "How much, and how long before the Grimm can arrive?"

"Not too far from here! From what I heard, there are at least hundreds coming towards this village!" The guard on top of the wall exclaims. "You kids should hunker down in the town hall-"

"No! We're Hunters, we can help!" Ruby draws out her weapon and let it transform to a scythe to show proof that she was a hunter. Yang follows as she activates her Gauntlets, showing that she was also a hunter.

The village militia cheers a bit, happy that they have some help in the form of Yang and Ruby. Meanwhile, Aleksey quietly radioed his squad, and he isn't happy from what he is hearing.

"There's Grimm converging in your area, and we've received orders to leave the area. Zherdev, you need to leave as well and meet up with us." His squad radioed, and from the sounds of it, they were running.

"What? Why?" Aleksey says in a hushed tone. "And also, the village closed its gates, I can't leave."

"You can't leave?! Blyat!" His squad leader cursed, before hearing some silenced gunfire in the background, likely shooting down some Grimm. "Command says they can't provide any support! It's too far, as well as not wanting to expose our forces to the public of this world!"

"Shit! C-can't you guys assist!?" Aleksey asked with a combination of a desperate and hopeful tone.

"Nyet! There's a huge horde of Grimm converging on the village!" Another suppressed gunshot in radio's background. "There's even a pack of those wolves that found us! D-don't worry, we're dealing with them just fine, and we're already moving to the evac site! You on the other hand, try to find a way to leave that village! If you can't, then stay alive! Try to survive as much as you can!"

The radio then cuts off as Aleksey looks around, very concerned at the fact that he was alone in the area with no support. He then glanced at the town hall where the locals are hiding in, he can easily stay with them and wait out this Grimm attack before leaving. He then glances back at the wall, where the village militia prepared themselves while both Yang and Ruby talked to the chief about the plan for defense.

Aleksey then glances to his rifle as he holds it tightly.

"I'm a soldier. I'm supposed to be protecting innocents…" He mutters, before quickly running up to the militia, his intentions clear. Yes, he might be disobeying his superior's orders about leaving and surviving, but he can't obviously do that when the village he's in is surrounded and in the possible threat of getting overran by Grimm. He's just defending himself alongside the locals, so yes, he is following their orders.

"Hey! I'm here to help!" Aleksey said as he raised his rifle to show he was armed and ready to defend.

"Aye, come on then kid! We'll need lots of help on this one!" The chief said as he waved him in.

"Heh, glad to see you joining us, Aleks." Yang said as she pulls up the young soldier up the wall's platform, overlooking the clearing outside. In the distance, the trees slightly shook as birds flew away fearfully, no doubt, the Grimm running towards them.

"Well I can't just sit around and do nothing. Not when I'm capable of planting lead on the demon's skulls." Aleksey chambers his rifle and aiming towards the tree line.

"You'd do well as a Huntsman with how you think, Aleksey." Ruby exclaims as she also did the same, her eyes focusing on the scope of her rifle. "And hey, you might see how cool Crescent Rose can be in combat!"

"I'll think about that Ruby, and yeah, looking forward to see the show." Aleksey can only chuckle a bit as the sisters and the militia prepared for the incoming wave, because a little laugh is one of the ways that can calm his nerves.

'RAAGH!'

Suddenly, several Grimm roared as they stepped out of the tree line. Men and women who have ranged weapons began shooting. From arrows, to bullets, all crippled and killed the first line of Grimm, like young beowolves, Boarbatusks, and etc.

Of course, what followed was a concerning one, because it was a Deathstalker, a large one. And the armored giant scorpion was charging towards the wooden walls and has a good chance of breaking through. Normally, Aleksey and his squad would surround it and shoot its legs, before killing it with explosives, or just marking it for the helicopters or tanks to deal with it.

But unfortunately, he didn't have the benefit of getting heavy fire support for the past few days. He mainly just avoids the larger Grimms entirely, and avoiding the deathstalker wasn't an option here as he and the people around him have nowhere to go.

Then for some reason, rose petals appeared on his side where Ruby was supposed to be standing, only to for his eyes to see a long trace of rose petals going over the wall and towards the large death scorpion.

And in a glimpse, he saw Ruby, firing a shot to the head of the Deathstalker, causing it to stagger as she immediately moved to its side, firing another shot and using the momentum from the recoil to swing her rifle as she shifts it to a scythe, cleanly cutting off three legs of the giant scorpion.

The Deathstalker didn't appreciate such gesture, as it tried to turn towards Ruby, but was then interrupted by shotgun blasts from Yang as she charges in, before jumping into the air and using the momentum of her fall to crush and blast the scorpions head with her shotgun gauntlets.

The militia briefly cheered on the two huntresses as they eliminated the large threat in such a short period of time, and cheered a little more as they continued to slaughter more Grimm, giving the defenders a morale boost as Yang and Ruby eased the pressure for the villagers. Meanwhile, Aleksey can't help but smile in awe at the show of force from his acquaintances. Now he can see why 'Hunters' are put in pedestals and looked up to, they save the defenseless while looking cool at the same time.

"Damned show-offs…"

XXXXX

Opening up his flask, Qrow Branwen drank alcohol to satisfy his daily needs to get drunk. That, and to kill the stress of dealing school paper works. Being a teacher in Signal was quite the pain in the ass especially if you also double as an agent for an immortal wizard. Because really, preparing kids to become a huntsman, while looking out for Salem's agents around Remnant, as well as finding possible threats, is really not relaxing. At this point, he was considering to get a vacation, but seeing that classes will start in a month means he has to stay and do some work, specifically, paperwork. He'd rather fight a horde of Grimm with a spoon then be stuck in this hell.

"Qrow!" The drunk didn't bother batting an eye to the person calling him as he quickly recognized the voice. "Qrow! Stop ignoring me, damn it!"

"Ugh, what do you want Tai, can't you see I'm busy?" Qrow annoyingly looks towards the blonde man as he continued to drink.

"Ruby just called, and that there's a village on the mainland getting attacked by Grimm! And right now, they are slowly getting overrun, and they need help!" Tai, the father of both Yang and Ruby exclaims in great concern as other teachers/hunters ran behind him.

"Oh… Oh shit!" Qrow rolls out of his chair, ignoring on how he toppled some papers off the table, quickly realizing the gravity of the situation.

"Come on!" The two ran through the school's hallways and outside into a pair of waiting bullheads where other Hunters are boarding in for the rescue mission.

While mostly concerned for his nieces and the innocent people, Qrow can't help but internally sigh, a teacher, an agent, and a huntsman. Three jobs and he need a fucking vacation.

XXXXX

Things are starting to look bad for the defenders after a while. For one, the hordes Grimm have forced Ruby and Yang to retreat, giving the creatures the chance to reach the walls and damage it, causing them to be able to climb up, and get inside the village. It was bad that there were wounded, and half of the defenders were forced to stop to drag the wounded away, causing the Grimm to easily get in, causing more panic among the militia.

While the chief was quick to rally-up the men and women back to defense, the Grimm was now on the streets, making it difficult to be on the defensive compared to being behind a wall and on top of a platform as the creatures of darkness quickly moved around without anything to slow them down, causing some gory casualties.

By now, the Grimm were half-way to the Town-hall, but the remaining defenders, Aleksey, and the Huntress duo halted the Grimm's advance to ensure that no more innocent lives can be lost. Ruby was more determined though, it's not every day one can see someone dying a gory death, and she doesn't want to see other people share the same fate as she swathed Grimm left and right. She was sad, disappointed, and angry when she failed to save those people from getting caught to those dark devils.

Yang felt it too. She has seen a death or two in the frontiers when someone failed to defend themselves from the Grimm, and it was never pretty. To see and hear people screaming in agony as they were torn to pieces in real life was really unpleasant, and to think she just scoffs or laugh off those gory scenes in some movies for being unrealistic was kinda pissing her off.

And it really pisses her off when the monsters in-front of her is winning.

Her semblance has been activated the moment things went south, her hair was in a blaze, and her strikes were getting powerful as her aura tanked hits from the Grimm. She was fighting like a berserker, ignoring hits she can take, and punching hard to the black masses in-front of her to the point that she upper-cuts an Ursa dead the moment she struck and launching it into the air.

"…ang! Yang!" Her anger induced rage paused as she glanced to the person calling her, it was Aleksey. "We need to fall back! We're getting flanked!"

Yang looked to the side and saw Grimm advancing towards the civilian filled town hall. The militia members were forced to fall back due to a small flock of Nevermores launching a barrage of their sharp feathers towards the defensive lines. This caused the blonde berserker to click her tongue, before punching away some Grimm nearby, as she backed off for some space.

"Ruby!" Yang called, as her sister just finished slicing a pack of Beowolves like grass. Ruby didn't need any orders as she simply nodded, knowing that they need to deal with the threats up in the sky.

Meanwhile, Aleksey wished the sisters good luck as they hopped onto the roofs to deal with the flock, while he sniped a small nevermore that attempted to dive on him, ending with it smacking on the ground, heavily wounded, as it was finished off by a nearby spearman.

Compared to the militia and the two huntresses, the young soldier didn't let the situation get to him as he kept his emotions under control. When Aleksey began training in the Spetsnaz Guards Brigade at the age of 16, one of the things they taught him was keeping watch of his emotions, and keeping calm in stressful situations, and that lesson served him well during the final years in the African Resource Rush, fighting against the GLA. Despite the terror of getting outnumbered by rebels and anthrax attacks, Aleksey kept a good hold of his fear and calmly took accurate shots to anything that threatened him.

And just like a year ago, Zherdev the young soldier, calmly picked off any Grimm that threatens him, or the good people around him. He fired an accurate shot to a Beowulf's head and shattering its bone plating on its, causing it to stagger from the impact and wounds. Aleksey didn't delay as he immediately chambered another round and double tapped the beast, watching it fall limp lifelessly as he cocked his rifle once more for the next target.

Deep inside, Aleksey was mad, he was a soldier and his duty was to protect the innocent and the defenseless, and the army he was in, his comrades, his nation, wasn't keen on doing that right now. He understood the order to stay away from the public eyes of this world, he understood the risks, but he really wishes they can drop that and just come here and help! Fuck politics and bureaucracy, screw the old men that let young men die for pointless reasons, and screw the government and their self-interests!

Aleksey angrily bashed an Ursa's head with the buttstock of his rifle, before quickly firing a point-blank shot to its eye the moment it tried to recover, causing it to die instantly as the bullet easily pierced through. Knowing he fired his fifth shot, the soldier fumbles for more ammo behind his coat, only to realize that it was his last shot, and in that realization and internal anger, he didn't notice the Beowulf that rushed up to him until the last minute as he reflexively used his rifle to block its sharp claws as it pinned him down to the ground.

The Grimm was merely an inch away from biting Aleksey's face, and with strength, he managed to keep the wolf in bay as its claws pressed down on his rifle between them. Fear, anger and desperation came to Zherdev, he was a soldier and he is prepared to die, but that didn't mean he wants to die, he was useless if he was dead, and if he isn't around to help, then more people could get hurt!

His desperation caused adrenaline to rush in, giving him some strength to push away the Beowulf momentarily, enough time for him to grab his pistol. And in a smooth and swift motion, he flicked off the safety and pressed the barrel on the Grimm's belly, the APS Stechkin roared in a long burst, planting pieces of lead into the demonic wolf's body before it succumbs in pain and went limp.

Aleksey wasted no time pushing aside the dissipating corpse as he quickly stood up as a Boarbatusk charged towards him. He was quick on his feet to get out its way, before extending his leg to kick the boar to its side, causing it to tumble and exposing its unarmored belly, to which Zherdev quickly took advantage of it as he immediately unloaded a burst of bullets to its neck, killing it.

With no Grimm currently coming down on him yet, Aleksey can sigh in relief and calm himself down to assess the situation. Right now, Yang and Ruby successfully taken down the flock of Nevermores, the militia was now holding their ground as the Grimm's numbers were whittled down, and in the distance, he saw a pair of aircrafts referred as 'Bullheads' hovering in place as people jumped out from hit, and judging from the weapons they carried and the feint glow around them can only mean that they were hunters. And it shows when they quickly and effectively began slaughtering Grimm left and right with little issue, as the village defenders cheered them on as they were saved.

The soldier would've been happy that help finally arrived, if it weren't for the fact that he was hit with sharp pain as his legs were stabbed by the stinger of a small Deathstalker he failed to notice, and what's worse is that a second scorpion comes in, this time, large as a dog, its stinger stabbing him in the chest.

The stab wounds on both his leg and chest followed by the stinging venom caused the young soldier to hit the ground in agony. Aleksey was mad at himself for not noticing the bastards that sneaked up on him, but quickly shrugs it off as he realized that the scorpions were still there, and were now moving in for the kill.

Fighting the pain, he wildly fired his automatic pistol on the scorpions, and relieved to see that the pistol rounds were sufficient enough to penetrate the exoskeleton of the young deathstalkers, but his brief victory was cut short when he saw an Ursa charging towards him, its intentions clear.

With a panic, as well as feeling the sharp stinging pain, Aleksey frantically reloads his empty pistol in an attempt to defend himself. But deep inside, he was reluctantly starting to accept the end of his life, as he was poisoned and likely to be mauled to death in a foreign land. Even if he knows his pistol won't be able to do much against the thick skin of the demonic bear coming towards him, he wants to show his defiance.

Time slowed down as his end approaches. His Stechkin pistol rapidly spraying rounds towards his target, watching as the 9x18mm rounds was shrugged off by the incoming Ursa. To think he fought under the flag of the red bear, only to die to one, how ironic.

As he was about to close his eyes in reluctance to his incoming fate, he saw something red on the edge of his sight. The moment Aleksey looks to the side, rose petals fell on him as Ruby jumped above him with her scythe spinning down to strike the charging Ursa, stabbing and slicing the dark creature clean.

"Aleks!" Ruby turns wide-eyed in shock to the young soldier as she finished off the beast. "Aleksey! No!"

"I-I'm fine…" Aleksey wasn't fine with the agonizing pain he felt, but he said it to try and calm Ruby down even though it had little to no effect. "Thank you Ruby…"

His thanks echoed around Ruby's head. It was the first thing he said to her when they met, and Ruby was happy to hear his thanks. And despite knowing one another for a short time, she finds herself liking Aleksey as it was great to find a person that share similar interests with one another. It felt nice having a friend.

And her new friend was about to die…

Not wanting to see her newly-made friend expire, Ruby's mind frantically tries to remember the lessons from Signal on what to do when it comes to dealing with wounded civilians. One idea that got into her mind was first-aid, but she lacks any medicine to pull that off, as well not being trained enough to pull it off. Then she thought of Aura…

Wasting no time, her palm landed on his chest and mutters some words, and deep inside Aleksey, his soul began glowing to life.

XXXXX

That was a long chapter, but it's my way of catching up on the long update time. And for those waiting to see action with the units from the game then you'll have to wait, as in the early chapters will be some build-ups like the coalition introducing themselves to public, and the effects it has on Remnant, that and establish my main character, Aleksey Zherdev, because you'll likely see more of him.

Either way, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter, and do leave some constructive criticism in the reviews, as I'll appreciate finding ways to improve my writings.

Now be safe to all the people in these trying times.