As the day came for the operation, the Misfits packed their gear for the operation. With extra ammunition and extra hands on board of a separate armored car they'd been lended by Vale PD for the deployment, most of the members of the Misfits Private Military Company now prepared for a fun romp through the city's port.

Paul looked over his FAMAS's parts. He'd taken apart and cleaned the rifle and his FN Minimi in preparation for the operation and both guns seemed fine and ready. Paula, meanwhile, slid home the bolt of her Hecate-II Sniper rifle. She looked over to Victoria, who smiled and raised her PSL, with both girls offering each-other curt nods.

The bulk of the Misfits would be traveling in the 'Warhound', the vehicle that Vic'n'Vicky's team had come here with. That meant the leading members of the team, with Sammy in the lead, would be the first ones in. Victor himself was in the turret of the Warhound, looking over the M2HB Browning to make sure the Old Girl would still bark like a mean bitch.

Glad to see that she'd been oiled up and was ready to go, he knelt down from the turret and gave a thumbs up to Hassan, who nodded and smiled. Shifting his own XM-5 onto his shoulder, he looked down the specialized scope, aligned it, then set the rifle down beside himself and checked his sidearm. Jim was sat beside him in the driver seat.

Dushman lifted his IAR, slammed the butt of the P-MAG he had inserted into the gun, pulled the bolt handle back and saw that he had a round fed, then made sure the gun was set to safe and not pointed at anyone as he gently put it down, grinning ear-to-ear. Sammy herself, happy with her bullpup, set the weapon beside her seat and looked back.

Alexi, Alex and Saila sat in the back, with the lattermost already happily asleep. Alexi also noticed that Soshkin had boarded the rear vehicle, a bulkier Police/SWAT transport that held pretty much the Marine and Romanian Infantry squads together into one nifty truck. He mumbled, "Sure beats riding in a Bullhead," as he folded his Kalashnikov's paratrooper stock and set the weapon down below his seat.

Paul hummed, then paused as he heard footsteps. Turning to face where they were coming from, he paused as he saw Blake approaching. The black-haired girl showed them to wait for a moment, though she was clad in her full combat outfit. He paused, then asked, "Anything we can help you with, Blake?" as if he was slightly concerned.

"... I want to tag along," The girl spoke.

"Any particular reason?" Paula inquired, noting the faint blush on Blake's face once again whenever Paul was around.

"I and Weiss had a bit of a… Personal… Argument while Ruby and Yang were away," Blake replied. Something twitched atop her head, which was the moment everyone noticed that she did, in fact, have cat ears. She spoke, "I know you guys are fighting the White Fang… Or at least someone pretending to be them."

"... Oh, boy," Paula mumbled, "You were one of them, weren't you?"

"How did you…?" Blake was about to ask 'How did you figure that out so quick', but aside from what she could only assume was some form of sisterly instinct, it must've been pretty obvious, considering she was a freakin' Faunus. Now, admittedly, it wouldn't have been that obvious, considering Alex, the Medic, was also a cat Faunus, though with two traits, weirdly enough, but… She sighed, "Yes…"

"I'm guessing that's what the argument was about," Paul added. Blake nodded, bowing her head, ears drooping. Though it was a cute sight, Paul remained serious as he asked, "Are you with them now?" all while keeping his hands behind his back, as if to show Blake he wasn't angry or hostile toward her. The black-haired girl appreciated it.

"No," Blake shook her head, "I left the moment peaceful protests, pickets and sign-holding turned to robberies, attacks and arson."

"Then you have a lot more of a spine than a few people," Paula offered, smiling. She asked, "And you're trying to prove it isn't them because…" She then paused, thought for a moment, then asked, "You wanna hope that at least some good remains in there, right?" while still looking at the girl. It was blatantly obvious.

"Something like that…?" Blake, to her credit, replied awkwardly. She looked at Paul, face a tinge red, then asked, "How does she do that?"

"Sis always gets it," Paul snorted. Paula gave him a light slap on the shoulder, still smiling, then he looked at the rest of the crew. Paul himself turned as well and asked, "You fellas good with Blake joining us? Could be nice to have a Huntress in support!" only to receive various affirmative replies from them.

When he turned to Blake, smiling, she seemed to perk up. She nodded in thanks, then climbed aboard the already-crowded MRAP, to the sight of the other Misfits. She paused, however, when she saw Robert walking from the house in lighter gear and with his M4A1 rifle strapped to his body. He noticed her, blinked, then sighed and said, "Look, at least give the rest of her fucking team a call before you take her on a road trip."

"She had a fight with'em in regards to the Fang," Paul said as he lifted his gear and climbed inside, too. Rob looked her over, noting the Faunus traits, then sighed and quickly realized he was probably already outnumbered about this. He climbed aboard first, sat down in the seat behind the driver and let the others get in as well.

Sammy pulled up her radio and spoke, "This is Breaker Actual to units. Radio check," only to pause and watch everyone switch on their radios and call out their numbers. She smiled a little, then looked at Blake and nodded, her wolf ears twitching under her helmet. Blake smiled and found a seat beside her.

"Breaker, this is Charger Actual. Radio check complete. In the pipe, five-by-five," Sergeant Colbert replied from the other transport. Sammy clicked her com twice to reply affirmative, then leaned back into her seat. She looked ahead and gave a gentle chop forward with her hand toward Jim, the Latino giving a thumbs up immediately and powering on the car.

As they began rolling forward and onto a road in the campus that led to a Highway, Jim slid his smartphone into a music player and started it up. The first song to play was some old rap music that the boys started tapping their feet to, with Blake looking at Sammy with confusion. Sam herself grinned, then said, "Welcome aboard the Misfit Party Bus."

"I take it this happened even when you guys were in KFOR?" Blake asked, looking at the lot of them as the tune kept on playing. Though it was odd, Blake was kind of happy to be the first person to hear Earth music, even if it was something as blatantly strange as Rap Music. Although the tune was kind of catchy.

"Yep," Sam chuckled as she moved her head to the beat, too. She looked at Blake and told her, "Any time we rolled with a Humvee convoy into some random town," while the others laughed a little at the memory. And Blake suddenly realized she also got front-row seats to the team's usual lively friendship while she was riding to fight the Fang.

"The only things you really have to pass the time are music and chatting each-other up for long road trips," Vicky stated as she looked back at Blake. She looked at Jim and called out something. As soon as the song ended, the driver of the truck switched the song to something rock, considering the guitar. It was a smooth tune, relaxing.

"And praying you don't hit a mine, though that was only one small trip," Paula added jokingly, causing Blake to immediately double over. Who just casually brought up dodging mines on a trip!?

"Ha. We just had a talk about that the other night while having dinner," Vicky chuckled, leaning forward and re-tying her boot laces. She sighed and looked up at her brother as the guy kept the MG pointed upward. The vehicle trundled on over a speed bump, then onto the on-ramp for the local highway leading to Vale. The two-transport convoy then merged with the traffic, presumably to the surprise of the other civvie drivers.

"Yeah," Paula chuckled.

"... You girls do realize Blake probably can't relate, right?" Sam asked upon noticing Blake's face. The young catgirl was, in fact, not even sure how the hell to take most of this. Not only was the team ignoring the fact she just outright admitted to being both a Faunus and White Fang, but they were just chatting each-other up…

"... Fair…" Paula and Vicky shrugged, then looked at Blake apologetically. Blake waved it off, but found it amusing just how well the gang meshed together. One would expect soldiers to be all professional, all the time, but they were just humans. She thought for a moment if she'd experienced that kind of thought before. Probably…

"Anyways. We also had times where we went to a restaurant or something," Alex Ryan chuckled as he cradled his rifle as he looked out the window at the traffic rushing past them. Several of the people in the cars were taking pictures. He chuckled, then spoke, "We can recall those, too," only to pause as the team's Finnish redhead woke up. He called out, "Ope, and Saila's awake…"

Saila gave a rapid nod, smiling, then waved at Blake.

"Alex, we're not talking about the time you and Alexi somehow managed to trash a local Turk's restaurant, brother," Robert spoke in a deadpan, looking back at the two men. Alex shrunk, while the Bulgarian seemed relatively unfazed by the stare Rob was giving them. Alexi, to be fair, had gotten into plenty of trouble with the man, too…

"We should, though. It was very funny," The Bulgarian smirked, garnering a few chuckles.

"Pff. Yeah, true," Ryan chuckled, his cat ears twitching, which made Blake a little more at ease. He continued, "The guy was so incredibly mad he was throwing those weird swords he uses for cooking after us," and he was probably referring to the kebab swords, which was in and of itself kind of terrifying.

Wait, what was a Turk?

"I took one in my plate, but it could've been a lot worse," The Bulgarian shrugged, scratching his cheek.

Blake stared, horrified, at the Bulgarian.

"You guys were off-duty when this was happening, right?!" She practically begged the heavens for that to be the case, because who the hell would go through all that during their on-duty hours? It'd basically be a career suicide to cause issues to a random civvie just because, right? The Military wasn't that stupid?

"Yes," The others confirmed, causing her to breathe a sigh of relief.

"We also didn't trash the place," Alexi corrected, then mumbled, "The food was pretty bad, though."

"And I take it the guy didn't like you all trash-talking it, so he threw you out via use of SWORDS…" Blake now seemed a little more appalled at the guy himself. Honestly, there were ways to take criticism, but throwing swords at your customers for disagreeing with what you cooked felt like a massive overreaction.

"That about sums it up, yes," Alexi nodded as the others laughed.

"How did the local police or the other units you were working with take it?" Blake raised a brow.

"Police didn't approve and fined the guy. Local food and health and safety inspectors came by and shut the place down because, well, there were rats in the Kebab," Vic stated as he knelt down from the MG position to join in on the conversation. Sammy nodded, while Alexi snorted and shook his head. Blake turned to Rob, who shrugged and nodded.

"... oh…" The girl's lips turned razor thin. She sighed and leaned back into her seat.

A few more loose conversations continued to occur between various members of the team as Blake simply sat there, watching them. Her gaze fell upon Paul for a moment, the man turning toward her and offering a kind smile, which got her heart racing a bit. As the vehicles trundled down the main road, this strange calm continued.

Despite the fact they were about to go and literally fight other living beings, the team seemed surprisingly calm. Even so, Blake felt the fact they were all tired. Their Auras were weary, restricted, defensive. All of them had unlocked Aura as a means of defending themselves against attack, but they never went on to explore it.

She hummed, then sighed and said, "Hey, folks?" only to get almost all eyes, save for the driver's, on her. She smiled and said, "Look. I can tell you're all a group of soldiers and all and I'm just a teenager, but I think you could all benefit from training a little in regards to using your Aura. Like… I can feel you all use it as a second bulletproof vest, basically. It's more than that."

"Offering to teach us, are ya?" Alex inquired from behind her.

She shrugged, "Sure… I mean, I'd like to help you all," before casting a glance at Paul and blushing. She sighed deeply, mumbled, "I don't know what the rest of my team's gonna think, especially after the fight with Weiss and…" and she frowned… God, did she just screw up her friendship due to hiding it?

"Hey," Paula spoke, giving her a nudge, "It's alright… I'm sure Weiss is going to cool off soon enough and come looking for you with the others."

"Should we give them a call, or… D'you think they'll call us?" Victoria asked as she leaned back. Paula shrugged.

Robert scoffed, "Knowing them? They're probably gonna pull some stupid shit like tracking Belladonna all the way over to the Port and winding up in the middle of the Firefight with the rest of us. Or, maybe God'll finally give us a fucking break and have them find us after we're done down there… Also, Sam, do you think that other PMC's gonna be there?"

"Whoever they are, they've been up to the same business we've been:Raiding Fang bases and gathering intel," Sam replied, doing one more check of her ammo, almost like it was a nervous tick. She continued, "Obviously, they're probably on the same trail we are, courtesy of whatever common contacts we have…"

"Alright," Robert shrugged, "Maybe we'll do a merger with'em."

"Or they might shoot at us," Paul joked, shifting his ass on his seat. The others laughed again at that, all save for Robert, obviously. Blake smiled a little at that, then sighed and prayed they were right about the rest of her team coming to find her instead of just… Outright going to Ozpin to change her out.

Why was she so stupid as to run away again…? Why could she never confront her problems…?

She paused, however, when a song came on, a slow, relaxed riff of guitar and drums. She saw the team start tapping their feet, most of them grinning. Robert groaned, covered his ears and leaned back into his seat while Sam chuckled. Vic began from the turret, in synch with the vocals, voice low… "Her name is Noelle. I have a dream about her… She rings my bell, I got gym class in half-an-hour…"

"Oh, how she rocks! In Keds and tube socks!" Paul soon joined, smiling, only for Paula, Sammy and Vicky to join in next, all smiling and jovial at hearing this strange song, "But she doesn't know who I am! And She doesn't give a damn about me!"

Blake twitched as the entire crew (save Rob) began singing, "Cause I'm just a teenage Dirtbag, baby! Yeah, I'm just a teenage Dirtbag, Baby! Listen to Iron Maiden, baby, with me!" and Saila added a small, "Ooooo~!" as the crew put their hearts and souls into singing. She stared at the group, a few of them giggling as the second verse came in.

Sammy started this one, grinning, "Her boyfriend's a dick when he brings a gun to school! And he'd simply kick my ass if he knew the truth!" to which Hassan and Jim then joined in, "He lives on my block! And he drives an IROC! But he doesn't know who I am! And he doesn't give a damn about me!" and for the Chorus to repeat again.

Blake smiled a little, watching the team just have their fun, dancing to the tune, all of them repeating the tune. Vic knelt from the turret again and bumped fists with Paul as the song slowed again, the Guitar track being the only instrumental bit audible now as the vocals grew low. She paused as she saw Robert roll his eyes, urged by Sammy, then start quietly, "... Man, I feel like mold. It's prom night and I am lonely. Lo' and Behold, she's walkin' over to me… This must be fake. My lips start to shake. How does she know who I am? And why does she give a damn about me?"

The girls started now, all in unison, as the boys sat quietly, "I've got two tickets to Iron Maiden, baby. Come with me Friday, don't say maybe! I'm just a Teenage Dirtbag like you! Oooo~!" before the last bits of the chorus kicked in again, sung by the entire team. When the vocals ended, the entire team started laughing heartily.

"Thank you, Vic!" Sammy called out, smiling.

"No, El-Tee. Thank you for letting us keep this mixtape," Vic snorted, only to get a few cheers and whoops from the others. Rob rolled his eyes, but even he cracked a smile while Alexi and Alex shared laughs in the background. The Romanian gunner looked at Blake and said, "You and your friends'll turn out like this, too. Just give it a few bloody months," with a reassuring smile. He pulled his mask down and manned the gun again.

Even with the argument they had, with how everything ended a couple of hours ago? Blake couldn't help but feel like it was gonna work out somehow… She sat back in her seat and watched the vehicles roll off the exit ramp toward the port. The moment they crossed that threshold, with both vehicles in a tight-knit formation, Blake suddenly felt the air in the vehicle change.

Those who donned balaclavas pulled them down over their faces, checking their ammo one more time, their weapons, their gear and all. A myriad clicks and clacks and mechanical noises from the weapons being checked filled both of her pairs of ears, combined with the sudden straight faces the soldiers wore.

They prepared their weapons, holding them close as the vehicles moved into the industrial park by the port, a fishery going by the smell. The place had few employees, most of which soon departed the moment they saw two armored trucks, one of which was desert tan and armed, pull up. The moment the vehicles pulled into cover behind the specific warehouse where the SDC Freighter was, the parking brakes were on…

And miss Belladonna got to watch the same goofy folks from before turn into professional troops, grabbing and lifting their gear, dismounting one at a time with Sammy in the lead. The driver and co-driver jumped out next, Sam herself calling over radio, "Alpha and Bravo teams are on-site and deploying. Weapons safe. Take positions, confirm hostiles are Whiskey Foxtrot, apprehend or eliminate."

As Blake got out of the transport last, right after Victor, a trio of Marines boarded it, with one of them immediately manning the fifty cal. Sergeant Colbert spoke, "Bravo, keep the victor warm, ready the fifty. If we're gonna need heavy weapons, we'll ping…" before checking his gear and rallying up his team. He walked up to Sam and said, "Alpha-Actual, Bravo-Actual reports Bravo ready for combat…"

"To your positions, then, Bravo… Alphas, rally on me," The woman ordered, lifting her hand, leaving only her index up and spinning it around clockwise. The fireteam formed up with her, the main Misfits. With wide eyes, Blake watched the unfolding operation. The switch from goofy to straight-laced and razor-sharp had given her a bit of whiplash.

Sam turned to Blake and said, "You're Alpha, too. Move it," with a wave of the hand. Blake shifted, nodded, then ran to join them, drawing Gambol Shroud's first blade and folding it to use the pistol form. The group advanced through a series of alleys. The squads prepped, weapons at the ready as night began to fall. Vicky and a few other marksmen had taken position on the roof, while the team's machine-gunners set up behind the cover of both darkness and boxes.

Blake sat beside Sam now, staring at the arrayed force, whom she could barely see even with her perfect night vision. They were well-camouflaged and perfectly hidden in the urban landscape despite the various types of camouflage they wore. She looked at Sam and whispered, "You guys just flipped a switch…"

"Business before pleasure," The Chinese woman replied in a flat tone, looking at the massive yard filled with containers with the Faunus Huntress. The Freighter itself had just docked, with the crew disembarking and going into town. A dozen people and a few security mechanoids. She radioed, "Alpha Actual to Bravo Actual, confirming LOS on crew. They just departed."

"ETA on Whiskey Foxtrots?" Colbert replied.

"Five mikes…" She stated, then asked again, "Bravo Two-Actual. You and your team got that RPG ready?"

"Ready to hit them, Alpha," Diana's voice echoed over the com, a hint of her joy slipping past the professional mask. The Catgirl beside the Squad Lead looked at the Romanian section and only saw the rocket of the launcher poking out from cover, pointed up at the skies. The rest of the group was otherwise hidden.

Sammy checked her phone clock, mumbled, "Three mikes…" slotted the phone back in her pocket, then shouldered her rifle and adjusted the three-times zoom scope on the weapon a little. She cast a glance over to a flat-roofed building where Victoria and Paula had set up with their respective rifles. They had a fireteam of four Marines guarding their backs.

She nodded, then said to Blake, "We have changed a bit since KFOR, Blake… War changes people," in a lower voice. She looked at the girl, green eyes locked onto her auburn ones, then gave her a small smile, "I pray to whatever God's actually up there and listening that you girls never have to kill or see anyone die…"

"It's a risk we assumed when we became Huntresses," Blake replied warily, "There's a lot of stories of a Hunter being forced to kill bandits because they attacked. I'm pretty sure Ruby and Yang's father probably has a few stories like that," then her left ear twitched. Sammy's did, too, but it was under her helmet.

Sam sighed and said, "None of you girls feel like you should be in this mess anyways," quietly. She shouldered her weapon and radioed, "ALCON, be advised… Possible Whiskey Foxtrot air assets incoming," as the distant drone of Bullhead antigravity engines grew closer. Multiple clicks echoed over the com, safeties off just in case.

The two girls looked up as the Bullheads, a trio of them, all armed with chin-mounted minigun turrets, swiveled in. One hovered in the air as two landed, disgorging two platoons of White Fang troops armed to the teeth with swords and local fire-... Sam paused, blinked, then scoped in one of the Fang's rifles. She radioed, "Alpha Three and Four, can you confirm what the fuck I'm seeing…?"

"Affirm," Vicky replied, her voice strained.

Paula added, "White Fang troops are armed with Kalashnikov rifles. AKMs," before she drove the bolt of her Hecate II home and aimed for them. The entire team paused as, among the animal trait-bearing humans, a normal one, a ginger in a dapper suit, bowler hat and carrying a cane, stepped off with a coy, cocksure smirk.

And, beside him, a young woman, grinning ear-to-ear and clad in a bulletproof vest and chest rig, also carrying a kitted-out Kalash, stepped off. The ginger-haired man spoke, "Alright, you worthless animals! Let's get a move-on! I doubt we have the whole night before we start getting raided!" and he pointed at one of the men, who was carrying cables to connect Dust containers to the Bullheads and said, "Easy with that! It's not a leash!"

"You really don't like Faunus, do you, Zaychik?" The woman beside him spoke as the rest of her own unit, a group of well-armed Bandits, stepped off the vehicle. The redhead glared at her, his green eyes locked onto her face. She waved her team forward, but with no professionalism whatsoever. Russian Scavengers, the criminals born out of the destabilization of the Motherland, here.

Sammy whispered, "A human and Russian Scavs…? Guess it only makes sense that some of Russia's lowlives would be here as well, considering we woke up…" before sighing.

"... This isn't right," Blake murmured, "The White Fang would never work with a human. Much less a Criminal like him…" only to try and stand up. Sam put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down, causing the Faunus girl to glare at her. Sam shook her head, then clicked her radio twice. A preparedness check…

Her radio crackled, the others giving one click each. She shouldered her rifle and said, "You go in when I tell you, Blake. Not a minute before," as she cast a glance at the girl, dead serious. The former WF blinked, then nodded, aiming her pistol. Sam then said, "ALL UNITS… Quarterback, Quarterback, Quarterback!"

Blake was almost blindsided by the first volley. The start of it was the rocket of the Romanian force being fired. The RPG bellowed and the rocket shot out of the maw of the launcher. As the first bullets left the barrels of the NATO force's weapons, the unguided rocket struck one of the engines of the hovering White Fang craft, the molten copper jet tearing clean through the internals and igniting everything flammable within.

The engine exploded, sending the craft careening hard right and into the water, causing the Scav leader to let out a bellowing volley of swears in her native tongue. She grabbed the redhead by the collar and said, "GET TO COVER, TORCHWICK! WE'VE GOT NATO! SUKA-" only to stagger as a round hit her, causing her Auric shield to flare a dark-red.

Paula scoffed, pulled back the bolt and slammed it home, then said, "Scav Leader has Aura," before she shifted her target toward one of the White Fang's own rocket troops. She watched the man pull out a rusty RPG from a box, then aimed for his head and fired. The round sheared clean through the tube of the launcher and turned the man's head into blood red mist.

Sammy scoffed, then said, "ALPHA to all elements, PHASELINE TWO! ADVANCE AND SECURE!" before looking at a stunned Blake and barking, "MOVE!" as she dropped down onto the ground. The Marines ahead advanced into the battle area as the Fang and Scavs, now awoken from their fugue, began returning fire.

The Marines and Romanian Army troops pushed in from cover to cover, utilizing containers spread throughout the storage area. Rounds zipped past them or struck the steel of the containers, forcing Diana and her team into cover as Sam and the others advanced. One of the two landed Bullheads tried to take off, but the Romanian Sergeant waved to Cocean, who was carrying the RPG, to shoot it.

The rocketeer nodded, slung his AK-pattern rifle down and pulled the launcher out. He slotted in and locked into place another PG-7V into his AG-7, shouldered it and aimed through the scope at the vehicle just as it was spinning up its chin-mounted guns. He cleared backblast, then cocked the hammer back and squeezed the trigger, the rocket lunging out of the tube and leaving a contrail as it danced through the air, kept stable by the fins on its rear.

It struck the gunship's cockpit, the detonation seemingly engulfing the pilot and co-pilot aboard and causing the craft to crash-land deeper inside. Sam and Blake watched it go down in flame, with Blake immediately surging forward. With both blades drawn and shielded with Aura, the woman charged a squad of Scavs.

She dodged the fire of the first man she met up-close, slicing his gun in half with her blade before delivering a roundhouse to the side of his head. The tip of her boot slammed into the man's titanium and aramid helmet, nudging it slightly and causing a minor degree of main to Blake. He spun in place twice and dropped to the floor, knocked out.

Blake then staggered as two other men, one armed with a machine gun, fired on her. The Earth-made bullets struck and felt like they were burning as they tried to bore through her aura. She saw the soul shield she had flicker as she moved at almost superhuman speeds, dodging their fire. Bullets struck where she had been, or struck her aura-created 'Shadow Clones', allowing her to close the gap.

She jumped up, headbutting a man right in the face and shattering several of his teeth before utilizing Gambol Shroud's pistol form as a whip. She wrapped it around the other's leg as he aimed at her, pulling it from under him and causing him to fall down, only to yelp as the other regained focus and slammed the butt of his MG into her face.

She staggered back, eyes widening as she saw the barrel of the man's heavy gun point toward her chest, his bloodshot eyes glaring at her with murderous intent. He, however, did not get to fire a shot. A burst of automatic fire from Blake's right tore the man's chest plate open. She staggered back, watching blood stain his clothes as he collapsed.

Looking right, she saw Paul pushing up, the barrel of his MG emanating smoke. He looked at her, nodded, then pushed up with Sam, Robert, Jim and Hassan. She swallowed empty, looking at the corpse below, then paused as she saw the other man get shot in the head clean through his helmet by Sam. The girl sidestepped the corpse and shot him twice to make sure he was dead, then grabbed Blake and pulled her into cover.

Noting she was breathing a little heavily, eyes wide, Sam said, "I told you I didn't want you to see this… Good try knocking them out, though," before she dropped her half-spent magazine and slammed in a fresh one. She grabbed Blake by the arm and shook her, "Stay put! You don't need to do this!" as she saw the fear in her eyes.

"N-No…" Blake swallowed, "No, I can help!"

"Blake… Nobody's judging you for freezing when you saw two men get killed," Sam spoke, though she'd seen that kind of gaze before. Blake had seen people die before, probably par for the course in being former White Fang… No, this was different kind of fear. Regardless of it, though, she told the Huntress, "But believe me… None of us want you to have dead people on your conscience at seventeen. Stay put."

"No," Blake replied, sure of herself even as her voice trembled, "The White Fang and that bastard have Aura… I can help you all deal with them, but…" she shuddered, then pulled out her Scroll and saw her Aura had been halved. She blinked and said, "Just… Keep Earth rounds away from me, please," only to yelp as a round skimmed over their cover and struck the wall of the warehouse behind them.

Sam smiled a little, then nodded, "Alright…" before radioing, "Alpha, Bravo, Phaseline Three! Move it!" before she stood up. Blake followed, though warily. She jumped over her cover, dodging volleys of automatic fire from the swearing Scavenger leader and her own former White Fang comrades. Her eyes locked onto the Leader.

She bee-lined for her, charging forward and ducking, sliding and dancing agilely through the fire like a cat before she spun and delivered a two-heeled kick right to the commander's face. The woman staggered back, slamming against the hull of the last remaining dropship, before swearing and aiming at the girl. Blake ducked and dodged, slashed the woman twice, then demanded, "How did you get the Fang working with you, you no-good criminals!?"

"Heh," The woman smirked.

Blake felt the air get knocked out of her lungs as the redhead man beside her, Roman Torchwick, stepped up toward her with a light amount of laughter. He told her, "Well, kitty-cat. It's more of a joint, three-way business venture. One you and your meddling soldier buddies just interrupted," before slamming the tip of his cane into her face.

When the concussion passed, Blake looked up to see the barrel of the Scav woman's rifle pointed at her head. The girl spoke, "Look, kotenok… I fucking hate meddlers," with vitriol in her voice as she put the barrel right up to the girl's forehead, "You dived in too deep here… Say goodnight," before her finger wrapped around the trigger.

A burst of silenced fire coughed and struck her hip, causing her to double over. She swore, looked up and gasped, then yelled, "TORCHWICK, WE HAVE TO GET THE FUCK OUT OF HERE!" with fear in her voice. Torchwick's cane, Melodic Cudgel, whined as an explosive shell was fired toward the NATO Contingent, only for the man to yell something back.

Blake felt a hand grab her and lift her up, looking to see Paul and Vic had joined the advance. Paul asked, "You alright, Blake?" to which the girl nodded, then gasped and looked ahead as Torchwick and the Scav ran toward the maze of containers. Paul saw them, too, aimed his MG alongside Vic and, in sync with his Romanian pal, opened fire.

The shots narrowly missed them, with Vic swearing. Paul, however, paused when Paula said over com, "ALCON, be advised:Spotted Russian Spetsnaz advancing into AO… Presume that the second PMC has been spotted among the containers, but I couldn't make out their flags. Be ready for hostile contact per ALPHA ACTUAL's orders, but move in to apprehend HVTs."

Vic replied, "Alpha copies… Aleksandr, Jim, Hass, Alexi, we're moving in…" hefted his GPMG and nodded to Paul. The other boys of the squad moved in to join them, weapons at the ready as they pushed into the maze in pairs. The men chased their fugitives now and prepared for the worst:Russian hostiles in the middle of this op.

… Torchwick ran and ran through the containers. What had been made plenty clear about these soldier-boys and girls' guns is that they hurt like a fucking bitch regardless of Aura. And they drained Aura a hell of a lot faster due to the propellants within them. He swore to himself as he looked back and saw that his 'partner', the alcohol-smelling Scav, had left him alone.

Bitch didn't have a trustworthy face. Roman shouldn't have fallen for the sweet words and promises. Oh, my bosses are gonna help, don't worry about it! Fucking amazing lying on her part, really. It didn't help that she was cute, but damn if Roman really should've not fallen for that after everything. He heard the crack of boots against concrete behind him and voices calling out.

Then paused as a boot appeared up ahead, only for the form to then resolve into that of another soldier, a thick-barreled rifle pointed right at him. He swore, dodged the first two shots from the automatic shotgun, brought up Melodic Cudgel and smacked her over the head, hearing her groan. His cane bounced off her helmet, giving her ample time to recover and bodyslam him against one of the containers.

He swore, "Fuckin' soldiers! You really like playing rough, huh!?" before he put his hands together and slammed them into the back of the woman, causing her to double back. She straightened up and hip-fired her shotgun three times, drilling holes into the container behind him. He aimed Melodic Cudgel and was about to fire, but a smaller girl put the butt of her rifle into his hand, sending the explosive round flying high.

It detonated, probably giving his position away to the others. He grit his teeth and smacked the smaller girl with green hair in the face, finding purchase as he hit her cheek, but she had Aura. She swore at him in her native language, punched him in the stomach, then punched low, sending a shock of pain through Torchwick's entire body.

He kicked her back, staggering and stating, "Why the nuts…?" only to gasp as a shotgun blast struck him from the side, draining a chunk of his Aura. The little one pushed again, slamming against him and throwing him off to the side, a surprising heavyweight for her size. Two more women appeared, speaking their odd language. One was a redhead, the other was a blonde.

They opened up on Torchwick, but the man jumped to his feet and struck at both, firing Melodic Cudgel. Explosions rocked the place… But one hit him, staggering him as he felt his lungs nearly collapse, aura flaring. He stumbled over, his ears ringing as he looked back. The little one with green hair racked the pump of a launcher, aimed again and smirked, stating, "Good night, suka!"

And the grenade that flew out of the barrel quite literally chilled Roman. The blue-tipped ice Dust explosive struck and washed the man and the entire area behind him in a thick, magical ice sheet that stretched all the way up a pair of containers like a growing sheet of spikes. The little girl smirked, leaned her launcher on her shoulder and said, "And boom. Ice Dust."

"... I'm never questioning her choices again," The black-haired shotgunner quipped as she approached Roman. She knocked on the ice sheet and spoke smugly, "Hope you're enjoying the cooler, suka. You're going away for a very, very long while if we can help it-" only to pause as footsteps echoed ahead of them.

The entire team, now including Anja and Katja, stepped up and aimed their weapons, but they froze the moment they saw them. The men didn't seem to recognize them at first, the soldier in the FFL uniform, his LMG pointed up at them, stating, "Easy does it, ruskies… Nobody wants to-..." and he paused as an eerie sense of familiarity washed over him.

The lilac-eyed blonde that was Katja Zielinska blanked, then spoke in a whisper, "... Paul? That you in the frog outfit, you fucker?"

That got the man to choke. He and the girl locked eyes before both of them pulled their balaclavas up, revealing to each-other scarred, yet familiar faces. Kat covered her mouth, while Paul stared, bug-eyed, as he lowered his gun. Beside him, the green-clad Romanian MG trooper smirked, his balaclava visibly creasing. Paul, meanwhile, spoke, "Katja…"

Kat's smile grew, "Holy shit…"

Hass, Jim, Alexi and Aleksandr stepped up next, weapons at the ready, staring at the group. The blue-haired girl in the team blanked, lifting her own balaclava. She whispered, "No fucking way…! Hass!? ALEKSANDR?!" as she stared between the two men with wide eyes. Aleks smirked and gave a pat on his buddy's back.

"Nicole…" Hassan staggered, eyes wide, "Holy fuck…"

Jim smirked, then paused as he saw a short figure approaching from amidst the crowd. She smirked and pulled her mask down, stating, "JJ…" in a whisper. She shifted her gun onto her back, then crossed her arms. Looking back at her team, she saw Anja push through as well, then saw Ayesha staring, rubbing her arm and smiling sadly.

Jim smirked, "Lita…" then he paused as he saw a lock of blonde hair behind her. He blinked, then grabbed Vic by the shoulder and shook him, "Dude! DUDE!" which caused the Romanian to look at him weird. Paul, who had also noticed it, smiled. Both men pointed at the girl as she took her mask off. Lita, who had noticed she wasn't looking their way, whistled really loudly.

When her attention was sufficiently taken, Victor's greatest hope had come true and, for a moment, he began to shake as he stared at her. While the blonde was grabbed by the arm and had Lita whisper something into her ear, she seemed to go from a bit peppy, if worried, to immediately freezing. Lita tilted her head toward the Romanian, then let go of her wrist.

The blonde looked up, blue eyes glimmering as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She covered her own mouth with both hands, shuddering a little. Vic, meanwhile, couldn't help but feel a pit form in his stomach. There she was… The woman he loved. The woman he'd failed. How the fuck could he even stand to face her after every mistake he made…?

She uncovered her mouth, then simply mouthed, "Vic," as she trembled.

Vic swallowed, unable to utter a word. He didn't know what to do. What could he do at this mo-he paused, staggering forward as Paul and Jim shoved him forward. He glared back at both of them, the tears forming in the corners of his own eyes, tears born out of regret and a feeling of uselessness. Both men stared at him, glaring back as if to tell him to just forget about it and go.

The same seemed to happen to Ves a second later, Ayesha and Lita shoving her forward, causing her to yelp as she fell right into his arms. He gasped, looked forward and their gazes met. He swallowed empty, lifting her up to her feet and holding her hands as, though shaking like a wet dog, he asked with a cracking voice, "Y-You alright…?"

She opened her mouth, but bit her lips as her face flushed red, tears running down her cheeks. She gave a very weak nod. She didn't dare look him in the eye for some reason. Was she so upset? He thought to himself. She thought much the same about him, considering she was the one who died on him…

He swallowed, his mind settling on one thing. The world around them seemed to go quiet as he put a hand on her cheek, even the cheers and callouts of their comrades fading. She looked up at him, shaking still, before he decided to do one final test. If this was a dream, it was best to wake up soon, before it became too much to bear, he thought.

So, gently moving his hand to the back of her head, he pulled her close… And with a shiver running up both their spines, their lips met, almost a year of buried emotions flowing out into one heartfelt kiss. He wrapped his other arm around her waist and pulled her into his embrace as the muffled cheers of the team echoed around them.

As they separated, Victor held Vesna in his arms, hugging her tightly. She hugged him back, weeping tears of joy in his shoulder. He leaned his cheek against her head and whispered softly, "You're alive… My God, you're actually alive and here…" before letting out a combination of a laugh and a choked-out sob. Both tightened the hug.

"You found me…" She whispered back, happy. He felt her fingers dig into his uniform as she began to sob again. He pat her head, then paused as he noticed something wagging, his eyes slightly widening. He chuckled then, realizing that Alex and Sammy weren't the only ones who were transformed into Faunus…

"Vic! Guys!" Blake's voice called out. The entire team turned around as the four members of team RWBY plus one very weirdly peppy ginger girl appeared around the corner. She paused, then her eyes widened as she saw the reunion ahead of them. She looked over at Yang, as did R'n'W, all three of them seeing the blonde's heart break when she saw Vic and Vesna hugging.

"Ohmygosh MORE PEOPLE!" Ruby cheered, throwing her hands up in the air, "AND MORE COOL GEAR!" which got laughs out of the team.

Ayesha spoke with a chuckle, "Guess we found Vera's weapon nerd counterpart," which made the black-haired shotgunner grin.

"Salutations!" The ginger beside her waved, "And apologies for the interruption, but Headmaster Ozpin is here."

"... Should we go home and figure the rest of this out there?" Vic asked the team as he looked around. All of them, a very happy Vesna included, gave a nod as Sam approached. The black-haired PLANM member beamed, though she, too, seemed a bit miffed(probably, many thought, because there went her chance to be with Vic), before she waved the team forward. Vic looked at Ves and asked her, "Ready to go…?"

"Mm…" She smiled. Vic took her hand and led her forward as the rest of the team formed up, starting to laugh together. Paul and Katja both walked together behind their two best friends, with Kat giving him a gentle elbow in the shoulder. The Hungarian FFL soldier rolled his eyes, but couldn't help himself from cracking a wide smile.

Robert, meanwhile, sighed and mumbled, "And there's the rest of'em…" before looking at a smiling Ozpin next to the Bullhead. He saw Ves and Vic hand-in-hand and could only imagine the joy the two of them must've felt, though, and, for a moment, that MP Heart of his actually let him crack a very, very tiny, invisible smile.

He sighed and immediately shook it off, pulling a can of coke out of one of his pouches and opening it as he and the team boarded. Ozpin, meanwhile, said, "I guess that Merger is going through in the end…" in a whisper. He pulled out his Scroll and waved to the drivers of the two transports to get moving back to Beacon before he entered the Bullhead's hold, calling the Misfit Company's holder.

… Time to head home…