Chp. 56: Afghan Evac

Chraikar

Bagram Air Base

Back at Bagram Air Base, Teams GRMA, and SSSN, and Cade, Clover, Harriet, Qrow, and Alex along with several British and Atlas soldiers, and AK-200s continued their shootout with the Taliban. Teams RWBY and NDGO watched over the civilians while they continued to board onto the Atlesian Airships, while the fighting continued. The Taliban have managed to destroy several AK-200s, and they start to rush to the airfield.

One of the Taliban soldiers punched one of the androids' head, but ended up breaking his hand as he screamed out in pain. The AK-200 shoots him in the face in response, killing him instantly.

"They're still coming!" Kelly shouted as she continued shooting at the Taliban.

"Can't you get your Mantas to open fire on the Taliban?!" Sun asked.

"We could get the ones far away from the airfield!" Clover answered.

"But a majority of them are too close to the airfield! One miss fire could end up hurting or killing some of our own. Or worse, the civilians" Harriet finished.

A couple of Mantas began to take off and flew out from the airfield. They fired a few rockets at several Taliban militants far off from the air base, killing them. A couple Taliban soldiers fired a couple rockets at one of the Mantas, striking one of its wings. The Manta goes down and crashes to the ground and explodes. A couple dozen Taliban soldiers rushed through the hole in the wall. With her semblance, Harriet dashes towards a couple Taliban soldiers and punches one of them away, then grabs the second and tossed him into a couple more oncoming Taliban militants.

Alex shoots and kills a couple of the terrorists that were trying to shoot at him. Another runs up to Alex and was about to shoot him, but Clover dashed up and slashed at his back with Kingfisher.

"Thanks," Alex said as the Ace Operative nodded in response.

Two Taliban militants were about to shoot at Clover and Alex, but Qrow approached up from behind and decapitated their heads off in one swing. Clover and Alex turned their attention to the veteran Huntsman as he looked back at them.

"You're welcome," Qrow said before running off to fight.

Cade fires off a machine gun from Random Access at three Taliban soldiers killing them. He charges towards three more Taliban soldiers as he pops a blade out from Random Access. He slashes at one of the Taliban militants, then stabs the second before decapitating the third one. Two more Taliban soldiers charged at Cade from behind, but Jacob rushed and stabbed one of them in the back with God's Judgment, and Allen followed behind and bashed the other one in the head with Daburushokkā.

Three more Taliban soldiers tried shooting at Jacob from the side, but Jacob turned to face them and popped open his shield and was blocking the storm of bullets shot at him. Allen ran up to the two militants before jabbing them both with his stun batons, shocking them both and knocking them unconscious. Another one of the terrorists starts shooting at Allen, but Kelly rushes up at the terrorist with Hacker in its buzzsaw form and sliced him from the back and up as blood sprayed onto her face and chest. Allen looks at his blood soaked partner.

"That was gross," Kelly said.

Sun, Scarlet, and Neptune were all firing their guns at six Taliban soldiers who were shooting back at them. Sage jumped up into the air from behind his teammates and came down at the Taliban soldiers with Pilgrim and slammed it to the ground at their feet, knocking them all away and leaving a large crater behind. One of the Taliban stood back up and before he could start attacking, Sun ran up to him and whacked him a few times with Ruyi Bang and Jingu Bang. Another Taliban militant ran up to Sun from behind with a knife, but Neptune impaled him with Tri-Hard. Scarlet slashed at a Taliban soldier's neck with Darling, then shot another in the chest with Hook. Two more Taliban soldiers began shooting at Scarlet, but Sun jumped in front of his teammate and twirled his bo staff, blocking the shots. Sage jumped up behind the two Taliban militants and sliced both of them in half with one swing of his large sword.

"Shit!" Ricky exclaimed. "Heads up!"

RWBY and NDGO turned their heads to see the oncoming Taliban. A couple of them started to open fire. Dew jumped in front of the shots and twirled her spear, blocking the shots. Gwen threw a couple of knives at the two shooters, killing them. Octavia ran up to a couple of Taliban soldiers and slashed at each of them as she ran past them. Another Taliban shooter tried to shoot at her, but Nebula shot an arrow from her crossbow at him, killing him. She quickly loads another arrow into her crossbow and shoots it at another Taliban militant.

Yang dashes up a Taliban soldier and gives a couple punches at him, then one final punch to his stomach, knocking him to the ground. Two Taliban soldiers were about to shoot at Yang from both her sides, but Yang fired off Ember Celica at both men, killing them. A couple more Taliban soldiers were about to shoot at Yang from behind, Blake suddenly appears behind them with the use of her semblance and stabs one of them in the back. The second one tries to shoot at Blake, but the cat Faunus creates a fire clone of herself and dodges away as the Taliban shooter shoots at the clone, causing it to explode and killing him. Yang approaches Blake as she turns to face her girlfriend.

"You okay?" Blake asked.

"I'm fine," Yang responded.

Weiss summons an Arma Gigas and it steps forward towards the Taliban. The Talian militants opened fire at the armored giant as the giant summon responded by swinging its sword at them, knocking them all away in one swipe. A bullet whizzed past Weiss's head. She turns to see a Taliban soldier trying to shoot at her. Ricky sees this and runs up to the Taliban militant and grabs onto his vest.

"Nobody tries to kill my girl and gets away with it!" Ricky shouted.

Ricky uses his semblance on the terrorist's vest as it then starts to flash red. Ricky sprints away as the vest then explodes, incinerating him.

Ruby swept Crescent Rose at a couple of Taliban militants' legs knocking them to the ground. Ruby turns her head to see one of the terrorists was running up to a few civilians that were about to board onto one of the airships. He aimed his gun and was about to shoot at the civilians.

"NO!" Ruby screamed as she quickly aimed Crescent Rose at the terrorist and fired off a round.

The bullet struck through the Taliban militant's head, killing him. Ruby looked on in shock at what she had just done. Weiss, Blake,Yang and Qrow all ran up to Ruby as they all saw what had happened.

"Ruby?" Yang asked, putting her hand on her sister's shoulder.

"I'll be fine. As much as I don't want to kill someone it was bound to happen eventually," Ruby said and gave out a sigh.

"You did what you had to do, pipsqueak," Qrow said.

Alex looked around the area as there were no longer any Taliban threats in sight.

"That should be the last of them," Alex said.

He turns his head to see Atlas soldiers were loading U.S. military weaponry, stacks of cash stacked onto pallets, and some armored vehicles. Atlas was taking money and equipment that had been left behind.

"This is gonna cause some problems between Atlas and the U.S.," Alex said as he shook his head.

Jalalabad

Jalalabad Stadium

Meanwhile at the Jalalabad Stadium, Teams JAAR, CFDT, OBSA, BRNZ, and GUVV, and Marrow, Winter, Penny, and Cassandra, along with British and Atlas and AK-200s were all fighting off the Taliban as the first Atlesian Airship took off with the first set of evacuees. Marrow, Jesse, and Cassandra were all shooting at several Taliban soldiers. Cassandra turned her head around to see the second airship carefully land in the middle of the stadium. On top of the stadium, Robert and May were both firing off their sniper rifles down at the Taliban below.

Jacket and Mercury continued shooting at more oncoming Taliban militants. Jacket and Mercury looked to the side to see four more Taliban soldiers closing in on them.

"Get some!" Jacket yelled as he transformed The Equalizer into its bat form.

Jacket and Mercury ran up to the four terrorists and Jacket bashes one of them in the head with his bat, while Mercury kicks the second on in the stomach as his fired another shot from Talaria. Mercury kicks the third Taliban soldier in the head as Jacket smacks the last one's gun away. He grabs him by his collar as his eyes glow green upon activating his semblance. The Taliban militant screams in terror as Jacket releases his grip on him. The terrorist pulls out a pistol and points it to his head and shoots himself.

Britney, Emerald, and Watson fired off their pistols at every direction the Taliban were at. A couple Taliban soldiers ran up to the three. Britney quickly took notice and ran up to them, while transforming Geminos into their katana forms, and then slashed at them into their torsos. As Emerald was shooting at a Taliban militant, another one with a bomb strapped to his chest jumps out in the open and fires off a shot at Emerald striking her in the shoulder. Watson saw this and turned his attention to the Taliban soldier that shot Emerald. Angered by this, he activates his semblance and transforms Little Bladers into their karambit knives form and charges towards him with a battle cry. He gave several vicious slashes at the terrorist before grabbing him by his legs and threw him at several more Taliban soldiers, and fires a shot at the bomb making it explode and killing him and the group of terrorists around him. Watson's semblance deactivates as Emerald runs up to him.

"Sorry. I lost my cool," Watson said.

"It's fine. It shows that you care," Emerald replied.

Oscar, Nolan, and Team GUVV were out in one part of the street, running around attacking any Taliban militants they come across. Oscar gave a series of jabs at a Taliban soldier before with his cane before whacking him in the face, sending him flying into Uzra, who sliced him in half with her pulwar sword. She slashed a couple oncoming Taliban soldiers before kicking a third in the stomach, making him stumble next to Nolan, who electrocuted him with his cattle prod. A Taliban militant was about to shoot at Nolan, but Jason suddenly ran up and whacked him in the back of the head with his bow staff, knocking him unconscious. Two more Taliban soldiers approached from the side and opened fire. Jason quickly turns towards the Taliban's direction and uses his semblance to create an invisible wall in front of him, protecting him from the shots. Justin sprints up to the three terrorists and sliced two of their heads off with his lightsaber, just as Genji ran up and bashed the third terrorist in the back of the head with his electric guitar.

Inside the stadium, Winter and Sonic String were both guarding over the civilians. They watched as the second Atlesian Airship started to take off with the second batch of evacuees.

"One more ship load and we'll all leave," Sonic String said.

"Then let's hurry this up so we can go," Winter said as the last airship descended down into the stadium for its landing.

Back outside of the stadium, Kendra, Roy, and Brawnz were all fighting off several Taliban soldiers that were coming their way. Roy hurled his buzz saw blades at a Taliban soldier, cutting off both his arms, making him drop to his knees and scream in agony. Brawnz swiped his claws at a Taliban militant in the jugular, causing blood to spray out. Another Taliban pulled the pin out of a grenade and was about to toss it. But suddenly, Kendra hacks off his hand that was holding the grenade with Mercy Bringer, then chops off his legs. Kendra then smacks the grenade towards three more Taliban soldiers as it then blows up, killing them.

Rebecca was firing off Hailstorm at a couple of Taliban soldiers, while Ilia was deflecting the enemy's shots with Lightning Lash. Ilia runs up to a Taliban soldier and slashes at him, killing him. Another Taliban soldier with a bomb strapped onto him sprints up to Ilia and grabs onto her from behind. Rebecca turns her head and notices Ilia in danger.

"Ilia!" Rebecca called out as she tried to reach out to her.

Suddenly, puffs of blue smoke engulfed both Rebecca and Ilia. When the smoke quickly died away, Ilia was now standing where Rebecca had stood, while Rebecca herself was in the arms of the Taliban bomber. Rebecca quickly headbutts the terrorist, forcing him to release his grip on her as she then jumps away to the ground as the bomb on the Taliban militant explodes.

"Rebecca!" Ilia called out as she then ran to her girlfriend.

She approaches Rebecca and pulls her up from the ground.

"Are you okay?" Ilia asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Rebecca answered as Ilia then tightly hugged her. "I guess my semblance finally kicked in, huh?"

"Yeah. It must have allowed you to trade physical places with whomever you choose," Ilia said.

"I guess so. I couldn't help but think of you," Rebecca said.

Penny was flying over the city looking around for more Taliban militants. She finds no more Taliban threats in the area.

"That should be the last of them," Penny said through her communicator.

"Good. We're just about ready to leave. Come on down and help us get ready to go," Winter ordered through the communicator.

"Understood," Penny replied as she then flew towards the stadium.

Gardez

Meanwhile at the highway roundabout in the middle of Gardez, Teams JNPR, CFVY, ABRN, CRDL, and FNKI, and Rin, Ronin, Liberty, Elm, Vine, and Steel, along with Atlas and British soldiers, AK-200s, and the three Paladins were all fending off the Taliban as the civilians boarded onto the Air Buses to fly up to the airships. Coco was mowing down oncoming Taliban militants with Gianduja alongside Velvet, who was shooting alongside her teammate with a hard-light copy of Coco's minigun projected by Anesidora, and a Paladin shooting from behind them.

Elm fired off a couple of rockets from Timber at a truck with a Taliban soldier firing off a machine gun, destroying it. She transformed her rocket launcher into her hammer and smacked an oncoming Taliban soldier away. Two more Taliban soldiers tried to shoot at Elm, but Vine grabs them both with his semblance and tosses them away.

Several Atlas soldiers and AK-200s were in a firefight with a large group of Taliban soldiers. Steel, Ren, Nora, and Nadir were among the Atlas soldiers and AK-200s shooting at the Taliban. Steel turns around and watches as two Air Buses take off with batches of evacuees to fly them to the Atlesian Airships, and two more lands in their places to pick up more. Steel turns to the others around him.

"Keep on fighting! Hold the line until these civilians are airborne!" Steel shouted to the others as he kept shooting at the Taliban.

With her maiden powers, Liberty levitates herself up from the ground, and then conjures a fiery tornado in front of her. The tornado moved towards a couple of Taliban trucks, incinerating them. Three Taliban militants started to shoot at the Fall Maiden. Suddenly the Taliban and the bullets' movement slowed down as Rin was raising her hand at them, using her semblance. Ronin, with the aid of his semblance, shot past the terrorists as he sliced them in half with his sword, splattering blood everywhere. He stops and looks down at himself as he is now covered in blood.

"Shit! I'm covered in Taliban blood!" Ronin shouted in disgust.

Reese and Neon skate through groups of Taliban militants and attack them as they go. Reese rams one of the terrorists to the ground with her hoverboard, while Neon whacks another in the back of his head with her nunchaku, freezing his head in the process. Two more Taliban soldiers tried shooting at the two girls, but suddenly, Kobalt came up behind one of them and punched him to the ground, and Ivory came up and wrapped his whip around the other terrorist before tossing him into a nearby building.

Fox, Yatsuhashi, Arslan, and Bolin were all fighting off several Taliban soldiers. Yatsuhashi swung Fulcrum at three Taliban militants, knocking them down before swinging down on another, slicing his chest open. Bolin jumped over Yatsu from behind and swung his bo staff at two more of the terrorists. Two curved blades popped out of each end of his staff and then slashed at four more Taliban soldiers. Arslan hurled her rope dart at a Taliban soldier's legs, tying them up. She then swung him from her rope at three more Taliban militants, knocking them down. Two more Taliban soldiers tried to shoot at Arslan, but Fox suddenly jumps up in front of them and then slashes one in the throat, then the other in the stomach with Sharp Retribution.

Jaune, Pyrrha, and Team CRDL ran through several groups of Taliban militants killing as many as they could. Pyrrha gives a couple slashes at a Taliban militant, then rolls herself up to another and impales him with Miló. Sky hacks off a Taliban soldier's legs with his halberd, Feather's Edge, then swung it into another's stomach, and then hurled him down to the ground. Dove swung his hallstatt sword, Hallshott, at a terrorist's knees, then his neck. He then swung his weapon down at another Taliban soldier's head, splitting it open. Russel gave out several slashes to two Taliban militants with his short curved daggers, Shortwings. He turns to see three Taliban soldiers aiming their RPGs at him, Dove, and Sky.

The three Huntsmen-in-training turned around and ran away. As Cardin bashed a Taliban militant in the stomach with The Executioner, his teammates ran past him. Confused, he turns around to see the three terrorists firing their rockets at him. The rockets struck him in the chest sending him flying and crashing through a wall. Cardin leans himself up from the ground and sees a Taliban militant approach up in front of him, before he could shoot at Cardin, Jaune suddenly bashes the terrorist to the ground with his shield. As the terrorist tries to get up, Jaune hacks his head off with his sword. He turns around and puts away Corcea Mors and pulls Cardin up from the ground.

"That's the second time you saved me, Jaune," Cardin said, then glanced behind him to his teammates. "No thanks to my team!"

"Don't mention it," Jaune replied.

The fighting died down as all the surrounding Taliban have been wiped out. The evacuees are still boarding onto the Air Buses to get up to the Atlesian Airships.

"It appears that all hostile targets are down," Vine said.

"Good. Let's focus on getting the last of these people out of here, then we can all go home," Steel said.

Mountain Glenn, Vale

U.H.L. Headquarters

Meanwhile back in Mountain Glenn, Keaton, Professor Ozpin, and General Ironwood were all walking down the hallway. Keaton was carrying a folder and a laptop in his hands.

"I can't fucking believe that Biden could be that stupid and reckless to not only leave billions of dollars of US military hardware and equipment, but also hundreds of Americans behind to die as well!" Keaton growled.

"I've had my men confiscate as much of that military equipment as they can," Ironwood said.

"And I'm guessing you're not going to give it back, huh?" Keaton asked.

"That equipment became fair game when Biden left it all behind. It's Atlas property now," Ironwood answered.

"Right now let us focus on the matter at hand," Ozpin said.

"Yeah, that FBI agent I brought in for interrogation," Keaton said.

They walk up to a door and enter inside an interrogation room where a man who is handcuffed was seated behind a table.

"I bet you're wondering why you're here?" Keaton asked.

"Let me guess; January 6th?" the agent asked.

"Correct," Ozpin answered as Keaton placed the laptop in front of the agent.

He opens the laptop up and as it shows them camera footage of a few men riling up a crowd of Trump supporters. Keaton soon switches to a different video, showing a couple more men escorting several Trump supporters through a hallway in the Capitol Building.

"Those men that were riling up those Trump supporters and escorting them through the Capitol were confirmed to be FBI agents," Keaton said.

"Which would explain why those protestors were so rowdy at the Capitol. More so then usual," Ironwood said.

Keaton slammed the folder onto the desk as photos spilled out of it. The pictures showed the agent and another escorting Victor Gordon into the Capitol Building. The agent gains a nervous look on his face, realizing that he had just been caught.

"What were you trying to pull here? Who put you up to this?!" Keaton asked, grabbing onto the agent's collar.

"This was all Hillary Clinton's idea! She was incredibly bitter about her loss in the 2016 Presidential Election! She had Victor Gordon show up at the Capitol just to make Teams GRMA and CFDT look bad, because she knew that they were going to be a problem to them in the future! Nancy Pelosi also prevented the National Guard from showing up by canceling Trump's order for them. She also paid the Russians to lie about Trump colluding with them to rig the elections in his favor! While Russia exposed her emails back in 2016 in order to help Trump win, Trump himself had never been involved with them! All of this to get rid of Trump and to appease her new business partner!" The agent explained, looking panicked.

"Wait. What business partner?" Ozpin asked.

"If I tell you, I'm a dead man! I've already said too much!" the agent pleaded.

"You're gonna be a dead man if you don't tell us!" Keaton threatened as he pulled out his pistol.

"Salem! Her business partner is Salem!" the agent cried.

Ozpin, Ironwood, and Keaton grew stunned upon hearing the agent's answers, but brushed it aside for the moment.

"Anything else we should know about?" Ozpin asked.

"Clinton hired a spy to infiltrate Beacon Academy and the UHL to get information and use it to have the government gain control of them!" the agent answered.

The three men in front of the agent grew shocked upon hearing that a spy had infiltrated into their ranks.

"Who is the spy?" Ironwood asked.

Author's Note: This early chapter release is requested early from a fan that had a special event happened. Hope you all enjoy this early release.