When Blake was a little orphan, she learned what it truly meant to be afraid. While dumpster-diving to find some food, a small gang of racist hoodlums chanced upon the young faunus and kidnapped Blake. The posse found an abandoned warehouse, where they tied up Blake and tortured her for amusement. While the abuse wasn't horrifically bad, it seemed to be a fate worse than death in the mind of a small, scared child. They yanked at her ears, burned them with smoldering cigarette butts, and set off small firecrackers in front of them. Her tormentors also used her as target practice for throwing rocks and gave her the occasional kick to the ribs on a whim. After about an hour of harassing Blake, the gangers grew bored and left without bothering to untie the little girl.

All night long, Blake remained sat trapped in the warehouse, her body aching from the abuse and her ears perking up at every little sound, fearful that it might be her tormentors back for more entertainment. Even her eyes, generally much keener than a human's, thanks to her faunus heritage, suffered from her fear-addled mind. Small movements in the shadows would leave Blake holding her breath, hoping that whatever was out there didn't know about the orphaned child strapped to a concrete column. Additionally the draftiness of the warehouse combined with Blake's inability to move somewhere warmer left her cold and shivering for most of the night.

An entire day passed without anyone discovering Blake. Her original captors evidently forgot about her, or didn't care enough to come back and see if their prisoner was dead or alive. The day's warmth helped get rid of the chills that plagued Blake, but considering that the little girl was already hungry and looking for food when the hoodlums originally found her, that gnawing feeling in Blake's stomach continued to drain her, sapping what little energy she still had. Now tired and hungry as well as terrified, Blake thought that she would die in her prison before rescue ever came. Finally, a small shred of luck found Blake in the form of two faunus children who wandered into the warehouse to play a game of hide and seek. They found the half-unconscious figure of Blake and quickly ran to get their parents. The next thing Blake remembered, she woke up in a small house under a pile of blankets with a glass of water and a small sandwich on a plate next to her.

While Blake managed to survive the whole ordeal, she never once found herself a situation where she felt more terrified than the little girl tied down in a warehouse contemplating when death would take her.

Except for now, when the sight of a metallic hand chilled Blake to her very core.

She sat there frozen for a solid minute staring at the foreign object, her mind reeling from all the possibilities and implications. Every scenario that she thought of (that she couldn't instantly dismiss as absurd) all lead back to the same observation: the hand raised in front of her looked like the one used by MEC soldiers around the anthill. She shifted her gaze slightly to the right and confirmed that the arm attached to the hand also looked like the ones she'd seen Vulcan or Gizmo walking around the base with.

With fear starting to bubble up from the pit of her stomach, Blake pulled her other arm out from under the bed sheet and raised it in front of her face. It looked exactly like the other, which meant…

Blake drew a shaky breath and gripped the edge of the sheet, lifting it so she could peer down at the lower half of her body. Under the cloth, she saw two mechanical legs fastened to her torso at the pelvis. Her body itself remained obscured underneath a mechanical bodysuit that ensured a stable connection between her new limbs and her biological torso.

"What…" she started, unable to break away from the sight before her, "What happened…?"

As the initial shock wore off, a feeling of horror started to settle in. She never considered the MEC soldiers of XCOM freaks, and had nothing but the utmost respect for the decision they made to preserve their race, but that was exactly the problem: they made a choice. One minute, Blake remembered running a mission in Newfoundland with her squad, and the next she found herself in the hospital with a drastically changed body. Who made this decision for her? Why didn't they find a different way for fixing… whatever problem she had?

"You're awake!" The sound of Yang's cheerful voice caused Blake to violently snap her head in the direction it came from. To her right, she saw her partner sitting up at the edge of her own bed. Yang looked overjoyed at the sight of seeing her partner once again among the living. Her body…

Blake's eyes widened, "Yang… your limbs…"

Yang's smile only grew wider as she held up one of her own mechanical arms and inspected it, "You like 'em? To be honest, I had my doubts at first, but thanks to Dr. Shen's tech and a little dose of Meld… let's just say they're growing on me."

She winked at Blake, who was still too stunned to even roll her eyes. Did the mission really go this badly? Vague recollections of being rushed to the Skyranger by her friends began to slowly trickle back into Blake's memory, but the scene unfolding before Blake implied something far worse than she could have ever imagined.

"What happened, Yang?"

The smile faded from her partner's face, "A lot of things did." Yang stood up and walked over to Blake's bed, smoothing out a space to sit down by her feet. Yang looked Blake directly in the eye, and the latter could see a great deal of pain in the former's expression.

"Do you remember anything?"

Blake wracked her memory, trying to recall the events of the mission, "I remember the infested whale… the signal transponder to call in the air strike… and I remember running to make it back to the Skyranger in time."

A raised eyebrow from Yang told her that she missed quite a few details, "Do you remember the Greater Hive Queen? That giant Chryssalid that made the whole mission go sideways?"

Just like that, the critical cog fell into place, and Blake's mind began to race.

"Bolts held it off. Killed it too, with the help of Ruby's PennySHIV." Blake heaved a sigh as she remembered the worst of it, "They both died in the effort."

Yang let out her own sigh, evidently unhappy with what Blake was able to recall, "Bolts didn't manage to kill the super chryssalid, he only knocked it out for a minute. Do you remember running past the zombies in the market square?" Blake thought for a moment before hesitantly nodding, and Yang continued, "Right after we cleared past them, the ground shook, and we all knew it was that awful monster getting back up."

"That's… not all that happened," Blake guessed, "Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation in the medbay while wearing MEC limbs."

"Nope," She agreed. Yang looked down at the floor, trying to recall the next sequence of events without summoning the wave of emotions that came with it, "We knew that even though the Hive Queen still lived, we had enough of a lead to make it to the Skyranger and hightail it out of there before the damn thing caught up with us." Yang looked directly at Blake, her eyes filled with nothing but sorrow, "But then you got stabbed by a Chryssalid."

"I… what?" Blake sputtered. A Chryssalid stabbed her? When? She didn't remember that at all.

"It hid in one of those hanging sharks that were all over the town. If I had to guess, most of them probably had the stupid bugs, but we stopped close enough to this one for it to get the drop on you. Stabbed your arms and legs to pin you down, then pulled back one of its talons and stabbed you in the gut."

Blake reflexively brought a hand to her stomach, only to be reminded that what remained of her body lay encased in a plastic composite shell. Yang noticed the motion, and looked even more glum than before.

Blake's mind continued to race, "If Weiss's scratch during the base assault forced her to stay in the Medbay for three days…"

"It looked bad," She confirmed, answering Blake's implied question, "The doc did a bang-up job keeping everything together for you, but you really don't want to see what you looked like when we first brought you in."

Blake looked down at her arms, at her body suit, and remained silent for a solid minute. Yang began to fidget, struggling with the silence that Blake always seemed to enjoy. Of course, Yang knew her partner wasn't enjoying it now, but that didn't make the gap any less awkward for the extroverted huntress.

Finally, her partner broke the silence, "I never asked for this."

Of all the things Yang thought Blake might say, that certainly wasn't one of them, "What?"

"I understand that Vahlen and Shen wanted to save my life, but why a MEC? This isn't how I fight, Yang. I'm an agile huntress that sticks to the shadows, remaining unseen until I'm ready to strike. This…" She lifted her hand and flexed the mechanical fingers, "I can't fight like this. I'm useless." She turned to face her partner, aimless anger welling up behind her eyes, "Why did you do this?"

"… You were on death's door, Blake." Yang explained, still taken aback by her friend's reaction, "We tried gluing you up with the entire contents of your Medkit, but you still barely managed to make it to Vahlen's table." Yang let out a hollow laugh, "On board the Skyranger, the three of us didn't know why your Aura wasn't helping, but Vahlen figured it out almost immediately. Turns out, your Aura was doing its best to heal you, but with five different wounds flooding you with toxins, its abilities got stretched pretty thin." Yang grabbed the scroll sitting on Blake's bedside, "The doctor remembered when we told her our scrolls could monitor Aura, and she had her orderly fetch one. Sure enough, we saw your Aura level steadily dropping as it tried to close up the wounds."

"So what happened?"

"Your limb wounds were putting a lot of strain on your ability to heal, both in terms of Aura and physiology, and the best your Aura could do was stop the toxins from making the situation worse. Your body slowly slipped into shock: the window of opportunity to help you grew smaller and smaller, and we still didn't have any way to pull you back. That's when Ruby made the call."

Blake glanced down at one of her arms and knew exactly what Yang meant, "If I didn't have any limbs for my Aura to heal, it could focus on the hole in my stomach."

Yang nodded, "Vahlen knew it would work. She'd saved more than one soldier from death by giving them the MEC treatment. Of course, they didn't have Chryssalid venom pumping through their bloodstreams." She took Blake's hand into both of her own and smiled, "We've been worried about you. This is your fifth day of recovery, and the first time you've woken up. I know the situation isn't ideal, but I'm glad I get to be the first to welcome you back."

The faunus considered Yang's news carefully, but remained unable to meet her gaze. While it looked like she couldn't do anything about her MEC situation, she still had a few questions that needed answering, "Two things. First, none of this explains why you have mechanical limbs. I understand that the situation became a life-or-death matter for me. I'm not happy with it… but I understand. On the other hand, you never mentioned anything about getting injured yourself."

Yang rubbed her neck and cast a sideways glance at Blake's feet, "Ah, yeah… that. When I found out that Ruby asked Vahlen to perform the surgery, I demanded that I go under the doctor's knife as well."

Blake's eyes burst as wide as they could, as if her body simply couldn't convey the intensity of her shock at Yang's words, "What?! Why?"

"Well, if you think back to before our first mission with XCOM, I did say I'd be down to get MEC-ified if you also did it." She let out a nervous laugh, "But seriously, though, I did it because I'm your partner."

"That doesn't mean you have to get your arms and legs removed!" Blake practically shouted, "You threw away your identity as a huntress just because we're partners? If I died, would you have committed suicide?"

"My identity is more than my limbs, Blake. This is different," Yang's voice carried an air of firmness as she spoke, "You're not dead, but you have undergone a drastic, life-changing transformation. We are partners," She repeated, "And what kind of partner would I be if I asked you to carry that burden alone?"

"That still doesn't-"

"Blake," Yang interrupted, and Blake saw a smoldering fire behind her friend's lilac eyes, "When we first came to Earth, and I told Weiss why I had to help fight, what would you have done if I asked you not to join up as well? What would you have said if I told you I was doing this alone?"

"I…" Blake paused, realizing what her knee-jerk answer would be. She sighed, "I would've told you 'I'm helping whether you like it or not.' "

Yang gave her a triumphant smile, "We're partners, Blake. I don't know what that means to you, but to me it means that I'm with you until the bitter end, no matter what happens. Maybe you don't see it the same way I do, and I can't blame you for that. But to me, it was a no-brainer. Now come on, Vahlen said she wants to see you once you woke up. I think it'd be pretty hilarious if you walked into her office and told her yourself."

"Wait," Blake grabbed Yang's arm to stop her from getting up, "One more thing. You said 'the three of you' onboard the Skyranger. Why didn't you say four?"

Yang's smile immediately vanished.

The silence at the Memorial Wall carried an air of utmost reverence as Ruby slowly stepped up and turned to face the congregated mass. While Van Doorn usually took it upon himself to provide a memorial speech for fallen operatives, he specifically asked Ruby to deliver this one. The young Lieutenant, while honored by the Field Commander's offer, required a good deal of coaxing before agreeing to take up the task. She feared that she wouldn't be able to give her speech without breaking down, or that she wouldn't do justice to the fallen with her words, something Van Doorn never had to worry about. Still, she knew that she owed it to them, as their commanding officer, to give the final parting words to remember them by.

So now here she stood, papers trembling in her less-than-steady hands, as she did one more quick run-through in her mind before starting. Her audience patiently waited for Ruby to begin, not one of them showing signs of boredom or annoyance at her hesitation. With a final deep breath, Ruby began to speak.

"I'd like to first thank all of you for patiently waiting while Sergeant Blake Belladonna recovered from her injuries to the point where she could attend this memorial. While those we are honoring with this service should have had their names on the wall five days ago, I think they'd have wanted the rest of the squad present for this.

"Gunnery Sergeant Elim 'Bolts' Gustavo was a very kind man during the short time I got to know him. Our first mission together was also our last, but his strength of character became evident even before the Skyranger touched down. Most of Strike Eight's flights happen in silence with the occasional joke or comment from one of our teammates breaking up the wait. Bolts, however, was more than happy to talk to us about anything and everything during the two hours it took for us to reach Newfoundland." She consulted her notes, "The youngest of seven born to two proud Mexican parents, Gustavo talked to us about the value family and how they should be cherished. Father of two…"

Ruby had to stop when she felt the choked sob try to stealthily work its way up her throat. She shut her eyes and willed herself back under control.

"Father of two, he spent a good ten minutes telling us they were the reason he didn't hesitate when the call came for volunteers to join the XCOM Project. Not only did he want them to grow up in a world not subjugated by an alien host, but he wanted to have children who could tell their friends 'My daddy fought for your freedom.' They were the heart and soul of who he was, and his inspiration on and off the battlefield."

She shuffled to the next page and took a deep breath before continuing, "It was an honor to serve with Elim Gustavo, even moreso when he willingly sacrificed his own life for the survival of the squad. It wasn't even an order: he assessed the situation and determined he alone could make a difference so that the rest of us might live." Another deep breath, "It brings me a small measure of comfort to believe that his final thoughts were of Sebastian and Mariana, hoping that they would be proud of him for saving others from harm."

Ruby put down her papers and picked up the Gunnery Sergeant's placard from the table next to her. She quietly walked over to the wall and hung it up so that Bolts could join his fallen comrades in the memories of those still living. She returned to face the crowd, picking up her notes once more. Her hands trembled worse now than five minutes ago. While she felt remorse for Bolts, she knew she could move on from it and carry on with XCOM's fight. Now that the "easy" part was over, Ruby didn't know if she could continue. Her right hand reached down and gripped the dog tags hanging from her hip.

Give these to Ruby when she comes to her senses. They can be a reminder of someone who never stopped believing in her the moment she was made leader of Strike Eight.

The tears threatened to fall even before she began her eulogy. No, this wouldn't do. She needed to be strong and get through the memorial. It was the least she could do to honor his memory. Steeling herself to the task at hand, Ruby started her second service.

"Major Xander 'Claymore' Vance had the pleasure of being one of the first soldiers at XCOM to greet my friends and me after the Hyperwave Incident. While I'm sure his first impression of us was a bit… rocky, to say the least, he soon became invaluable to us as an anchor in this unfamiliar world. For me in particular, he was a mentor. Not only did he have experience commanding a squad in life-or-death situations, but he served as my instructor and drillmaster while I trained as a sniper."

Don't worry, I'll personally train you in my stealthy ways when you join the Sniper club. Your aim is crazy good, Actual.

"The Major always had a word of encouragement or a clever qiup on the tip of his tongue. He had a knack for always keeping the rest of us in high spirits, even with plasma flying across the field. While XCOM's Central Officer had enough faith to put me in charge of Strike Eight, Vance gave me the confidence to believe Bradford was right. I may have been the official leader of Eight, but to me… it was his squad. Without the Major's advice and expertise, we would not be the coordinated team that we are today."

Ruby paused a moment to shuffle to her next page of notes. The silence also helped her keep control of her emotions, as all this talk of Vance dredged up various, unbidden memories of Ruby's friend and mentor.

"There is one lesson that he helped me learn on several occasions, and it's a lesson about sacrifice. When Corporal Biggs died on Strike Eight's first operation, it was the first time I'd lost someone under my command. The Major helped me overcome the shock by reminding me that Biggs willingly risked his life for the good of XCOM, and Earth as a whole. He reminded me that the best way to honor his sacrifice was to learn from it and move forward, striving to be a better soldier because of his loss."

Humanity's best, brightest, and bravest. We do what we must because we must, and Biggs was no different.

"He reminded me of this lesson again five days ago when we watched Gunnery Sergeant Gustavo die at the hands of the Greater Hive Queen. Bolts died so that we could escape to the Skyranger. He sacrificed his chance to see his children ever again so that we may live. And so rather than waste time trying to find a solution that could save him, we honored him by living to fight another day. A few short minutes later, Major Vance asked us to do the same thing."

Ruby, get your friends to the Skyranger. I'm going to make sure you get there without further problems.

"While he's not here to remind me to make the most of his sacrifice, he doesn't need to be," Ruby continued, trying to drown out the memory of her last moments with the Major, "To him, actions spoke louder than words, and there is only one action I can think of that could possibly do justice to the memory of Xander Vance."

She lowered her notes and looked out at her solemn audience. Her eyes settled on Weiss, and she saw encouragement shine through her best friend's eyes. The four huntresses of RWBY met several hours after Blake's recovery to discuss this issue, and it relieved Ruby to know that her friends almost instantly came to a unanimous agreement.

"So I stand here today to tell you that we're all in this together. For one reason or another, the brave men and women of this operation believe in us, and several have died to defend that belief. The only way we can think of to honor that faith is to fight alongside you all until the bitter end. Whatever happens tomorrow, next week, or the month after, we will fight with you." She put down her notes, closed her eyes, and let out a soft sigh, "Major Vance would have wanted nothing less."

The somber notes of the bagpipes escorted Ruby as she walked down from the wall to rejoin her friends. She took up her position next to Weiss, and the room's occupants held a moment of silence as the service concluded for Gunnery Sergeant Gustavo and Major Vance.

"Alright Wolverine, let's do this!"

Blake sighed. The buzzer sounded to mark the drill's start, and the Scout (Pathfinder now, Blake reminded herself) began stomping down the hall in her agile MEC-6 Vanguard suit, picking up speed as she ran. Within a few seconds, Blake reached her suit's maximum speed, the servos silently working as they launched her forward. A low bridge served as the first roadblock, forcing her into a steep slide to avoid crashing into it. The reinforced skid plates along her suits hip and forearm allowed Blake to smoothly and quietly glide along the floor with very little loss in momentum. Blake winced as she made a minor miscalculation, resulting in her suit clipping the bridge and yanking some of the concrete free as the MEC continued forward. Once clear, Blake rolled back to her feet and continued running. The motion was far from perfect, but Blake only had a day of getting comfortable with the MEC so far, and she knew that coming to terms with the suit would take much longer than that.

'Wolverine.' Yang kept trying to gain traction for the new nickname ever since the group's latest adventure to the bar. Conor pointed out that Wolverine was basically Sabertooth, but with metal implants and modifications. Blake already knew this, having done some research of her own on the X-Men after she initially earned her nickname, but didn't share the Irishman's enthusiasm for the name switch. As childish as it sounded, her attachment to Sabertooth stemmed from the fact that Vance liked it. In her own little way, Sabertooth became a small connection she had to the Major, and Blake didn't feel like giving it up simply because Wolverine could grow 'super badass' metal claws.

A dead end became her next obstacle. Sure, Blake could use the Jetboot Module that came with her Vanguard, but that would defeat much of the agility test's purpose. Instead, she examined the wall as she rapidly approached it, determining its height and the arrangement of nearby structures. Blake plotted out the optimal path in her head and continued her maximum-speed run towards the target. With only ten feet left, Blake activated her Aura module threw all of her force into a jump. She connected with the wall at a height far greater than what should have been possible for a MEC, and used the remains of her forward momentum to propel herself several more steps so that she could grab the top lip of a nearby wall.

At least, that was the plan. Instead, her leap fell several feet short, and so she slammed into the wall chest-first, wincing at the impact. Her momentum completely gone, Blake's MEC slid down the wall until she found a foothold in the form of a "window" along the wall. Blake looked over her shoulder and saw a roof lip she could probably reach from her current position, and realized she could jump to her intended target from there. She jumped, twisted around to grab the roof… and missed, sighing as her suit slid back down to the floor. Blake activated her Jetboot Module in defeat, jumped to the top of the original structure, and resumed her progress through the course. As she returned to her top running speed, Blake glanced down at a small readout on the inside of her suit and allowed herself a tiny smile.

Aura module recharge: 15%

Even though she still hated her new MEC-related situation, the one upside of her new gear was its ability to carry much more powerful (and therefore much heavier) equipment. With weight limitations restricting Dr. Vahlen's initial attempt at an anti-suppression module, the best she could come up with was a device that burned out after one use. While better than nothing, the once-per-op nature of the module made the huntresses wary about using it. Was now the best time to draw from its power? What if another situation cropped up later in the operation that really needed an application of Aura? That all changed when Vahlen had the luxury of space and weight afforded by the powerful MEC suits Blake and Yang now wore.

The Pathfinder slowed to a halt when she saw the large 'X' marked in the concrete down below. Blake pulled out her gun, a new prototype far less bulky than the usual Railgun or Pulse Lance that MECs typically carried into combat. It didn't pack quite as big a punch as its predecessors, but its sleek form let Blake keep it safely stowed and out of the way during her free running. Not only that, but it provided great versatility in the roles it could fill. Blake toggled an attachment on the rifle's stock to activate its linked targeting fire mode. An extremely faint marker light rested on the center of Blake's 'prey.'

"Four, I need a grenade at my location."

"Copy that!" Yang cheerfully replied. From the far end of the room, Blake heard a muted thud, and watched as a small projectile arced high into the air before streaking back down towards Blake's marker. The dud bounced harmlessly off of the X, but left behind a paint splatter that served as evidence of the successful coordination between the two MEC soldiers. With the 'target' taken care of, Blake moved on. At least the MEC 'upgrade' didn't strip the huntress of her ability to aim a gun.

The drill continued for another few minutes, allowing Blake to slowly learn the physical capabilities of her new frame with and without the assistance of her Aura. Twice more she called upon Yang to bombard her target, and her partner hit the target both times with impressive accuracy. By the time Blake worked her way through the course, she felt a little better about piloting the MEC. She still couldn't perform the insane acrobatic feats that Yang seemed to expect, but at least she didn't have to worry about tripping over her own legs in a fight.

Blake hesitated when she reached her last target: Yang. Her partner flashed a cocky grin and waggled her eyebrows. Standing tall in a MEC-5 Devastator suit, with her Juggernaut plating fully deployed, the Rocketeer (or 'Archer') lifted one arm and waved her fingers tauntingly in a 'come at me' manner. Once more, Blake's servos sprang to life as she started to sprint towards Yang. She easily reached her top speed, but knew that she needed to go faster. Blake angled herself down mid-stride and activated the Vanguard's Jetboot Module once more. With the soles of her mechanized feet angled away from the ground, the force of the module's engines firing pushed Blake forward. Combined with the new Drifter Jets located in key points along the back of her suit, the additional Elerium-aided momentum propelled Blake to ludicrous speeds. As the rockets in her boots, back, and shoulders screamed, Blake started closing the distance between herself and Yang at a much more alarming pace. With only a few seconds to spare, Blake activated her Aura module and focused on routing as much energy as she could into her suit's head, shoulders, and the forearm, shielding them.

The two collided, but the force of Blake's MEC-turned-projectile didn't send Yang toppling over. Instead, the Devastator managed to hold its ground, and Blake could easily feel the impressive volume of Yang's aura frontloaded into the suit's arm. While Yang easily filled the role of an immovable body, Blake didn't quite succeed at becoming the unstoppable force. Yang's Aura shield deflected Blake as if she were a bullet, and the Vanguard suit flew head over heels behind Yang, bouncing off the concrete floor several times before skidding to an embarrassingly loud halt. Blake didn't feel any pain, but made no effort to get back up. As if to add insult to injury, cacophonous cheering erupted from around the hall as the stunned audience finally found its voice.

Amid cries of 'Holy shit, that was awesome' and 'Fuck yeah, Xiao Long's a badass!' Blake felt the vibrations of her partner approaching. While staring impassively at the ceiling, Blake watched Yang step into her field of view and offer her a helping hand. After allowing Yang to pull her up, Blake inspected her suit. Aside from some heavy denting and several scratches, the Vanguard suffered no system-critical damage. Yang's Devastator, she noted, looked almost completely fine.

"I don't know about you, Blake," Yang started, a grin still plastered on her face, "But I think I could get used to the MEC life."

"It's going to take some more time for me to adapt to MEC combat," Blake admitted with a sigh, "What did Bradford have you do when I didn't need you to test out the precision strike technology during my run?" She knew that Ruby and Shen developed tech for both the mobile and defensive-oriented frames, so she highly doubted that Bradford would let Yang wait around doing nothing until Blake called upon her.

"Oh, you know… stuff." Yang gestured behind her, and Blake noticed a large pile of concrete, scrap metal, and dead aliens surrounded by a large volume of scorch marks in the cement, "As it turns out, that Juggernaut plating can take a serious beating when it's reinforced by Aura."

Blake nodded, "I'm glad you're having fun at least."

Yang playfully punched Blake's shoulder, accidentally adding yet another dent to Blake's suit, "You'll get better as we keep practicing. Just you watch, you'll become Sergeant Blake Belladonna: The Warrior in the Machine. Why don't we grab some food from the kitchen before having a little more fun with these suits?" Yang winked, "We could probably make a killing in bets on robo fights."

"Dueling is prohibited under Rule 41, while Rule 111 forbids betting. Beyond that, our first match has effectively demonstrated how much better your are than I am at this. Everyone would bet on you without question. Food sounds good though."

"Spoil sport." Yang muttered as she followed Blake to the cafeteria. She didn't know how long it would take Blake to get over their new situation, but Yang was determined to do everything in her power to help her partner get back to her old self. Neither Hell nor high water would stop her.

A/N: Alright, no joke: I originally had no intention of MEC-ing any of the RWBY girls, because I didn't know how they'd deal with getting their non-existent limbs after the XCOM war concluded. But then... I thought of that bitching chapter title, and I knew I had no choice but get used to the idea of slapping Blake into a MEC suit. I've been giddy about revealing this pun for literally months now, so y'all better enjoy the hell out of it.

But seriously, I've also got actual reasons for MEC-ing half of RWBY. The decision wasn't willy-nilly and decided solely by the (awesome) pun.