A few days prior to the Winter break
It hadn't been long after the full reunion back in Beacon that the Council had decided to, by Ozpin and the Councilor's request, go public about the Misfits Private Military Contractor unit. Videos had begun circulating on the CCTNet from the helmet cameras of the two formerly separate units that made up the PMC, showing their raids pre-reunification and, currently, post.
On the VNN's central screen, images of soldiers clad in various camouflage uniforms and armed with just as exotic and varied a set of weapons kicked in the doors of illicit businesses, drug dealers, drug smugglers, human and Faunus traffickers and other illegal businesses. The flashes of gunfire, the thunder of electric and ice dust being used as stun weapons for arrests…
And then, images of the soldiers, of various ethnicities, nationalities and even Faunus traits, barely visible thanks to their uniforms shielding their faces, dragging their targets out played on the big screen, all while Police units, EMTs and other First Responders watched. Handing their targets over, the soldiers then boarded a heavily-armored transport with a gun mounted on top, then drove away, escorting the police to avoid answering any questions from the Press.
The screen then pulled back to a small window as more images played. The headline 'THE NEW FACE OF SECURITY IN VALE:THE MISFIT PMC' flashed as the title below the face of a lilac-haired, golden-eyed woman clad in a black suit, with a purple shirt, black tie and other ornate details. She spoke, "Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am Lisa Lavender and you're watching the Vale News Network."
"In an act that has surprised Vale and most of the international community, the Council came clean a few days ago about the use of a clandestine paramilitary unit to ensure the security of Vale," Lisa spoke matter-of-factly, turning to face the cameras. She continued, "Although rumors of such a unit circulated for months on the CCTNet, ever since the first raids against White Fang operations within the Industrial Sector and by the docks, the Council and Headmaster Ozpin, the man housing the troops, have only recently seen fit to tell Vale who its new protectors are."
"An obvious wave of discussion has since struck the Valeian political forums, although in a way not many projected," The woman continued as images from the polls and forums appeared. An overwhelming majority of citizens, both of young and old age and Faunus and Human alike, were positive. She said, "These new troops, supposedly the first in Vale's attempt to rebuild have been met with an overwhelmingly positive response."
She smiled a little awkwardly, "Although it is surprising, the necessity for, at the very least, a small and professional military force to assist the Police in both counter-terrorism and anti-trafficking operations of various types has been a topic of discussion among the Netizens of Vale for the better part of the existence of the CCTS and Vale itself post-Great War. It has only recently gained more traction, ever since the White Fang's turn to more brazen and terroristic attacks."
"Until now, the Council has seemingly advised the Private Military Contractors not to engage with the Media or Civilians, simply doing their jobs and departing for their headquarters nearby Beacon," The woman stated, "However, we were granted special access to speak with one of the Commanding Officers by Headmaster Ozpin. So, connecting with us from Beacon is Lieutenant Samantha Lee."
The woman then turned on her swivel chair toward the holoscreen in the middle of the wall behind her. A familiar figure with glasses, black hair, green eyes and wolf traits appeared, smiling kindly. She spoke, "Hello, miss Lavender. A pleasure to finally meet you," as she straightened up. Behind her was an empty wall.
"Welcome to the program, lieutenant," Lisa replied, smiling back, "A pleasure to have one of our secret defenders here," then she leaned against her seat's backrest, hands together and one leg over the other as she asked, "I'd like to ask you one of the first questions I'm sure many of our people have. Why hide yourselves?"
Sammy looked incredibly calm, answering professionally, "The Headmaster and Council deemed it important to test our unit cohesion and capabilities first, before we are revealed to the Public. We were being tested, obviously, so that they would know for a fact we're capable of protecting the people of Vale and all those set to come here for the Vytal Festival."
"Of course," Lisa smiled, "And now that you've proven yourselves with the arrest of Roman Torchwick and halting the raid on the Docks, you passed your tests."
"Indeed," Sam nodded, then grabbed an off-screen mug of coffee and took a sip. She looked at Lisa and told her, "The fact of the matter is, you don't reveal or employ anything like us without making sure you're getting your money's worth. They wanted to know that the people who pay Vale's taxes are. And from us? I can state proudly that we aim to please and our aim's fairly good."
The newscaster chuckled, then said, "Obviously. And how do you deal with somewhat divided opinions on the matter of Vale's rearmament programme, which has been revealed alongside you? We know that training for a first professional unit of soldiers under the Valeian 'New Army' Project has begun under your supervision."
"The Misfits PMC is a relatively small unit. We won't be able to cover all of Vale even if we wanted to," She stated, staring dead at Lisa, "So the way we deal with those divided opinions, say if we encounter someone against the Vale Self-Defense Force being created, we'll tell exactly that to them:That the Police, Huntsmen and we can only handle so many calls."
Lisa hummed, then made a note on her Scroll and asked, "So, does that imply that the VSDF, should that remain its name, will act as an expansion of the Police as well as a standing army?"
"That's technically the plan, yes. However, the normal Police Departments and the Gendarmes will still be Vale's main law enforcement units, obviously, meaning the civilian oversight committees, Unions and the likes will be the ones controlling law and protection of the common citizenry," The girl rebutted, "The VSDF will be under the control of the ministry of defense and only act as reinforcement and counter-terrorism when your average, poor, beat cop patrolling the streets can't take on the armed thugs."
Miss Lavender approved of that mentally. She told the girl, "Good to know. I'm sure that has assuaged some of the people's fears," before asking, "And does this imply that the Misfits will also fall under the Defense Ministry's umbrella?" as she motioned to the woman. She also noticed the strange red flag on her left shoulder, but said nothing.
"We already do," The young woman chuckled, "They asked us to do this interview, after all."
"Would you have if I personally sent the request? Or if anyone in the VNN did?" Lisa raised a brow.
The black-haired Faunus nodded, "Of course, though I'd be a bit less articulate about it than I am now, heh. I get stage fright," and that got a few laughs out of the crew. She continued, "But yes, we'd have done our best to have this interview regardless. Clearing the air about our presence here means we wouldn't have rocks thrown at us by some bystanders. That and we want people to know we're here for them."
"Truly noble, then. Thank you, Lieutenant. Now, onto other matters that are little more personal…" Lisa began a series of questions about Sam herself and some of the others that she actually had to say no to answering, because they were genuinely too personal for live television. After she bid goodbye to Lisa and the call closed, she rubbed her face and breathed an annoyed sigh.
She made sure the connection was off, then shut her computer down and stood up, walking to the kitchen to refill her coffee. She heard Robert walk in, M4A1 hanging off his belt, then paused as she saw him taking off his gloves, which were a little bloody. She asked, "Torchwick still not talking about his Contacts?"
"Nope," The man replied, tossing the gloves aside. He added, "The Cops didn't wanna intervene when I started tearing into him, though," and opened the fridge, retrieving a can of a local brand of Coke that tasted surprisingly the same. When he popped the can and let the gasses out, Sam smirked and shook her head, leaning against the counter with her mug of warm coffee.
He took a sip from his can and asked, "Any word on friendlies coming in since you sent out that call?"
Sam shook her head, "Who knows where many of them landed? If it's in the wilds, they're expending ammunition to fight the Grimm, though hopefully not losing men," then she sipped from her own coffee and added, "And if they dropped in one of the Four Kingdoms, who's to say the other Headmasters didn't already induct them into their ranks?"
Robert sighed, shutting the fridge with his free hand. His bruised knuckles were a clear show of how far he was going on Torchwick. He told her, "Y'know, the commute's a pain in the ass…" probably referring to the fact they had had to surrender Torchwick to the Cops before he gave them any decent info. Poor bastard didn't escape Robert, though.
"Yeah," She snorted derisively, "Better that than being accused of sequestering the bastard ourselves."
Rob nodded, though he remained impassive, sipping from his drink as he gazed around the room at the various items the Misfits had bought with their most recent pay checks. From a games console sitting nearby the holo-vision, to better food that was stocked in the fridge and to medical items like bandages, gauze, disinfectants and the like to refill IFAKs and Anja and Alex Ryan's medical kits.
There had been small changes in the team's behavior after KFOR, ranging from them becoming a bit more focused, to some of them becoming outright more brutal in their ways of enforcing their orders. Robert had seen Sam deliver such a hard hit with the butt of her rifle that she cracked one suspect's jaw. After taking his Aura out.
Victor had become so capable of laying down suppressive fire with his MG, it became almost comically standard for his MG's barrel to glow red by the time they were done. And some shots were on target, too. Dead White Fang and crooks were evidence of that. He was never wasting ammo, unlike KFOR where he always went to the range to dump 7,62 by 54 Rimmed rounds downrange for the hell of it.
He and Vesna were just about as close, if not closer than after KFOR, too, considering their engagement, but both were different. Vesna herself had become slightly colder and much more professional. She was no slacker or goof-off in KFOR, either, but her sheer capability in commanding detachments of the Misfits had put her on top of the list for the Command Staff of the PMC.
Paul and Paula, meanwhile? Two dangerous peas in a pod. If his aim was dastardly with his Minimi, Paula and her bolt-action Hecate-II rifle were something else entirely. He'd seen her disable enemies from half a mile out during operations this week. Vicky, meanwhile, had also gotten better at aiming her snapshots, her PSL designated marksman rifle always finding its mark.
There was a lot more to talk about, like Ayesha and Lita's teamwork improving, that girl, Vera's shotgun skills, Alex's and Anja's medical capabilities growing exponentially, Saila's tracking, hell even Alexi's blunt and brute force attitude. Not to mention the others, like Nicole, Aleksandr and Hassan and their incredible skill at just being Rangers. And Katja with her GROM training…
But some part of that childlike innocence they had in 2019 had vanished. And Robert wasn't sure if he was glad it was gone, because that meant they were just that tad bit more professional for him to respect them, or if, deep down, he hated that the Ukraine War and Russia had stolen so much of their old selves from them that they were changed…
With Teams RWBY and JNPR
Ruby laughed and said, "And then I ran into Hass and Nicole at the Forges and they taught me about how to make propellants from Earth! You wouldn't believe how cool it is to see this kinda stuff in the works. Chemistry stations really do have everything we need!" only to show them the silver-colored brass casing and fifty-caliber bullet she'd made for Crescent Rose.
Jaune spoke, "Uh, Ruby… isn't that sorta dangerous?"
"I don't think our weapons have the tolerances for their higher-pressure ammunition, Ruby," Weiss stated as she watched Ruby load the rifle. Ruby looked at her, then let out a 'pfft, nah' as she waved it off. She loaded the shell, shouldered Crescent Rose and aimed it down the range. Weiss sighed and grabbed both Blake and Yang, moving them behind the reinforced glass.
Pyrrha scratched her cheek, watching Ruby rack the bolt home, donning her safety goggles, ballistic mask and vest just in case. She looked at Weiss and said, "I think she fully understands the risk, but just doesn't really care. I suppose no pain, no gain is a motto for her as much as it is for Nora," and she jabbed a thumb back at the ginger with the grenade launcher hammer as she loaded 40mm HEDP rounds that Hassan had on hand into her gun.
Weiss pinched her brow, shaking her head, "I swear, I'm herding cats with-" only to pause as she looked at Blake. The catgirl flashed an awkward, narrow-lipped smile at Weiss, then nodded, to which the Schnee sighed and said, "Well, at least we're okay with expressions…" garnering a chuckle outta Nora. Blake snorted, too.
"Well, you know what they say," Blake mumbled, "Have to 'ride the lightning' some time…" before looking at a distracted Yang and asking, "Right?" while watching the girl's fluctuating mental state. Part of Blake Belladonna wondered just what had gotten her partner so deep in thought… Probably him again, Blake thought as both she and Weiss exchanged a glance.
"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Yang hummed, thinking.
"Still thinking about Victor?" Weiss asked. Yang's face glowed red the instant the sentence finished and she cast a fiery glare at both Weiss and Blake, all while Ruby was busy giggling maniacally with Nora about their new ammunition.
She breathed a deep sigh, calming herself down before replying, "No…" then tilting her head to Ruby, "It's not the only thing on my mind, you dumbasses. Yeah, he's getting married, so what? Right now we gotta focus on other stuff, like…" with a surprisingly aggressive tone. Nobody replied at first, with Ren himself going to make sure Nora wasn't doing anything stupid while Pyrrha just sat there.
"Someone's J-E-ALOUS~!" Nora almost sang, causing Yang's eyes to flare up again. She giggled and approached, then said, "Was just jokin'. Seriously, though, you're taking this way better than I would, so props to ya, Yang," and she smiled. Though barely a second ago, Nora was about to cause Yang to flip, that seemed to bring the blonde back down to Earth.
Yang hummed, shoulders sagging, then replied with a half-mouthed, "Thanks-" only to stagger as thunder ripped through the place and Ruby's audible scream echoed all the way past the bulletproof glass, only for the gun nut to hit the thing like a bug hitting a windshield. She whined, sliding down the glass, then let out a short chuckle. Yang sidestepped the glass shield and asked, "Ruby, ya okay?! What the heck was that?!"
"Hehehehe,' Ruby giggled blissfully, "One of the rounds Hassan gave me to test. 12,7mm by 108mm round, apparently," and she handed Yang the case. Yang blanked, looking at the sheer size of the cartridge case compared to the bullet that it fired, then she looked forward, at the target and wall, pausing as she saw a crack across it.
"Holy crap," Yang whispered, "By a hundred-eight… That's a lot of powder," and she looked at Ruby, "And Crescent Rose?"
Ruby racked the bolt back almost instinctively and looked in the chamber, down down the barrel through the chamber, then shrugged and said, "All fine. Not even hairline fractures… Recoil was a kick, though, heh…" and she rubbed the back of her neck. She saw the concern in the entire squad's eyes, sans a very giddy Nora, then said, "Hey, it's okay. I just need to flute the barrel or add a compensator and maybe reinforce the chamber and Crescent Rose is gonna be alright."
"... If you say so, sis," Yang blinked, offering Ruby a hand which she took. The girl then removed her safety goggles, with Yang, Blake, Weiss, Nora, Ren and Pyrrha exchanging a glance. A thunderclap echoed again and everyone looked over to see Jaune looking at the pistol in his hand. Yang asked, "Take it they gifted ya somethin', too, Jaune?"
"Oh, yeah. They saw me with just a sword and decided to give me this thing, heh…" He laughed awkwardly, lifting a heavy, bulky-looking pistol and keeping his finger off the trigger, thank Pyrrha for the training. It was a bulky gun with a triangular frame and large barrel. He said, "They called it a Night Hawk, or Desert Eagle…"
"I like the chrome on it," Nora smirked, "Really brings out how awesome it looks."
"Heh. Agreed," Ruby giggled, then dusted herself off and slid Crescent Rose on her back. She stretched, then said, "Well, today's been fun, but we're all about to head off on winter break. Any idea where you folks are going for it?" as she looked at her friends. Most everyone winced, except for Yang, who knew where they were going.
"I think most of us are going to be staying in Beacon," Pyrrha replied, "Argus is too far away for me."
"Yeah," Jaune nodded, "I'm gonna be sticking around, too. Heard Winters in Beacon are pretty nice, actually," and he shrugged.
"I and Ren ain't goin' anywhere," Nora smiled a little sadly, "I don't think we really have anywhere to go outside of Beacon," all while she looked at her 'Totally-Not-Together-Together' friend. He hummed affirmatively, having remained terrifyingly quiet throughout this whole exchange. Ruby beamed a little, wondering something.
The entire room went quiet when Vic ran in, however, calling out, "Hey, everyone okay in here?" as he stared at them with slight concern.
"Oh, hey, Vic," Yang's face immediately turned slightly more red. She said, "Yeah, Ruby was just testing out a round Hassan gifted her… And Jaune was also testing out his gun," before motioning to Jaune, who waved awkwardly with the Desert Eagle. Vic looked around, then locked onto the spent casing in Ruby's hand.
He sighed and said, "Course he'd hand'em out for testing, heh," before chuckling. "Well, good to know everyone's alright…" before sighing deeply. He shrugged and added, "Question:Shouldn't you guys be on your way home by now? Winter break's about to start and like forty percent of the other Students have already left."
"Eh, nah," Ruby shrugged, "Dad's out of town for the next couple weeks and we really don't have much else to do, Weiss can't go home because Atlas is like a thousand miles away, Blake's not going because…" she looked at Blake, who shook her head, then turned her gaze back to Vic and said awkwardly, "Guess she just doesn't wanna…? And team JNPR just wanna hang around."
Vic hummed, then said, "Well, that's good, at least. Place won't be as empty, I guess…"
"Heh, yeah!" Ruby smiled, "And if anything was gonna happen," she seemed to be hinting at something, "Then we'd all be here for the fun!"
Yang shrugged, though obviously aware of what Rubes was hinting at, before saying, "Yeah… I mean, let's hope nothing bad happens. Relaxin' in winter with a cup of hot cocoa is awesome," and she saw Ruby's shoulders sag. Vic, noticing that, blinked and stared at Yang as she, too, grew a bit sad the moment Ruby turned away and walked to pack her gear away.
He spoke, "Well, I guess since things are alright, I'll see you guys around…?" as his gaze swept across the room, noticing a well-aware Weiss, who was writing something on her Scroll, a calm Blake, who was wondering what to do and a concerned Yang. Team JNPR, meanwhile, gave thumbs up to Vic, confusing him further. He murmured, "Right," to himself as he walked away.
When he got out of the shooting range and met up with Vesna, the two paused as they heard Yang calling out, "Vic, Ves, wait!" and running toward them. The two turned to face the lilac-eyed blonde, who breathed a sigh and said, "Thanks for not pressing it any further in there, Vic… I'll answer while the others are packing. Ruby's birthday is a couple days away, right at the start of the break."
"... Oooooh," Vic (and Ves) both let out. Vic smirked and crossed his arms, "And you're planning a surprise for her, right?"
"Yep," She sighed, "But we're gonna need help. Weiss is trying to set things up, but Rubes hangs out with us about 90% of the day, so it's really hard for her to prepare anything… So what I'm about to ask you might sound a little less out of the blue, but… Could you guys help?" only to see the two of then go wide-eyed. She told them, "The entire Misfit unit if y'all don't mind, it's on the 31st. Would be cool to have you all present for her Birthday…"
Ves hummed, cupping her own chin in a thinker's pose, then spoke, "I and the girls know a good catering firm. We ordered from them when we didn't have time to make food for ourselves during operations, so we have a loyal customer thing going on," to which Yang perked up. She smiled, giggled at the cutesy reaction, then said, "I think it's fine. Should we talk to the others?"
"Sure," Vic nodded, then looked at Yang. He said, "Sam's gonna help Weiss organize in secret if we get the others to help. We'll set it up at our place if need be," before he looked at Vesna. She was already texting Sammy about it. The moment a ping came back, Ves looked up, smiled slyly, then gave a thumbs up at Yang.
The blonde blinked, looking at the couple, before she smiled a little awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and stating, "You guys have no idea what this is gonna mean to Rubes. Having to act like we didn't remember hurts me a lot, but I did tell everyone else. Weiss, Blake, Jaune, Nora, Pyr and Ren…" then she sighed.
"You're a good big sister to her," Vesna said, walking over and putting a hand on her shoulder, "And we're all your friends, even if some of us are newer than the others. We'll do our best for Ruby," only for Yang's heart to skip a beat. Well, Yang never denied that Vesna was beautiful, but to see her be this kind made her understand what Victor liked in her. Any girl could have a pretty face…
Vic himself said, "We'll get in touch as soon as everyone finishes the patrol-" only to pause and lift up his Scroll the moment it pinged with a new message. He snorted, then said, "Robert says 'The 31st is Halloween. I already know what I'm gonna wear'. And he says we're dorks," before sliding his phone into his pocket.
Yang blinked, confused, to which Vesna chuckled, stating, "Halloween is an interesting celebration in the west. People dress themselves in various costumes from shows, movies, or just average horror monsters like ghosts and stuff and go around to parties, or trick or treating. Y'know, asking for candy from stranger…" before she furrowed her brows and looked at Vic, "You know, putting it like that makes it sound dangerous…"
Vic smiled, then looked at Yang and said, "We'll go now. Have to finish the patrol."
"Sure," Yang nodded. She felt Vesna pat her on the shoulder twice, then watched her and Vic walk off, smiling all the while. She sighed deeply, then mumbled, "Ain't no way I'm competing with that anyway. I'll ask to be their bridesmaid though," as she prepared to walk back inside… Only to turn and see the others having walked out just as she said that last part.
… She wasn't gonna hear the end of it from Nora, was she?