The APC drove into the evening kicking up a trail of mud, Ruby silently looked over the iron sides of their transport. She was thinking what the police would do with all the criminals 're-educate them' sounded quite sinister coming from Inspector Lehmann and that girl too. She couldn't have been much older than her; give or take a year. She looked towards the one overseer out of their four that had not introduced herself yet…

She was female, that much was obvious from her somewhat slimmer figure even if most of it was covered by her uniform. She had a standard Overseer Sabre on her hip and a short magazine-fed Rifle resting on her knees. Of course she was on her phone; Ruby couldn't blame her for that since they had already been going for nearly three hours straight. So Ruby decided to start a conversation with her.

Signaling the end of her shift to Overseer Blair she sat down beside the woman and said "Hello, I'm Ruby, what's your name" before realizing how stupid she had just sounded and adding "I mean nice to meet you…"

"the name is Daria Montero. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I was bored and perhaps you would like to talk to me?" Asked Ruby in a rather awkward way

"No…"

"No?"

"No" answered the woman again

"Why no?"

"Because no"

"Why don't you want to speak to me?"

"Because I have better thing to do"

"Like what?"

"If I tell you will you leave me alone?"

"Alright"

"I am a Poet Ruby… an I am currently writing one"

"Could I see?"

"Of course, bask in the beauty of this work and…" but Ruby had already stopped listening and began to read

Rays of moonlight bounced of our vehicle like stardust

Its blessed course, set upon seas of green grass

Towards the home and hope of us and…

"Ruby" called a voice from above "You're not actually enjoying that are you?" It was Overseer Andreev "Her writing is kinda shit, the whole order knows that by now"

"Shut up you" fired back Daria, clutching her piece like a relic "You wouldn't recognize art if it spat you in the face" she looked towards Ruby with a desperate plea "It was good right?"

Under the spotlight of now two others Ruby felt the pressure build and said the first thing that came to mind "It was all right, you just need to improve the first sentence…

"THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU" cried the woman while literally squeezing the life out of Ruby's chest, "You're literally the first to say anything positive about my work aside from my mother!"

"Really?" said Andreev "Just you see until you read her other 'works', I've got no issue with her writing but… it's just so bad!"

"Settle down children" said Overseer Blair from beside the machine gunner's seat "You're all…" But his words were lost when a cry from the APC's driver rang out.


"GRIMM! Open fire! Open fire" before the APC slowed down to allow a more stable firing platform. The 13.5 HVR rounds chugged away at the black horde charging at them, it was a massive Beowulf pack; perhaps numbering within the hundreds…

"Control this is Ferryman 43, we have encountered a horde of Grimm, estimated size; a hundred or so. Requesting Air support, Napalm if available, over"

"Roger that Ferryman 43, we have you on lock, Air support incoming ETA 15 minutes" barked out the radio

"Hold the line people, just last 15 minutes before the Planes arrive" forwarded the driver before stopping completely and letting the four Overseers out "Cut them down, we'll provide fire from behind you!"

And so on it went; the chugging of the gun beside them and the occasional cracks of their weapons. 300m… she could now see their dark and soulless eyes gazing hungrily into hers. 200m… all of her shots were hitting and breaking through the bone but even that wasn't enough to stem the tide. 100m she couldn't hear any more fire from her comrades… she turned around to see them all throwing their rifles to the side and letting loose with their pistols; the Hundred-strong horde was now weakened to only half its former size. 50m… Now the monstrous roars were all she could hear. Impact… The horde set upon them.

It was nothing like what she had encountered earlier; the small packs of Grimm which she was used to had nothing on this… thankfully the Majority did not go for her but instead went for her team. She fired at one, the buckshot annihilating its face before turning to the one coming at her exposed flank. Her new sword was not like her previous Scythe, it was swift and maneuverable with effortless ease as it cleaved through the beast's black flesh.

Backing away slightly she took a second to reload her pistol and overlook the situation. The ten or so which she had slain were mostly dead aside from one which had decided to leave for a piece of Blair's flesh. Yet the more experienced Overseers had no issue dealing with them, in fact there were only around twenty left around them and they were dying by the minute.

Then she spied something else, a King Taijitu burrowed from beneath the brow autumn leaves, It's snakelike body coiling up to release a deafening hiss. With her teammates busy they did not notice the massive snake Grimm slithering over to their backs.

Ruby sprang into action; she had just devised a plan which may yet save them all from the massive snake. Although she had only the barest training with the two egg-shaped grenades on her belt she knew the power within each one; if positioned correctly they could probably demolish any building as good as proper explosive… she pulled the pin and ran at the massive snake, sensing her approach the snake turned and snarled at her, but she kept on going. Jumping onto its body she ran for the head, the snake coiling and trying to dislodge her in the process. Finally she came level with one of its malicious red eyes, with there being no pupil the red circle could only watch as Ruby's had brought the live grenade through its eyeball and into the skull within. The snake shrieked in pain to recoil and finally throw her off but it was too late. After a mere five seconds the mighty explosive simply ripped its head into pieces; showering the autumn leaves with razor-sharp fragments of Grimm bone.


Ruby looked down at the nasty orange liquid which had congealed on her sleeve's uniform to see it slowly fade to smoke, she had just begun rinsing it anyway when a hand landed on her shoulder and she was greeted with Overseer Andreev's delighted visage

"You ever need references call me, that was epic…" he said gleefully at the massive snake that was fading to smoke upon the forest floor

Just then she heard the whoosh of an engine above them and saw two planes flying over them. They headed back to the APC just to catch the Driver conversing with one of the pilots "…But yeah, were safe now but perhaps mention to command to increase patrols in this area" before he hung up and addressed them "Good job y'all; get in, the base it isn't far from here"

They piled in to take their former seats and just stared at each other as the APC began moving, Overseer Blair was the first to speak up "Ruby, what you did back there was very dangerous, yet I cannot deny the effectiveness of the tactic you used. Would you mind doing a short lecture on it for new recruits?"

"Sure"

"But might I add that you're one crazy sonova bitch" added Overseer Andreev from above

Daria remained silent and instead shot a proud smile at Ruby.


They drove the remainder of the way to the Base in silence, with Daria writing something on her phone and Blair and Andreev listening to music or whatever she stood alone and as the wind coolly flew by she gazed off into the distance; thinking of the Raid that had ensued yesterday. She was used to fighting Grimm, heck she'd killed one at the mere age of 12 (With some assistance from her uncle). Yet the feeling of shooting at fellow people and seeing them yell in pain as the equivalent of a Boxer punching them in the chest hit them from the barrel of her rifle…

She had never dabbled on morality or politics too much, it was more Blake's thing with her heritage and all. But now it seemed quite relevant and fitting to consider such topics; after all, her family and team were now on the other side, a world where she was no longer welcome.

'Did these people really deserve it?' she thought as she stared into the setting sun. 'they were only expressing their beliefs, heck they hadn't even hurt anyone yet…' but in her mind she knew what the White Fang were like "Why wait for a tumor to develop before removing it" She remembered the Detective's words, she now saw his point. It was unpleasant to think about but if she had to deal with such missions often then then it would be better to simply address them now while I have the time. Oh daemons of my mind

They arrived at the Base a mere hour later, the cool air of the outside being replaced by the slightly warmer indoors. They had just dismounted and thanked the APC's crew when Blair turned to her and asked "So, how was your first mission, any thoughts or questions?"

Ruby's dark thoughts seemed too inappropriate to share in this situation, thus she simply asked "What now?" a solid question which would distract her from her thoughts

"Well how about you get some rest first? Then we can meet tomorrow to discuss training" She nodded and he continued "I need to fill out my after action report, and thinking of it so do you, come with me"

She followed him back down the elevator and soon they were in front of the High Overseer's building again, walking in they went down a side passage and ended up in a room with a few tables, lots of forms and a few Overseers scribbling on them. "This is the Form room as we call it, here you can find most forms which you will need during your stay here" he moved over to one of the tables and picked up an A4 sized form and gave it to her "Here's the After Action Report Form, all you have to do is enter your name and number up here and then write what happened on our mission; keep it brief, we don't need an essay on what you did in Murmansk. Got it?"

He left her to go fill out his own form; with some reluctance she picked up a pen and began to write. Back at Beacon there was little paperwork (Not that she was complaining) and what they did have was usually done by Weiss so… she had no idea how this worked, after a glance though it did seem more doable and she began to fill out the form; mentioning the Raid and their battle with the large Grimm horde. Putting down the pen she put the completed paper into a box were everyone put their forms, looking around she could not see Blair but even then she remembered his advice "Well how about you get some rest first" She could certainly use that right now.


Thank you all for reading so far but I've noticed that not many visit my Website to check out the fan art I did for this story- problem is does not like links so I put one on my profile, Check it out PLZ