There was more going on on Remnant at the moment than just the team doing the basics of training an entire new military force while the Valeian Military-Industrial Complex got itself back to working order. Bandit forces and Grimm were still assaulting various villages, thus forcing the Misfits to respond in strength, not to mention the Scav troops belonging to that escaped brat.
One such area where they could respond was intel gathering about locations the bastards were using for everything from drug trades to storing stolen Dust and kicking in the door. That was what was happening right now, as a platoon of the Private Military Company held onto the Warhound's side, with a bunch more people already inside.
Dushman racked the bolt of his IAR, looking it over and giving a nod of approval to Colbert and Sammy, both of whom nodded back. Driving the truck, Hassan was once again at the head of the formation, with Victor sat beside him. Outside were both Romanian Infantry and US Marines, readying to kick the door in.
Vicky manned the fifty cal on top. Vesna and Lita were also present, with Lita loading full-on Ice Dust Grenades into her launcher and checking her heavily modified, Zenitco'd out AK-74M. She racked the bolt back, let it go home and into battery, then shrugged a little to make sure her launcher was properly in reach by moving it by the strap.
CQC Duty was never fun, but breaching and clearing with a thermobaric grenade launcher filled with ice Dust grenades? That was gonna be fun, Lita thought as she racked the pump of the launcher, feeding one grenade into the chamber before slotting another into the tube to top it all up. She smirked a little behind her balaclava.
The entire squad was wearing face coverings. The only one who really wasn't was Sammy, though she, too, had her mask at the ready, mostly because she was pretty sure this was about to be another publicity stunt from Ozpin or one of his councilor buddies that helped pay their bills. Honestly, if they wanted to show them off, the pay was good enough to let it happen.
"Two mikes," Hassan spoke, lifting two fingers. The team gave their approval through various means, from huffs to nods where it was visible. Vicky clicked her boots together and Sam simply chuckled as she pulled her own mask up and arranged the sun covers on her glasses, flipping them down. She lifted her assault rifle and shouldered it.
Putting her hand up to her com device, she spoke, "All units, Breaker Actual, radio check-in."
It all started with Breaker Two, AKA Vic, then went on down the line until they reached the twentieth woman in the platoon, Nicole herself, who audibly racked her SPAS-12. Sammy smiled, then ordered, "Alright. Maintain radio contact and be ready," before she shifted herself toward a window, rolled it down and poked the barrel out.
The vehicle ripped down the semi-empty road in the desolate industrial lot toward a factory hall that contained the supposed stolen Dust from a few nearby stores. Ever since Torchwick got nabbed, the bastards scattered the stuff and, for some reason, seemed to forget to wipe their messages after they sent them. Or so the story went.
Robert had told them he found the data on the phone because it pinged. The Scroll itself was self-deleting messages from time-to-time, as if some algorithm was set up to do just that. Regardless of that issue, they had a lead and a target and command wasn't gonna let'em waste it. Counting down from thirty seconds mentally, the squad tensed as they prepared to dismount, weapons hot.
As the vehicle slowed and turned right, deeper into the industrial lot that seemed to have acted as an old weapons factory back in the days of the Great War, the teams prepared. Vicky swiveled the gun on its mount, aiming for the biggest hall in the place, a wrecked building of brick and mortar with long windows of shattered glass.
She spoke, "Breaker Four, movement spotted in Windows… Looks like they know we're coming now…" over the com. Sam nodded as the vehicle turned another left. The last ten seconds elapsed as they got into the compound and the squads dismounted, the groups riding outside the vehicle jumping off and readying their rifles as they moved toward the steel doors.
The others began to dismount when the first shot, a DMR round, rang and scraped the side of the turret. Vicky called out, "Breaker Four, taking fire! Actual and all units, be advised, engaging in covering fire!" before aiming the fifty caliber and, with a grin hidden behind her mask, letting it rip. The gun barked, then began to chug its standard chug, spent casings and broken links falling on top of the truck's hood.
The troops began to dismount as the windows shattered and bricks were broken by the fifty-caliber bullets. They moved to their insertion points, Vic taking one team and Sam taking the other to move in. The machine gunner had Nicole in his squad, while Hassan simply moved the vehicle into cover and Vicky laid into them. When the vic was behind a wall, the two also dismounted, with Victoria Toma immediately taking up position to snipe at the bastards in the windows.
Hassan ran over to victor, taking up position immediately behind the gunner and firing up at the windows as well as he spotted movement. He felt a tap on his shoulder from the troopers behind him and, in return, tapped Vic, who tapped Nicole. Nicole called out, "Breaker Six, kicking the door!" only to aim her shotgun at the hinges and fire.
The rounds ripped clean through the sheet metal. She delivered a sideways kick that sent the slab of sheet metal tumbling down to the ground with a loud thunk, only to push in first, firing the first slug in the tube at a White Fang member that was running to alert the others in the mess of rusted pipes and steel.
The round struck the man in the back and sent him tumbling over. It'd been a rubber slug, meaning Less Than Lethal. The others breached next, moving in and securing a perimeter. Hass gave Nicole a pat on the shoulder and said, "Load Lethal! They shot at us first!" to which she nodded, sliding in the high-caliber hollow-point slugs now.
Vic set up his gun on a pipe and aimed up at the ceiling as gunfire started raining down from there. Bandits swore in Russian while the White Fang scrambled, armed with old AKMs and Vepr-Molot rifles that the Russian Scavs must've brought with them into this afterlife. One of them aimed and fired his hunting rifle at Vic, the round skimming the Romanian's Aura-infused helmet.
He replied by opening up, belts ringing through his rifle. To their left, Vesna, Lita, Sammy and the Marines pushed up, rifles coughing as the suppressors mounted to their fronts muffled the sound of their shots and the rapport and muzzle flashes. The Scav Bandits above and the White Fang were now firing on two sides, being forced into cover or outright killed.
Hass zeroed in on one of the ones with a scoped rifle, as seen through the aid of his IVAS goggles, then fired. Two 6,8mm rounds punched through the man's chest. He fell over the banister above and landed with a wet thump on the ground while the White Fang troops scrambled, suppressed by Vic's MG. Vic ordered, "Go! Go! Go!"
He watched Nicole and Hass lead the formation of Romanian troops with modified Cugir-made AKs. They intercepted descending White Fang members and a couple of bandits, putting down several of them while Sam lead the rest of the force down below, to the presumed Dust storage site. The Chinese Lieutenant spoke over radio, "Breaker Actual and Breakers Six through Twelve entering lower decks and Objective Able."
"Copy, Breaker Actual! Two, three, four and thirteen through twenty, ascending and proceeding to Checkpoint Zulu!" Vic replied. He called out, "Cover me! Repositioning!" to Nicole and Hassan, watching as Nicole slotted three HP Slugs into a Scav's chest, splattering the man's lungs, ribs and spine across the wall. Hassan, meanwhile, fired up at any White Fang troops still on top of the catwalks.
A round zipped right by Vic's head. His sister replied, her PSL barking and causing the shooter to lose his head. She gave Vic a pat on the shoulder and smirked, stating, "Don't die on me 'till you've given me nieces and nephews, ya hear?" to which he blushed, but nodded, remaining professional. They ascended the stairwell from two points, pincering an old corrugated steel building where some Whiskey Foxtrots and a Scav in heavier armor were settled.
The glass and metal were thin, not bullet-resistant at all. Vic stated, however, "Breach and clear, don't shoot. Might have some important intel in there. Breaker Two and team will cover," and he set his MG against the banister, aiming it. Hass and Nicole gave thumbs up, then pushed toward the small office room.
Rounds ripped through the corrugated steel, however, one striking Hass in his Aura-covered armored plate. He scoffed, stating, "ALIVE!" loudly. Vic gave the go-ahead and opened up into the rear of the construction with his MG, bullets zipping clean through the target as disintegrating belts fell down below.
When the box ran empty, he dropped it, drew his sidearm and motioned for his fireteam to advance and join the breach. Both he and Hass kicked the door in in synch and saw two corpses. A third corpse in the making, the Scav in heavier armor, turned about and aimed a cut-down KS-23 at Vic while a young White Fang member cowered beside him.
The two men and their aides lit the Scav up, bullets and slugs ripping through his own Aura and through the level 4 plates. Shattering ceramic and steel gave way to a pool of blood and internals as the man collapsed, shotgun falling out of his hand. Hass, Vic and Nicole then pushed in while the others provided security, Nicole pushing the surrendering White Fang member, a young boy, down.
She cuffed him and grabbed the KS-23 off the ground before radioing, "Actual, Twenty. Checkpoint Zulu hit. Times one surrendered," and shifting her shotgun onto her back. Vic and Hass both approached the desk, which was now stained by blood, and saw several files and even a laptop. Nicole pulled her mask off and smirked, reporting, "Add intel files and enemy computer secured."
"Actual to Twenty. Roger that," Sam replied, her voice welling with pride, "And we have the Dust secured, alongside a cache of weapons… Wait, stand-by," and the others blinked upon hearing that, concerned. Sam added, "... Uh, Two… Get yourself, Nicole and Hassan down here. Leave the platoon to gather all the intel and get the WF surrender out." with a wary voice.
The trio looked at each-other. Vic tilted his head to Vicky, who waved the team forward to secure the intel before the group descended past the myriad pipes and down into the bowels of the place. Their feet plopped against the wet floor below, the tunnel they walked through probably being used as a drainage ditch.
When they arrived in one of the antechambers, they saw at least half-a-dozen Scav corpses, a bunch of White Fang dead and the Dust Crates. Tall piles of the bastards. Sam appeared from behind a set of crates, rifle slung by the strap over her right shoulder and balaclava pulled down. She tilted her head to them to follow.
The three did, walking over to where the rest of Sam's breaching team was. They paused, however, when they caught sight of black polymer and metal boxes, large enough to house a lot more than Dust. Kneeling beside one in the muck, Vesna was searching through it, having already pulled three very familiar-looking rifles out of it.
"... What the fuck," Vic mumbled as they approached.
Sam led them over to one of the boxes being checked by a Marine. She hit the top of it with her fist, then pointed at the symbols on the front. A familiar, filled-in 'K' symbol resided there, with Lita staring at another few boxes with similar markings on them. She looked over at the concerned Victor, Nicole and Hassan and told them rather sarcastically, "We won't have to worry about AK Spare parts for a while…"
"... What the hell is so much Izhmash stock doing here?" Vic asked as he walked over to what looked to be a PKP machine gun. He picked it up by the barrel-mounted carry handle and set it down on top of the box, before looking back at Sam. He said, "All of this stuff is basically brand new and in sealed containers…"
"We didn't find any ammo, at least," The Lieutenant nodded as she walked over, "But this is Izhmash stock. Very new… Almost as if it was brought over and handed to these guys. Some of the Intel you've seized probably has info. Ves walked over to them, carrying an AK-12 without a magazine in it. Sam stated, "I want these weapons policed. If nothing else, we've just received a gift with which to arm the VSDF…"
"Already on it," Hassan replied as he threw his rifle behind him, letting the strap hold it. He walked over to help a US Marine lift a box and carry it out, all while the rest of the team finally entered this little antechamber. The Dust was the least surprising part of the arsenal here
Vic asked Ves, "Any idea how many rifles are in stock? And GPMGs?"
"Enough to arm at least a Company of infantry, or a few dozen terror cells," She replied, dead serious. She looked at the AK-12 in her hands and said, "They are brand new… We're far away from Izhevsk, though. Way too far," then she set the rifle down beside the others she pulled from the box she was checking. She looked at Vic and Lita, then told them, "I don't like this at all."
"Me neither," Lita replied. She walked over to them and said, "Who knows who else came with us? Vic said it best, our radio call out to the world might've just told our enemies we're here… And if we got revived?" She sighed deeply, "Might be Neo-Soviets or even the League out there aside from the Scavs…"
"Would hate for that to be the case," Vic replied in a low murmur, seemingly angered by the idea. He sighed, then said, "Sam, let's call the others to help. This stuff's bigger than a Platoon-strength element can handle. We take the guns, leave the Dust for the cops to redistribute as soon as we give the all-clear."
Sam offered a calm nod, then switched on her com and called up the rest of the Misfits. The Romanian and his Russian fiancee exchanged a glance, before he gently leaned his head left to show her they should leave. She nodded, smiling a small, worried smile as they did so. The rest of the team arrived not too long after, alongside Vale PD. They took stock of the weapons and then let the Misfits haul them to the training site for the VSDF.
Back in Beacon, later that day, Sam was sat, giving the report to Headmaster Ozpin about the situation regarding the armament they found. Ozpin, fingers interlaced and hiding his mouth, spoke, "Truly concerning," before leaning back into his chair and asking, "And you're sure the White Fang and these Scavs acquired these weapons from here?"
The Chinese Lieutenant sighed and said, "Yes. While we're still investigating the Laptop we seized from the raid, the weapons themselves are stated to have been bought on the local black market. Whatever that means for Vale, that there might be more people out there who decided to sell fresh stock from Izhevsk or that they 'found them' somewhere," and she did the air quotes necessary, before continuing, "It's bad news. We found one Cache. Only one."
"I trust your assessment, Lieutenant," Ozpin replied, "And so does the Vale Council. I'll try to get some assets to assist you in acquiring more intel, provided the laptop proves to be a bust, or that it doesn't contain enough about other Cells," and he lifted his Scroll. He told her, "We've also started interrogating the young White Fang soldier. He's been cooperative, but we got nothing useful so far."
"Not surprising," Sam mumbled, "He's a grunt. Not a top dog or even anyone important enough to know what's going on."
"Indeed. Keep me updated on the intelligence you find in that laptop, Lieutenant," Ozpin nodded, though he, too, seemed a little off, not just after this reveal. Sam blinked, staring at him and tilting her head to the right like a curious dog. He sighed deeply, then said, "I see I'm quite transparent, even to new comrades in arms."
Sam chuckled, "Let's just say I get tells, sir. What's bothering you?"
"I just received word that a friend of ours is going to 'visit' us with his military forces from Atlas, for extra security during the Vytal Festival. General James Ironwood," The man stated as he activated his Scroll. He told her, "I will send you and your comrades a file on the man, but the main requests of the Council are that you all cooperate."
"Gladly, sir," Sam replied as she received the man's file. She skimmed it, then mumbled, "Alright, well, a military man through and through…" before stowing her Scroll. She stood up and said, "I'm gonna go talk to the others. Keep us updated and we'll keep you, too, sir…" before she snapped a quick salute and walked off.
Descending from the tower and going back home, she entered it to find Vesna baking. Cookies, specifically, simply going by the appetizingly sweet smell. She chuckled and asked, "Baking for Vic, are ya?" which caused the blonde to blush, fox ears perking up. She looked at the Lieutenant, who raised a hand and said, "Sorry about that, Ves. Guessing they're more for Ruby?"
"Yes. I heard from Yang and Blake that Ruby loves cookies, so," She shrugged, smiling a little as the blush faced, "I figured it would be nice to have them ready for her birthday… Have we decided on a place where we're holding it?"
"Here, actually," Sam nodded as she walked over to the fridge. She retrieved some left-over food, took her gear off and sat down to eat. She watched Ves continue her little baking adventure as they talked, asking her, "Choc-Chip, right?" only to get a happy, affirmative hum from the girl. The Chinese girl snorted at that, then bit into her own food:A chicken sandwich.
Victor entered the house, too, dusting his hands and taking his gloves off, then removing his kit. He sighed, wiped the sweat off his brow and said, "Transported all of the guns to the nearby warehouse we have rented. Nobody should be getting their hands on them again and Police know where to find them if need be."
"Nice job," Sam replied.
"Thanks," Vic smiled and nodded, then he walked over to Ves, grabbed her by the waist and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. The blonde giggled, blushing heavily. She lifted a cookie from the finished batch and hand-fed it to him, all while Sam, despite her smirk, let out an 'eugh' and rolled her eyes to play along with the trick.
"So, how is it?" Vesna asked as Vic chewed, his face lighting up. He lifted up his hand and gave his fiancee a thumbs up and a happy, but closed mouth smile. She beamed, then giggled and kept on baking as Vic walked over to change. Sam shook her head, then pulled out her scroll and started reading Ironwood's file again.
She stopped only when she got a message. Alex and Anja walked into the house, with Sam immediately telling them, "You two pick a team and take a Bullhead over to Red Ridge village. Medical request, mid-priority," as she sent the details over to them. Honestly, seemed like a simple, easy mission to deal with. That thought alone felt like it'd jinxed the two.
"Sure thing, boss," Alex replied, lifting his Scroll. He turned to Anja, who smiled as she hefted her aid bag. They and Saila, to nobody's surprise, walked out. Ves and Vic had both literally noticed Saila at the last second, just as she was getting out of the house. The two let out deep sighs, then chuckled at that, while Sam was simply stunned by how stealthy the girl was.
The Lieutenant mumbled, "Guess it makes sense she's a hunter…" before continuing to read. She said, "I'll send you all a briefing, since we're apparently getting extra BLUFOR units in the coming weeks… Hopefully after Ruby's birthday," as she noticed with the corner of her eye that the two were looking at her.
Vic nodded, "Okidoke," then he helped Ves take the second(and last) batch of cookies from the oven and pack them. She giggled, hugging him almost instinctively with her tail, while Sam stared. She noticed some hesitation and saw Vic had, too, but neither said anything. Ves herself remained close to her newfound fiancee.
The two then walked off to their dorm, Sam sighing and shaking her head before mumbling jokingly, "I swear, they're doing it to tease me," with a grin on her face. She started reading again, free of distractions, then murmured something. She made a few notes and said, "Okay, General 'Illustrious service record'... Duly noted and looking forward to working with you…"
The door cracked open ahead of her. She saw Paul and Katja walk in and set their gear aside, laughing all the while, with Paula not far behind them, smiling, too. Paul looked at Sam, gave a quick salute and asked, "Hey, you seen Vic today?" only to watch Sam jab her thumb back toward the door to their bedroom. He snorted and nodded in thanks, then walked over.
When he cracked the door open, Kat not far behind him, she saw that the two Fiancees had fallen asleep together, boots off and cuddling. Ves's tail seemed to almost instinctively wag, while Vic held her close to him, kissing her forehead. Her ears twitched cutely as she held onto him tightly, eyes closed. She was breathing softly, a smile on her face, while Vic's mouth remained obscured as he held her.
Kat cracked a wide smile at that, her own dog features perking up as she saw that. She said, "That shit's been a long time comin', brother," before patting Paul on the shoulder. He nodded, gently closing the door and taking a step back. Kat, meanwhile, looked back at a happy Paula and said, "Well, look at who brightened up."
"I'm still waiting for another something to happen," She replied, gently giving both of'em a fist bump to the shoulder as a hint. She walked away to the kitchen and grabbed something to eat, leaving her brother and the Pole confused for a moment. Sam snorted and planted a palm on her own face out of exasperation, mumbling something about 'everybody being afraid of their own feelings in this outfit'.
The two shrugged, then walked off toward Paul's own dorm room. Sam said, "You guys remember you're room-mates, now, right?" only for both of them to double over and look at their Lieutenant with wide eyes and red faces. They nodded rapidly, then walked off, with Sam and Paula exchanging one quick, knowing look before both grinned. The two's buttons were too easy to push, honestly.
Oh, well, time to prepare for the Birthday Party…