... Come the next day, the Misfits and their newfound allies watched with muted awe as one of their new allies had come around. Sammy was currently in Beacon Tower with Headmaster Ozpin, wearing nothing but her off-duty fatigues, her camo jacket and her cap, off of which she'd removed the PLANM emblem and instead replaced it with a generic globe pin of Remnant. She'd kept the Chinese flag on her shoulder for the simple fact it'd take some time to sew the uniform properly after removing it.
Headmaster Ozpin sat with her and miss Goodwitch, sipping from his mug of brew as they watched the Atlas Military's three warships hovered, deploying troops into Vale and Beacon itself, as well as equipment for the security required during the famed, Bi-annual Vytal Festival. She'd taken the liberty of reading about the celebration of the end of Remnant's sole World War and why security would be needed for it. Atlas's warships hovered warily over Vale and Beacon itself, winged beasts armed with laser batteries and close-in weapons systems, though lacking in missiles, dumbly enough.
Honestly, it was nice to know people celebrated the end of the deadliest type of conflict to erupt on their planet by having fights and food. Classic humanity and ther animal-trait off-shoot comrades, honestly. Glynda commented in a murmur, "Well, James certainly loves bringing his work wherever he travels..." which got a short chuckle out of Sam. The girl stood there, hands behind her back and ramrod straight.
"Safe bet he wants the military around as security, ma'am," Sammy replied calmly. She respected any man who knew that the situation on Remnant was rather sensitive at the moment. She didn't know, but she had a nagging feeling that they were not the sole earthlings to arrive on the semi-alien planet, considering how many of their own had dropped by. And that also meant that there were probably 'bad guys' around, too.
"I'd suppose so, Lieutenant," Glynda replied, a hint annoyed. She looked back to Sammy as she saw the girl pause, seemingly staring at a platoon of troops that had just arrived. Clad in camouflage similar to the likes of the ones found on Earth and on their equipment as well, the Atlesian soldiers carried what looked from a distance to be a very familiar pattern of rifles.
"Huh..." She murmured to herself, shifting the pistol in her thigh holster off of safe instinctively. Something didn't feel right. She looked to Ozpin and asked, "Headmaster, we're still interrogating Torchwick... Did the police manage to discover where those two rifles we found came from?" with some hope that they were just 'new arrivals' like them, but...
"I'm afraid they are still looking into it," The Headmaster replied, "The writings in that strange alphabet aren't helping."
Sammy sighed deeply. Of course, Vale wouldn't know how to read Cyrillic, much less translate the words into anything that could so much as give them a clue. Still, those looked like old standard Izhmash AKs, left in a better-kept storage shed than whatever the Ruskies had pulled for the War in Ukraine. Like a secret Reserve base. Sammy hummed, then said, "We'll see if we can't pull Torchwick's tongue hard enough for him to talk."
"Be careful, lest someone screams foul about human dignity, Lieutenant..." Glynda sighed. The elevator behind them dinged and the good Second-in-Command stated, "And there's the General..." with a less-than-pleasant murmur. Sammy turned toward the door, watching as a man with greying black hair and steel-gray eyes stepped off the elevator, a smile on his face.
"Ozpin!" The man greeted with a smile as he approached, arranging the scarlet bowtie around his neck, "It's been a while!"
"General," Ozpin greeted coldly, all while Sam felt the tension in the room rise and the air grow a hint colder as the two men shook hands. Sam tapped her foot as the group exchanged pleasantries and Glynda departed after one of the General's comments, then turned toward the elevator. She saw a figure hanging out in the shadows, a rifle barrel poking out from behind said figure's legs.
Sammy hummed, then looked to the General as he turned toward her. He spoke, "I presume this is one of the Mercenaries you wrote to me about?" calmly. He turned to the woman and saluted, stating, "I'm General James Ironwood of the Atlas Military," and pausing as Sammy snapped a crisp, professional salute at him. He saluted back and nodded to her, "At ease. What's your name and rank?"
"Sir, Lieutenant Samantha Lee, field commander of the Misfits Private Military Company," Sammy half-lied there. The 'Misfits' were not a proper company just yet, but Ozpin did slot them in under the name of one of his friends on the council. Apparently, Oz fully intended on at least giving Vale a Private Military Company for defense and with their growing numbers, it was probably better for them to have a proper financier to pay salaries evenly.
"A pleasure, Lieutenant. Strange to see a Lieutenant commanding a unit that's over Platoon size, though," James replied, "And your name is... Interesting."
Sammy laughed awkwardly, then lied, "Yeah, it's from a village really deep in the jungles owned by Mistral... Sadly, I left home so long ago, I don't particularly remember it..."
"Not a lot to keep you back there, I assume," Ironwood hummed, then shrugged. Once the man turned to Ozpin to speak to him, Sammy let out a deep sigh of relief, then turned toward the elevator as she heard a giggle. James hummed, then nodded, "Right..." and said to Ozpin, "You aren't the only one who got a PMC here, Ozpin. In order to reduce the manpower necessary for the deployment of troops to help our joint security venture, I've brought my own personal unit."
"Oh?" Ozpin and Sammy said at the same time.
He nodded and turned to the door, "Sorry to keep you waiting, Sergeant... Come on in."
"My pleasure, General," Replied a heavily-accented female voice that Sammy recognized nigh-immediately. Straightening up and walking out of the shadows, a black-haired beauty with chin-length hair and dark-blue eyes stepped out of the elevator. She wore armor Sammy had only seen before on a certain PMC Group, bearing the bog-standard Russian EMR Camouflage made for woodland. Underneath it was a short-sleeved shirt that exposed the right arm's sleeve tattoo, which bore several familiar symbols resembling something one would see on the right of the political spectrum, though seemingly made on Remnant. Hanging off her armored rig was a high-cut helmet with earpieces, a radio in a left-hand pocket and a pistol holster.
Emblazoned front-and-center on the armor was a pressed emblem. A circular emblem, with blue lines resembling a crosshair. In the middle of it lay a Grimm skull mask, as if it was meant to resemble a crosshair pinned on the non-descript monster's head. Above it was writing in Cyrillic and in the Latin alphabet. Sammy felt a chill shoot up her spine as she read it, 'PMC Gruppa Valküre'.
The woman grinned when she saw Sammy, while Sammy stood there, breath caught in her throat. Hanging off the front of the rig was a heavily-modified AK-104 Carbine with a lot of ZENITCO Parts and a holo-magnifier combination on the top cover, not to mention a FORT foregrip and a laser-flashlight combo on the right side. Grabbing onto the straps of her vest, the Sergeant spoke to Sammy, "Lieutenant Samantha Lee, I'll be damned. Haven't seen you in a while, kiddo... Last time was when we were in the middle of that sandtrap..."
"Sergeant Arina Petrova..." Sammy murmured, "I thought they..."
"Threw me in jail?" Arina's grin grew wider, "They did... But what do you know? They need a Hired Gun or Fifty around the world, eh?"
"Yeah..." Sammy's mouth felt dry.
Ozpin had noticed Sam's hesitation and began to eye the woman ahead suspiciously. She walked up to Ozpin and Ironwood, then saluted proudly. She looked to Ozpin and said, "Sergeant Arina Petrova, of the PMC Group Valküre. We're the deliverers of the soldiers of God to Heaven and guarding Atlas interests when we aren't doing that. Looking forward to working with you and your..." she cast a glance at Sam, "Own Private Company."
"A pleasure, Sergeant..." Ozpin said warily, "If you don't mind leaving me and General Ironwood alone, ladies..."
The two officers gave a nod to him, before stepping off to the Elevator. Sammy tapped the button for the bottom floor, before she heard Arina speak, "Fancy seeing you here, honestly... I thought the Chinks decided to stay out of conflicts outside of Africa. Burkina Faso was the last time I saw a Chink infantry unit so much as sneezing at anything that pissed'em off."
"Says the Russian..." Sammy replied, then looked to Arina worriedly, "Where the hell'd you die...?"
"Syria," The girl quipped, then murmured, "Turns out pissing the Americanski off was not a good deal... Cargo 200 by vaporization..."
"What?" Blanked Sammy as she tried to remember a Russian unit that got blown to hell in Syria...
Arina waved it off, chuckling darkly, "Said too much already, suka. You'll figure it out... So, your own PMC? Guess this means we'll be working to 'keep the peace' together again, eh?" And that last bit almost seemed sarcastic. Sammy nodded, looking the fervent woman in the eyes. Arina didn't flinch, however, at the little Chinese girl's glare. Instead, she looked right back just as the elevator dinged.
The two hummed, paused, then stepped out of the Elevator. Arina had a longer step than Sammy, hence she covered more ground. She only turned to Sammy at the exit, telling her, "We've got your back if you got ours, eh?" in the most totally-not-suspicious way possible. Sammy nodded, chewing on her lower lip as she watched the Sergeant wade off after receiving her answer. Outside, cheers in Russian erupted, with Sammy stepping out to see the rest of the PMC.
That was Russian kit, through and through. PKMs, AK-100 series rifles, most of them in 7,62x39 for the Grimm, presumably. But they didn't much look like Russian troops either, even fucking SVDS rifles. The soldiers, both male and female, turned to Sammy and saluted her, though some were more-or-less mocking her. A couple of the men eyed her lecherously, but she didn't reply, simply caressing her pistol's grip to give them the hint.
Entering the Misfits' home, she saw only Alexi, Paul and Katja were present today, with the others already back at the old apartment, presumably to set it up as their second base of operations. Paul noticed the sheer concern in the girl's eyes and asked her with a hint of worry, "Sam? What happened? Atlas troops do something we should know of?" to which she sighed and motioned to them to follow her.
The three followed their officer out, pausing as they saw the Valküre. Katja blanked, gritting her teeth as she gripped her own pistol. Paul, though angry, pushed her hand down and looked to Sammy, whispering, "Russian PMC?" to which the girl nodded. Paul hummed and looked them over as the patrol passed by them. Paul swallowed, then murmured, "Why the fuck do they feel familiar...?"
"You don't think...?" Alexi looked to Paul, feeling a hint of bile in this throat for some reason. The Hungarian shrugged. Could've been anything at this point.
"I don't care... I wanna fuckin' kill'em..." Katja growled, though she settled down when Sammy shot a glance back at her that told her there'd be consequences if she did. And not from Sammy, but from the Atlas troops that were also deploying and probably from the General himself. International incidents were the last thing they fucking needed right now, even if they were looking at a Russian PMC unit straight out of the old...
God, Sammy hoped to hell it wasn't them... But everything looked so familiar...
Nikos Towers
The ladies' apartment was a bit more spacious than Vic had expected, proving the fact that they had all been here before him and his friends, to nobody's surprise, considering Vesna died first. Speaking of our beloved blonde and her fiancee, the two were in her room, poking around at personal effects to see what they could transport over to Beacon.
Vic peered through the various shelves for stuff they could grab to free the room up, should any other members of the Misfits want to sleep in the luxury of a high-rise in the middle of Vale's top rich people area. He plucked up a snow-globe with Beacon inside it, noting the colors and the emerald light at the top of Beacon Clock Tower. He hummed, gently set the fragile item down and grabbed a photo frame.
He chuckled. It was Vesna, Lita and Ayesha after they'd finished their training, posing with the rest of their unit. Lita had dark-brown hair with green highlights instead of just the full-on green she wore nowadays to match her eye color(and camouflage, according to her), as well as the basic Russian troop equipment instead of her trademark 'Captain Price' Boonie Hat. Ayesha sat in the middle, holding the two others by the shoulder and smiling brightly, while Lita seemed a bit distraught and Vesna gave an awkward thumbs up.
He looked over to the girl as she searched through the drawers and plucked up various garments that she might need back at the Beacon home. She seemed to be in thought, but he could make out the faintest half-smile on her face as she worked her way through her clothes. With a hum, the man stood up and slowly walked toward her, feet slightly cold due to the fact he had only his socks on now, his boots left at the door.
He walked up behind Vesna and quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, causing her to yelp with what Vic was pretty sure was fear in her voice. She looked back, terrified, before seeing it was her dumbfound lover and sighing in relief. She smiled awkwardly at him, face red with embarrassment, before stating, "Sorry... I didn't expect you to..." before turning toward him and hugging him back, "To do that..."
"Sorry if I scared you..." He replied awkwardly, an apologetic look on his face.
Vesna shook her head, casually lying, "You didn't..." Vic was in his more casual outfit this time, too. Specifically, his short-sleeved khaki shirt and his combat pants, so he could easily feel her heartbeat through her own uniform's shirt and her heart was rattling off nearly like a minigun. He narrowed his lips, however, choosing not to pressure her for now. Maybe he did just give her a good ol' fright.
Sighing, he pulled back a bit to look at her, before offering her a warm smile. She smiled back at him, then nuzzled his neck and giggled. He chuckled and gently ran his fingers through her hair. She looked up next and poked her nose up against his, beaming brightly at her husband-to-be and by God, did that make his heart skip a beat. She giggled and kissed him on the lips, an action into which he leaned, kissing her back.
The two chuckled, forehead against forehead as each held onto the other as long-lost lovers would. Vic could finally feel Vesna's heart-rate slowing down, thankfully, which meant the poor girl was calming down after the fright he'd given her. A fright that normally shouldn't have happened, or at least not affected her for this long. He'd actually hugged her from behind once before, during KFOR, which did surprise her, but not to this extent.
Eh, he could worry about it later. The love of his life needed cuddles and he would provide, holding her close and pecking her on the forehead or cheeks every so often and causing her to giggle. Every time he looked at her, his own heart began to race as the thought that she was finally back in his arms kept repeating in his mind, for lack of any other thought he should be focusing on.
Meanwhile, Vesna was just overjoyed. She had missed him dearly during the three years of separation, with the worst of her desire to see him kicking in during the Russo-Ukrainian War. She had wanted so many times to surrender to the Ukrainians, to join the Free Russia Legion with Lita and Ayesha, but the three girls knew that if they tried, the New Commissariat would shoot them in the back before they even made it half-way across No-Man's Land.
She yelped, though this time not out of fear, as Victor lifted her in his arms and held her close. He sat himself down on one of the beds in the room and simply chose to cuddle with her properly this time, presumably letting her make the first moves if she wanted to. She giggled, however, leaning into his embrace and tightening her own, feeling the warmth of his body around her, an overwhelming feeling of safety.
Watching it from the outside, Jim and Lita chuckled at the sight, before gently closing the door. Lita sighed deeply, relieved, before stating, "God bless whatever woke us here... I couldn't bear to see Vesna or Victor like that anymore..."
"You and Ayesha've been following Vic since after he found Vesna, right?" Jim asked as they sat themselves down on one of the couches. Lita nodded, shoulders sagging. Jim hummed and asked, "How was he? Vic, I mean... Homie seemed pretty rough when we met him here. Sure, he was still playing the part of the friendly guy we all knew him as, but everyone, even Paul, could see he wasn't doing too hot..."
Lita sighed and said, "I thought I and Ayesha were beyond vengeful when Vesna got killed. No," before shaking her head, "Victor was something entirely different. I don't think he slept a night until we caught up to the Chechen SOBR unit that killed our troop... At least I and Ayesha caught a couple of hours of sleep every few days, but him? He was driven. He might've played it nice on our old message group, but..."
"Ouch..." Jim winced, "That bad, huh?"
Lita nodded, "When our units got to Ichkeria, I and Ayesha caught up with his squad just in time to see him put a bullet between a Chechen's eyes, execution style. No hesitation whatsoever. He caught the little shit planting explosives on the road to try and destroy our convoy," and she looked to Jim, "According to information, he had barely turned nineteen when Vic offed him. None of his team dared say a damn thing, either. They were on orders to shoot to kill anything hostile, considering..."
"The Gas..." Jim hummed, then sighed, "How'd you two react?"
She shrugged, "How do you think? One of our best friends was now a headstone in Norilsk's cemetery because of their kind. Of course, we approved Vic's actions."
"Damn. Hardcore as ever, eh, Li?" Jim chuckled. Lita let out a short, slightly bitter laugh at that comment, then shrugged. Jim told her, "Reminds me of the days you'd kick my ass at Modern Warfare."
At those words, a world of memories unlocked in Lita's mind. She covered her mouth and started giggling, before elbowing him in the shoulder. He let out a mock sound of pain, before laughing, too. Him and the green-haired Russian Muscovite were another pair of childhood friends that had met in KFOR, but the difference between them and Paul and Kat was that they had become friends over online games on the XBOX 360.
The Latin-American boy snorted, "I still remember you somehow managing a perfect Price impression as a girl."
"Ain't that hard," The Ruski used her mock British accent and lowered her voice, holding an unlit cigar between her lips. Both she and Jim burst into hearty laughs at that one. The two looked to one-another and bumped fists, smiling, before Lita sighed and looked up at the ceiling. Of course, the dumbass probably still didn't get what she felt for him, but, at least, they were now back in the same general area together.
She was happy again...