*Italic means thought
*Bold means sound
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*1 month after Prigozhin's arrival*
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In a jeep, going across emerald forest in a dirt road, Jack and his 4 fellow squad teammates were on their way of a village reportedly being attacked by grimm, all were using black tactical gear, helmets, vests and these so called gunpowder weapons, he had been on this business for 2 weeks and half along with the other guys, all seemed relaxed with their tasked job, the one exception was the newcomer who looked nervous.
"Hey, you, recruit, you look nervous, what's wrong?"
"Nothing lieutenant, it's just that it's my first day and I didn't expect to go fight grimm so quickly"
"Oh it's your first day? That explains why I didn't recognize you, but don't worry recruit, with this gunpowder weapons the grimm are like target practice, what's your name?"
"Mike"
"Welcome to squad number 3 Mike, I am Jack, these are Ed, Fritz and the driver is Frank"
Each member saluted Mike tipping their heads or saying "hey" except for Frank.
"Speaking of which lieutenant, what's so special about this gunpowder? I never head of them"
"Me neither until a few weeks ago..." Lieutenant Jack was interrupted by Fritz:
"Oh just wait and see recruit Mike, gunpowder is awesome, killing grimm was never so easy, in one or two bullets they are already vanishing to the wind, we've been together for almost three weeks and it's the job of my dreams, for me at least, we are paid handsomely to basically practice our aim with the grimm, not to mention the villagers are grateful and offer us rewards sometimes"
"Really? And how did you guys got into the job?"
"Same as everyone, commander Prigozhin recruited us personally, apparently, he's the one who invented gunpowder..." Lieutenant Jack was interrupted once again by Fritz:
"Wait, the boss invented the gunpowder?"
"That's what I heard, but I don't care anyway, as long as we continue to get paid, I'll do whatever the boss asks" Mike made new questions to his new teammates:
"So... how many of us are there? I mean, on Black Dust Company?" This time Ed finally spoke up:
"Around 20 to 25, the company has 5 squads with 5 guys each, although squad number 5 isn't complete yet, each has a lieutenant appointed by the boss, usually people who have military experience, lieutenant Jack here was the most experienced of us, so he got the job of commander of the squad"
"I was never on the military; I mean I know how to shoot but I joined the company because it seemed like easy money"
"And it is Mike, when you have your first fight and realize how incredible gunpowder is, experience itself will train you"
The jeep continued through emerald forest for a few more minutes, until Fritz broke the silence with a sigh:
"Ah man, I wish we had bullheads like the huntsmen, the worst part of the job is the waiting to get to the villages"
"But didn't you say it's the job of your dreams?" Lieutenant Jack said mockingly
"And it is, but I wish we could have some convenience"
"The boss said we can't have bullheads because of "political reasons""
"How's that?"
"Our contract with the kingdom of vale is not public, it was them who created our guns and gunpowder but giving us bullheads would make it too obvious that we work for them and if the media hears that we work for vale things could get... complicated for them"
"Still, I just wanted some better vehicles..."
Frank suddenly turned his head back to the four men sitting on the jeep's back and announced loudly:
"We are almost at the village, prepare for combat"
All men cock their guns get in position to hop off the jeep.
*Click* *Click* Click* *Click*
"Alright boys, same as usual, we get down from the jeep and kill all the grimm we found, Mike, just don't panic nor get too excited, keep your distance and shoot them, and careful not to shoot the villagers"
"Roger lieutenant"
The screams of the villagers are heard even with the sound of the engine from the jeep and smoke can be smelled, the jeep reaches the entrance of the village and the soldiers can see the fighting go on.
"ENGAGE ENGAGE! OPEN FIRE!"
*POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW POW*
The five men hop off the jeep and start walking slowly through the village, gunning down any grimm they spot with ease, one, two, four, seven, more and more grimm are killed as the noise of gunfire continues for a while, Mike, still nervous, didn't have the chance of shooting any of the grimm as they were quickly killed by his teammates.
"CEASE FIRE, CEASE FIRE!"
As lieutenant Jack orders his men to cease fire, silence goes back to the village, the screams stopped, no growls of grimm or the panicked screams of the villagers, only the sound of fire and walking.
"No grimm in sight lieutenant"
"Keep searching, make sure there are none left"
The five men each go to a direction looking for surviving grimm, as they walk through the village the people there are either trying to put out the fires or looking at the soldiers with a mix of curiosity and thankfulness.
"All clear lieutenant" Ed reports
"Nothing here too" Fritz follows
"Alright boys, the job is done, back to the vehicle"
The five soldiers start walking to the jeep with the intention of leaving, but they are stopped by a young woman who got in their way.
"Wait, please wait, tha... thanks for saving us, please stay longer! We don't even know who you are, you don't seem like huntsmen"
Fritz is the first one to come closer to the lady and talk to her:
"Hey there sweetie, we would love to stay longer, please tell me your name..." Now it's time for Fritz to be interrupted by lieutenant Jack:
"Fritz come on, time to report back to base"
"But... lieutenant..."
"Let's go, our job here is done"
Fritz sighs and goes against his will, but obeys nonetheless, however before they can hop in the jeep an older man comes to them
"Please young men, don't go just yet, we didn't even have the chance to thank you for saving us, listen to my daughter"
"Sorry sir, but we have to go back to base"
"No, wait! At least let us give you a reward"
"...Reward? Well, I guess we could stay a few more minutes"
"Great! Please come, gentlemen"
The soldiers follow the old man near the center of the village, although Fritz wanders a little to talk to the girl who asked them to stay.
"Here, please accept these lien, 800, it's the least we can do"
"Well thank you my friend, it was nothing"
"Please tell me, who are you?"
"I'm lieutenant Jack, these are Mike, Ed, Frank and the one talking to your daughter is Fritz"
"I can't say how grateful we are lieutenant Jack, tell me, are you a soldier from atlas? Your uniforms don't seem like atlas uniforms"
"We are soldiers from the Black Dust private military company, it's our job to help villages like these, now if you excuse us, we have to go back to base. Fritz! Come one, it's time to go"
Fritz frowns at the order and goes towards the jeep together with his buddies, the girl waves to him as he waves back, Mike says from afar: "Thanks for the lien, it was a pleasure"
The squad hops on the jeep and now with their mission done and the village secure, they drive into the woods towards their base.
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*Later that day*
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A television in Ozpin's office is broadcasting the news, there Ozpin, Glynda and Prigozhin are sitting watching it while Qrow stands behind them also paying attention to the television, a female reporter with her microphone giving the news.
"Terror spreads in the countryside of vale with the increased grimm attacks over the last few months and one more village would be overrun by the grimm if it wasn't for the intervention of soldiers wearing black uniforms and unknown weapons, these soldiers belong to a mysterious organization, they call themselves the "Black Dust private military company" and they have been doing interventions in villages of vale for the last three weeks, nobody knows who they are, their resources or why they help, there are some speculations that they are citizens who organized a new force to help fight against the grimm, there are those who say they've been hired by the kingdom of vale to fill a gap of huntsmen forces, in the end nothing is certain, all we know is that they are not huntsmen and that these mysterious soldiers became popular with the rural population, here's the opinion of a man who lives in the village that was saved by the Black Dust:"
"I thought we were done for, there were so many grimm that we could never beat them all, then these soldiers came out of nowhere and started shooting the grimm, I never saw weapons like those, they were loud as hell but they went through the grimm like butter..."
"In time maybe we'll know more about these enigmatic protectors but for now we know very little, now with the weather..."
Ozpin turned the television off and got up, he looked at Prigozhin with a neutral expression, Prigozhin on the other hand had his legs on top of the table with his hands behind his bald head and a proud smile in his face.
"Well Mr. Prigozhin, I have to say I am pleased with your services, the mortality rate by grimm decreased substantially in the last 3 weeks"
"Hah I told you, it wasn't easy to recruit men without connections but I got the job done, we are still small though, my company only has 23 men and they are forced to use jeeps to reach the villages, I appreciate the effort you made to fabricate gunpowder and weapons to my men but just saying, we could do a lot more if you invested more money and resources on us, maybe give me more vehicles? I understand your reasons to not give us those, what were they called? Bullheads? Yeah, but how about some other things?"
"I know of your eagerness to help us more Mr. Prigozhin but Vale is not an exceptionally rich kingdom, we don't have the money nor the material resources to equip your company with better vehicles..."
"I see... well it's a shame, we have not reached our full potential only because of the lack of human and material resources."
"About that, I might have a solution to that, I have a friend, he's the headmaster of Atlas academy and he's going to pay us a visit soon, his name is general James Ironwood, he heard about Black Dust and it got him intrigued, one of the reasons he is coming to Vale soon is to see if Black Dust has potential for uses, maybe if you impress him you could also get a contract with Atlas, they are the most powerful military on remnant and general Ironwood got very interested in your gunpowder"
"Huh, this has potential, thank you Ozpin, I'll meet this general Ironwood when he arrives but for now I'm very busy and have a lot of work to do, pay the men, lead them into battle sometimes, take care of the logistics, you know how it is..."
"I understand"
"See you later then."
Prigozhin goes to the elevator and presses the button to the first floor, leaving Ozpin, Glynda and Qrow alone. Qrow reaches up to Ozpin only after Prigozhin left.
"Do you trust him Ozpin? Because I don't"
"No I don't Qrow, all my years of experience taught me not to trust people so blindly, he seems like a smart man and because of that he probably thinks I'm naïve for employing him, that he's got the better end of the deal"
"Then why hire him Ozpin?" Glynda goes on her feet and asks Ozpin
"For two reasons, because he is being useful to us by filling the gaps of huntsmen forces, his forces proved themselves to be competent and he is a valuable resource to us, and the other reason is because by employing Mr. Prigozhin we can keep an eye on him, if we just let him wander around at best we would lose his potential and at worse he would eventually become a problem, imagine if he somehow met... her, no, we need him on our side and as long as we pay him he will continue to help us on our war, as long as watch him he shouldn't give us trouble."
"I understand, don't worry Ozpin, I'll keep an eye on him."
"Thank you Qrow
Prigozhin was waiting for the elevator to reach the first floor, thinking why the headmaster's office had to be in a tower so high, he took his "scroll", how they called cellphones in remnant, and called his officers:
"It's me, I'm heading to base, gather the men and tell them I'm coming, it's important that we act flawlessly on the next days..."
