Fort Beacon

10:31 hours

"...and that's about it, Sir," Rose concludes, standing at ease alongside her squadmates, facing Ozpin, Glynda, and Ironwood in Ozpin's office. "The Fulton recovery went smoothly, and we weren't pursued by Tukson's remaining forces."

"Yes, they surrender to Coalition troops nearly an hour ago," Glynda informs. "They believed that the Federation assassinated Tukson, and took their chances with us."

"Um, Sir?" Blake speaks up.

"Yes, Blake," Ozpin answers nonchalantly, sipping his coffee. He hasn't made much more noise than a few grunts since RWBY Squad began their report.

"Do we know if it were the Feds that killed Tukson?" Ozpin looks at Glynda, who looks at Ironwood, who looks back to Ozpin.

"It wasn't one of our units, was it?" Weiss inquires.

"Oh no, definitely not," Glynda immediately responds. "We wouldn't send you into an AO with unidentified friendlies. What intelligence we've gathered so far points to a pro-Faunus group."

"Pro-Faunus?" Blake repeats. "It wasn't the Federation?" Ozpin sighs.

"Frankly, Blake, we simply aren't sure at the moment," he says, setting his mug gently on his desk. "We've been getting scattered reports of small paramilitary groups that don't seem to be completely allied with the Federation or the Coalition. We have sources indicating connections to a few black-ops Federation agents, terrorists, and mercenaries, but haven't connected all the dots yet. Ruby, are you sure you couldn't make out a general description of the sniper? Height, uniform, weapon?"

"Well…" Ruby says, thinking carefully. "The gunshot largely resembled a 7.62 fired by a Steyr Scout rifle."

"That's an old Federation favorite," Ironwood notes. "Are you positive that the shot came from a Steyr Scout, soldier?"

"Yes...yes, Sir," Ruby confirms. "Definitely a Steyr Scout. Scout snipers still use them today."

"Federation scout sniper, then?" Glynda suggests.

"No scout sniper would carry an RPG-7," Yang says. "He couldn't have been alone, especially all the way out there. He had at least one partner with him." Ozpin looks at Ironwood, who nods.

"Thank you for the report on such short notice, squad," Ozpin says, and salutes, which RWBY Squad returns. "Dismissed." The soldiers shuffle out of the room, their AURA barely fitting through the door frame.

"Well shit," Ironwood grunts the moment the door closes. Glynda exhales loudly as Ozpin goes to get another cup of coffee.

"And what exactly is the problem this time, James?" she asks.

"That's another one," he answers. "More Feds, or WF, or whoever going rogue. And their appearances increase as the war escalates. I'm going to need to dispatch at least three more battalions to the border within the week if we want to keep the Feds at bay."

"You're going to send several thousand more soldiers to the front because of a few random encounters in a lawless land? You do realize that every time the Coalition ships in more troops, the Federation matches us nearly instantly?"

"We can win a war of attrition over the Faunus. They can't train new grunts fast enough." Glynda holds in a string of vulgarity.

"Why are you so opposed to attempting peace, James? This isn't even a legally declared war, and you're already trying to spill as much blood as-"

"I'm afraid I'll have to side with James on this one," Ozpin speaks up. "I got a call from the capital early this morning. This is officially the Second Human-Faunus War, according to the newspapers anyway."

"Parliament is getting scared," Ironwood says with a flicker of a smile, which quickly goes away. "We need to step up the Hunter deployments in order to match this new threat."

"First of all," Glynda says. "You nor anyone else even knows if there is a legitimate 'new threat,' besides your neverending desire for an endless battlefield for you to fight."

"That's up to the Feds, not me-"

"Second, you have Project AURA, Ozpin has the Hunter Program. It's not your call." Ironwood, then Glynda turn to look at the general. Ozpin quietly takes a sip of his coffee in thought.

"We should definitely continue deploying Hunters," Ozpin says. "They're proving to be highly valuable, especially the original batch of squads. But I'm not sure about the border countries anymore."

"I...don't understand, Sir," Glynda says.

"The Federation is frustrated; they're virtually fighting in their territory and making little progress. Their entire population is already tired of total war, and know that we're a lot better off. They'll want to change that."

"If you're talking about sleeper agents inside the Coalition," Ironwood says. "Then don't worry, it's an obvious security risk and it's being taken care of. They won't find a weak spot large enough to launch any sizeable assault on the kingdoms in a million years." Ozpin looks at his coffee, swirling the cup.

"I truly hope you're right, James," he says. "I just assume the worst sometimes."

White Fang warehouse, location unknown

13:54 hours

The UH-1Y Venom touches down on the tarmac of an abandoned airport, outside the largest hangar, which has been retrofitted to serve as one of the Fang's largest distribution centers, formerly of mostly illegal dust narcotics and small arms, now of weapons ranging from shoulder-mounted rockets to vulcan cannons, to whole tank battalions. The surrounding hangars could house anything from Federation Ursa Main Battle Tanks and Nevermore Fighter Aircraft, to their respective Coalition Warlord and Titan counterparts, every war machine armed, fueled, and ready to be sent to the highest bidder at a moments notice.

Mercury jumps out of the helicopters, and Emerald follows shortly after shutting down the instruments of the machine. Roman walks out of the massive doors of the hangar to greet them.

"Hey, kids, great news!" he shouts at them over the winding down rotors of the chopper. Mercury rolls his eyes and unloads his Steyr Scout.

"Yeah, we got him, in case you were wondering," he says. Roman chuckles.

"Oh yeah, that guy, whatever," he says partially to himself. "But you'll never guess; the human Parliament just initiated, now get this: the Second Human-Faunus War. Original as fuck, huh?"

"Weren't you the one that was supposed to take care of Tukson long before the risk of his defection?" Emerald asks, arms crossed. Roman's initial cheerfulness leaves, but his smirk remains.

"What, you think this contract is permanent?" he asks. "You stay in line, and maybe I'll promise to pay you."

"Actually, they're my people now, Roman," Cinder says from behind. Roman exhales deeply as the woman joins the group. Emerald smiles with glee, but Cinder glares at her.

"Tukson's dead?" she asks, turning to Mercury. Mercury smirks, pulls back the bolt of the rifle, and catches the chambered round mid air.

"Went clean through," he answers. "He drowned in his own blood if he wasn't killed instantly.

"And the Hunters?" she presses. Mercury and Emerald look at each other curiously.

"Uh...you wanted them dead too?" Mercury asks slowly. "I thought you said Tukson-"

"Tukson was dead either way," Cinder interrupts. "So what was the Hunter squad like? It should've been a new one."

"Really? They looked pretty well trained," Emerald says. Cinder slightly scowls at the girl.

"Well trained...how, exactly?" she asks. Emerald gulps.

"Well, they weren't the best," Mercury says. "They let themselves get shot up plenty, but they took advantage of the suits and would've completed their mission. Killed plenty of Faunus too. Fulton recovery too."

"You didn't engage them?"

"Well, when you said kill Tukson and report on the Hunters, I thought…" Mercury trails off. Cinder's scowl turns into a mischievous smile.

"Don't worry, kid," she says. "If the Federation keeps up their end of the bargain, they're not going to survive the next few months of the war."

"Yeah, about that," Roman says. "The fuck are you and the animals planning? It's like you guys are forgetting about your border defense ready to collapse. And that's not even my fault, so don't push that shit on me."

"You really need to learn when to shut the fuck up," Cinder growls.

"Not the first time a woman has told me that," Roman says, tipping his bowler hat. "Seriously, whatever it is, I want in. Personally. Sounds like a hell of a hostile takeover."

"In more ways than one," Emerald says, winking at Cinder.

"When I want your opinion I'll let you know," Cinder says. Emerald takes a step back and purses her lips in shock.

"I'm sorry, Ci...Agent Cinder," she whimpers. Cinder steps forward and gently places a hand on her shoulder.

"You and Mercury go inside, get some rest," she says. "You're gonna need it." Emerald flickers a smile and nods. The two mercenaries walk into the hangar.

"You really need to knock that off," Roman says.

"You ever fight?" Cinder asks.

"What, like in combat? Well, I joined my first gang when I was 13, first killed when I was 11, and established my first network when I was 15, so yeah, I know my shit."

"Good, grab a suit, the Feds have a little trip planned for us...and a few hundred thousand others."

Fort Beacon, RWBY Squad Barracks

11:21 hours

"You know what I just realized?" Yang asks, laying on her stomach on her bunk. Ruby is organizing her stack of plans and tactics; Weiss is on her scroll writing a message to her father, although he prefers the term "non-combat sitrep," with no actual military experience himself; Blake is reading her book in the corner, Gambol Shroud lying on her lap.

"What?" Ruby replies.

"We were deployed on a mission deep inside enemy territory, fought off a base full of Feds, got shot up ourselves dozens of times but weren't even scratch, then tied a rope to a plane to escape, all in less than a day."

"Do you have a complaint?" Blake asks without looking up.

"Complaint? That was fucking awesome!" Yang shouts. Weiss sighs.

"We didn't even complete our mission," she groans. Ruby slowly covers her face with a handful of papers, even though no one is looking at her.

"Who cares about some dime a dozen Fed officer," she says. "We were freaking flying! And that was before we took on an entire base by ourselves! They should've started this program a lot sooner."

"In a way, it's a good thing they didn't," Weiss says, glancing at Blake. "It means that the animals didn't cause as much trouble over the years. Blake drops the book, picks up the pistol, and ejects the mag. She rolls the first bullet in her finger, slams it back in, checks the chamber, then lays it back down and continues reading. Weiss huffs.

"Oh, please don't start this again," Ruby and Yang think simultaneously, but for different reasons.

"Uh, guys?" Ruby pipes up. "Even if we didn't exactly, uh, succeed our mission, at least we didn't get in trouble or anything, right?" Weiss looks at Ruby and shakes her head.

"What, do you think this is a school game of soldiers or something?" she asks. "This is war. In war, you have to win. If you don't win, you lose. You're no good if you lose."

"As if you've ever lost," Blake mutters as she flips a page. Weiss whips around.

"Excuse me?" she snarls.

"You heard me," Blake replies. Weiss scowls for a while, then looks back down at her scroll. Ruby and Yang look around the quiet room for a moment.

"By the way, great shooting, Ruby," Yang says. "You were really on point, especially for your first mission."

"Yes, that is true," Blake says, looking up for the first time since they entered the barracks. "You're a natural at aiming, better than I expected."

"Uh, thanks," Ruby says meekly.

"I guess I can't say that you've never been in combat now," Weiss says.

"I told you, I already-oh, nevermind," Ruby says, and collapses on her bed, suddenly realizing that she's been awake for well over 24 hours.

"Yeah, I think we should get some rest too," Yang chuckles, getting up and walking over to shut the lights off. Weiss and Blake put their scroll and pistol away respectively.

"Great team effort, team," a half asleep Ruby says, holding up a thumbs up. "We killed a lot of Feds today."

"Alright, I'll agree to that," Weiss says as the lights go out. "As long as we can all agree that we failed the mission."

"Yeah, we failed," Yang says, jumping onto her bunk. "But we did it awesomely!" Weiss groans and rolls over.

"Alright, Yang, we can talk about it in the morning," Ruby says, eyes slowly shutting themselves.

"Ok," Yang chuckles. "Good night, team leader. That was some good hunting."

"Thanks," Ruby says, and quickly drifts off to sleep. The barracks is all dark and quiet, except for Yang's green night vision goggles under her covers so she can read Tukson's list of contacts.