Earlier that night...

This small hangar usually served as a fuel station for passing airships or a good rest stop for anyone traversing the vast Atlan desert. It was military owned, though the soldiers posted there were usually friendly and not threatening to travelers; welcoming anybody that needed them. Though that all changed with the arrival of a secret "prototype weapon" that had arrived not a week ago, and was being hidden there temporarily. And since that strange weapon's coming: All the old guards were to stay out of the actual hangar area, more aggressive and more well armed soldiers came moving in, and they now had to turn away all travelers and needing air vessels.

With all that in mind, the original assumption was that this place was going to be crawling with guards. Meaning Scarlet and Sage would have to fight their way through it. But, as fortune has it, at this time of night all the new guards were off in the mess hall having dinner. Leaving all the old guards to patrol the perimeter. Easy prey.

"No no no, don't make this harder than it has to be."

Take this poor guy as an example. This poor young soldier, who looked to have only turned fifteen a month ago, must have volunteered to be assigned to this outpost during her break for a combat school extra credit project. She can barely fit into standard Atlan military armor (yet was told by the newcomers to patrol by herself), and was now currently being choked out by a certain red haired mercenary. Thankfully, for Scarlet's case, the kid did go quickly and without much of a fight.

When the she finally passed out, Scarlet let her drop from his chokehold and fall to the ground face first. As he walked onward, Scarlet laughed to himself, "That child is going to have the worst headache when she wakes up."

Scarlet moved forward silently, carefully looking out for any other patrols as he moved into the large and dark hangar. Apparently this outpost had no night timed lights, since the only light sources came from the full moon and the glow through the attached main building's windows.

Where in the world is that oaf? I told him to meet me in the hangar. Scarlet thought to himself. And weren't there supposed to be guard dogs around here too?

As the fancy dressed merc got closer into the hangar itself, he only now noticed two empty dog kennels near the door connecting the hangar to the main building. Also then he noticed movement in-between the several parked bullheads deeper into the hangar.

Scarlet slowly approached, weaving between the many aircrafts silently as he prepared himself for whatever sight beheld him. Though even then, all that preparing would not save him when he finally saw what was causing all that movement. The sight alone causing him to facepalm the visible side of his face, and caused a sweatdrop to form on the other half.

There, kneeling down, was Sage. Smiling as he pet and played with two happy Rottweilers and an overly excited Corgi.

"And just what do you think you're doing?" Scarlet scolded as he approached, forgetting for a moment to be quiet.

Sage looked up at his partner for moment- momentarily dropping his rarely seen grin- before returning his attention to one of the Rottweilers, scratching its belly as it rolled onto its back.

"I was waiting for you." Sage said in that deep and calm voice of his.

An angry mark began to form on Scarlet as his patience wore thin. He hated it when people didn't follow through with a plan, and he almost hated it even more when they didn't focus entirely on the mission; which is why naturally their team's "wise" leader always partnered him with this few worded, weak minded, easily distracted-

...Scarlet pinched the bridge of his nose and took a long and deep breath. He let his frustration subside, before addressing his… friend, again.

"Well, if you don't mind, I'd like to get back to the mission." Scarlet hissed through grinding teeth, trying desperately to not let his quickly returning anger loose.

Sage nodded. He slowly rose to his feet, causing all the dogs to suddenly looked up to him; wagging their tails as they expecting more attention. This caused Sage to briefly chuckle to himself before he took on his normal stone serious look and tone.

"You two, go to bed." He said, looking at the two guard dogs. Which, shockingly, both obliged; turning and walking back in the direction of their shelters. Sage then looked at the remaining Corgi, briefly glancing at the dog's collar before looking it in the eyes.

"You, go back to master." Sage commanded. Though the dog did not move; it only tilted its head and let its tongue hang out.

Sage narrowed his eyes as he ordered more sternly, "Now Zwei."

The small dog flattened its ears and whimpered for moment. However it quickly perked up again, running off with surprising speed towards the open hangar doors and into the vast desert.

"Hmph. His owner must be traveling through the desert not far from here. Probably heading for Atlas." Scarlet assumed aloud; His anger completely subsiding now that they were back on task. "Regardless, let's find our target and destroy it already. It won't be long before the majority of the guards return."

Sage only grunted in agreement.

The two young adults searched around as quickly and as quietly as they could, searching low and high for this supposed weapon that Mistral wanted gone. So far, their search seemed hopeless after the twentieth Bullhead they searched. That is until Scarlet heard whispered to him,

"I found it."

Scarlet felt his skin almost leap off of him as he stifled a yelp. He turned around to find a slightly confused Sage that was uncomfortably close to him... again.

Scarlet's eyes turned to flames. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU!? DON'T DO THAT! LEARN THE CONCEPT OF PERSONAL SPACE!" He snapped, ready to kill his dense partner right here in this Bullhead and happily deal with all the consequences that would follow suite.

Sage remained uncomfortably close as he only blinked in response. He stayed quiet and still as Scarlet silenced himself and took several deep breaths; though even when the fire died in his eyes, Scarlet's breathing came in deep aggravated strokes. Sage then put a finger to his own lips, giving a hushed shh sound before finally turning away and walking towards his findings. Scarlet followed in relative silence as he muttered to himself under his coat's collar.

They both came to a stop at a small corner in the very back of the hangar, where a pile of storage boxes and crates all lay. It seemed fine and uninteresting until you realized that one of the small boxes had something the others didn't… a label reading "Fragile", and a small mark on one of the corners that was the Atlian science division emblem.

Immediately Scarlet perked up, smiling at Sage for a moment before looking back at the surprisingly small container that fit the description.

"Not bad Sage. Must've been buried back there with all that other supplies wasn't it?"

Sage only grunted.

"Well, good on you. I never would have spotted it. And I'm guessing they were planning on moving it soon, so we arrived just on time."

Scarlet knelt down and began prying open the lid of the box. He had assumed that the target they were looking for was a ship, and not something as small as an Ursa's head. The contents of the box only added to his growing confusion and curiosity.

"What is it?" Sage asked as he stood by Scarlet, arms crossed as he looked down.

"I'm… not really sure." Scarlet admitted. He reached inside and grabbed the strange metal sphere. He stood up with it, lifting it up to a ray of dim moonlight that was coming in from an above skylight to get a better look.

The sphere was no bigger than Scarlet's head, though it was much lighter. It was covered in a layer of plastic that had the symbol for danger marked on it. On the inside, the sphere was dirty, covered in rust, and dent in some places. It had four tiny spots around it that seemed to be holes, and two large faded pillar shaped lines were painted on one side of it.

After examining the strange object for a long moment, both Scarlet and Sage looked back into the box to find sheets of paper that had been placed beneath the object. Sage leaned down, grabbed the papers, and looked them over.

"It's probably in Atlan. Do you need me to translate?" Scarlet offered.

Sage didn't reply. He flipping through the several papers; his eyes scanned over them with incredible speed. After reading over the last paper, he tossed them in some direction behind him and looked back at Scarlet.

"Most of it is legal and military jargon. Just instructions on where that thing is being moved. It also mentions a brief testimony of a villager on the desert outskirts. That thing apparently fell from the sky, and was thought to be a falling star."

Scarlet's eyes went wide as he slowly looked back at the object in question. He still balanced it with one hand as he stumbled, "Are you, trying to say this thing is…"

Sage didn't answer. A long silence followed as the weight of what this was fell onto the two. Mistral's intel was off on this one. Way off.

"...Lets… just burn this thing. We've spent way too much time here, and those guards are probably done already." Scarlet muttered.

Sage looked over to Scarlet with a brow raised. He wasn't going to argue with him about the mission- after all, they were sent to destroy this… thing; weapon or not- it was just surprising to hear Scarlet of all people unsure of himself. To him, the mission always came first. Everything else came second.

But here Scarlet stood, staring at the object in his hands. Motionless, and seemingly deep in thought; arguing with himself internally over who knows what. Sage didn't like to see his friend like this, so he thought of something on the fly to perhaps distract his friend until he could think of something better.

"Let's go. We'll bring it with us. We'll talk to Sun and Neptune, and then decide what to do. The mission is to destroy it, but not when or where to destroy it."

Scarlet's gaze was hidden in shadows as he quietly considered Sage's words. Though after a tense moment, he quickly nodded and began packing the object and the thrown away papers back into their container.

"Hey! Stop right there!" A gruff voice barked a good distance away, followed by barking from the two guard dogs.

Sage and Scarlet had turned quickly, scanning around as they expected to have guards all around them. But no one was around. And yet more voices rose up, and the barking continued from across the hangar.

Scarlet motioned to move up, picking up the crate in one arm as he did so. Both he and Sage silently crept forward, now noticing that the door connecting the hangar and the living quarters was wide open, pouring in light. They stopped behind a rather large Bullhead, staying out of sight as they surveyed the situation. All the Atlas soldiers, and the dogs who had returned to their posts, were present; the soldiers' weapons were all at the ready.

Though it wasn't the two mercenaries that were the center of attention. Instead, all the Atlan soldiers were focused with the arrival of a small group of strange looking soldiers in Grimm masks, who only stood there, unfazed by the yelling soldiers as they stayed silent; not raising their weapons even slightly.

"Wait. Are those… the White Fang?" Scarlet noted in whisper. "Here? In Atlas?"

Said group of extremists moved apart slightly, allowing a figure that had been hidden to come forward and greet the Atlians. And she was one of the strangest things both Scarlet and Sage had ever seen.

She was a short and young lady, who walked with a constant creepy smile on her face and a pink umbrella that was open and hanging above her head. Her hair was half brown on one side, and bright pink with white stripes on the other. Her eyes were also strange, being brown on the pink haired half, and the other being pink on the brown haired half. Her clothes being made up of a variety of whites, blacks, and a pink scarf; all of it being of a very rich standard.

"Scarlet… we should leave… now." Sage whispered urgently. His instincts were telling him this wasn't going to end well.

Unfortunately Scarlet never got the chance to answer him. The head Atlan soldier approached this strange cartoon of a girl with his weapon lowered.

"We are not accepting visitors. Especially White Fang. Turn around and leave, and we might just forget we ever saw you."

The girl didn't answer. She just continued to smile as she slowly bowed. Then, she suddenly went creepily still.

In fact, all of the arrivals had gone suddenly still. They just stood there. Like… statues…

"Sage, call Sun. Now." Scarlet ordered quietly.

Too late. By the time Scarlet had said the words, Sage was looking up and could see the glints of gun barrels above them in the dark rafters.

"Wait a minute… it's an illusion!" The Atlan commander only now noticed.

Suddenly behind all the guards, in the light filled hallway, came forth that same young girl (both her eyes now brown). She came sprinting out like the wind. Her umbrella now folded down as she used it like a spear to impale through the Atlan commander's back. His blood was flying out, though his screams were drowned out by the sudden rainfall of bullets that pelted the other Atlas soldiers.

During the chaos, the strange mismatched girl kept up her smile as she retracted her umbrella from the now dead commander. She didn't seem to care about the blood that was now covering it, nor did she even notice the specks of blood on her face and outfit. She just calmly walked out of the bullet storm, hoping over a body or two and nonchalantly hitting an Atlas soldier as she strolled by.

When she had exited what was left of the incoming fire, she stopped dead. Her smile faded as she tilted her head to one side, then slowly she turned her head in Scarlet and Sages's direction.

When she noticed the two trying to flee silently away, her smile returned.