The group lay restless, despite their eye being shut, each of them had an inkling of a question scratching the back of their heads. It was obvious, based on what Centurion heard, Oobleck must have broken into their thoughts. The British tank had one thing in mind to cheer them up, it was always something his past crew would indulge in.

Weiss tried sleeping, her eyes trying to keep shut as the crackle of the fire faintly sounded within the abandoned building they were in. One moment later she heard the tracks of a miniature tank approaching.

"Hello, lady Weiss."

"Centurion? What is it?"

"Surely that question would be better suited to be answered by all of you. I heard a lot from Ruby, she said you've been talking to Oobleck. I haven't heard any of it myself since I was inside Ruby's pockets but what's bothering you?"

"...It's about why we became huntresses."

"Ah, I have a guess as to what yours might be. Upholding and representing an ideal and legacy of your family is never an easy task, such a package to bring on your shoulders must weigh you down a lot. Want some tea?"

"Well that's correct but… Tea?" Weiss raised an eyebrow. "In this place? I'd sooner start hugging Ruby than expect something like that to-"

"I have tea."

"Excuse me?" Weiss sat up from the small conversation, she looked around and there was nothing but ruins of an old civilization. 'How in the world could something like tea be brewed in such inhospitable conditions?' Weiss asked herself.

"Excuse me for my accent. I have the delicious beverage known as tea, I hope the flavour is alright."

"I don't mean I couldn't understand you. I meant how can you make me tea? Is it from… inside?"

"Yes, where else can tea be made but my insides?" Centurion answered as if that could be the most obvious thing for anyone to know about. "I'm brewing one now as we speak but I need to expand myself to full so if you head outside for a bit, I can give you some."

"Tea," Weiss said with a blank face as Centurion nodded before heading outside. Enlarging himself, Weiss climbed up the tank and went inside for her to see a freshly brewed cup of tea in what looked like a section of the tank based on making tea.

Weiss took the cup and carefully climbed out and stared at the cup. "That's tea."

"Yes."

Weiss probably knew the reason why. "Magic?"

"Possibly."

Weiss got her nose close to the tea, inhaled and then took a sip. "It's… black tea, Fragrant too, and with a bit of milk and honey. How-" Her mind freezes as she chose to accept whatever witchcraft was able to make a tank make tea. "-never mind. Thanks for the tea."

"No trouble at all, it looks like Blake has found herself in a conundrum."

Blake was currently in a crisis, one that trumped her past with the White Fang. It was more threatening than having the weight of expectations, more stressful than trying to change the world for the better.

Zwei was chasing her around.

"Don't get closer, demon dog!"

Tiger stared at the slight distraction, they were only transitioning from waking up abruptly because of Blake screaming from Zwei licking her face while they slept and Ruby was keeping watch.

"Blake, it's just a dog. It's not even growling at you." Tiger tried resolving the issue.

"You can't feel what I feel! Zwei is a horrifying, air-sniffing, face-licking force of nature out to get me! He's only using his face as a trick, why can't you see that?!"

"I'm literally named after a big cat. I think I would assume I know how it would feel, besides he's not even attacking."

Zwei in turn yipped and started to try reaching Blake who had climbed a nearby pillar.

"Yeah, just named! You're a tank anyways!"

Everyone snapped a look at the cat faunus apart from the tanks, I mean they just thought of themselves as machines. Ruby walked over and put her hands on her hips and started scolding her teammate. "…That's kind of racist."

"What? Tiger is not a person, though! Ruby, can you take away and control your mutt, please?"

"You're an actual racist… and Tiger's supposed to be the one who came from a vengeful and rooted in deep hatred country. Enough to try and eradicate said races." Weiss added, much to Blake's disbelief. Who knew Weiss would support the tank in being called non-humans?

"Yeah, Blake. You're better than this," Ruby says, much to the approval of the other people. Blake was starting to feel the pressure of being called out for being a supposed xenophobe.

"What?!" Blake protested.

"Even Zwei is looking at you strangely ever since you've called Tiger not human. He may not have any chunky flesh or brains like us but he acts like a human. Isn't he a friend and a part of Team RWBY? Apologize, Blake."

"He's a dog! Of course, he'd look at me, in his eyes, I'm nothing more than his next meal!" Only Blake could raise her voice despite being a reserved individual.

Weiss snapped her fingers to point at Blake before sighing in disappointment. "Wow, isn't a dog technically an animal? So you're being racist and half racist to half your kind. One and a half racist. That's worse than me."

"Am I being gaslit right now? Is this what it's all about? Can we just move and by moving Zwei, Ruby? Oobleck is asleep and I would like to get some rest as well."

Ruby picked Zwei up and headed back to her post to keep night watch. "Fine, but you better apologize to Tiger later, leader's orders."

Finally, it seemed like the entire situation was resolved when everyone broke the banter with some serious talk. Ruby had a duty so she left the team but brought along Tiger as they reached a high vantage point among the windowless openings.

Shuffling came as Ruby put her dog on the ground.

"Hey, Zwei! Where are you going?" Ruby ran to his location before seeing the dog take care of its 'business'. Ruby tilted her head at the action "Zwei, this is a wasteland you could've done that anywhere-"

"Hmm…" Another shuffle arrived, yet it wasn't from anyone. Alaremd at the action, Ruby looked around and spotted two figures in the distance. "White Fang?"

"I'm following them."

Ruby stared back at Tiger, she gripped both Zwei and her scythe back to her as she quieted her voice. The two were just behind the presence of two White Fang members, hauling guns around and presumably patrolling.

"We can do this both-"

"I said no." Tiger gave a simple statement. "I might be listening to you for commands but this is for your own safety. I know back in my world people would be shot for disobeying command but I believe in the older way of doing things by deviating from command as to do what is better based on my own judgment of the situation."

"But-"

"No, you are not suited for this."

Ruby tried to argue but sort of agreed. "…Okay, I'll tell the others what we found. How do we find you?"

"That's easy, the smell of my recently fired guns and gas smells can be tracked by Zwei. Even if he is surrounded by other tanks, I believe Zwei can do it." Tiger swivelled his turret to the canine. "You can do that, right?"

"Yip!" Zwei barked.

"I guess that means he's confident."

Ruby started heading back as Tiger left the corner they were hiding in and headed toward the pair of White Fang soldiers. "I'll get the others as fast as I can."

Tiger nodded and enlarged enough for him to not lose speed over the distance between him and the two White Fang soldiers. Ruby headed back with Zwei in her arms to report what they were doing.

The rest of the group had a heartfelt conversation about their motivations for being huntresses. Ruby entered in the midst of that talk and interrupted it. "Girls! We have a problem. The White Fang is here and Tiger is following some of them back to their hideout-"

"Ruby!" Oobleck bolted from his sleeping position and somehow managed to get himself behind Ruby. "That was an excellent decision, seeing as your tanks can go hidden while resizing and is an armoured mobile death machine, it's safe to say he can handle it."

"Woah! How'd you- never mind, aside from the faster-than-light doctor, it was Tiger's idea. Zwei can track him just as soon as we are ready."

Yang got up and slammed her fists together, it was time for a beatdown. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Wait!" Ruby yelled. "I'll be assigning you a tank each, it's not good to pool them together. If the going gets tough, let out your tank. Do you all get it?"

The sounds of agreement from the others made Ruby nod.

"So girls! If you see any bad guys call for help and we can track you. If you don't have time you can let the tanks fight." Ruby stops and advises her tanks. "But please at least keep the bad guys alive."

"Ruby, that's asking the equivalent of expecting a knife to tickle when you slice. One shot from any of us and they're shredded." Sherman answered.

"I know! But, until we can get some special rounds, we only have the lethal option. So keep the lethality… not lethal."

"Ramming speed it is," Sherman concluded.

"No! You weigh tons!"

"What if I break their legs?" Iosif added his own tactic.

"No! The general already said to avoid that stuff! Nora is a bad influence!"

"Who says I got influenced?"

"We could try enlarging from underneath them." Pershing tried recommending.

"That could work…" Ruby mused.

Centurion then recalled a tactic from the old days of WW1 "There's always gas-"

"No! No gas! I know all you tanks recommend gas attacks but I'm pretty sure that would be illegal and a war crime!"

"Has it been invented yet? Is there a convention preventing their use?"

"No, but from what I-" Ruby tries to protest the use of chemical warfare.

"Then we need some gas. We can cripple them with pain or we could immediately go for the sleeping option. Might I say we recommend the ones that burn their lungs?"

"We don't have gas!"

"Carbon Monoxide poisoning then, trap them all in a room and let us puff in exhaust until they suffocate."

"No! What's with you all taking the worst possible option?!"

"We could always use a Fat Man." Pershing comments - to many people's confused look aside from Centurion. He was an American during the Korean war. It wasn't odd to think that nuking the Chinese who were supporting the North Koreans would work here despite being morally bad.

"A what now?" Everyone else asked, scratching their heads as they looked at each other who shrugged in the same kind of confusion.

"A nuke-" Pershing tried to answer.

"No! That's super bad, and worse!" Ruby answered immediately, when she asked for weapons she knew what a nuke was. Though Pershing and Centurion really didn't want to admit the allies used it already on another country. Hence the lack of the term Fat Man.

"What's a nuke?" Weiss asked.

"So you know how there are atom thingies in the world right? So some scientist dude decided to split one and some other mumbo jumbo happened, in the end, it creates a bomb capable of irradiating and rendering land unlivable for decades while flattening an entire city. It scorches and obliterates anything at its centre while collapsing buildings from the source before making it incredibly hot, meaning it melts your skin and disintegrates you from a single bomb!"

Was Ruby happy explaining what kind of a weapon that was? Yes. Was she also scared at the implication? Debatable. One thing's for sure, the rest of the team definitely said no.

"Yeah, I think that's overkill." Weiss looked towards Pershing.

"Not with that attitude."

Ruby clapped her hands together before slowly breathing out. "Just… don't kill anyone."

"Hard to do but we'll try," Iosif answered.

"So… they had these things around," Tiger commented, tailing the two members lead to an underground entrance. One that had an absurd amount of guards, Tiger assumed it came from the fact that Grimm was a problem.

"It's an underground network, so that's why we haven't seen a lot of them. They were all hiding underground, plus I'm guessing these railroad tracks mean they are interconnected within most of the city."

Tiger followed even longer, ending up at the entrance to a large operation. "Shit…" He looked at the construct, each with its own wires and vials of dust powder strapped and made into fuses. Then what came next was shocking. "Those are more paladins, not much trouble to us but what the heck are they using these for?"

Then he motions his turret to the large train. "Train, bombs, underground network, soldiers and large machines. Awfully familiar with tunnelling tactics used in WWI. Either they're planning to blow up stuff from below or hoping to create an opening. I need to head back."

Tiger couldn't waste much time, making his way back to the entrance and looking around for a bit, he saw the others following where he was minutes ago. "There you guys are."

"Tiger, what did you find?"

"Tunnel underground, connecting to a subterranean city. Shit tons of bombs and a shit ton of people, not only that but they have a train, disconnected for now but they have a plan on something with these rails. We have the advantage of information, what do we do, Professor Oobleck?"

"Of course! It all makes sense Mountain Glenn-"

"Doctor, we don't have the luxury of time."

"Apologies, preferably we wait for backup but seeing as we have plenty of firepower, I say this preemptive strike might be the best course of action, who knows if sentries have reported our presence in the area? Where is this entrance you speak of?"

"It's up ahead and to the right, since you've been following my trail, you should see it soon. How should we proceed? We tanks can enter first without arousing any attention."

"That would be correct, Team RWBY and I will head in an alternate path. I have knowledge of this place and I am certain I could breach another area. Pershing and Sherman will create a feint from the entrance you speak of. Are you two up for the task?"

"The American duo will never lose," Sherman answered proudly. "We do have a problem with how we are going to take them in without killing but we'll manage."

"That'll be right," Pershing confirmed.

"Good." Oobleck nodded. "If it's a train, head to the locomotive that pulls along the cars. Destroy it and whatever intentions they hold will go nowhere."


Sherman and Pershing lay in wait, it had been advised to them to wait for minutes until the forward unit could be in position. Just as Sherman counted to 180 seconds, he whistled to his compatriot as they both enlarged and exited the seam.

"Hey! Stop… right… there…" The White Fang in the front had been aggressive before he tried to aim his gun but immediately faltered as soon as they saw the two. "Tanks! Tell the others!"

"Tanks? So they know about us. That means this is part proof that the attack on the CCT could be related to this whole thing. Ironwood is going to be happy knowing that it's a lead, right Pershing?"

"You'd be right, I don't want to kill these fellas so I'd rather talk to them first-"

Multiple fires from their assault rifles made Pershing stop talking, his patience was thinning but they would eventually understand the fruitless effort the White Fang was doing.

"Kill it!"

"Hold on partner, I reckon we just talk about this and all leave in one piece? We don't need to fight, lay down your guns and raise them hands high. I ain't asking again."

"One piece, are you… saying you'd… blow us apart?" One of them asks, clearly lowering his gun or trying to find a way to run away.

"Not my intentions but I could arrange ya'll to be next year's fertilizer or if you'd rather… pig's feed."

Another mistake would have sealed their fate if not for Pershing more lenient attitude to going to war, aside from hearing the word oil. Another soldier fires, to the complete shock of their comrades.

"You work for the humans! Our war for liberation will not be stifled! We aren't scared!"

"Dude!" The others scream. "It's a tank! The leader told us to call for him if we see any! We. can't. fight. these. two!"

"Now I don't appreciate some no-good outlaws shooting at me. So listen to me well or I'll cry remember the Alamo if you shoot again."

The aggressive person screams again. "We're not afraid!" To the horror of everyone involved as they stepped away from the madman who then decides to do the one thing you shouldn't do in front of a tank.

Another magazine gets emptied as Pershing sighed out loud.

"Shame. I thought ya'll would know better than to reject my mercy. Stubbornness would only get you so far, I even thought I was hospitable enough."

"Hospitable? But you came here to Mountain Glenn! It's not your property!"

At this point, Pershing was having none of it. If words wouldn't go through the thick-headed White Fang, perhaps more force would be better. Never wake the American giant. "It's America's land you're in now! Perfect time to exercise the 2nd amendment, ain't that right Sherman?!"

"Oh boy, and I thought I was patriotic! I didn't know such a normal tank like you would be like this!"

"It comes with the stars and stripes!"

""Jerry! You fucking idiot!"" Everyone around the White Fang member screamed and ran away.

Moments earlier…

A man with bull horns stood in silence, his eyes covered by his mask and viewed the area with suspicion. A warrior's intuition was never to be silenced and kept back, with one thought, he pulled aside one of his loyal subordinates.

"Start the train and couple everything together."

The faunus seemed in shock. "Sir? But we haven't finished preparing yet."

"We start it, now. I have a feeling this day is different. I have been told of a machine that she met in Vale. Those shrilling sounds in the distance reported by the patrols earlier this evening might not just be some Grimm communicating. It might be something else…"

"Sir! We'll be ready in a few minutes!"

"Sir?"

"Apologies! High Leader Adam Taurus."

"Hmph."