Sam's shoulders sagged. She let out a deep sigh, watching her breath wafting high into the sky as she leaned against her guard post's low wall, watching the forest past the gate for movement. The Emerald Forest spread all the way to here, a bright green shining beacon of Nature and the resting place of several old Kingdoms that preceded Vale across the centuries.
Vale wasn't the first of the Kingdoms, but, if she and the others could obviously help it, it would be the Kingdom to survive all of Remnant's recorded human history. It was their home now. They needed to protect it like nothing else, she thought to herself again. Checking her rifle as snow began to fall with the arrival of Winter, she shivered a little.
Only to pause as she felt a blanket on her back. Looking up, she saw Vesna had arrived, wearing her own winter gear, or whatever passed for it that she'd bought from a local store. Sitting down, the girl shouldered her AK and smiled at Sam, her fox ears twitching. The Chinese officer snorted, her own ears twitching and tail wagging to stay warm, before she joked, "Vic's gonna come change with me if you two wanna cuddle," which got a blush and a shy giggle out of Ves.
The glasses-wearing chinese officer sighed, relieved, then said, "I won't dare ask you how the War was, Ves… I don't even wanna imagine how bad it was."
"We weren't the ones who were being invaded," Vesna spoke, her voice low, soft, quiet. Mournful, even. She added, "Bakhmut alone served to show to me my people aren't the kindest children on the playground of superpowers," before shouldering her rifle and leaning it against the wall as she peered through the binocs. She whispered, "Mama always said we were better in the Soviet Days… More organized, focused, well-equipped…"
Sam nodded, "You had the resources of the entire Soviet Empire, not to mention your satellites, to draw from," and she pulled up a thermal sight from her belt, hitting the switch and scanning the trees. She shrugged, "That and you actually had smart leaders in most cases. Most," before she breathed a sigh.
"At least now we'll be able to reform," Ves quipped, "Even if we're split into three distinct power blocks," and she smiled, "One of which is apparently already slowly getting destroyed, being in the middle of both the NATO-supplied democratic Republic of Free Russia and your little failed Puppet, the New Soviet Union…"
"God, what fucking names, man," Sammy chuckled, "Neo-Soviet Union, the Black League and the Republic of Free Russia. It sounds exactly like the kind of crap you'd see in one of Vic and Paul's silly Gacha Games," before shivering as she breathed, worried. Ves giggled at that, then shrugged, to which Sam asked, "For the love of God, girl, tell me you didn't start playing…"
The blonde shrugged, a little awkward as she blushed, "Only a couple of them before the restrictions came in… Wanted to see what all the fuss the guys had about a few of them was. Plus, I wanted something to talk to Vic about," which caused Sam to take a pause and blink, simply surprised at how naturally that came out of Ves. She nodded in understanding, though.
"You two are incredibly, tooth-rottingly sweet," Sam murmured, then sighed deeply and arranged her helmet and her collar, making sure to use it to shield her ears. The coat she had was one of those old blue camouflage ones, seeing as she hadn't been able to get a new one from requisitions in the actual camo they used.
She probably stuck out like a sore thumb to any scav or Grimm crazy enough to wander to the defensive walls outside and around Beacon. Scavs, Bandits and Grimm had also apparently become a greater problem in the areas outside Vale's direct jurisdiction. While villages outside paid some tithe to the city in the form of cattle and food for when issues arose with the Farming District and they even sent their kids to study at Combat and Trade Schools, they also needed help. So, the girls got to talking a bit about that.
The richest tended to talk to the Government to hire the Misfits on for protection duty. Others cooperated with Novyy Smolensk and other smaller Villages like that that had popped up on radar ever since the Misfits made themselves known to the world. 'To any and all familiar faces and unfamiliar allies, we are the Misfits, guardians of Vale and survivors like you. Come to meet us if the years 1980 through to 2024 make any sense', Sam had sent forth, considering Remnant's calendar was fairly different from their own. There was no AD/AC and BC.
It was '100 AGW' in their timeline. Year one hundred After the Great War. The Century of Peace. Lucky bastards, Sam thought. But yes, the encrypted transmission sent forth through piggybacking off of the CCTS for radios. It had three separate encryption schemes that could unlock it:Older Russian codes from the Soviet years, NATO codes and even modern-day UN Peacekeeper codes.
"Chto za khren," Vesna chuckled a little, "A hundred years of peace…"
"Relative," Sam replied as she leaned her face into her gloved hands to keep it warm, "There was still the Faunus Rights Revolution somewhere around 24 AGW. Barely ended in a decade… Faunus kicked some ass," and she smirked. "Lucky us we got some of their traits, eh? Including the whole Enhanced Night Vision."
Ves giggled, "Hass is glad he gets to use his IVAS. Says he didn't wanna become an 'Anime Furry'."
"Racist," Sammy snorted, having made it obvious with her tone of voice it was a joke. Hassan was a lot of things:A weapons enthusiast, Soviet history and weapon system nut and an Army Ranger. Unironically Racist, however? Not really. Ironically, though, most certainly, considering the amount of faux-slurs the gang kept throwing at each-other when they were 19.
The Russian let out another giggle, shifting her own rifle around as she saw the distant silhouettes of Grimm moving about. She replied to that, "Nicole's also a Faunus from what I've seen… Weird thing with us is we have both tails and ears… And fangs, I think," before feeling her left canine with her thumb. Yeah, she felt a lot more pressure.
Sam did the same and nodded, then snorted and said, "Don't bite Vic too hard, then," only to see the girl blush again, stammering… Though behind those blue eyes, Sam could make out some sort of traumatic experience. She sighed and asked, "Hey… You sure you're okay? This doesn't look like normal embarrassment…" as she saw the girl shivering.
Vesna realized what she was doing, froze, then breathed in and out to calm down. She seemed to be holding back tears as she replied, "I'm okay…" which made the Lieutenant furrow her brows. She would talk to Victor about it later and get her a visit to the Shrink. She sighed deeply, then gave Vesna a pat on the shoulder.
Ves nodded in thanks, uneasy, then breathed deeply to calm herself. She then paused, her left fox ear perking up as the unmistakable noise of engines echoed. Sam heard it, too, ears perking up and hair standing on-end. She mumbled, "That sounds like BMPs…" as she racked the bolt of her rifle. She turned and radioed, "Shield-2, be advised… Possible armor. Requesting AT teams…"
She heard the Romanian fireteam push up to them, RPG-7 tubes and PG-7V and 7VR anti-tank rockets loaded and ready. They climbed to the top of the fence, Ocean immediately hefting the launcher off his back while Victor set up his MG next to Ves, smiling at her before aiming down the sights. The rest of the team descended as soon as the guns were set up, Ves smiling kindly at Vic.
Vicky set up, too, poking her DMR through a slit in the wall and aiming down the sight as the vehicles' rone drew closer, all of them audibly drawing near to the base as lighter tracks crackled, grinding stones and the hard dirt below them. A speaker played a quiet musical tune that the team recognized as one of 'Lyube's' musical accolades. 'Soldat'.
And voices were singing along to the tune. Voices that felt terrifyingly familiar to the teams. Vic poked his head up, looking away from the sight, but still down the barrel of his weapon. He saw a trio of BMP-2s and a pair of BTR-80A transporters, piled high with the soldiers of a Russian task group clad in standard EMR.
Though the entire platoon of Misfits tensed, they spotted the Commander of the entire force, or at least the seeming commander, sitting on the turret of the leading BMP-2M. Sammy spoke over the radio, "Steady, guys… Maybe we can do this without shooting each-other…" before seeing the EMR-clad commander of the Russian force signal his troops to form a perimeter, having spotted the gate through his binocs.
The units escorting on the ground soon scrambled, aiming their rifles at the guard post, carrying an assortment of rifles from AK-74s to AK-100 series guns and even AK-12s and AK-15s, not to mention PKMs and RPKs, plus a few PKPs with scopes and other attachments. Some soldiers looked worse for wear, hurt and bandaged.
Vicky spoke, "They're not wearing Russian flags on their uniforms, Sam," over the com, peering at the shoulder of one of them. She then paused and her eyes shot wide, before she barked, "But they do have Unit ID Badges! PID on friendlies!" to which Sam blanked. Both she and Vesna lifted their binoculars as their radio crackled to life.
… Both saw the unit badge… And Vesna visibly beamed. She stood up, raising high her hand and waving to their Commanding Officer. A gasp then echoed over the com as Sam lifted her radio to her ear and spoke with a smile, " Mayor Nastiya Deriabin, this is Lieutenant Samantha Lee… Holy fuck, girls and boys… "
A moment's pause and tension filled the air as the Commander of the force stood to her feet, taking her mask and helmet off to reveal a ginger-haired older beauty with blue eyes and many scars. She beamed brightly, raising high her own hand… Only for the entire Force to raise their guns high into the sky, cheering loudly while the Misfits all waved at them.
Vic smiled, lowering his PKM, then gasped, a little surprised by Vesna immediately pecking him on the cheek and laughing heartily. Sam switched frequencies and spoke with a happy smile, "This is Actual to all Misfit elements. Be advised:Friendlies in the AO. The 6th Motor Rifle Brigade of the Army of the Russian Republic is here…"
The Commander jumped off of her BMP and marched toward the Gate, looking up and, with arms spread, " Chert voz'mi, my rady tebya videt' !" with a hearty laugh. She requested, "Open the Gate, Lieutenant! We have a shitload of things to talk about!" before looking at Vesna and Vic and beaming. She wiped a tear out of her eye as her force gathered around them.
Vic hit the button and the main gate opened, allowing the BMP-2Ms and BTR-80As to traverse into the base. On their hulls was visible damage from both gunfire and the claws and beaks of the Grimm. Male and female members of the 6th MRB waved and shook hands with the Romanians, some even hugging them, with Diana laughing heartily.
Never did anyone in the Misfits think they were gonna be glad to see Russians, but when the last vehicle rolled in, they were also surprised to see another unit that had followed them. Vic blanked, seeing a different flag, a Red White And Blue in columns instead of rows. It was a French VAB Armored Car, bearing a French Foreign Legion symbol… And another few familiar faces aboard.
Sam stared, stunned, as another American Marine jumped out of it, raising high his hands and barking, "GIBBEEEEEH!" with excitement in his voice. He grinned and said, "I knew it was gonna be you bastards calling us home! I even told the Commander and these Frenchie morons behind me, but no, they don't believe good ol' Gibby Gibson!"
"Holy shit, Gibby," Snorted Vic as he held Ves's hand.
The man blinked, grinned and pumped his fists into the air, barking, "HAHAHAHA! FUCK YEAH, X OWES ME FORTY BUCKS!" before looking at them and stating, "How far did y'all-" only to blank as he saw Ves lift the ring on her finger. The man stared at it, stunned, all his bravado and gusto vanishing. A genuine smile formed on his face and he said nothing else, simply giving thumbs up to Vic and his wife-to-be.
"I've waited so long to see that ring on your hand, blyadh…" Nastiya spoke as she and Sam approached the pair. She added, "Forgive the breach of protocol, but…" then grabbed both of them and hugged them for a solid second. The thirty-year-old woman then took a step back and wiped a tear from her eye, stating, "... Sam told me you found us…"
"I did," Vic stated. He felt Vesna's grip tighten on his hand, her deep blue eyes staring at him with sorrow. He smiled, planted a kiss on her lips that caused her to blush and smile, then told Nastiya, "But it's all in the past now, ma'am. We're all glad you're finally home after that bullshit… I'm sorry we were late, though."
The woman replied, "You did your best to come. We know, Victor," and she nodded to Ves, "Now, Davai. Let's go home…"
The two nodded, then began leading the force over toward the Motor Pool and the Misfits' barracks. As they walked, the force was met with the cheers of the US Marines present, Colbert himself stating, "Never thought I'd be glad to see Frenchies and Ruskies in the same unit! Welcome to the Suck, Major! Medics are coming in!"
"Privyet to you as well, Sergeant Colbert!" The woman nodded, then paused as she saw Alex and Anja run out of the house, wave to the team and immediately help unpack the wounded for triage. Most of the soldiers weren't hurt anything fierce, while Paul, Paula and the other Misfits walked out to help carry the stretchers with the Russian troops.
Paul and Paula both paused, however, when they saw the VAB stop, dismounting a platoon of French Foreign Legionnaires, all of whom cheered in greeting to the Hungarian man in their frog uniform, moving on in to hug him and his sis, starting to jump with them while cheering Football slogans and some other French gibberish.
… Additionally, a single soldier clad in a different outfit jumped out of the VAB, too, a Malyuk 5,56 variant rifle in her hand. She pulled her skeleton mask off her face, smiling brightly at the sight, then waved to the Russians and walked over toward the house and a specific American Marine who was helping with Triage.
She tapped Dushman on the shoulder, causing him to turn, before spinning him about and planting a fierce kiss on his lips. Surprise was soon replaced by joy as he grabbed her by the hips and pulled her into the kiss, too, to the cheers of his entire platoon. Sam commented, "And that must be Sofiya, Dushman's Ukrainian girlfriend from the SSO…"
"Motherfucker scored a god-damned Special Ops girl?!" Gibby snorted, "Lucky…"
The Marines all paused upon hearing that, turning to face Gibby. Dushman grinned, hugging Sofiya and giving a wave to their wacky little Floridian. The only audible groan among the ranks was Robert, unsurprisingly, who seemed to deflate the moment he saw the soldier. Ayesha and Lita both rushed past him to greet their comrades, smiles on their faces all the while.
Vera stood at the door, a smile on her face and a coffee in hand. She waved to the Major, then looked at the SSO girl and snorted, almost spilling said coffee. The Ukrainian also noticed her and the two pointed fingers at one-another, before approaching each-other and bumping fists while swearing at one-another like old friends.
Spetsnaz and SSO probably fought each-other more than anyone would like to admit, Vic and Ves thought as they saw that, smiling a little. Dushman and Gibby, meanwhile, did one of the greatest daps (a hand shake similar to the one in Predator, in case of confusion), before hugging each-other with one arm and looking at an already-exhausted Robert with grins.
Rob walked up to the Major and whispered, "Could you not have left the Florida Man behind, ma'am?"
"Wasn't my choice, mister Feitingis," Joked Nastiya, grinning ear-to-ear. The man let out an exhapserated sigh, then saluted and stepped away, Coke can in hand. The woman mumbled with a smile, "Glad to see Robert's still the same as he ever was," before scratching an itchy scar on her chin, one that was still fairly new.
"He's helped keep the peace with the Students," Sam stated calmly, "Speaking of… We should probably go meet the Headmaster. I feel like housing over a hundred Republican troops is gonna get real tedious. Additionally, you heard me call us a PMC over the radio transmission, so I hope you understand that means you're gonna be part of it, too."
The Major nodded and replied, "We discussed it ahead of time. The entire force agrees with signing up with old friends to defend their new home," as she turned to Sam. She added, "However, I'm guessing this means I'm gonna be part of, but not the whole Command Staff, da ?" as she smiled. She didn't wanna do paperwork alone as the highest-ranking officer.
"You're higher ranked than me, ma'am," The Lieutenant smiled, "But sure, you can delegate to me if you feel like it," before crossing her arms. The team paused as they heard a Guitar start playing, followed by the voices of three young women belting out the familiar ' Monolit Nye Lyubyat ', a STALKER fan song. Sweet strings and even sweeter words, if not a little funny for anyone unaware of the game series that had once brought Russian and Ukrainian together in harmony.
Sam paused as her Scroll pinged. Lifting and activating it, she saw a message from Headmaster Ozpin, to which she said, "Well, speak of the Devil, Headmaster Ozpin just asked me to bring you to him, ma'am," as she looked at Nastiya. The woman nodded and showed Sam to lead the way as the crews engaged in small-talk and the vehicles were moved to the Motor Pool.
The Major spoke, "You know… It's terrifying. One day you're living a normal life, the next you awake in this shithole. I'm honestly surprised we didn't find Vesna, Ayesha and Lita ahead of you girls, but…" and she sighed deeply, relieved, before speaking with a shaky voice, "God only knows, I got to see what Vic only saw the aftermath of…"
Sam visibly froze at that, whispering an, "Oh…" as she saw the woman scratching the side of her neck. She sighed, then nodded as they stepped once more into Beacon's Headquarters, the CCTS and Ozpin's office tower. The two women then sat in silence as the elevator began its trip up the tower, with Sam checking her Scroll.
As they arrived, Headmaster Ozpin stood to his feet at his desk, looking completely surprised. He spoke, "Lieutenant Lee, you mind telling me why I have just seen a column of armored vehicles moving toward your Motor Pool? Much more, with some hundred-odd troops in similar uniforms to boot?" before his eyes met those of the Major.
"Sir. Explanation's right here. Major Deriabin, this is Headmaster Ozpin, our handle," Sam spoke calmly, motioning to the man. He then looked at Ozpin, who was sat down and smiling now, then said, "Headmaster, this is Major Nastiya Deriabin, formerly of the Russian Armed Forces, currently of the Army of the Republic of Russia. She's the Commanding Officer for the Brigade that Vesna, Ayesha and Lita are part of."
"Oh, of course. The commander of corporal Toma's wife-to-be," Ozpin smiled, extending a hand to the Major as he said, "Welcome to Beacon, Major," while looking her over. All the scars, all the injuries, obviously the same wounds that probably did her in in part. That yet more comrades of the Misfits were coming both made him happy and worried him.
" Spasibo , Headmaster. Sorry for the rude wakeup, but we did come here armored …" The woman spoke with a smile back, shaking the man's hand with some strength. The two then separated and Ozpin showed the women to take a seat, which they did, nodding in thanks while the man shut off the holographic computer on his desk.
"Any comrade in arms of the Misfits' is always welcome to Beacon. They've helped upgrade Vale's security status a great deal," Ozpin then stated, leaning back into his seat and interlacing his fingers, setting both hands on his lap. That made Nastiya smile a little as she looked over to Sam, the young woman laughing awkwardly and rubbing the back of her neck.
"Good to know Lieutenant Lee continues to be efficient," The Major then stated, smiling proudly.
"I try," Sammy chuckled.
"Indeed. She and her comrades helped reduce a lot of the issues Vale has been facing and even seems to be drawing new recruits," He spoke, then looked at Sam and added calmly, "like mister Winchester," which caused a little confusion in Nastiya and a surprise reminder that, yes, Cardin 'douchebag' winchester, did drop off an application to be part of the PMC.
"Oh, yeah… Gonna try not to be too rough on the kid. Have him shovelling shit on the first day," Sam grinned a little evilly. Yeah, Cardin was not a favorite of any member of the Misfits, or any of the local kids, many of whom were on Vacation right now, the snowfall outside gently growing, patches of white appearing on the concrete and stone below.
"Please do, in fact, try not to harm him," Ozpin requested, dead serious, as he looked at Sam. She paused, confused, to which Ozpin told her, "He's going through a rough spot now that his father was outed and removed from his seat in the Council," before lifting his Scroll off the table and checking the news tab he had open.
"... wat…" Sam blanked.
The man hummed, then showed her the phone-like device and asked, "... Did you miss news of the last election cycle, Lieutenant? Auburn Winchester, Cardin's father and Councilor seating as head of the Ministry of Health, was found in possession of dangerous narcotics and removed from his seat. The young man has been taking it particularly rough, since this came packaged with an issue regarding mister Auburn being part of the distribution ring. All family assets have almost been seized."
"... Oh, shit…" Sam whispered, reading the headline. She murmured to herself, "Explains his sudden 180 in attitude. I'll keep tabs on him, sir. Make sure he's okay…" and she figured she should. If something could get a bully like Cardin to turn his life around, it would be a lifechanging experience like that… It also explained his previous douchiness. Absentee father, maybe?
"Thank you," Ozpin replied calmly, then breathed a sigh and looked over at the confused Major. He told her, "Now, back onto the matters at hand, I will have scrolls brought for all your men so that they may all sign the contract for service with the Misfits, Major," before lifting his Scroll and starting to make some calls about it.
"Of course. Thank you, Headmaster…" Nastiya replied with half-a-mouth, also concerned for Cardin all of a sudden… Poor kid…