Nine hours, Artyom had slept for nine hours. Far longer than he had ever done in his life. Even as a Ranger, he would barely get six hours of rest before called to do another mission for the Order. Still, the young man appreciated it ever since the headmaster offered them tents to sleep on Beacon grounds. It was also the first time he had ever slept comfortably on the surface of the world.

The Savior of the Metro rose from his slumber, rubbing his eyes as he began to step out of the tent. There was a scent that caught his attention as he began to look for it. When the sunlight got into his face, he turned away from the light after realizing that he was entirely used to the dark tunnels of the Metro. His eyes tried its best to adjust to the lighting as he noticed his fellow Rangers place sunglasses over their gazes.

Artyom was surprised when Uhlman walked over to him with his sunglasses. "Hey, Artyom. I think you'll need these." The friendly Ranger said as he pulled out a pair of shades from his breast pocket.

All he could do was smile. Although Uhlman was known to be a jokester, he was still someone he could trust ever since Bourbon died. "Thank you, Uhlman." Then he immediately slipped the sunglasses over his eyes. It was a relief that he could now see, but it was also a tragedy that humanity had settled so long in the darkness that the eyes were forbidden to see the light lest they risk blindness.

"I hear that they're offering food at the lunch building. Miller gave us permission to go ahead and eat, but I'm wondering. Do you want to come?" He asked.

"Sure." Artyom answered. "I have a feeling they might have something other than mushrooms."

"Don't worry about that. I doubt these kids ever wanted to eat mushrooms in their lives unless they're farms and even then, farmers are not too keen on eating mushrooms themselves. Besides, I think they might have some food you would have enjoyed had we not blown the surface all to hell." Then Uhlman walked off as he grabbed the attention of everyone around the organized area of tents. "Alright Rangers, let's go kill a meal."

Finally, the gated door was broken. Jaune watched with hopefulness as he watched Hans ran into the gate with his entire body. When the bars flew open, he covered Velvet's body, shielding her away from the flying metal bars that flew. Then he turned towards the armored soldier, who walked over to him as he removed a canteen from his belt. "Kid, you thirsty." He said.

The young man nodded before the soldier handed the canteen over to him. "Yes sir."

Hans turned away from the boy and looked to the old man laying against the wall. "Squad, secure him. We're going to take him back to Reich for interrogation." He ordered. His men were quick to acknowledge him by that strange name he was given. Then they stormed the room and converged on the old man's body.

Jaune was quick to sip the contents of the canteen, but then a thought occurred to him. Velvet could be thirsty as well. He turned his full attention towards the unconscious girl as he placed the canteen in her lips. The water should be able to wake her up after all this time. To his surprise, it did.

The girl opened her eyes and rose from the ground, coughing out water from her throat. "Ugh, where am I?" She asked. Then she recognized the boy who saved him. "Jaune, what's going on?"

"We were kidnapped, Velvet." He replied. "Someone knocked us out and brought us here."

Despite the calm situation at hand, an explosion of reactions erupted from one of the men working for Hans. "What the fuck?! She's a mutant" He said as he turned his full attention on Jaune and Velvet. "What the hell she has bunny ears?"

Jaune looked to Hans, only to see the men beside him drawing their weapons. "Mutant, what are you guys talking about?" He asked.

Hans's head perked up at this question. "You don't notice the bunny ears?" The soldier wondered.

"The ears, I know that, but she's a faunus. What do you have against them?"

"She isn't human. Those ears are unnatural for her to be human."

One of the men commented on the situation. "Hans, looks like we found a mutant fucker. Why don't we kill them both and save the Gestapo the trouble?"

The girl expressed how scared she was in the presence of heavily armored and armed soldiers. "Jaune, who are these people?"

"Shut the hell up, bitch." Another soldier stated.

Then Hans spoke. "Say, which part of the Metro are you from?" He asked. "Both of you don't look like you're from around here."

Jaune's eyes widened at the question. "Um, what are you talking about?"

"I said, where are you from?"

"My friend and I are not from around here. We're from a place called Remnant."

Hans turned his head over to his peers. "Anybody heard of a place called Remnant?" In response to his question, his men shook their heads. "Weird. Someone shine a light on the girl's ears?" He ordered. A flashlight was turned on and expressed its light on the girl's lithe figure, but was focused on the ears specifically. "Save them the bullets, I think Reich might want to take a look at this."

Then a soldier protested. "Wait, you're going to bring her along. She's a mutant, who do you think we are, a circus?"

Then Hans pointed at her. "Moscow and the Metro are full of radiation and her ears are way too fucking normal without being fucked by radiation. No, the Reich should take a look at that. I've seen mutations for most of my life, but her ears are too natural to be a mutation."

Jaune was quick to as a question. "Hans, where are we?" The boy asked.

"You don't know, kid?" The huntsman-in-training shook his head. "You're in the Metro, the underground train stations of Moscow." Then Hans turned away from the boy to see three of his men gag and tie the old man up. "You boys done with him?"

One of the soldiers, his entire head wrapped up in a metal mask and a helmet waved his hands. "Yes sir. He's ready to be brought to the Gestapo. You want me to do the same with these kids?"

"No, I think they can walk on their own. Besides, I doubt they know their way around."

"You know sir, we should just shoot them." The man replied. "Saves us the trouble."

"True, but I don't want to return to the Reich empty-handed." Then the armored soldier turned his gaze towards Jaune. "Alright you two, on your feet were going to do a bit of walking for a while." Hans stated as he walked out of the room.

Jaune and Velvet looked at each other, only to see the dread that could follow. Then one of the soldiers grabbed both the hunters-in-training by the collar. "You heard the man, get moving." One of them shouted.

Realizing they had no choice, Jaune led the way as Velvet followed. When they stepped outside of the room, they found themselves in a dark hallway.

"Turn right, the other side is a cave-in."

Understanding that, Jaune turned right as he noticed a broken wall on the left side of the hallway. Then he found Hans walking through the opening. As he stepped out of the dark hallway, he found himself looking at the low-lit area where there were only candles that lit the surroundings. However, the young man noticed the strewn bodies of the savages that had once imprisoned him earlier. The flies began to descend on the remains of the dead as Jaune found Hans walking towards a destroyed door on the other side of the room.

Where ever he was, Jaune began to hope that there would be a way back to Remnant as soon as possible.

Artyom found himself sitting at a table full of Polis Rangers. Most of whom were veterans while there were new fresh faces from the cadet ranks. Perhaps they heard that the food here was better than what the mess hall could develop in the long. He would have to see the food for itself, but the older Rangers said men like him would be in for a surprise.

The young man looked around, only to see the cafeteria food being brought in by the cooks. No one was in the room, but it seemed like the food was meant for them. As containers of food were slipped in, one of the cooks glanced over to their group with a smile. "Everyone, the food is ready." She stated.

The Rangers were quick to depart from their seat as the high-ranking Rangers and the older veterans were first to be in line. This also included Artyom as well. While the upper echelons of the Spartan Order were given first-class meals unlike their lower ranks, Artyom noticed Colonel Miller being the first Ranger to take a tray off a pile. "Rangers, you're all going to enjoy one hell of a meal." He commented as he began to walk close to the first container. The colonel was quick to pick the apples and oranges, fruits Artyom had once saw in a book. Never had he thought he was going to see such things in his life.

After getting his food, the ones recommended by Uhlman, Artyom departed from the line and went back to his table and rejoined the only two Rangers that were with him at the discovery of D6. Then he heard Colonel Miller cut deep into his bread-like food before picking at it with his fork. "My god, never had I thought I would be eating pancakes again." He said. It was strange to hear the colonel say that. Artyom had every right to be curious why. "Artyom, my boy, you are going to enjoy this. Before the war, we had meals just like this every morning. Take a bite and you'll be eating a pre-war meal."

Looking away from his superior, Artyom looked down at his own tray, only to see the round-shape stack of bread at the center. Was this the kind of life he could have had if the bombs were never dropped? Why would the world destroy itself just to rid itself of colorful variety of food over a disagreement that he would never know? After cutting a piece from the pancake, the young man took a bite.

Then a familiar voice caught him by surprised. "You know you're supposed to eat the pancakes with syrup, right?"

He looked around to find who was trying to correct his way of eating food. When glanced over his shoulder, he found Winter standing before him. "Winter, what are you doing here?" He asked.

"I came to enjoy an early breakfast, just like the rest of you." She replied. "Artyom, why are you wearing sunglasses inside a building?"

Realizing he still had a pair of sunglasses on, the Ranger found himself silent and unable to explain. That was until he heard Uhlman's voice catching her full attention. "Kid isn't used to this much daylight. The gasmasks usually take care of it when you're on the surface, but since Artyom doesn't need to use a gasmask he'll need sunglasses so he could see. Otherwise, he'll be blind as a bat. I'll say it's just a curse for a guy who lives in tunnels for most of his life."

Winter nodded her head with that logic. "In other words, he won't be able to see on the surface outside of a gasmask."

"Yep. Best he adjusts to the light over time instead of blinding him at first. Usually works."

"Thanks for telling me that." Then she immediately took a seat beside Artyom, only to earn attention from everyone in the Rangers. "Why is everyone looking at me like that?" The specialist questioned. "It's as if I did something bad."

Then Artyom smiled as he tapped her by the shoulder. "It's because you're not a Ranger." He said. "Normally, we like to keep to ourselves unless it's something important."

"You're telling me that just because I'm a stranger that they have to give me weird looks?"

Colonel Miller was quick to comment. "It's also because you're wearing white." He said. "No one wears that much white unless it's a dress uniform. Even then it's a very bland color."

"That's the reason?!" Winter cried out. "Besides, I like this color."

"You certainly have a strange taste in colors."

"Hey!"

Artyom smiled at the conversation. She was already making a friendly conversation with the Rangers, particularly the veterans. The thought of seeing friends, who had never met each other, was very enjoyable. "So, what are you eating?" He asked.

Winter eyes glanced over to him. "Me, I'm probably going to have waffles. Chocolate waffles."

"What is chocolate?" The young man questioned. "I have never heard of it before. Well, I did, but I never actually ate chocolate before."

"You haven't had chocolate?"

Then Uhlman spoke up. "Artyom probably has eaten chocolate before, but he might have been too young to remember it. I mean, you told us that you used to eat ice cream with your mom before the war." An immediate slap from Colonel Miller followed. "What? I was merely telling the truth. Besides, it's not a secret that Artyom had some life before the war."

His mother, it had been a long time since Artyom had ever mentioned his mother to the rest of his friends. No one made fun of her, the Rangers knew better than to be a hypocrite. After all, no man should ever have to hear about a boy's mother getting eaten by rats. "Ice cream, funny that I don't remember what it tasted like before the war."

"You were young, Artyom." Commented Miller. "It's hard to remember those kinds of memories at that age."

Specialist Schnee had spoken. "Perhaps I can treat all of you with some ice cream after Artyom and I rescue the missing students?"

Artyom noticed Uhlman and Miller's heads turning towards her with surprise. Then he followed their example to see a smile on her lips. Then he heard Uhlman reply. "You would do that for three grown men. Well, mom, as long as you are paying."

"I don't like to say this, Uhlman, but that was the worse joke I have ever heard." The colonel said.

"Don't worry, Colonel Miller, I'm a Schnee. I have more than enough Lien than any person should have."

"Wait, is that name supposed to mean something?"

Winter sighed. "Yes. Here on Remnant, my family is one of the largest distributers of dust. It's a very famous of infamous name, depending on your attitude against my family."

As Artyom took another bite out of his pancake, the revelation from Winter surprised him. She was someone famous, perhaps more famous than he could ever expect. It was strange how she did not mention this to him when she was in the Metro. Perhaps, there was something behind it she did not like. "Who would ever go against your family? You seem nice."

"I'm flattered, but it's more to that than just personality. My father is the head of the Schnee Dust Company, he has a long history of being attacked by terrorists and hated by the competition for simply being better."

Miller scoffed at the sentence.

"Sorry, did I offend you?"

The colonel shook his head. "Terrorists, who would have thought they're lot would be here. Hell, even in another world fuckers like these were going to exist."

"You had terrorists in your world? I find it hard to believe."

Colonel Miller's tone changed to that of a man reminiscing old times. "Yeah, we had terrorists before the war. They didn't cause the bombs to fall, but they were a troubling lot. I had to clear bastards like that from room to room when I was in the army."

"You fought terrorists?" Wondered Winter. "What did they do to gain such insults?"

"What didn't they do. To me, I considered them scum of the earth for the shit they did to civilians. Say, what kind of names does your terrorists go by?"

"The faunus terrorists? They like to call themselves the White Fang."

His expression changed when he leaned back in his seat. "White Fang? What kind of name were they trying to get out? It sounds stupid."

"Sir, with all due respect, I believe this is a cultural matter you don't understand. Here on Remnant, we have evil creatures known as the Grimm and the White Fang wear masks to resemble them."

"Okay, it sounds like some weird shit I would hear in some occult."

"I would like to believe in the same thing, but that is not the case."

Uhlman made the effort to change the subject. "Okay, now that we've established that there were terrorists in this world. What about you joining Artyom to rescue some kids?"

"Yes." She answered. "Turns out that commanding a small group of mechs requires some expertise. None of you know how to work them."

"I'm sensing a but in here."

"However, I do know how to work an Atlas Knight."

Artyom quietly hid his surprise, but this woman's knowledge about strange machines were enough to pique his curiosity. "Winter, I didn't think you would know something like this."

"I'll tell you after you eat." She replied, before she departed from the table and walked over to the containers filled with food.

Uhlman whistled the farther she left. "She's quite a woman. What are your thoughts, colonel?"

"Honestly, I'm curious to know how Artyom befriended her." Miller replied. "No offense."

The young man smiled. "None taken, colonel."