The day had come, Balistraia would actually need to engage in diplomacy. And only her mechanical nature kept the anxious feelings an organic would be feeling at bay. Really now that she had been forced into it the whole issue was simple: get recognized as a foreign political power or get recognized as a foreign company by menagerie's leadership. Both had benefits and both had down sides, largely the fact that a company didn't usually have a larger army than the state it was based in, and had a state it was based in. The issue with establishing themselves as a nation had a simpler problem though, they were technically invading menagerie.

Also they technically had the ruler's daughter in captivity. But Balistraia wasn't going to mention that until the situation changed to 'and they rescued my daughter' rather than 'and they have my daughter trapped'.

She had ended up on the 'mysterious machine' plan. They just let the humans come find them and then open dialogue, the message she had sent basically just had reassurances that they were guarding menagerie's people and meant no harm. Ominous and mysterious, which by all signs put her in a position of power in any negotiations.

So an unimportant base was prettied up and she prepared to receive human guests by gathering foods and drinking water, made a drone that had high quality sound systems and waited. It wasn't like the group of girls were in any danger or anything, they were safe within the inner factory. Probably, they were on Nauvis so safety was an uncertain thing.

It took a few hours for the 'faunus' to arrive. Some armed with light weaponry or melee weapons. But an arrangement of handguns and machetes poorly concealed on the 'guards' was of very little concern to her. Even with dust those things wouldn't get through an inch of even normal steel, much less anything actually armored.

Of more interest was the man in the middle of the group. Ghira Belladonna, who Balistraia hadn't actually been expecting to arrive in person. He surely had diplomates? Though given the poor state of Fanus public relations Balistraia had to assume he didn't or they weren't worth whatever they were being payed.

Still his unexpected attendance only made her job easier, and as the group exited their vehicles and approached the gate she had it slowly swing open. Purposely loud hinges at that, and took some minor delight in the way the guards flinched towards their weapons. They were actually close enough for her microphones to pick up speech, and she heard Ghira give a few motivational words with a small smile and a laugh. "Well it looks like we're expected' which somewhat diffused the tension she had been building up until one of his mooks spoke in an audible whisper 'this is how horror movies start' while gripping a large blade in a tight grip. The Belladonna responded though, once again trying to sooth them, "that just means we know what to expect!" It seemed humor and kindness were his diplomatic weapons of choice. How quaint.

--

Yang let out a high pitched scream that rapidly choked off as she clamped down on her initial reaction, instead shouting on reflex "why THE FUCK are they this BIG!" as she was forced to jump back and away from the insect larger than anything with that many legs should be. Ruby's shout of 'Yang! Language!" was barely heard over the retort of her rifle. Blake's response was much clearer to Yang though, given the much shorter distance between the pair. "they're fast too, without this armor I'd have already taken a fair few hits''

Hundreds of dog sized insects swarmed over the ground, like a thick rug of chitin, and dozens of larger insects charged throughout. Half of Yang's attention was solely on keeping her landing zones clear as she hopped and dashed through the battlefield. To sit still was to get swarmed, and even if that wasn't a fatal prospect getting buried under a tide of bugs was something Yang wouldn't wish on some of her enemies. Grenades and lances of white hot flame only served to temporarily clear out patches of dirt, and the group pressed on through the bugs. Not bothering to kill each and everyone, speed was of essence here.

The bugs were coming from patches of land that had been replaced, corrupted, by pods of flesh. Various tunnels poured out bugs still covered in an odd sticky substance, but they were no weaker for how rapidly they had been born. There would be no waiting for the bugs to come and die and then killing the empty nests, the flow of insects wouldn't end. So they needed to stop it at the source. Balistraia had been clear enough at that, the bugs deaths meant nothing, only killing a hive did anything.

If Yang had to relate it to anything it would be like if the grimm came from a certain place, and if that place wasn't destroyed it would just spit out more and more grimm. Not the best comparison, but the only thing she had, and as much as it felt blasphemous to say it Yang preferred fighting the grimm, if only because they usually weren't giant insects.

At least these ones didn't have any towns of civilians to attack and kill.

No, instead they just covered the landscape like a blight. Yang wouldn't have been surprised to learn there were far more biters than there were grimm. Though with how the numbers of both varied so heavily it likely changed on a day by day basis.

Yang had already killed dozens if not hundreds of biters, and her teammates weren't killing them any slower. But they pressed on towards the hives regardless, having more than enough ammunition and willpower to keep fighting even as the ground churned to mud and bullets crackled like thunder.

It was a stormfront of violence, full of hail, blood falling like rain, and cracks of artificial thunder as their armors lashed out with short bolts of electricity. And they crashed into the bugs like a ship through a wave. Pulping crushing and demolishing anything in their path like a well oiled machine. Yang would duck out of the way for Ruby to get a shot at a troublesome bug, leap through Weiss's glyphs or throw Blake where she needed to go.

The bugs showed no less coordination, each reacting like one whole to counter any strategy they implemented. Ruby was crafting new plans and strategies as the bugs adapted to each one, yet she managed, always staying just ahead of the bugs own shifts.

It was twenty minutes of this slog when they finally reached the nests, and Yang's team covered her as she tore into each one with her semblance and augmented strength. Her suits built in claws ripping gouges of flesh from each node until they deflated. And she took glee in crushing each half developed bug form she found.

There had only been twenty of the things, a small newborn hive. But it had still taken yang another four minutes to get the rest of them, the outer covering far more durable than its slimy and fleshy appearance suggested. Apparently if the hives had been not too much older they'd have grown armor plating and buried themselves under artificial hills.

But even with all the hives dead the bugs kept up the assault, and the team shifted their fighting style to favor trying to rush through the bugs as fast as possible rather than killing each one. With both armor and aura enhancing their speed each member of team RWBY left the few remaining bugs in the dust, and watched from a safe distance as the bomb Weiss had planted detonated, taking the bare few bugs still roaming their broken hive into oblivion.

--

Watching the huntress work only holds my interest for a few minutes, it isn't the first time they've gone out having made it a routine these last few days, they have excellent teamwork for sure. But that's by organic standards and by my own they are highly inefficient. Only their semblances make them any better than just letting Balistraia pilot the empty armors. Which in itself wasn't cost effective either, no the armor wasn't to let them become a hyper efficient fighting force like they might have imagined. It was to keep them from dying because they wander into a radioactive area, or because of acid rain, bio attacks, random fish falling from the sky.

Humans, even with aura, were fragile things. Their bodies are capable of failing at any moment due to minor issues and major design flaws. Highly complex machines sure, but rugged or well optimized ones? Not in the least.

Putting them into something with some minor medical systems was just common sense in case one of them had a random stroke, or an allergic reaction, or any one of the hundreds of things that can randomly kill a person. I'd taken steps to rid myself of the few design falls my modified human form had come with already, and so had to worry about none of those things.

Still, it was odd to me that they wanted to go out and fight, but the medical scans showed an increase in dopamine and adrenaline so it was likely they genuinely enjoyed fighting. The blond one especially, even if her own emotional state seemed oddly erratic, well they all did but hers were especially volatile.

We hadn't even been sparing or engaging in 'recreation' (watching videos stolen from the tablet) these last few days. And I had to admit I was a little sad that the red head, Ruby, Had spent less time designing weapons systems with me. They had mostly been smaller scale projectile launchers rather than anything exotic but I'd never had someone actually contribute to my work before. It'd been novel and her skill had been notable.

The white one, Weiss, had been interesting to talk to as well. She'd apparently taken it upon herself to teach me 'manners', 'etiquette' and to develop my 'social IQ' and I wasn't arrogant enough to assume I didn't need help in those areas, and she'd taken to teaching me with a passion.

I couldn't say the same for the other two. They were nice enough but the hybrid didn't like me, and apparently didn't like being called 'the hybrid' while the blond … just didn't really mesh that well. She was good at fighting and "gear head' when it came to small wheeled vehicles. Which I made little use of. It'd been interesting to watch her try and saddle a courier drone for a few days but that hadn't ended up going anywhere and when I'd programmed one to let her she'd said it 'wasn't the same' which basically killed any desire I had to try designing small vehicles with her.

A well armed and armored motorcycle was sitting in storage, but I'd never bothered showing it to her.

AN-

this one's been in the works for months now, and hasn't wanted to come into being. honestly the rwby and warhammer plots aren't quite dead but if I continue them they will be as crack and not taken as seriously as I have up to now. or people could write omakes.

two more chapters on the RN, though they aren't the longest of things.

like comment and review, engagement makes me happy.