Fritz stirred. The beams of the sun beat through the window onto his still-sleeping face as he lay there in his bed. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open, allowing him to realize that he had, in fact, not dreamt up this entire mess. The apartment they were provided in Beacon was a clear-cut sign they were on some foreign, alien world, and that meant that team RWBY, Ozpin, General Ironwood and even Erika were real.

He huffed, then slowly straightened up, till he was seated. Cracking his neck and stretching, he looked at himself. Clad in his armor's bodysuit, the deployment systems disabled to allow him to sleep comfortably, the man still stood at about six five, maybe nearing six six, that being feet and inches respectively. Memories of his old missions played back in his mind as he activated the armor by tapping the hologram on his arm.

While it extended and encased him from shoulder to foot, the man recalled the last mission they'd been on, when the Aeldari, their former Allies, had come to seek out and try and kill them. The knife-eared bastards damn near did him and his team in, but that's what the Federation got for trusting a bunch of cryptic fools so actively hedonistic, it'd have made the average pleasure palace on one of their own Garden Worlds seem like a playground.

Eugh. That was an awful thought.

He squelched it and grabbed his equipment, then noticed something laying on the desk. Walking up to it, he saw an ovoid with a golden button in the middle. Picking it up and pressing the diamond-shaped button, he watched the holographic communication device extend into the shape of what ancient folk would've called a Smartphone. It even seemed to have the OS and abilities of one.

He hummed and activated his armor's link system, connecting the two systems and only doing a couple of minor tweaks via the on-board OS to better couple them. He slotted the phone in one of the pouches on his hip, then plucked up the last of his equipment:His plasma pistol and the Empyrean rifle. Sliding them onto his thigh and pack respectively, the man paused as he felt a rather... Familiar scent.

He turned toward the door and the muffled sizzling of food made him realize that he wasn't just smelling things. Walking to the door and out of his own bedroom, he saw her. Her short blonde hair was washed by the golden light of the rising sun, her grime-streaked clothes looking like she'd arrived fresh out of the worst of the Western Front's muddy fields. Her white shirt was the only thing that was not completely stained by the burns and marks of the deadly war they were fighting in the forty-first millennium. An eternal war...

He watched her masterfully move as she cooked what looked to be four sunny-side-up eggs and some sort of delicious-smelling MRE Ration bacon. It still smelled like genuine, tasty fatty bacon, something the man had missed since his trips through interstellar space only permitted him the ability to eat ration blocks. He cleared his throat and the girl seemed to tense, before turning toward him.

Despite the scars, her beauty was intoxicating. So much so that Fritz had to take a moment to once again repress a blush. Instead, he commented, "Didn't know you could cook..." rather snarkly. She blinked twice, seemingly not tasting the joke, before turning toward the table and placing two equal portions of bacon and eggs on each plate arranged on it.

He rubbed the back of his neck, a little awkward, then said, "Sorry..."

She hummed and set the skillet and spatula aside, then sat herself down and motioned for him to do the same. He murmured to himself, "Obviously still not talkative..." before sitting himself down in front of her and setting his guns aside. She spared a quick glance at the Empyrean rifle, before quirking a brow up at him. He hummed and said, "Wanna know about it?" as he started to eat.

The first bite struck him like a goddamn hammer. He blinked, eyes widening as he stared down at the plate. Meanwhile, the girl ahead of him ate with little care. He looked up at her and asked her, "How...?"

Confusion streaked across the otherwise steely face of the girl. He asked her, "How'd you make this so... So... Delicious? Christ, it's just eggs and bacon, but-" and looked her in the eye. A twinge of red appeared on her cheeks, before it was suppressed just as quickly. She averted her gaze, though he could barely notice the small smile. She wanted to say something, so he told her, "Permission to speak granted, Erika," with a grin.

A roll of her eyes later and she seemed to decide to reply, her voice low, "I used to cook for my squad... When we went out into battle and the company kitchen was not available..."

He smirked, "They must've enjoyed it a lot."

She nodded. Even through the steely features, once more did some emotion creep:Melancholy. He could understand, especially if things were as brutal as she made it out to be. Being a lone survivor of a team was more likely than he would've thought in her time. War was a Lottery and it seemed as if it was so heavily stacked against humanity in the 41st Millennium that it might as well have been playing after having pulled every superstitious thing, like breaking a mirror while walking under a ladder with three black cats in front of you. Considering how the Empyrean was theorized to work... He wouldn't be surprised if superstition became reality.

"Anyways," He cleared his throat, "If you're wondering how my weapons work... I have a plasma pistol for self-defense, as you've seen. It's better than the old models with actual radiators on the top and it uses a cooling system not too different from the standard fusion reactors used to power new settlements and colonies upon first landing, though shrunk down severely. Coolant lines travel throughout the gun, into heat sinks and, when the weapon fires, the heat builds up in those sinks and coolant that's turned to steam is ejected outward through the side ports."

She looked at the pistol he'd lifted like she'd just seen magic. He chuckled and asked, wary, "Please, tell me you guys kept this at least in the future..." before her gaze locked with his. He felt his heart drop. Her people and all the rest of humanity had lost that much tech that they wound up using what was tantamount to live grenades that fired plasma. God, he hated thinking about the future like that.

"Right..." He set the pistol back onto his thigh, then gripped the rifle and said, "This is an Empyrean rifle..." only to see her tense up. He showed her to calm by lifting his hand, "Look... Whatever you know about the Empyrean, or Warp, this rifle doesn't do that. It fires a hardened slug of whatever bullshit that hell dimension is made out of and sets the target ablaze not unlike firing a lasgun at max setting at a target covered in paper... The only difference is, this thing is surprisingly deadly against Empyrean entities like the Grimm we faced."

She seemed to relax a little, though it only took Fritz a second look to notice she had had her laspistol trained on his head underneath the table. Impressive aiming skills, though not unlikely with a laser weapon that barely kicked, if at all. Calmly, the girl seemed to slot the pistol back into an unseen holster, the faint ripple of the leather audible to the enhanced ears of the man.

He smiled at her and said, "Yeah. We harnessed the Empyrean's power back in the day in order to help both fight it and the abominations it may spew at us, and to help humanity's own capabilities. Trust me, I'm your friend. We're both human after all, even if separated by millennia..." before setting the rifle down. His earnestness seemed to have earned some of the girl's trust, as she gave a single nod to confirm before turning back to eating.

Some minutes later and the girl had gone to change and come out in full combat gear, gas mask included. He'd wanted to tell her to take it off so they could talk normally, but he figured it better not to for now. Their first order of business was learning Beacon as a whole, to establish a patrol pattern. Considering the Headmaster might want to hire them on as security personnel or something.

Team RWBY had apparently noticed this, Ruby greeting them with a wave as they met in the halls. The smiling Rose met the pair in the middle just as Fritz started humming a tune that Erika once more glared at him for, before the happy Rose asked them, "Hey, guys! How was your first day at Beacon?"

"Actually comfortable," The man replied. Erika didn't deny it. "You girls seem calmer today."

"Weiss took a few moments to relax when she realized we were meetin' you two again, heh," Yang smirked, hands behind her back as they walked to join them. The white-haired girl glared a piercing azure glare at the blonde, who pulled on her own right lid and stuck out her tongue to mock it. Weiss, obviously, scoffed, then turned to the two and gave them a surprising greeting:A Salute. They gave a salute back to the Schnee, before looking to see Blake with another book in her hand.

Blake greeted them with a smile, too, "Rarely have I actually seen anything scare Weiss."

"It was a momentary lapse in judgement," Weiss shot back, looking over to Erika, "Forgive me, watchmaster."

Erika gave a nod. Not like it really seemed to matter to her what people thought. She was a soldier that was here to find a new purpose, a new duty. If said duty turned out to be protecting the people who gave her weird looks as she walked in her battle dress around their school, by the Emperor, she would take it with little regard for her own life. She hummed, then paused as she heard a ping, followed by a mirrored sound milliseconds later.

"Huh, your Scrolls pinged," Ruby smiled, "Must be the Headmaster."

The two seemed confused, before Ruby blinked and lifted up her own device and pointed at it, "These. Sounds like both of yours are in your pockets."

While Fritz seemed to note his knowledge of the device via a quick tilt of his head forward and an awkward smile, Erika stuck her gloved hand in the pocket of her greatcoat and pulled it out. She lifted it up and pressed the golden, only to watch the semi-holographic device extend outward, its screen powering on. She stared at it, dumbfound, then murmured something that was muffled by her gas mask.

She looked over the device as she started touching the holographic screen, finding it to be hard-light, basically an actually tangible hologram. Some internal part of her screamed of Tech Heresy that would get her executed, but another, more loud and overwhelming part of her just had her exploring the Device's workings and noting everything from two specialized communication functions to certain games.

To the outsiders looking in, it looked as though a masked soldier had found the holy grail and was now enamored by the beautiful golden glow. That, or a child in a candy store, Fritz thought, smiling. Ruby giggled, while Weiss, Blake and Yang seemed to stare with smiles of their own at the young woman's discovery. Fritz spoke, "Take it she's never seen a Smartphone befor-..." And the realization that should normally accompany that thought hit him like a brick going through a glass window. Had Tech devolved that severely that the normal civilian communication system that fell out of use nearly twenty millennia before he was born had become like magic to the inhabitants of the forty-first millennium...?

He sighed and told them, "We'll probably talk to you girls later. Have to get to the Headmaster if he summoned us..." before he pulled up the message on his HUD. He hummed and nodded, realizing it was a short summons, stated to be about 'a job opportunity'. So, he was right on the matter of them wanting to hire the pair. With that in mind, he motioned to the girl to follow along, then bid quick goodbyes to team RWBY.

The two walked together toward the Tower once more, with the man watching his companion of several Millennia his junior looking at the device. He chuckled and murmured, "Cute..." before walking with the-He paused as he turned around to see Yang having joined them, her golden locks the first obvious sign of her presence. She waved, smirking, which caused Fritz to say, "How long have you been following us, Yang?"

"Long enough. Or, well, since we supposedly went our separate ways," She quipped, then added, "Yo, Erika. You good?"

Erika nodded to Yang, though she was still focused on the device in her hands. Yang giggled, then told Fritz, "I guess you're right. She hasn't seen a Smartphone before..." She blanked, blinked, then stared at Erika with a dumb look. She asked, "How the heck, come to think of it? Scrolls are ubiquitous around Remnant, to the point even the village in the butt-end of a local valley knows what it is and how to use one."

"... We're not from Remnant, Yang," Fritz replied, "Neither of us."

Yang stared at Fritz again, with all the marked confusion of someone having just been told they aren't alone in the universe, with the Powerpoint presentation to boot for evidence. She seemed to take a moment to register this, before asking, "How the hell did I miss this? How did all of us? Did you guys actually tell us about this when we first meet, or, like..."

"Maybe?" Fritz shrugged, "I know we told the Headmaster and General, but that's about it..."

"Still.. Hot-damn, we met aliens," Yang now grinned ear-to-ear, as seemed to be standard with the blondie. Erika seemed to cast a glare for a moment, though she quickly turned back to the device. Fritz chuckled as they walked on, before quietly starting to hum the good old tune that really seemed to bug Erika. Yang noticed the girl tense, a bit angry, then looked to Fritz and asked, "What's the song, big man...?"

"It's called Erika," He snorted, "Y'know."

"... Heh..." Yang looked to Erika, who scoffed. At least it was still known in the 41st Millennium, Fritz thought. Known enough to annoy someone taking the name, obviously. He chuckled, too, then walked with the girls to the tower. Yang stopped, hummed, then walked back, waving a quick goodbye to the two and leaving them alone. Fritz continued humming the tune as they entered the place, then the elevator.

As he still hummed, he felt something sharp poke his ass. He turned around toward Erika, then rubbed his right cheek, checking for bleeding, before scoffing. Message received, Erika. Message received. As the elevator dinged, arriving at Ozpin's office, the man hummed and turned to greet the pair, a smile on his face. He was alone this time, surprisingly enough. General must've gone to deal with something.

"Commander, Watchmaster," He greeted them, "Welcome back."

"Thanks, Headmaster," Fritz replied calmly. He took a seat, while Erika remained standing on guard duty, as usual. The Headmaster seemed to want to offer her a seat, but hesitated, instead opting to nod to her. She nodded back in reply, then unslung her lasgun and kept it at parade rest, barrel pointing at the ceiling. Fritz hummed at that and said, "She really is a perfect soldier..."

"Certainly seems so, commander..." He stated, then added, "I suppose you've both gotten my message, so I'll be brief... Beacon's security detachment will require bolstering, due mostly to the wide effect of what we call the Vytal Festival coming in. The Vytal Festival is a biannual celebration of the end of the Great War, a planetwide conflict that engulfed the world almost a hundred years ago. I'll give you a primer on it and Remnant's history later today if you wish..."

"That'd be great. As for being security detail? I'm gonna be honest, headmaster, it sounds like a decently calm job..." Fritz stated, then turned to Erika, "Provided she wants to tag along, I'm game..." Words which seemed to take the young woman by surprise, if even just a little. She gave a nod of the head, before Fritz looked to Ozpin and said, "There we go... We're all yours, Headmaster."

He smiled, then extended them two tablets and said, "Wonderful. Sign here, please..." as he handed them the pens. While Fritz signed, he looked over to see Erika staring at the tablet. He blinked, signed his stuff, then looked to her again. She looked to him, too, and Fritz's heart dropped. Ozpin, confused, looked to the girl, who was apparently waiting for Fritz to help...

... Oh, no, "Erika... Please, tell me they taught you to read and write on Krieg... At least as an officer..." before the girl quickly looked between the tablet and him. Fritz and Ozpin exchanged looks of concern, then looked to the girl again. Fritz was going to have to teach her, wasn't he? Who the hell didn't each their goddamned officers to read or write? How did they write fucking equipment requests?!

Oh, God, the Imperium was giving him a headache...

He hoped there wasn't more...


The snap-crack and pop of a handheld Plasma Pistol belonging to Mars rippled through the air. The bolt of energy coalesced and struck against the hide of a black-maned beast, the pistol's radiators glowing white-hot after the shot as the beast disintegrated. The user huffed, her voice meek, smooth and soft, though muffled by a black leather gas mask, two emerald eyes glaring through a pair of opaque portholes.

Clad in a green tanker's uniform with much lighter armor and much smaller of stature, the girl whose ginger hair poked out from under her specialized tank helmet was one of the two people in the clearing, fighting these Empyrean creatures with shot, shell and blade. The other was a Krieg Pioneer, a subgroup that mixed Engineers and Grenadiers into one of the weirdest subterran combat units known to man.

Unlike the tanker, who only had steel shoulder pads and a helmet with a com system, the Pioneer had a skull gas mask, black helmet with a skull and crossbones on it and more heavy-duty full-body segmented plate armor covering her trenchcoat. A las-carbine hanged off her shoulder, barrel smoking. In one hand, she had a stub revolver, while in the other was a serrated entrenching tool. Her black, curly hair poked out from under her helmet too and her vision ports were tinted scarlet, obscuring the dark color of her irises.

Both girls were petite, but still could fight like hell, considering the dozen or so bodies of these creatures that were dissipating around them. The ginger huffed, let the pistol cool, then slotted it into the chest holster, murmuring, "Damn beasts..." and turning to her friend to ask, "You okay, Naty?" as she heard the heavy breathing muffled by her gas mask.

"Just fine, Lise!" The girl seemed peppy, her voice a hint more sharp than her comrade's. She sighed deeply, then folded her entrenching tool and slotted it back into its holster. Her pistol stayed out, though, at the ready. She poked one of the dissipating masses of Empyrean black, then murmured, "These things are really weird. And very weak for daemons..."

"Let's not look the gift Grox in the mouth... I have a nagging feeling we've a long road ahead of us..." Lise commented as she stared up at the sky. Not counting one's grox before they hatched was a decent idea, honestly, especially for two of the Death Korps's more capable warriors, veterans of Armaggedon. Lise huffed and murmured, "I already miss my tank..."

Naty let out a short chortle at that, the two of them starting to walk together.

Old friends stuck together... And probably familiar faces for another certain member of the Death Korps. Another mission. Good.

Heresy grows from idleness...