Not everyone is sticking to the 6 feet apart advice. A cute little tortoiseshell kitten trotted up to me while doing yard work on Saturday. She loves pets and is such a purrer. We have her locked in the bathroom while we're waiting for an appointment to get her all the new kitten things. Now we have to hope the resident kitty likes the newcomer...

Enough COVID update. Onto something a little less depressing.

Ruby snapped her eyes open as she felt herself falling. She crashed onto the metal floor. Before, she would have barely felt the impact. Without wards or Aura now, she groaned and rolled on the floor as her entire right arm ached. When she finally came to her senses, she felt herself being pressed into the metal beneath her at a slight angle. She also noticed the elevation alarms blaring. The Avenger was repositioning. Every time that happened before while she was asleep, Central's initial call over the intercom woke her up. Either those sleeping pills Invidia smuggled her worked better than they should have or Ruby was finally enjoying a night without nightmares. Probably both.

As soon as the ship reached cruising altitude and speed, Ruby stood up and walked to the door. She opened it and poked her head out into the common area. All the soldiers out there stood tense. Some had their armor laid out in front of them with others putting bits and pieces on. Ruby clenched her teeth and forced her groggy brain into battle mode.

The medic from the mission than XCOM rescued Ruby walked out of her next door room dragging the entirety of her torso armor. Ruby at least had a… not hostile relationship with her. "Bones, what's the situation?"

Bones hauled up her chestpiece and faced Ruby at the same time. "ADVENT is attacking a resistance haven in northeastern New Mexico. We're going to respond." She paused as she knelt down to grab one of her pauldrons. "By New Mexico, I mean the state, not the ADVENT region. Screw that naming system."

Ruby fully stiffened. "Military or civilian?"

Bones gave Ruby a look. "We're the only fully non civilian resistance group on Earth. They're blasting civies left right and center."

The Rider threw herself back into her room and ripped her armor out from underneath her bed. It had been a while since she responded to any Grimm attacks, but those images were burned into her memories forever. Huntsmen lying dead, children screaming for their parents, numerous lives ruined. There was no way she was staying behind on this mission.

Just as she finished strapping her chest plate into place, the Avenger's intercom clicked. "The following soldiers, please report to the hangar. Captain Fahim Sall, Sergeant Natalie Peters, Corporal Ruby Rose, Corporal Tahvo Marlov, and Squaddie Zenmato Ven. Get moving people."

That made things a little easier, for Ruby anyway. She heard a few muffled groans filter through her open door. She sped through getting her armor on and strapped her greaves as she walked through the common room and the corridors beyond. Ruby ran through her temporary teammates in her head. Natalie was Bones, Zenmato was the blue skinned Twi'lek, if that's what his species was called. Tahvo… Grizzly didn't like Ruby. They didn't interact much, but he never lost a chance to throw a glare at his fellow soldier. Ruby had heard of Fahim Sall, but she didn't have a face to go with it.

She walked into the armory and saw the three people that she did know. All those soldiers roamed around the racks of guns and other war materiel. Ruby walked past all of them and looked over the few snipers. As far as she knew, only a covert action and a few scouting missions went out. Still, someone could have used her weapon for whatever reason. She pulled out the gun in the slot she used before and flipped it over. Sure enough, the 'X' she marked sat where it should be. She didn't have the scanning abilities of her old bionic eye, so she'd have to do things the old-fashioned way.

Ruby stepped to a nearby table and began disassembling her weapon. Even though this was her first time working with this rifle, her experience with literally hundreds of others made it quick work. She crossed her teeth as she examined the chamber assembly. That thing could take a big bullet. Ruby grabbed one of the sniper mags and ejected one of the bullets. Eighteen millimeter… that packed one heck of a punch and also explained the limited clip size. It couldn't quite pierce a tank's armor by itself, but it sure would dent it. That made Ruby feel a little better about the lack of bullets per mag.

After cleaning every individual part, Ruby looked around the armory as she fit everything back together. Firebrand and a couple other people worked on various places around the Skyranger. The other soldiers… stood around talking. Ruby narrowed her eyes at them and her mouth dropped open. What the heck were they doing? Their equipment saved their lives and lives of others. Didn't they know they needed to take care of their kit? Ruby growled and returned her attention to her own work. She couldn't let them get to her. She'd carry all their asses if she needed to.

The doors to the armory opened behind Ruby. "Menace! Status report!" an unfamiliar voice called. His accent sounded like a combination of southern Animan like Scarlet and something from a north Vacuan tribe. That was a strange combination. Ruby turned her head toward the newcomer. A brute of a man with almost black skin stood in military fatigues just inside the armory. He stood straight as an arrow with his hands on his hips. The sight might have brought a tear to Winter's eye.

The other three members of the squad whipped around and stood at attention. "We were just waiting on you sir," Bones said. Judging by the 'sir' and their reactions, this had to be Captain Sall.

"Just me?" He looked around the area until his eyes rested on Ruby. "What are you doing over there, newbie?"

"Just checking my weapon, sir." Ruby slapped the last bit of her weapon into place. "Don't want my first shot to be an errant bullet like last time."

Sall nodded. "Good woman. Maybe you can teach some of our other operatives to do the same." Ruby joined the rest of the squad and Sall looked them over. "Listen up! These ADVENT wankers think they can just waltz into any camp protected by us and just kill everyone inside with no repercussions. We all know they are wrong. We are going to fly into camp, kick their asses, and unless the Commanders says otherwise, join them for a nice cup of tea before we relocate them. Do I make myself clear soldiers?" All soldiers gave their own versions of 'yes sir,' some of them in other languages.

"We're good to go, Captain," Firebrand called from just outside the Skyranger. "Central just gave us the go ahead for aerial takeoff."

"You heard the lady! Grab your kit and get moving!"

The squad scattered around the armory and grabbed various weapons. Ruby grabbed a few mags for her sniper then ran over and grabbed the sword she used in her first mission. She grimaced at the sight. It looked a little more nicked up than what she remembered. Someone used this sword for something. The sooner she could get her own equipment, the better. She grabbed a grenade on her way to the hangar as well.

As she stepped into the Skyranger, she looked back at the rest of her squad. For the most part, it looked like a good mix of strengths. She had the range, Sall had the ability to put lead downrange with his gatling cannon, Grizzly had a grenade launcher on his back, Bones was the medic… and Zenmato had a mini rocket launcher strapped to his wrist. There could be a lot of explosions in this battle.

"Grizzly," Sall called, "Tygan and Shen want to test out the Frost Bomb. It's yours." He underhanded a blue cylinder to the grenadier.

Grizzly turned the 'bomb' over in his hands before nodding and hooking it to his belt. "Let's see if its as useful as they think."

Shortly after that, the squad filed into the Skyranger. Ruby secured herself in her seat and the others did the same. The hatch on the transport curled up and the elevator it sat on started to raise. Those inside rattled along with their transport as the air of the upper atmosphere billowed into the Avenger. A little later, the engines spun up and the turbulence evened out as the Skyranger lifted off the flight deck. It banked to the right and the engines cooked up even more.

The internal speakers cracked to life. "ADVENT is going after a resistance encampment in northeastern New Mexico," Central said. "Our people don't stand a chance against them. We're moving to secure the area. Eliminate all enemy contacts."

"What do we know about the area?" Sall asked.

"It's just north of the former city of Clayton. On our last contact, their population was approximately one hundred. With how close they are to Texas and Oklahoma, we can expect the locals to be heavily armed."

Bones scoffed. "That's a no brainer."

"The more guns in this fight the better," Ruby said. She couldn't understand why Bones was so upset about firepower, especially in wartime… at least that part of Ruby's brain worked as intended.

"Shadeslayer," Sall leaned forward from his seat across from Ruby, "how good are you at calling out targets?"

"I can call them out and take 'em down at a half mile out," Ruby said in a flat tone. "Any more and I need to do one or the other. Close range… I don't know with this thing." Ruby gestured at the sniper rifle beside her. "With my weapon back home, I was a tornado of death." She smirked a little at the thought but it fell away quick. Without Aura, she probably wouldn't be nearly as badass as she was back on Remnant.

"I'll take that as you're confident in your abilities. I just hope not overconfident. Once we touch down, find a way to get up high. Call out targets. All respect to Shen senior, I trust human eyes over a drone's any day." Sall faced the rest of the squad. "You know how they group up. Find a pod and blow 'em to hell. Tails, you're our forward operator. Blast any who get close but save your rockets for something that has a little more armor. Bones, you're with me." Sall faced the cockpit. "Firebrand, what's our ETA?"

"Ten minutes boss," Firebrand called. "No bogies on the radar and the wind's at our back. Smooth riding from here to the LZ."

"Copy that." Sall focused back at Ruby again. "We've all fought in environments that have plenty of civilians around. How about you?"

"Plenty of times. Zero civilian casualties in over twenty years."

Sall looked Ruby up and down then shrugged. "You're an elf. That'll do it."

"Not an elf, just a dragon's magic." Ruby looked down and to the side. "We could really use some of that right now." She shook her head and drew her hopefully temporary sword. She needed to know every single scratch, dent, and chip in the metal. If one of those got caught on something, that could throw her off her game.

The lights in the Skyranger turned red. "We're approaching the dropsite." Firebrand's voice came out of both the cockpit and Ruby's earpiece. "Menace is ready to deploy."

Ruby freed herself from her restraints and made sure all her weapons were secure. Everyone else did the same. This was the same as any number of Grimm extermination mission. The only difference was these things had guns. Then again, some Lancer and the red striped Alagaësian varieties Salem made in her later years had their own projectiles. This might be more like that… or the White Fang or Nevermores.

The transport slowed to a stop and everyone grabbed the bars above them. The sound of gunshots filtered through the metal. The hatch hissed open then the lights turned green. Sall led the way out of the Skyranger and grabbed one of the cables as it came down from the back of the transport. Ruby did the same right after. She scanned the battlefield as she fell. She didn't see many civilians. Most had to be hiding somewhere. Several different gunfights raged throughout the camp. The number of combatants, she couldn't tell. Judging from the black transports flying away, ADVENT had more soldiers, likely with more coming.

Ruby hit the ground and searched around for a high spot. She picked out a tower made of scrap metal and wood and sprinted toward it. As far as she knew, no gunshots were fired in her direction during her run. She jumped up the first few rungs on the ladder and hauled herself up. At the top, she unslung her weapon and rested it on the wooden railing.

"Who the hell are you?" a voice to her right groaned. She jumped and looked down at the voice. A man with a gunshot in his right shoulder laid sprawled on the floor. He had no armor, just a pair of jeans, a t-shirt with a red 'O' on it, and a few extra ammo mags to go with the assault rifle on the ground beside him… That weapon looked a lot like a standard issue V4 back on Remnant."

"My name's Ruby Rose. I'm with XCOM. We're here to help." She clicked on her comms. "Shadeslayer to Bones. I've got an injured civie up here."

"Is it life threatening?" Bones asked.

"No. It just looks painful."

"Then get your eyes back on the field, Shadeslayer. That's where we're all needed."

Ruby grimaced. She understood that, but she was used to being able to heal that kind of injury or having someone nearby that could. That was going to take some getting used to. She looked out over the battlefield and picked out her squad. They just reached the first buildings and Bones laid down some fire down the street and toward a group of black armored troopers. A red armored soldier not in officer's armor poked its head around the corner. Ruby sighted that one up and put a bullet into it's helmet right where red met gray. It went down faster than a dragon at terminal velocity.

She returned her attention to the group Bones was firing at. "Bones, you've got two troopers and an officer in that pod." Bullets flew in from behind the officer and hit it in the shoulder. The action sent the soldier scrambling for cover. "There's at least one civie firing on that group."

"Copy that," Sall called. "We've got these wankers. Provide cover for other civies."

"Ten-four." Ruby shifted her aim off that pod and turned her rifle toward a different part of the camp. There, a trooper and another soldier in white armor shot into one of the shacks. A civilian with an assault rifle occasionally popped out and fired at her attackers but never landed any hits. How her cover stayed intact Ruby didn't know.

The Rider set her sights on the back of the white soldier's head and pulled the trigger. Her shot flew true and through the attacker's head. The white soldier fell forward, making the normal trooper flinch and jump out of cover. The civilian popped out once more and held down her trigger. Most of her shots sprayed around the trooper but enough slammed into him and dropped him to the ground.

A shrill scream burst into Ruby's ears, making her blood run cold. She heard some kind of weapon fire and the scream silenced. Ruby swung her rife toward the sound. She didn't see anything in that direction… then a massive red alien in green armor stepped out of a shack. It had some sort of mask over where its nose and mouth should have been. Thick green armor covered its torso and limbs. The thing reloaded its weapon then fired into another shack.

"Shadeslayer to Avenger, we've got a new contact here." Ruby lined up her weapon onto the alien's head and pulled the trigger. Again, the bullet flew straight into the creature's head, right in between its eyes. The alien reeled back but its head straightened out and it stared right at Ruby with a line of orange blood running down it's snout. It stomped forward, threw its arms behind itself, and roared right at Ruby. "And that thing just shrugged off a bullet to the face." Ruby ejected her current magazine and loaded another.

"Mutons," Central said. "These ones seem a little more agile than the ones we fought in the past; it looks like they're still serving as the aliens' front line, though."

"Front line, so tough armor." Ruby popped back over the edge and aimed at where she last saw the Muton. She found it but it was running right toward her. A trooper ran out from an alley was and bowled over by the enraged alien. Those things didn't care about friendly fire. Good to know. Ruby took aim once more, pulled the trigger, and sent a bullet at the alien. The shot flew right into the first hole. This time, the alien's head flew back and the whole creature flopped backward. Another kill. Ruby chambered another round and searched for more targets.

"You…" the man beside Ruby groaned. "I know you." The man's voice grew clearer with each of those words. Ruby glanced at the man. The civie glared up at her with an intensity that matched Grimm. "You're the Avatar." This time his voice grew lower and almost sounded like he threw up the last word.

Ruby stiffened and gripped the sword on her back. "What do you know about that?"

Instead of an answer, the man looked straight down. Every single one of his muscles rippled then grew. The fabric of his clothes stretched then ripped. Ruby stood up and drew her sword. She'd heard people talking about fleshy ten-foot-tall aliens that grew from the bodies of humans. This fit that description. She drove her sword into the top of the man's head. But the alien didn't stop it's growth. It didn't even slow down. "Uhh…" Ruby backed up but she ran into one of the sheet metal railings. "Shadeslayer to squad, I've got a Faceless here!"

The fleshy alien stood up, pushing off the tin roof of the tower as he did so. The thing was a mountain of melted flesh and muscle. Its growl almost sounded like a mix between a Creep and an Apathy. It reeled its right arm back then slashed right at Ruby. The Rider ducked out of the way and stared at the sword still in the alien's head. She was way too close to the Faceless to shoot with her sniper, while still in the tower anyway. Ruby jumped backward and aimed at the alien's left eye. She pulled the trigger, expecting to fly backward like she would with any of her weapons back home. Instead, after she saw that bullet hit home, she fell straight to the ground and landed flat on her back. All the air left her lungs.

Ruby lay on the ground gasping for air. Her head hurt like hell and her vision blurred. That hurt far more than she was used to. Movement from the tower caught her eye. She lifted her head as much as she could. The Faceless sill stood, even with a sword sticking out of its head unicorn style and one of its eyes leaking red. Ruby fumbled around with her left hand to key her comms. "I'm… down… Need… help…"

"Hold on, Shadeslayer," the commander's voice came over the comms. "Tails is on his way to you."

As Ruby watched, the Faceless jumped down from the tower. It ran toward her faster than something that size should have been able to. The Rider tried to raise her rifle but her left hand rose without her weapon. At this point, her bionic limbs were her best defense. She clenched her fist as she readied herself for the attack. The thing reeled a clawed arm over its head-

-and a shotgun blast from the side slammed into it. The alien crumpled to its right and sprawled on the ground. Zenmato ran into Ruby's line of sight with his weapon pointed at the dead alien. He nodded, his head tails waving, and faced Ruby. "Those creatures take a lot of punishment." He reached a hand down toward Ruby. "It's best not to take them on alone."

"I'll keep that in mind." Ruby grabbed the offered hand and Tails hauled her to her feet. She rested her hands on her knees and took a few more deep breaths to even out her lungs. "I that was a series of events that I didn't expect."

Tails picked up the sniper and held it out to Ruby. "You good to go?"

"I'll manage." Ruby grabbed the gun and straightened up. She faced her sniper tower, or rather where her tower once stood. It all rested in a heap of mangled wood and rubble. "I'll need a new vantage point." She scanned the rows of shacks to find a new sniper's perch. A stack of shipping containers caught her eye and she ran toward it. "Shadeslayer is back up. I'm repositioning."

"We're almost good on the ground, Shadeslayer," Sall said over comms. "But ADVENT always sends reinforcements after the first wave. Check the skies. Call anything out.."

"Copy that." Ruby ran past the first rows of shacks then climbed up the stack of containers. At the top, she perched between two flags waving in the wind, one with a blue triangle with a white star in it poking in between red and white stripes, the other had a blue square with quite a few white stars and alternating red and white stripes. Ruby searched the ground for targets but heard very few gunshots. She was about to swing her aim back toward where her squad fought but a trio of black armored soldiers caught her eye.

Two ADVENT Troopers and an Officer had their weapons leveled against what looked like a family of three, A girl that couldn't be more than fifteen stood between a man and a woman, all with their hands behind their heads. The officer shouted something and the troopers tensed. Ruby grit her teeth and set her sights on the Officer. She had one bullet left. Maybe taking out their leader would do the trick. Ruby pulled the trigger… and watched her bullet fly toward one of the troopers instead. She was about to swear when the bullet somehow hit the grenade the trooper carried. The explosion engulfed that trooper, the officer, and blew the third off its feet. Ruby dropped her jaw as two locals rounded a corner and eptied an LMG and a V4 into their bodies. "Oh my gosh." She scoffed. "I should have seen that grenade."

The sniper searched for the family she just saved. The parents used their own bodies to protect just about every inch of their daughter. Even when the friendly soldiers reached the family the parents still didn't let go of their daughter. Ruby knew the feeling well. She'd do just about anything for Angel and Crey. Ruby adjusted the grip on her weapon and glared at the scope. Just getting slammed on the ground messed up the sights? That wasn't acceptable.

A few low rumbles reached Ruby's ears. She tilted her head back to stare at where the sound came from. A pair of black transports flew toward the camp. "This is Shadeslayer, I see those reinforcements you were talking about. Two of them coming in from the southeast."

"We see them too, Shadeslayer," the Commander said. "Prepare to ambush them as they arrive."

As the transports got closer, Ruby couldn't help but notice how low they were flying. Her bionic limbs weren't nearly as strong as they were back on Remnant, but they could still give her a good boost. It looked like they were just low enough for her plan. She threw her weapon onto the rood and prepared to jump. The side doors on the lead transport opened up and Ruby crouched, putting all her weight on her right leg.

At the right moment, Ruby jumped and flew up toward the transport. She clamped on with her right hand and hauled herself into the crew compartment. A regular Trooper, and Officer, and a different red armored soldier made various noises of surprise at the intruder. "Hi, boys." Ruby punched the trooper in the face, launching him out the other side of the crew compartment. She roundhouse kicked the officer sending him out the entrance the Rider came in. The last one barely managed to raise it's rifle before Ruby punched him in the gut. She then kneed him in the faceplate, shattering it.

With the foot soldiers taken care of, Ruby stepped into the cockpit. Both the pilot's and copilot's red helmets had blue 'eyes' in the center. They both faced Ruby but neither of them could defend themselves before Ruby plunged her bionic hand into their throats. With both of them choking, Ruby threw them out of their seats then took the seat on the left. "This is Shadeslayer, lead transport neutralized."

No one spoke for a few seconds. "Avenger copies, Shadeslayer," Bradford finally said. "I don't know how you did it, but we'll take it."

"I'll land in the outskirts then rejoin the fight." Ruby looked over the controls. She'd designed and built a fair few aerial vehicles back on Remnant. She'd flown the simulator for those ones back then too. If this thing was designed in any sensible manner, she should be able to fly it. She grabbed the controls, banked it to the left, and nosed down away from the camp. Unfortunately she couldn't slow down much. She hit the ground hard. Metal shrieked around her but the transport didn't crumple. After experimenting with a few possible switches, she found the one to power down the engines. "Plus one vehicle."

Ruby ran out of the cockpit, grabbed one of the assault rifles in the crew compartment, and ran toward where she still heard gunshots. She picked out a few eyes peeking through windows. She ignored them for the moment. There would be time for them after the battle was won. An explosion reached her ears and she kicked her legs up a notch.

She caught sight of Tails' head tails and slowed down. The Twi'lek's posture was relaxed and his shotgun hung at his side. That was either really good or really bad. Ruby rounded a corner and she got why Tails was frozen. A red mech of some kind stood frozen in ice, its large rifle pointed at nothing.

Sall walked up to the mech and knocked on the ice. "Avenger, you reading any more contacts?"

"Negative, Brick," Central said. "That's it."

"Copy that. Let Tygan know the Frost Bomb worked." Sall looked over his shoulder. "Grizzly, this one's yours."

"With pleasure." Grizzly walked up and hefted his assault rifle. He said something in a language Ruby didn't recognize then unloaded his entire mag into the mech, letting the weapon's natural recoil make the weapon track upward. The mech sparked and something inside its chest exploded. Ruby looked the disabled machine up and down. She could have some fun with that thing later.

"Status confirmed," Central breathed. "All hostiles are down and the area is secured. Combat mission accomplished. Menace, your goal is to now help the locals pack up and get ready to move out. Corporal Rose, after you retrieve your weapons, you are to help repair the big rigs that the camp has."

Sall gave Ruby a look, or more accurately, the ADVENT assault rifle she carried. "Again, Rose? Invidia said you loved your weapons."

"When they love me back, I do." Ruby bit back another retort as she turned around and walked toward where she left her rifle. As soon as she was out of sight of the rest of the squad, she hung her head. Add that to the list of things that are wrong with me.

Well, some bad news for this. I FINALLY figured out one thing that was wrong with my original work. That means I'm probably going to be spending more time on that in the future, not that I'm writing as much as I was a year ago in the first place. Still, inconsistent updates will get even more inconsistent.

Also, random XCOM mission names for chapters that have missions in them! My only chapter titles that have no sense to them!