"Hey, Chris, I thought it was you under that helmet, how've you been? Good, I hope." Jaune threw an arm around the masked figure. "Look, I like your kids and your wife, well, not really your wife, kinda bitchy, but I like the kids! It'd be a shame if something was to… happen to them… You catch me?" He tossed the pistol from hand to hand. "I mean a bullet to the head, in case you missed that."

"Um… Mister Jaune sir, the safety's on," said one of the grunts.

"Wait, what? Hyperion doesn't make guns with safety!" Peering down at the pistol, he blinked. "Huh, it's a Jackob's gun. When did I pick up a Jackob's? Ugh." He dropped it onto the ground, wiping his hands on his pants. "Seriously, there's a reason why Hyperion is one of the top sellers and Jackob's is… well… in the trash. Like your kids if I kill them. And I totally will! Honest."

Jaune leaned back in his seat, looking out at the absolute wasteland that was Pandora and the trash of heap that was called the escape shuttle while sitting in what must be the Bandit version of an all terrain vehicle. All around them lay the the withered husk of the port city of Tristain, the market district long since destroyed by the looting and general mayhem of Pandora. The few wooden stalls that weren't destroyed were coated in a fine layer of purple dust and the buildings closest to the sea were partially encased in purple crystals.

"You know, the whole crystal thing, is really snazzy. The technocolor style of the buildings and overall flower theme is puke inducing, but damn, I love the way the light refracts off of the crystal. Think it's strong enough for me to stab your kids with them? I kid, I kid!" Pause. "See what I did there? Hilarious wasn't I?"

The ragtag crew of Faunus glanced at each other in confusion.

"But seriously, you had one job and one job only, capture Weiss Schnee." With a flick of the wrist, the dagger hidden up his sleeve popped out. "Damn it love doing that!" Another flick and it retracted. Flick out, flick in, flick out, flick in, flick out, fli-

"Where was I? Oh right, Weiss Schnee. As much as I love Hyperion and dear daddy, Atlas and by extension, the Schnee corporation, build much better guns. Guns we could have blackmailed them out of. So what did you decide to do? Blow a bloody hole in the window and try to suck us all into space!" Quick as a snake, the dagger was to Chris' throat. "It's a good thing I love your kids, or they'd be missing daddy right now."

A bump in the road moved them just enough for the knife to dig into Chris' throat.

"Shit!" Jaune pulled the knife back back. "Anyone got medical training here? Come on, stay with me, I like your kids, hate your wife and your wife will fucking love it if you die and I can't be bringing her good news."

"Um… it's just a nick, you didn't cut anything," said the oh so helpful faunus from before.

"Oh." Jaune stared down at the blood before sitting back down and turning to the one who had just spoken. Monkey tail, blonde hair, blue eyes, stupid expression on his face. "So, what's your name?"

"Sun." Monkey Boy replied, and his face twisted into the most convincing smile Jaune had ever seen on a Faunus. If he didn't know better, he might even say it was real.

"Creative name, real cool." Another bump in the road before the smooth ride turned into the stupidity of off road driving as they turned off the road into proper wilderness. The purple glow slowly receded until everything was back to its natural hue,the city vanished into the distance and a mountain range came into view. Gentle rolling hills, fields of blue flowers, creatures that were the size of a van and looked like snot waddling on six legs…

Oh, there's a varkid, thank the stars, for a second there the entire thing was feeling more like an acid trip than reality.

"Yo, driver, think we can go through that varkid mound? You know, some roadkill for the journey, a bit of rock and roll, shame I didn't bring my stash. Not that I had a stash mind you and it's certainly not under my bed." At all the blank looks, assuming it was meant to be blank looks since it resembled like their normal expression, Jaune just lowered his hand. "Er… nevermind. Just keep driving my good man."

Turning slightly to the east, the truck kept thundering along, the lack of whatcha-ma-call-it's making the entire trip agonising. Eventually though, as the sun began dipping below the horizon, they made it to the foot of the mountain range. The lights flicked on and they descended into what appeared to be an abandoned mine, bits of limbs and more than one head decorating the entrance. Though the blood graffitti was definitely a unique and nic-

"Hey! Hyperion does not suck! Who wrote that?"

Silence.

"Fine, whatever." Jaune sat back down and crossed his arms.

Without any warning, the lights flicked off once more and the entire car slowed to a crawl.

"Be very quiet, sound attracts the Grimm," whispered Chris before something was passed into Jaune's hands. "Here, spray this on yourself, it masks your scent."

In the pitch blackness, Jaune fumbled around, trying to find the trigger and nozzle. Making sure to point it away from him towards whoever it was on his right, Jaune sprayed it. No screams, no melting skin, no sudden explo-

By the sparky butt of Shodan, what is that!? Pressing a sleeve to his noise, Jaune turned away, taking shallow breaths with his mouth, but that didn't help. Instead of smelling rotten shit that had been fermented, he could now taste it. This was an assassination attempt, it had to be. Perhaps the worst attempt in history, but it was still life threatening. Death by odor. Weirder things have happened.

"Do I ha-"

A chittering noise echoed through the cave system and quickly growing in tempo and volume. It was hard to tell how many there were in the best of conditions, but down here with that sort of ramp up? Three dozen at least, probably an entire nest. That sent a shudder down Jaune's spine. Five skitters were scary enough, but an entire nest of them? There's a reason why even Handsome Jack was leery of trying to reclaim the capital from the infestation of skitters there.

Without a second thought, Jaune turned the nozzle on himself and sprayed himself down from head to toe, making sure to cover every single last inch. The girl next to him ripped the bottle out of his hand and sprayed herself down and so it continued down the line until they all smelled worse than half decomposed body.

Slowly, gradually, they began easing forward once more, every creak of the wheels making Jaune wince. Even his happy place wasn't helping and that place had kittens! Cute, fluffy kittens doing silly things. The seconds stretched on, then minutes then hours. Soon days had passed and it was only once they reached their first century did the chittering noises fade and the truck roll to a stop.

A soft hiss filled the air and a muted green light filled the air as Chris held up a glowstick. With a gesture of his hands, everyone followed him single file through the tight crevice in the wall, rocks digging into Jaune's chest as he just managed to scrape through. On the other side was a cavern filled with green and blue glowing mushroom, casting an eerie glow on everything. The best part though, was the pool of water off to the their right and what appeared to be a change of clothes.

A quick wash and change of clothes later, they began making their way down the corridor right by the water and with each turn came a set of lights, each one brighter than the last, letting their eyes slowly adjust. Though with the glowing fungus, it wasn't really necessary, but it was a nice bonus.

Entering a second large cavern, Jaune raised an eyebrow at the barricade, four sentry turrets and twenty armed guards. Unlike the bunch he was with, these guys actually wore armor and seemed like they knew how to handle a weapon.

"Yo!" Jaune began walking forward. "Is Cinder here, need to talk to her about that 'plan' of hers, or is she hiding behind a computer screen like usual?"

"She called a few minutes ago to see if you were back yet." The Bunny eared base commander answered blandly. At least, he thought it was bland, it was a little hard to tell with Faunus. "I'm sure she'll call back soon."

"Of course. I want someone to get her on the line right now, as well as a room and food prepared for me. That trip was a killer." Jaune tossed his clothes to the girl. "And get these washed, they're expensive."

The commander glanced down at the clothes, before looking back up at Jaune. An eyebrow very deliberately arched up from behind her black sunglasses. "Do you know how to operate an echo-phone and a washing machine?"

"I'd play nice lady since I'm the one forking out the cash for that armor and gun of yours." Jaune strolled past. "And use the lime scented stuff on the clothes, I love that."

"..." She turned to stare at Jaune as he strolled past, her knuckles white as it looked like she was trying to strangle his coat. After a second she handed the clothes to an underling and said in inflectionless tones, "Please put that in the hamper with the rest."

Some random faunus led Jaune through the narrow cave complex, eventually bringing him to something that actually looked livable. Proper walls, limited lights, plumping food and a bed. Kinda tiny like a cell, but hey, home sweet home.

After a few minutes of relaxing and taking his shoes off, that Faunus with the fake smile came in carrying an echo device. "I wish to speak to Jaune, she said," he said.

"Heeeeey, Cinder, long time no chat, still haven't fixed that lighting issue I see." Sitting down on his bed, Jaune flashed her his magazine worthy grin. "You know, I was so excited to meet you in person and here you are, nowhere to be found."

Through the screen, Cinder just gave an enigmatic smile. "Sorry dear, but you weren't expecting me to travel all the way out there, were you? Grimm territory is no place for a lady, you know."

"A lady? Please, I've seen the plans you come up with and on that note." Flick of the wrist and hellooooo knife. "That last plan of yours was terrible."

"Now that's a little harsh, don't you think?" Cinder poked her tongue out playfully. "I think it went fairly well, all things considered. Your father's ship was destroyed, the faunus will get the blame and no one can connect it to you, or more importantly, me. Because Hyperion failed to stop a bunch of Pandoran roughians, Atlas will be less willing to trust them to protect future ventures, and even if Atlas believe Hyperion could fight off some lowly Faunus, that just means they kidnapped Weiss for themselves. Either way, Atlas can't trust Hyperion. And so what if we didn't capture the little ice princess? She has no where to go. She's either dead aboard the ship, or managed to catch an escape pod and is now in some far off, barely habitable corner of the continent."

"You missed the part where your plan almost got me killed," hissed Jaune. "Don't forget, you still need me to get to the Vault."

"I keep telling you stop antagonizing the Faunus." Cinder rolled her eyes. "They might not look angry, but they can really carry a grudge."

"What are you talking about? They love me! I'm the most eligible bachelor of the year four times in a row, you know," said Jaune.

"I'm not saying anything about the effect you have on human women, but Faunus are different Jaune. They can be a lot more… instinctive." Ember continued on, not really giving Jaune a chance to reply. "In any case, we need to talk about your little body guard friend, Miss Nikos."

"What about her?"

"She survived." Cinder smirked. "I have tagged her as entering atmosphere in a drop ship, along with a small platoon of Hyperion's best and finest."

"Time for a distress signal?" Leaning back in his chair, he put his feet on the table. "A little ambush, take care of her before she becomes too much of an issue. Shame too, she really should have taken that paid vacation I offered."

"Sweetie, if you and your Faunus friend can actually kill her, then by all means do so. But, how shall I put this… Do you know how few successful vault hunters there are?"

"Now, now Cinder my dear, I have the backing of Hyperion. You hold your cards, I'll hold mine, but simply put, you will help me deal with my wayward guardian because you never leave loose ends. Especially ones with the prestige of Phyrra. We lure her into a trap or we lure her off world. It matters little, but she needs to be dealt with."

Cinder gave a vaguely disappointed sigh. "I'll talk to some of my bandit friends in the area. They should at least slow her down until we can come up with a more permanent solution."

"Hey, look, I'll even leave an echo recording saying they took me off world or something. Send her on a wild goose chase."

"Make it convincing, please. She's a smart girl, and she probably already suspects you."

"Don't worry, I took acting lessons as a child. You should hear my screams for help, blood curdling."

"I'm sure. Now, the last thing on the uh, agenda, is the rest of the survivors from the Hindentanic. Or, to be more precise, if you could make sure there's less of them. Each one of them is a potential witness that might have something Jack could use to connect you, or me, to the attack."

"Eh, I'll see what I can do. Some help from your bandit friends would be great, but hey, with a bit of luck, I'll still have access to Hyperion tech. I'll need to cover my steps, but…"

"Very well then. I'll let you go now, I'm sure you're tired from your journey."

"I'll contact you once I've done the echo recording."

"Don't bother, I'll be working with some of my other contacts after this, and I trust you to handle it." With a final wink, Ember hung up from her end and the screen turned blank.

"Fucking bitch."

"Ugh…" Ruby cracked open an eye only to hiss at the bright light. "What happened?"

Something sticky trailed down her jaw, her hair sticking to her face as she tried to regain her bearings and figure out just what insanity happened this time. She wiggled her fingers and toes and while it was painful, especially her right arm, nothing seemed broken. Slowly, she pulled her arms under her only for a gasp of pain to escape when her elbow hit ninety degrees. Gritting her teeth, she relaxed her right arm, whimpers escaping with each subtle movement. Then slowly, tenderly, she rolled onto her left side, making sure to keep her injured arm straight. Something shifted above her, buckling and groaning. Dust rained down, the dull screech of metal on metal echoed through wherever she was before something heavily slid off and more light streamed in.

"Hello?" A hacking cough ran through her body. "Yang?"

"Oh, thank goodness." A voice above her said, before calling down. "Are you feeling okay, do you think you can stand?"

"Weiss?" Blinking her eyes, Ruby wiped some of the blood and dust away. "How's Yang and Blake?"

"I haven't seen Yang, but Blake's just across from you, I'm think she might be dead." She seemed somewhat enthused by the idea. "Do you think you could get the keys from her? I've been hanging here while you guys were all out."

"Think my right arm's busted," said Ruby as she pressed her good hand against the sheet of metal above her. "Think you can lighten the load a bit?"

"Uh, no."

"Just kick it or something?" With a grunt, Ruby shoved hard and felt something give above her. "Don't want to be buried alive down here."

"As much as you'd like me to help you, I'd like to help you just as much." Weiss answered, sounding frustrated. "But I am still trapped in this chair, and not horizontal with the ground at this moment."

"Oh. Well, if I die, everything I own goes to Karl. If that's illegal, then Yang, I suppose." After a steadying breath, Ruby rammed the pile of junk and lots of somethings skidded down the side. "That work at all?"

"It looks like it from here. Give it another push."

"A-Alright." Another shove and this time, the right side of the metal sheet jumped up, revealing a clear line of sight to the ceiling. "I think I can get o-" A scraping sound echoed through the craft before something crashed onto her leg, causing her to cry out in pain.

"...Are you okay? I didn't see but that sounded like it hurt."

"Y-Yeah," whimpered Ruby. She wiggled her toes, biting her bottom lip to stop herself from crying out yet again. "Should be able to wiggle out…"

Just then a pained groan rang out. "Fuuuuuuhck, what have I been drinking?"

"Yang? That you?" yelled Ruby.

"Oh... hey, we landed." There was the sound of buckles being undone. "Cool."

"Mind getting all this junk off me? Arm and leg is wasted."

"Yeah, sounds good. Just… just let me get up first." It was a few moments, muffled sound of footsteps being the only indication that anything was happening. "Oh, hey it looks like the uh, passenger section is sort of… uh, twisted."

"Honestly, when I woke up I was more surprised that passenger compartment and driver's seat were still in one place."

"Hey, a landing is anything you can walk away from." Yang answered. "Uh, cover your head Ruby, some of this stuff might fall on you."

"Um…" Looking around, Ruby settled on just covering her face with one arm. "Alright, I'm all good."

"Alright. And a one, and a two," Yang grunted loudly and the heavy metal sheets pinning Ruby were suddenly lifted. Holding them in front of her, Yang tottered back a step before letting the pile fall with a loud clatter. "You okay, Ruby?"

Nodding through the dust and coughing, she pressed her scarf to her mouth in an attempt to actually catch a breath. Eventually the dust cleared and Ruby finally got a look at her right arm. A jagged cut ran halfway from the elbow to the inside of the wrist, her sleeve dripping with blood. At least her leg wasn't shredded to bits, that was a plus. Ruby struggled to sit upright before using her good hand to support herself as she stood up, wincing slightly, but stable.

"Think my leg's just bruised," said Ruby as she limped forward.

"Oh, shit." Yang stepped forward and put her arm around Ruby, and helping support her weight. "Your ankle's swelling."

"Eh, we've been through worse." Ruby glanced up and blink. "Oh, hi Weiss, hanging in there?"

"Hilarious." Weiss answered snappishly. "Now get me down!"

"That depends… is the job offer still on the table?" said Ruby.

"Not if I have to hang here for much longer." Weiss growled back.

"Yang?"

"Hm…" Yang rubbed her chin before pulling the pistol from her leg. "Weiss, hold still, I may not be a crack shot like my sis, but I'm still pretty good."

"Just get the keys from Blake!" Weiss shouted, leaning away from the pistol's barrel. "You might have a concussion, or be seeing double for all I know!"

"Not my fault you're too high up for me get you down, but seriously, stop moving~"

"No! Don't shoot or I swear to Shodan, I'll sue you for every last cent! Neither of you will ever be able to afford a gun again!"

"You know, she's got a point Yang, you are a terrible shot." Ruby held out a hand. "Pass it over, will you?"

"But you're ri-"

Behind them, they heard the snap of a bullet being loaded into the chamber. "Drop the gun," came Blake's voice.

"Oh, hey, glad to see you're awake," said Yang. "We're just about to shoot Weiss down, you wanna take a shot? Not with that though."

With one hand, Blake undid the buckles on her strap, but didn't lower Yang's shotgun. "Stop pointing that at Weiss."

"Alright, alright, here." Yang passed it over to Ruby who then pointed it at Weiss. "Look, I'm no longer pointing it at Weiss!"

Blake tilted her head to the side. "The instruction was intended for both of you. I thought humans were less literal."

"All of you, just drop the guns and get me out!" Weiss shouted, all but screaming. "I think the blood's going to my head."

"You're horizontal to the ground," said Ruby.

"She's right, it would be unlikely." Blake agreed, before lowering her gun. "Ruby, if you would step aside I will free her."

"Wait, am I the only one who got injured?" asked Ruby.

"Um…" Yang looked over her body. Torn clothes, a half punctured chest plate that barely stopped some shrapnel and a couple of scratches, but nothing serious from the looks of things. "Yeah, I'm good."

"I may be experiencing a concussion." Blake offered, as she rose to her feet. "However, that appears unlikely as my motor skills seem to be unimpaired."

"I pulled a nail trying to get out of this chair." Weiss added, miserably.

"Just my luck," grumbled Ruby as she began digging around in some rubble. "I'm going to find someone who actually cares about the pain I'm in."

"You are aware that we've landed on Pandora?" Blake turned her gaze to Ruby. "Statistically, the chances of meeting someone on this planet who won't immediately try to kill you regardless of whether you're wounded are not are about one in forty three."

"Ah ha!" From beneath an unturned chair, she pulled out Karl and slung him over one shoulder. "There we go, I've missed you and not even a nick."

"If you'll excuse me, I need to throw up." Blake said, turning away and walking towards the pilot's cabin.

"Hey, Ruby, you know what this means right?" Yang picked up the discarded handgun and aimed it at Weiss. "Now hold still."

"She swallowed the keys you dolts!" Weiss snapped. "She's just getting them!"

"Now, now, don't be like that, if I'm ever trapped in a seat and I'm too far up for you to free me, I give you permission to shoot the buckle off."

"I'll remember that." Weiss hissed, just as Blake re-emerged slightly smellier than before.

Without even glancing at Ruby and Yang, she jumped upwards, and grabbed the top of Weiss's seat. Hanging by one hand, she undid the cuffs holding Weiss in place, before undoing the straps on her seat. The moment the last belt clicked out, they both fell down to the ground, one landing gracefully and the other sprawling on her face.

"Owww," Weiss groaned, rubbing at her cheek, only for Blake to grab both her hand's again. "What are you-" With a click, Weiss's cuffs once more snapped shut, this time tying her hand's behind her back. "Oh, come on!" She shouted in frustration.

"Okay, that was kinda cool." Yang holstered her pistol. "But my way would have been totally cooler."

"I hate all of you!" Weiss snarled, as Blake pulled back onto to her feet.

"Hey, not my fault you w~on't give me the job," said Ruby, using a random broken pole as support. "Yo, Yang, any clue where we are?"

"Well I was aiming for Sanctuary and we appear to be on a beach. I say we landed north-east of it?" Something nudged the crashed escape pod from below. "And monsters. I think that was thresher."

Without a word, Blake pushed past them, lightly scrambling her way up the ship's bent floor to peak out of the mangled exist hatch. After a moment, she turned around while still hanging there and tilted her head at Yang. "Are you certain you actually know where Sanctuary is located?"

"Yep!" Yang tilted her head to the side. "Then again, we saw that months ago."

"Well, that might explain your confusion. Sanctuary is on an entirely different continent to where we are."

"Huh. Oops. So…" Yang raised her shotgun and grinned. "It's thresher hunting season."

Blake nodded. "Ruby, would you stay here and take care of Weiss? Yang and I should be able to clear out the immediate threshers, and your sniper will be of limited use."

"Fiiiiine." Ruby sat down in a huff. "Actually, Weiss, think you can brace my sniper with your feet?"

"Absolutely not."

When Blake emerged from the wreck of their escape pod, her first thought was to make certain she was never in anything piloted by Yang ever again. The entire metal structure had actually skipped twenty metres off the surface of the ocean, before skidding for almost a hundred metres along the beach as the superheated metal of the hull buckled and warped before finally coming to a halt.

Statistically, the chances of one of them surviving such a crash were shockingly low, let alone with all four of them in reasonable shape. Perhaps it was a miracle. Then again, Ruby had indicated that Yang had crashed just as spectacularly multiple times in the past, so it could be the blonde knew how to land is such a fashion without damaging her passengers.

Turning her head, Blake stared at Yang, taking note of the way her body was remarkably unburnt, despite her armor being warped and melted in places. Her hands were calloused, and the knuckles on one hand were slightly sunken, indicating she'd broken them once, presumably by punching someone in the face at a very young age. There was a notable knife scar on one of her calves, as well as the other visible signs of a Pandoran upbringing.

Inspite of that, there was noticeable dimpling at the corner of her eyes, which indicated Yang smiled a lot. Smiling was usually done by humans when they experienced happiness, or were pretending to.

Perhaps she would enjoy a joke?

"Is it disingenuous that they are called threshers, when they do not farm?" Blake asked Yang, indicating the various tentacled beasts that circled their wrecked pod.

"Um…" Yang just looked confused before shrugging and leaping off the ship, sliding down the hull with relative ease. "Bet I can get kill more than you!"

Blake tilted her head at the odd response, before following after her. Maybe her dimples were from false smiles...

The first thresher maw must have felt them coming through the vibrations in the ships hull, because it immediately moved to catch Yang as she landed. Evidently that was a mistake, because she emptied all three barrels of her jakob's right into it's face. An explosion of purple gore sprayed in all directions, and the threshers screamed as it turned and tried to run away only to fail at piercing the ground with its newly concave head. It uselessly tried to dig into the ground for a couple of seconds, before writhing one last time and going still.

That would be one for Yang then.

The rest of the Thresher Maws converged on them at the same time as Yang reloaded and Blake landed. Drawing her Dahl pistol, Blake fired a burst of three rounds into the head of the closest thresher, causing it to scream and dive underground. Yang fired her shotgun again, blowing the tentacles off one half of a thresher, before stepping forward and punching it in the face. The best flopped backwards onto it's back, and Yang reloaded before putting foot on its head and unloading her gun into the underside of its body.

Two for Yang.

With one hand Blake fired her pistol, while her other reached for the connected wire spools on her waist. The Thresher she wounded earlier dived at her, and she slid under its attack, firing upwards. It flopped against the hull of the escape pod, spraying blood all over the reinforced steel.

One for Blake.

The next thresher dodged around Yang's next shot for the most part, and only a few flechettes from her blast scratched its skin, before it wrapped a tentacle around Yang's leg and yanked. Yang fell onto her back, but reached up to smash the thing in the jaw with her fist. The Thresher jerked back, only for Blake to loop her wire over its head with a spool in each hand. She pulled, pinning most of its tentacles against its body. It tried to struggle free, but there was a humm as Blake's wire suddenly glowed blue, and burned straight through the creature's head.

Even all.

Yang stood up and they both turned to face the last largest thresher. With a whoop, Yang rushed in, unleashing a cone of lead that shredded flesh, but didn't kill the creature. There was a loud smack where the butt of her shotgun met its face, and a wet squelch where Blake unloaded her pistol into its domed head. Another one of Yang's punches seemingly shattered its jaw, and Blake looped her wire around the tentacles on one side. It tried to yank its limbs free of Blake, only for Yang to headbut the creature in its wounded jaw. Once again the wire glowed, and suddenly half the tentacle's were separated from the beast's body with the smell of burning squid.

It screamed, turning to run only for Yang to catch its tail and start dragging it backwards out of the ground. Switching back to her pistol, Blake started firing into the back of the creature's head, as Yang dragged it back towards their pod. When she got there, Yang switched her grip on it's tail before spinning around, lifting the entire thing into the air. Yang spun in place once, before smashing the thresher into the escape pod's hull, fracturing its skull.

Blake generously decided to call that a shared kill, as she wrapped her wire back up and returned both spools to her waist. looking up, she saw Yang's teeth were bared and her lips were pulled back. Was that a smile or a sign of aggression?

"Oh come on, I was just starting to have fun! No pyro threshers? Ugh." Yang spat on the ground and holstered her shotgun before making her way back into the ship, glancing at the last thresher they had killed. "Well, at least I got to beat a thresher barehanded. That's something."

Blake just tilted her head in confusion. Yang's voice had been raised, which could either indicate excitement or anger, so no clue there to indicate whether that was a smile or not. And what she said was even more confusing.

With a small exhalation, Blake reloaded her pistol before holstering it and followed after her to make sure Weiss was unharmed. She caught up to Yang rather quickly, before giving her another long look.

After a moment she said, "We threshed them." She put extra emphasis on thresh to make sure Yang would get the joke.

"That…" Yang's response was very strange. She gave a sort of groan, which Blake understood was done when bored or annoyed, while at the same time smiling.

Blake tilted her head.

"I give up. Let's grab the others and get out of here." Yang surveyed their surroundings. "Hey, can you see any digistruct points? Maybe we can grab a car or something."

Blake turned around and looked over the scenery. On the one side was Pandora's partially alkaline oceans, water from which was only drinkable as rain. Facing inland, she saw almost nothing, but the skeletons of long extinct species and the rocky desert that coated almost the entirety of Pandora's equator. There were no building or signs of life of any kind, other than the occasionally spiked predatory plant that would consume any insect or small animal that got too close.

There was probably more threshers out there, lurking under the surface.

"May I stand on your shoulders?" Blake turned to Yang.

"Sure, hop on!"

Yang turned around, and Blake jumped up onto her shoulders. She wobbled for a second, but stood straight after a moment. Yang didn't seem to have much trouble with her weight. Swiveling around, Blake surveyed the horizon. After a moment she spotted a faint patch of darkness.

"I see what looks like smoke to the west, north, west."

"Probably another crashed ship, with some luck, one of them will be a medic." Blake leapt off her shoulders and Yang immediately moved over to one bent corner of the airship. She grabbed the metal plating with both hands and ripped it free. "Grab some wire and crap. We can make a sled out of this, Ruby won't be moving fast with her leg in its current state."

Blake glanced down into the ship. "Weiss could pull the sled."

Yang's lipped curled into something that could be a grin. "She can, can't she?"

Blake tilted her head. Perhaps Yang was a sadist?

Dead or not dead. Dead or not dead. On one hand dead meant one thing. Loot! On the other hand, there may be a doctor in which case one of them being alive would be perfect. Then again, Ruby's wounds weren't actually that bad so some basic medical supplies would do the trick and if they were dead and a doctor that meant free loot and healing!

Dead it was.

With that philosophical conundrum over and done with, Yang whistled a cheery tune and pulled on the makeshift sled with a skip. Beside her, Blake tilted her head and Weiss looked scared, but whatever! Dead was the way to go and if they weren't dead well, shit, that wouldn't be fun? Well, it could be fun. Maybe. Only if they were good with a gun and evil otherwise laaaaaame.

Together they hauled the sled over the sand dune, the smoke still obscuring most of the crash site, but at least they were in sight of it now. As one, they jumped onto the sled, letting it slide down the slope, the wind and sand whipping into their face.

"Whoooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Both Ruby and Yang threw their hands into the air, ignoring the sand that got into their mouth.

Weiss just looked vaguely weary, and Blake gripped the edges of the sled so she could steer it.

As it came to a slow stop at the base of the sand dune, Yang's grin only got larger. Bandits. A dozen bandits with bandity weapons and bandity gear doing bandity things with a very wrecked escape pod. Parts lay stripped on the ground, but that didn't matter, it was bandit hunting season.

Both groups stared at each other, fingers at the ready, guns at the hips. Shame the sun wasn't directly above them, but sun in the eyes? Just made it a bigger challenge, and everyone loves a challenge. It made her tingle in places she didn't know could tingle.

"So…" Yang grinned, eyes darting from enemy to enemy. "Who wants to be my first partner? Promise not to break 'em. Well… not completely at least."

The one on the far right twitched, but Blake was faster on the draw, placing a nice neat hole in his head. Darting forward, Yang stomped on the scrap metal plating on the ground, sending it into the air at chest height. Sparks flew as bullets pinged off it uselessly before she grabbed it and threw with all her strength. It sliced through two bandits at the waist before impaling itself on the metal hull. Shotgun drawn, the a bullet grazed her cheek, drawing a bit of blood, but that just made Yang grin more.

She drank down that meager amount of pain, racing forward, firing with one hand before smashing the face of a second bandit in. As he staggered back, she slipped behind him, one arm around his neck, choking him and using him as a body shield.

Somehow, Blake had already taken down two bandits and was working on a third with that wire of hers. Even Ruby was getting on the action with a Maliwan pistol she had gotten somewhere.

Three bullets slammed into her makeshift meat shield and that bandit found out what a lead sandwich tasted like. As a bullet whizzed past her head, she dropped her now empty shotgun and pulled the SMG from her shield's holster. There was no aiming, no precision, just a wide spray of bullets into the nearest target. Two hit, sending the bandit to her knees and as the third slammed into her chest, her clothes were suddenly set alight and Yang could feel a giggle building.

She tossed her body shield aside and scooped up a pistol, firing both in tandem as she walked towards the last bandit. Something slammed into her chest, making her stumble back, gasping for breath, but she kept walking and firing. Had her armor stopped it? Did it matter? This was awesome!

Clothes were set on fire, the smell of acid was thick in the air and Yang just watched as the last one screamed in pain, clawing at her shoulder where the bullets had hit. Burning skin, skin being eaten away by corrosive liquids, Yang drank it in as she press a boot to the bandit's chest, keeping him still as she raised her SMG.

Click.

With a shrug, she tossed it behind her then switched to her pistol. A single shot to the head, acid eating away at the skull revealing all that gooey human matter behind it before. His eyes moved side to side, before that too melted under whatever it was they put into the Maliwan guns.

Wiess was looking at the puddles of former people with revulsion all over her features. "I can't be the only one who thinks it's impossibly cruel to use elemental weapons like that."

Blake looked over at her from where she was calmly strangling a bandit who was desperately reaching for a pistol lying just out of his reach. "I have never considered that."

"That doesn't surprise me." Wiess rolled her eyes.

"You know Ruby, you may be right, elemental guns are pretty damn awesome." Yang stroked her imaginary beard. "Got a way to make a gun fire as fast as a Vladof's but with fire or acid, or both?"

"See? I told you! Yo, Weiss, you guys making any super awesome elemental weapons?"

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Weiss muttered, glancing at a withered, still smoking, black skull.

"Oh come on!" Yang sat down next to the dead body, posing with it and doing the victory sign with her fingers. "Look at this guy, much prettier in death than life I tell ya. Say cheeeeeese~!"

Blake tilted her head at Yang. "None of them have any."

"Exactly! And why did we win? Because we have it!" Yang leapt onto her feet, grabbing her shotgun and reloading it as she went into the escape pod. "Aegis cheese is best cheese, guaranteed to bring a smile to your face and leave you refreshed!"

Blake just watched her for a second, before standing up and dusting herself off. "If anyone finds any sunglasses, or other suitable protective eyewear, I claim ownership."

"Oh! Oh! Spare gun parts are mine, especially snipers! I need parts to upgrade Karl some more. A better scope would be awesome!" Ruby limped after them, moving far faster than should be possible with that injury.

"Is that what you people just, do?" Weiss asked incredulously. "Kill whoever you meet and take their things? You were even the ones who attacked first!"

Yang and Ruby exchanged a look then chorused at the same time, "Welcome to Pandora, enjoy your stay!"

"You people are barbarians." Weiss scowled.

There was a pause before Blake said, "Handsome Jack became CEO of Hyperion after killing Harold Tacciter who was its CEO at the time. In essence, Jack killed him, and took his things." She tilted her head. "How do you feel about this?"

"Not all companies are like Hyperion, and most people are most certainly not like Handsome Jack." Weiss huffed.

Blake's head tilted to the other side. "As recently as thirteen months ago, the Crimson Lance attacked the bandit settlement of Old Haven, killing all of them in the process for before using the location as their forward operating base in the region. Once again, people were killed without provocation, and their possessions taken. At the time, the Crimson Lance worked for Atlas and still do currently."

Weiss blinked in surprise, before looking away. "Just because someone else does something, doesn't make it right for you do it."

All Blake did in reply was observe Weiss for a moment, before turning away to start stripping a bandit of his clothes.

"Yo, Blake, need some bullets, got two clips here for pistol," called Yang from inside. "Also two medic packs, you need it?"

"Yes, I could use the ammunition. No, the medkits would be better used by Ruby." After a second she added. "Also, they are not technically clips because of the spring mechanism is inside them that pushes the bullets up into the gun. The appropriate term is a 'magazine.'"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, blah blah blah. Oh! Incendiary shotgun, kinda busted but… Hey Ruby, think you can patch this thing up? Also, got some bandages and stuff for your injury." Yang wandered back out, looking for Ruby.

"Bah, incendiary shotguns are terrible. You won't set anything on fire with that thing." At Yang's pleading look, Ruby sighed and held out a hand. "Fine, pass it here, once we find a proper workbench I'll see what I can do."

"Yang," Blake called out, walking over with a selection of bandit-ware. She was now sporting a pair of brown aviators, and had a Vladoff machine pistol holstered at her side. "Some of these body armours may be the right size for you. They can be used to replace the damaged armour that you're currently wearing."

"Sounds good and here's your clips. Is our prim and proper lady still complaining?"

Blake paused, listening for her. "I don't think so."

"Good." Yang cracked her knuckles. "Yo Ruby! I saw some bandit technicals, need your help rewiring the damn things."

"Good thing I found the keys then!" yelled Ruby. "Just gotta find the right car…"

"Blake, you good?" asked Yang.

She glanced up and gave a very deliberate nod, before selecting a smaller set of bandit armour and walking back towards Weiss.

"Cool." Making her way out, Yang circled around to the other side of the escape pod just in time to see Ruby rev the engine of one of their rides. "Hey, that's the one that throws the explosive barrels right?"

"Yep! Doesn't have a lot of gas, but it should get us to Opportunity without too many issues."

"Bring it around front and we can patch you up and load up the junk. I'm sure a scavenger will want the parts once you're done geeking out."

"I do not geek out!"

"Sure you don't."

"Whatever, pass over the meds and let's get this show on the road already!"

Yang tossed the box into the passenger's seat before climbing in the back, letting Ruby smoothly guide them around to the front with a happy beep of the horn, only to freeze at the sight before them.

Weiss was pinned to the ground beneath Blake, screaming threats and struggling angrily as Blake used a knife to cut away off her dress.

"I swear I will get revenge! I will get revenge!" Weiss shouted.

"So! Ruby," said Yang as she threw her arm around Ruby's shoulder while casually grabbing hold of the steering wheel and turning them away from the scene, "let's check out that leg of yours."

"Clear!"

Another door was kicked down and soldiers barged through, guns raised and ready.

"Clear!"

Phyrra strolled through, slinging her assault rifle over her shoulder and giving the long since abandoned room a once over. "I want snipers at the windows, throw that table and cabinet over the hole in the wall. Two people on shift, rotation every three hours. We're in Bastion people and that means one wrong move and we're dead. Private Ruks, I want a communications relay setup, let's see if we can catch some chatter."

Everyone rushed to obey, securing their hideout for the night and ensuring nothing could get in without a fight. Varkids, grimm and who knows what else was lurking around the corner. Grabbing the offered cloth, Phyrra wiped the green blood off her forehead wiping off the worst stains from her armor.

"Captain, I spot fresh tracks. Bandit technical moving along the main street heading towards the Headless Mountains."

"Any vehicles we can use?" said Phyrra as she walked over, pulling out her own scope.

"Anything left would have already been salvaged or destroyed," replied the scout.

"Very well, we'll call in a moonshot for tomorrow morning." She scanned the area, zooming on the spot just outside of the door of the escape pod. Though it was hard to see through the smoke and obscured by distance, there didn't appear to be any drag marks or signs of struggle. It helped the entire thing survived re-entry and was landed properly. Not surprising considering the autopilot function assured a comfortable journey. "We'll also scout out the area in the morning. Perhaps he landed with Pandoran's who knew the area."

Even to her ears, that explanation sounded weak. Bastion was mere miles from the vault, it was surprising buildings were still standing and that the air was breathable. The only thing that lived in the area were those who had been touched by the grimm, which raised more questions than anything. If Jaune had been taken by one of them…

With a sigh and shake of her head, Pyrra put her scope away.

"Captain, the communications relay is set up."

"Alright, patch me through to Helios, straight to Handsome Jack," said Phyrra as she took the offered headset.

The phone rang for a couple of seconds, with no answer. Pyrrha sighed, and waited patiently for a few more minutes until Jack finally answered. "Shodan damnit, can't you tell I was pretending to be out of office. Who the hell is this?"

"Captain Phyrra, sir, I'm afraid to report a minor complication with Jaune's 'date' with Miss Weiss. Faunus took down the space station and Jaune is currently lost on Pandora, potentially captured," said Phyrra.

"..." There was a pause as Jack put something in his mouth, chewed it and swallowed before he continued. "Riiiiiight, I remember. Hey, weren't you on the security detail that was supposed to, you know, keep shit like that from happening? Gotta say, good job Sugar Lips. Really earning your pay down there, aren't ya?"

"They blew out the glass on the observation floor," stated Phyrra calmly. "I have his escape pod in sight and am in the process of tracking his location. I require two technical moonshots tomorrow morning at 0600."

"Ugh, you military types suck." Jack groaned, and there was the sound of him flipping through papers. "Which one of my son's was it you said you got killed or went missing or whatever? Was it the really bitchy one?"

"The blonde one, sir."

"Ohhhhhhhhh, right. Yeah, he's the one that's on all the magazines and good for PR or whatever. Alright, I'll send you the moon shots, try to bring him back alive, could you? It's not really a big deal if you can't, but, you know, totes try your hardest anyway. Nothing important, but show up without him and I'll kill your family. Don't show up at all and I'll kill you… Wait, got that wrong in my head. If you show up without him, I'll kill you, but if you don't show up at all, then I'll kill your family. Cool?"

"Sir, I opened a vault, a mere group of faunus will not stop me."

"Ohhhhhh, right you're that Pyrrha. Nikos, right? You're an orphan, you don't have any family… woops, sorry about that. Guess, I'd have to, like, have a family adopt your and then kill them or something. Whatever, I'm sure you won't mess this up anyway. Not like your Vault Hunters are good for anything other than killing thousands of random strangers."

"Part of the job, sir."

He burst into chuckles at that. "Alright, good luck with the mission. An innocent family's fate rests on your shoulders." Then he hung up.

Phyrra tossed the headset onto the ground and stalked off. Killing, always killing. She had hoped to put that all behind her, guarding a pretty boy, making sure he didn't get himself killed, it sounded like a nice easy job. Alright, sure, maybe not completely behind her, but most of it behind her. Once a vault hunter, always a vault hunter it seemed.

"Everyone, turn in, we've got an early start tomorrow and we need to be alert. I'll take the midnight shift, the rest of you divvy it up between yourselves. If you can't, I'll do it for you and you won't like it."

Everyone gave a smart salute at that and things were settled in seconds. Sometimes, having a reputation was the best thing in the world.