Ruby hummed a happy tune as she held onto the item they needed to understand Victor and his friends:A small memory card from a camera of some kind. She slid it into one of her pouches, then walked out. It'd taken her a couple days to find what she wanted, but learning the guys' patrol patterns really helped. Finding the one spot when nobody was home had been a lil' awkward, but, hey, she did it.
As she was walking out through the campus on a free day, though, the girl paused, hearing a chorus of voices somehow managing to mask the sound of the revving engine of their truck. She turned around and smiled as she saw them rolling back into Beacon, singing some sort of rock song from their world. Vic was still manning the fifty as he banged his head to the tune, laughing heartily. She also saw the truck was chock-full of people, too, which was honestly kinda heartwarming.
Hiding the thing she got in one of her pouches, she utilized her Semblance to dash over toward them, landing on top of the truck and surprising Vic. The Romanian gunner laughed, stating, "And there's that weird-ass Soul Superpower you were telling us about. How ya doin', Ruby?" with a smile. Ruby beamed back, seeing Vic so happy, while the other troops poked their heads out from the windows and gave waves.
"Heh. Heya, Vic!" Ruby smiled as she knelt beside him, the vehicle still rolling. She stated happily, "Glad to see you and the gang are doing better," then noticed several dozen new faces milling about inside the Vehicle. She blinked and chuckled, then stated, "Gathered a few more new folks, I see?" while making sure the data storage device didn't fall out of her pocket.
"Yup. Several old buddies of ours, plus one Buddy's platoon," Vic smirked as he stepped slightly to the side, to let the guys wave to Rubes. Meanwhile, he added, "Be careful with them, though, they're dumbasses," which got him a few light punches to the thighs and legs and the laughter of the Marines and the Rangers. He grinned proudly at that, leaning against the side of the turret. Ruby giggled, too.
She leaned down and waved to the group of hardy-looking men and the two new girls, then yelled out, "Nice to meet'cha, folks! I'm Ruby, one of Vic's new friends!" which caused them to turn to face her. Several smiled as they looked up at the young Romanian, while Vicky leaned back and laughed and Sergeant Diana still drove the truck, though more gently.
"Nice to meet you, Ruby!" The men then greeted in a chorus, while the girls let out laughs, though one of them, a red-haired one with a fringe covering her left eye, seemed to be laughing silently. Her head seemed to turn almost in a flash, deep blue eyes suddenly staring into Ruby's own silver ones. She was a bit surprised, she'd admit, but that was normal, considering everything. The Marines, however, kept calling out in friendly greetings.
"Hey, guys, play nice," Vic quickly quietened them down, while the seeming familiar face among them showed his fellow Marines to keep quiet. He told them, "She's a nice kid," then hummed as he looked back up at her and saw her pouting. Ignoring that, he asked with a straight face and calm gaze, "What're you doing up and about, though? Isn't today a school day?"
"Well, yeah, but the teachers gave us a day off," Ruby shrugged, "Big meeting or something."
"Huh. Good for ya," Vic nodded approvingly, well aware of how enjoyable such a day would normally be. Though, then again, maybe they had a different meaning to 'free days', considering the fact he and Vicky were both raised in an orphanage. Regardless, he asked, "You and the girls planning on heading out somewhere, or is it just lounging around being lazy today?"
"Just usual lazy, hehe," The girl scratched her cheek with one finger, smiling awkwardly. She then asked, "You folks?"
"Gotta catch up with the team and set up patrols for the folks here-" Vic spoke, then got cut off as the redhead poked past him, lifting what seemed to be a glass tupperware container of some kind and causing the Romanian to call out, "Woah! Saila!" as she pushed past him. The others snorted, while Vic rolled his eyes and pushed himself as far into the side of the turret as he could.
'Here' Ruby could swear she heard a voice randomly say in the back of her mind as Saila handed her the foodstuff. Confusion plastered across her face, while the Marines laughed, Diana did too, and Vic stared on. Sammy, meanwhile, snorted and shook her head as she leaned back into her chair. The Warhound was surprisingly wide for a Mastiff MRAP, honestly.
"Uhm... Thanks?" Ruby replied wih a little awkwardness. Saila beamed brightly at Ruby, then dipped back down into the transport and sat herself down. Ruby had a moment to process the fact that the food she'd been handed was also still warm, terrifyingly enough, meaning it'd been rather recently cooked. She looked over to Victor, concerned, only to see the man smiling.
"That was Saila. She's one of our weirder friends," He clarified, then got a light slap on his knee and chuckled.
"She seems nice, though!" Ruby shot back defensively, raising her hands so she didn't get hit. Saila smiled at her through the hatch, then leaned back into her seat. Seriously, what was it with Vic and his friends being so weird? They were nice and all, but Earthlings all seemed to have a certain degree of weirdness about them. Saila felt a lil' psychic, honestly, going by the fact she wasn't much of a chatterbox.
"Yeah. She doesn't just seem nice, she is," Vic chuckled, then told the confused Ruby, "Seriously. Maybe you girls will get to meet her on patrol. See just how she really is," before looking down at the slightly embarrassed redhead with the 7,62x39 rifle cradled in her arms and a mess kit in her backpack. The vehicle slowly rolled into its parking spot next to their housing.
"Would be fun! Nice to meet you, Saila! Thanks for the food!" Ruby called out with a smile. Saila's hand appeared from the hatch and Ruby shook it, feeling a slight chill shoot up her spine and hearing the girl's voice state something in her presumed native language while the rest of the Crew talked. Vic slid down and dismounted, as did the others, while Ruby jumped down from the roof with a smile.
"Was nice seeing you, Ruby. Later," The Romanian waved. Ruby wasn't dumb. Well, she was a lil' dum-dum some times, but she wasn't dumb dumb. She could tell something was still irking Victor, though the momentary joy of finding more of his comrades seemed to be covering for that right now. She was smiling still as she noticed the other people that dismounted, including the short woman to Vic's right, currently talking to Diana. She was cute, probably from a land that was similar to Mistral.
"Yeah! Hey, maybe you and the others'll join us for lunch later, too, so we can meet properly!" Ruby called out, smiling. She waved to the gang and started leaving while watching them, though, noting that each seemed so different despite the similar uniforms and gear. Soldiers were truly made by their body language and Ruby could easily tell who Vic, Paul and the others were. They all waved back at her as she left and she suddenly felt a slight pang of guilt as she held onto the pouch in which the drive was.
"Alright, Misfits! Round it up, let's RTB!" Sammy ordered, more-so as a joke. Affirmative replies echoed, with Jim promising he'd make them all something to eat with Saila's help, probably something Mexican. Paul, Paula and Vicky spoke with him, Dushman and Hassan about something, while Sammy lagged behind, deciding to stay with Vic for the walk over.
When they entered the house and the teams dispersed, Sammy breathed in, then out, swallowed empty and gathered her guts, then tapped Vic on the shoulder as the man was leaving his gear by the 'locker'. He turned to face her and paused as he felt her arms wrap around his neck. She pulled him close, into a hug, then whispered, "You have no idea how glad I am to see you..." her voice cracking. Vic paused, then awkwardly wrapped his arms around her and patted her on the back.
She swallowed, realized what she was doing and backed away, stating, "S-Sorry. Got a bit taken over by emotion..." then rubbed the back of her neck, "Were the messages true? Did you really find her like...?" only to pause as Vic nodded. She sighed deeply and said, "I'm sorry. But as I'm sure the others have told you, she's probably here, too. Give it time..."
Vic nodded approvingly, then paused, his eyes shooting wide open as he saw Sam take her helmet off and scratch the top of her head. He snorted, covering his mouth as Jim walked in. The Latino man asked confusedly, "What is it, Vic?" only to blank as the Romanian, well aware of Jimbo's own crush on Sammy, pointed at the Confused Chinese Woman. Seeing the Light-Skinned Latino staring at her, his face now glowing a little red while Victor just about burst into a laughing fit, Sammy turned her head toward a mirror and saw them.
... A pair of wolf ears stood atop her head, twitching. Confusion strewn across her face, the woman slowly lifted a hand up to one and poked it, feeling the nerve connection. Her emerald eyes shot wide open as she touched, tugged and gently pulled at them. That immediately came to a stop as she let out a quiet, barely audible noise of contentment. She covered the ears, face flushed, and bellowed, "WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED TO ME!?" which got everyone else to look... And start laughing.
"... Sam..." Vic barely managed to utter as he burst into an even louder laugh. He pointed at her behind and the girl swiveled about and screamed as she saw it-a long, wagging black tail with a white tip. It was an obviously canine tail, the tail of a wolf in fact. She grabbed onto it to stop it from wagging, her face burning red while Vic laughed his ass off and Jim kind of... Stared. Blank.
Hassan, sat by the hollering Marines and the Romanian troops present, mumbled to himself, "I'm not getting paid enough for this shit, man..." before pouring himself a glass of milk and taking a sip. Why Milk, nobody knew. Still, Vic's hollering laugh drew the attention of everyone, while poor Sam was just wondering how in the hell she'd become wolfgirl all of a sudden.
"Well, we know Jim just got more reasons to simp!" Dushman laughed heartily.
Hass corrected, "Bro was into foxgirls, but close enough, I guess," which caused Dushman to laugh even louder, while the Romanians and US Marines also joined in, with Cocean and the others immediately noting poor Sammy's issues. Vicky chuckled, covering her mouth as she watched poor Samantha processing it still. Part of her wondered how Sam didn't feel that in all the days they'd slept in that village. Regardless of that, the sole thought the group, Victor and Jim included, had about it was that it was rather adorable, surprisingly enough.
Well, truth be told, seeing one of your friends with wolf ears on top of her head was bound to be a little cute, they thought. Sammy sighed, however, rubbing her eyes, then mumbled, "This is great. I'm about as blind as the lot of you if I failed to notice this 'till now..." before looking to Vic, who was still grinning at the sight, though he seemed uneasy, before she sighed and chuckled, too, "Alright, enough gawking, you bastards. Toma, Asher, you're with me. I'm going to meet Headmaster Ozpin, update the roster for our little unnamed PMC."
"Tak-toychna, tavarisch Leytenant," Vic saluted, grinning as he set aside his PKM and left himself only with his pistol. He showed her to follow along. Jim, meanwhile, kept his XM7 rifle close as they walked through the place, with Victor telling various stories about the kids as they walked through the courtyard. Specifically, right now, he spoke, "You wouldn't believe the kind of shit these kids can get up to here. Had to stop one who was high on caffeine from ruining the place. Thankfully, miss Valkyrie still likes me."
Sammy snorted, "Nora sure sounds like a handful."
"Yeah, but Ren thankfully keeps her at bay," Vic chuckled, "Meanwhile, Jaune and Pyrrha are good kids. Jaune's a bit shy and he has a thing for Weiss, a member of team RWBY... And Pyrrha so obviously has a thing for that blonde moron that it fucking hurts. Makes you wonder how people can be so blind to their close friends' feelings toward them," only for Sammy's own laugh to get cut off mid-sentence. She glared back at him for a moment, to which he raised his gloved hand and said, "I know. Blame it on Ves being a dummy, too..."
Sammy rolled her eyes and asked Jim, "Can you believe this guy?"
Jim, who was in a fairly similar situation, mumbled, "Nope..." as they walked, avoiding eye contact. Vic, though confused, continued leading them to the Beacon Tower, where Headmaster Ozpin was. When they got into the building and took the elevator to the top, they found themselves exiting out into the massive office while Ozpin was having a chat with a man in a white uniform on the hologram screen.
Said man seemed to have noticed the group, somehow, to which Ozpin stated, "I will have to call you later, James..." before turning off the video conference. He stood up and greeted, "Lieutenant Lee, I presume. Sergeant Dănilă sent a message ahead of time that we'd have a lot of new faces joining, so, welcome to Beacon on behalf of the man who has hired you and formed your Private Military Company."
Sammy gave a nod and said, "A pleasure to be here, alive and walking, sir," before she looked to her comrades and smiled. She scratched the top of her head, to which Ozpin nodded, clearly unbothered by the animal features until he saw she had both a tail and the ears. He blinked, chose to ignore it and motioned to the seats in front of his desk as he took his own. Sam sat down first, then extended her hand. She and Ozpin shook quickly, before she stated, "Let's get down to business, then."
"Indeed," Ozpin replied with a nod.
"I understand we've been hired by your people, namely by your government, as your own covert problem-solving unit. Private Military Contractors and whatnot," She recapitulated what Vic has told her, "Add to that we're to act as security for Beacon, something Sergeant Dănilă signed into effect by agreeing to the Contract given to her by you. I'd like to read that contract and, if all is well within it, get a few dozen more copies for both me and the other new people, plus potential future members."
"Of course," Ozpin nodded, offering her the contract on a Scroll tablet. She nodded in thanks, arranged her thick-rimmed glasses and started reading. The two infantrymen beside her looked at one-another, then at Ozpin as the main interlaced his fingers on his desk and leaned forward, watching Samantha parse through every line and read between the lines.
After about ten minutes, she nodded, handed him the tablet back and said, "Good pay, no side notes, addendums or fine print that doesn't seem fair and it's only an eight month contract..." before she sighed and leaned back against her seat, "Just a school year. I'm kinda surprised ya ain't asking for more out of us, considering you folks seem to need the soldiers. If the AAR on the White Fang Op undertaken some time ago is anything to go by, anyway."
"Indeed," Ozpin sighed deeply, "As much as I would like to keep everything about this situation quiet, I'm afraid not everybody on the Council sees things as I do. They almost want us to reinstate the Valeian Military, thinking there'll be potential future issues that Vale will deal with in terms of Foreign Policy that would require an armed response force beyond the Huntsmen and Police."
"Honestly, I agree," Sam said bluntly, surprising Ozpin and the others. She told the man, "Look, if we're here, then it's likely more people from our world, from Earth, will start popping up, too. Hell, we already met some form of Bandits armed with Kalash-style weaponry, something I really want to look into if given the time," then she leaned forward and said, "If we dropped in... We might get the bastards we were fighting, too. Which could prove quite dangerous for Vale and Remnant as a whole."
"May I ask why?" Ozpin raised a brow.
Sam didn't mince words, telling Ozpin, "We have weapons that can flatten entire cities, Headmaster. Many of them resided in the country we went into and died in..." And that caused Ozpin to pause. She nodded, "A good chunk of the Arsenal of still country is still missing. Many believe it may be under the control of two of the arisen Warlord States proclaiming themselves as successors..."
"Christ," Vic mumbled, "Laying it on a little thick, Lieutenant?"
"Any country without a military is doomed to very quick and painful death, Victor," She replied, still blunt. Turning to Ozpin, she said, "I get not wanting the children of your land to be worried about death and destruction, or trained on how to wield weapons in anything but fighting the Grimm, which we've had our encounters with out there, but if and when the enemy rears his head and turns out to be human?"
"... We'll be ready," Ozpin replied, straightforward.
"Sure. That's what Stalin said when someone kicked his teeth in and nearly caused his whole Empire to fall then and there," Sam sighed deeply, rubbing her eyes, "Look, we'll work for Beacon as hired-on security, but you will need a military force to combat something if it comes. We won't be able to cover your entire territory, especially not with the numbers we have right now..." And she looked back at Ozpin, "Much as I'd like to reassure you we could, though, I don't like lying," and that seemed to sting the Headmaster a little as he stared back at Sam.
"I understand..." The Headmaster sighed, relenting after a minute's pause where Vic and Jim suddenly felt like the likelihood of them living here tomorrow had significantly dropped. He pinched the bow of his nose and said, "I'll see what I can do when I next speak with the Councilors. If you're offering to train new recruits, though," and he smiled knowingly, "I can add that to the contract and get you some more money."
"Could be worth it in the long run," Sam nodded, "Thanks for listening, Headmaster. Please, contracts?"
... It wasn't long after that Sam was walking with several dozen new Scrolls, enough to outfit the current unit and then some, in hand. She'd divvied the load up between herself, Vic and Jim, though, with Victor noting, "Jesus, Sam, I thought the bossman was about to blow a gasket at us for even suggesting his peaceful little country ain't so safe without a military..."
"You're for sure far more focused than before, Sam," Jim observed, then joked, "Kinda hot..." with a smirk. The two present with him let out a short laugh each, while Sam gave a thumbs up at that. Yes, Sammy Lee thought to herself, gone was the little girl who came to KFOR to learn how to work with the West and make friends. She was here with a job. That job was now to lead her old friends through this clusterfuck.
As they entered the house, she called out, "Sergeants Dănilă and Colbert, on me! I'm gonna need help designing a patrol program with our new numbers, teams of two as usual. Marines, come grab your new phones and sign the Contracts. We're all in the Green with'em. Good pay, good chow, a place to rest our heads and possibility of buying a house before 25!" and that genuinely got the entire platoon laughing.
Sam stepped into the living room and arrayed out the Scrolls on the table with the help of Victor and Jim, then pulled out her own and checked her signature on the Contract. There was a Clause saying they could quit at any given time, provided they let the leadership know ahead of time. Good to know, honestly, but it was better to have everyone under the same roof.
Vic told her, "This place is getting mighty small," as he approached, watching Saila already cooking dinner for them. Dushman handed the girl her scroll and let her go about her business, with the girl signing the contract while stirring in the pot. He looked over to Sam, who was simply smiling as she watched Hassan, Jim, Paul and Paula sat together, laughing mirthfully as if nothing was wrong. Both of them could see the sunken faces giving way to the usual smiles of the tomfoolery of the Misfits.
She said, "It'll hopefully get even smaller, man," as she looked to him, "I'm sure Ves is here. And like I'm sure you've been told like fifty separate times by the rest of'em, she's already forgiven you. Shit, you two might be going on a pity pirouette when you find her, considering..." She chuckled sadly, "Well, she's Vesna. She probably thinks she did you wrong, y'know?"
Vic nodded, a half-smile on his face. He didn't seem all that convinced, which annoyed Sammy. Even if Vesna wasn't around, she thought, Vic had her and the others to comfort him. Thankfully, she thought. They had each-other and she had zero doubts Ves, Ayesha and Lita were around, too. Same for Katja, Anja, Alex and the others, because just about every Misfit winked off the radar slowly at some point, she figured. Much as it hurt to think that she might not have a chance to say what she wanted to say, Samantha Lee was now the sole Lieutenant of this slowly-growing Company, this group of her friends and their units.
Her emotions would have to be secondary to the betterment of the team. She could tell Vic, she thought, get it out of her system at some point and just go back to her job. If he liked her back, too, fine. If not, well, she'd be fine, right? Right, that'd be the case. She'd be fine, regardless of the situation. She wondered if-she almost jumped out of her skin when Paul gave her a nudge and looked to him.
"Dinner's ready, El-Tee," The Hungarian man smirked, "C'mon."
"Right..." Sam breathed, then looked over at the long table where the dozens of troopers had gathered, Saila giving out the food. She nodded to herself, "Right," then stood up and joined them, sitting herself down next to Vic and Vicky and in front of Paul and Paula. Saila had made some sort of katsu curry with the deer she'd hunted and brought over, it seemed, as well as Rice.
Japanese food from a Finnish woman for a battalion of Americans, Romanians and Frenchified Hungarians, led by a Chinawoman.
Interesting...