Thorns for the Roses Volume 1

by SirStonewall

A mercenary flight of 2 F-105G's gets into trouble over Syria and run through a cloud bank to escape their pursuers they aren't where they expect to be... this is my first fanfic, so constructive criticism is welcome.

3. Chapter 3

POV switch- Summer Rose, 3rd person

Summer watches in amazement from the roof as the three planes twist and turn, both sides trying their hardest to take each other out of the fight.

"It's almost like a dance, like three swordsman going at it." She mumbles, only being heard by those closest to her due to the loud roar echoing off the trees.

"Indeed, a dance of death. Suspenseful to watch, terrifying to participate in." Raven says from next to her, watching the fight intensely.

"There goes the tactician, getting ready for an unexpected attack." Qrow points at the plane climbing high above the other two, it rolls over and seems to hang there for a second before diving in, letting out a loud roar of gunfire before pulling up, skimming just above the treetops, a white cone develops behind the wings.

"Cover your ears." Qrow warns as he sticks his fingers in his ears.

Summer follows suit, just in time as the sleek plane silently flies by, she smiles as the person in front of her unplugs his ears in confusion.

*BOOM!*

The sonic boom makes everyone jump, including the teachers. Then everyone cheers as loud as they can as the plane flies low over the forest to join up with its companions.

Suddenly, a Beowolf flies out of the forest. Summer watches in horror as it hits the plane on the right wing, breaking off a piece of it and completely shearing off the right tail fin.

All the cheering abruptly stops.

The plane banks to the right from the impact, but sluggishly levels the wings and climbs.

"That's not part of the demonstration." Summer mumbles in horror.

Her fears are confirmed when a black speck rockets from the aircraft and falls for a millisecond before a large white parachute opens above it.

"That's not part of the demonstration!" She yells, turning to run towards the roof access

"Tai, with me!" She starts running to the stairway as she finishes her sentence, pushing people out of the way.

---

POV switch- Jackson, 3rd person

"I fucking hate this part..." Jackson grumbles as he nears the treetops, the large pines below reaching up towards him like giant punji stakes.
He braces his parachute and slows his descent just before it gets caught in a treetop. He swings out as the tree halts his forward momentum and swings back, slamming into the tree trunk. The impact knocks the wind out of him, and judging from the sharp ache in his chest probably cracked a rib or two.

"fuck..." He groans, gritting his teeth together while sucking air.

He opens his eyes and looks down.

"Of course I get caught twenty feet up in a tamarack tree, why wouldn't I?"

Below him is a miserable sight, no tree limbs below, the nearest one being about eight feet above his head. He looks around and sighs.

"Well, good day to hang out I guess." He chuckles to himself, looking up at the A-7 Corsair circling him.

He motions to the ground, and then makes several large motions with his arms to relay a general message.
Seriously?! Why me!?

The Corsair pops a pair of flares in response and flies off, leaving him to swing in the breeze like laundry on a clothesline.
He hangs there for about five minutes before he hears a snarl below, and he pulls his sidearm out of its holster on his hip, a trusty Colt Peacemaker, given to him by Amelia for his 21st birthday.
A Beowolf walks out of the trees below him and circles the tree multiple times before Jackson understands why he hasn't been eaten yet.
"What's wrong mutt? Can't climb trees? That's cute." Jackson teases, waving his feet below him.

He continues to tease the lone Beowolf for five minutes before he gets bored and shoots it, causing the beast to dissolve into a black dust that scatters with the wind.
He relaxes and puts his pistol back into its holster.
Bored to death, Jackson reaches into a pouch on his vest and pulls out his phone, shortly accompanied by a pair of earbuds.
He plugs the earbuds in and puts them in his ears, tapping on his phone for a minute before putting it back in the pouch.
Over there!
Over there!
Send the word! Send the word!
Over there!
That the yanks are coming!
The yanks are coming!
The drum-drum-drumming everywhere!
So beware!
Stay aware!
His humming along is interrupted by a roaring above him, he pauses the song and glances up, spotting the A-7 again he waves nonchalantly and pulls a smoke grenade out of a pouch on the front of his vest. Pulling the pin he lets the now-activated grenade drop to the forest floor, where it almost immediately starts billowing thick purple smoke.
Then he hears a quieter whine, and after a minute a small two-engined drop-ship comes to a hover above him, dropping a rope ladder out the side door.
He grabs hold of the ladder and cuts himself away from his parachute before climbing up the ladder.

Climbing into the cabin he sits down on a seat and hauls the rope ladder in.
After he's done he looks around inside to find Taiyang and Summer staring at him.

"Sup?" He asks with a little wave.

"That's it? You just got knocked out of the sky and you greet us with 'sup?', aren't you freaking out?" Tai asks him, staring into his eyes.

"Nope! This is just another day at the office for me." Jackson smiles and leans up into the cockpit. "Hey, you got any beer up here?"
The pilot grins and reaches behind his seat, producing a bottle.
"Cheers mate!" Jackson chirps as he sits down again, using a D-ring on his harness to open the bottle before taking a swig.

"You have got to be the most chill person I know." Tai laughs.

"What can I say? After years of getting shot at day after day, this shit is nothing!" Jackson laughs as the side door opens again.

Shortly thereafter the ship comes to a hover and Jackson kicks the rope ladder out, grabbing onto a handle as he looks out the door.
Amelia is unconscious, swinging lightly in the breeze, blood running down the left side of her head and face. Beowolves are in the limbs of the trees about ten feet below her.

"Shit!" Jackson snarls as he grabs the beer bottle by the neck and throws it at one, which it hits in the head and knocks it off balance, causing the beast the fall twenty or so feet before dissolving into dust.

He yanks his Colt out of the holster and takes aim at one of the Beowolves closest to Amelia, gently squeezing the trigger like Janet had taught him.
The .44 Magnum booms, causing Summer to scream in surprise as the slug slams into the beast's' chest and topples it off the limb.
Jackson repeats the action four more times before jamming the pistol back in the holster and starting down the ladder.

"Watch my back!" He yells at Tai and Summer as he climbs down.

Once at the same level as Amelia he loops an arm through the rungs and swings the ladder out, wrapping an arm around her waist.
He's about to yell for the pilot to go, but realizes the parachute would rip her out of his grasp.

"Summer!" He yells, and the redhead sticks her head out.

He grabs one of the strands of cord in his teeth and she gets the message, nimbly climbing down the ladder she pulls out a sword and severs the risers, allowing Jackson to hold up Amelia's full weight.

"Jesus Christ Amy! You need to go on a diet!" He groans as Summer clambers back up the ladder and with the help of Tai, starts pulling it in.

"Fuck...you..." Amelia weakly groans in his ear as they fly away, still hanging on the ladder below the craft.

"Maybe some other time sweetheart, you're looking a bit rough for my tastes right now." Jackson chuckles back as they reach the open door, and Tai's waiting arms.

Jackson hands Amelia up to him, and he quickly lays her on the floor of the craft as Jackson climbs in, hauling the rest of the ladder in before getting down on his knees by her side.
"How's she looking?" He asks, pulling a bandage out of the IFAK on her vest and using it to wipe the blood off her face.

"I'm not a doctor by any stretch of the imagination, but she's got at least a couple broken ribs, a concussion, and I think some of the blood on her face is from her eye."
Jackson leans forward and puts his fingers on Amelia's eyelid, getting ready to slightly pull it open. He stops and takes his hands off her after she forcefully grabs him by the groin.

"Leave...doctors..." Amelia groans as her grip loosens and her hand falls away after she passes out.

"Leave it for the doctors, got it." Jackson squeaks, his voice a couple octaves higher as he moves her arm so it rests at her side.

"Wow, I've never seen anybody be THAT forceful with someone." Tai laughs, loosening Amelia's vest and harness.

"Whoa dude, you don't want to do that." Jackson warns, grabbing his wrists.

"Why not? The doctors will have to do it anyways."

"I'll tell you the story later, just trust me, let the doctors do that." Jackson's voice is serious as he lets go of Tai's hands and pulls Amelia's pistol out of its holster, following suit with the knife strapped to her calf and taking a stiletto knife out of her thigh pocket.

Jackson looks up towards the cockpit. "What's our ETA?!"

The pilot holds his index finger over his shoulder. "One minute!"

Jackson turns back to Amelia and unbuckles a pouch in between two smoke grenade pouches, carefully reaching in and retrieving a round, dull-green object, which he quickly stuffs in a similar pouch on his vest.

"What was that?" Tai asks, pointing at the pouch.

"Fragmentation grenade! I'll tell you the story later!" Jackson yells back as he pats Amelia down for any more weapons, he rolls his eyes before pulling a very small knife and scabbard out of her bra.

"Seriously?" Summer acts disgusted at him touching her in such personal places.

"I'm saving someone's life okay? We've been through some shit, and if someone wakes her up in the wrong way I don't want them getting a knife in the throat." He defends as he puts the knife in his pocket.

Summer slowly nods in understanding as the ship comes to a hover and descends, the side door opening to reveal multiple medical teams ready to care for the two pilots.
When they land Jackson jumps out and waves the medical teams forward, they reach for him but stop when he places a hand on his sidearm.

"Her first! I can walk myself in!" He points to Amelia, and they quickly load her onto a gurney before wheeling her in.

Jackson loosely salutes Summer and Tai before walking in, being stubbornly herded by several doctors.
He gets his ribs X-rayed and finds that he did indeed fracture two ribs and his collarbone, which the doctors quickly put him in a brace and a wheelchair while everything heals. After being discharged a couple days later he spends the rest of the week at Amelia's bedside, holding her hand as she lays in a medically-induced coma.

---

POV switch- Amelia, 3rd person.

Amelia groans as she wakes up, the pain in her ribs, back, and shoulders being the first that registers.
Then the pain in her left eye registers, a feeling like a red hot piece of rebar being shoved against bare skin as her nerves backfire, sending her brain a message.
No connection! Something's wrong! It's GONE!

Through the pain she feels a light squeeze on her right hand, and she squeezes as hard as she can to relay the pain she's in as she stifles back a scream.
A familiar voice gives a surprised yelp as his hand is seemingly crushed by her iron grip, the joints in his hand grinding together uncomfortably as she gives out a very restrained whimper of pain.

Amelia writhes gently in her bed as she continues squeezing the hand, and a quiet, hurried clicking can be heard.

Amelia opens her right eye to find Jackson hurriedly mashing on a button simply labeled 'HELP'. A nurse runs in and Jackson holds up their hands, his fingers purple as Amelia's vice-like grip cuts off the blood circulation.

"She's awake, could you please administer the painkiller before she breaks any bones?" He says very nonchalantly, a pained smile on his face.

"Of course." The nurse walks over to an IV which is attached to Amelia's left arm, and she presses a small button on a remote attached to a timer. A cool, soothing relief rolls up Amelia's arm from where the IV needle is inserted, and soon the feeling washes over her whole body, washing away all the pain like a high tide. She loosens her grips on Jackson's hand as the feeling hits her head, somewhat quelling, but not completely eliminating, the pain in her left eye socket.

Amelia gives an audible sigh of relief and looks at Jackson in contempt.

"And what are you gawking at Major?" She asks, knocking him out of daydream land and back into reality.

"Just one of God's masterpieces Captain." He replies, changing the hand that she'd been holding and flexing the crushed one in an effort to regain circulation.

"When will you quit hitting on me you smooth bastard." Amelia chuckles, giving the cold hand a gentle squeeze.

"Whenever you quit teasing and we get serious." He chuckles back, giving her a peck on the cheek.
At the kiss her heart rate spikes and Jackson grins.

"Oh? Did we like that?"

She scowls at him and tries to jab him in the ribs, but her own ribs remind her of how foolish that attempt is by protesting prominently.
She winces and groans, moving her arm back to her side.

"Don't play with my heart like that you rocket jockey." She slings the best insult she can think of at the moment, but he takes it in stride, planting another kiss on the other cheek before quickly withdrawing out of her reach.

"You asshole, I'm gonna kick your ass for thi-" she's silenced by him as he plants a kiss on her lips, which she quickly leans into, and they hold the gentle, passionate kiss for a minute before a cough comes from the door.

"Excuse me, am I interrupting anything?" Ozpin asks as he leans in.

Jackson jerks up into attention and winces, bringing his left arm up to his ribs. "No sir."

Ozpin walks the rest of the way in, followed shortly by Kimberly and Cassie, who both gently hug Amelia and sit down.

"At ease, you do not need to do that. I come bearing good news. The weapons your mother had built are ready, but we need you two..." he looks pointedly at Kimberly and Cassie before continuing. "To escort the transport planes to the Vale airport, where they will unload their cargo."
Jackson nods and sits down waiting for Ozpin to continue.

"When everyone here is fully healthy, we will begin aura training, to ensure internal injuries do not happen as easily."
Amelia nods in acknowledgment, and so does the rest of her team.

"Very well, you two have your orders, hop to it."

Kimberly and Cassie jump up, sprinting out while yelling goodbyes over their shoulders.
Ozpin waits until they're gone and closes the door, addressing the two in front of him.
"I trust that your relationship will not get in the way of functions as a team?"

Jackson shakes his head. "No sir it will not, we've been discreetly going steady for a while now, at least a year. It hasn't affected our performance one bit."

He nods in satisfaction. "Good. Because you are the Beacons guardian angels, I don't need you getting distracted from your job."

Jackson nods and pulls a small knife out of his pocket.
"Here's this back." He hands it to Amelia, who takes it and puts the sheath and knife in her bra before looking at Jackson pointedly.
"Come on, all of it."
Jackson hands her the stiletto knife he'd confiscated earlier.

She takes it and puts it in the other side before sitting up.

"Headmaster, unless you want to see a guardian angel undress and change into street clothes, I suggest you leave." Ozpin takes the hint and stands up, quickly leaving.

Amelia stands up, and quickly drops the hospital gown off her before grabbing a pair of fatigues and slipping them on.
Jackson doesn't even bother to avert his eyes, instead he blatantly watches Amelia as she dresses, leaving the bandages wrapped around her torso and head before pulling out the IV's and monitors.

She slips on her shirt and Jackson passes the familiar m1911 to her, which she quickly tucks into her waistband before throwing on her cloak with a grunt of discomfort.

A nurse comes running into the room and gawks at Amelia, who is now fully dressed and ready to leave.
"Ma'am, you can't leave yet there's still-eep!" The nurse shuts up when Amelia pulls the pistol out and holds it at her side.

"I am part of a private military company, I demand that I be released immediately." Amelia demands in a strong voice, her hand steady as a rock despite her white-knuckled grip on her pistol.

"O-of course! I'll go get the doctor." The nurse stammers before running out.

"You know he's probably going to try to sedate you right?" Jackson asks, his hand on his Colt.

"Yes, and that's why I have you." Amelia grins and sits down in a chair facing the door, her legs crossed.

A gray-haired doctor walks in and freezes when he sees Amelia."well I see you're feeling better, personally I have no problem signing off on your discharge papers. But first please allow me to tell you what we did to your left eye." He calmly states as he walks forward and sits down next to her.
"The original eye was far too mangled to save, and so we added a multi-role optical and heads-up-display integrated mechanical one with a coded neural interface so you can wirelessly link devices with your eye, your mother sent this idea to us, and while at first I was skeptical, everything seems to have gone well. Some of the optics were limiting in what eye color we could use for it, so we went with a silver at your mother's insistence."

Amelia reaches up to touch her face, but only comes in contact with gauze.
"If you would like, we can remove the bandages to see how things turned out." The doctor offers as he lays release documents on the table.

"Please, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious." Amelia leans forward slowly and the doctor unties the bandage, slowly unwrapping it from her head.
The doctor carelessly throws the bandages on the bed and removes a final gauze patch covering her eye.

It remains closed for a second as Amelia breathes, preparing herself, and then it opens, and Amelia looks around.
The doctor pulls out a tablet and taps on it a few times before Amelia gasps.
"Wow...that is...kinda overwhelming at first, but I'll get used to it." She says as what looks like a completely normal, silver eye scans the room.

"So I've heard. Well, here is some painkillers should you need them, and here are your release documents, please keep them for the next month or so. After that you can burn them for all I care." He hands her a small prescription bottle and signs the release forms before handing those to her as well.

"Thank you doctor, for everything, here's to hoping we don't need to see each other again any time soon."
The doctor chuckles and stands up, shaking Amelia's hand before leaving.

"Well? Come along Major, we have work to do." Amelia pokes Jackson in the ribs as she walks by, and he quickly follows her out.

---

POV switch- Jackson, 3rd person

They walk out into the back garden and watch as a F-105 and an A-7 streak high overhead, heading north.
Amelia gives a low whistle, watching the aircraft disappear into the clouds.

"We've been practicing our response times, and we got them down to QRF standards."

Amelia looks over at him and smiles, but then remembers why she was in the infirmary in the first place.
"Hey... I'm sorry about the plane.." she downcasts her eyes and rubs a spot on her right forearm with her left thumb.

"Don't worry about it. Shit happens, your mom spilled the beans anyways, we're getting new planes. She didn't say what they were though, she avoided answering that like the plague."
Amelia grins again, listening to the distant roar of the jet engines fade away.
"They also finished building the ammunition bunkers and the new hangars. A couple of them are fucking huge, I'm talking like, capable of easily fitting both the thud and the Corsair, and having plenty of room left over for more." Jackson grins at the thought.

"Your mom really has something special planned for us." He adds, turning and walking towards the school dorms. "Come on, Summer's been dying to see you."

Amelia nods and follows, still primarily relying on her right eye while she gets used to the assault of information in her left.

They walk through the halls, successfully navigating the maze thanks to Jackson exploring while in the wheelchair and easily reach STRQ's dorm, Jackson raps on the door several times before letting himself in.
"Hey guys. Summer, her ribs are still healing, so don't squeeze too hard." He warns as Amelia follows him in, her left eye closed.

Summer sees her and rushes over, Amelia braces herself to be tackled, but the cloaked girl gives her a sincere and gentle hug.
"Glad to see you're out and about. Ozpin stopped by and told us you were awake, but told us to stay."

"Yeah, he was with us when she got up, she told him to leave."

Summer stares at Amelia in surprise. "That's it? You essentially ordered the headmaster to leave?"

Amelia smiles and shrugs. "I told him if he didn't want to see one of his students naked then he best leave, and he left."

Qrow laughs from his spot on the windowsill, looking over towards them with a grin on his face. "So, how's your eye? The doctors told us that they had some procedures done and that it would take some getting used to."

Amelia sighs and opens her eye, producing an audible gasp from Summer and her entire team.
"Wow...it's beautiful, it looks almost exactly like mine." Summer marvels before she steers Amelia over to a mirror.
"It is exactly like mine. That's..." she trails off, trying to find the right words.

"Intriguing?" Tai offers from his bed, where he's absentmindedly polishing a large golden gauntlet.

"Creepy?" Qrow offers, still sitting in the windowsill.

"AWESOME!" Summer squeals in joy, once again hugging Amelia.

Amelia gasps and grabs Summer by the shoulder. "Too hard!" She whimpers, causing the girl to immediately disengage from the hug.

"I'm sorry!" Summer yells, her gaze downcast.

Amelia walks forward and hugs her. "I'm okay with you hugging me, just...gently." She mumbles, and Summer gently hugs her back.
Raven looks over at them and rolls her eyes before going back to refilling the small canisters in the scabbard for her katana.

"So what is that stuff? I see everyone using it, but I haven't caught what it's called." Jackson asks, earning a perplexed stare from everyone except Amelia.

"It's called dust, it carries elemental capabilities which we use to further enhance our weapons. There's fire, explosive, ice, wind, earth, electricity, and a couple others that would only confuse you right now." Raven explains, showing off a glass vial full of what looks like a red sand.

"Huh...is it easy to use...?" Jackson asks, looking at the vial curiously.

Raven shrugs and goes back to filling up the chambers in the scabbard. "If you've got an aura."

Jackson's shoulders slump. "Damn it."

All of team STRQ stares at him in bewilderment.
"Wait... you don't have an aura..?" Qrow asks, his jaw open.

"Maybe...? No...? I don't know!" Jackson looks to Amelia for help, but she's just as clueless.

"To answer your question mister Branwen, all of them do have an aura, they just haven't unlocked it, the same situation with their semblances. I intend to help them once they are both fit for combat again."

Jackson wheels around to find Ozpin standing in the open doorway, leaning against the door jamb.
"With all due respect headmaster, we are ready for combat."

Ozpin raises an eyebrow. "Are you now? Alright, put me in a situation where I couldn't escape without serious injury."

Amelia and Jackson both look at each other before nodding.
They both whip out their pistols, aiming the loaded firearms at Ozpin with a rock-steady grip.

Ozpin's eyes widen and he coughs into his hand before speaking.
"Very well, I can't say I didn't expect that. Your training starts in my office, three hours."
Amelia and Jackson both holster their pistols and grin wildly as he walks off.

"You know he could have easily whooped your guys' asses right?" Tai asks, putting the gauntlet at his side.

"Probably not, you forget how much experience we've had fighting people." Jackson chuckles, giving Amelia a quick squeeze on the shoulders.

"Yeah, but he's one of, if not the best huntsman in all of Remnant, he easily could have knocked those pistols out of your hands and-!" He yelps when Amelia wheels around and throws her deployed stiletto knife side-hand, embedding it clear to the hilt in the wall an inch from his face.

"I think my point is proven." Amelia glares at him before walking over and plucking the knife out of the wall.

"Definitely." Tai squeaks as Amelia pulls the spring-loaded blade back into the handle and walks towards the open door.

"I'm going to head home for a bit, I need a shower. I'll see you at training." Amelia mumbles to Jackson as she walks past, not even slowing as she rounds the corner into the hall.

"I'll go with her, to make sure she doesn't get lost." Summer says as she grabs her swords and follows Amelia out, closing the door behind her.

Jackson stares at Tai with a surprised face. "Man, you must have really pissed her off if she threw her stiletto like that, the last time she did that we were running from some mechanized infantry in Ukraine..." he trails off, realizing he's already said too much.

"So..you gonna tell me that story now?" Tai asks, putting the two gauntlets on his pillow.
Jackson sighs and grabs the wooden chair from the study desk by the door.
He pulls it out and sits in it so his arms are resting on the back of the chair. "Why not...we all seem to be getting along well, thanks for all your support guys, it really means a lot to us after living in some third-world shitholes for the past few years."

He takes a breath and closes his eyes for a minute before beginning.

"It was a year ago, we got shot down while fighting in a civil war in the Middle East. Nothing but desert, mountains, and small villages scattered every which way. We had linked back up and we were heading for an old military outpost in the mountains and we got surrounded. At this time Cassie and Kimberly were too busy worrying about the missile site that shot us down, so we had to try and break out on our own. We made it to the outpost but there wasn't anything we could use, and we found ourselves surrounded again. They closed in on us and we ran out of ammo. They rushed in and captured us, I got the shit kicked out of me, and they pulled us both down the mountain, me by a broken arm, Amelia by her hair, for five miles down that damn mountain."

He shudders and rubs a spot on his left bicep before continuing, his eyes distant.

"They dragged us into a nearby village, they tortured us for three hours before a United Nations quick-reaction-force responded to our distress beacons on our vests. When they got close they..."
He clenches his fists, his serious blue eyes filled with rage before he takes a deep breath.
"When they got close our captors tried to rape her, she was unconscious when they started loosening up her harness and vest, but the hurried jarring woke her up, and when she saw them trying to take off her pants she went ape-shit..."

he trails off again, but his cloudy eyes sharpen and he gives a little grin.
"In the scuffle I got clubbed over the head with a rifle, but when I woke up one of the medics said they found her partially clothed, holding that little knife you saw me pull out of her bra, covered in blood with eight Taliban dead in the room."

He stops and waits for that to sink in, finally Qrow speaks up.
"So you're telling me, that elegant woman that we just saw walk out with Summer, killed eight people on her own?"

Jackson nods and holds up a hand motioning for Qrow to wait.

"Not only did she kill eight full-grown men, but she killed them all with a four-inch blade, and all of them were armed to the teeth. Look I know it sounds far-fetched, but there's a reason why I stopped you Tai, when it comes to hand-to-hand fighting, that woman is a demon. I stopped sparring with her years ago, she'd kick my ass every time without hardly trying. She's a six foot tall bundle of muscle and skill, and nobody I know of has yet to come close to beating her one-on-one."

Tai grins and cracks his knuckles. "That only makes me want to try to beat her."

Jackson stares at him in shock for a second before chuckling and shaking his head. "Your funeral dude, make sure you write your will before you do."

"Oh come on, she can't be that good, I've been fighting ever since I was little!" Tai laughs, laying down on his bed.

"She knows five different hand-to-hand styles, took six months off work to go practice with Gurkha special forces, she can throw and hit a target with just about any knife I've ever handed her, and she has a stupidly high pain tolerance. Combine that with the fact that she works out for three hours every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and she's one of the most dangerous people I know." Jackson glares at him, and Tai raises his hand.

"First off, what are Taliban?"

Jackson blinks several times before taking another deep breath.
"They are a religious extremist group who believed that if you aren't part of their religion then essentially you deserve to die."

Tai nods in understanding and raises his hand again.
"Secondly, what are Gurkhas?"

Jackson grins and leans forward into the back of the chair.
"The Gurkhas are men and women from the Himalayan mountains, the tallest mountains in our world. They are some of the fiercest fighters ever to be fielded by a modern military, and due to the fact that they grow up at a high altitude where there's less oxygen, their stamina at lower altitudes is ridiculous."

[A/N: Those are very vague descriptions, and I apologize if I offended anybody.]

Tai nods in understanding and leans back against the wall as Qrow steps away from the window and closes it.

"So what about you? You any good in hand-to-hand?" He asks, sitting down onto his bed.

"Me? Well...I've always specialized in bladed weapons and firearms, despite the fact that it usually looks like I'm not carrying many, I'm actually reasonably prepared."

He pulls up his pant-leg to show a boot-knife before pushing the fabric back down and stands up, turning around and lifting the back of his shirt, revealing a small curved handle tucked into the small of his back.

"Now that's an interesting blade design, let's see it." Tai marvels from his spot on his bed.

Jackson tucks his index finger into the ring at the end of the handle and pulls the knife out of its scabbard, revealing a karambit fighting knife.

"There's no way that can do much damage." Tai furrows his brow as Jackson shows the knife off.

"And that's where you'd be wrong, a knife like this would fit your fighting style, the style isn't that much different from fist-fighting."
To show what he means Jackson gives a few jabs and swipes, showing on an imaginary target.

"Wow, you're actually right...think you could make me one?" Tai asks, marveling at the discrete nature of the blade.

"I'll think about it. I've also got this, which is my preferred blade." He puts the karambit back and reaches into his jacket, pulling out a surprisingly large blade.
"This is a Kukri, it used to be a harvest knife, then somewhere along the line someone figured out 'hey, this thing cuts meat pretty damn well!' And the Gurkhas started using it."
He twirls the leaf-shaped blade a couple times before putting it back in the scabbard.

"That's all I've got aside from my revolver, I was going to-" he's interrupted when his phone chimes.

He pulls it out and scrutinizes the message.
"Alright, sorry guys, I've gotta bounce. Swing by the hangars tomorrow after classes and I'll be happy to share a couple less depressing stories over a beer or two." He pushes the chair back in and stops at the door.

"Oh, and Tai?"

"Hmm?"

"Your tail hook is down."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Jackson opens the door and steps into the hall.
"your fly is down."

He closes the door as Tai scrambles to pull up his zipper, much at the rest of the team's amusement.

---

POV-switch, Amelia, 3 hours later, 3rd person

Amelia and Jackson walk into headmaster Ozpin's office, Amelia's changed into a new pair of black fatigues and a tan shirt, with her black cloak draped over her shoulders.

"Welcome, please, take a seat and we'll begin immediately." Ozpin hums happily from his desk, having just re-filled his mug.

The two sit down and scan their surroundings while he speaks, to Ozpin's surprise Amelia has a black eye-patch over her left eye.
"What is the matter miss Ellis? Is your eye proving to be difficult?"

Amelia shakes her head and smiles.
"No sir, it's just that I can read the information on the heads-up display easier against the black background, and to access options to change settings I have to blink that eye while looking directly ahead, and I'm fairly certain some students thought I was winking at them."

Ozpin smirks before taking a sip of coffee.
"Very well, let's not delay, both hands up on the desk, right over left."

The two quickly follow instructions, and Ozpin lays his hands on theirs before muttering several words.
As soon as he finishes speaking both of the pilots slump back, unconscious in their seats.

---

"Ugh my head." Jackson groans as he sits up, blinking his eyes several times to adjust to the new lighting scheme.

Amelia wakes up about a minute after him.

"The hell? There's a new bar on the display." She grumbles, sitting up as she surveys her status on the display in her left eye.

"And what does it say?" Jackson asks, as Ozpin sits there patiently, sipping coffee while looking at something on his tablet.

"It says aura, does that mean it worked?"

Ozpin nods and puts his tablet down.
"If you will, try to think as if you're trying to breath, while not actually breathing, there should be a colored barrier around you, that is your aura, and the color depends on your fighting style and your dedication. Now, try to do as I instructed."

Amelia takes a deep breath and lets it out, then hitches it as she exhales, a battleship gray barrier seems to radiate out of her, extending a good three inches beyond her skin.

"Wow, that's cool! What does this say about my fighting style?"

Ozpin thinks for a minute, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair.
"Balanced. Aggressive, yet very thoughtful and dedicated. I can see why you chose to be a pilot."

Amelia grins and Jackson's aura radiates out, a dark green that extends about an inch beyond his skin.

"And I sir?"

Ozpin looks at him and hums, tapping his fingers on the arm of his chair for several minutes before leaning forward.
"very withheld, yet powerful once let loose, and very dedicated."

Jackson thinks for a second before nodding.
"Sounds about right."

Ozpin smiles and leans back in his chair.
"There you are, I have unlocked your aura's for you. In combat class you will receive further training. Now I believe you have important and exciting business to attend to..." he looks towards the window, and Amelia gasps audibly at the view.

Flying towards the airfield is a large formation of at least a dozen aircraft that look distinctly like C-17 Globemasters, escorted by a desert camouflage F-105 and a gray A-7.
"Permission to go sir?" Jackson asks, Amelia is practically vibrating in excitement.

"Of course, have fun."
At the pause in his sentence Amelia and Jackson jump up and sprint to the elevator, quickly closing the doors and descending.

---

As they jump out of the airship onto the tarmac Amelia spots her mom and sister talking by one of the new very large hangars, while Kimberly is pushing the A-7 into it. Amelia sprints over to her mom and skids to a stop in front of her.

"What did you get us?" She asks with an excited expression.

"Oh, you know, just the best ground attack aircraft that money can buy. And a few multi-role fighters..."

She tapers off as Cassie runs out to direct traffic, two lighted cones in her hands as she directs the large aircraft to a parking area near the hangars.

"The best...? No way, you're kidding." Amelia goes wide-eyed as the rest of the C-17's land and park next to the first one.

Janet shakes her head and Amelia scowls at her. "I don't believe you, this is too good to be true."

The ramp on the first C-17 lowers and several men in snow camouflage start pulling a long covered pallet off it, easily pulling the pallet into one of the four large empty hangars.
"You'll see once everything is unloaded. Ozpin is even paying for us to have our own ground and flight crew. So they should have everything assembled by tomorrow morning."

Behind the hangars are two large concrete humps sticking up out of the dirt.
"What are those?"

Janet points over to their right, where a forklift is moving a crate into a tunnel in between two hangars.
"Bunkers for the big boom." She chuckles.

Amelia grins and hears a commotion over her shoulder, she turns around to find two armed guards preventing Summer from walking any closer.

Amelia sighs and jogs over, pushing the two guards out of the way. "She's welcome here fellas. Don't give her any more trouble."

The two guards give her a salute, which she returns before motioning for Summer to follow her.

"Sorry, we're getting some serious ordinance now, so we've gotta step up security."

Summer shrugs as Amelia leads her into the main hangar, where the F-105 had been backed in, and is currently being looked over by several men in overalls.

"Thanks fellas, keep up the good work!" Amelia cheers as they walk by.

They walk up the metal stairs to the bunks and Amelia throws Summer a gray flight suit.
"That should fit you, go jump in the bathroom and change, there's a couple hangers in there for your dress and corset already."

Summer nods and walks in, closing the door behind her.
"If you need help let me know!" Amelia calls through the door as she puts on her flight suit, tucking her hair in it as she zips it up.

She quickly follows with her harness, vest, and parachute, and is reaching for her helmet when Summer walks out of the bathroom.
"Looks like it fits you alright, The harness for the parachute is the most uncomfortable, but you'll get used to it." Amelia explains as she helps Summer into the harness, then gives her the vest to put on while she attaches the parachute to the harness.

Soon enough Summer is looking like a fighter pilot, and is only missing one thing.

"Here, helmet. We usually keep them off until we buckle in, so we can hear if anything doesn't sound right." She hands Summer her helmet and tucks her own under her arm.

"Right then, let's go."

They walk down the stairs and across the hangar floor where the ground crew is finishing up, moving their tools away from the aircraft.
Amelia motions Summer up the boarding ladder, and follows up quickly after her.
Summer climbs into the back seat and Amelia helps her get buckled in, explaining emergency procedures and the works before having Summer plug her helmet into the comms stack.

When Amelia's hand nears the control panel for the radio something feels...different, and she hesitates before grabbing the power dial and turning it.

Suddenly there's an electronic screech in her head, and she falls onto her backside, her entire body numb as she's covering her ears instinctively while the noise drowns out everything else, including the roar of engines outside. The sound continues for several minutes, causing her to curl up in a fetal position while clutching the sides of her head, her eyes clenched shut and her face contorted in pain.

She's so focused on the pain in her head that she doesn't notice Summer calling her name, or Jackson, who kneels by her and tries to shake her to get her attention. Or even her own mother, who picks her up and carries her over to the living room area and lays her down on a couch.

After twenty minutes the noise completely fades, and feeling slowly returns to her body.
She tries to groan as she opens her eyes, but no sound comes out, no rumbling in her throat to indicate she's actually speaking, despite the fact that she can hear everything around her, including her mom and Ozpin quietly arguing next to her.

"Is it possible that this is from the neural implant for her eye?"

"Mrs. Ellis, I would like to think not, it's very possible that this may be her semblance."

"But someone discovering their semblance doesn't usually involve them being completely numbed to the outside world!"

"Yes, while this is true, sometimes it is a side effect from the process of the knowledge necessary to use the semblance bubbling to the surface."

Amelia sits up and rubs her temples, closing her eyes.
Oh Jesus Christ would you both please just shut the fuck up? You're going to make this damned headache worse.

Amelia thinks as she rubs circles in her temples.

Immediately after she thinks that there's an eerie silence, broken after several minutes by Ozpin.
"Well, I do believe we know what her semblance is now."
This peaks Amelia's interest, and she turns around to find everyone in the hangar staring at her.

Why is everyone staring at me?

Janet flinches when Amelia thinks that, and Ozpin steps forward. "So you're functional now, how do you feel?"

Amelia opens her mouth and tries to tell him 'I feel like shit.', but the words won't form, not even a small squeak leaves her mouth.
She thinks the same, and Ozpin nods almost as if recognizing her private thought.

"Well then, it would appear that you've found your semblance, at the cost of a few features, including your voice."

She raises an eyebrow at him and he grins, sitting down on the couch next to her. "Telepathy my dear, truly rare. However, your voice wasn't the only thing that was changed."

Amelia furrows her brow, and Jackson provides a signal mirror from his vest.
Amelia holds it up to look in it, and she stares for a minute before removing her eyepatch.

I'm not dreaming this am I?

Amelia blinks multiple times and Ozpin laughs. "No, you do now seem to have two silver eyes."

Amelia stares in the mirror, the HUD in her left eye sitting around the edges of her vision.
There's the sound of combat boots clomping behind her, and she turns around to find Summer sprinting over.
Amelia thinks Summer is going to tackle her, but instead the redhead vaults over the back of the couch and lands next to her, quickly wrapping her up in a hug.

They hug in silence, but at the same Amelia hears a soothing voice in her mind, one that isn't hers.
"'I was so damn worried about you. I thought you'd just electrocuted yourself.'"

Amelia hugs her back, giving a deep sigh out of her nose while in the embrace.
I know, I'm sorry, there was just this sound...and I just went numb.

Summer jerks when Amelia finishes out her thought.
"Wait...you heard that?"

Amelia pulls out of the hug.

Not exactly, but yeah.

Summer stares at her in awe, her mouth opening and closing like a fish.

What? I just sort of heard a different voice in my head that wasn't mine.

Ozpin breaks the silence as the two girls stare at each other. "Allow me to inquire, she just heard your thoughts in her head?"

Summer nods.

"Hmmm, Miss Ellis, would you please pull out your phone?"

Amelia pulls her phone out and holds it in her hand.

"Now try to direct some sort of thought towards that phone."

Amelia does, and as she does the phone repeats what she thought, in her voice.

"Well then, you truly are one-of-a-kind, not only can you use telepathy to communicate, but you can channel your thoughts through electronic devices via direct contact..."
Amelia looks at Summer and then over at the F-105, which is sitting ready to start up outside the hangar.

Headmaster...I told Summer I'd take her up on a flight, we're burning daylight. Can we continue this some other time?

Ozpin smiles and nods.

Amelia shoves her phone in her vest and jumps up, turning her attention to Summer.

Come on! Time's a-wastin!

Summer nods and jumps up as Amelia sprints past her mom to the plane, Summer hot on her heels as she nimbly clambers up the ladder.
Amelia helps Summer get buckled in again, her helmet still being connected to the comms stack.
Amelia quickly tunes the radio and steps away, allowing Summer to close and lock her canopy.
She then climbs into the pilot's seat and plugs her helmet in, dialing in her own comms stack before closing and locking the canopy.

She's halfway through the startup process when Summer crackles over the radio.

{So how is this going to work? You can't speak.}

Amelia rolls her eyes and directs her thoughts through the microphone on her throat.

According to Ozpin I can relay through electronics to the speakers on the other end, so I'll just do this, unless of course you want me in your head.

She starts spooling up the engines when Summer responds.

{Okay, that is really cool. But yeah, it is easier to hear through the speakers...err... you know what I mean!}

Amelia gives a silent laugh, her body shaking as she lights the engine.

Yes Summer, I know exactly what you mean.

Checking the instruments one more time Amelia signals for the chocks to be pulled and taxis down to the end of the runway.
She stops at the end of the runway, ready to take off.

Ready for the view and ride of your life?

Of course! I've always wanted to do this!

Amelia grins and jams the throttle forwards, putting the engine into full military power, and then full afterburner.
The F-105 surges forward, and Amelia sort of tunes into Summer's mind like a radio subconsciously to monitor her reaction.

By the way, I'm going to tune in here for a bit while we climb, I'll let you know when to put your oxygen mask on.

"'Oh...okay! This is fun!'"

Amelia grins and pulls back on the stick, allowing the craft to climb into the afternoon sky.
She raises the landing gear and loosely circles the airfield once before before climbing.

Let me know if you start to black out, it's easy to pull a ton of G's in this plane and not realize it.

"'Okay! One question, what are G's? I know you aren't talking about thousands.'"

G's are the amount of gravity is being applied on your body. For instance, three G's is equal to three times the initial gravitational pull that you experience on the ground. The more G's you pull, the faster you can black out. Jackson pulled ten G's for two seconds a couple months ago, and it felt like my face was melting before he eased off.

Amelia hears Summer snort in her mind, and she flicks a switch down by her throttle that locks the harnesses for both of the aviators.

"'Huh? Why did my harness just lock?'"

Amelia grins fiendishly and throttles back out of afterburner before abruptly rolling the plane right and jamming the stick into her gut.
She watches the 'G' meter spike up to eight G's, staying there for three seconds before she straightens out of the turn.

Hey, you still awake back there?

"'Yeah, I just felt like I had a Goliath standing on my chest.'"

That was only eight G's, so you can imagine what ten feels like. But anyways, mask on, we're now passing ten thousand feet.

Amelia pulls the mask across her face and mouth, taking a deep breath to ensure the oxygen is flowing well.

"'So, got any stories?'"

Oh I've got tons of stories, some good, some bad, some sitting in the middle right around ugly.

"'Let's hear a funny story.'"

Alright, how about...when Jackson lost a bet and had to fly for a week in nothing but a dress and his helmet?

Amelia has Summer in stitches by the time they reach 35,000 feet. She figured out that one neat little thing she could do with the telepathy is literally share a mental image with the other person, which made storytelling all that much better.
She finishes the story and waits for Summer to recover from laughing hysterically, once she's composed Amelia puts the plane into a gentle right bank.
Below them stretches out the vast kingdom of Vale, the setting sun turning the white fluffy clouds a mixture of gold and red as it says goodbye for the night.

Hey Summer.

"'Yeah?'"

Look off to our right.

"'Wow...it's gorgeous... is that Beacon down there?'"

Yeah, welcome to my office. Thirty-five thousand feet, cruising at five hundred knots. This is where I've done most of my thinking...most of the important stuff anyways.

"'I can see why, it's so serene. I can't imagine what it would be like being able to see this view every day.'"

Well, if I label the flights as 'photo reconnaissance' in my flight log I might be able to work something out with Jackson. I'll actually have to take pictures, but it shouldn't be too bad.

"'You'd do that for me?!'"

Of course Summer, you're pretty much my best friend. Which is something I haven't had since I was in elementary school.

"'Really? What about Jackson? Or Kimberly?'"

That's...complicated...

"'Oh? Do tell.'"

Later, as for right now, text Tai and have him head up to the roof, I've got a fiendish idea that you're going to love.

"'On it!'"

Also, let me know when you're done, because I'm going to give you some very specific G survival instructions.

There's a minute of silence.

"'Alright! He's on his way up.'"

Awesome. Now listen closely, because what I'm about to do our group calls 'the crusher', it puts a ton of G's on you for an extended amount of time, and the end it the toughest part. When we're pulling G's and you feel yourself starting to black out it's because there's less blood in your head. To keep the blood in your head you need to clench your stomach as hard as you can and hitch your breath. It's a bitch to do and not pass out. If you can't see anything let me know and I'll pull out of the maneuver.

"'Okay...this sounds dangerous...'"

Just a little, but the end result is I'm going to scare the shit out of Tai.

"'How?'"

Amelia uses a mental picture of the F-105 streaking mere feet above Taiyang's head.

"'To hell with it. Let's do this!'"

Amelia grins and locks their harnesses before popping the air-brakes, completely cutting throttle, and rolling over into a dive.
She corkscrews towards the earth, the 'G' meter reading a measly four G's before she lights the afterburner and retracts the air-brakes, rocketing towards the ground before she does the final part, a crushing nine 'G' pull to avoid smashing into the ground at nearly the speed of sound.

You alright back there?

"'Yeah! This is exhilarating!'"

Here comes the school, I can see Tai on the roof. Here we go.

She rolls the plane inverted and aims about ten feet above Tai's head, addressing him with her telepathy to get his attention.

Hey blondie, turn around.

"'Wha-?'"

Amelia watches in cruel satisfaction as he turns around to face them, the setting sun in his eyes.
By the time he sees the plane it's too late to duck, and they shriek over his head just forty knots short of the speed of sound.

Immediately after Amelia rolls back over and ascends to five-hundred feet, where she silently laughs so hard she cries as Tai throws unknown obscenities at her while giving her the finger.

WORTH IT!

"'Totally!'"

---

With the sun now set Amelia lands back at the airfield and parks the plane in its usual hangar.
The flight crew wheel the ladder up to the side of the plane and Amelia steps out, quickly helping Summer get unhooked before helping her out of the plane and onto the small boarding gantry.

"That was so much fun! I can't wait to do it again!" Summer huffs, still riding the adrenaline rush from the crazy maneuver fifteen minutes earlier.

All in a day's work!

Amelia stretches her arms off to the side while Summer climbs down the ladder, her helmet in her left hand.

She notices the ground crew head officer smoking a cigarette out front of the next hangar over and leans on the rail of the small gantry.

Hey.

The man flinches and looks around, his gaze finally locking on Amelia, who's staring at him.

When you have the time, meaning once you get all the aircraft assembled, get this beast setup for photo recon, there's a bomb bay you can put the equipment in.

He gives her a loose salute, which she returns with a smile.

Also, leave me one of those cigs, it's been ages since I last had one.

He nods again and pulls out a pack, leaving the cigarette in the crook of two steel support beams.

Thanks.

She straightens up and looks down the ladder, where Summer is curiously staring up at her. "Thinking about something?"

Amelia nods and slides down the ladder before throwing an arm over Summers shoulders as they walk into the hangar.

Suddenly there's a flash and Amelia looks around to find Jackson standing there in a pair of greasy, dirty coveralls with a camera.

"Congrats on surviving your first flight in a thud Summer!" He cheers, a big grin on his face.

Amelia flips him the bird at what he's insinuating, and they keep walking, up to the living quarters.

They both change out of their flight suits and into their street clothes.

"Oh for Oums sake!" Summer whines while looking at her phone.

What? Something wrong?

"Yeah, the ferry from Vale to Beacon shut down half an hour ago."

Oh. Shit...I'm sorry Summer...

"It's fine, but it looks like I'll be spending the night here."

Amelia smiles and digs in her dresser for a second before throwing Summer a pair of pajamas.

Slumber party it is then! Go take a shower, I'm going to go check with the head of the guard to ask something.

Summer grins and nods, heading straight into the bathroom with the pajamas under one arm.

As soon as the door shuts Amelia walks down the stairs and out to where the chief mechanic was smoking. She easily finds the cigarette and pulls a Zippo lighter out of her pocket, flicking the wheel once. Twice. And finally on the third try it lights, bathing Amelia's face in an orange glow while she lights the thick roll of tobacco.

She takes a long drag and leans against the side of the hangar, tilting her head up before blowing the smoke towards the barely visible stars.

"I didn't think you of all people would take up that habit, I know you hated the smell of my cigarettes." Amelia flinches at the voice, but doesn't move her gaze from the stars, it's just her mom after all.

Yeah, well...yours were cheap, and that cinnamon smell they had mixed in made me want to vomit. This one isn't too bad, not as good as a pack I got from Israel, but better than a pack I got from some guy in an Iraqi market. That one DID make me puke. But what brings you out here? I figured you'd be watching over the assembly process.

Janet grins and pulls a pack of cigarettes out of her vest, sticking one in her mouth before patting her pockets for a lighter. Amelia grins and tosses her the Zippo.
"I wanted to talk to you about that new eye of yours. And ask you how you've been doing." She explains as she lights the cigarette, tossing the lighter back to Amelia.

To answer your question of how I've been doing, today has been one hell of a day. I'm still getting used to this thing, but it's intriguing nonetheless. I'm not going to say that I'm breaking away from Pontiac flight, but I need to take some time to just blow some shit up on my own, and try to work out some sort of truce with my inner demons.

Amelia blows out another column of smoke and glances sideways at her mom.

"Well, I understand that last bit. I'm guessing you and Jackson are both in need of some thinking?"

Amelia sighs through her nose in response.

Is it really that obvious? We've been trying to keep it on the down-low for about a year now.

Janet reaches into her pants pocket and pulls out an unopened pack of cigarettes before tossing them to Amelia.

"Yeah, it is. Come on, there's a better place we can talk."

Amelia snatches the pack out of the air and jams it in her pocket, pulling the hood up on her black cloak before following her mom.
Janet leads her to a small office-like building at the rear of the center old hangar, where she opens the door and Amelia walks in, finding a simple wooden table with four chairs and an ashtray.

She sits down and cracks a window before kicking her feet up on the table and pulling her hood back.

"So about that eye of yours, there's several things it can do other than simply help you see."

Amelia freezes when she's pulling a fresh cigarette out of the new pack, and looks at Janet.

Like?

Janet smiles and pulls a small tablet out of her back pocket, sliding it across the table.

"Take a look for yourself."

Amelia holds the unlit tube of paper and tobacco in her lips as she looks at what's on the tablet.

Strategic overlay, aircraft systems control, weapons selection, CCTV camera hacking, and...TGP control for ground attack...well you've been busy. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed.

She lays the tablet on the table and slides it back before lighting her cigarette.
"Only the best for my beloved daughters." Janet's voice is sincere as she looks at Amelia.

So how do I use those features?

Janet shakes her head for a second. "Most of those are built-in things for your aircraft, so I'll walk you through it when the planes are ready."

Amelia nods and stares at the ceiling in thought.

"But I'm going to leave the illegal stuff to you to figure out. Anyways, feel free to use this building whenever you want. I've got to go make sure those crews aren't fucking anything up. Catch you tomorrow after school."

Janet stands up and walks out, leaving Amelia to finish her cigarette in silence.

---

When she walks back in Amelia finds Summer in the kitchen, cooking what smells to be cookies.
Amelia smiles and leans in through the window, a smirk tugging at the edges of her mouth.

What's cookin'? Smells like something yummy!

Summer looks up from her phone, first checking the timer on the oven, then looking at Amelia.

"Four batches of my chocolate chip cookies. I've been perfecting the recipe, and I think I've got them just right now."

Amelia smiles and walks around to the door, leaning against the door frame and pulling her hood back.

Four? Don't you think that's a bit...overkill?

Summer shakes her head as the oven beeps. She puts on a pair of oven mitts and pulls two trays out, setting them on the counter before grabbing the other two and doing the same.

"Not really, I was thinking that all of the guards and crews could have some, I've seen them working their asses off since they got here, why not treat them a little? And there'd still be a dozen left for you guys."

Amelia bites her lip in thought, playing with the ring on her right ring finger.

Gah fuck it, why not. Let me know when they're cool enough to handle, we'll go hand them out.

Summer pumps a fist in celebration and runs upstairs to grab her cloak, quickly returning with it draped over her shoulders.

Amelia spends some time across the hangar from the kitchen, playing a larger version of darts with combat knives.
After about two minutes Summer declares the cookies cooled, and Amelia finishes making the smiley face on the large throwing board before walking over.

"I found this basket in a cabinet, it looks big enough, and I washed it out with a wet rag."

Amelia nods and grabs a cookie, taking a bite out of it and chewing it slowly. Her eyes widen and she stares at Summer in amazement.

Oh my god Summer, you are giving me your recipe. These are amazing!

Summer blushes and puts the other batches of cookies in the basket, closing the lid before looping her arm through the handle.

"They're nothing special... I've just spent a lot of work perfecting the recipe."

Amelia enjoys the rest of the cookie, savoring the way the center almost melts in her mouth.

And that is exactly why you're giving me your recipe, because I have never, ever, had cookies this good before.

Summer blushes as red as her namesake before grabbing Amelia by the arm and leading her out of the hangar.

They walk up to the front of the first hangar, and Amelia smiles to the guard before Summer offers him a cookie, which he graciously accepts before opening the doors to let them in.
Amelia gets in the door and stops, staring at the aircraft under assembly in front of her.

"What's up? Something wrong?"

Amelia wipes her eyes and shakes her head to clear it before looking at the plane again.

Summer, pinch me please.

Summer pinches her on the neck, and Amelia gives her a nod of thanks.

I can't believe it, this is a state-of-the-art fighter, this thing can fly loops around anything we've ever fielded before. I don't know what to say other than wow.

They walk forward, and Amelia whistles with her fingers to get everyone's attention.
Summer opens the basket and Amelia motions to it, holding up her index finger.

"As a thank you for your hard work today." Summer elaborates.

Everyone stops what they're doing and gets a cookie before thanking the young women and getting back to work, their snack break over.

As they walk out Amelia is beaming with joy, but Summer watches as she fishes the pack of cigarettes out of her pocket and sticks one in her mouth and gives her a glaring look of disapproval.

I know, it's a bad habit, but it's been a long day, and the nicotine is the only thing keeping me going right now.

Summer shakes her head and takes a sliding step away as Amelia lights the cigarette, taking a satisfying puff on it before blowing the smoke to the shattered moon.

"I don't know how you can stand smoking, the smell is awful." Summer coughs from the smoke despite it being blown away from her. There's a considerable wait before Amelia's response.

I don't know how else to say this, so I'm just going to be honest. I've been in situations where I would have gladly taken the smell of a bad cigarette over the stench of rotting flesh. It's an acquired taste.

Summer looks at her to see if she's joking, but the face of the cloaked pilot is solemn, her emotional eye filled with sorrow.

Amelia is suddenly stopped, a warm feeling around her waist as Summer hugs her gently.

Her eye tears up slightly, a single solitary tear making a break for it before Amelia wipes it away.

Thanks Summer, I really needed that. Come on, let's go give the other crews their cookies.

They head to the next two hangars and repeat the same process as the first, minus the disbelief.
When they reach the fourth they give the guard a cookie and go inside, and when Amelia sees the plane her half-smoked cigarette falls out of her mouth, landing on the floor. But she's too busy staring at the plane in front of her.

You've gotta be shittin' me.

That's the only thing Amelia says as she walks to the plane, dragging her fingertips across the large 30mm Gatling gun in the nose and up the bottom jaw of the shark's mouth painted on the nose. Summer stares at her questioningly as she walks around the entire aircraft, completely mesmerized by it.

"So what's so special about this one?" Summer asks her as she grins wildly.

Summer, this is by far, the most badass ground attack aircraft ever made. The plane was designed around the gun in the nose.

Summer looks at the plane again and shrugs before leading Amelia to the next hangar, and so on down the line until they reach the end and a guard gives them a ride back to the main hangar.

Amelia smokes one last cigarette before heading in, quickly changing into her pajamas and falling asleep on the couch, choosing to give Summer her bunk.

---

POV switch- Jackson, 3rd person

When 0530 swings around the next morning Jackson wakes up feeling refreshed. He quietly hops out of his bunk and gets dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top. He keeps his boots off until he reaches the door to avoid waking anyone up, and after tying them runs out into the dark for his morning PT.

---

POV switch-Summer, 3rd person

Soon after Jackson runs out Summer gets up, the wire and fabric bed belonging to Amelia having felt rather uncomfortable, more so than expected. She quickly and quietly changes into her street clothes, leaving the borrowed pajamas in the dirty clothes before she heads downstairs, her pure white cloak flowing out behind her and showing the red inside.

She sits down in the recliner while waiting for everyone else to wake up, and after playing some stupid game on her scroll that Tai got her hooked on she notices Amelia tossing and turning, her breath coming in short, quick pants.

"Oh dear, she's having a nightmare..." Summer mutters to herself as she gets up and kneels down by the flailing woman.

She grabs Amelia by the shoulder and gives her a small shake, trying to relieve her of whatever terror she's facing in her dreams, but the shake doesn't work, the flailing just gets more intense.

Just then she hears the thundering of boots on pavement, and she looks over to see Jackson sprinting over, waving his arms no.

Summer looks back at Amelia and gives her one more stubborn shake.

The reaction is spontaneous, Amelia's hand thrusts into her pocket and pulls out the same knife Summer saw her throw at Tai the previous day, her eyes bolt open and lock onto Summer as the hand swings towards her throat, the blade of the knife extending with a 'click!' as Amelia's emotional eye shows a murderous intent that Summer had never seen before.

Amelia registers who it is last-second, and her arm extends more, her forearm colliding with Summers left shoulder as she throws the knife across the room, the clatter of the metal blade on concrete wakes everyone else up instantly.

Amelia covers her mouth and her expression is one of complete horror.

Summer stares at her, stunned.

Amelia stares for a second before bolting up, running out of the hangar at a blistering pace.

"Amy wait!" Jackson yells after her, but it's too late, she's already gone.

Jackson huffs and walks over to Summer, who is still frozen in place, her brain desperately trying to comprehend what just happened.
"Hey Summer, sit, let's have a talk."

Summer nods and allows herself to be seated on the couch.

"You remember what I said when we got shot down? Right before we landed?"

Summer shakes her head no, and Jackson sits down next to her.

"I told you why I was taking all her knives and weapons off of her, to keep her from killing someone if they woke her up wrong...well, today you got extremely lucky, because that was the worst way to wake her up."

Summer looks up at him, a confused expression on her face, but terror in her eyes.

"What happened that made her like that?"

Jackson leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees.

"Well...we got shot down and captured..."

---

POV switch- Amelia, 3rd person

Amelia runs out back of the hangars, ducking into the small building she talked with Janet in the previous night before flopping into the chair.

Fuck!

She puts her head in her hands, tears streaking down her face.

Jesus Christ what's wrong with me!? I almost stabbed my best friend!

She sobs for a few minutes before wiping the tears from her face, thrusting a shaking hand into her pocket and producing the pack of cigarettes. She grabs one in her lips and drops the pack on the table, fishing around in her pocket again for her lighter, trying to get the battered souvenir to light before giving up and exchanging it for a matchbox.

She strikes a match and holds the small flame against the extra paper on the end of the cigarette.
After the flame catches she gives it a few short puffs, her hands on the table as she stares at the opposite wall.

She sits there in darkness, the only illumination being the small red glow of the cigarette as she contemplates what to do next.
As dawn fast approaches the door opens and Janet walks in, a black flight helmet under her arm.

"I heard what happened, I figured you'd be here."

Amelia doesn't even move, she just keeps staring at the wall, slowly puffing the lit cigarette in her lips.

You need something? I'm not in a sociable mood right now.

Janet walks over and sits down in a chair next to her, putting the black helmet on the table.
"I came by to drop this off, your new helmet for the warthog and the hornet, when you plug into the radio it'll also plug you into all the glass cockpit systems, and you'll be able to display them on your eye without putting them on the display."

Amelia snuffs out the cigarette and looks at the helmet, the simple age-old design seems different somehow when you paint it black, and Amelia smiles.

Thanks mom, you want to go for a flight later? Just the two of us, like old times?

Janet smiles and nods, sticking a cigarette in her lips before lighting it with an engraved Zippo lighter.
"I'd love to, but I've got to fly down to Menagerie to meet up with a couple of friends, they're going to be working with us."

That's fine, I can go with you, it'll give me a good chance to think and get familiarized with the hornet.

Janet shrugs and pulls her phone out, tapping on it a few times before showing the screen to Amelia, who scrutinizes it thoroughly before handing it back.

Sounds like fun, let's do it.

Janet smiles and puts the phone back in her pocket, taking one last drag on her cigarette before grinding the tip into the table and leaving the snuffed-out remnants in the ashtray.
"Awesome, I'll have your plane fitted out like mine, we're wheels-up in one hour."

Amelia nods and pockets her pack of cigarettes before standing up, grabbing her new helmet, and walking out.

When she walks into the main hangar she finds everyone sitting at the couches, telling Summer stories. Amelia ignores them, instead running up the stairs and grabbing her flight gear before heading into the bathroom and emptying her pockets onto the counter. She quickly sheds her pajamas and dons her equipment, including a new black flight suit that was laying on her bed.

After throwing her pajamas in the dirty clothes hamper, filling her pockets with her belongings, and running a brush through her hair, she walks out, straight into Summer.

"Hey Amy...you uh...you might want this."

Summer hands her the stiletto knife she'd almost stabbed her with twenty minutes earlier.

Thanks Summer...I'm sorry about what happened earlier...

Summer grabs her by the shoulders, forcing her to look the shorter girl in the eyes.

"It's fine, Jackson and the others explained everything to me. I was the one who messed up, and it won't happen again."

Amelia smiles and hugs her, ignoring the slight pain in her ribs.
They hold the embrace for a minute before Amelia breaks away.

Sorry...I'm not going to be in class today...I'm taking a flight with my mom down to menagerie to meet a couple people.

Summer nods and grabs Amelia's black cloak, handing it to her.

"Here, might as well finish the ensemble. Now go get 'em."

Summer pats her on the shoulder, and she nods before throwing the cloak on over her flight gear and running down the stairs, brushing past Jackson and running down the line of hangars until she reaches one with a black heart above the door, her emblem.

She slides the doors open to find the flight crew waiting, behind them is a FA/18E Super Hornet loaded for bear with missiles and three drop tanks.

She smiles and moves to the boarding ladder, where the man standing at the bottom of the steps salutes her.

She salutes back and climbs into the cockpit, quickly buckling herself in and putting on her helmet.

She plugs her helmet in and her left eye displays an option for 'automatic startup', which she gladly takes.

Suddenly switches all around the cockpit start flipping on their own, and Amelia listens in amazement as the engine spools up two minutes later.

After checking all the instruments she gives the flight crew a thumbs up and closes the canopy, locking it before removing the parking brake and taxiing out of the hangar.
She looks off to her right to find that her mom is also taxiing out.
She tunes her radio and transmits.

Pontiac one checking in.

{That's a negative, your callsign is now Angel. Ozpin ordered it.}

Amelia rolls her eyes and turns on her formation lights, slowly rolling down the taxiway behind her mom.

Roger that, did we all get callsign changes?

{Yep, I'm Titan, Jackson is Viper, Cassie is Bulldog, and Kimberly is Razor.}

Amelia grins at the callsigns, all very badass and they actually made sense with the people they were assigned to.
They taxi onto the runway and Janet puts her plane into afterburner, the bright flame lighting up the tarmac below her as she accelerates down the runway.
Amelia waits about two seconds before doing the same, and soon she's lifting off the ground and raising her landing gear.

How high are we climbing?

{Thirty.}

Roger.

Amelia puts her oxygen mask on and pulls up alongside her mom, she has her weapon selection pulled up on her left eye as they reach thirty thousand feet and level out. The sun only beginning to rise and bathe the clouds below in a red glow.
Amelia pulls her visor down and they fly in silence for two hours.
The silence is only broken when there's a ping in her helmet, and Amelia instinctively looks at her RWR.

Spike, unknown contact, on the nose, seventy miles.

{Roger, that may be the civilian guard. Hold fire until we get closer.}

Amelia pulls her RWR up on her left eye so she doesn't have to continuously watch it. But she gets nervous when the aircraft closes the gap quickly, flying at the same altitude as them.

What kind of aircraft are your buddies flying? Because this might be one of them, they just closed five miles in ten seconds.

{They've got Mirage five Kfir's.}

Amelia reaches over and flips the 'master arm' switch before selecting an AIM-120.

I'm ready to rock, I'm doubtful this is one of your friends, unless he's bare and hauling ass.

{Yeah I'm getting that feeling too, lock him up and we'll see what he does.}

Amelia locks the aircraft with radar, but it doesn't deviate from its course.

I've got him hard locked, but he's not responding.

Amelia checks the range, and prepares to jettison her two external fuel tanks on the wings.

{I just got off the radio with my friends, they're all on the ground, they say there's been a MIG-21 that strafed the field, and he was last seen heading our way.}

Range is fifty miles now, Amelia squeezes the trigger.

Fox three.

The AIM-120 flies off the rail and tracks beautifully, slamming into the supersonic aircraft at forty miles.

As the plane spirals towards the ocean below Amelia notices two delta wings and the telltale MIG-21 tail amongst the fireball.

Yep, that was a Fishbed alright. I think I saw Egyptian markings.

{Roger that, scratch one for the Angel.}

Amelia rolls her eyes and turns the master arm off.

{I almost feel sorry for him, poor bastard never stood a chance!}

Amelia grins behind her oxygen mask, pulling the small black book out of her vest and putting another tick mark under 'MIG-21'.

---

They arrive over Menagerie an hour later, landing on a concrete runway surrounded by tropical forest.
As they taxi to the parking area Amelia notices three Kfir's parked under camo nets by a small barracks, all of which have Israeli markings.
They park, power down, and Amelia hops out, leaving her helmet in the plane so she doesn't have to carry it around.

"These are all great guys, I helped them out when they first showed up, they were just as confused as I was." Janet explains, leading her towards the barracks, which appears to have some bullet holes in the roof.

Alright, I'm just going to stay quiet until someone asks why I'm not talking. Probably better that way.

They hear a bunch of laughing from inside, and Janet sticks her head in the doorway. "Hey there boys, you got room for two more?"

"Sure! Come on in out of that blasted heat. It's been awhile since I saw you, you haven't aged a bit."

Janet leads the way in, and Amelia follows, keeping her cloak pulled around her with the hood up.

"Thank you Giora. Gentlemen, I'd like you to meet my oldest daughter, this is Amelia, her and her flight were fighting in Syria and somehow ended up here in Remnant."

The man identified as Giora stands up from the small table the three are sitting at, and extends his hand. "Pleasure to meet you, I'm Giora, flight leader."

Amelia pulls her hood back and shakes his hand, smiling.

He looks to Janet when Amelia doesn't say anything. "Quiet one eh?"

Janet shakes her head and sits down at the end, Amelia walks over and sits next to her. "Yes and no. Yes she's quiet, but it's not by choice, she can't speak, at all."

Giora sits down and stares in surprise down the table. "She can't be a very good fighter pilot. Communication is key!"

Amelia scowls, pulls out her pocketbook, and opens it to her kill tallies before sliding it down the table to him.

He picks it up and his jaw drops.
Amelia grins and motions for him to turn the page.
He turns the page to her ground kills, and his eyes go wide.

"And you are...how old?"

Amelia motions for her book back, and he slides it back to her.

"She's twenty-four. And her status as a mute is only recent as a side effect of her discovering her semblance." Janet clarifies, a wide grin on her face.

One of the other men puts down the cards he was holding and looks at Janet. "And what is her semblance? I imagine it would have to be a rather powerful one for the compromise to be losing her voice."

"Ironically enough, the headmaster at Beacon called it 'communication'."

The three guys look at each other and roar with laughter, and Amelia kicks her feet up on the table, leaning back in her chair.

And what's so funny about that?

They suddenly stop laughing and look around, their eyes settling on Amelia, who has a shit-eating grin on her face.

That's right shitheads, that was me.

They stare at her in shock, a cigarette falls out of one's mouth and lands in his lap.

Boo.

Giora pulls the cigarette out of his lap and sticks it back in his mouth, an impressed look on his face. "Well then, that certainly made things a lot less...ordinary."
Amelia snorts and pulls her cigarettes out of her pocket

You're telling me! Confused the hell out of me when it first happened.

She sticks one in her mouth, and Giora lights it for her. She takes a long drag and lets it out before anyone says anything.

"So, shall we mount up? We've got all our equipment packed already." Giora breaks the awkward silence, standing up and grabbing his helmet.

"Yes, let's. The sooner we get back the easier it will be to get you gentlemen settled in."

They all stand up, and Amelia leads the way out, her black cloak hardly being disturbed in the slightest by her movements as she quickly smokes her cigarette.
Without a glance back she climbs into the seat of her Hornet and puts her helmet on, once again opting for the automatic start as the Israelis climb into their planes.

She pays attention to which switches flip, noting the sequence as the engine spools up.
Once her engine is started she closes and locks the canopy before turning her radio on.

Angel checking in.

{Titan checking in.}
{Saber one, checking in.}
{Saber two, checking in.}
{Saber three, checking in.}

Amelia taxis past the three Kfir's, leading by example for the aging men in them.

{Angel huh? What a fitting callsign for such a gorgeous woman!}

Flattery will get you nowhere but on my shit list, so don't even start.

There's a moment of silence before the same voice crackles over the radio.

{And how bad is your shit list?}

Amelia pulls the visor down on her helmet while thinking of a good response, but Janet beats her to it.
{By shit list she means they'll find pieces of you in a shit-filled ditch somewhere in the woods.}

Saber three remains silent for the rest of the flight, staying as far away in the formation as possible from Amelia.

---

Once they touch down in Vale Amelia switches helmets and waits for Summer, who doesn't keep her waiting long. Summer practically sprints into the hangar, heading straight up to the bathroom and changing into her flight suit.

Amelia helps her into the extra necessities and they walk out to the F-105, which has been modified for photo reconnaissance over the course of the past few hours.
Summer manages to buckle herself in, and Amelia nods to her before climbing into her own seat and strapping in.
Soon they're flying across the evening sky, the sky completely void of clouds as they head south over mountain Glenn, the sun easing its way down to the horizon.
Amelia pushes the plane to the limits, flying at the edge of mach 2 at 35,000 feet.

Alright Summer, we're coming up on the target now, it's an easy run this time, just flip those switches in order when I say.

{You got it! What exactly are we taking pictures of?}

An old village.

{Oh, alright.}

Get ready...now!

Thirty seconds pass, and Amelia looks out of the cockpit, down towards the ground.

I think that was pretty good! We'll find out when we get back.

{Hey Amy? I'm getting kinda light-headed back here, everything's getting blurry.}

Amelia registers the delirious-sounding tone in Summer's voice and checks the oxygen pressure for her partner's tank.

Empty.

Shit! Summer hold on! We've gotta dive!

She snaps the plane inverted and pulls hard, popping her airbrakes in the process before throttling back.
The plane shudders from the G's as Amelia pulls a hard turn at nearly mach 1.5, but she continues with the dive, corkscrewing towards the earth before pulling out of the dive at 5,000 feet and putting the engine into full afterburner.

The landscape below is a blur of green, and Amelia takes the fastest route back to the airfield, flying straight over mountain Glenn going faster than the speed of sound.

Summer how you doing back there?! Talk to me!

{I'm alright, still a little dizzy, and things are still kinda blurry. What was that earlier?}

That was what's called hypoxia, it's your brain misfiring due to a sufficient lack of oxygen. Someone didn't refill both oxygen tanks.

{Oh...will I be okay?}

Yeah, you'll be fine, but I'm cutting this flight short to make sure. Sorry, I'll make it up to you next time.

Summer groans in the radio but Amelia ignores it as she lines up with the runway.

The landing this time is a little rougher than usual, and Amelia pops the drag chute to slow the plane down faster, though with such a long runway it's not necessary.

She taxis the plane to the maintenance hangar and radios for a medical crew while she's shutting the engine down.

By the time the engine is shut down and the flight crew wheels the ladder up to the aircraft a medical team is standing by.

Amelia practically flies out of the cockpit and helps Summer out, opting to bridal-carry her down the steps and over to the medical team while the flight crew move the plane into the hangar.
The medics have Summer sit with a small bottle of oxygen for about ten minutes before declaring her safe, and after Summer heads to the main hangar Amelia goes to find the ground crew.

She finds them all on a smoke break, standing outside the hangar belonging to the new arrivals.

Who here was in charge of refilling the oxygen on the Thunderchief?!

A young man about Amelia's age steps forward, his face nervous.

You forgot to refill the tank for the back seat.

She steps forward and pokes a finger in his chest.

If you EVER fuck up that bad again I will reprimand you so hard you won't be trusted with cleaning dishes in the mess, understand?

He gulps and nods, wisely saluting before Amelia wheels around and walks off towards the main hangar.

Amelia and Summer both quickly change into their clothes for class, and Amelia takes the time to borrow Jackson's Kukri for combat class.
Then they take a shuttle and jog to the arena, where they actually aren't all that late, considering they had two hours between classes.

"Ah, Miss Rose and Miss Ellis, glad you could join us. I was just looking for a volunteer to fight in the arena." Goodwitch calls up to them as they sit down in the top row.
Amelia stands up and walks down to the arena, where she stands at parade rest.

"Excellent, do we have any challengers?"

Amelia scans the rows of seats, and a familiar face stands up, one belonging to the bully she'd gotten in trouble the week before.

"Very well mister Remington."

The bully walks down to the arena and hefts a large war hammer.

Amelia sizes up her opponent, her arms crossed over her chest as she waits for the timer to count down.
Heavily armored, large, heavy weapon, with limited reach and defensive capabilities, she was going to have fun with this one.

She pulls out Jackson's Kukri and holds it in front of her aggressively as the final seconds tick down on the clock.

Finally the buzzer sounds, and The kid springs forward, raising the war hammer above his head and swinging it down towards her head.
Amelia waits until the last second and sidesteps, causing the hammer to smash harmlessly into the arena floor.
Realizing he missed the poor kid tries to swing the weapon sideways, but Amelia slashes at his wrists, causing him to drop the oversized weapon and step back.

He raises his fists and Amelia smiles, first kicking the hammer clear across the arena before throwing her Kukri in the same direction.
She raises her fists and the black-haired wall of armor jumps at her, starting out with a rookie hail-Mary.
Amelia easily sidesteps and starts punishing him for his stupidity, first slamming her elbow into his helmet, and then swinging around behind him, quickly grabbing him around the waist and slamming him into the ground with a suplex.

She backs away and glances at the aura meter while he's unsteadily standing up. From that heavy impact he's already down to 34%, only a few more solid hits are necessary, but Amelia decides for one more good impact.
He rushes at her, intent on returning the favor, but Amelia jumps to one side and swings herself around, slamming her shin into his chin as he barrels past.
The move clotheslines him, knocking him out cold, and winning the match with essentially her bare hands.

She walks over to the edge of the arena and puts the Kukri in its scabbard before laying the war hammer across her shoulders and walking back over to his unconscious body.
With only one hand she grabs him by the back of his armor and drags him out of the arena, leaving the entire class stunned at what they just watched.

She drags him into the locker room and splashes water on his face, causing him to come up sputtering.

He looks around before staring at her in a mixture of awe and wonder.
"How did... you just...how'd you get so good?" He asks as she helps him up onto his feet and hands him the hammer.

She shares the mental image of some of the most gory things she'd seen in her time in war. Piles of mangled bodies crawling with maggots, the image of an EWO she knew practically turned into hamburger by 30mm cannon shells in their station, and the image of her stabbing her would-be Taliban rapist in the throat with the blood spraying out of his jugular.

How did I get so good? Simple. Win, or die.

He stares at her in horror after she shares those photos, he quickly runs to the nearest trash can and vomits into it, heaving for several minutes before straightening up and turning to her.
"You...you saw all of that?"
She nods gently and turns to leave, her gray cloak pulled around her.

That isn't the worst of it either. Just remember this, most of those, especially the last one, were because of someone hating another person just because of who they are. I've been killing people like that for the past five years, so consider yourself lucky that I didn't kill you the first time we met. Because I can't stand bullies.

With that she walks out, leaving the armored brute standing in the middle of the locker room, completely stunned.

She returns to her team and sits down next to Summer, tucking one of her bangs behind her ear as she sits.

"Something wrong? You sure took a while." Summer whispers to her while Goodwitch chooses another pair to fight in the arena.

Yeah, I'm fine, thanks for asking. That kid just asked me how I got so good, so I showed him a few images that I've always kept to myself. He vomited and I gave him a stern warning not to fuck with me again.

Summer gives her a concerned look before turning back to watch the match.
Despite her morals telling her not to Amelia tunes into Summer's mind and listens to what she's thinking.

"'I should probably ask her what the pictures were, but I don't want to pry. But I also really want to know what they were..'"

Amelia lays a hand on Summers shoulder and looks her in the eye.

If you want to know, I'll share them with you. But they are very gruesome and I wouldn't be surprised if you puked.

Amelia turns back to watch the match as Summer thinks, and the entire match passes before she gives her answer.

"I want to see them, you don't have to carry a burden on your own."
Amelia sighs and closes her eyes, sharing only the image of the eviscerated pilot with Summer.

"...wow...that's...disgusting."

Amelia snorts and opens her eyes as Goodwitch looks for more volunteers for fights.

That is by far the most timid of the three I showed him, if you think that's bad I'm definitely not sharing the first one with you, because with that one, what is seen cannot be unseen.

Summer scowls at her before looking back down towards the arena floor. "Is it really that bad?"

Do you want me to sum it up for you? Because I'm not sharing it.

"Yes please."

Mangled corpses and thousands of maggots. That's all you're getting.

Summer looks over at her in horror while Tai raises his hand and walks down to the arena. Amelia instantly knows what he's doing when he leans into Goodwitch's ear and whispers something. Goodwitch looks up at Amelia and she doesn't even bother waiting to be ordered down into the arena, she stands up and walks down the aisle, slightly opening the front of her cloak as she walks.
Her and Tai stare each other down while the timer counts down, and Amelia pulls something round out of her pocket.

Don't think I'm going to go easy on you simply because we're on good terms.

Tai simply nods in response and readies his gauntlets as the timer reaches 3.
2
1

The buzzer sounds and Amelia rolls the object towards him, which rolls to a stop directly in between his feet.
Tai stares at the m67 fragmentation grenade before looking up at her.

"Aww you bi-"

The grenade goes off and throws him clear across the arena, and there's a buzzer as his aura drops from %100 to %19 from the single blast.
Amelia grins and walks over to him, offering him a hand up, which he gladly takes.

"That was cheap." He huffs, allowing himself to be helped out of the arena.

Oh! That reminds me of what else I was going to say! Don't expect me to fight fair either.

Tai groans and mumbles a string of curses as Amelia leaves him to the locker room and heads back up to her seat.
When she gets back Summer glares at her.

What? After years of fighting in war you don't honestly expect me to fight fair, do you?

Summer continues her glare as Amelia sits down and pulls out her pocketbook.
Summer then opens her mouth to say something, but she's interrupted by the bell.
Amelia quickly scribbles something down in her pocketbook before grabbing her bag, standing up, and briskly walking out.

---

She heads straight to the shuttles, and once in Vale heads to a shop she'd seen while wandering around the town. She peruses the shelves, looking for what she needs, and after she finds everything she pays and quickly heads back to the hangar.

I'm home!

The hangar is empty, and Amelia shrugs before emptying the contents of her bag onto a workbench tucked against the wall before going to work on her new project. Soon she steps back with a grin, holding her new device in her hands.
She hears voices nearing, and gets to work honing the edges of multiple blades that she'd bought as Jackson, Summer, and Kimberly walk into the hangar.

"Hey Amy! I sorta lost you in the crowd." Summer chirps as she walks over with Jackson.

Oh yeah, sorry about that, I was really looking forward to building this.

Summer looks over Amelia's shoulder and raises an eyebrow, but when Jackson looks he immediately knows what it is.

"Oh good lord! You made a ballistic knife!?"

Amelia nods and loads a blade into one end of the metal cylinder before stepping over to the throwing board.
She stands about ten feet away and lets the blade fly, causing it to embed itself deep into the wood.
Summer looks between the small weapon in Amelia's hand and the blade embedded in the thick wood several times before her eyes light up.

"That is so cool!"

She swarms all over Amelia, asking tons of questions and talking a mile a minute.

Summer chill! I'll get you the blueprints later, it's really not even that big of a deal, I just made an existing design from back home.

Despite Amelia's attempts to calm Summer down the shorter girl still vibrates with enthusiasm at the new weapon in Amelia's hands.

Jackson laughs at the sight while he walks over to the living quarters and throws his bag on his bed.

Summer finally calms down and Amelia gets all the blades razor sharp with her help before putting her blade container on her belt.

Satisfied, she hauls all the blades and containers up to the living quarters before cooking dinner for everyone after Cassie and Kimberly get home.
They eat in relative silence, allowing everyone to think about the events of this morning, much to Amelia's discontent when Jackson brings it up.

"So...about this morning... you think we should tell everyone else? That's kinda a big deal..."

Amelia sighs out her nose and stares at her plate.

I'd rather not, if word gets out about it... people are definitely going to look at me differently.

Cassie shakes her head and points her fork at Summer. "Once we explained it to Summer she understood."

"Yeah, but not everyone is as understanding as she is." Kimberly motions to Summer with her hand while she's chewing a piece of broccoli.

"Exactly, it's not like we can ensure they understand, there's still some thick-skulled people out there." Jackson collects the empty plates while he's talking.

"But at the same time, if we don't tell them, something similar may happen again, but with worse results." He continues as Amelia stands up, pushing in her chair.

"Hey, you're part of this conversation, sit back down." Cassie barks, grabbing onto her sister's wrist.

I'm going for a smoke. I really don't care what you guys decide on, I simply said I'd prefer if we didn't tell everybody.

Amelia wrenches out of her sister's grip, throws on her black cloak, and walks out, leaving an awkward silence in the hangar.

---

POV switch-Jackson, 3rd person

"She's been gone for four hours, this isn't just a smoke break." Jackson mumbles to himself as he retrieves his pistol and Kukri from the living quarters.

"Hey, her pistol is gone too!" Cassie holds up Amelia's vest, the holster is indeed empty, and all five of the magazines are missing.

"As I said, not just a smoke break, she's up to something." Jackson pulls on his leather jacket and puts his Colt in his shoulder holster, as well as a small bandolier of pistol cartridges.

"Should I text Summer? She has a right to know." Kimberly asks as she too grabs her pistol, a Colt Python with a four-inch barrel.

"Might as well, she might be able to help by searching Beacon."

Kimberly starts furiously tapping on her phone, and she quickly gets a response.

"Summer says she'll look around, but it's after curfew."

Jackson puts his baseball cap on and shakes his head.

"Tell her not to worry about it then, no sense in her getting in trouble."

Kimberly sends the message and throws her jacket on, slipping her pistol into her waistband.

"Come on then! The more we sit around the less likely we'll be to find her!"

Everyone files out into the night, heading towards Vale.

---

POV switch-Amelia, 3rd person

The club was surprisingly well-lit compared to what she was used to, but Amelia wasn't here to dance, she just needed a drink.

Alas that's exactly what she didn't get, as soon as she got in the door there were a bunch of drunk guys that started following her, trying their hardest to convince her to go home with them.

She waved them off and sat down at the bar, just like she'd always done back home. But they kept trying, and there was no bouncer to be found to drag them out for harassing a customer. She tolerated it for as long as she could, but as the time dragged on they kept getting more and more daring, and by the time one of them grabbed her butt, she was out of patience.

She wheels around and delivers a devastating right hook, knocking the man back into a table where three guys are sitting. She instantly worries that she just started a bar brawl, but when the men simply stand up, brush themselves off, and give her some room, she nods in appreciation to them before grabbing her assailant by the shirt collar and punching him in the nose, repeatedly.

Just as she's getting off of him the drunks buddies try to come to his aid, and one succeeds in smashing her over the head with a chair.
The unexpected impact knocks her down, and he tries again with the same chair, but she rolls to one side, pulling her pistol out of her waistband as she does, and takes aim at the chair-wielding drunk.

The man freezes, and she stands up, dusting herself off before laying twenty Lien on the bar and walking out, holstering her pistol only once outside.

An hour later she lightly raps on the window of Summers dorm, precariously balancing on the ledge twenty feet off the ground.

The window is opened, and Amelia climbs in to find a very angry Summer in her pajamas.

"Where have you been? Your team has been looking all over Bale for you! And how did you even get to Beacon? All the shuttles are closed for the night!"

It's a long story, can I crash here for the night? I'll owe you a favor.

Summer scowls and points to the bathroom.
"Sure, just please shower first. Tai and Raven went into town, apparently they're dating now, and Qrow is working a part-time job at a diner, so it's just the two of us for most of the night, you can sleep on Tai's bed. I'll let your team know where you are."

Amelia nods and heads into the bathroom, quickly showering and taking ten minutes to thoroughly dry her hair before heading back out dressed in her clothes again.

Summer tosses a quick glance her way from her phone. "Your team is pissed."

I figured, I sort of walked out and didn't come back. I just...had a lot to think about.

Amelia walks over and flops down on Tai's bed, flipping her hood up.

"You know you can talk to us about stuff." Summer says as she turns the lights off.

I know, that's just...not who I am...I don't like to bring other people into my problems if I can help it. I'm still not entirely ready to talk to them...I'm going to go talk to my mom tomorrow, there's been a family matter that has been bugging me for ages, and only her and I can talk about it.

Summer nods and lays down in her bed, laying on her side to look at the figure in Tai's bed, which is almost melting into the shadows.

"Alright, well, I'll talk to you tomorrow morning, try to get some sleep."

Before she finishes talking a gentle snore emits from across the room.

---

Amelia wakes up while it's still dark, and uses the opportunity while everyone's still asleep to leave before her team gets there.

An hour later she arrives at her moms house, and waits on the front steps, using the chance to catch another half-hour of sleep on the hard, cold slabs of stone.
When the sun rises she awakens and knocks on the door.

It takes a minute, but Janet opens the door, a blanket wrapped around her.
"Morning sweetheart, come on in."

Amelia walks in and follows Janet up to the living room, where they both drink coffee for several minutes before talking.

"So what brings you by this early? I figured you'd be running PT and getting ready for class."

I've been doing a lot of thinking... and I've been kinda...avoiding my team...

"Oh good lord Amy what did you do?"

You know what I did, they insist on talking about it, and I really don't want to. I'm giving them space to do what they want while I kill my demons.

"Amelia. You can't just run from a problem like this. This is the kind of thing that breaks up units, you need to talk to them about it."

It's only temporary, I'll go to class and everything, but I just can't bring myself to talk to them right now.

Janet sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. "You are so my daughter. Alright, if you need a place to crash the guest bedroom is open. You may need to hurry up and get to Beacon, your classes start in half an hour, and you still need to get your bag from the hangar."

Amelia jumps up and kisses her before jogging to the door and leaving.

Ten minutes later she arrives at the hangar and cautiously enters, but the place is empty. She jogs up to the living quarters and grabs her school bag, a change of clothes, and her ballistic knife with blades before heading out, the missing items being the only indication that she was ever there.

Her next objective lies in the cafeteria, where she finds a seat far away from everyone else and keeps her hood up while eating. As she finishes eating her team walks in through the main entrance, and she quickly leaves through the nearest side entrance, confident they didn't see her.

She wanders outside until class starts, and then she heads to Port's class, walking in only slightly late and sitting across the lecture hall from her team.
As she listens to the story that Port is telling she can practically feel Jackson's piercing stare directed at her, and she tunes into his thoughts.

"'When class is over I'm going to handcuff her to me and they're not coming off until she explains what the fuck last night was about.'"

If you want me to come back at all you'll leave me alone. I need another day to set myself straight, in that day I expect you to tell everyone what you need to tell them. Do NOT look for me, you and I both know I won't be found unless I want you to find me. Give me some time, and I'll come back when I'm ready.

"'Amy you insufferable... GAH! Fine, but if you're not back by the end of the week I'm hunting you down.'"

That's fair, as I said, give me another day or two. When I get back I want no mention of what happened yesterday morning, if there's even a peep I'm turning back around and walking out. Understand?

"'Yes dear, I have your favorite brand in my bag for you by the way. I know you're running low.'"

You mean those ones from Israel!?

"'Yes, the red-bands that you bought like five cartons of. I kept a carton in my plane. If you agree to meet somewhere I'll give you three packs.'"

Deal, meet me at 'from dust till dawn' at eighteen hundred. Come alone or I won't meet. Bring me my money too.

She shuts off the link and listens to Port's stories while reading the packet he'd given her. Class seems to pass quickly and Amelia jumps up when the bell rings, briskly leaving via the side door.

The garden seems empty when she walks through it, yet she can't seem to shake the feeling she's being watched.
She looks around again, finding nothing she ignores the feeling and walks on to dust mixing class, where once again she can't shake the feeling but nonetheless participates in class, which also passes quickly.
It's not until after history that she finally figures out what the feeling is.

'Someone is tailing me, but I haven't seen anyone...'

She's in the library reading up on elemental dust when a floorboard creaks in front of her, causing her to look up from the book.
There's nobody standing there, but looking at the floor she watches a depressed board lift up, as if there had been weight placed on it.

I know someone is here, show yourself.

There's a moment where she begins to doubt herself, but she's surprised when she blinks and suddenly Summer is standing there where the board had creaked.

You have ten seconds to explain why you've been stalking me for the entire day since Port's class.

Summer raises her hands in surrender and sits down next to her, a concerned look on her face.

"I wanted to make sure you weren't going to run off again like you did this morning."

Amelia scowls at her before closing her book.

I'm not going to, I'm simply avoiding talking with my team. I talked to Jackson today and we're going to meet up, just him and I. I'll be back to normal in a day or so, I just need some time to myself.

Summer nods slowly, understandingly, as Amelia puts the book back on the shelf and grabs her bag.

"Where you going now?"

Town, I forgot one piece for my knife, don't follow me please.

Amelia pulls up her hood and walks out, straight past Kimberly and Cassie, who seem taken aback by her sudden appearance, but make no attempt to follow.

Time skip- same day, 1800 hours

Amelia waits in the shadow of the alleyway, her cloak pulled around her with her hood up. The moon sits high above, casting a dim pale light on everything in direct line of sight with it. Amelia watches as Jackson makes his way down the street, dressed in his leather jacket and a pair of black fatigues, with his tan 'fisherman's marine and outdoor' baseball cap on.

He stops beneath a lamppost and leans against it, checking his watch and looking around repeatedly for several minutes before Amelia walks into the orange glow.
"Here I was thinking you'd stood me up."

Now why would I do that? You obviously have something important to tell me if you're willing to bribe me with my favorite cigarettes.

He laughs and reaches into his jacket, pulling out a white envelope and handing it to her.
"The Vacuo government caught wind of you doing photo reconnaissance over Vale. From what the courier told me there's a continent to the north-west of Vale that used to be inhabited, but every time they send people to try to establish communications with the villages there the groups never come back. So they want you to take high-altitude photos of the villages to see if anyone is still alive."
Amelia opens the letter and reads it over in silence.

Alright, I'll do it. But I'm going to need a back-seater. And we fly on my terms, I don't trust governments anymore to tell me when to do recon missions.

Jackson nods and unzips his jacket, pulling out three packs of cigarettes and handing them to her. "Your options for a back-seater are either Summer or me, and we're being required by Vacuo to have an escort of at least two fighters provided by them."

You're with me, not that I don't want Summer, but you have more experience doing this stuff with me.

Jackson nods and stands up straight, zipping his jacket back up when a cold gust blows through.
"Alright, in the meantime, you want to go eat dinner? We can consider it a date, we haven't done that since we were in Italy."

Amelia nods and smiles, following Jackson down the street in the orange glow of the streetlights.

4 days later, 0535.

Amelia wakes with a start when there's a loud thump from above her head, and she looks around to find Jackson pushing himself up off the floor. "That's the second time this week I've rolled out of bed..." he groans.

Well, we've only got half an hour until we needed to wake up anyways, so good timing.

Jackson looks at the clock next to his bed and sighs before grabbing his clothes and flight suit.
"We're wheels up in an hour, so let's get ready and grab some grub before we saddle up."

Couldn't agree more, let's do this.

Jackson heads into the bathroom to change, and Amelia gets out of bed, opting to change next to her bed while he's out of sight.
She puts on her fatigues, followed by her black flight suit, harness, vest, black cloak, and parachute.

By the time Jackson comes out of the bathroom she's grabbed her helmet and is pouring a bowl of cereal in the kitchen.
"Just cereal? I was thinking something like french toast."

And wake our sisters up with the smell? We'd be killed and you know it.

Jackson nods and pours a bowl himself, eating quickly.
"So what's with the new helmet? I was meaning to ask you."

It links up with the neural interface for my eye, allowing me to bind something to my eye, like the RWR or TGP in my A-10, it really helps when I need to have my eyes out of the cockpit.

Finishing their food they quickly grab their helmets and head out to the F-105, which is sitting in front of the hangar and go through pre-flight checks.
Following the pre-flight checks they climb in and check everything, including the oxygen, which Amelia finds to be completely full, much to her satisfaction.

So why the sudden change of heart? I always flew back seat with you, and now you're having me fly?

{Well, you beat your mom in a dogfight, I never have, so until her and I dogfight and I beat her, you're the better pilot.}
The last four words sends shivers down her spine as she spools up the engine, the loud roar soon drowns out the sound of the night as she taxis to the runway, keeping her lights on inside the cockpit so she can see.
{Right on track, one minute until wheels up.} Jackson chuckles as they turn onto the well-lit runway.
She grins and pushes the throttle forwards, accelerating down the runway, and then up into the dark morning sky.

Four boring hours later they cross into Vacuo airspace, and Amelia nearly jumps out of her skin when two tiger-striped MIG-25's pull up next to them.
{Hello Angel, welcome to Vacuo, please follow us to the airfield, and we shall brief.}
She gives the lead MIG pilot a thumbs up and he breaks right, shortly followed by his wingman, and then Amelia.
She tunes into Jackson's head so they can talk in private.

I'm not the only one that got scared right?

"'No, I jumped a little when they showed up. I gotta admit though, while that camouflage scheme doesn't seem very functional it does look very slick.'"

No kidding.

"'Mind letting me have my head to myself now?'"

Sure I guess.

They fly due north for an hour before the airstrip comes into sight, and Amelia lands first, at the nervous insistence of the two MIG's.
The second she opens the canopy the humidity swarms her, making her all-black apparel moderately uncomfortable.

They park next to the ATC and hop out, not bothering to wait for the flight crew to wheel the boarding ladder over.
"Get it refueled, don't touch anything else." Jackson orders them, tucking his helmet under one arm as he follows Amelia into the tall building.

"Good day, please, in here, we will keep this quick." A woman directs them into a small room on the first floor, where they sit and wait.
Five minutes later a tall man walks in and passes coffee out to them.

"Welcome to Vacuo, before I start the briefing I'm going to say that you are being paid for this, and when you finish there's a plane we're willing to put into the deal, provided you know how to start it up, because we can't find anyone who does. Having said that, let's begin."

The lights dim and a projector turns on, revealing a map of the continent to the north of Vacuo.

"We've been trying to contact four villages for the past several weeks, but every time we send people to try to get in contact, they never come back. Your mission is simple, take aerial photos of the villages to see first if there's anyone still alive, and secondly if there's a chance we could get a message to them we need to. So there's currently a pod of rockets with messages encased in them being loaded onto your plane, that is all."

The lights turn on and he walks out without giving them a chance to answer questions.

"Fuck...alright, I guess we should go saddle up." Jackson grumbles as he stands up.

Amelia nods and sticks a cigarette in her mouth, lighting it with her Zippo before following him out.

The woman in the hall gives Amelia a scowl when she smells the cigarette, but a glare in return keeps her from saying anything.
When Jackson opens the door he puts his helmet on and lowers the visor, shielding his eyes from the tropical sun as he walks over to the F-105. Amelia also puts her helmet on, sliding the visor down as she slowly walks over, slowly puffing little clouds of smoke as she savors the cigarette.

When she reaches the plane she flicks it onto the tarmac and climbs in, strapping in and closing the canopy, allowing the air conditioning system to work its magic.
By the time the engine is running the cockpit is a comfortable 65 degrees, and the two Foxbats are ready to lead them to the runway.

The flight to the unnamed continent is short, and from 35,000 feet Amelia can see for miles over the lush green forest below.

{Angel, contact, village, ten o'clock.}

Amelia rolls her eyes at the generic description from the lead MiG pilot, and easily finds the cluster of stone buildings five miles off their left wing. She turns directly towards it and levels out, allowing Jackson to take control of the aircraft and put it on target.
A minute later his voice crackles over the radio.

{Pictures taken, negative on any signs of life, all the buildings are damaged or destroyed. Let's go find the next village.}

They turn north again, and Amelia spots the next village, this one seeming more temporary, as the buildings seem to be made from wood.
She lines the plane up with the target and Jackson takes the pictures, taking a minute to analyze them before reporting over the radio.

{Negative, nothing here either, buildings are also destroyed. I really hope this isn't a trend.}

Amelia sighs and turns north again.
They fly for ten minutes before Amelia spots columns of black smoke on the horizon.

Contact! Black smoke, zero-two-six!

She aims at the columns of smoke and pushes the throttle into afterburner, briefly accelerating away from the MIG's before they catch up.
Jackson takes pictures of the village, but the smoke is obscuring most of the village.

{if we make a low pass we'll be able to see if anyone is still alive, and if there is we'll be able to help them. Lion flight hold top cover, we'll let you know if we need help.}
Amelia acknowledges and cuts throttle, popping the air-brakes and slowly spiraling towards the earth.

She levels out at two thousand feet, pulling a crushing eight G's to pull out of the mach-one dive.
She slows down before she flies over the village, and they catch a brief glimpse of several Grimm roaming the streets.

Shit, we're too late. The only things I see are Grimm and the occasional corpse. Ascending back to altitude.

Amelia pulls up and pushes the throttle into afterburner again, easily climbing back up to altitude despite the two drop tanks and rocket pods attached to the pylons on the wings.
She shakes the image out of her head when she levels out and turns north, but mere minutes later she spots something odd on the horizon.
Jackson spots it at the same time.

{What the fuck is that?}

The rolling green landscape below gives way to a barren, red landscape, spotted with black pools of what looks to be oil everywhere.

I don't know, but make sure you get pictures. Our employer is going to have a field day with this.

{Oh trust me, I'm getting plenty of pictures.} Jackson snarks back, his face buried in the aiming reticle connected to the camera in the bomb bay.
Suddenly the lead MIG pilot talks over the radio, his voice filled with panic and fear.

{We shouldn't be here, we are nearing Salem's lair! we'll be killed!}

Amelia notes the fear in his voice and transmits to him.

If you want to back out, you are welcome to. But I've got a job to do, and I'm not leaving until it's finished.

The pilot looks over at her with his visor pulled up, a mixture of surprise and respect covers his face like a mask.
Instead of saying anything else Amelia merely turns in her seat and gives him a salute.

{Lion flight breaking off and returning to base. May Oum be with you Angel.}

He returns the salute and breaks right, pulling a 180 degree turn before heading back with his wingman.

Amelia straightens out in her seat and steels herself, pressing on deeper into the wasteland.

Five minutes later Jacks crackles over the radio.
{Contact, single building, zero-seven-four, five miles, atop a cliff.}

Amelia spots the object and aims the plane over it, allowing Jackson to take several photographs before turning back north.
{nothing, but damn there's a ton of Grimm around that building. And there appears to be some sort of casemate on the slope of the hill, might be a-}
He's cut short when a black cloud pops up directly in front of them, shaking the plane with a rattle that sounds like gravel hitting sheet metal.
Amelia looks down towards the building, and watches as there's multiple black puffs from entrenched AAA guns that Jackson hadn't seen.

Flak! I think we'd better leave while we're ahead!

Her transmission is further enforced by another set of blasts that shake the plane.
Instinctively she puts the plane into afterburner and turns south, back towards the way they came.

Drop the luggage and the bags! We don't need them anymore!

*KER-THUNK!*

The drop tanks and rocket pods jettison from the pylons, pinwheeling towards the earth as the F-105 surges up and forwards, now much lighter and more aerodynamic.
The plane shudders once as they break the sound barrier, nosing down into a gentle five degree dive to gain speed in an attempt to get away from the deadly barrage of hot metal.

Soon they're back over the green forest, and Amelia climbs back up to altitude, warily eyeing her fuel.

Then, as suddenly as they had appeared the first time, Lion flight pulls up next to them, shortly followed by a transmission from the flight lead.
{You live! You flew straight into Salem's lair and came out alive! Drinks are on me tonight my dear!}
Amelia grins and throttles back, trying to save what little fuel she has left.

Thank you for your generous offer, but don't count your chickens before they hatch, I am running dangerously low on fuel and I'm pretty sure we took damage.

{Of course, allow me to check.}
The MIG drops below them, crossing to the other side before rolling inverted and crossing back over them before rolling over again.
{You have taken damage, there is a large hole in your rudder, several small holes in your fuselage and wings, and there's a significant crack in your back seat canopy directly over his head.}
Amelia cautiously looks over the engine gauges, and notices a rising engine temperature despite having been throttled back.

We may have a problem, in the shape of an oil leak. The engine temperature is rising and I've been throttled back since you pulled up next to me.

{Is it in any danger of overheating soon? We still have fifty miles to the coast, and another twenty past that to the airfield.}
Amelia makes the call and climbs up to 40,000 feet, giving her extra room to glide should she need it.

It shouldn't be urgent, but if it comes to it we have an emergency reserve that I can activate to cool it off.

The next thirty minutes seem to drag on for hours, and only once the airfield is in sight does Amelia slightly relax, and she expertly guides the plane in. The approach is good, until the engine quits on final, leaving the plane without power ten feet from the runway.

Acting quickly Amelia lowers the flaps, soon the wheels touch the tarmac and she instantly deploys the drag chute, slowing the plane down considerably in a very short amount of time until she guides the plane into the grass and deploys the parking brake.

The second the plane is stopped she lets out the breath she was holding and turns the rest of the systems off.

The canopy is opened and she's helped out by one of the flight crew, who is replaced by Jackson.
"We've had a bunch of nervous landings in our time together, but I don't think any of them have ever been that nerve-racking. Pucker factor nine-point-five on that one."
She nods in response as they sit in the back of a small pickup truck, and are driven to the ATC while the F-105 is pulled into a hangar.

They receive a healthy payment of 5,000 Lien for the mission, and they're lead out to a large hangar far away from the others.
"As promised, if you can figure out how to start it, you can have it."
The hangar door opens and Amelia's cigarette falls out of her mouth, her eyes wide and jaw open.
Jackson stares in amazement before Amelia bumps him.

You know what's great about this? I had a fully detailed simulator for this when I was younger, I'm pretty sure I can start it.

Jackson looks over at her in amazement as she bends over and picks up her cigarette.
When she straightens up she sticks the roll of tobacco in her mouth and grins, walking forward to the ladder pulled up alongside the aircraft.
"I'll stay here and wait for the one-oh-five to be fixed, you just get that puppy home." Jackson slaps her on the shoulder before she flicks the cigarette away and ascends the ladder, climbing into the front seat.
She looks around the cockpit before climbing back out.

This plane requires special flight suits, where are they?

The woman points over to one side of the hangar, where two form-fitting space suits are hanging on some hooks.
Amelia walks over and tries one on, finding it to fit, but only barely and bundles the other suit up before putting the large helmet on.

She tucks the other helmet under her arm and walks back to the plane, quickly setting them in the back seat before closing the canopy and climbing into the pilot's seat.

Alright! Get everything clear! Evacuate all personnel from the hangar and immediate area!

She closes the canopy and straps in, looking around the canopy and trying her best to stir her memory as all unnecessary equipment and personnel is cleared away from the sleek black aircraft.
It finally starts to come back to her and she starts flicking switches, keeping an eye on her instruments.
After a tense five minutes she holds down the start button for the twin Pratt & Whitney J-58 engines, and the accompanying roar makes her giddy.
She tunes the familiar communications stack and radios for the aircraft to be towed to the runway, and before long she's sitting at the end of the runway, waiting for a pair of MIG-25's to move out of the way.
{Angel, this is delta tower, you are cleared for takeoff. Enjoy your new toy.}

Roger that delta tower, Angel taking off.

She pushes the throttle forwards, and the plane surges forward in a fantastic roar.
She eases back on the stick and the plane ascends into the evening sky.

Delta tower, Angel is wheels-up, exiting the pattern to bearing zero-nine-six.

She raises the landing gear and coaxes the plane around towards Vale, leveling out at 5,000 feet as she flies over the ocean.

---

The flight doesn't take very long, and soon the wheels touch pavement with a screech of rubber. Amelia deploys the large drag chute and soon she's turning onto the taxiway.

The flight crew directs her to an empty hangar and she powers down the plane before a ladder is wheeled up.
She climbs out onto the platform and looks towards the main hangar, where Cassie, Kimberly, and Janet are all staring in awe.

Amelia removes the large helmet, and Cassie starts sprinting down the flight line as fast as she can, followed by Kimberly.
She walks down the steps and tucks the helmet under her arm, grabbing Cassie as she tries to run past.

Not so fast pipsqueak, let the ground crew take care of it first, and if you're good I might give you a tour.

Cassie nods and starts walking back towards the main hangar.
Janet offers Amelia a cigarette when the two meet, and Amelia graciously accepts.

"Enjoy the flight?"

Of course! How couldn't I? It's not everyday that you get to fly an SR-71.

"True enough, I take it Jackson will be back soon too?"

Probably tomorrow, we took fire from something, and the Thud needs some minor repairs.

Janet grunts in acknowledgment and offers to carry the helmet, but Amelia just shakes her head and takes a drag from the cigarette.
"So you're getting serious about information collection now? I always thought you hated doing recon flights."

I do, but...how can I pass up such an awesome plane? Plus I've always wanted to see the world from eighty-five thousand feet.

They finish their smoke and head into the main hangar, where Amelia changes out of the space suit and retrieves her black helmet and cloak from the back seat of the SR-71.
She's walking back when the base intercom system squeals to life.

{All units! All units! Standby for mission! Possible Grimm attack!}

Amelia sprints back to the main hangar, where everyone is sitting around on the couches, in full flight gear and ready to go.

"Alright, everyone remember, keep civilians in mind. We've trained for this stuff before, let's not fuck it up." Janet gives a pep-talk while they wait, and soon the intercom system squeals to life again.

{All units! Scramble! Scramble! Scramble! Mountain Glenn is under attack!}

Everyone jumps up and sprints out, running down the flight line as fast as their legs will carry them to the hangars containing their individual aircraft. Amelia runs into her hangar and finds her A-10 loaded for bear, and quickly checks the armament before climbing in and starting up. While her engines are starting she watches as the three Kfir's taxi by, their pylons loaded with nothing but napalm.

Angel checking in!
{Titan checking in!}
{Razor checking in!}
{Bulldog checking in!}
{Saber one, two, and three checking in.}
As soon as the engines are started and the plane is ready to go she quickly taxis out, and all down the flight line the entirety of the group is taxiing to the runway, every plane loaded to the max with bombs, rockets, and missiles.

The Kfir's don't wait around, as soon as they turn onto the runway they push into full afterburner and rocket down the runway

The A-10's take the same approach, opting to meet up while in the air they take off as fast as possible and turn towards Mt. Glenn, a short flight away from Vale.
While they're forming up the Kfir's arrive at the city, and report in what they see.

{There's tons of Grimm already in the city! I see a large force inbound from the southwest, and we're getting ready to attack them! There are also many Griffins and nevermores in the skies, so we'll try our best to take care of them before you get here! The civilians are evacuating along the road to Vale, but they are also being attacked as they escape!}

Amelia makes a judgement call, sending Cassie and Janet to cover the evacuation effort while her and Kimberly try to keep the large force of Grimm out of the city for as long as possible. Just as the city comes into sight a gigantic wall of flame bursts up along the southwest side of the city, setting the trees on fire.

The flight splits up as planned, and Amelia links her TGP to her eye while scanning for targets.

Her first target presents itself in the middle of the city, a king taijitu. She quickly locks the beast up and selects a Maverick in her weapons panel before pressing the trigger.

Angel, rifle!

The large missile flies off the rail and instantly turns to the designated target, flying for six miles before slamming into the gigantic snake and exploding, leaving nothing but a smoking crater where the beast once was.

Almost simultaneously Kimberly lets a Maverick fly, and it quickly slams into a large Beringel on the city hall, blasting a hole in the side of the building, as well as killing the large gorilla.

After the two missiles they turn their attention to the burning forest southwest of the city, and they quickly identify hundreds of Grimm waiting for the flames to die down.
Amelia selects a pair of CBU-85's and begins her attack run, followed in by Kimberly, who selects a pair of Mk82's for the heavyweights of the mob.

Angel, pickle.

{Razor, pickle!}
The cluster bombs impact first, detonating twenty feet off the ground before raining hundreds of small bomblets down onto the mob, shortly followed by the howling shriek of Kimberly's Mk82's and a pair of gigantic detonations.
They have to wait for the smoke and dust to clear before Amelia finally spots the damage.

Good shit! We got them all there! Scratch at least a hundred!

They continue attacks for several minutes before Janet radios them.
{We've got a huge force bearing down on the people being evacuated! We could use some help over here!}
Amelia and Kimberly break off of a gun run and fly towards the two silver A-10's in the distance, watching as the two planes act like swallows, diving and zoom-climbing repeatedly as they use rockets and the 30mm cannon to try to keep the Grimm at bay while the crawling mass of civilians on the road moves towards Vale.

Amelia climbs high above the carnage and selects her last remaining Maverick, once again binding the TGP to her eye as she scans for a target.
She quickly finds one, a quartet of Beowolves split away from the main force that threaten to decimate the center of the group of civilians should they get close enough.
She quickly locks the target up and presses the trigger.

The AGM-65 flies off the rail, tracking the infrared laser to the target, where it slams into the lead Grimm and detonates not even a hundred yards away from the road, killing the entire group.
The flight of four takes turns doing rocket and gun runs on groups of Grimm, the high explosives completely eviscerating even the toughest of the beasts.

That is, until a large, battle-scarred Deathstalker crawls out of the trees. Spotting the danger that the large scorpion poses to the civilians Amelia quickly prioritizes it, and rolls in, giving the beast a three second burst from the 30mm Gatling gun capable of killing any tank on the modern day battlefield.
Pulling out of the attack she circles around to admire her handy work, expecting the Deathstalker to be dissolving into dust by the time the smoke clears. Needless to say she's shocked when the beast merely shakes off the attack and continues crawling forward, the large glowing stinger poised to attack anything that comes close enough.

Anybody got any Mavericks left?! I've got a Deathstalker here that just shook off a gun run!

{Razor here, I've got a single GBU-12, other than that I'm Winchester on ammo.}

Amelia watches as both Janet and Cassie do a rocket run on the scorpion, expending the last of their ammunition in a futile attempt to kill it. The dozens of rockets and cannon shells only succeed in crippling one of the legs on it.
Amelia uses her TGP and lazes the Deathstalker for the laser guided bomb.

He's tagged! Kill that bastard!

Kimberly rolls in and drops the two thousand pound bomb from five thousand feet. Amelia holds her breath as the silver bomb streaks in and detonates, hitting the Deathstalker directly on the body.
Soon the smoke and dust clears, revealing an empty smoking crater.
{Good hit! All units return to base for rearm!}
They turn for home, and halfway back they pass Saber flight heading in the opposite direction, once again loaded down with napalm.

Soon they're sitting on the taxiway, with armorers and flight crew scrambling around the aircraft, reloading all the spent munitions and attaching more bombs, missiles, and rockets.
The rearm process takes only minutes, and soon they're airborne again.

When they arrive at Mt. Glenn they find that Saber flight has made a protective corridor with their napalm, setting the forest on fire some three hundred yards on either side of the road. Amelia capitalizes on the breathing room and has everyone start bombing large concentrations of Grimm with Mk82's, CBU-85's, and even more napalm in an effort to end the fight before it begins.

By the time they run out of bombs, the lush green forest on either side of the road is pockmarked with bomb craters, and in many places is on fire, making target acquisition difficult due to the smoke. Despite the decreasing visibility Amelia keeps servicing targets, striking many groups with her Mavericks and rockets before the sun sets and the night washes over the ongoing rescue effort.

As they're flying back to re-arm Janet crackles over the radio.
{Alright, we're changing tactics. Our Hornets have been loaded with Mk82's and napalm, what we're going to do is we're going to keep setting the forest on fire, Razor and Angel you'll do the burning. Bulldog and I will carpet-bomb the area outside the corridor. This will be easier due to the decreased visibility. I've also received word from base that students from Beacon have been dispatched to help guard the refugees while we rearm. Let's get them safe and all get home in one piece.}

They all cheer in agreement and line up to land, once touched down they leave the powered-down jets in the parking area and all sprint to the hangars, where the fully-armed Hornets are.

---

When they arrive above the battlefield they line up on either side of the road and drop their fiery ordinance, lighting up the columns of choking smoke from fires already burning.
Amelia circles back around and catches a glimpse of a pure white cloak on the outskirts of the group, and she tries her best to form a mental link with Summer.

Summer listen, when these fires die down we're not going to be able to hold back the Grimm, you need to have those people down there hurry the fuck up or they're all going to die!

"'Alright! How many Grimm are we talking here? Because we've got eight teams down here guarding.'"

You really want to know?

"'Yes.'"

I'm gonna be generous and say the minimum is three hundred.

"'Give me a realistic number for the maximum.'"

Uhh...probably around four thousand? We've been bombing the shit out of them but they just keep coming.

"'I'll do what I can, lots of people are scared out of their minds. And some are injured.'"

Alright, I've got to go rearm, I'll be back in ten minutes!

Amelia cuts the mental link and kicks the powerful engines into afterburner, rocketing back to the base, where she lands and rearms with another full load of napalm before quickly taking off again.

On her way back to the battlefield she passes the trio of Kfir's, one of them has multiple nevermore feathers stuck in the fuselage and wings.

She ignores the sight and presses on, circling the battlefield once before streaking in and dropping her payload in an attempt to keep the fires burning.
Bombs expended, she comes around again and shoots up a nevermore with her Vulcan before checking in with Summer.

How's it looking down there? The fires are starting to run out of fuel!

"'We've almost got all of them safely within the walls! Another five minutes and we'll be done!'"

I don't know if you have five minutes, we can't keep these fires burning enough to keep the Grimm back! If anything we might be able to set the trees on fire right next to the road, but the chance of friendly fire is too big to try!

"'If it'll keep the Grimm off of us then do it! I'll take responsibility for anything that goes bad!'"

Like hell! I'll take responsibility, you just worry about getting the civilians inside the gates! Push them if you have to!

"'Got it!'"

I've got to go rearm again, may god be with you.

Once again Amelia terminates the link and flies back to base as fast as she can, landing and rearming.

She's just starting back up when the word comes through to stand down, all the civilians and hunters-in-training are safe.
Amelia turns off the systems and just sits in her cockpit for several minutes, trying to calm down from the huge adrenaline rush she'd been riding ever since they got the order to scramble.

When the adrenaline goes away she finds herself unable to move, her body worn out from hours on end of pulling hard G's and running on all cylinders. Finally after the Hornet is backed into the hangar the flight crew helps her out, placing her in the bed of a truck, which drives her to the main hangar.
It takes the combined effort of three mechanics to get her into the hangar and onto the couch, where she finally allows herself to slip into the clutches of sleep.

---

[A/N: Finally got chapter 3 done! Despite someone deleting my progress...I hope you all enjoyed! As always please leave a review, let me know how I did! The next chapter will be the finale for Volume 1, but I've already finished it and I've begun work on Volume 2! In Volume 2 I'm going to be working with a friend, and we'll be alternating scenes. However she writes much slower than I do, so the updates will be less frequent, but I've started another story unrelated to this one if anyone is interested!