Summary/Disclaimer: Time for another chapter of A Lingering Ember. Enjoy the 2000-word chapter. I don't own RWBY, Monty Oum, and Rooster Teeth do.

(Mistral.)

Neo blinked and looked at the henchmen handling Dust Crystals and sighed, wondering when Desmond would be back.

She was cut off by a flash of light followed by a voice.

"Hello!" She heard and she quickly tornado kicked the person behind her while activating the blade on Bittersweet while pinning the figure to the ground.

She blinked as she realized the figure was a grinning Desmond who moved her umbrella away with his cane.

"Hey, at least tell me you're going to kick me to the ground before you do it…" Desmond said before Neo puffed out her cheeks in annoyance and backflipped off Desmond who used Melodic Cudgel to climb to his feet.

"I should have told you my semblance lets me teleport to anywhere I want… As long I can remember the location… And it isn't continents away… And it takes time to do it." Desmond muttered before he dusted off his coat and walked to the edge of the ledge.

"Alright… Listen up meatheads, I got good news and bad news…." Desmond said before he pulled out his scroll.

"The good news is, your all about to receive a very generous paycheck along with me and we will be expanding quite a bit with recruits," Desmond stated, his and Neo's henchmen grinned before Desmond held up his hand while they started to cheer.

"Bad news is… We have to kill a lot of very bad people to do it… Like a lot, I'd feel bad about it, but you see why I don't." Desmond said before he displayed a picture of a group clad in grey armor with an Ursa painted red on the back of them.

"These are the Grey Ursa, a very heavily armed, heavily armored… Dangerous more or less, group of mercenaries who have been raiding other criminal groups and the White Fang... Dust, ammo, anything you'd want, they steal…" Desmond said before he turned back to the now nervous henchmen.

"We… Are going to raid their supply base and steal that stuff back… Along with finding out where their Airship: The Percival, would be… We pull this off, Junior has agreed to commit more men and look for fresh recruits for our little gang I plan on making a syndicate of." Desmond said before he moved onto a picture of a Grey Ursa merc executing a civilian.

"You are fully allowed to kill any Grey Ursa members you encounter… They will not hesitate to kill you… And along with kidnapping, murder, arson… A very long list of very nasty charges… This is why I feel so little remorse for this… Now, onto my plan." Desmond said before he moved the slideshow onto a map.

"I happened to buy a map out of my pocket… Your welcome. I and a group of you will be dropping down in the forest… Here." Desmond said before putting a pin on the map.

"Neo and another group of you gentlemen will land here, flanking them, and take out any sentries," Desmond stated another pin.

"The last of you will stay in a Bullhead, your serve as reinforcements and air support… I call you in? You strafe them, but you're there mostly to bring in more guys if I or Neo need it… Any questions?" Desmond asked, he saw none and turned back to Neo.

"Ok, get ready and go, I wish we had people for here, but we're all going to go if we're going to handle them… Pack everything you don't feel is good in the open and get a Bullhead…" Desmond said before he vaulted the railing and landed on a table.

"I'll see you at the base…" Desmond stated to Neo before 2 of the thugs looked at her. They walked out the door with Neo and 4 other thugs boarded their Bullhead.

The 2 other Bullheads flew off into the distance.

(10 minutes away, 20 miles away)

Desmond was glad he could also get fuel stolen. He and his henchmen formed up around him along with Neo and her group of henchmen.

All of the gang looked down on what could only be called an abandoned Mistral base, it was rectangular, with gates with turrets around each edge.

There were also watchtowers, each had 2 mercenaries on them, each looking down on a part of the forest.

"Well… I hope none of you are thinking of backing out…. Neo, take your group and take care of the back… The rest of you, wait till mi inside and those guns are down… And the second I call it in, bring in the Bullhead… And like I said, no mercy, you need to shoot someone inside there? You do it, their scumbags… I'm not going to cry over a bunch of former Mistral soldiers." Desmond said before he dropped down from the cliff and rushed towards the base.

He fired the grappling hook for his cane at a ledge and managed to slip by the turret that swung back to look at him.

"Idiots are so convinced nobody will raid them they don't even set up motion sensors or such…" Desmond muttered before he looked at the towers, he would have to neutralize them before Neo and the others could attack.

He saw a box of Dust canisters and grinned, it might not be a quiet plan… But stealth was going to go out the window the second the gunshots went off.

(With Neo)

One of the mercs turned to see Neo stab her through the chest, she usually only used Bittersweet's blade for killing wounded enemies… But killing, in general, was still killing.

She looked up in time to see an explosion rock one of the 2 towers before she saw Desmond duck a slice to his head before he threw the man over the edge with the hook of his cane to the man's wrist.

He turned and shot the other merc, he flipped over the ledge, slamming into the ground, dead before he hit the ground.

"Attack! We're under attack!" A Grey Ursa mercenary shouted before Neo vaulted onto his shoulders and snapped his neck with her feet before vaulting off the dead mercenary as he hit the ground.

"Attack!" One of Desmond's men yelled while Neo's group surged forward, they shot 2 of the mercenaries in the head before they started to get shot at.

(With Desmond)

Desmond saw a squad of Grey Ursa mercs rush out the front gate while he shut down the turrets which buzzed as they lost power.

"Bring in the Bullhead, we need reinforcements…" Desmond ordered on his scroll while he turned to a merc who batted him backward.

Desmond rubbed his back before he shot the man in the chest which sent him sliding back, he looked at his scroll again.

"Neo, how are things on your end going? I just got hit… I think we've drawn out the entire group… And the defenses are down… But these guys are tough and there's much more of them than there is us." Desmond asked, using his cane to climb to his feet, he cracked his back and looked around.

All he could hear was gunfire and shouting, he walked out of the command center and looked around.

"Neo!" Desmond yelled before 2 Grey Ursa mercs came sliding around the corner before Neo flipped until she was in front of him.

"You good? How are things going?" Desmond asked before he heard the strafing of the Bullhead which wiped out 6 or so of the 2-dozen remaining mercs.

4 more of Desmond's men deployed from the Bullhead which spun off before anyone could get another good shot.

"You take care of your side, I'll wipe out the ones on the other side…" Desmond said, a bullet nicked his neck and he growled before shooting the man.

His Aura healed the cut before he marched towards the 12 remaining mercs on his side.

(With Neo)

Neo watched one of Desmond's men take a bullet to the chest before falling over. She then watched one of the Grey Ursa soldiers draw his ax and rush forward at her.

She easily dodged the man before smashing the handle of her umbrella into his face, she then kicked him to the ground and stabbed him in the back.

She turned and blocked another round from a merc who blinked. Neo smirked and waggled her finger before the man was gunned down by another of Desmond's men.

She had an idea and looked at one of the fallen mercs, clearly an officer. She looked over to see Desmond block a punch to his face before clubbing the man he was fighting over the head and using the hook of Melodic Cudgel to toss him to the ground by his wrist.

He turned to her and fired, she turned to watch another Mercenary fall from the gate to the ground.

That was before another merc tackled him and started stabbing at him with his knife.

Neo started to run towards the man before Desmond headbutted the man and used his new leverage to push the man up before booting him in the face.

Desmond grabbed Melodic Cudgel and used it to flip his hat into his hand before dusting it off.

"So uncivilized." Desmond joked before the mercenaries held up their hands.

"We give up, we give up!" One of the mercs yelled while the 8 remaining henchmen Desmond had slowly surrounded them.

"I'm sorry, I beg your pardon?" Desmond asked, dusting off his coat while Neo walked next to him.

She was starting to see more of Roman in Desmond. He looked at the remaining mercenaries before walking over to them.

"You rob up and down Mistral, you nearly hurt the lovely lady I have with me… And yet you're done? Boys, is my hearing going, or did they just give up after all this bloodshed?" Desmond asked while the Bullhead he ordered landed on the landing pad for the base.

"You would have killed all of us if we didn't." A merc said before Desmond pointed the barrel of Melodic Cudgel at her.

"And what makes you think I won't now? I might not be a Huntsmen, but I'm not a scumbag willing to kill innocent people… What's stopping me from just killing the rest of you and taking all those supplies you have here?" Desmond asked, Neo unloaded her umbrella and rested it on her shoulder. She leaned on Desmond.

"We could get you in touch with a few more groups willing to work for cheap… And we're joining you." One of the Grey Ursa soldiers said.

Desmond sighed and put a hand to his face before leaning on his cane.

"Since my little growing gang of thieves is also co-run by miss Neo here… I will let her decide on what to do with you…" Desmond said before he turned to Neo.

"What about it, sweet tooth, you're the tiebreaker, you helped me handle this raid… You decide if they get to join." He stated while Neo looked over the group of soldiers. She knew if they had joined, they might return for payback.

But they also needed more manpower.

"Keep them," Neo stated to Desmond heard before he nodded and turned to the thugs with amusement,

"Welcome to the club." He said with a smirk while his men helped the mercs up.

Author Note

Phew, another chapter is done! I'm sorry the fight was a bit rushed; I'll make the fights coming up better. I also want to point out Neo isn't fighting Cinder in this story; she will fight Emerald and Mercury though. The next chapter will be on Saturday or so and will show Desmond and Neo talking. Until then, Lighting Wolf out!

Ps: Terra Arc's story is going to be next and will come out tomorrow.