Chaos, that is what the headmaster was dealing with. Nothing had gone according to his plans these past few years. Centuries spent guiding the Kingdoms into a state where they would have some safety were being thrown aside as strange occurrences popped up seemingly daily.

First he had noticed a sudden influx of new unaccounted for citizens within the walls of Vale. All humans with no seeming commonality would appear in groups from nowhere and try to integrate with the city's culture… sometimes less successfully. However with no proof that there was a deeper plot the Headmaster couldn't just go round them up for questioning, the paranoia and panic it would induce could cause a massed Grimm attack…

Brothers, the Grimm. Something was kicking them into a frenzy. He'd seen satellite images showing massive hunting packs in previously calm frontier territories. They moved with even less intelligence than he was used to, more of a stampede drawn to something. Reaching out to the villages all he had been informed was that they 'did not require assistance from Vale'. He'd expected to have to send multiple teams anyways, watching the feed intently for hours, ready to give the order to a docked ship.

However, he waited all night, and no need was found. Against all odds they had been right. The Grimm broke against something, a wall of fire and bullets. So he sent Qrow. Whatever this was could turn the tides with this much power. Hope had been crushed as always upon his agent's return… Giants of metal and unyielding will had turned the villages into veritable fortresses, and Qrow had almost died when one of them noticed a suspicious crow and fired with terrifying accuracy.

However all of this was another piece to the never ending game of shadows. More pieces to move, to watch, to push in the right direction, but easy to keep quiet. That did not seem like it would last. For before him stood Team RWBY filled with a righteous fury he had never before seen in them.

"Headmaster, you can't just let this guy run wild!" Yang slammed her hands onto his desk, the wood creaking under the force, "He's a total PSYCHO who can apparently shoot lightning out of his hands and heal from near total blood loss in like 10 seconds! Let us go beat some sense into him!" Her team gave a resounding cheer of agreement, clearly raring to fight.

Their determination was admirable, and they were a group of brilliant prodigies, but something told him this situation was not suitable for them. "I understand your concern, girls, but this is no longer your mission. I have senior hunters and huntresses combing the city right now with your description to find him and when we do it will be handled. You are not to go and interfere is that understood." This last sentence he let his calm slip and hardened his gaze at them.

Their posture slumped, weariness evident on their faces, Ruby meeting his gaze and rubbing the back of her head, "We understand Headmaster…" With his nod they turned and exited the room. It was always hard to be cold with his students but if his theory was correct this wasn't a series of unfortunate coincidences.

No… if he was correct, this was an invasion, and Vale could not handle two enemies at this point.

Turning to look out the window of his tower, he stared over the city. It may have been nighttime but the city was still alive, shining like the jewel in the wasteland it was. The view was tainted tonight though. For every citizen could be an invader, an outsider, an unknown. However, he paused scratching his chin, perhaps if he was lucky, this invading army could be brought into the fold…


Inquisitor Vashael was still reeling from finding allies so soon. Truly the Emperor's blessing shined upon him in this quest. The Kasrkin, Throne was he happy to have an elite like that, was leading from the front, with the other two at his rear, clearly as a symbol they still did not trust him. The male shock trooper seemed the most open to his presence however, and stepped forward, already speaking, "It's a relief to have found you Lord Inquisitor, the names Reeve, that's Felicia with the auto gun and the Kasrkin is Yvette. We were-" The aforementioned Kasrkin turned their head to stare down Reeve, causing them to clam up and step back into formation.

Seemingly satisfied, the Kasrkin began giving their report, "We have been on this world for approximately one Terran month. Prior to this we were… we fought in The Fall of Cadia. In the midst of giving our lives to stem the tide a Golden Light washed us away, awakening in this city. But we were not the first arrivals. Luckily we arrived in the dead of night, and upon seeing unfamiliar surroundings began searching for more information. Finding others, who had been called to serve in this new frontier."

"Where are they?" Ishmael couldn't contain himself, he needed to see his allies soon, the task before them was daunting and he prayed to the God-Emperor that he had the soldiers to see it through.

"Deeper into the city," Reeve spoke up from behind him, "This place is, well to be frank it's massive Sir. It's practically a hive city in area if not in height. And our presence has to be kept a bit lower here, there's a school for training warriors somewhat near this section of the city. We don't want their attention."

Warriors hm? Perhaps this was those 'huntress's' that girl had gone on about. He'd need to ask more about that later, for now, "Well who's garrisoning this outpost then. I can't imagine there's many of you with such a small patrol."

Reeve spoke up again, he seemed the most comfortable of the three with talking, "Well there's around a dozen Cadian's, we seem to be more common here… along with a handful of Armageddon Veterans, and a couple Krieger boys. 'S not much but to be honest Sir no one seems to inspect these sewers."

That was it? He didn't even have a platoon let alone a company for securing what sounded like the section of this city with the most potential danger… although perhaps… "And in total? Do you know how many troops The Emperor has blessed us with in this campaign?"

This time it was the Kasrkin who answered, pausing to turn their head around. "A company, at best. Command has kept it on the down low but if I had to guess based on our deployment and the tactics being used? A few thousand at best… a few hundred at worst." With their piece said they continued on.

This was the worst possible outcome, Vashael pondered. Barely enough troops to take a hive city let alone hold it… and it seemed no armor, no ranged support and reinforcements were random at best and for all he knew he was the last of them… this would require… subtlety. "I will need to contact your officers soon to inform them that I will be taking charge, I believe we may need to begin… altering our approach soon."

The shock troopers at his rear, seeming to have grown comfortable and trusting of his presence, moved into an honor guard position rather than a prisoner formation, more conducive to conversation. The Felicia spoke up for the first time, "Sir, there isn't a strong vox network here, we've been knocked back to local frequencies and only have contact with command when they send supplies… it could be days or even weeks before that happens again. Command has decreed that all our forces should go to ground until we have the numbers to take action."

This was rational in an unknown situation, but he knew there was something The Emperor wanted dealt with, and they could not afford to wait around. Stroking his chin he contemplated a plan of action. While it would be easy to send out scouts and strike teams, eventually they would be found and taken down… He needed supply chains and the knowledge that they weren't operating in hostile territory… "This school of warriors, tell me more about it. Have you had contact with any of their soldiers?"

The Kasrkin shook their head, "Warriors, Lord Inquisitor, not soldiers. We have seen them a few times and they seem to bear far more similarities to His Angels than us Guardsmen. Their weaponry is strange but effective, and they fight with a power that should not fit inside such normal looking humans… But while they are deadly and well trained, many of them lack discipline, and they are few in number. Based off the number of citizens in this city they either operate off volunteers, or the process to create them is incredibly costly…"

This, this was something he could work with. Specialist warriors with not enough numbers to go around was the reason for the Imperial Guards existence. It may be a new world, but he had something to offer now, a chip on the bargaining table. He just needed to find a place to exploit it… "Are there any enemies of humanity within the city?"

At this the three paused in their march, and from the hunching of shoulders and tightening of their grips he had a feeling it was the abhumans once more… Reeve was the one to break the silence, "A… faunus, group, Sir. They call themselves "The White Fang". We've seen them taking humans off the street, or gathering in abandoned sections of the city we had been casing for supply sites. They seem to style themselves after creatures of nightmare, and they are vehemently anti-human…" Inquisitor Vashael realized this was it, if he could organize the troops in this outpost and eliminate a sizeable group of this White Fang, he would show that they were a force to reckon with, and perhaps gain the attention of those with the supplies to assist them.

As he was preparing to lay out his plan, they came into view of the headquarters of this outpost. It was exactly as Yvette had described. A dozen Cadians were manning the position, hiding behind crates and heavy bags as fortifications. The barbed wire coating everything however seemed to scream Krieg, with a pair of them manning an autogun turret alone. However the most curious was the four Steel Legion soldiers who immediately trained their guns on him. Vashael paused, slowly raising his hands up to show he was unarmed. The rest of the troops followed a second later, although the Cadians seemed the least concerned, presumably trusting their comrades.

Yvette stepped in front of him, "This is Lord Inquisitor Ishmael Vashael, he has been sent by The Emperor to give us our mission, lower your guns brothers and sisters, we have finally been blessed with purpose." The guns pointed at him all lowered… with one exception. A lone Steel Legion soldier kept their bolter trained on him, hands shaking in barely restrained anger. He stepped forward, even as his comrades put a hand on his shoulder to try and dissuade him.

"The Inquisition… When, has The Inquisition EVER been sent to "aid" the Imperial Guard… I'm not going to fight alongside one of those bastards again only to be shot in the back for being 'corrupted'." Vashael felt his blood run cold, this soldier wasn't a veteran of the Ork wars on Armageddon.. They must have been from The First War… The soldier saw recognition in his eye and it only drove him on. "That's right you bastard, we fought, we bled, we DIED for The Emperor. We did our duty, with the promise of glory and honor on the other side, only for you to kill those I had fought through a pile of bodies with and I will reap my vengeance in your blood." He leveled his gun, even as every other gun trained itself on the Steel Legion veteran, and Vashael wondered if his quest would end before it even started.


Author's Note: Hey all, so uh, yeah life kinda got away from me. I moved 30 hours away from my last place and it's been a whole thing. But playing darktide with friends has gotten me back into this so hopefully uploads will be more regular now~! Let me know what you think and please leave a review, they help my creativity sm 3