A/N: HOLY SHIT, NEW XCOM 2 TRAILER. Erry'body, go watch it now. No, seriously... this chapter can wait. You need to see the trailer. I even have a link to it on my profile page for your convenience. Come back after you've had a moment to pick your jaw up off the floor.

A stout foreman strode into the Hyperwave Relay chamber and clapped his hands to get everyone's attention, "Alright, we got a new shipment coming in from the Wizard of Oz. Let's make sure we're all ready to receive it"

One of the technicians on duty flipped a switch and the relay hummed in response to the influx of new power. A small gate-like structure adjacent to the relay began to glow with a familiar purple energy.

"Vahlen's new transfer gate is showing no signs of instability, sir." The tech called out, "I guess this means we won't be having any more guests face-planting into the concrete upon arrival?"

"More like we won't be opening cases full of cracked Dust vials and wrecked food packages due to the ten-foot drop. But yeah, same idea. All we've confirmed so far is that the gate is stable, however. We don't actually know if it will normalize the incoming velocity of objects traveling across the rift. We'll know for sure in about…" The foreman trailed off and checked his watch, "… now."

The gate flashed purple, and metal crates began to shoot out at twenty-four second intervals. The supply caches slid about five feet before coming to a halt, allowing the technicians on staff to pull them out of the way and examine the box's contents before the next one came through.

"Found the manifest, sir." One of the techs called out, holding up a small sheaf of paper.

The foreman nodded and grabbed the shipping list from his subordinate, "Let's have a look, shall we? Hmmm… the usual supply of grub for the mess hall, plus a few new entrees it looks like. I swear, we're gonna need to establish a steady food supply from these Remnant types after the war's over. A bunch of our guys are getting addicted to the flavors of Mistral and Vacuo… alright, more Dust for our operatives to use and the Doc to fiddle with, nothing new here… A message for Operative Lie, and Oz requests that we respect the sensitivity of it contents by not having a look ourselves. Eh, Ren's a good guy, and it's kinda amusing how often I catch him meditating down here at odd hours of the morning, so why not? I'll get this to him when Strike Eight gets back from that terror op."

"What else…" The foreman muttered as he shuffled to the next page, "Aha! The good stuff! New shit for Shen's boys to play with. We've got a shipment of metallurgical samples for Doc One and Doc Two to analyze and modify our hardware with. Also a bit of non-proprietary AI software in here. We can probably use it to improve the operational runtime of our SHIVs, MEC Battle Computers, and whatever else Vahlen can think of. Couple of hunter weapons for us to strip down and run tests on. And finally…" He squinted at the last item on the manifest, "What's this…"

"Uh, sir? The last crate was overstuffed with packaging and protective lining. All that we found inside was this datapad underneath all the padding. Here." The tech handed the piece of hardware over to the foreman, who turned it on and began to examine the tablet's contents. Within seconds, his eyes grew wide, and he almost choked in surprise.

"Sweet baby Jesus… Stoli, go get Shen." The foreman flicked his finger across the datapad to examine the next page, "Something tells me he's gonna want to see this ASAP."

Bradford watched the Skyranger descend onto the landing pad. Feet shoulder-width apart, hands held firmly behind his back, the Central Officer wore his usual demeanor of never-ending confidence and professionalism as the aircraft's gangplank lowered to reveal the members of Strike Eight.

"Well, that mission was certainly… interesting." He greeted as Ruby stepped off the ramp.

Ruby cocked an eyebrow, "Are you talking about the seemingly endless horde of Grimm, our use of the Skyranger as a weapons platform, the train gambit, or Jaune's incredibly stupid-yet-effective rescue and subsequent Nevermore takedown?"

"Pretty much all of it." Bradford answered, "You do realize that when you and Van Doorn are discussing 'something that Bradford shouldn't know about,' I can hear your entire conversation, right?"

The Field Commander laughed as he followed Ruby off the Skyranger, "That bit was entirely for your benefit, sir. As the ranking officer on that mission, sir, I will gladly accept any punishment you have in mind for the Lieutenant on her behalf."

"And as the mission leader," Ruby countered, glaring at Van Doorn, "I will gladly accept any punishment you have in mind for the Field Commander on his behalf."

"Then you can both get started on your week's worth of kitchen duty, but only after we've conducted a proper debrief of the operation. If your team could follow me to Mission Control…"

Strike Eight walked with Bradford, sticking with their usual pairings for the most part. While Van Doorn and Ruby talked with Bradford, Penny whirred alongside Weiss and complimented Ruby's partner on her masterful use of glyphs during the battle. Yang kept trying to hop on Blake's back for 'chicken fights,' much to the latter's dismay, while Nora whined to Ren about why he refused to answer Yang's challenge. Jaune and Pyrrha brought up the rear, content to just walk in silence and observe the silly antics of the rest of their team. After the events of their latest mission, a little bit of playful unwinding probably did more help than harm.

Eventually, the team arrived at the conference room adjacent to the anthill's information hub and filed in to take their seats around the long table. Doctors Vahlen and Shen were already waiting for them inside. Once everyone finished settling down, Bradford started the discussion, "Alright, we've got a lot of points to cover, so is there a specific topic that anyone would like to get to first?"

"The source of the Grimm." Blake suggested.

"Fair enough. Is there any information you'd have to offer on the subject, Sergeant? I must say that this is also a topic of great concern for the rest of us. If the deployment of Grimm is a tactic that the aliens are capable of using at will… well, we need to wrap up this war sooner rather than later."

"When Ren and I scouted Busch Stadium searching for signs of Grimm activity during the train chase, we found surprisingly little."

"Too little, in fact." Ren added, "Signs of destruction were everywhere, but we couldn't find any bodies. If it wasn't for the pair of Beowolves that ambushed us early on and the Death Stalker out on the field, we wouldn't have even known there were Grimm involved, either."

"Speaking of the Beowolves, there was one interesting thing I noticed after we killed them." Blake said, "We stuck around for a minute to observe any post-death activity. While most of the body remained as an intact carcass, some material did evaporate off the corpses, as we've seen in the past. The interesting part is that while there was no breeze or crosswind in the room, all the material seemed to float off in the same direction before vanishing entirely."

"Interesting…" Vahlen commented, "I have conducted some research on the Grimm material provided by Strike Five, but I haven't reached any conclusions based on my findings. What I have learned is that Grimm matter is very adaptive, as its chemical structure allows it to change phases seemingly without the addition or removal of energy. After being left inside a containment device for a full day, nothing remained visible except for a small amount of yellow paste where the Grimm carcass once lay. I tried to run an analysis on the leftover material, but it didn't match with any material I've ever heard of."

"When we cut too deep into the Death Stalker, we also got sprayed with a jet of yellow liquid." Blake remembered.

"That is simultaneously fascinating and disturbing." Bradford muttered before glancing at Vahlen, "Do you think you'll be able to learn more given enough time?"

Vahlen nodded, "In light of what our operatives have discovered, it may be in our best interest if I begin to analyze the physical properties of these specimens rather than their chemical composition."

"I don't think I need to remind you to be careful." Bradford warned, "We know that Earth Grimm material behaves differently than the Grimm our friends are familiar with, so we have no idea how dangerous this stuff is. I want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do, but let's make sure we do it right the first time."

Vahlen made a few notes on her datapad before answering, "Of course. For now, I think I have enough information to begin formulating new experiments. Let's table the Grimm discussion and move on."

"Penny's ballistics proved very useful against Grimm hide." Pyrrha stated, "She told us that Doctor Vahlen equipped her with gauss technology to determine if it was more effective against the Grimm than Dust or plasma. I can't say if it's better or worse than the alternatives, but it certainly is capable of punching through the surface. Perhaps a combination of Dust and gauss technology into a single bullet type would be a good combination to countering our new foe."

Bradford nodded, "It's worth trying, at least." He turned to Shen, "We could also try reviving our old idea for Venom rounds. I know we abandoned them because the mutons were too resistant for the acid to actually be effective, but perhaps against Grimm…?"

"I will pull up those old files and see if anything we've learned since then can be used to strengthen the chemical's potency." Shen said, "Additionally, it shouldn't be too difficult to draft up the experimental ammunition described by miss Nikos. I will do my best to ensure that we have at least a few prototypes ready before the next strike team is deployed."

"Good. If it turns out that gauss tech is our ace in the hole against the Grimm, it'll give our operatives a way to even the playing field a bit when the hunters aren't there to deal with the problem."

"Wouldn't mind upgrading Crescent Rose with gauss technology." Ruby commented, "If it works better against Earth Grimm, I can only imagine how awesome it is against the ones on Remnant."

Shen nodded, "I would be happy to work with you and develop the necessary modifications . Sadly, I do not think it will work well with explosive weapons like Ember Celica or Magnhild, but I believe we can develop modifications for hunter weapons that use ballistic munitions."

"If that's settled," Bradford said, "I want to shift gears here. It seems we have several contingency plans in development to deal with our Grimm friends, so I'd like to bring our operatives up to speed with our strategy to deal with the aliens." He turned to look at Ruby, "Do you remember that strange device you helped Colonel Zhang recover during your joint strike op?"

"My head was a little fuzzy, in case you forgot." Ruby pointed out, "But I do remember that big, purple thingy on the ship, yeah."

"Well, I had Vahlen assign a team to immediately begin researching the devices purpose in one of the HQ's more remote labs. Figured that if the alien's were keeping it on an invisible and heavily defended ship, it's something they didn't want us to get our hands on. As it turns out, the good doctor has confirmed my suspicions. Vahlen?"

The Chief Scientist cleared her throat, "Ever since we encountered the psionic power of the Sectoid Commander in our first base assault, a small part of me wondered if they are orchestrating the invasion through a sort of psychic of communication. Could there be some sort of universal communication pool they use to coordinate their actions with, for the lack of a better term, 'alien high command?' The Hyperwave Relay, while certainly a transdimensional communication device, did not confirm my theory that psionics played a role in their system. Then, we encountered the Ethereals, who possessed the Commander's power tenfold and displayed skills far beyond any we'd seen thus far. When the techs rolled that device into my lab, the first goal I set for myself was to either confirm or debunk this slowly developing theory."

Vahlen made a few keystrokes on her ever-present datapad, summoning a holographic model of the device on the table, "As it turns out, I wasn't far from the truth. If what we've learned from this device is accurate, then the Ethereals don't simply hand down orders to the lesser races from information received through their psionic network: they control the lesser races, similar to how a queen bee controls her hive. If we can find a way to safely tap into this network, we could potentially gain insight into the plans, motives, and general knowledge of the invaders.

"Of course, safety to our operatives and the base as a whole is of paramount concern. My team is working on the theory behind a facility that can safely insulate itself from the rest of HQ while a volunteer attempts to make contact using the device. Led by a pair of brothers who brought the design plans to my attention in the first place. This 'Gollop Chamber' will take time to design and construct, but I firmly believe that it is our best bet for finding an exploitable weakness in the invasion. However, I believe it is a weakness we can use to shut down the offensive entirely."

Bradford hummed pensively, "How long do you think it will take for this chamber to be ready, doctor?"

"Accounting for the theoretical science that needs to be fine-tuned, along with how long it should take Shen's team to build the chamber itself… I would say we're looking at a month."

"Then we're on a short timetable here." Bradford stated.

Ruby gave him a quizzical look, "… Sir?"

"If Vahlen's analysis is accurate, then activating the Gollop Chamber may very well stir the proverbial hornet's nest. They'll know we have access to their top intel, and so they will go all-out to crush us before we can defeat them. Their behavior so far has demonstrated that their plans for Earth don't include mass extinction, otherwise they would have done so already. After we get an operative inside their hive mind? That might change. So whatever objectives we have right now need to be accomplished before that facility is completed. Tech upgrades, training, equipment construction… the moment that device is activated, we are on the clock to bring down the invaders once and for all."

Silence pervaded the room following Bradford's speech while Vahlen's hologram continued to rotate in front of everyone. Pyrrha cleared her throat and stood up, "In that case, Jaune and I have some business we need to attend to. Unless you had any additional matters to discuss…?"

Bradford shook his head, "I think that about concludes things here, miss Nikos. I think we all have projects that need wrapping up now that the end is in sight. For example, your headmaster Ozpin would probably like to be appraised of these latest developments, so I should get started on my report for him. Squad dismissed."

As the team got up to leave, Bradford locked eyes with Blake before glancing over at van Doorn. The huntress got the message and quietly made her way over to the Field Commander and tapped him before he had the chance to leave. After everyone else filed out of the debriefing room, Bradford cleared his throat.

"So… I probably don't need to explain why I've held you two back for a minute."

Van Doorn stared evenly at the Central Officer, "No sir."

"And I probably don't need to tell you that destruction of a national landmark, regardless of what it represents, goes against just about everything XCOM stands for."

"No sir." Van Doorn answered, his expression still stony.

After a brief, awkward silence, Bradford sighed, "Do you have anything to say in defense of your actions?"

Blake was about to speak up, to apologize for the spur-of-the-moment decision, when the Field Commander spoke first, "I'd do it again, given the opportunity, sir."

The moment Bradford brought his hand to his face and sighed into his palm, van Doorn caught Blake's eye and gave her a wink. Blake couldn't help it; she smiled at the gesture.

Bradford pinched the bridge of his nose, mild frustration evident in his words, "You realize that I'm looking at a solid afternoon of paperwork and conference calls to sort this out, don't you?"

"Yes, sir."

"Here's the thing, Pete. Literally everyone here looks up to you. I honestly don't know if I'd have gotten this far if Strike One didn't pick you up way back in April of 2015."

"You could also say the same thing for Sergeant Belladonna and her allies."

Bradford gave van Doorn a look that clearly said, 'I know where you're trying to go with this, and I hate the fact that you're right.'

Blake waited patiently while the two men carried out their staring contest in silence. Eventually, Bradford broke first with a groan, "This is your one free pass, understand? Pull something like that again, and I'll feed you to the Council of Poorly Lit Bald People."

"Rule Eighty-Seven, sir."

"Dismissed." Bradford said, struggling to conceal his smirk.

As they stepped through the doorway, van Doorn wordlessly fistbumped Blake before the two parted ways.

"Sergeant Arc. Nikos." Zhang nodded at each of the operatives standing before him, "I want you to know that the gravity of this situation is not lost on me. As I understand it, the discovery of one's semblance is a significant event in the culture of you hunters. I am deeply honored by the fact that you have asked me to help you master yours, Jaune Arc."

Pyrrha nodded, "Your method of training, while certainly different than mine, yielded undeniable results. Jaune seems to respond well to adversity, as he's proven time and again. So as much as I would like to be the one to help him discover his semblance, it would be a mistake to not call upon your assistance in light of all he's accomplished because of it."

"You and I are going to have a conversation someday about your sense of self worth, Nikos," Zhang said with a raised eyebrow, "But that is not the reason you have called me here, so I will speak no more of it."

His attention returned to Jaune, and the hunter snapped to rigid attention out of pure instinct, "Master Sergeant Jaune 'Dakka' Arc. As you are my student, it is my obligation to ensure you are in top condition when you are sent out to wage war on behalf of XCOM. You have done well thus far to prove your mettle, and your skills at present have been sufficient to get you where you are today. Once the aliens pull out all the stops, that will change. And therefore, so must you."

The Colonel smiled as the usual look of determination took up residence on Jaune's face, "Tell me, Arc… what is your semblance?"

"To my knowledge, sir, it is my Aura physically augmenting my sword and shield, allowing me to cut deeper and withstand heavier blows than would otherwise be possible."

Zhang nodded, "An ability truly worthy of one whose physical and spiritual constitution is as great as yours. I can see why you would want to carry such an advantage into combat. How do you activate it?"

"That's the problem," Jaune sighed, "I don't really know. I've used it twice, but it wasn't a planned action. My semblance just seemed to activate itself."

"Describe the situations for me, please."

"Yes, sir. The first time, I saw a Sectopod about to fire upon operative Valkyrie with a rear-mounted plasma cannon. Given what we've seen of a Sectopod's power and how effective plasma is against Aura, I knew that she would be seriously injured or worse. I did the only thing I could think of and threw myself between her and the attack, using my shield to hopefully absorb the worst of the damage. The cannon fired, I felt no pain, and suddenly my shield seemed to be projecting solid Aura in a way that protected my entire body, and my sword was also encased in white. When I go to counterattack the Sectopod, Crocea Mors cut deeper and faster than it should have."

Zhang remained silent, and Jaune took that as his cue to continue, "Second situation: Operative Xaio Long and I found ourselves on the back of an airborne Nevermore."

Pyrrha wanted to yell, 'After someone decided to cut their safety line!' Somehow, she felt that Zhang wouldn't appreciate the comment and opted to remain silent.

"I knew Yang could kill the bird no problem, but she needed a way to get past the tougher hide of the beast. I thought that if I could cut through the skin on the back of the Nevermore's neck, then my partner could easily attack the Grimm's brain and drop it out of the sky." He looked at Zhang and shrugged, "There's not much more to the story than that, sir. I raised me sword, yelled, and swung it at the bird's neck. Just like the first time, my semblance decided to kick in."

"It appears that miss Nikos is correct in more ways than she realized." Zhang mused, "She claims that you respond well to adversity, and that is the defining feature I see in both instances as you have described them. Your teammate is in trouble? Better put yourself between her and certain death. Riding atop a giant Grimm, and your only option for survival is through the neck? Sounds like a Hail Mary swing is in order."

"Hail Mary…?"

The Colonel chuckled, "Never mind, it's not important. What is important, however, is the fact that you seem to be somewhat of a daredevil, Arc. When your blood gets pumping, that's when you perform miracles. Now, the only question that remains is what the actual trigger for your semblance is. Does it only awaken when you come to the aid of an ally? Or is a simple fight-or-flight adrenaline rush sufficient? This is what I aim to find out."

"Make sense," Jaune said with some hesitation, "How do you plan to do that?"

"Well, step one is to get your pulse up. Of course, you probably don't believe I would seriously hurt you, and so fighting me with that mindset will get you nowhere. We need to fix that."

Without giving Jaune time to react, the fully-kitted Zhang punched the young hunter square in the gut. The servos in the Colonel's Titan armor allowed him to deliver a far greater blow than would ordinarily be possible, and Jaune skidded across the floor of the live fire hall. His heart almost stopped when he heard Zhang say to his partner, "Miss Nikos, if you would be so kind as to pull him back here."

The Colonel cleared his throat when Pyrrha began to walk towards Jaune, "Magnetically, Sergeant."

"I…!" Pyrrha started to say. Zhang must have given her a truly terrifying look, because she quickly added, "Yes, sir."

A moment later, Jaune felt himself sailing across the hall once more. As he started to get back to his feet, a metal knee to his face sent Jaune reeling back.

"Too slow, Arc. Get your act together, or your Aura's going to drain long before you even reach a standing position. Nikos? Again."

The floor flew by Jaune's face as Pyrrha's semblance once again sent him airborne. A titanic swing from Zhang mid-flight knocked the wind out of Jaune's lungs as he continued to careen past his mentor.

"Do you still feel safe with me, Jaune?" Zhang asked icily, "Or are you going to stand up and show me what you're made of?"

As Jaune crashed to the floor, he used his momentum to roll up to his feet and deflected Zhang's next bone-shattering punch. He gritted his teeth as the force of the blow caused him to see double, but he quickly shook himself back to reality in time to dive out of the way of a high-velocity kick. He brandished his sword, only to yelp in surprise as a small bolt of plasma splashed into his hand and forced him to drop the weapon.

"Who said you could fight back?" Zhang asked, a pistol in his hand, "This isn't about combat, Arc, this is about survival. Now show me what you're made of!"

Guilt twisted in Pyrrha's stomach as she watched the Colonel continue to beat her partner until blood began to trickle down Jaune's face. It didn't help that Zhang would occasionally ask her to pull Jaune around the room if the Colonel accidentally launched him too far. While she believed that Zhang had Jaune's best interests at heart, she wondered if she could find a better way to help her best friend. Still, Zhang's point about how Jaune responds well to adversity proved itself twice already: first with his Gunner training and then when he helped Vahlen with the Aura research.

"Once more, Nikos."

Pyrrha sighed, focused on her bruised and battered partner, and launched him skyward. Much to Pyrrha's surprise, she watched as Jaune twisted himself around at the apex of his trajectory to face Zhang shield-first. Zhang's fist collided with Jaune's shield, and a telltale flash of white consumed the room. When the stars cleared from Pyrrha's eyes, she saw Jaune standing over the Colonel's prone body. Auric energy radiated outward from Jaune's shield and, strangely enough, from his breastplate and spaulders. Wherever his usual armor failed to offer protection, his Aura flowed outward to pick up the slack.

Jaune noticed this as well, and he tapped the latest addition to his armor to test its strength, "Well… this is new."

A laugh turned to cough fit from below pulled Jaune's attention to Zhang, who wore a smile despite the blood trickling down from his broken nose "And thus, the claws finally come out. Well done, Jaune. The next time you take miss Nikos to the lounge for drinks, tell the bartender to put it on my tab."

Zhang let Jaune help him to his feet, and the Colonel examined his new injury, "I'd offer to keep helping you, but I think Vahlen would be furious if I didn't let her attend to this first. So for now, try to think about what exactly was going through your head leading up to your semblance activating, and see if your partner can help you recreate it. I'll be back in a few hours to check on your progress."

Before the Colonel left the room, he paused for a moment as if another thought occurred to him. He turned around and added, "Oh, and maybe practice the whole 'launch Jaune at the enemy' thing, I believe you call it Arc Thrower? After witnessing it firsthand today, I can definitely see some applications for the technique."

Ruby, too busy focusing on the disassembled Crescent Rose laying in front of her, didn't notice the door open to Shen's private shop. She only noticed the presence of her guest when she heard a curious Weiss ask from over her shoulder, "Working on the gauss modifications, I take it?"

"Oh!" Ruby said, almost jumping in surprise, "Hey, Weiss. Yeah, Shen helped me strip down a few of XCOM's own rifles so I could see how the tech works. He got called away for some pressing matter on the manufacturing floor, but he let me stay here to keep working while he left with Penny to fix the problem." Ruby turned her attention back to her gun, "How's the Dust research going with Vahlen?"

Weiss pulled up a chair so she could sit down next to her partner, "It's going well, I think. As the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, father made sure I was well-versed in how we weaponize our product. While it's a bit tricky making sure the Dust doesn't detonate before it's delivered past the toughened hide of the Grimm, Vahlen and I make a good team." She smiled at Ruby, "Kinda like how you and Shen work well together."

"Well, I'm glad you're having a good time, Weiss. So what brings you down here?" Ruby asked as she continued her work with a soldering iron.

"Well, Annette said wanted to see you at some point, though it didn't sound urgent. Something about another one of your 'sessions,' which I'm guessing is related to your psionic therapy?"

Ruby nodded, "Yeah, I guess therapy's a good word for it. She did some minor stuff the first time just to help me be more functional, but said she'd be happy to go further after I field-tested her first round of modifications. I mean, hey… if I've got this psychic stuff rattling around in my head, I might as well use it, right?"

"Right…" Weiss answered.

Something seemed off to Ruby, who put away her iron and faced her partner, "Hey, are you alright? You sound kinda… well… not Weiss-y."

Weiss shrugged, "I'm not sure. Before, it seemed like we had a good handle on things. Kill aliens, save civilians, make progress. Now, it feels like this Grimm problem is starting to spiral out of control, the whole 'mind network' thing Vahlen discovered is kinda terrifying, and now Bradford sounds like he's committing himself to this 'all-in' gambit with the Gollop Chamber. I'm just… I guess I'm feeling a little shaky is all."

The feeling of a small hand gently touch her shoulder made Weiss look up and see Ruby smiling back at her, "All that is scary, yeah, but don't forget what we have. Our Auras are up and running, Blake and Yang don't have to fight in MECs anymore, and Vahlen is working hard to understand the Grimm situation here. We have the real Penny on our team helping us out, Ozpin is sending us supplies whenever he gets the chance, and the troop morale at XCOM is at an all-time high, in no small part thanks to you."

When Weiss didn't say anything, Ruby took that as an opportunity to continue, "We're making the absolute best out of a horrible situation. We agreed to that the first day we arrived here, didn't we? Not only that, but we've had a hand in shaping the course of this war for XCOM, and we're saving millions of lives across the globe. And on a personal level, we're getting a crazy amount of real combat experience. Six months worth of fighting in a war compressed into two Remnant weeks? We're going to be leagues ahead of our classmates thanks to an opportunity none of them will ever get to have. We'll get through this, Weiss. And when we do, we'll be the best huntresses Beacon has ever seen, backed by the goodwill and resources of the most advanced international military network on Earth."

"I guess you have a point." Weiss admitted, "When you put it like that, things don't seem so bad."

"That's what I'm here for." Ruby said with a grin.

"So hey… do you think you can show me how this gauss stuff works? I get the basic concept of it, but I was wondering if it was possible to apply the tech to Myrtenaster."

Ruby rubbed her chin, "Hmm… well, your sword launches Aura projectiles rather than bullets, so I'm not sure if the magnetic coils would do anything. But…!" She added upon seeing Weiss's downcast look, "That doesn't mean we can't try. We can also modify your weapon and add an actual ballistic component to it. I'm not sure if you'd be willing to change Myrtenaster like that, but I'd be more than happy to help if you decide that it's something you want to do!"

"I think my father would kill me if he found out I wanted to make my sword into a gun," Weiss laughed, "But I'll think about it. For now, though, is it alright if I watch? Vahlen's running some computational analysis on our latest Dust samples, and that'll probably take a few hours at the very least. I feel like we haven't really spent much time together just as partners hanging out. I look at Blake and Yang, or Nora and Ren, and I see them doing fun stuff and enjoying each other's company." She drew herself up into a more 'professional' looking posture, "It's my belief that such camaraderie is an important aspect of any partnership, and the lack of such activities between us is a failing on my part."

Ruby giggled and bumped shoulders with her partner, "Of course you can stay and watch. I'm always up for spending time with my best friend. Have you ever used a soldering iron before?"

"No. My father hires Atlas's finest weaponsmiths to craft all the family's armaments, and we were always taught that manual labor was beneath us." She gazed curiously at the tools and components arrayed before Ruby, "To be honest, though, I always thought it looked kinda cool."

"And yet you never come down to visit." Ruby teased.

Weiss huffed, "Well I'm here now! But even though I know how silly my father's rules can be sometimes, it's sometimes hard to break them after years of living in that house."

"It's fine, I was just kidding! Here, I can show you how solder works. Step one is to make sure you never touch the business end of the iron…"

"Alright soldiers, listen up!" Beagle shouted as he paced back and forth in front of a team of MEC operators, "Standing behind me are the legendary hardware platforms operated by Master Sergeants Belladonna and Xaio Long. Seeing as how Doctor Shen found a way to grow their limbs back, they are no longer dependent on these machines to kick some alien ass. Of course, this leaves us with a pair of highly-specialized MECs that have no pilots. Now, since our own troopers don't have the same sort of training and skill to operate these efficiently, it's been suggested that we strip them down and use their components for our other robo-suits."

He stopped pacing and stared directly at the soldiers before him, "Do you know what I think about that plan? Fuck. That. Shit's hitting the fan, and we need to use all the top-of-the-line equipment we have at our disposal. So it's our job to make sure that the badass hardware slapped onto these MECs gets used properly, and both BFG and Sabretooth have graciously volunteered their time to make sure the job is done right."

The Captain stepped to the side as Blake and Yang walked out and approached the other pilots.

"Greetings!" Yang started brightly, "Glad to see so many volunteers willing to learn how to pilot these beauties behind us. For the most part, they run like your standard MEC. However, Shen helped us make several additions to the frames with the understanding that our Auric projections would allow them to withstand the added strain."

Blake nodded, "Our goal is to find a way to allow you to use these extra abilities despite your lack of an Aura. Lieutenant Rose, our team's mechanical prodigy, believes it to be possible. If she thinks there's a way to make it happen, then so do we. Due to recent events, we are on a tight schedule, so the training will be long and hard to make up for the lack of time. However we're certain the rewards will be worth it."

"That's what I'm hoping." A voice called out. All nine heads in the live fire hall jerked around to see Bradford walking towards the group. Everyone immediately snapped a salute at the Central Officer.

"Sir." Beagle said, "This is a surprise. To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"At ease, Captain. I'm here to inform you that this training has more importance than just the vague goal of making these MEC suits combat-ready for some operation at an undefined point in the future." He turned to the six MEC troopers standing at attention, "As I'm sure you all know, the end to this bloody affair is drawing close. We need to get things done, and we need to do them soon if we are to be adequately prepared for what's to come. It's for that reason that I'm putting together a risky gambit, to be carried out in one week."

Curious silence fell over the group at Bradford's mysterious statement before he continued, "There are still two countries under alien control: the UK and Nigeria. I don't know about you, but I think liberating those nations before shit hits the fan will show not only the aliens that we're here to give them the boot, but the world as well. Even better is if we can pull off this liberations at the same time."

Beagle nearly choked, "… Sir?"

"About two weeks ago, I ordered Delta Section to go dark. Nobody went in or out except for myself and the Chief Engineer. The teams in Delta have worked around the clock to build a second Skyranger. Once it's finished, we're sending two different Strike Teams to wipe out the last entrenched pockets of alien operations on Earth before we figure out a way to hit them where it really hurts." Bradford gestured at the two MECs looming over the group, "And if I can have these ready to go for those missions, so much the better."

Bradford snapped a salute back at the stunned group before turning on his heel and walking back out, "You have a one week timetable, soldiers. You best get to it."

After the Central Officer left, Yang managed to recover first from the shock, "Well, you heard the man. Let's get down to the nuts and bolts, shall we?"