30,000 miles above Oak Whiskey
04:56 hours
"Has anyone ever been to Oak Whiskey before the war?" Blake asks, sitting next to Yang and across from Ruby and Weiss inside the Transall C-160 aircraft, soaring high enough that they are barely visible to the naked eye, and modified to negate nearly all forms of radar and infrared detection. They crossed into Federation territory nearly an hour ago.
"Uh, why would we?" Weiss asks. On top of their AURAs, which have been converted with white armor plating to suit the environment, their weapons, and the equipment required to perform the Fulton recovery, the soldiers have to carrying small canisters of oxygen, along with the oxygen mask and helmet to go with it. Blake and Weiss can detect each other's glares straight through their goggles. "This is a border country, no one from the kingdoms go to the borders."
"This place used to be a popular tourist destination because of the snow. Lots of high profile people. Surprised you've never been here. Although I have heard that the Mob is pretty powerless out here, so that would explain it." Weiss leans forward, which Blake returns.
"I had plenty of snow in Atlas," Weiss replies coldly. "Besides, I wouldn't want to get that close to Faunus snow without heavy gear. I heard the zealots contaminated the atmosphere during their experiments."
"If the contamination creates REMF, then you must already contaminated."
"Hey, guys, I have an idea," Yang quickly chimes in. "How about we try not pissing on each other and focus on the mission? Ruby, what's the plan when we get on the ground?" Ruby hasn't said a word the entire flight. She's leaning back against her seat, left leg bouncing uncontrollably, headphones clamped tightly on both her ears. The hood of her hoodie covers half her face, her helmet resting on her lap. "Uh, Ruby?" Yang says. Weiss rips up the hood and the headphones off in one motion, and Ruby instantly jolts up.
"Gah!" she shrieks, returning to reality. Weiss glares at her.
"Our first mission as official Hunters," she says. "And you decide to take a nap at the tip of the stratosphere?"
"Uh, I wasn't, I mean...what?" Ruby asks, bewildered.
"What's the plan, team leader?" Yang asks kindly. Ruby looks around; all three pairs of eyes are on her, and her brain freezes.
"Uh...plan?" she stalls as her mind races. She puts her helmet on with shaking hands.
"What the hell is wrong with me!?" she silently screams. "I was supposed to use the music to focus on the mission, not space out! I'm the worst team leader ever!"
"Please tell me we're not going in blind," Weiss says. Ruby gulps and attempts to organize her thoughts.
"Um...well, what do we know about the outpost?" she asks timidly. Weiss makes sure her sigh is easily heard over the roaring engines of the transport.
"Snowy mountain terrain a little less than two thousand meters above sea level," Blake replies. "Typical Federation outpost structure and guards. Textbook scenario."
"Did you pay attention to any of the intelligence we were given after the briefing?" Weiss asks. "You had two hours to prepare for this mission, so you better have a-"
"I got it Weiss, I'm a fuck up," Rose blurts angrily. "I apologize for not running and gunning halfway across Counter Wind like you did. Sorry if I'm not the leader you want me to believe."
"If you're not up for the mission, maybe you should-"
"Ruby," Yang says, practically shouts, over Weiss. Everyone turns to her. "What's the plan?" This time, everyone stays quiet, and Ruby looks at the floor in thought. Her mind wanders to her stack of rough sketches of lines and dots.
There's a buzzing noise, and a red light fills the plane with its tint.
"Ready up," Ruby commands, standing up. Weiss and Ruby pat each other down, checking their partner's equipment and making sure all the straps are secure, while Blake and Yang do the same. When they flash each other a thumbs up, they walk to the edge of the closed ramp.
"Ok," Ruby says, taking a quick breath. "Checkmate Alpha Two. If it's a typical Fed base, then there should be two main entrances and two side entrances, each set of entrances identical to one another. Checkmate each takes the sides, Blake taking the lead. I'll provide sniper support from the nearest vantage point. Yang, set up wherever will give you a clear line of sight with the inside of the base if shit goes sideways." Yang nods.
"How am I supposed to move inside the base quietly without a stealth AURA?" Weiss genuinely asks. Might as well see what the little girl can do now that she's showing a hint of confidence.
"Your Myrtenaster has a suppressor, right?" Ruby asks. Weiss takes out the large pistol and a small silver cylinder, about one inch in length, and snaps it onto the end of the barrel.
"Everyone set?" Ruby asks. Everyone throws up the OK sign. Ruby punches a button on the side of the plane, next to the ramp. The heavy hydraulics loudly lower, letting the cool, tangible air of the coldest region of Remnant from over five miles above ground. Fortunately, some of the most advanced clothing in the world almost completely shields the soldiers from temperatures only a few degrees above zero, and they only momentarily shudder from the aggressive winds. Blake starts breathing heavily and gets on one knee.
"You good?" Yang asks, putting a hand on her shoulder. Blake waves her away.
"Never been a fan of heights," she explains. Yang chuckles.
"The only one in the squad that's in the airborne is afraid of heights?" she asks.
"Just let me get off the ramp and I'll be fine."
"That would be in ten seconds," Ruby says, looking at a device wrapped around her wrist. "Set altimeters to five thousand feet." The squad adjusts their own altimeters, setting them to the predefined altitude, at which point it will emit a beeping noise inside their helmets.
"Five thousand?" Weiss repeats. "Subtracting the altitude of the base, that only gives us about two thousand feet to parachute."
"Let's make it quick and low," Ruby says. Yang smiles through her mask.
"I'm down with that," she says. The red light turns green.
"See you on the ground!" Ruby shouts, and the four soldiers, washing away all thoughts of hesitation and regret from their heads, run down the ramp into the icy cold air of border country and jump into a free fall. They immediately spread their arms and legs, regularly adjusting to keep their bodies falling more or less close to one another.
It's one of the most unique and beautiful things any of them have ever seen. Above them, they can see the point in the sky where the blue ends and the black begins, demonstrating exactly how high up they're jumping from. Below them, the thin layer of white clouds are practically blended in with the landscape of Oak Whiskey; nearly neverending white at seemingly random elevations, with flat land spiking into mountains at random intervals. The distant white smoke of a few small villages closer to sea level are overwhelmed by the far off black smoke of war, some from Oak Whiskey, most from neighboring border countries.
In what seems like a blink of an eye, the altimeters are beeping, and the squad pulls the cords of their parachutes. The drogues deploy as the ground rapidly approaches.
Blake is well used to skydiving from being in the Airborne. Weiss has gone skydiving a few times, some for recreation, most for her training. Yang is having the time of her life. But Ruby, on the other hand, is starting to have a panic attack. She feels the pull of the drogue chute, and knows that the main chute should fully deploy in less than 200 feet, mere seconds at terminal velocity, but watching the ground is disorienting; the bleach white snow mixed with the jagged terrain creates a strange optical illusion, blinding her sense of depth. She panics as the ground rushes closer, closer, closer…
Her torso is yanked towards the sky, throwing her feet towards the ground, as the main canopy is torn from her pack and kills her velocity. As soon as her heart rate returns to normal and she can see straight, she checks her altimeter; just below 2,000 feet.
"Definitely not trying that again," she thinks. She looks around; her squadmates are at around the same altitude as her, only a few dozen feet from her. She looks down; now the ground is close. She quickly stiffens her legs for impact.
When her feet are engulfed by the partially-hardened snow, she doesn't need to worry about manually rolling her body onto the ground to break her fall; she and her squad landing on a hill, which immediately throws their bodies down the incline. Fortunately a quick gust of wind yanks on their parachutes in the opposite direction, giving them time to establish their footing and start reeling the canopies in.
"Quick and low, huh?" Weiss says after the squad has buried their packed parachutes and oxygen gear.
"Uh...well, we made it right?" Ruby says.
"It was a little close," Blake mumbles, securing the straps of her H3 helmet.
"Who cares, that was awesome!" Yang says with glee. "Seriously, why did no one tell me skydiving kicked so much ass!? Why did I sign up for infantry instead of the Airborne?"
"VAF paratroopers don't usually HALO jump. It's mostly at around three thousand feet with static lines-"
"Can we do that again?" Yang interrupts. "I mean, not like right now, but can we request to jump in every mission? Or at least every other mission? Can we parachute in humvees and jeeps too?"
"Uh, Yang?" Ruby says. "Can we finish this mission before worrying about the next?"
"Yeah, right sorry," Yang says. She looks around the snowy surroundings. "So...which way do we go?" Blake instantly points in a direction.
"That way," she says. "We're not too far, only a few miles away from Tukson's forces. We shouldn't run into any along the way."
"That was fast," Ruby says. "How did you figure it out so quickly?"
"I can smell their trail heading back to the base," Blake silently answers.
"I'm quick at math," she replies out loud. She takes up her MP7 in her hands. "We should get moving." She starts trekking through the snow. Ruby looks at Yang and Weiss, who shrugs and frowns respectively, before they follow their squadmate.
Two hours later
Ruby slides down the mound of snow she was resting on and trudges through the thick snow, which has returned to the mountains in force in the past few hours. Yang, Blake, and Weiss sit in the snow, waiting.
"It's just up ahead," Ruby reports, and the squad stands up.
"How many?" Weiss asks. "Are they on alert?"
"I saw about eight lookouts, a dozen guards on the ground, maybe a few squads moving from the smaller buildings to the main one. They don't look alert. It should be easy."
"Do we know where Tukson is?" Yang asks.
"Most likely inside the main build," Blake answers. "Ground level, below the barracks, near the garage."
"How do you figure that?" Ruby asks.
"I've been in them before."
"It's basic Faunus architecture," Blake answers. "All Faunus buildings in New Tango are built like that."
"Alright, let's make this fast and silent," Ruby says, unfolding Crescent Rose. "I have a good vantage point from that hill I was on, so I'll set up there. Blake and Yang, skirt around the right flank. Yang, set up wherever gives you a clear shot on the guards on the ground while Blake takes the side entrance. Weiss, take the left flank and take the other side entrance. Clear?" Everyone nods. "Alright, let's capture Faunus." The squad jog towards their designated paths. Ruby climbs atop her hill, screws a suppressor onto Crescent Rose, carefully lays the barrel in the snow, and peers through the scope.
The outpost looks more like a castle. Surrounded by a weak chain link fence and razor wire, which is more useful for looking good than actually keeping anyone out, the main building is three stories high with few windows and made almost entirely of concrete. Smaller, more fragile buildings made out of metal sit next to the main buildings. They most likely contain equipment and sleeping quarters for soldiers that don't fit in the main building. Pillboxes encompass the camp, one facing each direction. Feds in grey and white fatigues patrol the rooftop of the main building and on the ground around the collection of smaller buildings, all armed with Steyr AUG A3s and Barrett M95s. The long barrels of MG3 machine guns poke through the slits in the windows. There are no vehicles in the compound; they're either in the field or stowed in the garage.
Meanwhile, on almost the other side of Ruby, Yang poke her head up over a mound of snow, and sees that she has a perfect shot on most of the soldiers inside the compound. She unslings Celia and sets the gun in the snow in a prone position. She allows the constant breeze to wash snow over her as she watches Weiss slowly creep up on the fence in the blindsides of the pillboxes, directly in front of the smaller buildings.
On the other side, Blake activates her suit, waits for her body to fade away, leaps up from the snow, and quickly walks up to the fence, doing her best to not flick snow into the air with her boots. She takes out a pair of wire cutters and begins snipping through the wires.
Almost halfway through, a guard rounds the corner of the building, and she hastily drops the cutters into the snow behind her and prop up the partially broken fence with her palms.
"Don't look this way, don't look this way, don't look-"
The Fed glances in her direction, does a double take, and stops.
"Fuck you."
The Faunus walks over to the fence and crouches down, his face only a few inches from hers. Blake holds her breath.
"What the hell happened…" the Fed murmurs, his eyes tracing the outline of where Blake cut the fence. He reaches out with his hand, and Blake quickly retracts her hands, balancing her body on the balls of her feet. The Fed's hand drops, he sighs and shakes his head. He stands up and quickly walks through the side entrance.
Blake knows that she only has a window of seconds before the Fed comes back with a friend. She picks up the wire cutters, but after a moment of hesitation, she puts it back in its pouch, stands up, and looks both directions. She should be out of sight of Ruby.
Hopefully.
She crouches down and springs up with force only replicable by humans with Ruby's leggings, and easily done by a fully grown Faunus. She leaps over the fence to the other side, runs up to the entrance and jumps again, holding onto the ledge directly above the door to pull herself up just as the door swings open.
"What the hell could've cut it?" one of the two Feds that exits the building say. They walk directly to the broken spot in the fence.
"I don't know, are there animals this high up?" the other asks. Blake drops down as soon as they are far enough from the door and moves inside the building as the door swings shut.
"I'm in," she reports.
"Copy that," Ruby says from her spot. She scans the other side of the compound for Weiss. "Weiss, you in yet?"
"Negative," comes the reply. "I've got a hole cut behind one of the buildings, but a guard on the roof isn't budging. He'll spot me the second I'm inside."
"Can you give me his location?" Ruby asks.
"Yes. Directly on the edge of the roof in front of me, white beanie and Steyr with white tape." Ruby slowly scans the numerous bodies before finding one that matches the description. He's on a lower level of the room and out of sight of his buddies.
"I think I have him. Is he looking to your left right now?"
"Affirmative. Take the shot."
"What, now?" Ruby asks. The Fed starts to turn to his right.
"Yes, fire!" Weiss insists. Ruby lines up her crosshair with the Fed's body, but her finger hovers over the trigger. She feels a knot begin to form in her stomach.
"Shouldn't I wait until he's farther from the ledge?" Ruby asks. The Fed adjusts his beanie.
"FIRE!" Weiss shouts. Ruby stalls her breath, rams her finger into the trigger, and the rifle jumps in the snow with a pinging sound. A second later, the Fed's left shoulder explodes in blood, and his body crumples onto the roof, motionless.
"I'm through," Weiss reports. Ruby moves the scope towards the ground and sees her squadmate run in the open, reach the door, take out Myrtenaster, and quickly enters. "I'm in." Ruby begins to answer, but realizes she's still holding her breath and exhales.
"Roger," she croaks. There's a few minutes of silence while Weiss and Blake presumably roam the rooms of the building in search for Tukson.
"Was that your first kill?" Yang asks over the radio. Ruby goes back to the attack on Camp Signal, when she picked up an assault rifle and opened fire on unseen Feds. She might've killed someone then, there was reportedly enough Faunus in the attack for it to be reasonably probable, but she wasn't looking straight into the eyes of her prey before ending his life. It was all very fast, her actions carried by reflexes drilled into her by her training. It seemed almost natural, and it's unsettling.
"Yeah," Ruby answers.
"Congratulations," Yang replies soberly.
Inside the compound, Blake finds an empty room with the exception of a few rows of lockers and decloaks, letting her battery recharge. She walks through the aisles of lockers before finding a standard issue map of the floorplan of the compound. She traces the rooms with her finger before finding the one marked, "CO OFFICE," below "LIVING QUARTERS," and next to "GARAGE," near Weiss' entrance.
"Weiss," she quietly says into her radio. "I've got the floorplans for the entire building. If Tukson is in his office, then she should be down a hallway to the left of your entrance, about ten to fif-" The door bangs open.
"It's fucking weird, dude," the same voice that met Blake at the fence.
"Radio silence," Blake whispers and cloaks again. Fortunately, the Fed is on the other side of the room of her.
"I think we picked the wrong base to take over," the second Fed retorts. Blake follows their voices down the other side of the room as their locker doors open loudly. "Seriously, why did we have to capture a base on top of a goddamn mountains? Why not in a forest, or desert? At least it's warm in a desert.
"You really think that was wear and tear?" the first Fed asks. Blake moves through the aisles before finding the Faunus in the first one. They're putting their winter gear away; probably changing shifts. Blake starts to inch away. "Because it looked way too exact to be random. And it was just...the right…" Blake freezes.
"...Right what?" the second Fed asks.
"Do you smell someone?"
"Oh shit," Blake thinks. The cold must've shielded her scent outside, but not in here. She carefully takes one step at a time down the aisle.
"Yeah, us," the second Fed says. "We really need running water."
"No, not us," the first Fed says. Blake takes out Gambol Shroud and her knife. "It smells like a female." The two Feds sniff the air. Blake is a few feet from them.
"Yeah, I smell that," the second Fed says, turning in a circle while sniffing. He stops moving when he's facing Blake. Blake freezes. "And it's getting stronger."
In one swift motion, Blake flips the switch to decloak and lunges at the Feds. She buries her knife deep into the second Fed's neck and releases the handle, letting the body fall.
"Don't fucking move," she commands, pistol raised. The remaining Faunus freezes, terror in his eyes. "Not a fucking noise. Where's Tukson?" The Fed doesn't say anything. A pool of blood begins to cover the floor. "Where's. Tukson?" Blake repeats.
"He's in the middle of-" the Fed starts, but stops to reach out and grasp the suppressor of Blake's pistol. Blake fires, the bullet grazing the Fed's armpit. "GAH!" he cries out. Blake fires three more bullets into his stomach, and he falls onto his comrade. The door opens again.
"What the hell is going on in here?" the Faunus calls out. Blake steps over the bodies and aims down the aisle. The Fed comes into view, and Blake unloads two bullets into his torso and one into his head, his body immediately crumbling.
"People," Blake says into her radio. "We're made."
"Yeah, so I've heard," Weiss says pressed against the door of an empty communications room, body of a radio operator propped in his chair. She hears several pairs of footsteps outside the door.
"Shots fired, shots fired!" one of the Feds yells as they pass. There's more yelling from deeper inside the building as the news spreads: humans are here.
"I found the hallway, Blake," Weiss says. She moves to the side of the door and puts her hand on the doorknob. "I'm going in and grabbing Tukson."
"Roger," Blake replies, following by a muffled pinging sound. "I'll cross over to the other side of the base and regroup with you. Out." More pinging, then Steyr fire. Weiss takes a deep breath.
She opens the door and leans her body into the hallway, first aiming her pistol to the left, then the right. All clear.
She silently but quickly walks down the corridor. The door to Tukson's office is at the very end, about twenty feet away, but there's three doors in between her and Tukson. The closest one is open.
Suddenly, the farthest open swings open, and Weiss crouches down. A soldier walks out, and Weiss nails him in the heart twice. Another Faunus holds out a PKP Pecheneg bullpup variant from inside the room by the grip and carrying handle, and open fires. The bulky weapon sways wildly from such a weak and ineffective firing stance, but it makes no difference in such a tight environment. The bullets explode on the floor, walls, and ceiling, creating a whirlwind of concrete dust. Half a dozen strike Weiss in the chest and lower legs, which are immediately absorbed by the armor and cause no harm to Weiss herself, but she throws herself to the ground anyway to protect her head.
After at least half of the 100 rounds stored in the box magazine, the LMG retreats back into the room, and the hallway is quiet again. Weiss immediately sits up and aim Myrtenaster just in time for two Feds to emerge from the room, one with a Steyr and the other with the PKP. Weiss unloads the rest of her mag into the one carrying the PKP, who falls almost on top of his comrade. She quickly drops the pistol and raises her G36c from her chest. The Fed is able to plant two shots in her chest before she drops him. As she stands up and approaches Tukson's door, she can feel the soft vibration of her suit battery recharge and replacing the damaged armor plating.
Without delay, she kicks in the door and enters. Four Faunus, three grunts standing on either side of a desk and one officer crouched behind the desk, open fire on her. The bullets rapidly sink into her armor, but Weiss barely pays attention to them. She makes a fast sweep with her rifle from left to right, killing the three grunts before they can even empty their magazines. She turns to Tukson, who is attempting to clear a jam on his GSh-18. She fires one bullet into his hand, making him drop the gun and cry out.
"I'll give you nothing, human!" Tukson shouts. He takes out a knife with his good hand, but Weiss walks up to him and rams her rifle into his cheek. Tukson spits out blood and the knife clatters on the floor.
"Oh, yes you will," Weiss growls. She grabs the Faunus by his neck, presses her barrel to his spine, and leads him outside. "I've got Tukson," she says into her radio.
"Roger that," Ruby replies from outside, and downs another lookout on the roof. She can see Yang's LMG open up as more confused Feds pour out of the buildings. "Blake, come to me and get the recovery gear. Our ride is supposed to come as soon as he sees the balloon."
"Copy," Blake replies. Ruby sights in on a Faunus sniper looking for Yang, but Blake's cloaked body climbs onto the roof and slits the Fed's neck, then runs to the other side of the building, decloaks, and opens fire on a squad of Feds as the side entrance opens, and Weiss and Tukson exit. Ruby downs the last standing Fed.
Blake jumps down from the roof and sprints full speed for Ruby's position. Weiss repeatedly shoves Tuskon forward, occasionally buttstroking his back to keep him in check.
"Ruby, watch my ass," she says into the radio. "We're gonna have a small army on top of us in a few minutes."
"I know," Ruby replies. "Yang, punch a hole to Weiss and move with her."
"On it," Yang replies. She hastily reloads her machine gun, stands up, and runs down to the base, finger pressed firmly on the trigger.
"Weiss, on your right!" Ruby shouts. Weiss shoves Tukson to the ground, turns to the right, and opens fire on three Feds. Between her and Ruby, all are annihilated quickly, but a soon replaced by eight more. Out of ammo, Weiss dives in front of Tukson, shielding him with her AURA, arm over her face.
Blake reaches Ruby and, without stopping, grabs the knapsack full of the extraction gear and keeps running towards the designated extraction zone. They'll want the plane to arrive as soon as they get Tukson strapped and ready.
Seemingly out of nowhere, Yang plows through two of the Faunus, knocking them to the ground like they weigh nothing. With all of her LMG ammo expelled, she swings it by the strap to her back, then swaps it out with Ember. She puts two shotgun shells into the fallen Feds and takes out three of the standing ones. Weiss kills two more with Myrtenaster, and Ruby takes the last one.
"Thanks," Weiss says, standing a disgruntled Tukson up. "Shit, these suits can really take a-"
BANG!
A .50 caliber bullet rips straight through Tukson's chest and into Weiss' suit, knocking both of them back to the ground, one with his blood gushing out of both his front and back wounds.
"No!" Yang shouts, and runs towards the two bodies.
"What happened!?" Ruby shouts. She swings her rifle around in all directions, trying to detect where the shot came from.
"I'm good!" Weiss says, standing up. The large dent in her chest as already started to heal. Yang runs passed her and drops to her knees in front of Tukson's corpse. She checks his pulse. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"Fuck!" Yang shouts. She begins to frantically search his pockets and pouches. This was supposed to be it. Tukson was the answer to everything. He was supposed to tell her.
"Yang, come on!" Weiss shouts, reloading her carbine and scanning the battlefield. Two Feds attempt to emerge from their pillbox and Weiss suppresses them, forcing them back inside.
Ruby commands her heart to slow down, and her hand to move Crescent Rose slower in order to scan the landscape more clearly. Suddenly, she spots the distinct silhouette of a humanoid figure, about 100 feet from the base, higher up on the mountain. It must be the sniper. "I have visual!" Ruby reports. Suddenly, there's a loud and distinct banging sound, and a thin stream of smoke rapidly moves away from the sniper and towards the outpost.
"RPG!"
Weiss turns around to see what the sound was, and is just in time to get a glimpse of the rocket sailing towards her. Unbeknownst to her, the small GLYPH cannons on either of her shoulders had already detected the rocket, calculated the range, wind, and predicted path of the projectile, and took aim the moment she turned around. The little guns fire with a brisk popping sound, and the rocket is detonated midair, its fragments raining down.
"I'm all set, let's go," Blake says on the radio. Ruby watches the silhouette disappear behind the snow. No time to track him.
"Weiss, Yang, fall back to the extraction point. I'll cover you," Ruby orders.
"Yang!" Weiss shouts angrily. The Feds try another assault, and Weiss grazes one before they retreat again. Yang pulls a small notebook from Tukson's inner pocket and hastily flips through it. It's a list of contacts, complete with full names, aliases, and allegiances.
"This better be it, you son of a bitch," Yang silently tells the Faunus before standing up, pulling the pin on a smoke grenade, and tosses it towards the base.
"Let's go!" Yang says to Weiss, and they take off running as smokescreen covers them.
"Thirty seconds," Blake tells the rest of the squad as they regroup. The military transport's engines start to get louder. "Where's Tukson?"
"Dead," Ruby answers as she, Weiss and Yang strap on their harnesses and connects themselves to a life line with snap hooks. The lift line is suspended in the air by a small weather balloon. "A sniper got him."
"What sniper?" Blake asks. The sound of the C-160 is almost on top of them. "We're the only ones sent here, right?"
"Someone didn't want Tukson to talk," Weiss says. Yang feels the notebook through the pouch she stowed it in.
"I guess they failed," she thinks.
The C-160 roars into view from over the mountain, only a few hundred feet above the soldiers. A hook fitted on the belly of the craft latches onto the line and carries it forward. The soldiers brace themselves as they are ripped off of the ground one by one, almost like a reverse HALO jump, just as MG3 fire rings out behind them. Ruby watches the snowy Faunus outpost fade out of sight as they are reeled aboard the plane.