An old Rock song played over the airwaves in the Misfits' little cottage in Beacon. Sammy tapped her foot to the tune with a smile as she parsed through the data they'd downloaded off of the laptop before they handed it to their client. Seemed like the woman that asked for it was feeling quite generous, considering the bonuses her little organization gave them.
So far, the Data had pretty conclusively been useless. It referred to the White Fang agreeing to work with various 'inclusive' criminal groups within Vale in order to procure mass amounts of Dust, though the uses remained unspecified. Maybe, they were looking to produce more weaponry and ammunition. Maybe they just wanted to make grandiose fireworks. Knowing the fact the Whiskey Foxtrots were just a terrorist group, Sam decided to scratch the last bit out with a chuckle.
She thumbed her Scroll and looked over any possible new messages from Ozpin that required them to do any work. Content with seeing nothing, the girl tossed aside the surprisingly resistant device and continued reading through the necessary data. She blinked and paused as she saw the signature of a certain Valeian criminal on a scanned document. She hummed and tabbed the information, before entering the local version of the internet and searching up information on 'Roman Torchwick'.
She also cross-referenced the information of the infamous little petty bowler hat-wearing criminal. She slotted the information in to properly read it out, then hummed. Pursing her lips, she called, "Hey, Paul!?" as a certain document popped into her eyes. A plan for a massive Dust Shipment yoinking the likes of which would make all the current store robberies pale in comparison.
Paul walked up to her, a local beer in hand and asked, "Sup?" as he leaned over to read the documents. Sammy pointed out the data she found and quickly redid the whole cross-reference and data mining information in front of Paul. The boy blanked and smirked, before patting Sam on the back and stating, "I'll be, looks like ya found their next target."
"A goddamn Schnee Dust Company shipment," Whispered Sammy as she stood to her feet. She smirked and told Paul, "It's in two days. We have time to prepare a plan of action. Paul, tell the others. I'll call Ozpin and tell him," then took her Scroll and phone and called Oz on the Scroll. Paul watched her go off to another side of the room, then turned back and started reading through the files they had on that Torchwick bastard.
He hummed, nodding and said, "Faggot," before marching out toward the lads. He found Vic reloading his boxes, Hassan also slotting new rounds into his plastic mags and Jim casually cleaning his rifle. Dushman, meanwhile, was prepping to head on out on his patrol this time, with Saila cooking breakfast for the entire team on the side. He crossed his arms and said, "Alright, listen up, folks. Sam got us some new intel from that stuff we 'got' off our employer's laptop. Turns out the enemy's about to have a big Dust heist. Stealing off an SDC Freighter in Vale's port in a few days."
Vic looked up, arching a brow, then looked to a supremely confused Hassan and told him, "That's Weiss's family company. Schnee Dust Company."
"Oh," Hass paused, then hummed and nodded, "Got it. So, they're gonna... Steal containers full of that space rock?"
Paul nodded, then walked up beside them and plopped himself down next to the guys and started loading his own LMG's belts with extra ammunition. He added, "That's the biggest bit of intel we've got so far from that laptop. I think the El-Tee's gonna want us ready to dropkick those White Fang idióták in the face like we did yesterday," with a smile on his face. He shouldered his LMG, looked down the scope and dry-fired it a couple of times. He then set it down and started taking it apart to clean it, "Hey, Hass, you got more of that CLP?"
Hassan tossed the Hungarian a can of gun oil, which Paul gave a quick thanks for. Hassan, meanwhile, wiped down the bolt of his rifle after having loaded his mags, then stated, "We're dealing with magical girls, kids wielding weapons that'd fit very well in one of your animes and they're fighting what's basically the Devil in the form of caricatures of animal life on Earth... God, I hate shitty Isekai tropes."
"Hehehehaw," Jim laughed mockingly, garnering chortles out of everyone.
Dushman leaned over the couch and replied, "I just wanna kill someone, Malay boy. This entire clusterfuck's been boredom for me from the get-go, honestly," though he still wore a smirk from Jim's little impression of a certain video game character from a certain mobile game. She looked to Paul and asked, "Oi, Hungol, nobody really briefed me on what the fuck this place is anyhow."
"Alternate world occupied by humans and people with one animal trait, soul-stuff powers and black demons like Hass put it," Paul explained as he used a cleaning rod to push the little gunk there was out of his weapon's barrel. He looked to Dushman and stated, "Basically that anime shit turned up to eleven, Dush," with a grin. The Texan rolled his eyes and let out a short, mischievous chuckle which caused Paul to shake his head. He turned back to cleaning his gun and said, "On god, Dush, if you kill any of the kids here, we ain't covering your dog-ass."
"Yeah, yeah, fuck you. I wasn't gonna," He replied as he strolled toward the kitchen, "Save maybe for that Cardin Asshole."
"Oh, yeah, no, Cardin's fair game," Vic laughed beside Paul. "That dickhead deserves it."
The squad laughed together again, all while Sammy walked out. She whistled loud enough, causing the entire team to stand up and turn to face her. She crossed her arms to her chest and said, "I trust Paul's told you all already, but we will be fairly busy in the next few days. What with the preparations to stop the White Fang's raid on the Port and the upcoming issue of this 'Vytal Festival', I expect you all to be on your best behavior."
Noting that everyone seemed to agree, she continued, "With that being said, the files we have also point out a certain... Important bit of information..." and flashed a smirk, "There's a Freelance Mercenary group operating against the White Fang, as well."
The entire gang perked up at that, surprised. She chuckled and said, "We don't have exact intelligence on who they are, but we know they're getting at our little terroristic enemies like there's no tomorrow. If we meet them, maybe we can do a little merger, since, apparently, headmaster Ozpin actually decided to make us a true PMC. I swear to you, this isn't a joke, this man just made us Beacon's Private Military Company."
"Heh," Jim smirked, "Guess we're on someone else's payroll now, eh? And we got competition..."
"Always have been," Joked Vic, "And, hey, least we still respect Geneva, unlike certain other PMCs from the East," words which got short, awkward laughs out of the group. Nobody wanted to mention the name of the bastards that couldn't even take a city without suffering mass casualties from their penal battalions. He sighed and said, "Right, then, boss-lady. What's this mean?"
"It means we're in for it now, I guess," She shrugged, "I've also called up someone to... Well, awaken our 'Auras', the soul-stuff power the local kids have like a sort of shield, which also apparently comes with its own superpower," and that seemed to make Jim eager. The boy bounced, a grin on his face, all while Hassan seemed disapproving of it. She sighed and said, "When they come around, I expect you people to behave."
"We'll do our best, ma'am," Everyone quipped. Sam planted a palm on her face and chuckled, before she heard her phone ding and lifted it. She sighed and read it, then paused. She looked to Vic and motioned to him to follow, before walking toward the door. Vic looked to his team-mates, confused, then marched up to the door, holding his PKM and a box of ammo, just in case.
Strolling out next to Sam, while the others peeked out from within, Vic heard the revving engine of an incoming transport vehicle. More loud than that, however, the man heard the roar of 'Highway to Hell' by AC/DC blasting out of speakers from within the vehicle. Vic's eyes shot wide open as he focused on the massive transport truck. So focused he was, in fact, that he hadn't noticed Ozpin standing next to Sam.
A small tricolor flag fluttered in the wind off the back of the six-wheeled vehicle. It had an anti-HEAT Warhead cage wrapped around its massively-uparmored body and a triangular axel set meant to deflect the blasts of anti-tank mines. It was painted in OD-green and had thick windows through which Vic immediately saw familiar uniforms. Sat on top, on a machine gun, a young woman with dark-brown, short hair beneath her helmet stared forward, mouth agape.
The Mastiff MRAP began to slow down as the woman grinned. She dived down and ordered them to stop the vehicle, before one of the doors popped open. Ozpin whispered to Sam, "A drone enthusiast from our school spotted them coming. We figured the team may be interested in seeing the arrival of some of young Victor's comrades..." and he paused as he saw the Troops disembarking.
Several Romanian soldiers tackled Victor, laughing heartily and swearing at him in their native language, before lifting the guy up. The woman on the machine gun walked up to him next and greeted him with a salute which he quickly and snappily returned. He wasn't about to leave his officer hanging. The girl, standing at about a forehead below Victor, took her helmet off and said in clear-cut English with a heavy Moldovan accent, "You son of a bitch, we thought something glitched when we saw you weren't with us!"
"Hah," Vic snorted, then smiled at his Squad. He stated, "It's good to see all of you, ma'am."
"Don't 'ma'am' me, you fucking idiot," She punched him 'lightly' in the shoulder, causing the boy to stagger a bit. She wore a grin on her face as she added, "We die in a Chechen towelhead ambush and the first thing this fucko calls me is 'ma'am'. Can you believe this shit?" before looking back at a familiar face. Ștefan Ionescu, a comrade of Vic's that died to a bullet to the face, smiled at his fellow Romanian.
Vic blanked, then smiled at them. He nodded to Ștefan, then looked to the Sergeant of the squad and said, "Sorry, Diana. You have no idea how good it is to see even more familiar faces... And..." He grinned as he looked at the Mastiff, "Fuck me running, you even brought the Warhound with you..." all while Sammy approached. Diana noted the girl and saluted her. She saluted back.
"Sergeant Diana Dănilă. Good to finally meet you," Sam extended a hand to her.
Diana shook it firmly and said, "Likewise, lieutenant Lee. Vic told us a lot about you and the rest of the Misfits," before turning to the cottage to see them all hanging by the door. She smiled and said, "Of course, we also had another source," before turning and waving at the truck. Another figure disembarked, clad in a US uniform bearing Airman symbols and those of the Pararescue.
A tired young man with short brown hair appeared, helmet slung under his arm and his M4A1 hanging off his back. He looked up as he walked forward and froze. Vic and Sam saw the man and their smiles grew wider. The man dropped his helmet and ran toward them in a full sprint, before pouncing on and wrapping his arms around his friends, calling out, "You fucking idiots...!"
"Hah... Hey, Alex," Vic patted him on the back.
"Ay, yo, holy shit, it's the Pararescue Bro!" Jim jumped to his feet and ran out with the others. Alex looked up, wide-eyed, before being tackled himself by the others. Tears welled in the Pararescueman's eyes as he hugged his teammates. Saila herself beamed at him from among the crowd of soldiers. He wiped the tears in his eyes, beaming at his teammates.
"Oh, my god..." He laughed, "I thought..."
"We know... We're glad to see you, too, dumbass," Paul smirked. The group helped each-other to their feet, the Pararescueman looking at his old teammates, a wide smile on his face. He wiped his tears again and made a quick headcount. He then frowned as he saw that several were still missing. Sighing, he saw Paul approaching him and patting him on the shoulder. Paul said to him, "Christ, man, you look worse for wear..."
"You're one to talk, Paul," Chuckled Alex Ryan, the team's field medic alongside one Anja Korhonen who was not here right now, "Look at your face. It looks like someone ran ya through a bologna slicer," and that got a laugh out of everyone. He looked over to Jim and Hassan and whistled, "Guys, why'd you leave me behind in terms of equipment! I feel like I ain't got the proper stuff for this mess!"
"Good to see you, too, Peacemaker," Quipped Hassan, grinning, "I had to suck an officer's dick to get this upgrade."
"Literally, or ya still keeping that mouth for Ayesha?" Al shot back, which caused Hassan to pause, eyes widening. Vic and the others laughed at Hassan, while the boy looked like an MQ-9 Drone Operator that realized he threw a missile at the wrong wedding. Saila patted the old Malaysian-American on the back, giggling quietly, her mouth covered by her hand.
"So, these're the Misfits, eh...?" Diana smiled, hands on her hips as she approached Vic. While Alex caught up with the others, Vic turned to Diana and extended a hand with a smile. The two shook, then turned to see Saila laughing as Alex kept asking her questions about Anja. Diana simply sighed and giggled, adding, "Man, you told me you folks were tight-knit..."
"Weirdest bonds I've ever made," Vic admitted, leaning his LMG on his shoulder, "But also the best."
Diana nodded, "Alex mentioned you guys were as thick as thieves, kinda like us back at the orphanage."
"Yup," Vic nodded, watching the gang. He turned to Diana and asked with a half-pensive, half-worried look, "You guys okay? I mean, considering the fact you wound up here, it probably... I know Ștefan got offed by a headshot... Rest of you die after me in the Ambush?" and watched Diana for her reaction. The woman nodded, then sighed. Vic hummed, a bit saddened by his friends' passing, but glad they were here, too. He blinked, paused and looked over to the girl's rifle. He asked, "When in the hell did you get ZENITCO parts for your gun?"
"Huh?" She raised a brow, then looked down and snorted, "Vic, you stupid, man? Upgrade packages for our AKs came around the same time as the Collapse kicking off. Modified parts were given to us to fully upgrade them in accordance with NATO stuff, meaning we got ZENITCO Replicas that are worth a damn to slap onto our weapons..." and she patted the ACOG scope on top of the rifle and the forward grip.
Vic whistled, impressed, and facepalmed, then stated, "Right, sorry... Forgot I was supposed to receive a PKM upgrade later down the line, too. We finally started producing those Para PKMs with the foregrips and all the added piccatini rails. Honestly, hell, I could've gone for it when we were going out to hunt those fucking Chechen pricks..." and he followed up by letting out a deep sigh. Diana frowned.
"... Did she show up here?" She asked. Vic looked up at her and, tiredly, he shook his head. Diana narrowed her lips and exhaled through her nose, shoulders sagging. She shrugged and said, "Any time now, man. If we all dropped in, she's probably not far," as she shifted her weapon onto her back. She paused as she saw four new people approaching, then blanked.
Vic looked to where she was looking and smiled, "Yo, Team RWBY."
"... Hey, Vic...?" Yang said, dumbfound, "When did more of your folks arrive?"
"A few minutes ago," Replied Diana. She turned to Vic and asked, "My man, who the hell's the quad team here? They look like a bunch of cosplayers from one of'em old anime shows we used to binge..." which garnered a laugh out of Vic. The young women all stared, shocked at the squad of Romanians that had somehow just driven into Beacon with little problem.
"Huh..." Yang was actually incredibly surprised by the sight of the Romanian squad and their Mastiff. Casting a sideways glance at her team, she saw they were in much the same predicament as her, though Ruby was giddily jumping at the sight of new guns, not just surprised. A faint smile formed on Yang's lips, but she looked away from Ruby and at Vic, asking, "Uhm... Why's the Headmaster here, too?" while Ozpin stood beside them.
"He saw the coming via a drone," Vic replied, chuckling, "Diana, this is team RWBY. They're local friends of ours and Huntresses in Training. We'll give you a brief rundown of everything when we can. Girls, this is Diana Dănilă. She's one of my platoon-mates, the Platoon's XO and a childhood friend from the Orphanage..." words which caused Yang to pale. He tried to ignore it, while Paul grinned.
"What're you girls doing here, anyhow?" Diana asked, arching a brow at them.
"We were here to help awaken the Auras of Victor's team...?" Weiss replied, still examining the troops. They had another machine-gunner with them, a marksman with a scoped long rifle and a rifleman carrying what looked to be an anti-tank weapon that was reusable, with the extra rocket warheads carried by another rifleman. Ștefan, meanwhile, sat there with a dumb smile on his face as Vic walked up to him.
The two greeted each-other in their national language, then laughed and hugged it out. Ruby smiled at the sight next to Weiss, saying, "Guess we should've expected him to come back, too, huh?" words to which Weiss giggled and nodded. Ștefan was dragged by Victor to meet the rest of the Misfits, all of whom greeted the young man with waves and cheers, apparently knowing him, too.
Right, KFOR. Victor's unit must've been whole back then, too, sans for a few of their new faces. Weiss figured it best not to intervene for now. Only when they'd be asked to bring their Auras to life, would she and the gang join in. The four Huntresses paused, however. Sam waved them over with a smile. Unsure, all four walked toward them while Ozpin simply watched.
Sam inquired calmly, "Why are you girls just hanging back there? You're the four who welcomed Victor and, later, Paul into Beacon's ranks as a security officer. You're friends to us all, too... Though I'd be advised," She then winced, "We get eerily chaotic-" and a thump was audible, followed by harmonious laughter from among the main Misfits. They all turned to see what'd happened, only to see one of Victor's Romanian comrades had slipped and fallen. She whined as she got pulled to her feet, red hair poking out from underneath her helmet, all while her team-mates and Diana comforted her, laughing, too.
"Yeah, no, we figured," Yang quipped with a smile, "Chaotic doesn't really cover you folks."
Sammy chuckled, "Fair enough, I guess..." as she turned to them, "We never got to hang out much, so I suppose it's only natural I gotta thank you girls for keeping Vic and Paul company... Can't imagine what he must've gone through after finding Vesna..." she frowned and looked down. Yang and the others stood there, silent for a moment while Sam collected herself. She shook her head and said, "Nevermind... Thank you."
"Hey, no problem," Ruby giggled, rubbing the back of her neck, "Vic's a nice guy..."
"When he isn't pointing guns at bullies," Blake quipped with a smile.
Yang snorted, "Oh, yeah, that was fun!"
"He pointed a gun at one of the..." Sam blanked, then facepalmed and called out, "Corporal Toma, get your ass up here, front and center, now!" in the most military tone the girls had heard out of anyone of the Misfits. The Romanian marched up to Sam and saluted out of instinct, arching a brow at his friend. She demanded, "Did you point a gun at one of the local teens!?"
"... A while back, before you all arrived, yeah? He was a jackass, thou-" Vic started, confused.
"NOT THE FUCKING POINT!" She yelled out, "And you were just berating Dushman about it!"
"... All due respect, El-Tee, I told him not to kill any of them," Vic replied halfheartedly, "And, honestly, we did tell you Cardass Winchestard deserved it."
Sam planted a palm on her face and murmured to herself wit the sharpest, most annoyed tone to ever grace her voice so far, "Un-fucking-believable..." while Dushman cackled in the background and patted Vic on the back. Alex looked to them worriedly, shifting from one foot to the other as he waited to see if said kid needed help. Or if anyone in his team did. The man was jittery.
"Alex," Paul stated, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Relax, my man."
Alex noticed his jitteriness, paused and bowed his head. He whispered, "Sorry... I just don't wanna lose you bastards again... You have no idea how much it hurt, seeing you all wink off and never reappear online..." words to which Paul could only feel remorse. He figured Alex might've been the last one to survive. Pararescue might go into the shit when the time came, but he had an incredible knack for surviving weird shit if Hassan's word was anything to go by. Afghanistan was a good example.
Paul sighed deeply and nodded understandingly. There was no point in commenting about it, anyhow. Instead, he chose just to watch the unfolding event ahead of them. As team RWBY began the Aura-awakening operations, Paul watched Blake approach him. The girl blushed and said, "D-Do you mind if I... Help awaken your Aura?" quite awkwardly. He smiled and shook his head.
"I don't. Why would I?"
Despite the stares from 90% of the gang around them, Yang and the others included, Blake went on to do it. Placing a hand on Paul's cheek and surprising him, she whispered something, causing a rather strange field of light to envelop both of them. While Blake's was a shade of black of sorts, Paul's seemed to glow dark-green, a near khaki like what the military in old reels wore. It was odd.
Blake took a step back as the Auric lights dissipated from both of them, with Paul looking at himself with awe. As the others got their Auras awakened, too, Paul grinned and said, "Oh, this feels amazing," as he looked to the others. A massive platoon of people just got the biggest boost they could ever dream of. Honestly, even as she blushed, Blake could only fear what they were about to unleash.
... This was gonna be interesting.