"Uh, Cardin?" Jaune spoke hesitantly as CDGL's leader led his team.

"What?"

"Are we just going to leave them?"

"The city's being invaded. A couple thugs are not important right now."

"But shouldn't the military be dealing with that?"

"We are the military."

"Oh."

A violent burst of blue suddenly flew out of the neighboring alley, striking Dove in the chest and sending him tumbling to the ground.

"Ambush!" Cardin yelled as another pulse shot out, Jaune narrowly managing to deflect it with his shield before it could strike Lark.

"Shit!" Lark cried, stumbling back.

Next, a flurry of blue-green missiles rained down from the sky, several of them striking Gray with hissing sounds as he yelped in pain, while Jaune shielded himself and Lark.

"Ha ha!" A cry from above caused them to look up. A man was plunging down from the rooftop, staff in hand, a long tail flowing behind him.

"Fucking animals," Cardin growled, readying his mace. He swung it at where the faunus was about to land, but at the last second he twisted and flipped over, neatly avoiding Cardin's mace. He struck Cardin about the head with his staff and jumped toward Lark while Cardin stumbled.

"Hi. I'm Sun. This is Ruyi Bang." He struck Lark across the face with one of his nunchaku. "And this is Jingu Bang." He struck Lark in the stomach with the second, then kicked him in the chest, sending him to the ground. "They say 'hello.'"

"Cut the theatrics, man." A man with bright blue hair and a pair of goggles leapt out of the alley wielding a giant glaive. "Just fight."

"I am! Look, one down already!" Sun countered as he ducked under Jaune's wildly-swung sword.

A third man with red hair and matching half-cape jumped out from behind the second, flinging a dagger at Gray, who hastily parried it away.

"And you could have had two." The blue-haired man leapt at Cardin, his glaive transforming into a trident as he delivered a downward blow. Cardin swiped his weapon away and punched him in the chest, sending him crashing into a wall.

"Come on, that's just bad," Sun called back as he delivered a series of blows against Jaune's shield.

Another burst of the blue-green pulses came down, this time all centered on Jaune. With a yelp, he raised his shield to block them, only to receive the end of Sun's staff in his gut. He doubled over and Sun smashed the back of his head.

The red-haired man was continually driving back Gray, not allowing him to so much as think of attacking as he kept up a hailstorm of daggers. Each one thrown would vanish in a small puff as soon as they were dodged or deflected, only to reappear in his hand a moment later and immediately hurled again. Desperately, Gray dove to the side and swung his sword, sending a burst of flame from the grooves in its side, but his assailant simple rolled out of the way and continued his assault.

Cardin was faring slightly better, his raw strength and momentum not allowing the blue-haired man to get a decent attack in. After a particularly viscous blast to the ground, the blue-haired man glanced around for his companion.

"Scarlet! Switch!"

The red-haired man obliged, rolling in front of Cardin and throwing his daggers, distracting him long enough for the blue-haired man to jump away. Cardin turned his attention to the newcomer.

Scarlet smirked and twirled his cape. "Come, bull."

Cardin glared and rushed toward him, preparing for his opponent to move away. As the red-haired man sidestepped him, Cardin changed direction, ramming his shoulder directly into the man's stomach and throwing him up into the air. Cardin followed through with a swing of his mace, igniting the dust crystal in its head and sending Scarlet crashing through the wall of a nearby building.

Cardin didn't have long to recover, though, as a green-haired man leapt out of the ally, firing several of the blue-green pulses at him from the end of a spear. Cardin rolled to the side, dodging the blasts, only to come up directly next to Sun.

"Hello!" The faunus said cheerfully, twirling his staff. He struck out, catching Cardin's leg and tripping him before he could get away. Cardin swung his mace up at the faunus, forcing him to keep his distance, as he rolled back to his feet. The green-haired spearman stepped forward, preparing to attack again, but was forced backwards as several rifle shots reflected off of his aura. Lark was back on his feet. Cardin grinned and lunged upward into Sun, surprising him and forcing him backwards. The faunus barely avoided Cardin's mace, tumbling back and twisting up to his feet.

Meanwhile, Lark continued firing at the green-haired man, forcing him to focus on defense, while Gray dodged around Neptune, not staying still long enough to be hit.

Grinning, Cardin stepped forward, looming over Sun, when a hail of bullets suddenly burst against the Faunus's aura.

"Hello, Cardin. Need some help?" came Coco's bemused drawl. Cardin glanced up at the roof of the building behind him, where VCFY stood. He grimaced as he turned back to the Atlesians.

The ground shook as Yatsuhashi crashed down among the Atlesian team, sending them stumbling backwards. Immediately following him, Fox appeared behind Neptune, striking him with his wrist blades. Velvet landed behind Yatsuhashi and immediately began launching her own projectiles at the green-haired man while Coco landed next to her continued her assault on Sun.

"Shit! Get out!" Sun shouted to his teammates as he continued backing down the street, twirling his staff to deflect Coco's fire.

Neptune leapt onto his glaive and fired it at the ground, propelling him down the street. The green-haired man conjured up a barrier and took off after him. Sun struck his hands together and two brightly-glowing copies of him charged at the assembled Hunters before taking off himself.

Cardin easily dispatched one copy while Yatsuhashi struck down the other as Velvet stepped forward.

"Coco. Send them off."

"Of course, dear," Coco replied, smirking, as shereadied her minigun again and fired at the Atlesian's retreating forms.

"Fox. Yatsuhashi, keep an eye on them."

Fox nodded and jumped, shimmering and reappearing on the roof of the building. Yatsuhashi bowed before following. Velvet turned to Cardin.

"Who among you is injured?"

Jaune groaned as he sat up, looking around groggily. Cardin grimaced at him.

"Dove is probably the worst off. He got hit at the start of the fight and he hasn't moved since."

Velvet nodded and immediately knelt next to Dove, inspecting his wound.

"So…" Jaune started, looking around. "Did we win?"

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Ruby watched from her shop as the Atlesian forces leapt down from the airships floating above. A full contingent of androids, hundreds of them, were lining up outside her shop, and if they weren't here to invade her town, they would've been awesome. As she watched, an orange-haired girl in a green dress with a large, pink bow in her hair walked up to the front of the robots. Wait, was she their commander? She really didn't look the part. She looked just like… like Ruby, really.

Ruby put a hand on the door handle. Maybe she could talk to her. See if she could stop the fighting. Surely she would be reasonable, right? Atlas and Vale didn't need to fight. They could work together.

An explosion rattled the windows. The girl outside didn't flinch. Ruby needed to do something.

With a deep breath, Ruby opened her door and stepped confidently outside.

"Uh, hi? Hello? Miss commander?" Okay, maybe not so confidently.

Immediately, the girl whirled around, and leapt towards her, blades springing from her back and spinning around her.

"Woah! Wait! Non-combatant!"

The girl raised a finger at Ruby, her blades still hanging menacingly in the air. "Identify yourself!"

"Uh, Ruby Rose. I'm a smith."

The girl's eyes narrowed. "You are registered as a capable fighter. Not a non-combatant."

"Well, I can fight, yeah, but I'm not. So… non-combatant, right?"

"That… makes sense. But then, why are you here?"

Ruby shrugged. "I guess I just want to talk."

"I'm not supposed to talk to you."

"Why not?"

"General Ironwood said not to."

"Well, General Ironwood doesn't sound like much fun to me."

The girl relaxed slightly. "He is a general. He is not supposed to be fun."

"Did he say that, too?"

"Yes."

"Well, you seem like you'd be more fun than him."

"I do?"

"Yup! I like you."

The girl perked up. "Do you mean that we are friends?"

"Sure! I'm always up for more friends."

"Sensational!" exclaimed the girl, smiling broadly and thrusting her arms in the air in celebration.

"I have not had a friend before. What are friends supposed to do?"

"Aww, you've never had a friend before? We'll have to fix that." Ruby hummed in thought. "Oh! I completely forgot to ask your name!"

"I am Penny," the girl replied.

"Well, nice to meet you Penny!" Ruby said, extending her hand.

Penny looked it over, confused.

"You're supposed to shake it," Ruby supplied helpfully.

"Oh!" Penny exclaimed, grabbing Ruby's hand with both of her own and shaking it vigorously. "I am sorry. I had forgotten!"

"That's alright," Ruby consoled, pulling her hand away. Penny's hand had felt odd. Almost like metal. Ruby inspected the girl more closely; she had smooth skin with no hair except on her head, an oddly stiff posture, even for a soldier, and… were those seams?

Wait, was this girl a robot? Ruby blinked. That. Was. Awesome.

"Wait, are you a robot?"

"What?"

An explosion sounded off in the distance. Ruby and Penny both readied their weapons as they looked around for its source to find smoke rising from a pristine white building.

"Is that Schnee Manor?" Ruby questioned, lowering Crescent Rose.

"Yes. That is odd. We were not to attack civilian targets."

"Wait you mean that wasn't you guys?"

"No, it was not. I have no reports of any Atlesian forces in that vicinity."

Ruby turned her gaze back to the manor, biting her lip in contemplation before her eyes opened wide.

"The White Fang! They must be using the invasion as cover for an attack!" Ruby whirled around to face Penny. "Please! You have to help. There aren't enough forces in Vale to deal with everything!"

Penny gazed at the rising smoke. "We are supposed to be fighting the terrorists. General Ironwood gave a very important speech about that."

"See? They're just trying to hurt people. Vale is trying to protect them. Atlas and Vale should be working together, not fighting."

"I… am unsure about that. General Ironwood said it was necessary."

"He has to say that. He's a general. But the people you really need to fight are the ones hurting innocent people. Please."

Penny looked into Ruby's pleading eyes, then quickly looked away. "Very well. Lead the way, friend Ruby."

Ruby smiled broadly. "Alright! Let's go help people!"