Teams RWBY and JNPR had been surprised by a trio of new arrivals, much like Paul had first shocked them upon his drop. It almost seemed as if God himself had elected to start dropping in Victor's friends for the sake of posterity and the man seemed all the more happy for it. The group of four boys and a single female marched into their house, smiling and laughing. Most of them, anyway. Victor himself watched from the rear with their Finnish female comrade, Saila. The young man wore a melancholic smile, while Saila seemed to be staring at them with some degree of joy.

And teams RWBY and JNPR peeked at them from the bushes. Ruby hummed, then looked to Yang and asked, "You don't think-" to which her sister shook her head. No, they clearly saw that the girl had been blonde in the video. Yang also just processed the fact that they were, in fact, looking at the literal walking dead in this case. People who woke up from the dead with a nice little moment of 'what the fuck', then decided to proceed living in their world like it was nothing.

Yang had half a mind to lose control of her body functions at that point and just unfathomably retire from life of her own volition, just to see where whatever higher being there was up there would send her to. Honestly, no, better she didn't find that out. She preferred living, having her sister next to her, working with her friends and teammates to graduate and actively trying to find a way to get a soldier out of his pants. Honestly...

She shifted uneasily, then murmured, "So we got four guys and a chick, now."

"Chick looks kinda like Nora," Quipped Ruby, giggling. Nora snorted and looked at Saila as well, while Ruby said, "Hey, Saila seems pretty chill, honestly. Even if she doesn't... Well, doesn't really talk all that much." And, honestly, none of the girls knew if it was better or worse. For all intents and purposes, it seemed fine for her to just be a quiet girl in the midst of a platoon of boys, but then again.

Weiss had seemed the most stunned, if not outright terrified, of the concept of a female soldier staying with a bunch of men. Even in Atlas, the strict chains of command gave way to some weird happenings. But the squad of men, now including Hassan Avery and Jim Asher, two 'Americans', from what the boys had mentioned when they scampered off the transport Bullhead and onto the deck to give the girls those supplies they asked for, seemed to treat her like the kid sister of the group. For all intents and purposes, there seemed to be no physical attraction whatsoever. Then, Weiss's mind raced to another stupid thought. Perhaps the men swung for their own team, so to speak.

She shook her head. While it was not uncommon, rather quite the opposite, the men had not exhibited any male-favoring behavior toward each-other. She needed to stop letting Blake recommend her books. Hell, she needed to stop reading them. She looked up at Yang, then stated, "She's more like their little sister, Yang. I would not be too worried about your prospects."

The blonde blushed, looked down at the Heiress with the most dumbfound look on her face and caused Weiss to blink as she realized what she espoused. She hummed, then looked ahead at a grinning Nora and whispered, "Forget I said anything..." as she peeked past them. Her azure eyes focused on Jim, in the erstwhile. The young American laughed as he, Vic and Paul seemed to be talking about something or other they all knew about.

She hummed, a tinge of scarlet in her cheeks that she quickly suppressed before it became a problem for her. She sighed, then looked over toward Blake as the girl carefully eyed Paul. Shaking her head and planting a palm on her face while Nora, Ren, Jaune and Pyrrha spoke, the girl could only mutter in disbelief that the three of them had quickly grown to have crushes on men several years their senior.

It wasn't like there were that many prospects to begin with, anyhow. Jaune and Ren were obviously taken by their partners and Hell would freeze over by the time any of the girls decided to go dating the bully of the school, Cardin Winchester. He and his crew of relentless morons seemed to be still busying themselves with bullying Faunus and anyone else they found after two events occurred:Team CFVY, Velvet's team, decided to show Cardin what happens when First-Years mess with Second-Year Students, and Jaune decided to fight back and grow a spine for a change.

She shifted uneasily, then sighed as the group walked inside, before stating, "Let's go. We've peered at them enough." and grabbing both Yang and Ruby by their collars. She pushed Blake out of the place as well, while Nora giggled as she and Ren stepped off. Jaune and Pyrrha, meanwhile, waved goodbye to the team, with Jaune focused on Weiss. Now, the girl appreciated someone appreciating her beauty, but, uh, not him. He was a good guy, surely, but he just wasn't Weiss's type.

Ruby, meanwhile, was thinking about cookies. Specifically about baking cookies for the boys, to see what they thought. Her teammates stared at her for a moment, wondering what'd gotten dear miss Rose so deep in thought. Ruby looked to them as they walked, then shrugged, "What?" garnering Weiss planting a palm on her own face, before sighing.

"Nothing, Ruby. Nothing," Weiss replied with half a mouth.

"She alright?" Ruby inquired as she watched Weiss walk off. Yang snorted, then rubbed the back of her neck. Ruby looked to Yang and Blake, then asked, "Are you two alright?" as she noticed both their faces were flush, red. She narrowed her eyes at the girls, confused, then mocked, "Gee, girls, why don't'cha tell your team leader what your issues are?"

"You don't wanna know." Blake and Yang replied in unison.

Ruby pouted.

She did!

The young Rose scoffed at her friends, continuing to walk in-step with them, trying to pry more and more information out of the three of'em. It was annoying that they weren't even sharing their secrets, but they'd only known each-other for a few months at best. She also hoped they were nothing as bad as whatever else Vic or his buddies had hiding in their pouches.

The boys themselves, meanwhile, happily met each-other in the middle, discussing various items of interest. Such as how Hassan and Jim came about to this world. Hassan was one to speak, "We were engaged in Close Quarters with the Black League. One of their bastards put a round clean through me while I and Jim were dealing with his buddies. Jim?"

"I got domed by a Sniper," Jim scratched his forehead. A small pinprick was noticeable where the round must've penetrated his forehead. The group all winced, then turned to Saila, who started jotting down her less-than-preferred method of death on a piece of paper sat on the counter. The four boys hummed, sighed deeply, then three of them gazed at Vic with some degree of sympathy. They must've known.

"... Before you ask, Hass, Jim, Saila... Yes... I did find Vesna..." The young man stated directly, his voice low, sad, looking at all five of his teammates present in the room. Saila had apparently determined the truth immediately by the tone with which Vic had said that. She frowned, her shoulders sagging, before she turned away, perhaps to cry quietly, perhaps to think of what this meant for all of them. Vic didn't know.

It seemed the boys got it, too. Jim was the first to speak, "... Fuck..." before patting Victor on the shoulder and adding a solemn, "I'm so sorry, dude..." to which the Romanian puit a hand on his shoulder, too, then sighed deeply. Paul also placed a hand on Vic's other shoulder, followed by Hassan doing the same thing and looking at them all with a solemn gaze.

"Look at the bright side... Maybe she'll drop by here? Maybe she'll be here with Ayesha and Lita," The former Muslim suggested with some degree of hope in his voice for the last two, arranging his uniform. He set his helmet down on the counter-top of the kitchen, humming and gauging their reactions. The Romanian seemed to have a flicker of hope, but it was buried under such a wall of depression that it was visible purely from standing next to him.

Vic let out a deep, tired sigh and replied to him, "I'd like to hope, man..."

"Give it time... We'll find them or they'll find us." Paul offered, then looked around.

"Yeah..." Vic shrugged, then looked to his friends and continued, "Yeah... Hey... In the meantime, at least, I have the footage from KFOR to keep us all busy, if you folks wanna watch it. Y'know, I still have my GoPro." and he pulled out the GoPro. He set it on the table, which garnered a few melancholic smiles out of his friends. Even Saila seemed to turn around after wiping her tears.

He hummed, then walked with them to the living room and connected the camera to their Holovision, before all of them found their seats on a couch and Paul had decided to bring over beers and snacks. Namely by pulling them out of his own backpack. Saila, meanwhile, gladly took a beer and waited to see the videos as Vic set up the video feed itself. The man came back to the couch and sat himself down as the first video started playing.

KOSOVO

A Memoir of Times Past

The camera had been detached from Vic's helmet and he was panning it around with one hand...

It was the third day of KFOR for the Romanian and the Hungarian. Victor and Paul had gotten to know each-other, with the two men sitting together for convenience's sake as they watched their comrades walk around. The most stunning feature of this little omnipresent multinational force was, however, the presence of Russian and Chinese Peacekeepers in the Contingent. Vic hummed at their sight, all while Paul was fiddling with his smartphone. He elbowed the Hungarian in the shoulder, then said, "Hey, Hungol. Check it out."

The Hungarian looked over as two BTR-80s rolled in on their eight wheels, 14,5mm MGs pointed upward as they rolled in beside a group of Chinese transports, both with troops on their backs, then stated rather bluntly, "Huh. Chinks and Ruskies. Color me impressed they're actually sending people over to a Westie deployment in the middle of a territory one of their 'friendly' nations considers their own."

"Gonna say it's just supervisory roles or some shit. They wanna make sure we don't fuck the Serbs too hard if they try pulling shit. Tension's been high in this part of the Balkans even before the Border Fuckery near Ukraine. Now, the Serbs are just hoping the Russians are gonna back them up if they wanna retake Kosovo," Vic stated, shifting the position of his Romanian PKM to the side of the table.

The two boys felt a pair of hands clap onto their backs and both turned to see a trio of Americans. A Marine and two Rangers, from the looks of things, with one of the Rangers looking straight-up like some sort of cosplayer or LARPer, considering he was toting Vietnam-era kit. Vic blinked, then said, "Holy shit, we got a Vietnam time traveler among the yanks."

The boy snorted, both In Real Life and within the video, before shifting his M16A1 onto his shoulder and stating rather proudly, "Nah, command figured this op didn't require us wearing a lot of heavy shit, so they let me come in with grandpa's old Commie Killing Kit, y'know?" and that got a short laugh out of the four other men present around him, including the Marine.

"Ah, if only Russia was as Low-Intensity as that..." Jim murmured melancholically, wearing a smile and garnering a few chuckles from his own friends in real life. Vic himself let out a short laugh as he watched the video, but focused on it and Saila patted Jim on the shoulder. He focused on the sight of the men ahead of them, so young in these videos, yet so old around him. Fresh faces, young and handsome, replaced by tired gazes, sunken eyes, scarred faces and still the same goofy-ass smiles as back then.

"Maybe you can tote the kit nowadays, too, Jimmy. Ya see how many kids are larping here?" Paul smirked, eyes still fixated on the TV. Jim snorted and shrugged, sipping from his beer. Saila took a fistful of peanuts and started munching on them. She still remembered that first day the "Experimental KFOR Tactical Brigade" had been gathered by the UN in order to test interoperability between all the nations present.

"What sorta Mickey Mouse shit is this...?" Murmured the Texan Marine beside the boys, motioning to the Russian troops that were now disembarking beside the Chinese ones. He yelled out to them, "Hey! Hey, Ruskies! Didn't you motherfuckers hear?! This is Kosovo, not the fucking Donbas! Same for your Chink buddies, this shit ain't Taiwan!" which got a lifted middle finger from one of the Ruskie commanders. The Texan rolled up his sleeve and prepped to go throw down with the Russian, before Hassan himself stopped him.

He shook his head, "Not worth it, Marine. UN orders."

"Fucking Anti-Christ, always putting obstacles in our way for a funzee day," Spat the man, then smirked and crossed his arms to his chest, cradling close an M4A1 Carbine with the safety on. He spoke to the two men in a joking manner, "Anyways... A Hungarian and a Gypsy, eh?" all while Paul and Victor seemed to be looking to one-another. They looked at the Yank.

"You ain't wrong," Snorted Vic, grinning, "And a Texan Hick, a... Flint Michigander Thai boy and a Californian Latino?" and that got the gents ahead of'em to laugh as well.

"Malaysian, actually," Hassan corrected, "I'm Hassan Avery. Corporal, US Army. Command thought it'd be a fun idea to drop a couple of Rangers in for advisory roles here, so they picked me and this guy." and he planted a hand on Jim's shoulder, "He's a Californian, first generation, so excuse him if he's a bit more stuck-up than your average Yank like me or our Marine buddy."

"Name's Corporal Jim Asher. Call me Jungle Jim," The boy smirked, "And I ain't stuck up." before doing a mock Mexican accent, "Mom would beat the shit outta me with a chancla if I behaved like a prick..." before laughing with the boys and switching back to his old accent. He spoke on, "I'm your resident LARPer. You need some old kit from somewhere? I can probably talk to the PX about getting it for ya. Our resident Texan Marine over here, meanwhile?"

"Specialist Quentin Palmer's my name. Call me Dushman if you want," The Texan stated rather proudly, "Got that one from some Taliban back in Afghan. I'm the guy you want as a friend when it comes to procuring food and just overall the hunting-type shit any good soldier needs to know. I even got cobra blood if y'want a drink..." His smirk then turned into a half-deranged smile. Paul and Victor looked to one-another, then laughed.

"Nice to meet you, fellas. I'm Victor Toma. Corporal, Romanian Armed Forces. This is Pál Németh, Hungarian Corporal. Turns out command wanted us in a similar Platoon... Something, something, Sixth Platoon, First Joint Security Corps 'KFOR'..." The boy explained. The three men nodded knowingly, before Victor blinked and started, "Oh, shit, don't tell me you're in the same squad."

"That we do be, Toma," Dushman quipped, "Nice to meet'cha." He flashed a grin. The two other Yanks and the two Eastern Europeans hummed and nodded to each-other.

"And thus begins the first of a series of beautiful friendships," Paul quipped, then his shoulders sagged, "Fuck, I miss Dushman already, too."

"He'll drop in next, just you wait..." Jim grinned. Dushman was... He was a guy. A very good friend, but a fucking psycho was what he was. He was, indeed, the team's resident know-it-all when it came to trapping, be it animals or enemies. His traps had helped them catch a bunch of food during their days in KFOR. The others laughed, then nodded, memories of Dushman's antics flooding their minds as they watched the rest of the video.

A single Chinese woman marched up to the group, arranging the glasses on the bridge of her nose and tugging at the green BDU she wore just for this op. Emerald eyes locked onto the squadron and she froze for a moment upon spotting Victor, it seemed, before she pushed down any sort of hesitation or feelings that had popped up, cleared her throat and marched up to the group. She saluted and spoke in clear-cut English without an accent, sharp and focused, "Lieutenant Samantha Lee. I'm told I am to be assigned to the Sixth Platoon, First Joint Security Corps 'KFOR', as its CO."

"... That's us," Vic nodded, "Yo."

She nodded, cheeks a faint tint red as they all gave her quick salutes. She nodded them at ease, then asked, "What're your names, then? I'd like to know my team..." And she waited through the string of introductions for the boys, each going with their name and rank for now and none seemingly too happy about the presence of the Chinese soldier. Sans, well... Jim, who seemed to be blushing.

"Sammy..." Jim sighed deeply.

Nobody dared say a thing. The boy was pretty down bad for Samantha, despite her being a PRC member. She had always been critical of the Party and the corrupt Communist Republic down to every little detail, though she still served because of pride and a hope that, maybe, some day, China could become what it couldn't under the CCP today:A flourishing democracy.

"We should also be receiving our NCOs soon..." The girl murmured, then looked back. A trio of women looked over toward them, a beautiful blonde leading them as they shyly approached the group. Well, she was shyly approaching. Her friends, a tall redhead with a smile to die for and a certain air of confidence and a petite, brown-haired girl who had green highlights in her short hair and green eyes, not to mention a boonie hat on her head, all approached.

The blonde saluted shyly once they reached the place, then spoke with a slight stutter in English, "Stárshiy serzhánt Vesna Novikova, r-reporting for duty... Is... This Sixth Platoon?" and she got several nods. Victor, meanwhile, stood there, staring at the blonde, dumbfound. Paul had noticed and grinned, as had her friends, seemingly. Samantha also gave a nod to Vesna.

"That it'd be, Stárshiy serzhánt. I'm Lieutenant Lee, your CO for this temporary group outing," Samantha spoke, somewhat tired.

"Good to know..." The girl replied shyly, then motioned to the two girls beside her, "These are my comrades, Ayesha Dudyin and Lita Tarasova, both Stárshiy serzhánty like me..."

"Hello, boys," The redhead Ayesha smirked.

The three other boys and Saila looked to Vic. He nodded, staring at Vesna as she stood in the frame. His gaze was filled with pure love the likes of which one would rarely see among the ranks. And from the way Vesna was sneaking glances his way in the video, it was fairly clear the girl felt the same from the first day they had met. The entire group in the room set reassuring, firm hands on the boy's shoulder.

He sighed, shoulders sagging and smiled at the image of Vesna melancholically...

Lita simply nodded to the group, then hummed as she noticed Jim. She blinked, scratched her cheek and averted her gaze. Sammy sighed deeply, then said, "That's the staff... Next is..." She looked at a clipboard that she'd produced, then wrinkled her nose and furrowed her brows, not out of disgust but rather out of surprise, "The Medical staff... A Pararescueman from the US Air Force, a Bulgarian soldier and two Finnish soldiers, one of which is a Medic... What the fuck has command set us up with?"

"Sounds like we're a real bunch of fucking Misfits, eh?" Dushman quipped, placing a cigarette between his lips and lighting it. The group let out a short laugh at that comment, with Sammy nodding approvingly. She took her helmet off, shrugged and set the clipboard onto the table, before sitting herself down and motioning to the girls and boys to do the same.

Before long, the four new arrivals marched in. First was the pararescueman, a bright-eyed young fellow who had been a veteran. He greeted with a salute and a smile, "Howdy, kids. I'm Alex Ryan. Corporal, Air Force PJs. Don't know why they put me on the ground with a squad like this, but, hey, if you need medical help, don't hesitate to call my name!"

And then, the two redheaded Finnish girls that looked so identical, down to the haircut, that they even stunned each-other when they walked in. They hummed, smiled at each-other, then turned to the Misfits and gave a salute, with the more talkative of the twinlets speaking, "... Corporal Anja Korhonen, Finnish Defense Forces. Hope we get along..." and she got three tugs on her arm from the other girl. Blinking, a bit stunned she understood her, the girl then said, "And Private Saila Leppäniemi... Also FDF."

"... You understood her?" Sammy stood there, dumbfound. The girl tugged at Anja's sleeve again then smiled cutely at the group, cheeks red.

"... It's apparently a thing she can do," Anja smiled sheepishly. The entire group looked to one-another, stunned.

Alex, however, quipped, "Heh. That's pretty cute."

Both Anja and Saila blushed. The rest of the squad let out quiet laughs at the quip.

Last, but certainly not least on the list of arrivals was a soldier clad in Bulgarian Camouflage with a rifle that had a wood stock and forward grip. He pulled his Balaclava up off his face, revealing a handsome young fella. He smiled and spoke with a heavy accent, "Private Alexi Stoyanov, Bulgarian Armed Forces. Hey, folks. Good to see that our little Platoon's already gathered."

The movie then proceeded to go through the various introductions, followed by footage compiled from across their outings. The team bonding over a campfire, cooking s'mores, grilling the 'meat' they'd been given in their MREs, chatting, starting to smile and laugh as the months went on. Footage of them sitting together in tents played, with them playing cards and laughing.

Vesna and Victor sat close, while Lita and Jim interacted and Samantha and Paul laughed. Anja and Alex also sat in the back, giggling at the idiocy of some of the stuff they were doing. Alexi himself was sat next to Saila, rifle in hand and not saying much as Dushman led the boys to prank one of the higher-ranking COs. Then came the subsequent chewing out that the girls were watching while giggling, with Vesna holding Victor's GoPro and filming. She lifted the camera and looked into the lens, smiling, before panning down to the sight of Victor being chewed out by a posh British officer next.

The whole group on the couch now wore melancholic smiles as they watched this unfold. Outside, though, through one of the windows, team RWBY had decided to peer in after classes had ended. They'd seen a bit of the film and could faintly hear the muffled noises from beyond the windows. Yang hummed and smiled, watching the show, "I wonder if we'll ever be that tight-knit."

"It's a very likely possibility," Weiss noted, smiling, too, "It's endearing, in a way... Knowing these men had so many friends..."

"... Let's hope the rest of them show up, too..." Blake murmured, eyeing Paul. She noted a glint of sadness in the boy's eyes, much like she could tell the rest of the gang was much the same. They were, however, not the sharp, friendly youngsters in the videos. No, not even Saila looked like her hardy, healthy and a bit puffy 18-year-old self from the videos. Instead, she had a sunken face, still beautiful, and dirty hair, her blue eyes misty.

The other three girls hummed in agreement, watching on...

... 19th Of November, 2019

"So, this is it, huh...?" Vic started as the camera panned at the group as they marched on foot for the patrol. Paul hummed with a nod as the camera reached him, all while Vesna and the rest seemed sad. Vic murmured, "Almost a year of being together... I'm gonna miss you bastards a lot..." as they walked together. Several murmurs of agreement echoed just as a pair of Humvees rolled out opposite the direction they were going.

Dushman sighed as silence settled once more onto the gang. He fucking hated feeling powerless like this. He looked around at his teammates, noting that each of them looked glum with the prospect of what was kind of a summer camp for them. They'd made friends and spent so much time together... There were bonds formed. He could see it on the faces of both the girls and the boys that the interweaved mess of what was tantamount to love was gonna be broken without a satisfactory ending to any of their lives. He sighed deeply, then hummed... And began to quietly sing, "... M-I-C-K-E Y-M-O-U-S-E... Mickey Mouse, Mickey Mouse... Forever let us hold our Banner High, High, High, High..."

"Boys and girls, far and near, you're welcome as can be..." Vic murmured the song in tone, followed by Paul and Jim as they marched next to the road, more vehicles rolling past them filled with dumbfound American, British and other NATO soldiers that were slated in for the next patrol, "M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E... We play fair and we work hard and we're in Harmony..."

"M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! Mickey Mouse!" Rang the voices of the boys

"Mickey Mouse!" The girls then joined in, smiling, with Sammy at the forefront.

"Mickey Mouse!" The boys' voices rang out again, followed by the girls, much to the dumbfound surprise of the entire group of other soldiers around them as they marched. The group then sang in unison, "Forever let us hold our banner High, High, HIGH! HIGH! Boys and girls from far and near, you're welcome as can be! M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E! Who's the leader of the club that's made for you and me? M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!"

"Mickey Mouse!" The boys sang again.

"Mickey Mouse!" The gals chorused, laughing.

"Mickey Mouse!" The lads.

"Mickey Mouse!" And the ladies. The group let out a long, hearty laugh together as they stopped singing, with the lads hugging it out in the middle, patting each-other on the back and smiling, while the girls giggled and hugged it out, too. Entering the compound in a staggered line, the Misfits of KFOR marched in-step, together for the last time. Without a word, the gang turned to each-other, hugging it out and patting each-other on the back.

Sam, Jim and Paul hugged, only to be joined by Lita, who held tightly onto Jim, despite the obliviousness of the man, followed by the others joining in on a group hug that separated seconds later. A sense of finality hit as the transport trucks that would take the soldiers back to their respective units rolled in. Victor and Vesna themselves stopped and looked at one-another, it seemed. Both seemed to want to say something to one-another... But both sighed as they were called to the rally. They hugged, Vesna stifling tears, before they backed off and saluted each-other. Vic sighed and swore to himself in Romanian.

He shut the camera off...

And silence fell upon the room. Vic bowed his head and leaned back against the couch, his gaze falling to the floor. The others looked to one-another, each with a certain tiredness behind their gaze. Long gone were those days for them. Damn near four years had passed, four years of fear, of horrors and of nightmare times in their lives. And yet, here they were. A good chunk had reunited.

Yang felt the weight in the room, even from outside. She motioned to Ruby, who nodded solemnly. They backed away from the window and started on the long trek back to their dormitory, with some new context behind the lady and gentlemen that had dropped on the front porch of Beacon some time ago and decided to be the security service among the ranks of Beacon's staff.

Yang had seen how Victor looked at Vesna. She wondered if she could help... Alleviate that pain somehow...