A/N: Just a heads up, each scene break marks a small passage of time. My editor felt that this wasn't clear, so I figured I'd let you guys know beforehand to avoid any confusion.

"P-Penny?!" Ruby sputtered.

"That's me!" Penny replied cheerfully, "I am delighted to see you safe and sound, friend!"

Yang almost choked, "But- what- I- how?"

"Oh, it's simple, really. Your headmaster asked my father if he could borrow me. Naturally, my father disagreed."

When Penny failed to continue with her explanation, Weiss coughed politely, "… There's more to the story, I assume…"

"Of course! Headmaster Ozpin reminded my father of a few owed favors, so father agreed to send him a backed-up copy of my programming. This suited Ozpin just fine, and he loaded me into a hardware platform to explain his plan before returning me to the storage drive for transfer: While I'm here helping you on Earth fighting aliens and gaining combat experience, the original Penny remains safe and sound on Remnant. If I am able to return, I can sync my memories with my progenitor, thereby granting her combat experience without exposing herself into unnecessary danger! Next time I regained consciousness was in Dr. Vahlen's lab!" PennySHIV rotated her frame to 'face' Weiss, "Dr. Vahlen is a really nice lady. I am glad that you are friends with her."

Despite the absurdity of the situation, Weiss couldn't help but smirk at the embarrassed glance Vahlen threw at Penny.

Bradford coughed, "Right, so the short and long of it is that, in the absence of a hunter team, your Ozpin still wanted to send some sort of combat support. His solution, Vahlen and I found out, was to send us a fully-functioning AI. He told us to keep it a secret from you, and now I can see why."

"Due to the fact that I am not equipped with my synthetic body, I do not have the ability to generate Aura or fight with my preferred armaments." Penny pointed out, "However, in the time that I have been active on this Super Heavy Infantry Vehicle, I have managed to improve its operational efficiency by seven point two-three percent."

"So that's what SHIV means…" Ruby whispered.

"I believe with proper calibrations and subsequent combat trials, I can further maximize this platform's weapon efficiency! If it's not too much trouble, friend, could I possibly join your team? A search of XCOM's data files Vahlen kindly loaded into my memory states that standard protocol mandates a maximum squad size of eight, but precedence has been made for exceptions." Before anyone could even answer, she added, "There's lots of interesting files in this database, by the way. The logs of how the doctor interrogated the Heavy Floater are especially interesting!"

Bradford raised an eye at Vahlen, "Doctor…"

The Chief Scientist struggled momentarily to form words, "She… what… it.. I have no idea what she's talking about."

"Oh, don't be so modest." Penny said cheerfully, "I thought the idea of capitalizing on the alien's mechanical circuitry was brilliant. However, I do believe I could be of service in fine-tuning your methods should you need to repeat the interrogation in the future."

"Hah," Beagle laughed, "Doc got smoked by a fuckin' robot."

"I'm sorry, but I do not understand that word. Could you tell me what fuckin'-?"

"Cover your ears Penny!" Ruby exclaimed, launching herself at the SHIV and uselessly clamping her hands over the side's of its 'head.' Beagle burst into tears, and several of the other officers failed to suppress their own laughter.

Colonel Zhang rolled his eyes, "This is almost as bad as the time your American space administration made the Curiosity rover draw a dick pic with it's tire treads after it landed on Mars."

"I'm sorry, but I do not understand that word. Could you tell me what dick-?"

"Zhang!" Ruby wailed, "You aren't helping!"

"Alright, Penny, are you ready?"

"Absolutely!"

"Your rapid reactions, extreme precision, and situational awareness are going to be critical to the success of this operation, and we've only got one shot at it."

"All systems are functional. Ready to begin when you are, Tech Sergeant Arc."

"Let's move!"

Jaune raced forward, quickly scanning the field as he ran. No contacts yet, but he knew that luxury would be short lived. His target was the bomb site. He knew it, his allies knew it, and worst of all, his enemies knew it. With Penny as his ever-vigilant sentinel, the operative ran from cover to cover on his way to the target, designated as Point A by his squad leader.

"Contact four o'clock!"

Jaune snapped to face the target, unloading his ammunition even before he could properly aim. With Penny's ability to compensate for his recoil and provide small targeting corrections, he knew that he could afford to cut corners. Indeed, the contact dropped a fraction of a second later after Penny's auto-assist helped Jaune nail it with a few clean headshots. He didn't wait for the body to drop before moving on.

"More targets dead ahead!"

"Dead is right." Jaune muttered, revving up his weapon once more. His foes fell out of the windows they were camping in an effort to halt his approach.

"Keep moving, Four," Jaune heard MacAuley through his comm, "We've got your rear covered."

Jaune took a moment to reload his weapon (with Penny on watch, of course) before resuming his race to the ticking target that would spell doom for his team if he failed to reach it in time.

"I'm detecting another contact reloading behind the crates to your ten o'clock."

Jaune primed a grenade and tossed it. The explosive bounced off of a wood panel and landed perfectly on target. He didn't bother to wait for the explosion to kill his enemy before pressing onward. He rounded a corner and saw his objective.

"Bomb has been located," Jaune confirmed to the squad, "Moving in to disarm."

He carefully approached the site, his previous efficiency allowing him the luxury of caution for the final stretch. Finally, he stood in front of the bomb, its timer ticking down with every passing second. In the distance he picked up the sound of gunfire. MacAuley's colorful cursing came through the comms.

"Fucker's got a hard angle on us, Four. If you don't hurry up and pull the plug over there, we're done for!"

"I hear you, Five. Disarming the bomb…" Jaune pressed 'e' and watched the progress bar fill, "… now."

Jaune smiled in satisfaction as he heard, "The bomb has been defused. Counter-terrorists win."

He heard Desperado throw his headset down across the room, "Okay, so we've established that aimbotting is still a bullshit tactic. Fantastic. Now can we please get back to playing Counter Strike on a fair playing field?"

Pyrrha laughed, "Oh, don't be a spoilsport. We're testing Penny's operational capabilities to their fullest extent, and that includes software efficiency. I thought Jaune's idea to use these games as a metric was a grand idea." She gave Jaune a light punch on the shoulder and flashed him a smile, "I can see how you find these entertaining. I've been the first to die for the last five rounds, and I'm still having a good time!"

"Speak for yourself." Weiss grumbled, "Why does Jaune get to have Penny, anyway? She's friends with team RWBY."

"Establishing new friendships is important for any aspiring huntress." Penny chirped, "Jaune is a very nice young man, and Pyrrha is extremely fortunate to have him as a mate."

Dead silence ensued as everyone waited to see the two hunters in question react. Pyrrha visibly tensed and stared dead ahead at her screen while Jaune quietly banged his head against the table. The XCOM operatives in the lounge began to quietly snicker.

"Did I say something wrong?" Penny asked in a worried tone.

Yang grinned, "On the contrary, your statement could not have been more perfect."

"Then why has Tech Sergeant Arc stopped breathing?"

"Probably in the hopes that blacking out will provide him with sweet release from his embarrassment." Blake commented. She and her partner didn't partake in their friends' game of Counter Strike, citing a lack of sufficient motor control capabilities offered by their 'civilian' prosthetics. Since she was pretty sure Vahlen could jury-rig some interfacing hardware for the pair, Blake believed that Yang just wanted to drink and heckle their friends while they played.

"Oh! I am truly sorry, Jaune. I assumed that the mutual feelings you share with Tech Sergeant Nikos are common knowledge."

"Aaaaaaaand since I don't want to have one of our hunters hospitalized on account of a heart attack," Bradford interrupted, "I'm going to propose a new test for XCOM's latest recruit." He glanced at Desperado, "And her aimbotting skills will not have any effect on the outcome. In fact, rapid reactions are not involved in any way, so even operatives Belladonna and Xiao Long can assist in the performance test."

Yang let out a loud sigh, "But it's so much more fun to just watch and judge…"

"What is the new test?" Pyrrha asked, extremely interested in changing subjects.

"It will analyze Penny's cognitive capabilities and skill at discerning the proper course of action from hundreds or thousands of possibilities."

Zhang, previously engaged in drinking with Yang, suddenly became interested, "Chess?"

Bradford shook his head, "No. Something far more complex and far more likely to push Penny's processing units to their limit."

He glanced around the room at all the intrigued faces and flashed a grin, "Civilization V. Twenty players. Military Victory only."

Ruby blinked, "Is that another video game?"

"No." Bradford answered, shaking his head, "Not just another video game. Only the greatest video game of all time."

Dr. Shen cleared his throat, "You do realize we'll have won the war by the time the game is finished, don't you?"

Bradford raised an eyebrow at his friend, "Is that a challenge I hear? Because I will be one of the players engaged in this stress test. You may think you know just about everything there is to know about me, Shen, but you've never seen me play Civ."

The Chief Engineer sighed, realizing that he would not be winning this debate, "So who's running Mission Control while you're down here?"

"Sounds like you just volunteered for the job, my friend." Bradford said, giving Shen a pat on the shoulder. Shen made a noise in protest before slumping his shoulders and rolling his eyes. As he walked off towards the anthill's information hub, he said over his shoulder, "I'll let you know if any crises come up."

Ruby looked around the room with mild apprehension. Eight other operatives stared back at her, with a smiling Captain Anette Durand chief among them. She also recognized 'Duke' as the Engineer from her mission with Zhang, but didn't know the others beyond what squads they were assigned to.

"Oh, stop it with the long face!" Anette teased, "You look like you're facing a firing squad."

Ruby shifted uncomfortably, "I'm just nervous is all. The last time someone poked around in my brain… well… you were there."

The Captain waved her off, "And you think your friends are going to be as rough with you as some alien? Please, I hope you hold us in higher regard than that." She put a comforting hand on Ruby's shoulder, "Don't forget that the only reason Vahlen is willing to investigate the possibility of further unlocking your psionic potential is because the Ethereals forced our hand. If she's worried about danger, than so am I. While I may seem cavalier about all of this, just remember that I will be taking every precaution I can to get you through it safely and help you stabilize your gift."

She gestured at the eight other psionicists behind her, "I know all of these operatives behind me on a personal level, and I can assure you they want you to succeed as much as I do. Well, almost as much as I do." She finished with a wink.

With a deep breath, the young huntress nodded, "Alright. I guess I'll just let you know if something hurts, right?"

"Right." Anette agreed, "Until then, just relax. You might even have some fun!"

Ruby would have found her last comment to be playful, but the fact that Anette's eyes already started to glow purple before she finished speaking put an ominous spin on her words. The eight other psionic soldiers likewise began to tap into their mental energy, and Ruby watched as wispy strands of purple psychic power snaked out from their brains and connected themselves to Anette.

The Captain let out a happy sigh as the extra power flowed through her, "Mmmm, perfect. Alright, just maintain that while I have a look at Lieutenant Rose here…" A much smaller psionic strand slowly appeared from the Captain and meandered towards Ruby. She noticed that the psychic connection seemed to hesitate before finally securing the mental link. Almost immediately, Ruby's vision flashed, and she experienced the familiar sensation of seeing and hearing everything.

"Whoa…" Anette muttered, sounding almost dizzy, "So this is what it feels like, yes? I can see how it would be disorienting, but if you could learn how to use this information… so many applications, and not just in combat." the strange look on Anette's face immediately told Ruby that she didn't want to know what the Captain meant by that, "How are you doing, Lieutenant?"

Ruby struggled to remain in control of her senses as she found herself inundated with far more information than any one person could hope to absorb, "I almost forgot how uncomfortable this feeling was. Haven't had an episode like this since Vahlen unlocked our Auras."

"Do you need a minute to acclimate to the sensation?" Anette asked, her voice sincere.

"No, keep going. I don't really want to drag this out longer than necessary."

"Alright, just don't be afraid to tap out of it gets really bad."

Little by little, Ruby watched the psionic strand connecting her to Anette grow thicker. As the Captain continued her 'work' (and Ruby had no idea what that entailed, to be perfectly honest), the hyper-awareness fluctuated in intensity. Sometimes, it flickered and softened to the point where Ruby didn't know if Anette had somehow managed to shut it down. Other times, it spiked so hard that Ruby would flinch from the pain. Each time, Anette asked if Ruby wanted to stop, and each time, Ruby said no.

Despite seemingly doing nothing, Ruby also noticed signs of strain on the other seven operatives. Beads of sweat rolling down their faces, expressions of concentration or mild pain, and tense postures all told Ruby that whatever link they made with Anette, the Captain was drawing heavily on it.

"So…" Ruby started, wishing to break up the boring monotony, "What exactly are you doing? Some kind of psychic surgery?"

"Of a sort, I suppose." Anette replied. Her voice still sounded cheerful, though Ruby could tell that her focus remained primarily inside their psychic connection.

"Ever done it before?"

Anette shook her head, and Ruby regretted asking the question, "Nope, but I've helped Vahlen with related research, so that's got to count for something."

Ruby raised an eyebrow, "How related?"

"Tangentially." Anette admitted, "But I think we're making pretty good progress here! Your mind is very interesting."

"Because that doesn't sound creepy whatsoever. No, sir."

"Hey, you asked. Speaking of which, do you mind if I told Weiss what you think about-"

"Absolutely not."

"-how much you respect her and hold her opinion in the highest regard?" Anette asked, eyebrow raised.

"Oh. Well, I guess that's okay…"

Anette laughed, "Anyway, we're almost done here. It's only a first attempt, so I don't know if the modifications will hold. But that's why we're going to pull you off active duty for a few days before we send you back in the field. Make sure there aren't any negative side effects." She glanced back at her psionic supporters, "You guys can disengage now. Fantastic job, everyone."

The operatives let out a collective sigh as their psychic tendrils evaporated and their eyes returned to their usual hues. A minute later, Anette cut the final connection between herself and Ruby. When the two women had a chance to catch their breath, Anette gave Ruby a curious look.

"So? How do you feel?"

"Well, my head's not splitting open, so at least you didn't make anything worse."

"Hah, don't tempt me to try. Seriously, though. How do you feel?"

For the first time, Ruby tried to focus on her surroundings. The lack of pain that usually came with the psychic bouts made her originally think that everything had returned back to normal, but Ruby realized that this wasn't exactly true. Her senses, while not omniscient, felt much sharper. She glanced at the uniform worn by one of Anette's associates, and her eyes instantly picked out ten different details, from the design of the insignia to the small rip at the right shoulder seam.

Ruby struggled to find words, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you gene-modded me with hyper-reactive pupils. Everything feels… focused. It's not just my eyes, though."

Anette smiled, "Then it sounds like I did what I was supposed to. The effects probably don't feel too drastic, but I saw more inside your mind. I held off on fiddling with several other aspects, partly because I had no idea if the easy stuff would even work. After you've taken time to rest, go on a few ops, fight some aliens or Grimm, and tell me how you feel. If you're willing to try more, we can meet up again after your field tests."

Ruby considered Anette's words. There was more stuff she could do with Ruby's psionic scarring? Sounds like the Ethereal did have plans for her after all. Well, Anette seemed to be getting the hang of the whole mind surgery thing, so the offer to try and unlock more abilities certainly sounded appealing. So long as the Captain was careful with her methods, and Vahlen allowed them to use her Psionics Lab for monitoring, Ruby felt that she could entrust her safety to operative Durand.

"Sounds good. I'll let you know how well your little project performs under live fire. Thanks, Anette."

"I have faith in you." Anette said with a warm smile, "We all do. Your deliverance to us in our time of need was nothing short of a miracle. If I can pay you back in just this small way, I am more than happy to do so." Anette lightly punched Ruby's arm, "So get some rest. The sooner you're back out there knocking alien heads, the better."

Ruby gave Anette a salute and left the psi labs, her head buzzing with all the possible upgrades the Captain might find locked inside her brain.

With a sense of trepidation, Dr. Vahlen carefully stepped out onto the ice. A week had passed since Penny joined the team, and Weiss came up with the brilliant idea of the maintenance hangar into an ice skating rink with the help of her semblance and a judicious use of Dust. With no crises cropping up in Mission Control, Bradford made a point of requesting both Shen and Vahlen come with him to Weiss's little event.

Vahlen's skate slipped almost as soon as it touched the slick surface, and she flailed in a vain attempt to stay balanced. Before she could fall, however, the Central Officer caught her under the shoulders and helped Vahlen stay upright.

"Whoa there, Doctor! Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Vahlen huffed, "Just… not used to this."

"Never gone ice skating before?" Dr. Shen asked as he slid to a stop in front of Bradford and Vahlen, "I find that a little hard to believe."

Vahlen frowned. It's not her fault that her parents valued her academics above any and all physical activities. It's not her fault that she never had any friends to go ice skating with. And it's certainly not her fault that her impressive career as a scientist leaves little time for trivial activities like sliding around on a dangerously hard and slippery surface. But of course her colleagues wouldn't understand that. To them, it would be just another thing to tease her about.

"I… never had an interest." She said quietly.

Bradford squeezed her shoulder, "Cheer up. You're trying now, and that's what matters."

"How did Shen manage to acquire all these skates, anyway?" Vahlen grumbled.

Her friend laughed, "Oh please. My team can manufacture highly advanced plasma weaponry in a matter of days. Strapping blades onto a pair of shoes is trivial."

"Shen! Shennnnn! Come skate with meeeee!" The Chief Engineer looked up to see an exuberant Ruby collide with the wall behind him as she whizzed past. She looked completely unfazed while Shen lifted her back on her feet, a huge smile never leaving her face.

"This is so much fun! We never had icy weather back home, so this is my first chance to try!"

Vahlen grumbled something about beginner's luck before Ruby dragged Shen off to help her stay upright while racing around the makeshift rink. She glanced around at everyone else present. In addition to most of the hunters (Nora and Ren were noticeably absent), several of the operatives decided to participate in the festivities. She noticed a few pairs holding hands, and reminded herself that even though they faced a life-or-death situation with the invasion, strong emotional bonds could be forged between two people. Or maybe it was because of the alien threat. Vahlen made a note to construct a few social experiments to understand more about the topic. Secretly, of course, as it would be awkward and uncomfortable to ask the soldiers and base personnel directly.

Understated romance wasn't the only thing Vahlen saw. She heard yelling as Colonel Zhang chased after Corporal MacAuley, a small wool beanie firmly gripped in the latter's hand. The Corporal threw the beanie high over Zhang's head, and the garment landed in the hands of one Jaune Arc, who evidently agreed to be MacAuley's accomplice in the Irishman's little prank.

"You're too slow, old man!" MacAuley laughed as he and Jaune deftly skated rings around the Colonel. Vahlen took comfort in the fact that at least one other person here lacked experience on the ice. Maybe after he managed to get his hat back from the pranksters, Vahlen could ask Zhang if he'd be willing to accompany her as she slowly worked her way around the rink.

She watched the two MEC'd huntresses step carefully onto the ice. However, instead of the familiar skates that everyone else wore onto the rink, the two of them had regular boots covering their mechanical feet. They each carried a large broom in their hands as they clumsily chased after a small rubber ball Yang dropped onto the ice. Vahlen remembered overhearing them talk about this 'Broomball' as an alternative to skating, and wondered if she would have had better luck joining them than getting roped into ice skating with her colleagues.

A cheer from onlookers shifted Vahlen's attention to the center of the rink where Weiss performed a series of impressive jumps and spins. The Chief Scientist's heart twinged slightly. She knew that Weiss's upbringing blessed her with exceptional skating skills, and so she told the young huntress to go have fun and skate to the best of her abilities. With all of the hard work she put into making this rink a reality, she deserved to enjoy herself. At the same time, she wished that her friend would have wanted to teach her to skate instead. Now, she had to deal with the teasing of Bradford-

Vahlen looked around and realized that she no longer had the Central Officer standing next to her. A quick scan of the rink revealed no sign of him, either. The doctor sighed, realizing that he must have been called away while she distracted herself by watching everyone else skate around on the ice. So here she stood, alone and awkward, trying to follow Weiss's advice to be more social and failing miserably all the same.

"Hello, doctor!"

Vahlen looked up to see the smiling face of Pyrrha, which made the doctor feel even more self-conscious. Another naturally talented skater, Vahlen watched Pyrrha earlier as she raced around the rink, leaving even Ruby far behind as she skillfully banked around the room's curvature. To Vahlen, Pyrrha served as another reminder of the doctor's ineptitude at everything that didn't involve science.

"How may I help you, miss Nikos?"

Pyrrha tilted her head slightly, "What do you mean? I saw you were all alone and thought you could use some company." She gestured for Vahlen to grab hold of her extended elbow, "After all, I've always found it more enjoyable to skate with friends."

"I'm a terrible skater." Vahlen pointed out, "Wouldn't you rather be with someone who can keep up with you?"

"Not at all! Just having the opportunity to skate is enough for me. I've had my fill of pushing my skills to the limit, so now I thought I'd spend some time with the XCOM staff. You looked a little lost standing at the edge of the rink, and so here we are." Pyrrha gently pushed off, and Vahlen started to wobble once more.

"You're doing fine." Pyrrha assured her, "Just lean on me and put one foot in front of the other. I'm sure you'll get the hang of this in no time."

Vahlen tried to follow her instructor's guidance, and did her best to match Pyrrha's slow and steady movements. Before long, the doctor managed to remain semi-steady while they skated, though she still leaned heavily on her partner.

"You're really good at this. Do you have experience instructing other people?"

"A bit." The huntress admitted, "I've been helping Jaune learn to fight properly. We used to practice on Beacon's rooftop almost every night. I don't mean to brag, but his skill has improved tremendously since our first lesson."

"I see. If I've learned anything from mister Arc, it's that he's extremely tenacious when he puts his mind to a task. The two of you must make an excellent pair as mentor and pupil."

Slightly, ever so slightly, Vahlen felt Pyrrha stiffen. It took her a moment to realize her mistake, but Vahlen almost tripped once she figured out her faux pas. Of course that would be a sore subject for Pyrrha, as it represented all of the mistrust and dishonesty she had to deal with in Jaune.

"I'm… sorry." Vahlen whispered, letting go of Pyrrha's arm. The huntress came to a stop and faced the doctor, her face strained.

"It's alright, doctor." She sighed, "What you managed to do with Aura has been a great boon to all of us, and I don't blame you for your actions. From what Jaune told me, you were very much against the idea in the first place, and that you frequently reminded him that he could stop whenever he wanted." She looked up at the ceiling, as if the steel beams above held some answers for her, "It's my partner that I'm upset with."

She forced a smile and held out her arm once more, which Vahlen took. The Chief Scientist could tell that this subject meant a great deal to Pyrrha, and Vahlen tried to think of something she could say to help the young woman.

"I don't know if it means much coming from me, but he cares about you a great deal."

Vahlen noticed that the smile became less forced as Pyrrha considered the doctor's words, "I know. He just has a very maddening way of showing it. It's frustrating to know that, even after all the experiences we've had together, he still thought it would be better to hide your experiments and plan to 'surprise' me with his accomplishments after the fact. It's alright, though. I think we've finally managed to overcome that hurdle in our friendship."

"I'm glad to hear it. I must say the two of you look really good together."

Pyrrha laughed and lightly shoved Vahlen, who, by some miracle, managed to stay upright, "Oh please, not you too. We get enough of that from your operatives as it is, and Penny certainly didn't help things with her commentary a few days ago."

The two continued to skate and amiable silence. With Pyrrha's help, Vahlen started to become more comfortable on the ice. At any rate, she found herself relying on Pyrrha's steady support less frequently. Now that it seemed like she could finally enjoy this little break from the day-to-day grind, the doctor let out a contented sigh.

"It's fun, isn't it?" Pyrrha asked, "The ability to push off and just… glide."

The two continued to skate in silence for a while longer before Pyrrha spoke once more, "I was wondering about something, doctor. Now that you've found a way to counteract the suppressive forces blocking our Aura, I must say I'm surprised you haven't asked us if we'd be willing to train some of your operatives as hunters. Surely the power they could gain from an unlocked Aura and discovering a Semblance would be an impressive advantage against the invasion, no?"

Vahlen hummed in contemplation of Pyrrha's question, "A keen observation, miss Nikos. There are several factors at play, but two stand out above the rest. First, all of my extensive research regarding the Aura and of you and your friends has given me several metrics with which I can gauge the strength of one's, for the lack of a better term, 'soul force.' While the primary use of such measurements is to ensure you are all in good health, I also took the liberty of running tests on several of our own operatives."

"Oh? So you have considered the possibility of training up hunters, then."

"Indeed." Vahlen answered, "However, the results were a tad disheartening. While you and your friends possess very strong souls, none of the operatives I tested came anywhere near as close to measuring up to your level."

Pyrrha sighed, "That's… unfortunate. After all you've done for us, I had hoped we could return the favor by lending your operatives some of our power."

Vahlen waved her off, "Don't think like that. Your teams have had an enormous impact on our operation here. My staff should be the ones wondering how we can repay you for all that you have offered. Back to the point, however, it appears that the different environments of Earth and Remnant have resulted in residents of the latter building up this biological soul force while citizens of the former have had no reason to do the same. Any number of variables could be the cause, from the suppression field on Earth, to the Grimm creating a need for Remnant humans to strengthen this particular trait. Whatever it is, you all clearly have it while we of Earth, for the most part, do not."

"For the most part?"

"For the most part." Vahlen confirmed, "I once told your friends on Team RWBY that the energies of Aura and Psionics are remarkably similar. While one is of the soul and the other the mind, they both require an impressive force of will to use. Because of this, it appears that our Psionically gifted soldiers possess stronger souls than the rest of our operatives. Still not on your level, of course, but I wouldn't be surprised if their strength could be built up with time.

"And before you ask why we don't let you train them," Vahlen added with a smile, "Keep in mind what happened to miss Rose when the Psionic and Auric energies clashed within her body. While it's likely possible to refine the two sources in such a way that they can coexist, I do not wish to expose our operatives to that danger without learning more. For now, their psychic powers are more than enough to deal with the aliens. If the idea of 'unlocked' XCOM operatives becomes more attractive to the Central Officer, then I will devote more resources to this problem."

"As much as I hate to say this," Pyrrha began, hesitation evident in every word, "I'm sure Jaune would volunteer to help you the moment you suggest it."

Vahlen raised an eyebrow, "I'm surprised you would even think to suggest that."

"I told you, it's not the fact that he did it that bothers me. It's the fact that he didn't tell me. In the short amount of time I've had the pleasure of knowing Jaune, I can tell you that he is one of the most wonderful and kindhearted people I know. I would gladly pick him as my partner if I had the chance to redo initiation all over again."

Vahlen eyed Pyrrha with amusement, "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I remember Weiss telling me a story or two about your initiation. To my understanding, teammates were not assigned or chosen, but randomly encountered in the forest outside of your academy."

Pyrrha's eyes widened for a brief moment, before a guilty smile crossed her lips, "It's funny you mention Weiss, because she was one of the first to ask me who I intended to partner up with, offering herself as a potential candidate. I believe that I told her I was planning on 'letting the chips fall where they may,' but that was only true if you replaced 'the chips' with 'Jaune' and 'where they may' with 'exactly where I wanted him to.' "

Vahlen stopped skating for a moment to stare at Pyrrha for a moment. The expression on the young huntress's face was one part embarrassment and two parts pride. After the initial shock wore off, Vahlen couldn't help but laugh, "My, aren't you a crafty one? I had no idea you could be so… manipulative."

"Oh, it's nothing so bad as that…" Pyrrha waved her off, though her smile told Vahlen that she agreed with the doctor's assessment, "I suppose that since my semblance is the manipulation of magnetism, I shouldn't be surprised that such a mentality sometimes bleeds over into other aspects of my life. Besides, I could tell Jaune had no plan for landing safely in the forest when I saw him careening head over heels through the sky. So really, he owed me for my favor of saving his life. I was just simply cashing that in when I locked eyes with him in the forest."

"Well, I suppose that's the difference between men and women." Vahlen winked, "Where we are subtle, crafty, and creative in getting what we want-"

"Why else would Bradford put you in charge of alien interrogations?" Pyrrha interrupted with a laugh.

"Men are blunt, obtuse, and… whatever that is."

Pyrrha followed the direction of Vahlen's gesture and saw Jaune, MacAuley, Zhang stripped to their boxers and laying down on the ice. All three of them had faces screwed up in pain from contact with the freezing floor, yet not one of them made a move to get up. A small ring formed around the three men while Pyrrha and Vahlen observed bet money exchange hands as onlookers cheered for the operatives.

"Yes… sort of like that." Pyrrha agreed.