When Cobin woke up, he was instantly blinded by light, as if his eyes hadn't been open in a very, very long time. Slowly, the inside of the HMMWV became clear, but it was so bright outside of the truck's windows that he couldn't see beyond them. He shook his head and the sand fell out of the nooks and crannies in his helmet and armor. He tried to move and felt the heavy straps of the HMMWV's seat hold him in.

"What the hell…" He said, looking around the inside of the truck, "Stamps? Lieutenant?" But no response came. He turned his head, straining his neck to see behind himself toward where Stamp's should have been standing in the gunner's position. But no one was there. Next he tried the handset, but it was completely dead, not even static came from the radio's speaker, and Cobin threw it to the floor of the truck in frustration. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck…" He muttered, reaching forward to push the ignition button on the center console. The engine made one desperate, gargling attempt to turn over before dying completely. "Shit, shit, shit, shit…" That was it, his adrenaline was spiking as he went into full combat-veteran-panic-mode and all of his actions and thoughts became reflexes and reactions based on countless hours of experience and training. He pushed the button on the safety belts, releasing himself and patted down his chest plate, feeling for his equipment. Mags, check. Grenades, check. Side arm, check. There was something off…

His rifle. Where was his rifle.

He didn't get a chance to answer that question before there was a tap on the driver's side window. Cobin's head swiveled to see someone in some kind of armor or uniform on the outside of the HMMWV looking straight at him and tapping on the bulletproof glass with a pistol. As soon as this person saw that Cobin had seen him, he stopped his tapping and with his spare hand began to reach for the outside latch of door. In these moments what Cobin's brain processed boiled down to: Uniformed combatant, armed, threat, attempting to gain access. Defend the vehicle.

When the latch clicked open Cobin put all of his power into the door and pushed it straight into the guy on the other side, propelling the unknown enemy onto his back and Cobin straight out of the vehicle like a rocket ship, ending with him standing over the confused assailant. Without giving this enemy another opportunity to react Cobin put his foot down hard into the armored faceplate of the guy on the ground, knocking him unconscious. "Hey, Stop!" Cobin heard from his left side. Cobin hadn't noticed that the first attacker had a friend. Stupid pro-mask, Cobin thought as he swiveled around just in time to see a second enemy in the same uniform throw a right hook punch straight toward his head. Cobin threw up his left arm and blocked it, simultaneously straight-punching with his right fist into the soft spot just below his enemy's faceplate. Next came a swift front-foot snap-kick to the groin area, causing his opponent to let out a noise between a screech and a gasp, and freeze for just a moment, giving Cobin the opportunity to grasp the side of the enemy's helmet with his right hand and slam it with all his might into the heavily armored side panel of the HMMWV. This enemy too crumpled down to the ground, unconscious.

Cobin didn't waste any time by examining the scene, he simply turned around back toward the open door of the HMMWV and reached inside, toward his weapon where it rested on the center console between the two front seats. Cobin grabbed it and turned back around to the outside of the truck, rifle at the high-ready. When he finally took a moment to observe where he was, he found himself in the middle of a large concrete mall or plaza of some kind. There was virtually no cover at all save for the HMMWV at his back. There were buildings but the nearest one was at least a hundred yard sprint away. What made the situation more terrifying than anything though, was the crowd of people forming a circle around his position, watching. They all had a comfortable distance between themselves and Cobin, and the well weathered soldier could see that most of them were frightened, slowly backing away. Except for four, who stood their ground and only seemed to be becoming increasingly angry…

…

The four members of team RWBY had noticed the crowd and general commotion going on in the outdoor common area as they exited the Beacon dining hall. Maybe a hundred or so yards away stood a wall of people, all moving nervously and whispering to one another. Most of the team seemed disinterested, but Yang felt like something was up.

"Hey guys, lets go check this out." She said.

Blake, Weiss, and their leader Ruby responded with a collective groan. "But… post-lunch naptime!" Yang's younger sister muttered.

Yang shook her head. Her sister was a hell of a fighter but her young age became apparent seemingly at the most annoying of times. "Come on, it will just take a minute." Yang said, walking off in the direction of the wall of people. The rest of the group followed grudgingly in tow.

"It's probably just Jaune dancing around in a dress again." Weiss said, rolling her eyes.

Blake cringed. "Oh please, no."

"I hope so!" said Ruby, "I forgot to take pictures last time."

Yang spearheaded the group through the thin wall of students all facing toward the very center of the main plaza. When the thing they were all staring at came into view, the situation only became more confusing. "A truck?" Yang asked.

"Looks military," Blake said, as that look of suspicion came over her face.

"Yeah…" Yang said, thinking "but didn't Ozpin forbid the General from moving his equipment and troops around in the student areas?"

Ruby, who had been silent, spoke up next. "Hey, Weiss, isn't that one of your company's robots in the front seat?"

"Huh?" The rest of the group sounded off simultaneously. They all squinted and did their best to peer into the passenger compartment from where they were standing. Sure enough, there was something slumped forward, inactive in the driver's seat, and it appeared to have a metal face.

"That's weird," Weiss said, "really weird. But no, I do my best to stay up to date on the company projects but that doesn't look like any prototype I've seen schematics for."

"Something about this doesn't feel right." Blake said.

"Nothing about this feels right." Yang said.

Then, near the other side of the circle of students surrounding the vehicle, two Academy guards emerged from ranks of onlookers. "Everybody, stay back!" they yelled as they approached the vehicle. Ironically enough, Professor Ozpin kept the guards that patrolled the student areas particularly under-armed. Only one of the guards had a firearm, a small pistol, while the other was armed only with an extendable baton. The guard with a pistol was leading, and approached the driver's side window, peering inside at the figure on the other side of the glass, while the second guard stayed right behind him, looking into the window that lead to the backseat.

"Well, I guess that rules out the possibility of this being Ozpin or Ironwood." Blake said.

"Lets not make assumptions, yet." Weiss said.

"What? I'm just saying that…"

And then at that moment the drivers side door flew open, knocking the first guard to the ground. The figure that had been so limp and still behind the wheel jumped out and swiftly kicked the guard in the face with the heel of his boot, leaving the guard limp on his back. The second guard didn't even bother reaching for his baton before throwing a punch at the this metal-faced assailant, but the intruder blocked it and quickly rendered that guard unconscious as well. After having made short work of both the guards, the metal-faced man went to reach back into his vehicle, turning his back toward the four very powerful warriors that made up team RWBY. As he was doing this, Ruby took a step forward and made a grab for her beloved Crescent Rose where it stayed strapped to her lower back.

Yang put her hand on her sister's shoulder and tugged her back, ever so slightly. "Ruby, don't." She said, softly but sternly.

Ruby looked toward her sister. "But…" She managed to get out.

Then the metal face spoke.

…

"STOP!" Cobin yelled as he aimed his weapon toward the four females that stood defiantly before him. He was trying to keep a level head and follow his basic EOF, or Escalation-Of-Force . In the first steps of this basic procedure, he had to Shout and Show in order to deter a possible attack before resorting to lethal force. He had completed these first two steps by yelling and brandishing his weapon. Cobin's evaluation of the situation was grim; the next step in the proper order of the EOF would be to fire a warning shot, but that would not be an option. If he fired in the foreground in front of anyone's feet the bullet would surely ricochet off the hard concrete and cause an injury, or worse. In addition, the background was either buildings or unknown, so he couldn't fire over their heads for the risk of impacting an unwanted target somewhere down range. This left the last step in the basic EOF, which was lethal force itself. This made Cobin sweat bullets, because he was staring down the barrel of his weapon at four high-school aged girls, but one of them, the smallest, was definitely reaching for something behind her back. This was a delicate situation, and as Cobin scrambled to figure it out, he quietly whispered to himself- "I won't go to Leavenworth."

"STOP!" he yelled again, louder this time. The speaker in his pro-mask detected the heightened volume to his voice and amplified it artificially, making it as powerful as a blast from a megaphone. This seemed to make the smallest of the girls remove her hand from behind her back and step out of her offensive stance. This lifted a great deal of weight off of Cobin's mind, but now that his head was more clear he realized he was still in a very less-than-ideal situation. He was alone, and surrounded on all sides by possible threats. He had to remove himself, and find good cover.

In this moment, only one option came to Cobin's mind. It was drastic, unprofessional, and reproachable. But he saw few other options. Hanging from his vest he had two or three flashbang grenades left. Flasbangs, while theoratically non-lethal, were far from harmless, if one went off right under your ass you'd never really recover from it. Knowing this, he realized he couldn't just chuck a couple of them into the group of children all around him because of the permanent damage and injury it could cause. But he also knew that his own pro-mask, helmet, and armor would effectively shield him from all of the grenade's ill-effects from as close as five feet away. If he could cook it just right, so that he could throw the flashbang straight up and have it detonate ten or fifteen feet above his head, it would be enough to blind and disorient anyone around him who was looking straight at it, giving him a chance to make a break for that nearest building.

Suck on this, Leavenworth, Cobin thought as he dropped his weapon, allowing it to be caught by the three-point sling that attached it to his chest. Before the weapon had fallen all the way to it's rest position in the sling, Cobin's hand was already yanking the pin out of the flashbang. He let the spoon go, starting the timer, and held the little grenade in his hand for maybe a second and half before tossing it straight up and crouching to shield himself from the blast. Inside of the pro-mask that surrounded Cobin's face and head, the exploding of the flashbang sounded like nothing more than a loud POP! But that was his cue, and with it he exploded up from his crouched position and into a dead sprint, straight through the line of disoriented students holding their hands over their eyes in pain and confusion. He didn't stop until he burst through the doors of that nearest building, but as soon as he did he realized what a monumental mistake he had made.

The entire population of the Beacon main dining hall had gone completely silent as soon as this heavily armed and heavily armored individual had burst through the main entrance and interrupted their lunch period. It was an utterly massive room, and Cobin felt as though hundreds of eyes were suddenly on him. More possible threats. Cobin quickly glanced up at the ceiling to ensure there weren't any fixtures or anything that would fall or cause injury if it fell. Once he felt assured of what he was about to do, he didn't hesitate.

"EVERYONE GET THE FUCK OUT!" he screamed as he fired three shots into the ceiling. All of the faces in the crowd began to scream or yell as they scrambled over the tables and ran towards the rear exits. The huge crowd exited quickly, leaving only four standing to face him. This time, instead of four girls, it was two boys and two girls. It was time to Shout and Show again. "I said get the hell out!" Cobin yelled, pointing his weapon toward the group of four, all in various fighting or offensive stances. They didn't move. After a quick evaluation of the target and what was beyond, Cobin decided that this was an appropriate situation to employ a warning shot. He moved the barrel of his weapon to the side and fired twice into the wooden table next to where the group was standing, sending splinters into the air. They remained unphased.

Much to Cobin's horror, one of the four, a girl with orange hair suddenly began to smile wildly, the crack in her face spreading ear-to-ear like a virus. The orange haired girl sang out "The Queen of the Castle is coming for You!" and then appeared to pull a grenade launcher completely from the void. Cobin didn't give her a chance to aim it before he turned his sights on her and fired two controlled pairs of bullets straight at her. But just as he did, the black-haired male that was standing next to her tackled her to the ground, and the bullets flew over both them. The other two members of the group dropped below the tables as well, but Cobin kept firing over their heads, suppressing them as he retreated backward down to the end of the cafeteria. The only viable cover in the entire room was the counter where the food was probably handed out, with the kitchen on the other side, so this is where Cobin headed as he continued to fire his rifle in the direction of the Grenade Launcher Girl and her companions. Somewhere in all of this chaos, he thought to himself, What the fuck is going on?

…

What the fuck is going on out there? Lie Ren thought to himself as he sat with his team members at lunch. Lie was one to think something first and then vocalize it later if he wanted, but this particular thought didn't strike him as needing to be aired in public. Although he was rather troubled by the almost explosion-like sound that he had heard come from outside the dining hall. Team RWBY, which some of the instructors had taken to calling JNPR's 'sister-team,' had left only minutes ago, and wherever those girls went trouble was bound to follow. But right outside the cafeteria? That would be a new record.

Then the most unexpected thing of all happened. Bursting through the door with an incredible amount of force came someone, or possibly something armed to the teeth. If the weapons and armor weren't enough, just the presence of this individual and the way it held itself made an undeniable statement of intent. There was a moment of silence as all of the Beacon students still on their lunch break locked eyes with this thing that stood before them. Then all hell broke loose.

The metal-faced warrior barked an order, loudly, and fired his weapon into the ceiling of the dining hall. Everyone stood, most people screamed and ran for the exits, but in this moment all of the eyes belonging to team JNPR turned to Pyrrha, and her face itself said it all: Hell no. They all took their fighting stances and waited for what was surely to come. Lie was shaken, more than normal. There was something about the sheer volume of this intruders weapon that stunned him. It didn't sound like any firearm he had heard or handled. It was too loud. Way too loud.

It didn't take long for the metal-face to realize that there were four students remaining in his midst. He turned his weapon on them and barked another order. Lie was sure that an attack would be what followed, but to his surprise the metal-face turned his weapon to the side and fired into the table next to them, as if in warning. Lie watched out of the corner of his eye in horror as whatever was being fired out this weapon absolutely disintegrated the impact areas in the surface of the table. That settled it, this wasn't Dust-based ammunition.

Then, something equally horrific happen, which was Nora responding to this situation exactly as one should expect Nora would. "The Queen of the Castle is coming for You!" She yelled in her normal, happy-go-lucky, sing-song voice. Nora began to retrieve her weapon but Lie could tell that she would be too slow, and saw the barrel of the metal-face's weapon moving to zero-in on her. Without another thought, lie pushed himself sideways into Nora, taking her to the ground just as the bullets flew over their heads. Thankfully, Jaune and Pyrrha dropped as well.

"What in all Grimm is going on?" Pyrrha said, crouched down and spider-like in stance. Jaune laid on his stomach behind her, hands over head.

Lie rolled off of Nora and into the prone position. "I don't know," he said, "but I don't think he's using dust based ammunition."

"What? How could that be?" Pyrrha asked, as several more bullets flew over their heads.

"I have no idea," Lie said, "but I have this feeling like our Aura's might not be able to stand up to it." More shots splintered the table in front of them, and they covered their faces to protect themselve from the flying shards of wood.

Jaune raised his head long enough to shout "I hate tuesdays!"

…

Cobin vaulted over the counter at the end of the cafeteria and into the kitchen space. He had half a mind to just make a break for it and see if there was an exit out the back, but that would mean turning his rear end toward a heavily armed enemy with no one to cover his retreat. He didn't like that idea. So he dropped the magazine from his weapon and loaded another from his chest rig. When he popped up again from behind the counter, he was just in time to see the four girls from before come in the main entrance, following his path. He turned his weapon toward them and fired two more controlled pairs just over their heads, causing them to drop down out of sight.

He kept thinking about Leavenworth, or at least the ugly trial that would result if he accidently killed an unlawful child combatant. It was something he didn't want to experience and committed to the idea that he would make every effort to get out of this situation without killing anyone. But he needed to buy time. He reached for his chest rig where two white smoke grenades hung. He prepped them and tossed them over the the top of the counter just in time for a hail of gunfire to erupt from inside the main room of the cafeteria. As rounds of various sizes whizzed over his head the industrial kitchen equipment behind him was shredded and destroyed. These kids were packing reall weapons, very serious gear. The firing lightened as the smoke grenades created a screen separating him from his attackers. Okay, he thought, now I can sneak out the back of this kitchen. And that plan might have gone well too, if the smallest girl from the group in the plaza didn't burst through the door separating the kitchen from the main hall, bearing the image of Death, Himself.

"Ruby, no!" a voice shouted from the other side of the smoke screen just as this scythe-wielding devil child came at Cobin with speed that he didn't believe was humanly possible. In slow motion Cobin saw the girl wind up and prepare to slice him with the unbelievable weapon. He reacted, stepping too far inside of the swing for the blade to catch him, and as the scythe came around and the girl came at him, he simply put his hand up, leaned in, and braced for impact. When the girl's forehead connected with his palm the force with which she was moving sent an awful vibration up Cobin's entire musculoskeletal system, but it worked, and she released her grip on her weapon and her legs flew up in front of her, acting as a pendulum as they attempted to continue the path that Cobin's palm prevented her head from moving down. So almost directly beneath him, she fell straight onto her back. Cobin drew his handgun from its drop holster and aimed it down, straight toward the child's head. There was this moment of silence, absolute pause as Cobin's brain regained control of his muscles and he realized consciously that yes, this was still a child. Her eyes said she was.

Two more bullets flew straight past Cobin's head, and without another thought he turned and sprinted toward the back of the kitchen. He burst through the back door only to find himself in a long carpeted hallway lined with offices. There was a large window at the end and Cobin made a break for it, sprinting all the way. He heard shouting and gunfire close behind him and out of his peripheral vision he could see rounds tearing apart the walls around him, chasing him down the corridor. He was close -so close- maybe less than fifteen feet away from the window when there was a blast. Cobin could tell it had to be excessively loud because the microphones that fed sound from the outside world into his pro-mask muted it, and all that he heard was a dull thudding noise. But he felt it, the blast picked him up off of his feet and shot him through the window like a bat out of hell, partially engulfed in flames.

He blacked out before he hit the ground but the adrenaline in his system only allowed it to last for several seconds. When he awoke he was laying on the ground, on his stomach. There were bits of glass and wood and burning things around him. The visor feeding him the live reel of his environment was fuzzy and kept cutting in and out, the cameras on the outside of the promask were probably failing. He reached under his chin and hit the emergency release, opening the mask's air tight seal and allowing him to pull it all the way off his face. As he did he gasped, taking his first breath of unfiltered air in this unfamiliar place. His own vision had gone fuzzy from the blast, he could barely see ten feet in front of him. He knew he had to keep moving, so he crawled, one hand in front of the other, dragging his body across the ground. He made it maybe ten feet before something else came in swift contact with the back of his head, and all the lights went back out.

…

The eight students erupted from the destroyed window and onto the ground, ready to finish off whatever that metal-faced thing was, only to stare in shock at the sight of their own Professor Goodwitch standing calmly over the immobilized form of the intruder. She was staring back at them, as if waiting impatiently. "Well," She began, "which one of you is going to explain this?" The two full teams of students ran to their professor, but kept their distance from the form lying on the ground.

"It tried to kill us!" Yang said.

Goodwitch raised an eyebrow "It?" she asked, prompting an explanation.

"Yeah, it's a robot or something, isn't it?" Jaune asked.

The professor took on a facial expression of genuine disappointment. "Unlikely, considering this vast amount of skin and flesh," she said she pushed the metal-face over onto it's back with her shoe, revealing that the metal face was not, in fact, a metal face. They huddled around him, staring at the unconscious expression of a man. He seemed very sharp around the edges, and had a bit of light facial hair partially obscuring how he might truly look.

"Who is he?" Blake asked.

Goodwitch put her face in her palm. "Well, that's the question of the day, isn't it students?"

They all stood back up and looked at their teacher. Yang, out of all of them, looked particularly pissed. "He did just try to kill us."

The well-weathered huntress was unamused. "So? Did you die?"

"Well no, but…"

"That's what I thought. I'll review the security camera footage. All of you should remain on standby for debriefing by Professor Ozpin, or The Good General." She said with a rather sarcastic twist.

A medical transport touched down near them, and two of the school paramedics jumped out with a gurney and ran to where the unknown man laid on the ground in front of the students and their teacher. The student's watched in silence as the medics rolled him onto the gurney and prepped him for transport to the academy hospital. As they worked, Goodwitch bent down and picked the man's face mask off the ground, she stared at it for a minute, examining the false-face that had so frightened her students. It definitely looked more like armor than something used to identify affiliation, like the Grimm masks worn by the White Fang. She would have the weapons techs tear it apart and see what they could find.

"Alright," she said as they watched the medics load the man into the aircraft and take off, "All of you have the rest of the day off if you so choose. Go back to your rooms and rest."

There were no more words, the two teams moved as one confused, exhausted mass toward the main dormitory. All except for Ruby, who remained still next to the Professor.

"Is there something you want, Ruby?" Goodwitch asked without turning her gaze on the girl.

"Umm, uh…" Ruby started, always her awkward self, "I just don't know if he was really trying to… you know, kill us."

"Oh?" Goodwitch asked, curious.

"Yeah… it's just. He could have, like he really probably could have killed all of us. Or at least me. And well, he didn't. But he had lots of opportunities."

Goodwitch nodded. "Run along and catch up to your classmates, Ruby, get some rest." The girl nodded, and her teacher watched as she ran to catch up with her friends. "After all," Goodwitch said, no one else in ear shot, "It's only tuesday."

…

*HMMWV- The actual acronym for the widely used military vehicle commonly pronounced "Humvee."

*Leavenworth- the United States' Military's maximum security prison for U.S. armed forces service members who have committed war crimes. Like Git-mo for soldiers. Located in Kansas.

I'm really quite amazed how well this story has be received after only the that short introductory chapter. Thank you all for your reviews, follows, and favorites. If you have any questions regarding the story or any of the military jargon used, feel free to message me or leave a review.

Despite my attempt to accurately portray a U.S. Army Soldier, I do understand that the fight scene was horribly unrealistic. I hope you're okay with that.

Thank you for reading, and be on the lookout for more.

-Wahs.