Operation Forging Steel

by licklicklick123

An American general goes to a new world with the simple task of setting up a military base, but this taskturns out to not be so simple, when creatures of the dark, otherworldly human life, terrorism, and possible war come into play.

16. Marines? Cool Bandits? Suck

Muffled cries spilled throughout the room. A man was on his knees, blindfolded, in the middle of the tent, surrounding him were two bandits, all looking at him, smiles on their face laughing at his situation.

One of them, a woman, with short brown hair, tattoo on her arm, and a torn shirt, stepped forward, a grin plastered on her face. "Stop crying!" In her hand was a whip, clearly worn from use. She cracked it once, only making the man shriek.

"I said stop it?" With the same grin, she pulled her whip back, and with a crackle cracked it onto the man's back.

"Chill, Vernal, Raven won't be happy if this guy dies of shock." A skinny blond man stated.

Vernal pulled back her whip, a look of disappointment washing over her face. Almost comedically, the flap to the tent was pushed aside, they all veered their heads towards the tent flap's direction, seeing their leader, Raven Branwen. They stood straight almost immediately.

"Has he talked?" she asked in her gruff voice.

"He's cried all day but he's said nothing so far." The blond man replied

"Hm." Raven simply said "Alright, Shay, leave"

"But-" He was stopped by a slight glare sent to him from Raven

Shay left the tent with little more than a nod.

Raven shot Vernal a look.

Wordlessly, Vernal nodded, and pulled back the man's blindfold. His eyes were red and puffy, still moist from the tears he cried, his stress was undercut by the many bruises and lacerations on his body. The one thing Raven could commend the man for was not speaking even under this much duress.

"This is Vernal, I'm sure you've grown familiar with her." Vernal smiled at Raven's words "Until now she's been… holding back, I suggest that unless you want to see her true strength, you tell us who sent you."

"What will you do to them?" The man barely managed to wheeze out.

"Things befitting of the weak when they anger the strong."

"Monsters!"

"Vernal."

And as Raven stepped back, Vernal stepped forward, summoning a mysterious power, one that took Raven a strange amount of concentration to observe. They were 'interviewing' a huntsman, one who had attacked their settlement before being easily subjugated by Vernal.

And as the huntsman's screams took over the room, Raven smiled, only a matter of time before he broke, she thought.

And just as she thought "SHION!" The man cried. "Shion sent me."

Ah yes, Shion, they had been raiding caravans recently, they must've sent the huntsman in an attempt to discover the cause for the disappearing supplies.

She looked at the man, a smug look on her face. He looked doubly worse than he did earlier, his bruises and cuts were now compounded with burn marks, sites of frostbite, and a few missing fingers. "Take him back to his cage Vernal, I'm going to make an announcement."

Vernal took the man from his bound hands and forced him to stand.

The two then walked to the tent flap, with one hand, Vernal pushed it open, allowing the three out. Vernal went a different direction towards the cages where they kept prisoners. Raven however, stepped up the platform outside her own tent, the largest one, and faced forward, it seemed as though this was a signal to everyone in the camp they walked up to the grounds in front of the platform, paying strict attention to their tribe leader.

"Brothers and sisters, as you all know we were attacked yesterday by a huntsman. It was a pathetic attack, didn't take more than a few minutes to take him down." She paused, letting the cheers of her crowd take over, after three seconds, they went quiet.

"But it doesn't end there, we now have to destroy the ones who dared challenge the strong! We attack Shion tomorrow!" With one quick motion she unsheathed her katana pointing it outward.

And again, the jubilant cheers of the crowd came to an almost deafening peak. Though the cheering crowd was unaware that something, or someone, was watching them.

---

Command Center, MOB Juno

1933 hours

The operations room was packed today, not that it was not in general, but this particular day saw many individuals taking positions within, one of them being General Kirkman, for today had marked a major breakthrough.

Kirkman stared down at the camera footage in front of him, it was drone footage taken from an RQ-4 Global Hawk. The subject being a small settlement, consisting of a few dozen tents, surrounded by palisades. It was in the middle of a dense forest; campfires were lit up around the tents, small specks representing people surrounding them, all in front of one especially large tent.

This was of course, the Branwen tribe, located after multiple sorties by an SR-71 blackbird, all of which put quite a dent into the budget, but with no less thanks to its flights they were able to locate the tribe a whole continent away.

Having already achieved his goal of eliminating the White Fang and establishing American dominance on the continent of Sanus, Kirkman had set his sights on Anima. Kirkman had little hope of winning the hearts of the citizens in Vale, but Anima was a different story, it did not have the same history Vale did with the Americans, it meant the opinion of Anima and Mistral's people could still be shifted in America's favor, and the Branwen Tribe was a key part of that.

Just getting the RQ-4 there was already difficult, because of how long it took to get there it could only loiter around for about three hours before having to return to base. The Global Hawk was a formidable surveillance drone, capable of flying long hours without refueling, but even for the Global Hawk, crossing continents was a difficult task.

No matter, he thought, he could have a constant rotation of Global Hawks watching the tribe.

Well, as of yet they weren't completely sure if the tribe was even the Branwen tribe, the base just matched the descriptions from the few sightings of their many settlements.

They were a nomadic tribe, switching from place to place when they were out of prey in any given region, they would not be the only nomadic bandit tribe in Mistral, in fact they would be one of many. But what set apart the Branwen tribe in terms of appearance was the presence of the main tent with a red top mast, there were few verified sightings of the Branwen tribe's camp that they could find, even with hours of searching whatever records they had access to, including the CCT's files.

But these few sightings were more than enough to give a relatively positive I.D. that the camp they were watching was the infamous Branwen tribe, Inarguably the most feared bandit tribe in Remnant. One that had subjugated and destroyed an innumerable number of villages and settlements, the tribe who along with other bandit tribes of the region were almost singlehandedly responsible for making the continent of Anima hell on Ear- Remnant.

If Kirkman could, he would've ordered the immediate destruction of the tribe, but they lacked the means to reach an entirely different continent, as such he had made requests for KC-10 Extenders for aerial refueling for this particularly long flight which thus far have been met with a promise to have them sent within a few days.

After that, it was only a matter of time until the Branwen tribe got what was coming.

---

A day later

"I don't know." The large man shrugged "They're fine, I guess. Pretty noisy, but with them here the grimm problem is pretty much solved." He took a drag from the cigarette between his fingers. "Tell you what, I think if you put them all over Remnant, I bet there'd be no grimm, period."

Blake promptly turned around and grumbled, almost tearing her hairs out. Yang looked at her worried, but decided not to say anything.

It was the day after they purchased a room, after going around town and speaking to an uncountable amount of people they all got pretty much the same answers. Some citizens were even fanatics, enthusing about the Americans, their weapons, and what they've been doing. And all throughout their journey, there were American soldiers they passed by, Blake felt almost insulted just looking at them. An afront to what she was trying to prove.

As the anger on her face grew, Yang couldn't help but speak "Blake, what's going on? Why are you so…" She shook her head "Why are you like this?" She put her hand on Blake's shoulder. A look of genuine concern on her expression.

Her eyes furrowed as she delivered a glare to Yang. "Why?" She threw Yang's hand away from her shoulder. "Because they're killers Yang!" The shout garnered the looks of a few passersby on the street they were in, luckily there weren't any Americans on this particular street.

"They're merciless, destructive, expansionist killers!" Tears seemed to well up in her eyes but refused to fall.

"Yeah but… What does any of this do? You're just hurting yourself more. You're not proving anything."

Blake looked down "It's just… so off-putting to see so many people not care."

Yang lightly stroked Blake's back in an attempt to comfort her. "Look, I don't like them either, especially after what happened in Mountain Glenn. But none of this is helping anybody."

Blake held her other arm, brushing it up and down, Yang was right, but she wasn't ready to admit it. The tears were just about ready to fall now.

Yang stopped stroking her back "Let's just call Sun and Neptune, and come back home, okay?"

Blake meekly nodded.

"Hey guys!" A red blur suddenly popped in front of them, startling the two, causing Blake to quite literally fall on the ground.

"Ruby! Don't use your semblance here!" A familiar distant voice shouted. Weiss ran towards them in an uncoordinated manner, clearly tired from having chased Ruby all day. Once she got to the three, she was a panting mess.

Blake turned her head to the side, trying to hide her puffy eyes.

"You guys find anything?" Ruby perked up.

"Nope, you?"

"Same."

Weiss finally found the energy to speak "There was this girl who apparently had…" Her face went a touch red "…Intimate relations with a soldier. Apparently, he didn't call back, she was particularly mad about that."

Yang rolled her eyes "Dick move but not exactly noteworthy."

"Alright, I think that's all, I think we should call Sun and Neptune now, we should be back at Beacon before night, we have classes at 7am tomorrow!"

Yang gave Blake a look. Who finally turned to look at the team, eyes still lightly red, and nodded. But before they could do anything.

"Excuse me." A soldier, or a marine, they still couldn't tell the difference, walked up to them. He was in full gear and he looked a little familiar, he had a scrutinous look on his face. "We were informed of a commotion around here. Said someone was shouting about a killer, y'all wouldn't happen to know something about that now, would you?"

Yang thought quick and promptly wrapped her hand around Blake "Oh, me and my friend were just talking about a TV show, murder mystery."

The scrutinous look vanished. "Oh, I see. Sorry 'bout that, command wants us to be on edge." He produced a radio and started talking into it. The girls couldn't tell what he was saying but he was done he looked back at them "I'll be heading back now; you ladies stay safe."

And right as he turned around, Blake held out her hand "I have a few questions to ask… sir?" She wasn't sure how to refer to the soldier… marine?

Yang looked at her with some form of disappointment, shaking her head as she did.

Blake gulped "We're uhh tourists, you see, and we- "

"Want to know more about us Americans, yeah, you guys wouldn't be the first, you have no idea how many journalists come around here. We're actually allowed to talk to you and show you our parts of town. Base is off-limits though."

Blake gave the best smile she could muster but all on her team could tell it was disingenuous.

"Alright, just follow me, I'm heading back to my post. You probably passed by it, it's where all the avengers are stationed. "

He saw they were visibly confused at that last line. "Avengers are… Uh, you know what I'll just show you, come with me." He turned around, flicking his hand to tell them to trail him.

They followed. As the soldier walked, he held his gun on the right hand, pointing it to the ground. The gun seemed to be attached to the vest he was wearing over his uniform, said vest had many pockets and satchels filled with varying pieces of equipment they couldn't recognize; however, Ruby was able to make out the contents of the satchels, magazines. She wondered if the soldier- marine? Ever found it hard to carry so much equipment all day, then again, she did do the same with crescent rose.

Weiss found it in herself to ask, she sped up her pace and walked closer behind the marine/soldier.

"Excuse me, sir?"

"Hm?" He sounded as he continued to walk.

"Are you a soldier or a marine?"

The man almost laughed. "Sergeant Jackson, miss. US Marines."

---

Elijah King looked over various papers on his desk, he eyed one particular set of documents. 'Project RMCALDERA' read the header on the paper on top of the stack. It was the larger plan to establish a holding company that would handle a private military corps, and more importantly, a mining corporation. The PMC part was in the process, but the mining company part had yet to be started.

The air conditioner unit's flap swung down, it hit the miniature American flag in his pen holder, it flapped around as it dawned on him just how big much of a mess this Project would be. Thousands of non-American personnel essentially working for the American government and military, personnel with cultures, beliefs, and ways of life, different from anything he'd ever seen before. This meant establishing a whole new doctrine when it came to exploiting them, he couldn't use all the same techniques his Agency would employ back on Earth.

Then even if he was to establish a proper working force of fighters and miners, he'd then have to go about making sure the business of selling dust was successful, otherwise there'd be no money to fund anything, the overall operation on Remnant was already costing the Federal Government untold amounts of money, not any more money could really be allocated to propping up a failing company, meaning it had to be self-sufficient.

There were many old and abandoned dust mines that littered the areas surrounding Mountain Glenn, an area they controlled. But surely a takeover of these mines would tickle some toes, but what could they really do? Square up with the United States? Elijah didn't like Kirkman's PR Strategy, but he had to give it to the guy, he sure knew how to put on a show, this meant one thing, and while nobody wanted to admit it, all of Remnant was terrified of America.

By the estimates of his subordinates, by just taking over the Mountain Glenn Mines, the theoretical company wouldn't be able to go up against big guys like the Schnee Dust Company, at least worldwide, but the smaller companies around Vale were open season, and assuming they played their cards right, they could create an oligopoly in Sanus. And if not that, at least they'd be able to sell to smaller towns and villagers who were getting sick of the high market price of SDC dust products that came as a result of their monopoly on the dust industry.

Money could be made, much more Dust could now be sent back home for testing, and Operation Forging Steel would significantly benefit. Soft power was not an easy thing to come by, and with this, they could move away from the United States simply just being a strong military power on Remnant, but an economic one as well.

Now the next point of interest… He shuffled the documents around to find the one he wanted. Then under one of the piles, it was there, a dossier.

On Doctor Thrax. The one Kirkman had suspected was the mysterious Doctor referred to in many White Fang text messages and now Blake Belladonna's testimony.

Admittedly, the names were eerily similar. But everything about what Blake said about the man just lined up with who Doctor Thrax was, or is. He would apparently kidnap random Vale civilians, or just take disobedient White Fang members, stick them in a room and test strange substances on them, toxins. Belladonna said something about a weapon he was working on everybody would call "Yellow", apparently referring to the color of the liquids he'd spray at his test subjects.

Elijah was absolutely convinced that the Doctor was Thrax. But how did he even get here? And more importantly, where was he now? He was one of the largest reasons the American led coalition took as many casualties as they did during the war against the GLA. But that was a question for another time, Thrax could be dealt with the same way they thought they dealt with him before, it was simply a matter of finding him again.

For now, Priorities were on interests and threats that were present and immediate, this meant...

His eyes arrived on a different set of papers titled 'The Bandits of Anima.'

"Not good." McGarry sighed "They're already fucking up on EOs."

The Americans watched as the hopeless recruits let out pained shouts at the exercise given to them on their first day of training.

"FASTER YOU PUSSY FUCKS! ANY SLOWER AND I'D THINK YOU'D HAVE PALSY!"

McGarry laughed as the sergeant he picked went off on the recruits. Authority had already been established when they had been shouted awake and told to refer to the man as their 'Drill Sergeant'. They went though a good amount of the usual boot camp occurrences, of course with a few parts being sped up or skipped entirely due to the small amount of time they had.

The recruits were currently going through the physical portion of day one. Which meant doing basic exercises, push ups, sit ups, pull ups. Most recruit did well on those but it seemed like everybody was struggling on the EOs. Surprisingly enough it was actually the two student infiltrators who had done the best, both having already reached the other side of the room while doing said exercise.

It took a good minute for the rest of the recruits to reach the other side of the room, at which point many of which were grunting or panting from the pain of using their core and shoulders to traverse a large room.

"ALRIGHT NOW STAND UP!" Everyone promptly stood up "GET IN YOUR PREVIOUS POSITIONS!" The recruits then went into the rows they were in previously before the exercise began.

"I want you all to jog in position until I tell you to stop!"

Everyone started jogging, with barely any rest, the majority were slowly beginning to cave.

"If any of you stop or slow down at any point before, I say so, you will be dropped from the program!" He then got up and close to one of the recruits, the blonde-haired monkey faunus infiltrator.

"Do you understand, monkey boy?"

"Yes, sir!" He responded.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?!" His face got closer, almost red now.

"I- Uh- Yes, Drill Sergeant!"

Quite the easy mistake, in the Marine Corps it was more common to call your instructors by 'sir' or 'ma'am' but doing so in the Army, which this drill instructor was from, would land you in some really hot water.

"You will not make that mistake again!"

"Yes, Drill Sergeant!"

McGarry smirked. "What do you think, Craigs?" He turned to the staff sergeant right next to him.

"I'm thinking when do we give them guns? That part is what scares me most." They both spoke in hushed tones so the recruits would not hear them.

"They get their weapons on week two. Rest of this week is just physical assessments and maybe some obstacle courses if they get set up on time."

"Couple PowerPoint presentation thrown in too, right?" he joked.

"Damn right."

Ah, just like real boot camp.

"Curious, Captain, what do you think about this whole thing anyway? You know, training Remnant natives on how to use American weapons, tactics, all with support from high up."

The man seemed to just stand there deep in thought for a few seconds "Well, part of me thinks it's a bad idea, another part of me thinks that we're making do with what's offered to us. The classified nature of Remnant itself makes it hard to commit lots of manpower to it, and with all the interests Uncle Sam has here right now, lots of manpower is exactly what we need."

"Why is it still classified anyway? You'd think a big discovery like this would've hit the presses by now. Surprised nobody's leaked it."

He stood there, silent. Admittedly there had been a few attempted leaks from what McGarry knew, but since 'America just discovered a portal leading to a new world' was such a ridiculous statement, anybody who did leak it was labeled a nutjob and wasn't taken seriously. The only ones who would be taken seriously were higher ups like Colonels, Generals, Politicians. But they knew the risks of leaking top-secret information of this magnitude.

The only people who attempted to leak were enlisted ranks with no more than a few years of service and a few butter bars here and there, even so, the internet was under constant watch for leaked classified materials by various government agencies, privacy was definitely being violated, but it was considered a necessary risk if it meant keeping everything under wraps. Though it still left a bad taste in McGarry's mouth knowing what the powers of the state was being used for.

"You ever been in combat, Craigs?"

The man shook his head "Combat Deployment sure, at Mountain Glenn, but we were just sat back in reserve for most of it, wouldn't exactly call it combat. Why do you ask?"

"Eh, nothin'. It just dawned on me how the guys you're watching fuck up jogging have seen more combat than your unit."

Craigs eyes widened in profound realization. The captain was right. Most of the recruits here had faced grimm almost regularly as part of being militia for frontier settlements. Whether he wanted to feel ashamed or not, he wasn't sure.

"But if you asked me who I'd be more confident sending into combat, I'd say your unit without a doubt."

This brought a smile to Craigs' face "Thank you, sir."

McGarry patted him on the back "Now don't get a hard-on, that doesn't mean your unit's special or anything, I'm just making statement about the importance of training and protocol." He crossed his arms "Something these people severely lack."

Craigs laughed "Don't worry sir, either way I take it as a compliment."

"Eh, take it however you want. You guys did beat them, I'll give you that."

"Pretty easily too." Craigs noted.

"That's like Mike Tyson bragging about beating ten four-year-olds in a boxing match." He deadpanned.

"That'd mean my squad's still Mike Tyson."

"Touche."

---

"And this is Patriot Missile System, usually used to shoot airborne targets but have been modified to hit ground ones too." The marine slapped his hand on a concrete structure with weird metal silos sticking out from the top.

"Really? Is that why this place doesn't have any more reports of nevermore? What's its range? What kind of missile does it shoot? What about its explosive yield- "Ruby was completely engrossed by just about every weapon the marine showed them, this would be the third on the list of weapons that Ruby asked about.

The first was about the American's gun, then about the various pieces of equipment on his body. The rest were getting increasingly bored by the marine showing off the American weaponry. They weren't here to get bragged to by an American soldier.

The marine threw his hands up at the questions "Bit too many there, miss, one at a time, even then I'm not exactly a handler of these systems so I don't know the specifics. I do know that they're the first layer of defense to any aerial grimm, but if any gets past its radar, or you're in an area without Patriot protection." We have this. He walked a few yards to the side and tapped his hand on one of the vehicles, this was rather familiar. It was the vehicle they saw with what looked like guns pointed at the sky earlier.

"This is the Avenger Mark 2, our short-range air defense system. Shoots a big laser beam into the sky, incinerating pretty much anything it comes into contact with."

Ruby's eyes were sparkling at this point "Mark 2? What was the Mark 1 like?"

"It fired short range missiles instead of lasers."

An audible "Cool!" came from Ruby as the marine's eyes narrowed at RWBY. "Say, I've wanted ask you all since I saw you girls yesterday."

Ruby's eyes stopped sparkling as he then gave the marine a questioning look and as did the rest of the team.

"Aren't you Team RWBY? You know, from Mountain Glenn." Their eyes grew a bit at that, Blake had worry fill her mind as the Marine questioned them. "No big deal, I'm just curious."

"Y- yeah." Yang answered back.

"Ah, thought I recognized you. I could never forget your faces." That was… creepy. The marine seemed to realize his error in wording. "You see, I was one of the guys who was pulling you out of the rubble, I'm Sergeant Jackson, as in Sergeant Paul Jackson."

Faces of realization then came upon RWBY. They remembered that exact name from the report Oobleck had given them about their rescuing. Apparently, it was 'Sgt. Paul Jackson' and 'Cpl. Troy Dunn'. Did that mean these two exact soldiers were the one they encountered the day before at the inn?

The marine then pulled something from around his neck, it was like a small chain, a metal square at the end of it, he showed it to the four. Was it some sort of I.D.? Immediately they recognized 'Paul Jackson' engraved at the top. But then there were terms and engravings they didn't recognize such as a weird set of numbers, 'O-Negative' his blood type, sure. But then at the bottom the word 'Protestant' was engraved, what did that mean?

The four really didn't know what to say to the man who apparently had rescued them, of course the first instinct was to say thank you, but the situation made it a little awkward.

Jackson pulled back the chain, attaching it back around his neck, as he did, Weiss was the first to speak. "Thank you." Then the rest followed, even Blake, even she could recognize what the man, and Dunn had done for them.

"Don't mention it. If it's anyone you should say thank you to it's that dog, he led me and Dunn to you guys."

"Zwei!" Ruby beamed. They had all heard of how they had been rescued, the family dog leading the two soldiers to the site where they had gone unconscious.

"You know his name?" Jackson's brow furrowed.

"Of course, he's, our dog!" Yang smiled.

"No way! Y'all had better spoiled the shit out of him when you got home." He matched Yang's energy

"Hell yeah we did!"

"He's got crazy pull strength too; I think he was the one to pull you out of the rubble." He pointed to Yang.

She gasped a little at that before returning to her cheeky smile "You can always count on dogs to pull you out of a ruff day."

The cheery look on Jackson's face fell flat with discontent, as groans from Yang's teammates filled the atmosphere.

Yang was unaffected "Come on, don't be so ruff on the edges, wouldn't wanna be paw-ty pooper, now, would you, guys?"

Jackson tilted his head and quirked his lip "That last one was really reaching."

Yang tilted her head "Oh really?"

"You could even say it was bit far-fetched." And then Jackson's cheery demeanor returned as he flashed a wild grin.

His grin was matched by Yang's as the other girls further sunk at this duo of puns.

It was refreshing to finally get to talk to an American soldier at this capacity, all the stories and the fact that they'd never properly met one until now put up a wall between the average person and the Americans, but conversating with Jackson now showed them that even the Infamous American soldiers were just regular people.

Jackson then suddenly leveled a stare at Blake, making her almost jump at the unexpected gaze. His eyes seemed to narrow. Was he suspecting something? Why was he suddenly staring? Or perhaps was he attracted to her? No, certainly not. Not even something she'd consider. An American of all people having a crush on-

"You're Blake Belladonna, right?" His eyes stopped narrowing.

Blake gulped "Y- yes."

He then smiled "I have something of yours." He reached into one of the satchels on his uniform and pulled out a book. Not just any book, a black book, with red text on it.

A book titled 'Ninjas of Love'

Oh… Oh no.

He extended his arm to reach the book over to her. She grabbed it as fast she could, her teammates absolutely did not need to know her literary tastes.

She had been missing the book ever since the incident at Mountain Glenn, she had assumed it had fell out of her satchel while she was running or when she got crushed by the rubble.

"Interesting stuff you got there." He smirked as the three girls gave questioning looks to Blake. "I don't think I've ever seen the word 'Katana' used in that conte- "

"THANK YOU." Blake practically yelled out to cut him off. Her eyes were wide as she hugged the book tightly to her chest, making sure her arms covered the title. Her teammates' curiosity peaked as they did their best to catch a glimpse at the books title

The marine's smirk only grew "I never knew ninjas were so versatile. Experts in covert operation, but also in se- "

"HOW DID YOU FIND IT?" This piece of… How did he even know those things about the book? Did he read it?

The marine's eyes then looked upwards as if reminiscing "Ah well, when we finished digging you guys up off the rubble, I noticed there was a tiny black book on the ground, I already assumed one of you owned it, I just didn't know who, so I flipped through the book, there was bookmark with your name on it."

Oh, brothers no… She left that bookmark on a page about-

"Really interesting page you left it on." He then scratched his chin, the sarcasm leaking through his voice "I think it was about two co- I mean Katanas making their way into… "

Jackson then noticed the look Blake was giving her. Her eyes were pleading, asking for a shred of mercy for her dignity. Yang seemed to catch on though, as she too adopted the smirk the marine had.

"Into the sheathes of two very respectable swordsmen, beautiful scene it was." Jackson relented, starting to feel bad for Blake.

Blake let out a relieved sigh, as she hugged the book tighter. But she was curious. "Did you read it?" Her tone was genuine.

The marine stopped smirking "Well, yeah… It's actually a pretty alright book, aside from the goofy euphemisms of course."

She didn't like that last part insulting her favorite book series, but it was nice to know that someone had taste, a slight smile came to her lips. Then a realization came, she was thinking positively about an American soldier, the smile was wiped off her face as her eyes widened.

A beep then suddenly came. It was from the radio on Jackson's vest.

"(COMMS) Holy shit guys, y'all got some extra toilet paper over there? I was jerking off in the porta potty and I dropped my phone in the toilet, I need to dry it off and the roll over here's empty."

What? What did they just hear? All their faces went varying shades of red.

Jackson pursed his lips, as if disappointed. He sighed as he turned around and clicked his radio.

"Matt."

"(COMMS) Yeah?" Spoke the voice on the radio

"You're on Company COMMS, dumbass."

"(COMMS) Oh shi- "He got cut off.

The sergeant clicked the radio before turning back to the girls "Sorry about that."

"Gross." Weiss remarked.

"That's a pretty interesting place to be doing that." Yang grinned

The marine gave Yang a look "Hey! Jerking off in the porta potty is basically US Military tradition. I mean, where else can we really do it on base?" He said in a thoughtful tone.

the girls looked for any sign that he was joking, but no, he was being serious. They all had various looks of shock on their face which the marine seemed to notice.

He threw his hands up "Oh, come on! Don't act like y'all haven't done shit like that in weird places too."

"No!" All of them except Yang shouted. They all looked at her.

"Yang?!" Her sister looked at her.

She too, threw her hands up "All I'm saying is there aren't many places in Patch to do that kind of thing."

The Marine smiled while pointing his thumb to her "See? She gets me. Matt's only fault was announcing it to the whole damn company."

He kept saying 'company'. What did it mean? Did he mean a business?

"What is a company?" Weiss brought up.

"Y'all don't have those over here?" She shook her head. "Well, it's basically a military unit, in the marines it's made up of a hundred or so marines, inside a company, there's platoons and squads, made up of smaller numbers of marines. Davis probably meant to say what he did in platoon or squad COMMS but ended up blurting out that he just jerked off to at least a hundred people."

Yang snickered. The others only continued to look grossed out.

"Alright you guys can head back now; we been talking long enough."

Disappointed faces fell upon most of the team.

"Aw, we really can't stay for longer? I wanna talk about those fast-flying aircraft you guys have." It was Ruby who voiced her disappointment."

He quirked his lip "Nah, If the Sergeant Major sees me slacking off more than I already am, he's gonna have my ass on a platter."

Blake narrowed her eyes. Jackson introduced himself as a Sergeant, a rank she was familiar with, but Sergeant Major was not something she knew to be on any military rank structure, but the 'major' implied that whoever they were, this person was above Jackson on the pecking order.

Ruby pouted, showing her puppy dog eyes to the taller man. Those unbeatable eyes seemed to leave the marine unfazed, only returning her a confused look. Seeing that her usual tactics didn't work, Ruby relented.

"Awww, okay. Thanks Jackson."

"Don't sweat it. Was nice talking to you guys, see you!" He waved as the team waved back; he began walking further down the road.

The four girls just looked at each other, not sure what to make of their time with the marine.

"…We should probably head back." Blake broke the silence.

"Yeah." Ruby agreed.

And so, the four walked back to White Fox Inn.

"I wonder what's going on with Sun and Neptune."

Blake checked her scroll "The last update Sun gave me was that they were told to go to sleep. This was around 9pm."

Yang laughed "What are they? Kids?"

"That's the normal time to sleep in the Atlesian military."

"Oh, I forgot we had miss wannabe soldier here, did Jackson remind you of anything else in the Atlesian military?"

Her brow furrowed as she looked at her teammate "Hey! It's only fair that I know much about the Atlesian military, all the combat schools there are managed by them, in fact, military protocol is even taught at schools." She then looked back ahead the way they were walking "But, to answer your question. Virtually everything about them is different, the weapons, equipment, uniform, technology, structure. The only things I can say are similar are their names for ranks. In fact, even their culture is different."

The team quirked an eyebrow at this "The way I saw many of the soldiers or I guess marines here interacting. They seem so… Friendly with each other. In our military, it is discouraged for you to talk unless completely necessary.

"That sounds really sad." Yang interjected.

"And boring." Ruby continued.

It was hard to imagine a work environment where you couldn't build a sense of camaraderie. As huntsmen in training this completely went against what they were taught, they were forcefully put in teams and told to make to do with who they were with. Because ass for huntsmen, sometimes you worked with random huntsman and would have to learn to function and communicate well together.

Weiss though seemed to be a little offended at the dig to her homeland's military "It is to keep professionalism. Of course, the most powerful military in the world would want to keep an air of competence."

Yang whistled "Most powerful military in the world… you sure 'bout that, Weiss?"

She scoffed "Don't let their feats fool you. Sure, the Americans may have successfully taken Mountain Glenn, but I'm sure Atlas could have done the same."

"Then why didn't they?" Yang pressed on.

"W- Well Because why would they need to? It's not like Mountain Glenn was presenting a direct threat to Atlas. We didn't even know there were White Fang there."

A fair point.

"But what about all their fast-flying aircraft and their big guns that can shoot from miles away?" It was Ruby's turn to speak, this time on the subject of weapons.

"Atlas has the biggest air fleet on Remnant. The Americans probably don't even have more than a few of those fast aircraft. As for those guns, what use are those when we can simply destroy them from the air?" She almost grinned, proud of her quick rebuttal.

"You mean the air Jackson just explained was covered by their Patriots and Avengers?"

Weiss' smug aura broke "Wh- Why are we even discussing this? It's not like Atlas and the United States are at war."

Blake smirked as she eyed Weiss "Yeah well you're the one who brought up Atlas as the 'strongest military'.

"Well, it is, and even by the small, small chance the United States is technologically superior. General Ironwood is simply a better strategist than General Kirkman."

Blake raised a brow "What makes you say that?"

"My sister works for him, and she has nothing but praise for General Ironwood."

"But has he ever actually done anything?" This was a genuine question by Blake, as much as General Ironwood was famous around Remnant, she had never actually heard about anything he'd done apart from his speeches and announcements.

Nonetheless, Weiss's eyes shimmered at the opportunity to list off Ironwood's achievements.

"He coordinates the entire Atlesian military, he is responsible for the procurement of technology. And is considered the pioneer of the current Atlas military. He designed almost everything from the rank structure to unit designation, and even the tactics. He is so far ahead Kirk- "

"Are any of that equal to taking a city?" Yang said in a vacant tone.

"Like I said, I'm sure Atlas could have done the same. We have tens of thousands of soldiers, many more androids, so unless the Americans do something that even I'd have to admit is impossible for Atlas, Atlas is still the strongest military power.

Yang continued smirking "And what would that be?"

"I… don't know."

The conversation wrapped up just as they reached the doors of White Fox Inn. They entered; Mr. Shiro seemed to be talking to a customer. The place was packed, even in the afternoon. Nearly all tables were filled up by customers, with an assortment of food lining the plates in front of them.

"Woah. Wouldn't expect a place like this to be this full so early." Yang remarked, scratching her head. She had a difficult time finding an empty table.

"You really expect an inn to only serve alcohol?" Weiss delivered an eye roll towards her teammate.

Yang shrugged. "Well, I guess it is around lunch time."

A "Good morning!" came from the pleasant voice of a pretty looking Waitress, a Faunus waitress, sharing the same white fox ears as Mr. Shiro. "Are you here to eat?" A business smile was plastered on her face.

"Uhh." Yang couldn't answer. She turned to the others.

"I'm fine either way." Blake simply stared on. A rumble then came from her stomach as a blush crept up to her face.

"Guess we're eating!" the enthusiastic glee of Ruby made the Waitress give a chuckle.

The waitress led them to an empty table, handed them a menu, took their orders, and left.

"Well, that was exhausting." Commented Yang as she slumped down on one of the chairs, her teammates doing the same. "You at least get what you wanted?" She tapped Blake.

"A little bit."

Yang rolled her eyes "A little bit? Come on! We got to talk to one, how much more do you need?"

"We even got to interview a few, and I'm rather surprised by their opinions. Most of them were impartial, and a few of them even liked the Americans."

Blakes eyes darkened at that statement. It perplexed her to no end why so many of people in Cooperwick liked them. Did they not see their blatant disregard for life? The wanton destruction they cause? But… Then there were the Americans they met here, Warrant Officer Lewis, who seemed to be a nice guy, then there was that one 'Ranger' named Dunn who helped out a girl with her cat, then Jackson, one of their saviors who seemed to be a normal guy all things considered. It was hard for Blake to imagine that these seemingly normal people were also brutal killers.

But then again, many people in the White Fang were also normal people, they just got indoctrinated into a horrible ideology, could she really say that they were just as terrible as the man who led them?

Memories flashed in her mind of a certain red-haired man. Perhaps her hatred was misplaced, it was Kirkman who should be despised. The soldiers- or marines themselves seemed alright. Mostly…

---

Command Center, MOB Juno

1224 hours

"Sir. Something's come up." Burton's Baritone voice jolted Kirkman's head up from the paper he was reading.

"What is it? Am I needed in the Situation room?" His eyes narrowed at the bald man.

"No, but it's still something you have to see." Burton approached Kirkman's desk, closing the door behind him. It was then that Kirkman saw that Burton was holding a brown envelope. Burton brought the envelope up to Kirkman.

Kirkman took the envelope, he opened it up and took out its contents, it was a set of papers stapled together indicating that it was hastily done. He read its contents; his eyes widened as he did.

The Branwens appeared to send out a raiding party. It happened in the three-hour gap where there couldn't be a Global Hawk watching the tribe. Or at least this was the observation of those who made the paper. There were photographs included within the pages depicting a large group of Branwens moving west. This wouldn't be them switching locations as that would entail them setting up caravans. Whatever they were doing did not require the full tribe, which meant a raid. But they couldn't be sure, this would be the first time they observed the Branwens doing such a thing.

But from the few reports about Branwen tribe raids, the Americans knew that they would send out small raiding parties of 30-40 tribe members to terrorize a village, these members were normally not enough to completely destroy a village, but that would not be needed. The reports of few survivors of Branwen tribe raids told of the raiding party killing a dozen or so people before retreating, the attack would be enough to cause the mobilization of the town militia or guards. The negative emotion from the attack attracted grimm which would kill the now exposed town guards.

Once the grimm were killed the civilians and town guard would have suffered enough casualties to leave the town defenseless and open to a second attack from the raiding party, one that would finish what the grimm had started.

But the fact that was still activity inside the actual base meant that this wasn't a migration, but rather a move of some sort.

"Why do you think they'd attack now?"

"Low on supplies maybe?" Burton guessed

"No, they raided a caravan just a few weeks ago, they wouldn't be in need of supplies so soon, would they?"

Kirkman put the papers back in the envelope and brushed his chin "Not unless…" His hand fell to the table "How many settlements did we send money to in Anima?"

The Colonel squinted his eyes, not realizing the relevance of their monetary support program to frontier towns. "Not much sir, we don't have much lien yet to begin with so most of our funding has been to Sanus settlements but ever since we expanded our horizons, we've only helped a few on Anima, I don't know the exact number."

"I see." Kirkman clicked his tongue.

"If I may ask, sir. Why is this important?"

"What if this is preemptive?" Kirkman looked up at the Colonel.

"What do you mean?"

"The whole world knows that we have started helping out frontier settlements in Mistral to help with Grimm and bandits, maybe this is to send a message, or maybe they just weren't economical with their last raid loot and have to get new supplies. Either way, this looks bad on us."

The Colonel gave a questioning look "What do you mean, sir?"

"How do you think this would play out in the eyes of the populace? The media? Week after we promised to deal with the bandit tribes of Mistral and a village gets attacked, one that we probably helped out, what would the survivors say?"

The Colonel got at what the General was saying, that would indeed be disastrous.

Kirkman reached for the telephone on his desk, he brought it to his ear and dialed a set of numbers "George Miller, please." He heard a click, seconds passed.

"(COMMS) General?"

"I need George Miller and Elijah King in my office, right now."

"(COMMS) I'll get it done, General."

He promptly hung up the phone. The Colonel wondered why Kirkman would need the head of the cyber team and the CIA Director of Operations in Remnant for. Kirkman couldn't exactly giver orders to the Director either, as there was no official designation of command structure between the heads of the two departments.

Nonetheless, after what felt like an hour condensed into ten minutes, George Miller entered, soon after, as did Elijah King.

"Now why were we called up here?" He asked as he stepped in. He swung the door to close it.

"There's been a complication." Kirkman spoke.

Elijah didn't seem fazed "I heard, bandits attacking Shion, didn't we send 40,000 lien out there a couple days ago, that's a good portion of our funds, and we haven't even started mining operations." Elijah did seem to grimace at the last part. Then he shrugged "But what can we do."

"We can help them, which is where you come in, Miller." He pointed to George.

He pointed to himself, questioningly. Kirkman nodded.

"I don't have authority over you, Elijah. But I ask that the two of you work together to find a huntsman agency and purchase their services to defend Shion since we can't reach them with our jets without proper refueling agents."

Elijah continued with his inexpressive countenance "Wasting more money for them? I understand, you're the sympathetic type, General, but we've done up enough resources for the Mistral operation as is, our lien supply is reaching a critical state, we might not have enough to fund our operation if we keep downing money down the drain we call 'settlement support'."

Kirkman shook his head "This is also about optics, what do you think happens if the media reports on us abandoning a town we've previously supported."

"I get you, I'm glad you're taking into consideration PR, but you should also consider how much it'd cost us, and if it'd even work. The money we sent; how much was it? 40,000 lien? Suspiciously close to your average huntsman job. They probably already bought one to deal with the Branwen tribe. What makes you think asking for more huntsmen will help?"

So they did help Shion. The General clicked his tongue, Elijah was right, and if they did send a huntsman to deal with or impede the Branwens in some way then the incoming raid could be a revenge strike, but it still did not sit right with him to just let it unfold after finding out about it so early, while it could still be stopped.

"If you care about optics." Elijah continued "Once Shion gets offed, you can always just release a statement looking sincere, saying you're deeply saddened at what happened and will promise hereon forth that no such event will take place under America's watch." Elijah paused "Besides by that point I'm pretty sure the Extenders would have arrived so nothing really will."

That's it. The Extenders, a lack of proper refueling operations across continents was the only thing preventing him from sending direct support like airstrikes and the like. He suddenly stood up and walked to one of the file cabinets in his office causing the three other men in the office to stare at him with confused expressions on their faces.

He searched one of the drawers, eventually arriving at a grey folder, he pulled it out, walking back to his desk, he opened it and produced two multi-page papers, then from the drawer on his table, he took out a notebook and pencil, he opened the notebook, he wrote on then notebook, sneaking glances at the two papers every now and then

Elijah then stared at the papers Kirkman was looking at, he recognized them as papers holding the specifications of two aircraft, the KC-10 Extender and F-35 Lighting II. He then glanced over at the notebook Kirkman was writing on, he was writing numbers on tables and lines, was he writing equations? Interspersed with the numbers were mixtures of words, notes probably?

Kirkman then looked back at the paper which contained information on the Branwen group raiding party. He shook his head.

"Colonel, I need you to go back to the situation room and ask for a few more specifics on the raiding party, how fast have they been moving? And how far are they from Shion?"

The Colonel gave a wordless nod and left the room.

"General, what are you doing?" Elijah finally asked.

"Calculating how long it would take for a strike package to reach the Branwens." Said the General while continuing to write. "While also accounting for refueling time, payload, and distance."

The distance between the two continents had been ingrained in the General's brain after studying just about every single report the Remnant Studies Group had sent back to him. From base to the nearest shore, the distance was about 2800 miles. He had measured up how long it would take for a strike package of F-35s to reach Anima.

For a minute they stood in silence as the General correlated data and did the math.

"Assuming one refueling sortie midway across the ocean, it would take about 5 hours to get to the closest shore, assuming Shion is a bit more in land, I'd put the number up to 6 hours. The raiders are moving on foot and could take days to get to Shion.

"General, this is assuming we even get KC-10s before then."

"The KC-10s I ordered are coming directly from American soil, I can make an emergency request for refueling aircraft from any nearby bases within Kazakhstan. If any comply, it shouldn't take more than a few hours for some to arrive at Kostanav. We could even kill two birds with one stone, same strike package that takes out the raiding party can take out the Branwen tribe as well." Kirkman smiled at the realization.

"An emergency request for some town in the middle of nowhere?" The CIA Officer challenged.

"Elijah, we made a commitment to these people, that we'd protect them, if this isn't the time to do so then for Chrissake I don't know what is." His voice oozed with determination.

Elijah sighed "I get your point, objectively speaking, if we succeed, we would be hailed as heroes, we can run one of the biggest PR campaigns Remnant has ever seen, America, savior of Anima. But if you fail, especially after using so many resources…"

Kirkman shook his head "Believe me, I'm aware of the risks, 6 hours to Shion, return trip another 6, it will be the third longest fighter combat mission in Air Force history, on a different planet no less. But why else do you think we've been given so much freedom over here? Why else do you think they've sunk so much of the budget into Forging Steel? I went back to Washington specifically so that I could negotiate the guarantee of resources to make this operation go past Sanus, what better action would represent that next step than to the destroy the biggest bandit tribe in the world?"

He knew just how badly this could end up, Pilots exposed to those forces and having travelled for that long will be exhausted, what if something goes wrong at targeting, at launch? So much could go wrong as a result of how much the pilots were going to be put through, but yet Kirkman was willing to risk it both for the good of innocents and the betterment of the world's views on the United States.

"Alright, I'll trust your judgement on this General, but I'm not liking the risks. I'll take my leave then" They both gave each other a nod as the CIA Officer left the room.

Just as soon as Elijah left did Colonel Burton return with a new paper.

"Sir this is an updated paper, this includes distance, rate of travel, and ETA."

Kirkman didn't need the other data points. "Give me the ETA."

"They give a range of 10-18 hours."

That was a pretty big range, it likely accounted for if they slowed down as a result of grim and if they decided to sleep for the night.

"Worst case scenario, we have 14 hours to set it up."

"Set what up?" The General forgot that the Colonel was not present for his conversation with Elijah.

"I'll explain later." He set aside the papers he had on his desk and got to thinking.

The closest major military hub within Kazakhstan was in the town of Esil, four hours away. If he made the request now and the aircraft were to arrive within that timeframe, were set up, and made to fly within the hour. Then if his math was right and it would take six hours for the fighters to reach Shion, then at the worst-case scenario of 10 hours for the raiding party to reach Shion there wasn't enough time, and that was assuming he could make the request and set up the operation in a very timely manner, striking them before they reached the village seemed to become less and less feasible the more he thought about it. That was unless…

"We intervene." He mumbled under his breath.

"What?"

"Colonel, how fast can the Marine Raiders and Rangers mobilize a unit for an operation outside the continent?"

"Six, but if we expedite the process, we could halve the time. They'll be coming from Cooperwick so it will take a while for them to get here" The Colonel was starting to get at the General's plans based on context.

"We'd still need refueling…" He picked up his telephone. Dialing as he talked, he looked at Miller who had been stood in the room since he was called. "I need you to see if we can't contact Shion, if we can get them to evacuate themselves, the tribe will be locked in a chase, that'd give us more time to strike them."

"Yes, General." The man left the room

"Colonel, I need you to prep the Raiders for deployment, a company sized unit should do."

While the Colonel didn't yet fully understand what was going on, he complied, leaving the room with his new duty, allowing the General to iron out the details of the operation.

---

Sun looked down at the tray of food he had just been handed by the person behind the counter. The food looked… Alright. two sausages, scrambled eggs and mashed potatoes with some coffee. He looked at the food Neptune picked out, it looked very similar except the coffee was replaced with what looked to be orange juice.

"Alright, let's find a seat."

They walked around the large tent that had been set up, minding anybody passing by, they were lucky to be first in line, this would be the first time they ate a proper meal since they got on base. Whatever that MRE stuff they ate yesterday did not count as a proper meal, at least to their palettes. So when they heard their officers saying 'chow time' they were among the first to line up.

Now the problem was finding a seat, as it seemed many of the tables had already been filled up

Eventually they found an empty bench and table in the corner, they took their seats and began eating their food, which all things considered was actually pretty good.

"Man…" Neptune spoke with a downtrodden voice, his mouth full of eggs.

"What's up dude." Sun said with his own mouthful.

"I'm starting to get really tired of all this. We're doing all this work that we already basically do back at Beacon and what have we really got to show for it?"

The American base had been surprisingly restrictive to the recruits, only ever showing parts of the base that needed to be shown, and Sun and Neptune didn't want to risk sneaking around as there were far too many guards and patrols, sneaking around would be impossible. All they had really achieved in their infiltration was finding out that the US was making some sort of new group. Other than that, all they really got to do was see the Americans and their stuff in person. Which admittedly, was pretty cool, but that didn't really justify the suffering they had to endure here.

"Yeah, I get you, bright side is we're leaving tonight, so there's that" Sun smiled to comfort his partner in crime. They had already planned on leaving by 5pm, the exit process was a lot simpler than they thought, a few people already left after those exercises they did earlier, you just had to speak to the captain and they'll ship you back to the village you came from.

"Yeah, but we have to do a whole obstacle course before we even get to leave! And we're gonna be hounded by that drill sergeant guy again."

At that Sun shuddered, the drill sergeant was a scary guy, he wondered if all American soldiers went through that same experience, not even the worst teachers at Shade or Beacon were that bad.

"Just for a few more hours." Sun took a sip of coffee "Feel bad for the rest of these guys though, imagine having to deal with that for another month and a half."

"You think RWBY at least got something done?"

"Knowing them? Yeah, definitely." Sun very much knew that RWBY was far more competent than the two of them.

"Man, they're gonna be so mad when they find out we basically got nothing."

"Hey we got a few things!" Neptune sent him a look as if asking 'like what?' "W-well we know how they train their soldiers now, that's something! Then we also know a bit of their base layout. Of course, we also know how they fight now because of that exercise."

Neptune gave him a smug smile "You mean the fight we lost?"

"Hey! We tried! And at least we learned something…" He trailed off.

"Not a lot though." At this Sun shot him a light glare causing Neptune to smirk.

By this point they had both finished their meals. An officer instructed those who had finished their meals to leave their trays in a basket near where the food was being served. They did so. They were told that they had three minutes left before they were to be called on for the next set for exercises, everyone relaxed for a bit, talking about theorizing what exercise would happen next, some begging for all of it to end, others saying they couldn't wait to get paid.

The tent flap then suddenly was lifted up and in entered Captain McGarry. Everyone quieted down. Most of everyone had developed a level of respect for the man, especially after he had the whole group of recruits get embarrassed by the soldiers. He seemed to scan the room, looking all around before his eyes fell upon Sun and Neptune, he walked up to them.

"I need the both of you to come with me." He spoke with an uncaring tone, causing a cold tingling feeling to run down Sun and Neptune's backs.

They had been found out. They had to be! Why else were the two of them in specific called? And so, the two of them stood up, with shaky legs, doing their best to smile to hide how scared they were of the possible repercussions that could occur. Surely, they wouldn't punish Beacon students, right?

They walked up the Captain, He then promptly turned around and led the two outside. Outside was a truck they recognized as a 'Humvee' as some soldiers called them.

"Get in the back." The captain said." They followed immediately. They opened the door. A different soldier was on the wheel, the captain got into the passenger seat. They started driving around the large base, it was only now that Sun and Neptune truly got to appreciate just how large the military base was, outside they saw airfields, hangars, ammo depots, and more.

The two eyed the captain and the driver for any sign of what was going on. Were they in trouble? Were they about to get jailed? Many thoughts ran through the two men's minds, causing their hearts to beat much faster. They began to sweat.

They needed to get out, but how? Could they fight their way out? Should they fight their way out? They didn't have their weapons and they were in the middle of a large American base where seemingly everybody held aura breaking weapons, this was not a fight they could win.

And so, they sat still, albeit shakily so, as the vehicle drove for a few minutes before finally coming at a stop somewhere in front of a large concrete building.

"Alright, follow me." The captain said as he opened his door.

Neptune was about to open his door, but the captain did so for him. They weren't being cuffed and told to get on the ground, so that was a good sign.

They stepped out of the vehicle and faced the captain who promptly turned his back to them and started walking towards the direction of the large building, he pulled out some sort of card from his pocket and swiped it on a device by the side of the door, the doors then slid open, allowing the captain to enter, he gestured for the two of them to enter the now open doors.

The captain continued walking as Sun and Neptune wearily followed. Sun finally broke the silence "If I'm allowed to ask… What's this for?"

"I think you both know what this is for." He said with a grim voice. Sun and could swear he saw the bastard smirk from his view behind the captain.

That sentence only served to terrify the two trespassers further. They needed to make some sort of escape plan. Their minds ran into overdrive as various strategies were created in their minds while they navigated down long tight corridors and turns, passing by many men and women in various attires, most of them having the same camouflage pattern that the other American soldiers wore.

The hopelessness of the situation began to truly dawn on them as they realized that they did not have their weapons, their scrolls were back at their quarters, and their aura likely would be no match to more than dozen Americans shooting them at the same time. The best they could do now was follow along and hope for the best.

They eventually reached an oak-colored wooden door, four opaque glass panels obscuring whatever was on the other side. A metal plaque to the right of the door read 'Office 1-A2'

What the hell did that mean? Nonetheless, the captain knocked on the door.

They were answered by a deep baritone voice "Come in." It sounded bored.

The captain turned the knob on the door, he entered he waved his hand, gesturing the two of them to enter. They followed. It was very dark, the room was only illuminated by a single lamp, the lamp set lit a single set of papers being written on by a man, they looked up to see the barely illuminated visage of a man in a business suit. His shoulders were broad, a moustache graced his countenance, the man was wearing eyeglasses. His desk was completely empty, save for a black porkpie hat set to the side and the papers he was writing on.

The man looked up, first at the captain, then Sun and Neptune, his eyes widened "I see you brought them." He stood to his full height. He was quite tall. An inch or two taller than Neptune who was already quite tall, as opposed to Neptune though who had a slim build. This man's size went both for his height and his build. His face, now being an ample distance from the lamp, now became a black shadow. The dark room coupled with the large imposing man made the situation quite threatening. Sun and Neptune's rapidly beating heartbeats could just barely be heard in the quiet room.

"I'll leave them to you, sir." McGarry said with a smirk.

The man simply nodded, the captain left the room, closing the door as he did.

"Take a seat." The man said.

It was then that the two noticed there were two chairs in front of the man's desk. They gulped, shakily walking forward, they took a seat. The man seemed to notice their anxiety, he chuckled quietly.

"Don't worry, I ain't gonna bite." This did not ease their worry at all. "You're really just here because the fun had to end at some point.

They looked at each other then at the man. Sun tapped Neptune's knee "Wh- what do you mean, sir?"

"Believe me we knew who you were from the very start, Mister 'Bluekill Horizon'." Neptune stiffened up immediately "You too, 'Sparky Legend.'" He eyed Sun.

They had known from the start?! Why were they allowed to be here then. Was it so they could capture two Beacon students? Was this all some big play? Sun mustered the courage to ask "B- but sir, if you knew- "

"Yeah, yeah, why'd we let you in anyway. Well for one, there was no real reason to refuse you, if it's open to militia personnel, then why not be open to beacon students too? Y'all are probably a helluva lot more trained anyway. Those suspicions were correct if McGarry's reports were to be believed."

Sun scratched the back of his head, smiling at the compliment while Neptune let out a nervous laugh.

"And it's not like the base would be at risk if we let you guys in, I mean what can the two of you really do? Really, if you think about it, two random beacon students really don't pose much of an espionage-based threat cause most of what we have available to be seen or heard by the trainees have already been seen by everyone else on Remnant. That's of course unless you two broke into somewhere you weren't supposed to be, but I doubt you two could pull that off."

Ah… That was insulting. The man basically just deconstructed and criticized their whole reason for being here. But… He was right, the planes, the weird vehicles all had already been seen on record in the VNN report, American tactics were on full display from Kirkman's explanation of 'Operation White Death' as well. All they had really gained in this adventure of theirs was firsthand experience.

"So, we decided to let you guys have your fun, where's the harm in it after all?" He chuckled, the atmosphere lightened up a bit, Sun and Neptune eased up a little as they smiled along with the man, but there was something about his tone that made it seem like it was more than just letting them have their fun.

The man's face then suddenly glowered, his brow furrowed as he narrowed his gaze at the two boys "But none of that changes the fact that you two still lied on your papers, falsified information, and illegally joined a project you weren't supposed to."

The unease returned with a vengeance, the two started sweating bullets. The silence was deafening as the man simply stared the two down. The man then chuckled once again

"I'm just messing with you." They were beginning to get annoyed with this playing of their emotions "We knew from the start anyway and let you guys do it. But you are still gonna get a few slaps on the wrist for doing this, don't be mistaken."

"L- like what?"

"Well, we're sending you back to the village you came from for starters, and we're going to inform Beacon's faculty of your little… excursion."

They sweatdropped. Oh no. They didn't know which was worse, American prison or Professor Goodwitch's ire.

"But from here on out, you're free to come visit Cooperwick any time you want, assuming you don't lie about your personal information anymore of course." He took off his eyeglasses, rubbing them with a cloth as he continued to speak "We would have loved to keep you around for a little longer, but unfortunately, things are… heating up on our end, and we don't exactly want distractions at the moment."

What did that mean? Was the United States fighting something again? He seemed to look at Sun and Neptune for a response, but when he didn't get any, he simply spoke.

"Alright, that will be all." He placed his eyeglasses back on, as he looked over to a telephone beside him. He placed the apparatus to his ear and dialed something "I need you to arrange for that Cooperwick transport I asked about earlier." There was a pause "Then I need you to pick up two civvies from holding room two and have them brought off out of base into town at 12:30."

Ah, so they were going to Cooperwick, at least they could meet up with Team RWBY. Just who was this guy anyway? He seemed important, the plaque outside his office however gave no indication as to his standing. Yet he was in a suit, much like those who were handing out applications? Was he perhaps someone equal to Kirkman? Or one of his subordinates?

"Your things will be collected from your quarters, plus any item confiscated from you before coming to Cooperwick and will be given back to you as soon as you arrive at Cooperwick." He pushed up his eyeglasses "Before I send you both off to your holding room, do you have any questions? I'll answer any I can."

Sun and Neptune once again shared a look, this was it, information straight from the horse's mouth, they just had to think of the right line of questioning and hopefully whoever this man was would answer it.

"Uhhh, who are you?" Was Neptune's first question.

The man laughed "Elijah King."

'Elijah King' was quite strange name, the more names of Americans they found the less and less they resembled any common naming convention on Remnant. 'Thomas Kirkman', 'Leonard McGarry', now 'Elijah King', what did these names represent?

"What do you do?" Elijah seemed to have predicted this line of questioning as he didn't react to it at all. Yet he seemed to mull over his answer for quite a while, leaving the room in silence for a quarter of a minute.

"I'm the guy who looks over information and studies it."

That… strangely made sense. Of course, the man seemingly in charge of analyzing information found out their fakes immediately. If so, that would mean he had no real relation to those suited men passing out flyers in the villages, he was just someone America used to clear up information.

They scrambled to think of more questions, almost coming up empty handed until Sun perked up "What's the point of the Redwood Initiative?"

Neptune nodded, this was a good question, seemingly everyone who knew about it was stooped as to why the Americans would need to recruit frontier militiamen for training. Surely they didn't need to, they already had the numbers, as evidenced by the thousands of soldiers walking around in the base, they had technology that confused every Atlesian analyst they brought on VNN, then there was also the clear disparity in skill when it came to the average militiamen and American soldier. They wanted an answer for this, and hopefully they would get it.

Elijah looked up, squinting his eyes, almost looking confused "I can't really say, I don't know that much more about it than the officers who trained you. I just know that the higher ups want to train people from outside America, for what, I don't know."

Higher ups? Was he referring to Kirkman? Or were there possibly other powerful individuals in the United States aside from Kirkman, surely, Elijah would have said Kirkman's name if it was him who orchestrated this whole training initiative, right? While that was an interesting notion, they did not get their answer. Sun quietly clicked his tongue in annoyance, a gesture that did not go unnoticed seeing as Elijah quirked an eyebrow.

Elijah brought up his arm in a quick, sudden motion, startling Sun and Neptune, making them all the more aware of the fact that they did not have their weapons. Elijah simply pulled up his suit jacket's sleeve, revealing an ornate looking silver watch with a leather strap, he read the time. He brought his arm back down, causing Sun and Neptune to almost breathe a sigh of relief.

"Alright, I think that's about all the time we have." Elijah once again picked up the telephone and dialed in a few keys "I'll need an escort detail for two civilians to holding room two." He hung up the phone "They'll be here in a minute."

Elijah stood up, brought his arm forward, his palm was open, he was offering a handshake. Sun was the first to accept, followed by Neptune.

"It was nice meeting you boys, I have to be off, wait for your escort, don't even think of trying anything funny." He shot a threatening look at the two, sending shivers down their spine.

Elijah took the porkpie hat on his table, placing it atop his bald head, he quickly left the room, closing the door behind him, leaving Sun and Neptune alone in the room. A silence filled the room, a silence that left the two thinking of what had just occurred, this was until the Silence was broken.

"…Well that was something." Sun said, smiling nervously.

---

"Here is your food." The Waitress began setting their food down in front of them as a chorus of "Thank you." Came from RWBY. She then left the table

The team eyed their meals, all things considered it all looked pretty good. They dug in as they spoke.

"So, what did you all think of Jackson?" Yang was the first to speak.

"I thought he was nice." Ruby had a mouthful of sausage and mashed potatoes in her mouth.

"Don't speak with your mouth full, but I agree with Ruby, I think he seems like a nice guy, a bit crass but that seems to be natural to all Americans."

They collectively remembered the hosts of America Radio talking about the most unnerving topics and using foul language on top of that, their music seemed to be filled with vulgar language and subject matter too, however it was still nice to listen to, at least for everyone except Weiss.

"How 'bout you Blake?" Yang eyed Blake, she jolted from her name suddenly being called out, a fork still being in her mouth, she quickly swallowed the fish and veggies and set her fork down.

She looked at the floor "I think… Meeting him was eye-opening."

"How so?" Weis crossed her arms.

Blake couldn't really put words to her thoughts, the only other American she had ever properly met was General Kirkman himself, a fact she had kept from her team to avoid talking about the Doctor. The General was rather intimidating she had to admit and they spoke she didn't really get the feeling she was speaking with a normal average person, every point of the conversation felt like it was calculated on Kirkman's end but Jackson…

"He was very human." She finally looked up. Only to hear a small sound come her teammate.

"Pfft." Yang covered her mouth.

"Why?" Blake narrowed her eyes at Yang.

"Yeah, 'very human', like he's some sort of Alien."

Blake crossed her arms. "You know what I mean, it felt like I was talking to an actual person, meeting him was very humanizing. He didn't feel like a ruthless killer who hated the Faunus, he had a personality, he even joked around. It's hard for me to imagine that same guy has probably killed so many."

He even read and appreciated Ninjas of Love, not that that influenced her opinion of him in any way, of course.

"But I think meeting him taught me, that just like in the White Fang, a lot of these soldiers are probably just normal people who got roped into doing this kind of thing one way or another, and in a way that makes me sympathize with the soldiers." She remembered many of the members in the White Fang, driven to action from generations of oppression, these days they were doing the wrong thing for sure, but they were misguided, influenced by the idealogue that was Adam Taurus "And it makes me hate General Kirkman even more."

"Yeah, I agree!" Ruby nodded "Maybe not on the hate part, I can't really say I hate someone until I meet them first." Ruby scratched the back of her head "But meeting Jackson and even War Officer Lewis-"

"Warrant Officer." Weiss Corrected

"-Warrant Officer Lewis showed me that there are good people in America too. At least a few people in town like the Americans too and I think that means they at least do at least little good here."

Blake once again looked down, she would have to be blind not to recognize the fact that many people did in fact like the Americans, the fact that the town seemed to be flourishing with their presence, the little detail that both towns they've been in now that had an American presence lacked 'no faunus' signs on businesses, which meant that a caveat to doing business with the Americans was that there was to be no discrimination against the faunus.

Maybe she really was looking at the overall American presence with too much of a bias, this of course didn't change the fact that they single handedly murdered thousands of people, and to her the good that they've done did not outweigh that, but perhaps there was consideration to be made that the Americans weren't all evil.

"I see your point." She finally said "But I still want to speak to more townspeople, and maybe even meet more Americans, the more perspectives, the better."

None of them could disagree with her.

The waitress from before then walked up to their table "Would you all like to see the bill?"

They looked down at their plates, surprised to see that they were already finished with their food, their focus having been shifted to the conversation they were having.

"Sure." Ruby stated.

The Waitress walked away.

Blake then felt a vibration from her scroll on her thigh, she opened it up to see a message notification from Sun, she tapped on it and read aloud as her eyes widened.

"I got a message from Sun, 'On the way to Cooperwick, we got found out, not in trouble though, we met some guy, we'll tell you about it later once we meet up.'"

"WHAT?!" Came the unified shouts of the team minus Blake.

"Call him!" Yang insisted

Blake obliged, tapping the call icon on her scroll, it rang for a short few seconds before it showed 'Call declined', immediately she got another message from Sun.

"Can't call, in a car with some Americans, they're going to drop us off at Cooperwick." She read aloud once again.

Weiss slapped her palm on her face "It seems their dumb plan, was dumb after all, of course they would have been found out after they put their address in as Beacon."

Ruby shrugged "At least they said they weren't in trouble, I guess they'll explain what they mean once they get here, ask them where we should meet."

"Nah have them come here to the inn, why should we go to them? They're the ones who messed up their mission."

"Agreed." Weiss nodded along.

Blake sent the message telling them to find White Foxx Inn and to meet them there once they were at Cooperwick.

The Waitress then returned with a metal tray containing a slip of paper, their bill, she set it on their table as she returned to waiting the other tables.

Ruby picked up the bill and read it out "122 lien, do we split or pay for how much what we ordered was."

"I got this." Weiss smugly brought her wallet out and took out one yellow card and one blue card, equal to 150 lien.

Yang, who had already brought out her wallet, smiled "Yes! Thanks, Weiss."

"No problem."

Blake eyes the metal tray where the bill once was, the others were still busy thanking and cheering on Weiss for paying for everyone but she noticed there was still a smaller piece of paper on the tray, she moved to pick it up. She read it, her eyes grew at the contents.

"Uh… guys." The others turned to face her "I think the Waitress left this." She turned the paper around to show them what was written on it.

Yang moved her head closer and read it aloud "Please meet me in room 221 now. URGENT! About the Americans." Her head moved away "Huh, wonder what it could be about. Should we go?"

Blake eyed Yang incredulously "Of course we should! This could be the evidence of abuse we've been waiting for! What if she got assaulted by a soldier or something or what if she knows something about what the Americans are doing here that the other townspeople don't."

Weiss gave a confused stare at the slip of paper "How did she even know we were talking about the Americans, there's so many people at this inn talking and eating how did she even hear us if she was just over at the waiting table?"

"Some faunus with ear traits have moderate to extremely heightened hearing, but we usually need to focus on a particular sound to understand it, especially speech, my question is how she knew to focus on us, but that's a question we should ask her when we meet."

"Should we go now?" Ruby asked.

Blake stood up. "Let's go."

---

It was just an hour past noon in the peaceful town of Shion, children were playing in the streets, birds could be heard chirping. People walking there and about. At the center of it all stood the Town Hall, a massive building at the center of it all, where the mayor stood, just outside, and looked upon the beautiful sight that was her village.

Shion was relatively well off for a frontier settlement, it was a major tourist hotspot, a scenic hiking trail, good camping spots, and faunus inclusivity made it an attractive destination for everyone who wanted a nice place to stay outside the Kingdoms meaning it had a lot of money to spend. It also helped that its guard force was one of the most well trained in the area, meaning that most grim incursions were dealt with swiftly. But the people of Shion were happy, meaning grimm attacks were already rather rare in the first place.

Shion of course wasn't without problems, the most recent being the fact that they hadn't been getting food shipments from their trade partner, Taima, causing food prices to go up which hit the poorer residents of Shion particularly bad, which itself affected Shion's economy. It was assumed that Grimm had begun attacking the route the caravans would usually take. The Mayor had decided to purchase the services of a huntsman, but huntsmen in Mistral were particularly expensive due to a shortage, going up to the hundreds of thousands for decent ones, they ended up taking help from the American support program. But the huntsman they bought out hadn't returned after three days. She worried the huntsman ran off with the money.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see her assistant looking at her with weary eyes. "Ma'am."

"Yes?"

"Someone is trying to contact you through your PC, they are claiming to be General Kirkman of the United States."

She almost burst out laughing. After the impersonal mess that was their support program? Why would the General himself suddenly ask to speak with her. She couldn't hide her smile when she said "Alright patch him through, I'll be in my office in a minute."

Taking one more look at the scenery in front of her, she smiled before turning around and walking to her within the building. Up the stairs and through the halls, she reached the doors of her office. Entering the room, she sat in front of her desk and pressing the button to open her desktop, the holographic screen burst forth in front of her, revealing an incoming communication from an unknown caller.

Expecting it to be a bad attempt at a prank, she accepted, maybe she could have some fun for today. To her surprise, the video feed that appeared in front of her was one that showed the visage of General Kirkman standing in a crowded room, behind him were people using strange looking computers. Stood beside Kirkman was a dark-skinned man.

"Good afternoon." The General spoke.

The Mayor could not contain the shock on her face, she couldn't bring herself to speak, the words touched her mouth but they fell to the floor, specifically into stuttering mess. But even in that state, the General's facial expression did not change, it was one that conveyed a grave implication. While the man next to him looked largely indifferent to the situation.

"I'd like to ask if there is anybody currently listening in on our conversations, any aides, guards, assistants."

She meekly nodded her head.

"I need you to get them to stop."

With her mouse she hovered her cursor over the button to disconnect her assistant's connection. She clicked it.

"Alternatively, if you believe that they are trustworthy enough, you may let them continue listening but know that what I am about to state will impact the survival of your village so if either of you deviate in any way, it could cost the lives of everyone in Shion."

With a shaky voice she yelled for her assistant to enter the room. "Sky. Come here!"

She came in, slowly, clearly unnerved by the sudden calling by the Mayor who was clearly anxious.

"Close the door behind you." She complied.

Sky then walked around the room eventually arriving right beside the mayor. The look on her face after seeing General Kirkman mirrored the Mayor's when she first saw him, but the General gave no time for Sky to digest her surprise, he went straight to business.

"Today, at exactly 11:16 a.m. we spotted strange activity at the Branwen Tribe's camp."

"How do you know- "Sky spoke up.

"Shh!" But the mayor shut her up.

"How we got this information is not relevant, all you have to know is that we know with near complete certainty that the Branwen Tribe is moving towards Shion."

Both women were rendered speechless.

The Mayor shakily brought her hands to her mouth that had gone completely opened, she did her best to collect herself, the shaking lessened marginally. This was the absolute worst thing to come up. Her guard corps was strong. But strong enough to be able to take on an attack from the most notorious tribe of the continent?

"We have to make an announcement! Tell the people!" Sky blurted out

"That would not be recommended, Miss. Doing so would only cause panic and attract the Grimm."

"So you just expect us to sit here and let it happen?!" The mayor stood and stated with an unsteady voice. The Mayor acknowledged that telling the citizens would cause negative emotions to spike, but doing nothing was also abhorrent.

"No, we are suggesting that you withhold that information from your people. At least for now. We recommend that you evacuate your citizens."

The Mayor shook her head "That will cause just as much panic, taking people from their homes and telling them to leave? And without the defense of our walls and homes, more people would die than if we were to just tell the people and tell them to prepare."

The General grimaced, it was slight, but noticeable "Miss, with all due respect, Shion and its citizens will not survive a direct confrontation with the Branwen tribe."

"How can you say that?" Sky defiantly shouted.

The both of them were well aware of the risks involved and knew the Branwen tribe's record. Not a single village was known to have survived an attack from them. But perhaps they would be different? They had a powerful guard corps and they had a few huntsmen embedded into the. Who was this outsider to make a such a judgement immediately.

"Because even if you do survive the attack, you won't survive what comes after."

"What comes after?" The Mayor spoke.

"From what we gather, the Branwen tribe's strategy is to ruthlessly attack a village, cause as much chaos as possible and leave before things become too difficult for them to remain. The ensuing surge of negative emotion attracts grimm, decimating the village and its remaining ability to defend itself. The Branwen tribe then returns and reaps the benefits. Do you really think that with all the negative emotion from the initial attack, your guards will be able to withstand an attack from dozens, possibly hundreds of grimm?"

"It's still better than evacuation." The resolve in her speech was clear. "Outside, we are defenseless, here we have walls, guard towers, houses we can hide in. Outside…" She trailed off.

"I understand, forcing your citizens to evacuate would also cause large amounts of negative emotion and that would too, attract grimm. We predicted you might take such a position on the matter, so we have prepared an alternate plan of action."

Someone then came into view within the camera, giving Kirkman a booklet. He started sifting through its pages before looking back at the camera.

"We, the United States, will attempt to intervene in the Branwen Tribe attack."

Their eyes widened, neither of them knew how to react to that, the Mayor especially. Every man, woman, and child on Remnant had heard of the exploits of the Americans, doing what Valean authorities couldn't and destroying the White Fang on that side of the world seemingly for good. But they were a whole continent away, there was no conceivable way the Americans could intervene in time.

"How? And if you could do that in the first place why wasn't that your first suggestion. Why did you ask we do a complete evacuation."

"Because committing to this plan will risk American lives. The first plan also involved us using means that would be of little harm to us, I'm not sure if you've heard of the term airstrike, but this was what we were going to use if you evacuated. To summarize, an airstrike means us shooting ordnance from the sky."

The notion of an unseen enemy striking you where you could not see them was a terrifying thought, perhaps this was how the White Fang were defeated.

"But the preparation time and travel time for us to make this happen total would take at best, 11 hours, and we predict that the Branwen Tribe may arrive in 10 hours."

10 Hours?! That's how much time they had left? She had thought maybe she had a few days to rally the guards, increase the size of her militia through mobilizing the people, and begin arrangements for a defense, but the fact that were only 10 hours left changed everything.

"This is why if you choose to remain in the village, we would be unable to strike the Branwens, we would risk hitting Shion and its citizens."

Beads of sweat fell onto her table; this situation was impossible. Kirkman sighed as he seemed to look back at the booklet.

"But this report given to me just now seems to confirm your concerns, there are grimm concentrations near all possible routes of retreat making total evacuation a death sentence." Kirkman sighed

Her heart was very close to beating out of her chest. Why did this have to happen now? Why was it happening in the first place? Shion was never a town rich with resources. It was rich sure, but it's not like a bandit tribe could use currency, so what was the point of this attack?

"I mentioned that this alternate plan risks American lives, but it will also heavily risk the lives of your citizens, Miss. But we calculate it to be the best course of action if you choose not to evacuate."

"What is it?"

"We will attempt to strike the Branwens before they reach Shion, but should they get too close or even reach Shion before our planes can begin their attack, then we will instead drop troops into Shion to stop the attack as it's happening."

Then the two women went slack jawed. "What do you mean?! Wouldn't that just mean you'd just the Branwens have their way with us while we sit and wait for your troops to arrive?!" Her voice was very close to breaking.

He waved his palm around as if to brush off her outburst "Granted, we will have you take actions that will greatly mitigate the risk for your citizens. You see, if you can't evacuate, and if you can't defend yourself, then the best way to deal with the situation is to make sure there are as few civilians in Shion as possible."

"Okay…" She was breathing heavily, clearly having a hard time managing the situation, her head was all over the place "How do we even do this."

"Alright, we're confident that we can get there at least soon as the attack happens, meaning by the time the Branwens arrive it won't be long before we're there too. But by then the Branwens will be in the village already. This is where one of those risk mitigating factors I talked about come into play. Before the Branwens arrive, you will find a way to get as many civilians as you can to this campsite."

An image suddenly flashed on screen showing an aerial photograph of Shion and its surrounding areas. How did they even get this? A red box appeared over one of the northern campsites about two kilometers from the village. Camping and Hiking were two of the most popular tourist activities in Shion.

This was a better idea than the previously suggested one of evacuating, but this still, to her mind, put too many people at risk, but she could not think of anything better.

"Of course, you'll have to do this without telling the people that they are under imminent attack of bandits as to lessen grimm incursions from all the negative emotions. So to try and get as many to the campsite as possible, maybe you can say there's a festival, or maybe even a general assembly that everyone is required to attend. When our troops land, we will collect your people in the campsite and bring them to safety, then we'll deal with whatever happens in the town proper from there."

"Some of our citizens are bedridden or have those in their home that they have to keep watch of like children or infants. Some simply will choose not to attend. Many will be left behind." These people would end up becoming hostages, or worse.

The General let out one of many sighs he's had during this conversation "Miss, I don't know what to tell you, there are zero ways to go about this situation that involves none of your civilians risking their lives, the best course of action is to take the solution that presents the least amount of risk. And with regards to your citizens' wellbeing, this is the one."

She sank into her chair. He was right. But to do so in just 10 hours? It was impossible.

"So, what is it, Miss? Do you agree to this plan."

She gave a quiet nod.

"Alright, have your citizens at the campsite no more than 9 hours from now. This line of communication will remain open and further instructions will be given as the situation develops, if you have any questions, I will leave an aide to answer any."

"Okay." She set her hands on her desk as plans began to form in her head, there was hope, but even the slightest thought of her citizens being harmed in any way by the Branwens put a strain on her mind.

"Do note, that we will be endangering the lives of my people for the good of yours, so if we make any observations that you have deviated in any way from the plan we set out, then you can consider this alliance over."

Another nod. There was no point disagreeing anyway. The Americans had all the power in this situation, whatever they said she'd end up having to carry out as they were only way out of getting every single man, woman, and child in Shion getting brutally massacred by the Branwens and the ensuing grimm.

---

"Room 221… room 221." Ruby recounted as she and her team walked down the hallway of the 2nd floor of the inn until they arrived at the door with a plaque that read '221' on it. "Guess this is it. Uh… Should we knock."

"Of course we should." Weiss stated as if it was obvious.

Ruby knocked on the wooden door, garnering no response for five seconds until it creaked open, an eye peaked through, the door then swung open, revealing the Waitress, no longer wearing the smile she had while serving them just minutes earlier.

"Come in."

The team awkwardly stepped inside. It was identical to the room they had booked, two queen sized beds, two nightstands, a standing lamp, and a desk.

Ruby looked at the Waitress as she closed the door behind them "So um- Why'd you ask for us, Miss…?"

"Shiro. Fubuki Shiro."

They eyed her shocked at that

Yang took a seat on one of the beds "Wait what? As in Mr. Shiro from downstairs?" A nod. "You're his daughter or something?"

"Niece. But he's the closest thing I've had to a father since my actual father died in a Schnee Dust Company mine." She seemed to glare at Weiss.

They stared at her wearily while Weiss's eyes grew a bit at that.

"I'm… sorry." Weiss had been doing her best to learn about the oppression the faunus had faced under her family's operations, she knew just how bad it got, but she still felt a bit off at the fact that she was being blamed for something out of her control.

Blake, who had been quiet until now, suddenly moved her arm up, almost seemingly reaching for her weapon, instead grabbing at her bow, and pulling it off to reveal her cat ears.

"I'm a faunus too, I don't like the SDC as much as any of us, but it's not her fault." Weiss looked at Blake, almost tearing up at the fact that her friend was defending her.

"I know who you are Blake, we were in the same organization." She gave a side eye to her fellow faunus.

Everyone immediately understood the implication.

Their eyes grew to dinner plates, Weiss, and Ruby in particular began to reach for their weapons. Yang stood up and unsheathed Ember Celica, Blake simply stood speechless. That's why she asked them here, she recognized Blake.

"I'm not with them anymore, don't worry, I didn't bring you all here to attack you."

She took her own seat at the bed opposite of Yang.

"How do you know Blake?" Yang kept Ember Celica at the ready.

"She was our leader's little pet, always bringing her around, she was his favorite, of course until she betrayed us." She said matter-of-factly.

Blake's eyes narrowed at Fubuki "I don't regret that one bit, our leader was taking us down a dark path."

Fubuki stood back up to meet Blake's stare "I don't agree with you but I'm not here to argue." She then looked solemnly at the floor; this was the first time her expression was anything other than neutral since they entered this room.

"You might be wondering with how thorough the Americans are about clearing former and current White Fang, how have they not discovered me? Well, they have."

The combat ready atmosphere of team RWBY suddenly turned to confusion.

"Why aren't you dead or in prison then?" Blake said, a hint of skepticism in her tone.

"Because I made a deal with them." They looked at her, confusion only growing. "You see, about two months ago right after the Americans had destroyed our compound north of Vale, the leadership sent multiple units all around to look for the American capital, my unit was assigned alongside another one, there were 24 of us, I guess we got too close." She looked at the floor "I'm one of three people who ended up surviving."

Grim faces fell upon those in the room, Fubuki's eyes almost looked to glisten just a little.

"The Americans told me that I would be under their custody for the rest of my life, but they gave me a deal, they let me free, in exchange, I give them everything I know about White Fang operations in and around Vale." She looked to the side, not wanting to meet the eyes of RWBY "I accepted it, I told them about the people who knew of Mountain Glenn, I told them about all the villages that had White Fang operatives, I gave names, addresses."

She looked at Blake, not a hint of resentment in her gaze, a single tear fell, garnering no sympathy from her audience "I'm no better than you, I was selfish, looking out for myself, I betrayed our cause, our brothers, and sisters. But I didn't want to rot under the Americans, I wanted to at least see my family, I wanted to see my home, little did I know the Americans would occupy my home." Her voice trembled as she spoke.

"So the Americans just let you free?" Blake took the lead in the conversation.

"No, I told them I wanted to be in my hometown, Cooperwick, they told me they had no problem with that since they already had a presence there by the time I said yes to the deal with them. I told them I had family there, the first thing they made sure to do was tell my uncle about what I was a part of, he's against the White Fang, you see. Then after that they sent me here, telling me I'm not allowed to leave the premises of the inn without first asking permission. Do you notice how many soldiers surround the inn?" Nods "They're all there to make sure I don't leave, I have to ask one of them first, they then report it to their superior. But I am absolutely not allowed to leave the town."

This was how they treated former White Fang members? Blake had to wonder why Kirkman didn't bring upon the same measures on her when they met, perhaps there really was merit to Kirkman saying that she wasn't a prisoner, maybe even he feared the ire that might stem from incarcerating a Beacon student.

The fox girl then looked at them, her eyes having the same shimmering glow from the tears that formed on them. "…I didn't bring you people here to talk about my problems, that's over now, but I have something to tell you all."

Blake crossed her arms "And what's that?"

"The Americans aren't from here."

---

1410 hours

Command Center, MOB Juno

"They're here, General." Came the baritone voice of Colonel Burton

Kirkman stood up promptly upon hearing those words, he stood up, tightened the knot of his tie, and walked past Burton who followed him.

He did not find the strength in him to directly respond with words to the Colonel. He was beginning to feel the pressure mount on him, it was not his life that was about to be risked, but it all weighed on his conscience the same, his reputation was at possible jeopardy here too, all on a high risk, middling reward gamble.

"The extenders should arrive in 0230 hours."

"Good." He said as he walked.

"Did you get any word from Washington?"

Ah yes, the need for presidential approval, he had only been approved to freely conduct military operations within his current continent, meaning he needed permission from the White House to commit to conduct a direct action operation all the way in Anima, it was a part of the bureaucracy surrounding Operation Forging Steel that he did not like, any time he sent a surveillance drone, or any recon aircraft, he had to make a request first. For this particular Operation, he had sent the request an hour ago.

"Nope."

Even though he had yet to get approval, he had already begun preparations, so that the moment approval was given, he could begin.

The pair eventually reached their destination, the metal door was opened by Kirkman, it was a large assembly hall, soldiers from different service branches, talking amongst themselves, it was loud.

The hundreds of soldiers and marines who filled the seats suddenly stood up as they saw Kirkman, giving him salute. The transition from sounding like a college frat party to being so silent one could hear a pin drop amused Kirkman amidst the stress he was feeling.

"At ease people." At that, everyone took their seats, now silently watching Kirkman.

He stepped up to the podium, Burton continued following him, taking his seat on a chair directly behind the podium Kirkman was standing by.

He finally got a good look at those in front of him, hundreds of men, marine Raider and ranger, they were the only groups on Remnant both in large enough numbers and were trained in this type of situation, meaning they were really the only option here. On Remnant there were two Marine Raider Companies and three Ranger companies from the 75th Ranger Regiment, all collected in the assembly hall, where Kirkman was to inform them of his plans.

"I'll get straight to it." He looked at their individual faces. "Earlier today our surveillance drone over the Branwens…"

He then went on to explain the situation from the very start to where it was now where he has told the Mayor of Shion to stay at the village, though he did not go into the specifics of his plan just yet, he simply wanted to inform the men of the situation up to this point, some of the men wore shocked faces, seemed to thinking, others held no reaction.

"Now why am I telling you all this? The reason is simple, we intend to stop this attack one way or another. Of course, I still need to wait for approval, but regardless it's best to be prepared. In about a little more than two hours KC-10 Extender refueling aircraft will arrive here at Juno, these aircraft will be used to refuel four F-35s and five C-17s as they make an intercontinental flight towards Anima. The F-35s will contain a strike package meant to destroy the Branwen tribe's home and the detachment they have sent to attack Shion. Should the F-35s not reach the detachment in time, ergo the attackers have reached Shion, then the forces within the C-17s, those being you men, will deploy to intervene in the ensuing attack, capturing or eliminating all Branwens within and rescuing who you can."

More men reacted now, but they did their best to hide whatever emotions they had, but shock was evident in some, wide eyes, slight whispers amongst the men, Kirkman couldn't blame them.

"Of course, this is only if the F-35s don't reach the attackers in time, but as I said, it's best to prepare, especially since the possibility they don't exist. Unfortunately, we only have five C-17s on Juno, and no bases in Kazakhstan have agreed to fill in our request for more, so out of the two Marine Raider companies and two Ranger companies here, only two Marine companies and one Ranger company will be able to join the attack, however should this initial group need the reinforcement, the extra ranger company will be deployed."

He tried to remember his past, he knew just how much risk was being put to save random citizens in Anima, but then he looked back into his memories, of a time when he was an advisor for UN troops at Srebrenica, he didn't want something like that happening again, not when he had the power to do something.

"You might be wondering, there are five C-17s, that should be enough for all of you, however only two C-17s will be used to carry you, one C-17s will be used to carry three LAVs and a single mk. 2 Avenger, as well as ammunition to be operated by the marines to deal with any grimm that may cause a problem, the other C-17s will contain supplies."

At that, many of the men seemed to delight at that, two LAVs would be a huge help. Kirkman cleared his throat and pressed a button on the podium, displaying a high-altitude photo of Shion and its surrounding areas; shapes in different colors marked the various places.

"I have advised the Mayor of Shion to bring as many citizens as she can to this campsite north of Shion, marked in red. Should you have to intervene in the attack, you will set up base here, why the base? Because you need a place to stay while you wait for exfhil which at best could take six more hours. You are all intended to paradrop onto this large plain of grass, two klicks from the campsite, your exfhil aircraft will use this same plain to land. You will move to campsite, set up camp, tend to the villagers, protect the, and clear the town. Tactical Command will be given to Colonel Burton. He will be with you on the ground."

Kirkman gestured behind him, the Colonel simply nodded.

"I know many of you might be unhappy with this turn of events, especially since after this assembly you will only have two hours to prepare for what may be the hardest battle since arriving here on Remnant."

That was an understatement, only two hundred men to assault a relatively large town by Remnant's standards, to not only fight against Bandits, but the inevitable grimm.

"But I would like all of you to remember the good that could be done here, hundreds of lives could be saved, a menace to Remnant's society could finally come to an end, and if you're not the emotional type, hey, you could always bed a faunus woman while you act out your knight in shining armor fantasies."

A weak attempt to lighten the mood, but it still garnered a few nervous chuckles from the group.

He cleared his throat again "Ahem. Not that I'm condoning that of course. But all things considered…" He breathed in, ready to raise the volume of his voice, with much gravitas, he summoned all the air in his lungs. He hadn't done this since he was Colonel after all, it would take some preparation.

"AIN'T YOU THE DAMN BEST MEN THE ARMED FORCES HAS GOT TO OFFER?!"

Surprise, then smiles. Behind him he could hear Colonel Burton chuckling.

"Yes sir!" Came the uniform statement of marine raider and ranger alike.

"Well I couldn't hear you! Sounds more like little pussy shits to me! Say that again!"

A few laughs but then the group once again shouted in unison.

"YES SIR!"

"Good, I was just beginning to doubt you." A little sarcasm leaked into his voice. "So you're all gonna man up and do your job, cause we're facing a savage, fearless, tribe of monsters here. And I only know one group of people who are more savage! More fearless! Where might these men be now?!"

"RIGHT HERE SIR!"

He slammed his hand on the podium "FUCKING RIGHT THEY ARE!"

"In two hours, you will be called out to the field! Further details will then be discussed with you! You are dismissed!" The men then got up, some smiling, others still looking a little dreary from the information on their new mission, but one thing was the same for all of them, if even just a little, their worries had been eased.

As the room emptied down to the last soldier, he heard the laughter of Colonel Burton.

Burton's laughter finally died down. "Didn't know you still had that in you, haven't heard that from you since Korea."

"Well, I needed to do that, you and I both know it." A nod "I'm going to head back to the office now and wait for approval, I need you in the situation room seeing how this develops."

Kirkman turned to walk to the door leading back to the hallway of the command center.

"Alright. And hey." Kirkman turned around to look at the Colonel "You're doing a good thing here General, don't be so gray."

Kirkman smirked at his friend, nodding before heading off back to his office.

---

Ozpin sat by his desk, signing paperwork for the Vytal festival that was to happen in a few weeks. All around the world, people were now coming to Vale to watch it live. It was not just the regular civilian coming here, Atlesian troops were here to provide security. Dozens of huntsmen from all the Kingdoms were also here to provide security, not just for the stadium, but for Vale as a whole as the Vytal festival meant many emotions that may or may not attract hordes of Grimm.

Ozpin was distracted from his work when he heard the elevator doors to his office open showing Glynda Goodwitch. She walked to him; her eyes focused on him. Ozpin rested his elbows on the desk and locked his fingers together in anticipation of what Glynda was going to say.

"Have you been to the control room recently?" She crossed her arms, her riding crop hanging to the side.

"No." The control room of CCT usually contained all communications sent directly to Beacon. While ones sent to Ozpin would go directly to his scroll computer.

"Well we received a message from the headmaster of Haven Academy."

Leo? Why would he need to contact Beacon? Their last communication had been relation to the sending of students to Beacon for the festival as well as the sending of six professional huntsmen to help protect Vale's eastern walls.

"He asked for aid, apparently, he has received a report from the Mayor of Shion that the Branwen tribe is on the move towards their village. He is asking for some huntsmen from us to be sent to aid Shion as all his huntsmen are either here in Vale or unavailable due to existing missions."

The Branwen tribe, that was very concerning, but it was unlikely Raven herself would come out to attack, Ozpin knew how the Branwens operated, Raven rarely ever led the attacks herself, opting to just send out small to medium sized forces to harass villages, spike negative emotion, and come back once the grimm were done. Glynda knew this too, he didn't understand why this had to be brought directly to him.

"That is of little issue, we can send a group of 2nd or 3rd years, it would be good practice for the Vytal festival."

"The part about them being attacked by the Branwens is the least of our concern."

Ozpin took a sip from his cup of coffee, now even more intrigued. "And why is that?"

"The mayor of Shion received this information from the Americans, apparently, General Kirkman himself contacted her. The Americans intend to aid them"

Ozpin just about almost dropped his coffee, instead he sat the cup down on his desk. Oh no, oh no no no no. This was bad, he knew the Americans would not hesitate to kill the Branwens, and while this usually would just be another point about their moral culpabilities, it was who they might kill that made Ozpin sweat.

"The Branwens have the spring maiden." He stated simply "Raven is there too, Ms. Xiao Long's mother, Qrow's sister, and Taiyang's former wife."

He sighed into his hand. If either of them was to die, far too many problems would be caused.

"We'll deal with sending huntsmen there later, for now I want to contact the Americans as soon as possible."

His last conversation with the enigmatic leader of the United States had not gone well, but hopefully he would still be open to conversation.

"Oh, speaking of, the Americans have actually contacted us with something… stressful."

Oh no. What was it now? "What?"

And as he heard the words that came out of Glynda's mouth, he stood up, glasses almost falling from face.

"Sun and Neptune did what?!"

---

1625 hours

Airfield, MOB Juno

Kirkman watched as hundreds of soldiers: rangers and marines loaded into three C-17s. On one C-17, soldiers helped load in pallets of supplies: food, water, ammunition along with four Humvees. In another C-17 two LAVs were brought into it. In twenty minutes, they would be taking off alongside the Extenders and Lightning IIs, the Operation was in full swing as Presidential approval was finally given.

The president very likely saw the opportunity to make good things happen in Operation Forging Steel, as in just two weeks, everything would be revealed to the world. Recent news of American troops saving a village from bandits with direct approval from the President would be good PR for the election season.

He heard footsteps beside him. He turned to his right to see Colonel Burton in full combat gear, a fully modified M4 strapped to his Kevlar vest. It's been a while since he'd seen the Colonel like this, he didn't understand why he chose to be fully geared as he would be mostly commanding the operation from behind the lines over actually fighting, but Kirkman knew it didn't hurt to be prepared.

"I see you're ready."

"Course I am, General, this'll be my first operation with tactical command since 2015."

Kirkman offered his hand, an open palm. The Colonel shook it.

"Good luck, and stay safe, Ernest." The General smiled.

"Of course, Thomas." He smiled back, pulling his hand away from the handshake and jogged towards the Rangers loading into their C-17.

Kirkman watched on, he hoped and prayed the operation would go well.

And that menace of the Branwens would end in a bang.

---

LET'S GOOO CHAPTER FINALLY DROPPED AFTER ALMOST TWO FUCKING YEARS AHHAHHAHHASAHAHAHAHAUHHAHAHA. Hope the wait was worth it, I really do. My productivity for this chapter was through the roof, ever since picking it up again I wrote 10k words over the course of a week, hopefully this is a sign of good things to come and that the next chapter won't take so long, no promises though.

I love of all of you, thank you for sticking through with this story throughout 3 whole years, now for review responses. To avoid bloating this section to innumerable proportions since there are like 7 pages of reviews, half of those asking me to update or if me/this story are alive, I'm only gonna respond to certain ones.

A lot happened this chapter, Sun and Neptune get found out, RWBY meets a marine, Fubuki makes a return, Branwen may get murked, or the American may get murked, who knows! hehehe

XxGreenDemonxX: No problem.

Zekken182: Yeah, about that, sorry for the wait between this and chap 14.

EL KAHN DE KAHN: Hope the good work was kept up.

Gunfighterxy76: Cool skit, Blake has issues but is steadily improving.

Stormwolf16: Yeah Elijah will be a force for good at least with PR.

Zooms: Hope you still lookin forward.

Onyx Gabriel: I mean I literally just mentioned thrax a couple chapters ago, and the GLA is effectively gone, dead.

Guest: Indeed RWBY is seeing hearts and minds in full effect.

Guest: TYeah, while it's not confirmed that's how Atlas operates, I wanted to realistically explain why their military is so shit lol.

Guest: That's way I imagine it.

Zooms: Yeah I like the quiet parts too, helps build character.

Crazzytony: Well I hope your expectation were subverted with Blake!

Enrik-Da-Writer: Yeah, General Kirkman can't be good at everything! That's just not human. Some shenanigans were had, but in the end, they had to be outted, turns out it was RWBY who actually got some good info out of this 'operation' instead of sun and Neptune. It did go well.

Aaa: Zootopia is a great comparison.

Krannesca: Well hear's a new update!

Schwarzhayasaka: cool pfp and name lmao. Anyway, I hope the good work was kept this chapter.

TheOutCast01: That would be cool

Vmoneywashere: I am still alive! And blake didn't end up dying lesgoooo.

CaptainWarhammer: Thanks for being a reader bro! I hope you still enjoy this story even with all the quirks causing it to be delayed all the time, hope you liked this chapter! I also love Jackson and Dunn, they are definitely getting A LOT screentime in the upcoming chapters.

Wing Zero 032: I felt like Elijah King would be an interesting addition, so yeah he's gonna help Kirkman a lot but also be in his way a lot as seen here.

Commonwealth Flip: I already responded to you in PMs, so I wont respond to your review but I just wanna say, you're clearly very knowledgeable about these things, so if you're still reading, I hope you continue your reviews.

TheTamrielan: Ey, a TES fan! Unfortunately I got lazy updating on AO3, but I will come back to it eventually, you can also have Dark mode on FFN, either use the app, or if you're on mobile, just scroll down and tap the dark mode option.

Well I don't wanna bloat this chapter further so I'm not gonna respond to any more reviews, I'm terribly sorry if your review was not responded to, but I promise next chapter I'll respond to everything.

I made a discord for this story, come over: /discord . gg/emAjSevJJq

Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing! See y'all in the next one3