The village of Silver Ridge had been a relatively nice, friendly place. Even with all the knightly attire and crap, it was a welcoming area to be in and the Inn had been surprisingly comfortable to sleep in. Of course, the two sibling pairs each had their rooms, while Diana had gotten her own. Thankful for that little respite, the Sergeant stepped out and walked over to grab something from the nearby vending machine, humming a tune as she walked outside.
She caught sight of Vic and Paul engaged in a game of dice at a nearby table, while Vicky and Paula simply chatted away the day while waiting for her. She chuckled, then scratched her chin and popped open her can of instant coffee, taking a sip from it and approaching the Warhound. She'd need to grab her gear from the room before they left, but it felt prudent enough to look over the truck to make sure it was still fine.
She turned around, wanting to talk to Vic and Paul, but soon noticed a figure clad in dark-green forest camouflage gear with short red hair looking at them play their game. The two men laughed for a moment, while the red-haired, blue-eyed cutie sat there with her hands behind her back, then both paused and looked up to see her. With one eye covered by some of her hair, she smiled at them.
"SAILA?!" both men jumped to their feet. The redhead, who everyone now noticed was dirty and had feature-disrupting face-paint on, beamed at them. She also had a big backpack with her RK-62 assault rifle that had been heavily modified to include a hand guard with actual piccatini rails, on which a flashlight/laser module had been mounted on the right rail, while a foregrip resided on the bottom. A Trijicon ACOG sight stood on the rail mount on top of the rifle's modified dust cover, which was well-secured to ensure Zeroing remained constant. She also had a silencer on it.
Dusting off her Jaegers patch, she put her hands on her hips and smiled at the two men, while Paula and Vicky both ran forward to meet the girl, both smiling. Saila beamed at them, too, the three girls hugging it out while Paul and Vic looked to one-another, concerned. She looked at them next, then walked up and hugged them both tightly after aligning her brainwaves with theirs. The boys could almost hear the psychic "I missed you guys." in that weirdly kindhearted voice of hers.
"How long have you been watching us, Sai...?" Vic seemed almost dumbfound as he watched the redhead staring at them put down her backpack, which contained a whole mess kit inside, plus what seemed to be quite a few containers full of a stew. Elk or deer, he assumed, going by what Saila was used to hunting in the outdoors, apparently thanks to one of her training buddies. She tugged at Paul's arm.
"... Fifteen minutes sitting quietly right next to us and neither we, nor Paula or Vicky noticed you," Paul blinked, to which the girl nodded, still beaming and happy. He whispered, "You're kidding," while the others stared, slightly dumbfound. Diana and the boys looked to the girls, both of whom seemed a slight bit embarrassed by the revelation of their security lapse.
"Heh," Vicky rubbed the back of her neck, awkward, as she explained, "Yeah, I and Paula were engrossed in a conversation, too..." to which the Hungarian woman let out a deep sigh, cradling her own FAMAS rifle now. They probably should head out soon to the next village, see if they could find that TIGR, maybe even its occupants if it could be helped, ask them to join the growing PMC, seeing as they were fighting terrorists those eight years ago.
Vic thought for a moment about his sister's excuse, shrugged and replied, "Fair, but seriously, you two had clear line of sight to us," while looking over to a giggling Saila, the girl's laugh unusually audible. It was the same voice she 'spoke' with when she tugged at their arms, sent messages into their minds. How she did that was never explained by any form of science beside a cursory brain MRI from a young age telling that she was just, to quote their usual 2020s lingo, 'built different'.
"And she was literally in your peripherals," Paula shot back, relatively calm. They were all blind as shit, thought Diana as she smiled, watching the exchange between friends while once more wearing a smile. It was genuinely heartwarming to look at, just like when the twin pairs reunited back at home that one day a while ago. She let it happen, then, only preparing to intervene when the discussion was over.
Vic, meanwhile, sighed deeply and replied, "Fair enough," before chuckling, "Anyways... Guess this is what we get with our dear Corporal Leppäniemi," which got an ever-brighter smile out of the redhead Finnish woman. He told her, "Good to see you, Sai, heh," as he arranged his gear on him. He saw Diana standing in the back and was well aware they would have to prepare to head out.
Saila walked up to everyone, one at a time, and tugged at their sleeve or shirt with a smile, including Diana's. All the group heard from that little exchange was a giddy, though tired-sounding, 'Glad to be here' while the young woman seemed about ready to burst into tears, biting her lip a little as memories seemed to flood her mind. She walked away toward a wall for a moment, leaned against it while trembling, then composed herself, taking a deep, long and shaky breath, then turned to face everyone else, smiling still. The Misfit twin pairs looked at each-other once more, concerned for their friend.
"Another member of the Misfits for the squad already, eh?" Smiled Diana, patting the young girl on the back and pausing for a moment as her mind flashed with weird hieroglyphics. She shook it off, surprisingly, then looked at Saila with a smile and spoke softly, "And she's the weird psychic Finn from what I can tell," Only for her speech to slow down as Saila brought out a casserole labeled 'Venison' in English and handed it to her. She blinked, "Welcome to the... Party...? Thanks...?" while the boys laughed. That was, indeed, Saila.
"What've you been doing before you found us, Saila?" Paula inquired, intending to find out both the story of how she wound up in here and what she had been doing for the better part of her stay in this place, depending on how long she'd been around. Saila, however, only pointed to the Hunter's Lodge and Butcher shop nearby, where the carcasses of five deer resided in various stages of skinning, their organs already discarded.
"Oh. Holy shit..." Vic blinked, paused, then asked, "Wait, what did you do about those weird monster creatures, the Grimm? Wouldn't they have hunted you for the meat?" and watched Saila's flash through a series of emotions, before settling down on one of her unusually creepy 'Hunter's smiles', as they'd nicknamed them. A thrill of the hunt-type smile that was the sole thing that ever made the group uneasy about their redhead huntress and cook.
"... Noted." Both the Toma and the Nemeth twin pairs replied in unison, while Diana snorted. While she gave the silent order for the team to board their transport vehicle, she started recalling about the Finnish Defense Forces corporal ahead of her. Proficient hunter, raised in the boonies in Finland, well-trained in utilizing her rifle and in trapping hostile creatures. She was also a terrific cook, going by the taste of the food she handed her.
As the crew said goodbye to the village for now and went back on the road again, the new arrival laughed quietly as she and the others exchanged tales of how they'd even gotten here in the first place. Diana watched it all in one of the rearview mirrors. The boys and girls cracking jokes, laughing, smiling. Saila had been another boon they'd needed to get their minds straight, if even for a little while.
The chemistry between each member was something weird. Even if it was just the twins and the girl for now, it was great. It meant they were alright, it meant that they were actually likely to find more of the Misfits. Find more people for the two fellow Romanians of hers who were basically her sole family during the stay at that godforsaken orphanage.
Vic smiled. She could see it. But she could also see how tired the young man was, his eyes misty even as mirth overtook sadness for that precious moment. She hoped that they would run into that Blondie, Vesna, finally, so he could smile properly again. Yes, it was impossible to be the same after Russia, after the shit they'd seen in there, she thought to herself, but damn it, it was worth hoping that least some sense of normalcy could be restored.
They rolled past a few more wrecks from locals. A cart, a couple of ATVs running on Dust and even the distant crash of a dropship of some kind as they rode forth to the next village. Vic thematically asked, "Hey, Sarge? How much farther 'till the next village? Heard it was supposed to be pretty close after all."
"According to Pavel, we're just a few more kilometers away from it. Hang tight..." The woman replied, then blanked as distant gunshots filled the air, causing everyone to pause. Vic dipped down and showed her to drive as fast as possible, to which she nodded, flooring it toward the sound of the gunshots. Some sounded muffled, as if suppressors had been put on.
... Maybe another military unit. Maybe.
With Vesna and the girls.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what the White Fang was doing at an old explosive ordnance factory. The girls watched from the roof as the civilian, held hostage by a platoon of what looked to be actually well-trained White Fang infantry, built up various pieces of explosive armament within the factory itself. The Police had surrounded the building, but, like many Valeian factories, this place had a secondary escape route:The underground sewer access that the White Fang would probably use to get away with their haul of equipment.
The four women gazed down upon the hostile units, Ayesha murmuring, "So much for going to find our friends, I guess..." as she racked the bolt of her AK. Lita gave her a gentle elbow in the shoulder, which caused the redhead shooter to sigh, her mask causing her goggles to fog up for a bit. Vesna showed the girls to each move to one of the skylight's four sides for better coverage.
They did as ordered, aiming through their rifles' optics at the enemy. Vera was quick to switch her buckshot rounds for slugs, just in case. The factory whirred and clanged and the machinery within continued working in its intended purpose, pumping out what looked like bricks of Dust-laced C4 for the White Fang to use. Some of the soldiers of the Fang, namely their melee weapon-wielding members, carried a couple of the bricks off and taped them to the walls, probably to destroy the place.
Vesna was about to order them to breach and shoot after hooking up to the railing around the skylight, rappel in, save the hostages and get the hell out while letting the Police deal with the remaining enemies. They'd warned them about the sewers but the Police had said they had too few men to cover that area, too. Ves had had half a mind to send Vera and Lita down there, but alas.
She sighed and balled her fist, pulling her balaclava over her face completely and thumbing the safety of her AK to off. She shouldered it properly and picked her targets:Two men next to the railing overlooking a chemical mixer of some kind where Dust glowed blue. Ice Dust. She zeroed in on the right-most man, planning to sweep right to left and kill'em both before they dropped in.
"Wait, wait, wait, don't. Look," Whispered Lita. The girl, who was on one of the two wide parallel sides of the light and opposite Ayesha, pointed. Vesna shifted position, as did Vera across her, to get a better look. They saw a pair of shadowy figures moving through the darkness down below the catwalks. Desert tan camouflage and woodland, recognizable emblems and flags and rifles.
If they had Halo-style IFF tags like Victor had showed them, Vesna thought... She aimed her weapon at the pair, watching them slowly climb out from under the Catwalk and gasped as she saw them fully. A Finnish medic bearing her kit on her back and an RK-62 with a silencer, red dot and fore grip on her fixed railed handguard. In front of her, armed with an HK416 that was decked out with a Holographic sight and a magnifier that was flipped down. She had quad-nods on her tan helmet, a tan vest with a lot of pouches and a black uniform bearing the Polish flag.
"You were saying, suka?" Vera quipped as she looked at Ayesha, who flipped the bird her way jokingly. The black-haired Novikova sister looked to Vesna and said, "Let's watch this unfold. They have the element of surprise, same as us..." to which Vesna wondered if they should. She knew both girls, the Finnish doc with the red hair and blue eyes being Anja Korhonen, while the Pole was Katja Zielinska.
An FDF medic and a Polish GROM Operator, surprisingly enough. She clicked her tongue, then nodded and ordered, "Prepare to support as necessary. Lita, you snipe anything that sneezes at them that they don't see. Ayesha. You, me and Vera are breaching the moment it gets too bad. Make these Fang Svoloch pay..." before shouldering her rifle and peering at the girls.
Katja gave a chop of the hand to Anja, who nodded and lifted up her rifle, peering past machinery toward the hostile trio guarding the Hostages as a fourth woman placed explosive charges behind them. Katja, meanwhile, moved toward the men overlooking the mixing vats, her silenced 5,56 AR-pattern rifle already aimed on the first man. No, not the first man. She soon saw what the girl was aiming for.
Vesna snorted and said, "NODs up..." Before she attached her own, home-bought Night-Vision device to her helmet and switched it on to check. All green, all shiny, all blinding in the right eye. Good. She activated her PEQ-equivalent infrared laser, too, checking that as well, then nodded approvingly. She and the others hooked up at their positions and prepared to join in, support the duet down below.
Lita was the first to catch on, seeing Katja immediately aim her rifle at a power box on the wall. Then, Vera, who grinned behind her mask. Finally, Ayesha hooked herself up tight and prepared to shoot a hole through the glass, dive down and help their friend. A split second passed before Katja gave a thumbs up to Anja, who gave a thumbs up back... Then two silent shots coughed.
Night Vision goggles hissed to life alongside the panicked cries of the White Fang. Silent gunfire coughed as machines suddenly screeched to a halt, the glow of Dust being the only illumination for any eye without NVGs. Blood spattered a wall as Katja's rifle coughed, while Anja's spat out a burst of automatic fire that cut down the guards and the bomb placer.
Vesna was the first to pop off a shot against the White Fang's reinforcements, one of which moved right for and was abot to impact Katja. His corpse thumped to the floor, with Katja looking up. Vesna raised her left hand, curled her index and thumb into an O and lifted the three other fingers to make the k. Katja audibly laughed at the sight, then danced on her feet, open-palm-chopping a White Fang trooper's throat, then pulling out her pistol and executing him on the spot.
The four Russian women descended next, the skylight cracking and breaking as they shot it out before diving in. Their ropes hissed as they dropped down, all four women forming a perimeter and engaging the White Fang's infantry with deadly accuracy as secondary power kicked in, bathing the entire room in scarlet light, masking the blood. Anja was not able to be joyful about the arrival of the girls until she cut the civvies free.
Katja laughed heartily, her Krakowian accent kicking in as she spoke, "Kurwa, when I saw EMR I nearly shit myself! It's good to see you girls! All three-" she paused upon noticing Vera, "Four of you... New friend form Ukraine?" only to kick a White Fang member down the stairs and shoot his head clean off. She had a Forty-Five pistol on her, a USP. Non-standard.
"No. I'm Vera, Vesna's adopted sister. Privyet, kurwa," The shotgunner quipped, visbily grinning behind her mask. She lifted her shotgun when another White Fang member charged her with a sword and turned his chest cavity into a massive new hole, spattering heart, lung and bone across the wall and railing. She smirked and said, "I do shotgun stuff."
"I can tell," Joked Katja. She looked to Anja, who immediately charged and tackle-hugged all four Russians, before snorting and saying, "Help us get the Civvies to the cops. Underground tunnels should help us get there safe... Meanwhile," she turned on her radio, "SWAT, this is ROTA. We're coming out with the Civvies now. Send in EOD to clean the place out, ASAP. Lots of strapped-on explosives."
The reply was quick and affirmative. The group formed up around the Civilians, weapons raised, and Vesna quickly noticed one of them was a Schnee Dust Company representative, probably here to check on the factory's productivity. Vera said, "A few Fang got out with some charges, I think. Report said there would've been at least a whole other platoon. We took out the first one."
"Yeah..." Katja sighed, "We couldn't intercept them. They bugged out fast-" before pausing as she heard a cry for help. A side room showed, a metal door separating it from the drainage area. She sighed and approached it, kicking the door in, then lifted her rifle and gasped. Faunus sat in the cold, damp environment. Mattresses lay off to the side, where a couple kids slept.
"What the fuck-" Vera blanked, then looked to Vesna, "We know anything about White Fang taking their own hostage?"
"No," Vesna replied awkwardly, looking at the people in there.
The SDC Rep said, "It wasn't the White Fang..." with some sorrow in his voice. He walked up next to Katja and Vesna and told them, "This is a Schnee Dust Company subsidiary... Those are 'employees' according to leadership. Moved here from Vacuo under the pretense of getting a better job... If I was gonna hazard a guess, I'd say trafficked..." only to gasp as Katja pinned him against the wall. He raised his hands defensively, stating, "It wasn't me," Coldly, "I didn't think the rumors were true. I saw them working the line yesterday, during one of the routine checks, but I thought they'd go to an actual home, a local dorm or..."
"How the fuck do we know you're telling the truth...?" Katja growled.
The man replied, "Because I just told you they were trafficked. I could've easily lied and said the Fang took them hostage, too, for helping human military elements and Huntsmen acquire plastic explosives through this factory," while staring Katja in the eye. Vesna put a hand on her shoulder, then shook her head, before looking at the man. He told them, "Look, if you want to get them to the EMTs, we have to move. I don't know if the Fang managed to set any form of timer, but..."
"If they weren't ready to just outright pull terroristic shit," Katja growled, glaring at the man with a more deep-seated, personal motive behind those specific words, "I'd have said the White Fang was doin' god's work for this shit..." Then she looked to Anja, tilted her head to the workers and told her, "Anja, go check on them. Let's grab and evacuate them, then go with Ves and co to catch up, tak?" to which Anja nodded, her face grimly serious. She walked into the room and pulled out her medical kit, while the group helped prepare the tired workers.
With Sammy and the US Boys
A few minutes prior
Sam carefully loaded extra 5,8mm rounds into her magazines from a leftover reserve, while Dushman, Jim and Hassan caught some sleep, food and water. They'd been hired temporarily by the village Chief to help guard the place, meaning they got free use out of the workbenches and the local smithy, allowing them to rearm properly after that bout with the Grimm.
She watched Dushman laughing with Jim, while Hassan, though distant, smiled, too, scratching the top of his shaven head, which he'd probably needed to have to be able to wear the IVAS, the helmet with various cameras, in-built night vision and the likes. Beside him lay his XM7, currently unloaded and empty. He was cleaning the scope lenses as carefully as he could, ensuring the weapon was gonna function just in case.
With a smile, the young woman took off her glasses and started cleaning them, rubbing her eyes in the meanwhile. Her heart rate rose a little, butterflies fluttering their wings in her stomach as she saw three of her friends alive and present. They were the three weirdo Yankees, of course, but it was still three of her little experimental UN Platoon. Three Misfits, one of which came with their own platoon of psycho Jarheads.
She sighed deeply, slid her glasses back on, quickly slid a magazine into her rifle and slung it over her shoulder, then stepped outside. The other Marines were happily helping around town, carrying supplies and the like. Sergeant Colbert was sat atop the defensive walls, using his IAR's scope to scan the area around for more Grimm or other hostile incursions. Murmurs and mumbling from the people told of possible Bandits in the area, after all.
"Any luck, T-Dog?" Sammy asked as she approached the dark-skinned Marine working on checking the TIGR.
"Like last time, El-Tee... None, sadly," He sighed deeply, scratching his chin, "Damn thing's got a busted spark plug and it ain't exactly easy to replace. Not to mention the missin' glass, the rust on the body and all that other crap," then he took his cap off, rubbing the top of his bald head, "I'm sorry to say it's likely she won't go another mile outta here. She's this place's lil' monument to the Ruskies that passed through."
"Syrian theater infantry, probably tired of the shitshow in the sandbox," Sammy sighed deeply, arms crossed as her mind recalled the details given by the locals who remembered eight years ago. Desert camo and all. She spoke calmly, "Died just like us, wound up in this clusterfuck and now they're wandering somewhere out there without a truck. That, or maybe they're dead."
"Goin' by how aggressive the Grimm are, yeah, I'd argue they're probably dead. We nearly got mulched ourselves," T-Dog replied calmly, setting the toolbox aside and closing the TIGR's hood, before picking up his gear. He told her, "Imma go put on my armor. Sarge's gonna want me replacin' him up there for the patrols," to which Sam gave a nod and a go-ahead.
She walked over to the walls and climbed the battlement to the top, rifle at the ready. She stopped next to Colbert and stated, "We've been here a while. You pack extra ammo, Sergeant?" to which the man gave a hum of confirmation while peering down the scope. She lifted her rifle up and looked through her own sight, scanning the place in her own ninety-degree sector.
"I'm worried about the possible Bandit presence nearby. Locals say they're well-armed," He told her as he did a quick press-check of his rifle, before turning to face her, "We might need to be really careful going forward. If T-Dog can't fix that car, we'll have to trek it on foot back to whatever civilization this 'Kingdom of Vale' is and I'd rather not lose any of my Mari-"
He got cut off as a bullet zipped right past his face. He ducked into cover behind the battlements, while Sammy dropped to her stomach and called out, "CONTACT! CONTACT! TARGETS IN THE TREELINE!" as a fussilade of automatic fire erupted from said treeline, tracers lighting up the air above as battle cries in a foreign language echoed. The other Marines, Jim and Hassan were quick to respond, piling onto the defenses and opening fire just as the defense turrets also came online.
Jim scrambled up the stairs, cradling close his XM7. He crouched beside Sam and gave her a once-over, before telling her, "You're alright! You're alright! No bullet holes!" only to watch her immediately roll onto her gut and start firing on full auto toward the advancing bandits in the treeline. He immediately jumped into action, too, providing a supporting gun as he scoped the enemy in, lased, adjusted and fired.
The round flew just as the computer had predicted and nailed a bandit, a man clad in a leather jacket, jeans and sneakers, clean through the side of his bald head, causing him to topple over, firing his automatic weapon wildly. Jim blinked and looked to Sam, stating, "I think that guy had a Kalashnikov!"
"And I'm seeing assholes with TOZ shotguns, too!" Colbert replied as he hosed a pair of enemies down. The thunderclap of the shotguns filled their ears, buckshot zipping through holes in the defenses and impacting, but not damaging the armor plates of the Marines. Dushman patted his Sergeant on the back and climbed up to Jim and Sammy, shouldered his rifle and fired on full auto.
He told the two, "That's Russian they're barking in!"
"Yeah, makes sense!" Hass replied from cover as he domed one with his rifle, "We found a TIGR, we heard Russians were around, it's only natural something was gonna appear from the god-damned Collapse!" then he grabbed one of the Marines and pulled him into cover as a 7,62 by 39mm round hit the wall next to him. The two men nodded to one-another and Hass mumbled, "Of course, it had to be the average rapists and murderers, though..." before zeroing on another one and shooting him in the head.
The autocannon turrets let loose, too, as their targeting parameters were switched. Two grappling hooks landed on the top of the wall. Men climbed on top, one of them firing his TOZ point-blank toward Sammy and nailing her in the vest just as she stood up, sending her falling onto her back. Jim was quick to dome him and his next of kin as they climbed onto the rope. He called out, "MEDIC!" as he dragged Sammy into cover. The girl coughed.
"Son of a bitch hit me with buckshot..." She spoke through hoarse coughing. Drawing her sidearm, she domed another man that was climbing up the wall, then fired into any others that climbed center-mass. Two Marines and Colbert also switched their aim, hosing the men down with little regard while the people of the village hid. What stunned them, however, was the roar of an engine from within the village...
A Mastiff MRAP rolled forward, its gunner turning the fifty-caliber MG toward the wall as four other infantrymen disgorged from it, weapons at the ready. When the first Bandit climbed to the top of the wall, the fifty let loose and his head exploded into a fine mist. One of the villagers signaled the vehicle forward and opened the gate, with the Gunner immediately shifting the fifty down and firing through the gate.
The retreat seemed to have been called the moment the Mastiff rolled out and blocked the gate, its gunner holding down the paddle-style triggers and sweeping the entire treeline, chopping down a tree, cutting through shrubs and gunning down half-a-dozen more bandits as they all fled. Sammy and the others looked, wide-eyed, as Vicky, Paul, Paula and Saila ran up to them to help them.
"... Guys...?" Sammy blanked, then she saw the gunner on the MRAP and smiled brightly, "Vic..." all while watching the man keep firing 'till the 100 round box on the MG ran dry, the barrel smoking. Breathing heavily, the Romanian MG gunner soon climbed out of the vehicle and turned to face the allies they had just rescued, only to pause as he saw Jim, Hass, Sammy and Dushman staring back.
He laughed, "Talk about a good haul of Misfits today, huh!" and ran up to them. Sammy scrambled to her feet, joining the entire group as they rushed in and hugged each-other, laughing, Dushman swearing up a joyful storm while the others simply butted helmets(Save for Hass who wanted to keep his IVAS working). They all looked at each-other, stunned to see the tired faces, but happy nonetheless.