Quentin 'Dushman' Palmer and his dear girlfriend (Could he call her that?), Sofiya Konnonenko, one of Ukraine's SBU special operatives and a Chief Sergeant, strolled through the courtyards of Beacon on their usual patrol route. Opposite them, on the other side of the Campus, the Russians of the 'Walküre' Private Military.
Sofiya eyed them with murder on her mind, her right hand's index finger tapping the side of her SIG MCX's receiver as she spoke, "Svoloch shouldn't be walking within an inch of any adult, much less children," her voice a low growl. Dushman nodded in agreement, holding his IAR-27 with the barrel pointed down as he glared at them.
The three men they were watching soon noticed them and waved, one of them grinning while his other hand held the grip of his SAIGA-12 shotgun, which looked like it had received extensive modifications for combat duty, although the strange skeletal drum magazine loaded with AP shells certainly didn't bode well.
He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed, then said, "I know the feeling, but, as the ROE is, we can't do shit to them unless they do shit to someone else," while watching as a few of their fellow Russian Troops moved past them with one of the BTRs, the turret with the 30mm cannon visibly tracking the 'hostile' private contractors. He hummed and asked, "You remember when we were hanging out in Kherson after a fight?"
Slightly taken by surprise by her boyfriend's question, Sofiya looked at him and raised a brow, before taking a moment to recall that little hangout. She cracked a smile, then chuckled and asked, "Are you referring to that one time your sister gave you a call? Heh, she was terrified when she learned you weren't just deployed to your Eastern Allies."
"It wasn't a lie, was it?" He quipped, grinning a little as he kept his eyes forward.
She snorted and shook her head, "Miy Lyubyy, you told her you were on training detail, not fighting! Poor Marcy was scared shitless, all because she saw our flag hovering over the city. God only knows my own family was scared when they heard I and my unit were deployed," all while she, too, scanned their surroundings, making sure the children would make it to their classes.
She continued with a chuckle, "And meanwhile, Olivia was ripping hairs out in the other room because you'd been found out. I swear, I've never seen you make such a cute face as when you're embarrassed!"
"My sisters worry too much," He sighed, then tugged at the collar of his uniform a bit, loosening it. His face was mildly red, but he was smiling. For a hard-as-nails Marine, he was certainly easy to tease. Or so Sofiya thought as they walked toward the training area for the Misfits' attempt at rebuilding the Vale Military, one unit at a time.
They saw Cardin Winchester, a supposed bully of the school, currently doing a ruck march with about twenty other young men and women, hauling ass back and forth between the outer edge of the camp and the inner areas, all while other members of this small-time unit, which Dushman couldn't recall for the life of him if it was a Regiment or a Brigade at strength, at the shooting ranges, their guns ringing loudly.
"Feels so fucking weird, having to rebuild an army from the ground up," Dushman mumbled.
Sofiya spoke, "We got lucky ours didn't need to undergo that treatment after the war… Volgograd nearly thinned the SBU a bit too much, though. Especially when the 2nd Special Purpose bastards ambushed us near Park Pobedy," before sighing deeply and scratching underneath her chin, where the faint scars of a knife's cut still remained.
That wasn't what killed her. Dushman recalled her death had been blatantly more violent than others, in the sense that, being separated from her own squad, she went down swinging. Took a fucking grenade to kill the beautiful beast of a woman sitting before him, the thought of it alone making him grin like a dumbass.
She looked at him and asked, "Sup, Miy Lyubyy? Wanna fight~?" with a teasing voice. Though Dushman was tempted to ditch their patrol then and there, he paused as he heard the clop-clap of boots against the stone and looked ahead, watching Samantha walking forward with a platoon of Russians clad in a slightly concerning set of gear:Riot equipment.
Looking at them, their Lieutenant told them, "Just got a request for help from Vale Riot Police… Small brawl between the White Fang supporters and a gang from the Natural Order. Y'know, usual 'break up the racial tension with the bat' shit," and she tapped her riot shield with her baton. Several of the Russian Riot troopers laughed a bit, faces obscured by balaclavas and their slightly opaque riot visors. One of them was Robert, terrifyingly enough, though he was wearing US MP-standard riot gear.
Sofiya spoke, "Ah, classic Russians and Chinks," before cracking a smirk.
Dushman joined in with, "Literally beating the living shit out of protesters. At least, this time you fuckers have a legitimate reason for it.
Sammy and the Russians all laughed, before the girl gave both of them a light tap on the shoulder with the Baton, pointed at the side of Beacon where the assholes from the Walküre were and left with her little strike team. That was her way of telling them to stay on alert about their possible Enemy Within scenario.
The two then paused as they saw Paul, Paula and Katja walking forward together, weapons at the ready. Paul spoke to Dushman, "Gibby's already set up in his Sniper's perch on top of the apartment block we're using as a barracks for all our troops. He's got his girlfriend as his spotter, though… Imma be honest, man, I don't have high hopes in terms of them not outright fucking on that roof," and he smirked.
Everyone visibly stifled laughter, with Katja giving Paul a punching the shoulder that garnered a light, mirthful 'ow' out of the unusually calm man. He held a cigarette between his lips, however, which seemed to be the cause for Katja's sudden turn from happy to frowning. The Uke and the American Marine exchanged one concerned glance, before Dushman looked at Paul and said, "So, y'all joining us to keep the cordon?"
"Bet your ass," Katja suddenly perked up again, grinning. Paul had probably noticed her little mood switch, but wasn't sure how to take it at first. Truth be told, nobody had even remotely bothered to engage him on it and it was showing. Kat, however, wasn't planning on keeping things quiet. So she thought to herself as the team walked down the patrol route they were assigned to keep the fuckers away.
Paula cradled her sniper rifle as she asked, "Has anyone seen Aleksandr and Hassan today?" eyeing the men opposite them like it was the Iron Curtain on a bad day.
"Aleksandr and Nicole are both helping our Ameriboo schizoid get us new ammo," Paul replied, fingers tapping on the grip of his Minimi. He took one last drag of the cigarette and put it out, then threw it in a nearby trash bin while eyeing a gathering of the Walküre troops. He continued, "Obviously, it's taking Hass a while. Every new addition means a new caliber, or more of the same to add to the piles."
"I don't envy the man," Katja stated, glaring visibly at the Valkyries. One of them turned toward her and she grinned, patting the side of her rifle's receiver and basically taunting them to try some shit. When she saw him turn away, rolling his eyes, she snorted and said, "Can't imagine how bad it must be to keep having to reload brass."
Dushman joked, "God knows we had to pick it up after Range Day."
"You guys think you had it bad," Sofiya snorted, "I think we were mostly using reloads with just a bit too much powder in Bakhmut that we had to make considering how fucked the Supply Line to the city was."
"Harassment campaign from the Russian arty really worked wonders for them," Paul offered, then asked, "How the hell did you two go through Bakhmut?"
"I have so many bullet holes in me, Dushman isn't sure where to stick it at times," Sofiya snorted, which caused everyone, Dushman included, to double over while the Uke laughed. Katja shook her head at that, a wide smile on her face. The Uke continued, "Obviously, however, things were rough. Raiding and engaging in close-quarters wasn't our MO like 90% of the time unlike Quentin's Foreign Legion squad. We tried to hit enemy supplies in the rear, or, failing that, guide HIMARS missiles onto them."
The Marine nodded, "They're one of the many reasons the shell with my fucking name on it malfunctioned in the anti-air gun the Ruskies had set up at a chokepoint on the streets," before giving his girl a gentle elbow nudge. She gave a thumbs up, grinning proudly. He then added, "The other being it was probably incompatible Nork ammo."
Paula snorted, "Oh, yeah, that was a thing. Kat?"
"Hm?" The Pole, who was focused until now on the Valkyries, raised a brow.
The Hungarian twin asked, "You ever been on the receiving end of North Korean ammunition?"
Kat shrugged, "My service in Ukraine was comparatively short to Dushman and Sofi's, so maybe? I didn't spend time looking for the slug in the ground to see if its serial number was written in Moon Runes, though," before letting out a strained chuckle. She had had other issues, clearly. At this point, it was probably easier to find the people who haven't had issues among the Misfits.
The team visibly paused, the Ukrainian, Marine and the Pole tensing as they heard the high-pitched drone of some kind of electrical motors spooling up from up ahead. Looking at the gathered group of Valkyries, they noticed the bastards had formed some sort of crowd around one of them. The droning motors drew closer from behind them…
And quickly…
The two Nemeth twins, Sofiya and Dushman all saw the Polish GROM operator grab onto her rifle, face turning pale as bone. She grit her teeth, swiveled about and drew a bead at the incoming possible threat, thumbing the safety off and firing a burst at the source of the noise:A Quadrotor First Person View Drone. The shots caught it dead center, sending it tumbling to the floor, destroyed and smoking.
Katja stared down at it for several seconds, visibly in disbelief, keeping her rifle trained right on its carcass. She saw, however, there was no munition attached to it, then turned toward the Russians, all of whom seemed to act like they were confused by the sudden outburst. The Ukrainian and American, meanwhile, sighed.
With fury burning in her eyes, she started screaming at them at the top of her lungs, "Czy wy głupie skurwysyny jesteście szaleni!? Czy macie, kurwa, uszkodzony mózg!? NEVER BRING THAT KIND OF SHIT ANYWHERE NEAR US AGAIN, YOU HEAR ME, YOU FUCKERS?!" while she tried to march up to them. Several Students had stopped to watch the exchange, while the FPV Drone operator visibly grinned.
Though he was slightly stunned by the outburst, he stopped Kat before she rushed them with her gun drawn. He held her back as she told him, "I gotta give them a fucking piece of my mind, Kurwa, let me GO!" as she tried to pull away from him. He grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her for a moment, before stepping between them and her.
Sofiya spoke, "Understandable action, if I can say that…" as she turned to face the girl, "I fucking hate FPV drones, too…"
"Kat," Paul started. She was still glaring daggers right at his chest, as if she was trying to glare through him at the Ruskies. She shook, face red, but Paul called out again, "Katja!" which seemed to cause her to snap out of it. She looked up, right into her childhood friend's eyes, then relaxed, frowning and starting to shake as the furious red subsided from her face.
Paula told him, "Get her home. Ruskies are scrambling back to their barracks as it is…"
The male twin nodded as Katja set her rifle on safe and moved her hands away from it, visibly embarrassed and with tears in the corners of her eyes. He sighed and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, bringing her close and telling her, "C'mon… We're going home, Kat," as his worries for her seemed to skyrocket…
Beacon Mess Hall
The Misfits had posted up guards in the place, too, with Russian troops clad in their standard gear, though bearing flags with two white lines and a middle blue one instead of their usual red, blue and white on their shoulders now, as well as the unit patches for their little force. None of them were a bother to the students, with most even eating side-by-side with the kids.
Beside them, US Marines from Dushman's platoon, including Sergeant Colbert, were exchanging small-talk with their opposite-side-of-the-world counterparts in a surprisingly friendly setting as they patrolled the place. Additionally, there were a few of the French Foreign Legion members there, too, with some of them surprisingly being line cooks in their spare time, gear on and all.
Ruby had also noticed that Vic and Vesna were sat by the door, weapons held close, but on safe. She smiled and said, "It's nice to see them all just kinda hanging out with us," before noticing a pair of female soldiers from Vesna's unit talking to the guy Yang had apparently found outside the club she liked frequenting.
The two smiled and waved at the man, who waved back. They parted ways and he started walking toward them, all while Yang quipped, "Agreed on that end, sis. Heh."
The two then turned toward Blake, who said, "It's also much easier to get a citation from Robert now," with a smirk on her face. Weiss rolled her eyes at the joke, then looked over the paper they'd been given for the food fight. It had been cancelled by Headmaster Ozpin's own orders, but it was still odd to see just how much more of a stickler for the rules someone could be.
Ruby answered that with, "I guess a Military Police guy has to be a lot more strict than your standard policeman," as she leaned onto the table, looming over a half-finished plate of cookies that she'd gotten as dessert specifically after eating a whole Pizza. It turned out, according to research, that the caloric intake of someone with Aura was about double the standard of the average human.
As most Misfit soldiers had found out soon after being tuned up with the stuff…
"I think we have greater matters to focus on than mister Feitingis doing his job," Weiss spoke quietly as she neatly folded the paper and slid it into the inner pocket of her uniform's jacket. She leaned forward and asked, "What are we going to do about the White Fang? Or the rise in activity of the Natural Order?"
"We keep doing what we've done so far," Yang spoke, "Investigate and get the Misfits involved if the stuff hits the fan."
"Are you okay with that, Blake?" Weiss inquired, looking at the black-haired young woman. She perked up, her bow visibly twitching a little, but she turned toward Weiss and gave a nod, awkward as it might have been. The white-haired heiress started to ask, "... Are you still shaken after seeing the Misfits actually…" and she hesitated.
With a heavy sigh, the girl replied, "Yeah… I still have sort of vivid images of the people they put down," before scratching the back of her neck, "Although I can't exactly whine about it. Sam told me I could stay behind so I didn't have to… I stuck around, mostly because I knew it was going to get to this anyway."
"Can't dodge death forever," Yang whispered, crossing her arms, "It's kind of a part of the Hunter job, too."
"Sure is," The four heard a familiar voice call out, turning to the right to see Nora, a smile on her face as she tilted her head to the table next to them. She asked, "You guys don't mind if we take our seats a lil' late, right?" to which the four members of team RWBY shook their heads, rather visibly glad to see team JNPR.
"Sooo," Jaune started as he sat down next to Weiss, more-so by mistake than anything, "What're you girls talking about?"
"The usual," Ruby chuckled.
Nora grinned, "Yang's crush on Victor?" which caused Yang, who was currently drinking the soda from her cup, to choke and start coughing. She dodged the cup when Yang threw it at her, then giggled… Only for Ren to flick her on the forehead. The usually calm Mistrali boy sighed and looked at the girls, offering a quiet apology while Nora rubbed her forehead and pouted.
"I'm guessing it's on the matter of the White Fang, correct?" Pyrrha inquired, her plate stacked high with proteins and greens as usual. The four nodded, surprised, but soon realized this was Pyrrha they were talking about. One of the smartest people in the school. She said to them, "I saw a unit of the Misfits deploying in riot gear to help suppress a brawl that started between them and those monsters from the Natural Order."
Weiss spoke, "Good… I may dislike the White Fang, but that doesn't mean all Faunus should suffer for their mistakes. The Natural Order never cares about the average person, however…"
"Seems about right from what my dad told me of them," Jaune spoke as he took a forkful of Lasagna. After swallowing, he added, "I'm a lil' more worried about those 'Valkyrie' guys that our friendly neighborhood military guys and girls sent a warning about," with a hint of worry. Weiss perked up, raising a brow at that, to which the blonde-haired leader of team JNPR told her, "The Atlas Private Military Contractors."
"Oh…" Weiss blinked, "I see… I didn't expect general Ironwood to bring them over. Much less that they have history with the Misfits-" then she paused and realized, "Oh… I should probably go talk to Victor and Vesna about this. Excuse me," before she turned on the bench and stood up, walking toward the two guards at the door.
Ruby joined her, much to nobody's surprise, smiling all the while, to which the Heiress rolled her eyes. They walked toward the two fiancees and Weiss waved at them. Gathering up with the girls in front of the door, Vic said, "Hey, Weiss, Rubes. Can we help you two?" before looking at a smiling Vesna. Weiss hummed, then nodded.
"We wanted to talk about the warning you sent our way about Walküre…" She spoke, watching Vesna and Victor's demeanors slightly change.
Dead serious, the Romanian PKM Gunner asked, "They didn't do anything to any of you, did they?" which stunned both Weiss and Ruby. A chill ran up their spines as they saw Vesna tense up, tapping her finger against the receiver of her Kalashnikov. Both of them shook their heads quickly to try to alleviate their tension, but it only helped a little. Vic breathed a sigh and asked, "Alright… What's up?"
"... We were just wondering why? Like, the warning, I mean," Ruby asked, rubbing her arm, "Aren't they also from Earth?"
"They are," Vesna replied, frowning. She sighed and said, "I, Lita and Ayesha have a bad experience with them from during the War we fought in…" just as she shook a little, her voice cracking. Vic quickly went over to comfort her with a hug, which… Only helped to further exacerbate the confusion. Ves breathed a sigh and told them, "Just trust us when we tell you to stay away from them… They are nothing but bad news."
Weiss sighed deeply, "I figured General Ironwood might've done a background check on them to ensure no bad blood, but I suppose not…"
Victor shrugged, "As much as I'd like to throw the blame on the man, he's probably as unfamiliar as Ozpin was with Earth troops. Especially something like the Valkyries…" before rubbing Ves's shoulder gently and tilting his head. She smiled and nodded, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Weiss and Ruby both smiled, with Ruby blushing a little and giggling.
He then told them, "... Trust us, okay?"
"We do," Weiss replied, "We'll give you a call the moment they start acting suspicious… Thank you for taking care of us."
"We're friends, girls," Ves replied, smiling.
The two young Huntresses smiled at that. They bid goodbye to the pair of lovebirds and returned to their table, where Oriel had finally come by. Yang had stopped the awkward young man for a chat, offering a seat beside her, much to his visible concern. He didn't deny it, however, simply deciding to take a seat by their side.
Both Ruby and Weiss grinned at one-another when they saw that, before rejoining the others at the table…
Meanwhile, in Vale…
The Heroes' Square was one of the largest gathering spots in the City of Vale. A monument lay in the center, a marble obelisk onto which many names had been carved. Each face bore at least a hundred of them, with the inscription placards at the base reading 'For the Heroes of the Great War, Lest We Forget'.
The Obelisk was guarded by four statues of armed men and women from all four Kingdoms' militaries:A Valeian knight clad in light armor and wielding a blade and shield, though with a gun strapped to his back, an Atlesian(Then Mantleite) infantryman holding a rifle tipped with a bayonet, a Vacuoan warrior, Faunus clearly, wielding a mace with mock Dust Crystals at the top and, finally, a Mistrali soldier clad in segmented armor and wielding a blade and pistol.
All four stood at attention, facing away from the Obelisk, like guards on hallowed ground. Around this square, there were tall lines of trees, grass and flowers that spread out across the place in beautiful patterns, as well as benches among hedgerows so people could enjoy some free time. The Square was more of a public park, really, generally open and beautiful.
… It was, however, empty, save for a massive brawl in the center, near the Obelisk itself. Bottles were smashed, glass shattered and punches were being thrown to and fro. The Vale Police, namely whatever Department of it dealt with riots and brawls of hundreds of people, stood guard nearby, clad in old turtle-like riot gear.
The Commissioner watched the men and women in the brawl, White Fang and Natural Order alike, battling it out. He'd forbade the Ambulance services from going in to save people without cover and the Riot Police was woefully underequipped now, though. They also never engaged in breaking up anything like this.
Some of the people in the crowd were trying to kill each-other, obviously…
The man paused as he heard the thunderclap of boots against concrete. Turning back, he saw them advancing:Clad in heavy duty riot gear, armed with batons and thick bulletproof glass shields and with their visors down, the requested reinforcement from the Misfits PMC advanced toward them. Leading them, their Lieutenant spoke, "All due respect, Commissioner Gordon, do you really think it's a good idea to bring a PMC in to do the Police's job?"
"Everyone's been playing you guys up as our guardians," The man replied, "And my boys and girls aren't equipped to deal with this shit… The last time Vale saw any kind of brawls and riots this bad was forty years ago, when I was a junior Sergeant fresh out of the Academy… No need to invest in riot gear if it doesn't happen, they say."
"I'm surprised tensions boiled over like this," Sam mumbled, then sighed and said, "But alright. It sanctioned?"
"VNN already knows we asked for your help and the Council issued a public statement about it… Just don't rough these people up too much, kay?" He asked, "We'll arrest them after."
"Sure thing," Sam spoke. She turned back and barked, "FORMATION!" only for the entire squad of Riot controllers to form up. Robert was at the front, trying to contain his eagerness in dealing with these kinds of assholes. The Commissioner then surprised Sam, handing her a megaphone. She nodded, turned around to face the rioters, lifted up her face shield and turned on the transmitter.
"This is Lieutenant Samantha Lee, supporting the Vale Police Department with Riot Control Unit Alfa! Disperse and surrender, or you will be forcefully removed from the premises! This is your one and only warning!" She bellowed, voice resounding across the square. Civilians looked out from the windows of stores and houses around, some of them filming.
Seeing no reply in two minutes, Sam sighed, handed the megaphone back to the man and pulled down her visor. She looked at Rob, who nodded before starting to bash his riot control shield with his baton in a rhythmic beat. The other riot control units soon followed, hammering blows against the shields as their march forward began.
Feet thundered against the paved stone path ahead in synch with the batons slamming against the shields. Several of the brawlers, many of them wounded and bruised, saw the advancing Shield Wall and decided to run in the same direction. They were caught by Vale PD members and apprehended. Meanwhile, those who still fought had noticed the advancing wall, too.
A menacing formation of masked individuals clad in armor so thick, no blade could pierce it. Sam barked, "CS GRENADES, UP! MASKS ON!" which caused yet another group to pause in their brawl. Several tubular launchers appeared behind the woman. Three thwomps of the launches echoed across the square.
And three tear gas grenades landed among the crowds before beginning to expel their irritants, forming a cloud ahead. The supporting Misfits pushed forward into the cloud, faces now shielded by gas masks as they finally reached the crowd. Many were coughing and spitting, blinded by the gas, but still fought. One took a swing at Sam's shield, striking it with his fist and breaking his fingers on it.
Sam returned the favor by delivering a baton to the face from behind the shield wall, knocking the man down to the floor. The other rioters soon turned, trying to flee or fight. Many of them were taken down by the well-trained Russian military troopers, with Sam asking the Lieutenant of the squad, "I'm fucking scared to ask, BUT WHY DID YOU HAVE RIOT GEAR WITH YOU!?"
"We packed it into the trucks and transports since high command probably expected much lighter resistance than we got in the War! Most of us warned them the Ukes were gonna fight for their homes, but nobody listened!" The man replied as he took down one man with his shield, pinned him to the floor and tied up his arms.
"Oh!" Robert snorted, "Your leadership sure were cocky, El-Tee!" before he knocked someone's lights out with his shield. The Lieutenant laughed, too, nodding as if to confirm that, while Sam shook her head, cracking a smile behind the mask. As the CS gas dissipated, more and more of the rioters from both sides went down.
… Sam gasped as she saw a flash of silver metal emerge among the crowd. She locked eyes with a single man among them, a Natural Order member that had drawn a handgun. As she saw the rifling on the barrel align with her left eye, she barked out a fearful, "GUN!" before dropping her baton and charging the man. She slammed into him like a freight train, pinning him to the ground and causing him to drop his pistol.
The other members of the squad became all the more aggressive, beating back people that attempted to grab the weapon while Sam restrained the man, barking at him, "WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING, YOU PRICK!?" and grabbing the pistol off the ground. The other soldiers drew their own pistols and surrounded Sam, pointing outward like a porcupine at the remaining rioters.
The young woman examined the weapon. She thumbed the mag release and dropped the mag into her free hand as she held the man down with her knees, gasping as she saw the reddish gold of brass in the mag, as well as the hollow-point tips of 9mm bullets. She racked the slide back, ejecting the shell in the chamber, then looked at the pistol properly.
"Fuck me…" She whispered, "It's an MP443…"
The Russian Lieutenant beside her took a knee and looked at the pistol. He drew his own service sidearm to compare. Pointing out similarities and differences, including the fact his own gun had more wear on it than this, he said, "It's a new gun… Fresh off the assembly line. Even the spring and action are newer than mine… And the slide grips aren't even touched."
"Guess the warnings about armed extremists were right," Sam mumbled. She cuffed the man, handed the pistol to Robert to stow it, then said, "You're coming with us to the station to answer a few questions, buddy," in a low, angry growl. She dragged the bloody-nosed man away, noting that the other Rioters had surrendered to the Police without any more of a fight.
Thankful that was solved with very few casualties, Sam made a mental note to call the others about the Grach. Either they were getting gear from the Russian Scavs they've been hearing about, or the same person who'd given the White Fang those Izhmash crates full of Kalashnikov-style weapons was also arming the Human Supremacists…