"Yeah, I'm tellin' ya," Annette said as she spoke with one of the Soviets, "Pepsi bought some old ships off of you guys with the promise that they'd sell their product in Russia. And frankly, shit, it worked. Made Pepsi like the fourth biggest standing Navy at the time... In terms of tonnage," She quipped, garnering a short laugh out of the woman beside her. A black-haired, blue-eyed beaut with a hardy voice.
"That's incredible..." She chuckled, "What are the odds?"
The Moroccan girl shrugged, grinning, "I don't know. All I know is that my favorite drink seems to also be favored by Communists, so that's fun," before she hummed and saw the BMP-2 being rolled forward by the engineer and driver. She paused, watching the vehicle brake a little too hard, before calling out, "Yo, comrades! What the hell's gotten into your girl?"
"She's being temperamental!" Ayesha called out from behind the transport as she checked it over. Standing to her feet, her AK-105 on her back due to her having run a short patrol with Hass, she stepped up to the Frenchie and stated, "One of her axles might have a bit of a misalignment, but it can be fixed rather easily in the field... We'll have to order some custom parts for a more permanent fix, though, y'know."
Hassan followed her to the pair, stating, "Ruby did tell us about that steelworks company she contacted to help with the replacement trunnion for Crescent Rose. Maybe they can help manufacture a new axle or something..." as he stretched. He, much like Ayesha, seemed covered in oil marks, their tank tops stained with the stuff, while their arms and faces were a hint darker than usual.
She also looked to the girl beside her, Tatianna. She shrugged and gave an approving nod, before taking off her Afghanka's coat and walking off toward the vehicle to help with it. Ayesha hummed and sighed, then said, "I wonder if we can get them some ZENITCO Repro for those AKs, plus some scopes. Y'know, get'em the same range some of us have with our guns."
"Gonna be overloading Ruby with requests," Hassan murmured, "Girl's got weapon smarts, I'll give her that."
Ayesha smiled and quipped, "He's fond of the girl like she's his own daughter." which got a chuckle out of Annette and an embarrassed blush out of the guns man of the world. Ayesha then giggled and wrapped her arms around her own boyfriend, whom she pecked on the cheek, to which he (and Annette) could only smile. Annette had been there as Paul recalled the tales of the Misfits, of his friends, of the shenanigans of KFOR.
She smiled softly and told them, "I'm just going to let you lovebirds be. I gotta go see what Paul and Katja are doing before, y'know..."
The two gave approving nods, allowing Annette to step off. She radioed in as she walked, checking in on the rest of the FFL Garrison in Beacon as her eyes travelled up to the sky. She saw something distant, a tiny silhouette among the blue of the heavenly dome. She blinked, hummed and checked her wristwatch, then continued walking toward where Paul and his girlfriend were patrolling.
She found them... Coming out of a closet... With Katja looking a little flustered. To be fair, Paul looked a bit red-tinted in the cheeks, too, which caused the woman to smirk. She approached them slowly and asked them, "Soo... When's the baby shower?" which seemed to startle both of the unawares folks, causing them to jump out of their skins with sudden screams.
Katja breathed a sigh, then murmured, "You scared the FUCK out of me, kurwa..."
"Out of us both," Paul quipped, then shot a pointed glare at the Frenchie, who was grinning trollishly at the pair. She shrugged, to which he sighed and told her, "Come looking for us for any particular reason, Annette?"
"Was just looking for my best friend and his wife," She quipped, which seemed to get the two even more flustered. With a chuckle, Annette added, "Joking. For now... Anyways, I've been seeing an improvement on you, Paul. You've sure been smiling a hell of a lot more ever since your amie here decided to talk to you about your issues, eh?"
Paul rubbed the back of his neck, a twinge of embarrassment glinting in his eyes as he said, "Yeah..."
"Thanks for pushing me to do it, though, Annette," The Pole remarked, arms crossed to her chest, "I'd've let this idiot stew if I hadn't had someone poking me in the ass..." and, honestly, it was partially true. Annette had inspired her to take action a little sooner than she normally would have, though she made sure to let Paul know about the contribution of his French comrade to the matter.
Paul, to his credit, gave a smile and a quickly-mouthed 'thank you' to the Moroccan woman, who, in turn, smirked and gave a thumbs up. Awkward Paul Nemeth to the usual tomfuckery, Katja thought with a grin. She sighed, then looked over to Annette and asked, "Please, tell me you had a crush on him, too..." which garnered a look of surprise out of Paul and a pause out of Annette.
"Oh, biggie!" Annette snorted after a second of processing, which caused Paul to blank.
Katja looked to Paul and, while exaggerating a facial expression of anger, threw her hands forward as if pointing with her entire arm at Annette. The Frenchie said, "And he said Victor is blind... This man could be the leader of the Blind club for all he has done in terms of leading people along. Hell, if you'd only know some of the merde he got up to in Russia..." before she murmured, "I swear..."
"I know!" Katja facepalmed, "Oh, my fucking God, I know... Total dumbass."
The Frenchie laughed, while the Pole giggled. Both looked to the confused Paul, the man covering his face with the strange scarf he usually wore around his neck. Both women let out short giggles at the sight, before Katja simply wrapped her arms around him and spoke, "He's my dumbass, though. Moje Pali..." and he sighed, replying with his own hug and a chuckle...
Annette could only smile at that, "He spoke about you a lot, too, Kat. He missed you, obviously," And she giggled, "So it is only natural I figured the idiot loved you for a while. Childhood friends, though... Snrk, talk about beating the trope of them always losing to death," She grinned. The both of them blushed again, averting their gazes, though both smiled. Dork East-Europeans. It was sweet to see, Annette thought.
She hummed, then looked up again at the silhouette flying above. She pointed at it the moment both Misfits snapped out of their little fugue-embarrassment and both looked up and let out a 'huh'. Paul suggested, "Think it's a Nevermore...?" as he pulled out his binoculars and uncapped them. Both girls shook their heads, with Katja shouldering her rifle and looking at it through the scope.
"No, that looks like a drone..." She stated, "Weird... Think it's Chernaya Liga?"
"Looking now..." Paul commented, then peered through the binocs. He squinted as the drone flew close to the sun, silhouetting itself against it. He hummed, then said, "I can make out weapon pylons on it, but we've got nothing that can reach it... Wait a minute, FLIR is pointed at us. I can see the silhouette of the sensor pod..." before humming and grabbing his IR Strobe out of his pocket. He flicked it on and activated it.
The two girls looked at him, then did the same, flicking their IR ID tags on. The drone seemed to have noticed them. It dipped, banked right and revealed the propeller on its back, followed by the missile pods. Quad-stacks on both wings. He told them, "Two pods, four missiles each. Going by the glints and the overall shape of the noses... Hellfire missiles..."
"NATO?" Katja grinned, "One of ours...?"
"Hope so," Paul murmured as he lowered his binoculars, watching the drone swivel about. He told them, "No surprise they'd send it armed if it is our friends. Hellfires are probably fairly decent at chunking Grimm in one hit..." before radioing in, "Dragon, this is Patrol... Encounter times one UCAV. Payload consistent with NATO armaments. It was surveilling the area at approximately Angels 3. Might be an MQ-9."
"... Roger that. Holy shit," Sam choked a reply over the Radio, her voice higher in pitch. She was surprised, clearly. "Did you guys tag yourselves via Strobes, or-"
"IR Strobes were used, affirmative. Drone presumed friendly. It's bugging out as we speak..." He stated, watching the drone fly away. Annette was grinning ear-to-ear, while the Polak stared up, holding her rifle close. She was jumping from one foot to the other, about to drag Paul by the arm to the rest of the team to announce it. And as Sam called up all the Misfits and the team leads of their three units, she did just that.
The gang reunited at the Misfit household in Beacon, Sam was wearing a surprisingly proud grin as she crossed her arms to her chest. Paul, Annette and Kat entered the place now, with Hassan staring at the group with a hint of concern, plus some underlying hope because of the strobes on their shoulders. Sam nodded and said, "Much as I'd like to give the brief myself... Kat, Paul?"
The rest of the Misfits, including a now-awoken Vic and Ves, stared at them expectantly. Paul snorted and shook his head, before turning to Katja and asking, "Wanna do the honors?" to which she shook her head, too, then waved her hand toward him. He looked at everyone that had gathered(Diana, Nikolai and Anya included) then said to them, "We spotted a possible Reaper above Vale just now."
"What?!" Jim jumped to his feet, eyes wide and a smile on his face.
Hassan hummed and grinned, "An MQ-9...? Was it armed?"
"Twin quad racks, Hellfires," Katja commented, "Kurwa was loaded for bear."
"Fuck me..." Robert said, arms crossed to his chest, "You're telling me we got NATO equipment here... How do we know it isn't something the League stole?"
"Simple fact is that it has working weapons, man. That and it didn't immediately paste Paul, Annette and Kat, y'know, like League probably would," Joked Ayesha, garnering laughs out of all of the people around. Nik and Anya, meanwhile, seemed a little surprised, if not concerned. Both were actually fairly calm. Robert, meanwhile, scoffed, but gave his approval with a nod. Aye looked over to Nik and Anya and told them, "This basically means NATO's knocking somewhere..."
"We got used to you lot," Quipped Nikolai, arms crossed and rifle hanging off his back on safe. He told them, "What's a few thousand more NATO forces...?" which got another few laughs out of them. Turning to Anya, he told her, "Rally the girls. We need to talk together about this new development, then decide how to best greet whatever allied Task Force is heading our way."
"Understood, comrade commander..." Anya saluted shyly. She said in English, "It's strange to think that the force we would've faced should the War have gone hot will now be walking toward us as friends."
"Times change, comrade Ignatyeva," Vesna stated, smiling as she held onto Vic, her fox ears up and alert, tail wagging. Anya snorted and nodded, thinking 'Indeed, they do', as she arranged her radio. She turned to a table, set it down and started radioing in. Ves, meanwhile, hummed and looked at herself and her old EMR Uniform, murmuring something or other.
"Right... With that noted," Sammy sighed and rubbed her eyes, "Dushman, you and Vic are on patrol duty now. Take Paul if he's willing to run another patrol. Hope the nap was good, cuz I need you two to run it for two hours. Sofiya, you and Lita are gonna be taking up an errand the headmaster asked us to run, while I'm gonna be looking through some extra finances and contracts we've started receiving recently, including one in cooperation with our beloved 'Valkyrie' friends..." and she clearly accentuated 'beloved' with Sarcasm. "Everyone else, continue on Stand-By..."
Each man and woman went to their assigned works, with Vic giving his wife-to-be a quick kiss and a smile. She smiled back, watching him go grab his equipment from their bedroom, shifting his PKM onto his right shoulder and making sure the barrel was pointed at the floor. The young man hummed 'Kukushka', the slow, Kino version, as he strolled out with their beloved lunatic of a Marine.
By the time everyone departed, Robert himself heading out to talk to some of the troops belonging to General Ironwood by Sam's orders, only Sam, Whiskey and Ves herself were left in the building. Vesna removed her uniform's jacket and set it aside, murmuring something in Russian about 'wanting to switch to something more comfortable', before plopping herself back down on the couch and taking apart her Kalash, cleaning its parts, attachments and barrel.
Whiskey hummed as she checked her BREN-II, then set it aside next to her sleeping spot and stretched. Sammy looked between the two women as she wrote down some financing data on her Scroll Tablet, a much larger variation of the normal Scroll, then murmured, "Salary payment due tomorrow, that's about five thousand Lien per person for a week's work... Huh. We're still up with a total of about four mil from the last couple contracts."
"We have four million Lien?" Whiskey asked, sitting herself down next to Vesna.
Sam nodded, "We haven't really spent it on much, Clarisse. Salary and the likes are paid on-time with Ozpin providing bonuses via his contacts in the Gov-err... Council..." She corrected herself, then sighed and added calmly, "And all we really spent money on was utilities and necessities like food, water and ammunition... Not one of us decided to really do anything too funky. Well, except for me. I'm planning to ask Ruby to build me a new gun and am ready to pay for it."
"Trying to go a bit more local?" Ves asked as she leaned forward. Sam nodded.
She then added, "Plus, it's a Norinco rifle. I'm blessed it hasn't broken so far..." with a snort. The others also gave short laughs, with Whiskey setting her rifle to the side and leaning back into the couch, using her hands to support her head a bit as she stared up at the ceiling. Sam asked her, "You good there, Clarisse? I saw you sleep really weird hours as of late..."
Whiskey nodded, "Yeah, just... Pulling security in Russia was a pain in the ass is all..."
"Why did you go mercenary, anyway?" Ves asked.
The Dutch woman shrugged, "Pay was pretty shit in the Dutch Military, though I got lucky enough. Plus, the benefits and stuff offered by SEC actually far outdid anything the Army could do for me," And she smirked, "Plus, for the most part, relationships weren't really frowned upon with the Mercs, while in the Army, you'd get demoted if found to be dating someone that's also military. Risk of issues or something."
"So..." Sam hummed, "Did you leave before or after you and Vic broke up?"
"... Before..." Whiskey admitted meekly, her cheeks a twinge flushed. She clarified to the two smiling women, "My voluntary service was up the moment I left Romania for training and I'd already pre-signed the contract with SEC to be part of their force... I'd gone back to Romania in-between jobs to tell Vic about it... Wanted to tell him I got the money now to keep us all around..."
"You went for him, eh?" Sam snorted, then smiled. Whiskey's face flushed, with both Ves and Sammy letting out an 'aww' at the sight. It was rather sweet, they thought, that the ginger-haired Mercenary had wanted to take Vic away. Ves felt what could be described as a bit of jealousy at the thought, but still, if Victor had been happy, if he had never had to discover her body...
She shook that thought off, before pausing as she heard Whiskey call out, "So, Vesna..." which caused the two to lock eyes.
"Yes, Whisk?" She inquired, smiling.
"Hehe, cute nickname," The girl chuckled, then hummed and said, "I wanted to ask you two what... Well," She snorted, then blushed, still smiling, "What made you like Victor in the first place...?" which seemed to catch both Sammy and Vesna by surprise, both girls blushing. Sam excused herself, grabbing her calcs and heading out, to which Whisk said, "Aw... Well, that leaves just me and my ex's wifey, heh... I'm asking because I wanna know if it's the same things that made me like him when we were dating, y'know?"
Vesna nodded, face still red. She rubbed the back of her neck and giggled, then started thinking back. She began with a melancholic smile, "Well... I guess I had a bit of a crush on him since the moment we first saw each-other. What made me fall, though, was when we first started talking..." and she recounted, fiddling with her thumbs and smiling, "I had overheard him talking about not liking the East and Russia in general, basically, but... The moment we started talking with each-other, he'd been nothing but kind, oh so gentle with me. He showed care and respect the likes of which neither I, nor Lita or Ayesha got at home. He was just incredibly nice."
Whiskey beamed at that, quipping, "Yeah, that sounds about right for Vic..."
"What about you?" Vesna asked in return, looking at Whiskey. The ginger blushed, scratching her cheek. Even the mole below her right eye seemed a tinge redder than normal. Vesna chuckled as, suddenly, some part of her jealousy was replaced by a bit of sadness for Whiskey and for Sam. Both girls were wonderful persons(Or so Ves could discern from the surface-level interactions she's had with Whiskey so far), with Sam being a very close friend.
Whiskey pressed her indexes together and replied with a low voice, "I guess the whole shtick about him and games... I'm surprised how open he is to talking about his hobby, considering the life he had with the orphanage and all, but I guess he would be a bit more open, courtesy of the friends he made there, Diana included. Hell, you know how he and Diana are!"
"Basically siblings," Ves chuckled
"Yep! Anyway... Yeah, he's just got this vibe about him when he goes on rambling about stuff he likes," Whiskey giggled, then looked to Ves as she, too, beamed, stating, "Like, you hear him talk about some video game lore or something and he just goes on this whole, like... Cute rant about how some stuff is, or how some other thing is and he just, ugh, he's just adorable! And he got me into vidya, too, with that type of stuff! It's still a hobby I practiced before Russia!"
Vesna giggled, "Oh, I just adore it when he does that! I'm not a gamer, but I do try to catch up with some of the more recent things that appeared before we all wound up here, either from Paul, or from some of the other fellas. Let me tell you, when he sees the person he's talking to knows at least some of the basics, it just seems like it makes his entire week! You can see his eyes light up!" And she let out another short giggle, her eyes filled with love, "I love him so much..."
Whiskey smiled at that, though it hid a hint of sadness, "I'm happy you're the one Vic chose."
Noticing it, Vesna decided to do her usual sweet girl thing and hugged Whiskey, stating, "And I'm sure you'll find someone soon, too, Clarisse... Thanks for taking care of him while I..." She hummed, then stated with a smile, "While I was out..." Whiskey hugged her back and the two giggled. This was usually unnatural for females, being this friendly to each-other, especially when it involved a supposed object of affection. What one would realize, however, by looking into the matter was that Victor had never really picked or dated anyone who didn't vibe with him. Two previous relationships had hurt severely, to the point he had considered falling for Vesna(the third possible relationship) to be a deadly mistake. Yet, he'd found it to be the best choice he'd had made for him.
And now, sat in the doorway with Paul, both of them staring at the two women, Vic felt his heart well to twice its size. Metaphorically, obviously. Paul, meanwhile, smiled and patted him on the back, stating, "Told you leaving them together was gonna be fine, Vic..." words which got the attention of both women as they turned to face the pair. Whiskey's face turned an even brighter shade of red than her hair, while Ves blushed more lightly.
"Dawg, my fuckin' heart..." The Romanian replied, gripping onto his chest.
"H-How long have you been there, fellas...?" Whiskey asked, her voice a pitch higher than before.
"Since you gals started talking, really," Paul replied, causing their blushes to grow further, while from Whiskey's mouth escaped noises akin to that of a teapot boiling over. He chuckled and patted Vic on the back again, then said, "I'll go grab what we need for the patrol with Dush..." as he walked over to the locker where they kept gear and ammo and grabbed a bunch of fragmentation grenades, including some experimental Dust stun ones.
Vic sighed, then seemed to gather up his courage and walked up to them, hugging both. He murmured, "How lucky am I, then...?"
"Not as lucky as us, Vic... We met you, after all..." Ves's muffled voice replied, face buried in his shoulder. Whiskey let out a few more muffled noises of agreement. He sighed deeply, then chuckled...
"S-So..." Whiskey started, deciding to try her bloody luck, because what had she to lose at this point? "About that threesome~-..."
"No, but good synch," Vic chuckled. Whiskey whined, then sighed and surrendered, while Ves chuckled. From an adorable little mess to a fucknugget, Whiskey's switches were almost incredibly easy to perceive. Vic let them go after another five minutes, then walked to help Paul pack some extra ammo and left after bidding a quick goodbye. Ves stood up, gave a quick wave to Clarisse, before leaving for the kitchen, presumably to prepare dinner.
As that left Whiskey alone, the little ginger Dutch woman sighed, let the blush of embarrassment subside and walked to find and help Sam with the taxes. Because they were still paying taxes, right? Even if they 'weren't', law would probably demand a privately-registered Military Contractor Company to pay its fees. Honestly, better to do so now, considering what she was taught at SEC. She knocked on Sammy's door and found that the Chinese Lieutenant answered quickly. She then offered, "Need some help with the taxes? Wouldn't want to piss the IRS off now, would we?"
Sammy blinked, then nodded and let Whiskey in...