Chapter Fourteen

Rush

/-\ Yang Xiao Long /-\

"Strike Six, confirmed survivors at UFO crash site near Point Roberts, United States," Penny's voice said over the intercom.

My hands shook as we boarded the Skyranger. Though I'd faced the aliens in combat before, they were both spur-of-the-moment things with no warning. All of us had watched the feed from the trio of interceptors in tense silence, both cheering and dreading their inevitable success against the lone Raider-class ship. It had been a hard fight for the flyboys – one taking critical damage and being forced to land at a nearby airport instead of returning to base – but at the end of the day, every one of them would be coming home.

Now we just had to see if we'd keep that trend up.

The troop bay of the Skyranger was just as silent as our watch party before. Lieutenant "Spitfire" Miller, Six-Actual, sat across from me doing a final weapons check on his laser rifle. Staff Sergeant "Bear" Olssen, Six-Two, was beside him with his hands clasped in prayer. Corporal "Broadside" Greene, Six-Three, was right beside me, staring ahead with unblinking yet calm eyes. Lance Corporal Murray, Six-Four, played a game on his phone near the drop ramp. Right in front of him sat our lone Smart-SHIV, piloted by Penny herself. That just left me, the lone rookie and sixth member of the team. Well, fifth member, going by my callsign.

"First drop?" Corporal Greene asked.

"Yeah," I said. "Not my first time against aliens, but…"

"First time you're dropping in. Yeah, I get it. Got the same jitters on mine, too. Even after doing a full tour in Iraq… this is something else," she said. "Keep your head down, do what Spitfire says, and you'll come home just fine."

"The hell you talkin' bout?" Murray asked, powering down his phone and shoving it in a faraday bag. "She's a rookie – that means she's first-off the Skyranger."

"Knock it off," Spitfire said, a Bostonian accent coloring his words. "That's what we got the Shenbot for. And smokes – lots of smokes."

"Huh?" I muttered. "What's he mean?"

"A bad mission, early on," Bear said. "The squad was careless, thinking the aliens would stay close to their UFO as had been the case before. They were lying in wait around the only viable landing site and opened fire after everyone was off the 'Ranger. Only one of the six members of the strike team made it out of there. You've probably met her – she's head of Security."

…suddenly I had even more respect for Sergeant Ozga. "That's where she lost her arm, isn't it?"

"That it was," he said.

I was about to ask another question when the intercom blared. "Buckle up, boys! We're at the AO in sixty seconds!"

In an instant, my mouth was shut. I had more important things to worry about. I did a final quick check on my weapon and touched the spots where my flashbang and AP grenades were stored. After confirming their location, I cycled my aura with a deep breath. Golden lightning flowed over my skin as my auric barrier sprang to life. I was still very new to its use and Blake wasn't sure it would hold up to even the lightest of alien plasma weapons, but I'd very much rather have it than not.

"Alright, we're doing the usual drop order," Spitfire said, donning his helmet. "Five, that means you're out last with me, copy?"

I donned my own helmet as the rest of the team did too. "Roger."

The interior lights flashed red once before turning a bright solid red. "Positions!" Spitfire ordered.

Broadside and Murray – a scout and gunner, respectively – stacked up on either side of Penny's SHIV, guns at the ready but still with one hand holding on to the straps up top. The rest of us stood as well with me and the blue-armored Lieutenant in the back.

The light changed to green about five seconds before we hit the dirt and the ramp dropped. Smoke bellowed out from the Skyranger's engines in a thick and obscuring cloud as Penny's SHIV rolled forwards, its massive gun swiveling side to side.

She was immediately met by the green glow of plasmafire, the bolts only slightly darkened by the smoke. The one comfort was that they were well off-target. "Contact!" Broadside shouted as she rushed out. "Looks like a pod of Mutons! Three of 'em with a Floater up high!"

"SHIV, Three, and Four, suppressing fire! Two and Five, let's get the hell outta this bird!"

We moved as soon as the staccato of the SHIV's gun was audible. Next to it, the ruby red beams of the other two's laser weapons burned holes through the smoke. Green plasma bolts returned fire, zeroing in on the shooters. I had to jump over Murray's prone form as he rolled to avoid incoming fire. My boots found pavement as the three of us ran out of the smoke cloud, each taking cover behind a tree about thirty meters from the Skyranger.

The men inside the smoke cloud were still pouring out fire in the vague direction of the aliens, but it seemed ineffectual. Just then, I saw the Floater dart forwards, dodging between trees ahead and clearly trying to flank the others. I raised my rifle and pulled the trigger, missing my shot entirely. What my shot did do was cause the Floater to jerk in surprise, right into a shot from Spitfire. "Nice teamwork, Five!" he shouted as its lifeless body skipped over the ground.

"Running low on ammo!" Broadside said over comms.

"Three, hunker down and reload. Two, put a shredder up their asses!"

"With pleasure!" Bear shouted, hefting his rocket launcher up. The missile streaked towards the cluster of Mutons in a cloud of smoke, exploding in a massive fireball. "Targets shredded!"

As the smoke cleared, a Muton became visible as it dodged out of the way of a falling tree. I immediately raised my rifle and peppered it with laser beams. Spitfire saw another alien and fired his laser rifle. Both of us hit our targets and brought them down.

"Last one's pulling back!" Broadside shouted.

I saw a glint of metal for a split second, but then it disappeared into the foliage. "Roger, let's regroup," Spitfire said. "Any wounded?"

"Negative on our end, smoke did its job," Broadside said. "Ah, nevermind, the Shenbot took a hit. Looks like it's still kickin', though."

"Better the bot than a person, right?" Murray said.

I frowned under my helmet. Even though Penny would be completely fine if the SHIV was destroyed, it still didn't sit right that he was talking about her like that. Though I wasn't as close to her as Ruby was, she was still my sister, damnit!

Regardless of how I felt, the squad still formed up and began moving towards the UFO. We advanced carefully and by the book – at least what little of it I'd learned already. Some of us would advance while the rest would cover. We managed to snag one MELD canister, but the other – glowing from its perch atop the UFO – was out of reach. Blake could've gotten that, I thought. I could've gotten it too if I was better.

We encountered another pod of Floaters on the way – three aliens. After a brief firefight, they were all smoking wrecks, but they did manage to bring Penny's SHIV with them. I stared at the wreck for a bit longer than I should've. She was fine, I knew she was. But seeing that green-striped hulk of metal on fire…

My blood simmered as I turned and joined the rest of the team, stacking up on either side of the UFO's blue shield door. "Aright," Spitfire whispered into comms. "On my mark, Two pops the door and Five throws a flash. Ready?" We all nodded and I got my flashbang ready. "Three… Two… One… Mark!"

The shield door vanished and I got a glimpse of the aliens inside – Thin Men, though I couldn't get a count before throwing the bang and ducking back behind cover. Alien screeches shortly preceded the explosion, but we paid that no mind – we breached the second the grenade went off.

I opened fire the second I could, catching a Thin Man partially out of cover before ducking behind an alien crate. More screeches rang out, as did gunshots. I peered over my cover and saw the air turn an inky black around my target. I loosed another couple shots, but missed.

"X-Ray down!" I heard Murray shout.

I'd just finished reloading when the sound of rockets above us made me pause. I hunkered back down, some odd tingling at the back of my neck seemingly warning me of something to come. And then a massive hulking alien form stormed through the doorway we'd just entered. My eyes widened. "Muton behind us!" I shouted, raising my laser rifle and pulling the trigger as fast as I could.

The alien stumbled from the first bolt and fell from the second. In its place, four Floaters zipped into the UFO. I raised my rifle higher, but I just couldn't track the fuckers. Murray hunkered down and started spraying the entire ceiling with laser bolts, but only struck a couple – not even killing them. Then I saw them boxing in Broadside. She, being the scout, was the lightest armored out of all of us, her speed and agility protecting her as much as the plating did.

She dove out of the way of several plasma bolts, but then found herself in the open to be assaulted by the remaining Thin Man as well as the Floaters. I raised my gun, but it clicked empty. I didn't even think after hearing the click, I dropped the weapon and ran.

Towards her.

"Get out of there!" I heard someone shout over comms.

She caught a plasma bolt in the chest and it clearly stung her, she froze for just a moment too long. The next bolt would be fatal. Unless I intercepted it. I poured energy into my legs and into my aura, reaching her just in time to act as a Human shield.

It was the hottest thing I'd ever felt – like being dipped in boiling water for three seconds. My aura broke and I was sure I was a little crispy, but I still threw Broadside behind some cover and whipped out my pistol, firing with one hand as I ran for the nearest alien wall. I jumped over it, falling to the ground just as more plasma bolts sailed over my head.

And that was when I heard a hissing sound. I turned my head to the left and was immediately met with the spectacled face of the Thin Man I shot earlier. "Uhh, hi," I muttered.

It raised its weapon and I immediately grappled its arm. It tried to twist away, but I caught it square in the face with a left hook. It screeched, shards of its sunglasses going straight into its eyes. It was momentarily distracted enough for me to grab my fallen laspistol and shoot it in the face.

Acid erupted around me as I chucked the body away, but I still got partially covered in the stuff. It stung like hell, but there were other things to worry about. Snapping a new power cell into my pistol, I rose back up to see the chaos was continuing to unfold. Also, I couldn't hear a damn thing over the radio now.

Laser bolts still peppered the ceiling, though now there were only two Floaters zooming around, both clearly wounded. And there was also a Seeker that had latched on to Murray, taking his SAW out of action. Spitfire was running across the deck to deal with that while Bear and Broadside hunted the Floaters.

So there was no one around to see the little Sectoid taking aim at the Lieutenant as he rushed to save our gunner.

I raised my pistol and put a beam straight through its head.

As it fell, things slowly started to make sense again. I helped put down the Floaters just as Murray got his pet squid surgically removed. We figured out that my comms had been fucked by the acid and I picked up my laser rifle again and Broadside got a spritz of Medikit spray from Bear.

The Outsiders were a lot easier to deal with – we just put a rocket in the cockpit and then had Murray spray down anything that moved inside. After sweeping the area, we determined the site was clear and headed back to the Skyranger.

I collapsed into my seat, barely having the wherewithal to buckle up. "What a fucking first mission," I muttered.

Despite the fact that just about everything went wrong after we breached the UFO, Central still decided I needed a promotion. I only received the news after I'd already laid down in the medbay.

/-\ Weiss Schnee /-\

It had been about a day since Yang's first mission. She was already discharged from the infirmary, even if she was still required to wear bandages over her burns. For now, she stood next to me in the observation theater. On the other side of the glass, a story down, was the base's extensive physical training course. On normal days, it was used by XCOM's strike teams to keep in shape and hone their accuracy. Today, however, the new recruits were being run through it again.

The twenty-odd recruits and one Blake Belladonna.

She'd forgone her usual tank-top and black jeans for her standard workout clothes – something she obviously didn't mind getting dirty. Even with the large backpack of rocks on her back, she looked quite out-of-place among the recruits, who all wore various military uniforms. Yang and I had accompanied her just before they'd all entered the course and overheard some of the recruits asking if this was some kind of joke, much to everyone's chagrin.

The officer in charge shouted his final orders to the recruits before stepping aside. A moment later, the starting line was empty with Blake clearly in the lead. Said lead only grew as time went on. She lapped them by the time they got half-way around their first one and did it again before they finished their second. Second place was three-quarters of the way through his third lap when Blake was already at the shooting range. She finished that in record time too, emptying her magazine just as second-place began his fourth lap.

She sprinted off again, practically throwing her weighted backpack away and leaping over the barbed wire before the machinegunners even fired a single shot. She catapulted herself over the wall in a single tug of the rope instead climbing like she was supposed to. Then, instead of rappelling down the other side, she again shot forward, skipping all but one of the remaining obstacles which were cleared in the same ridiculous fashion. She then turned around and made an absolute mockery of those same obstacles which she'd skipped the first time around, reaching the wall again before second-place was half-done with the fourth lap.

Again, she catapulted herself up, but then she simply ran down the other side, clearly not content to let gravity do all the work for her. The machinegunners were more on the ball this time and began firing before she reached the barbed wire. She simply leaped to the side, running on their weapons and skipping the barbed wire once more. All in all, the spectacle lasted just under fifteen minutes. Second place, a man clearly at the peak of his physical fitness, finished in thirty-three.

She was clearly drained by the absolutely insane performance, flopping onto the ground not far from the finish line and just staying there for a while. The medics even had a chat with her, but she waved them off, opting to just lay there for a while. I honestly couldn't blame her.

"Holy shit…" Yang said. "I knew she was good, but…"

I found myself only able to nod along. How could I ever compete against that? I thought.

"You cannot, Mademoiselle," a familiar voice said.

I turned around and was greeted by Corporal Durand, now wearing the same olive green fatigues Yang wore.

"Uhh, what?" Yang muttered.

"She can read your mind," I said. "I… I was wondering how I could ever compete with Blake."

"Oh. Well that's… understandable and really creepy. Uhh, creepy on her part, I mean," she said, jerking her head towards Annette.

"Your opinion is not unique," she said. "Regardless, however… Weiss, you do not need to compete with Blake. She has her obvious strengths, but you have yours as well. Zhey are different, yet complementary."

"I'm still not entirely convinced of that, you know," I said.

"Zhe offer of zhe Psionic Pods is still available, but I do not zhink you will do zhat," she said. "Hmmm… how about zhis? You take a sick day from your engineering job and spend it wizh me instead. I can guarantee you proof after zhat."

I frowned, looking back to the training arena. Blake was back on her feet again, standing with five others in front of the same officer from earlier. They all abruptly saluted him – except Blake, who simply looked confused – and marched off to the showers. The men – and one woman – gave Blake a wide berth, though. "I'm… not sure I could even complete that course." I'd barely survived training with Blake and Yang a few days ago, after all.

"You would not be required to," she said. "Zhat is for regular people. While XCOM does have a baseline physical fitness requirement, your ozher talents would be more zhan enough to get in. In zhe meantime, you would be stuck in Base Security while you train."

I pictured it – running around in full armor with a weapon. I had to admit, defending my home planet had a certain appeal to it. I considered where I came from – my family name, what we'd done to leave our mark on this Earth so far… and I pictured just how dull it truly felt. Maybe it was because I didn't personally own the truck I worked on, maybe it was simply a matter of doing it enough to like it. Or maybe I never would, I thought.

What if this was what I was supposed to do all along? I wondered. Supposing I do have this… gift, it would be criminal not to use it for the betterment of my home and my people. I hadn't been fully sold on the idea a couple days ago, but what, exactly, did I have to lose at this point? With a deep breath, I turned to face Durand again. "One day," I said. "I'll give you your one day."

She smiled. "You will not regret it, Mademoiselle," she said. "Meet me in zhe Psionics Lab at ten o'clock tomorrow morning." She turned around and left, the door closing behind her.

"I don't suppose you would be up for another workout right now, Yang? I have a feeling I will need all the training I can get."

She grinned. "Who, me? You must have me confused for someone who isn't ready to pump iron any day of the week!" She started doing some basic stretches. "Alright, get limbered up! Warm-up's gonna be a jog to the gym!"

I suppressed a groan. I did literally ask for it, after all…

/-\ Yang Xiao Long /-\

I looked to my feline friend – the one who'd been with me since that fateful day at home. I tried to smile at her, but it felt awkward, forced – I simply nodded instead. Leading her through the metal doorway to the hangar, I could tell she was nervous.

I couldn't blame her – it was induction day, after all. They were moving her official induction up, since we were due for a Terror Attack any day now. A small crowd was formed before us, split into two sections separated by an aisle. I tried to smile at her once more, but it again simply felt too awkward – I broke off and joined the left crowd.

She visibly took in a deep breath, the grey-and-gold dress uniform heaving, before she advanced up the aisle. She passed Mom, Uncle Qrow, Ruby, and many of the soldiers which she would now be the comrade of. In short order, she stood before Bradford at attention. "Blake Belladonna," she said. "Reporting for duty."

He nodded, giving her a once-over. "At XCOM, we accept only the best, the brightest, and the most devoted to the defense of Earth and its people. Are you prepared to lay down your life as our first and last line of defense?"

She nodded. "I am."

"Are you prepared to eliminate the alien threat by any means necessary?"

"I am."

"And are you prepared to endure the sacrifices of those around you – those you would call comrades and friends – for the sake of the mission?"

She gave one final, steely nod. "I am."

"Then on behalf of the Council of Nations, I welcome you to XCOM, Private Belladonna." He raised his hand, clutching the gold-and-black emblem of our organization. As he placed it upon her chest, he raised his other hand, clutching a pin, and slammed that into place. "Vigilo Confido, Private. Dismissed."

Just as she saluted her new superior and turned to walk away, the base alarm sounded. "Alert! Enemy Terror Fleet has landed in the outskirts of San Diego, United States of America."

Bradford frowned. "Belay that, Belladonna, get ready and hook up with Strike Six at the armory. Specialist Xiao Long, join her. We don't usually send rookies on Terror Missions, but we've all seen the footage. Give 'em hell."

I was only caught off-guard for a moment before sprinting towards the armory, Bradford running the opposite way to the command center.

Guess it was too much to ask for a quiet induction day, I thought. Looking to my side, I saw Blake's quiet yet confident form pulling ahead.

I'd keep up with her as best I could. I had a feeling she'd already been slated to be a Scout. Given I was an Assault, we were practically already joined at the hip.

On A Planet Far, Far Away

/-\ Weiss Schnee /-\

I took a deep breath, steadying myself.

You are my daughter; you are a child. And children are grounded when they misbehave.

I was confined to my room, as I have been since the gala. My left hand gripped Myrtenaster while my right was held behind my back. I slashed at imaginary targets – mainly Grimm. A Beowolf to the left, killed with a spin and a thrust through the eye. A Sabyr to the right, decapitated as it soared past me after leaping at where I once stood.

You are no longer the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company.

I had been so… angry. Those people knew nothing – nothing beyond their money and fancy dress parties. They never bothered to look outwards; never bothered to hear the stories of the poors. They were simply content to order another glass of champagne, say something stupid like "why don't you just get a better job? Or start a business?" and then think they've suddenly raised everyone out of poverty with one simple trick.

They never grew close to anyone – it was all about networking and appearances to them. They never had to feel the sting of losing someone they cared about to enemy action.

It's time to wake up and face reality.

Of all the things he could've said that night, there was one phrase I couldn't agree more on. The reality was… that I was wallowing in my own misery; stagnant. Before a few weeks ago, I hadn't taken up Myrtenaster since Beacon. Now I was knocking off the rust that had accumulated over the months.

Aura had kept my hard-won musculature from decaying too much, but it was still much harder to do even simple exercises than it had been during the tournament. Worse yet, I was stiff. Stretches and calisthenics were the order of the day, now.

Later in my routine, while I was doing pushups, I thought back to my team. Yang used to do these with Blake on her back, I remembered. I had to settle for a suitcase packed with various weighted things. Even if Blake was still alive, I'm not confident I could do as Yang did. Perhaps a single rep at most – nothing like the casual ease with which she did them.

That wouldn't do.

My escape plans were steadily coming closer and closer to fruition. I needed to be ready to face whatever was out there, after I left the manor. If I ever see this room again, it will be too soon, I thought.

When I was finished, I ran my hands through my hair – both damp with sweat – as I caught my breath. A simple glance had me looking in my mirror – not purposefully, just happenstance. Also by happenstance, my eyes settled on the tiara binding my hair. I frowned. It was the symbol of a girl too caught up in her name to see what was going on around her.

The symbol that I used to be just like those partygoers I now hated so much.

I tugged it out of my hair and placed it on the dresser. Its place was here, with my overbearing father, absent mother, and sycophantic brother.

A knock on the door brought me out of my thoughts. "Come in," I said, still staring into the mirror.

The door creaked open and someone walked in. Through the mirror, I saw a familiar bald head. "A letter for you, Miss Schnee."

I turned around, confused. "A letter?" I asked. "Who's it from?"

"One Ruby Rose," Klein said. "Odd, though, I thought you said she was from Patch."

"She is," I muttered, taking the letter. Sure enough, it had its return address listed as being in Mistral instead of somewhere sensible. What in the world…? "I, umm… thank you for bringing this to me."

"A pleasure, Miss Schnee. Now, I must be off – your father gets quite grumpy when his clip-on ties aren't ironed by two o'clock, after all."

I chuckled, thanking him again before he left. As soon as he did, I opened up the envelope. Inside was, of course, a letter… but also a very familiar black ribbon. The letter itself was full of crossed-out words, most of the middle also being completely obscured. Only the beginning and end of the letter were fully legible… at least by Ruby's chickenscratchy standards.

Hey Weiss!

Sorry I haven't written in… ever. We all had some stuff to sort out after Beacon and then we were kinda on the road the entire time. We found a lead to the people that did this and we walked all the way to Mistral. Things… happened on the way and I don't think I'd ever forgive myself if the courtyard was the last time we ever heard from each other.

I should probably start at the beginning. After we got our stuff together and left Patch-

The next few paragraphs – long ones – were entirely crossed out and illegible.

Actually, on second thought, I probably shouldn't say all that in a letter. Never know if this will actually get to you, especially these days. I'd love to hear from you and even see you again someday. We'll be here for a while if you wanna send a letter back. Oh my gods, we can be penpals AND regular best pals!

Oh! Yang says hi, btw. Ren, Nora, and Jaune do too! We all wish Blake and Pyrrha could, but, well…

I found one of her ribbons outside Beacon before we left Vale. I know you weren't as close with her as Yang was, but it just feels right to have something to remember her by. If it seems shorter than you remember, that's because I have the other half.

Can't wait to hear from you!

Ruby Rose

I gingerly set the letter down on the dresser, turning my attention back to the ribbon. She was right – what would've wrapped around Blake's arm a dozen times was now considerably shorter. But there was a nagging thought at the back of my head. Even after Blake and Pyrrha's deaths… this was still the most morbid I'd ever seen Ruby. She said something happened and I was really not liking the places my mind was going. Was she paralyzed? Did she lose a limb like Yang did? Was she maimed horrifically by some abomination on the road?

I groaned, taking a deep breath. It didn't help to worry. It didn't help to worry. Ruby clearly wrote this letter by the handwriting alone… she was at least okay enough to do that.

However, I needed to know just what happened to my partner. Good thing I'm already going to Mistral, I thought. Team RWBY would be back together… or at least as back together as JNPR was.

I took one more look at the ribbon, then at myself in the mirror. I simply stared for a moment, appraising. With shaky hands, I threw the ribbon over my head… and I liked the contrast. Black and White – two people from opposite ends of the world in almost every literal sense, yet they became friends nonetheless. My hands moved once more, this time with purpose. After a few minutes – and more than a few tries – my snow-colored hair was now decorated by a little black bow.

It didn't take very long to decide I liked the look.

(A/N) Still a bit late, but only by a few hours this time! At least some of the US would get this technically on the day it's supposed to publish. Anyways, I've realized I haven't plugged my Discord in a while, so here's an invite link! 3jf9w8u

Oh, and yes, the Yang Scene right before Rem!Weiss's is a callback to the first chapter. We're finally to the point that we flashed back from, fourteen chapters ago!

I was going to end it there, but upon checking reviews, there's actually one to respond to!

Guest001 said: "Hello from ch 8! Much to cover over 4 chapters, so we'll start with Blake and the Terran cast, glad to see Yang's attempts to make Strike 6 and what she's doing to prepare. Details like that are often skipped from what I've seen in other stories. Blake getting stonewalled by the Council ain't a surprise, nor her not getting through Pyrra's EXALT propaganda filled skull... that might need a round with Doctor Vahlen to fix that... Pyrra would probably wish she was dead as her Remnant counterpart afterwards, or willingly talk to Blake. As for Ruby and Weiss, learning to build the weapons and armor the other two will carry into battle. Fits well considering Ruby's a mental trainwreck and Weiss had enough combat for the rest of her life at Harvard. Gonna be fun to see what they cook up with Summer and Doc Shen's help. Also waiting for the Ethereal shaped shoe to drop on Remnant and good riddance to Tyrian... F$# psycho... sucks to be reman Ruby right now, getting impaled by her own weapon going to take time to bounce back from. Time that, even with Jaune's help, she doesn't have given what is about to happen at Haven Academy..."

Glad you're enjoying it! I did put quite a bit of thought into transitioning everyone's Earth Clones into something useful to XCOM... some take more time than others, obviously. As for Remnant Ruby's recovery time, I'm kinda going with the Canon interpretation of Jaune's semblance here, simply because we already see him healing a similar injury in basically no time flat. Seriously, the Medics should be chomping at the bit to get this guy.

But yeah, that's all I had today, I'll see you guys next week! Hopefully on time for once!