"Here they come."

Almost like clockwork, the Mutons and Heavy Floaters poured out of the UFO to investigate a Mimic Beacon. Once the last alien cleared the doorway, Strike Eight sprung its trap. From atop the alien ship itself, Blake fired at the hardened floaters with her modified Particle Cannon. After numerous hours in the training facilities, Blake made the definitive decision to trade firepower for utility. Her new weapon hit nowhere near as hard as the conventional firearms equipped by other MECs, but Blake could fire her weapon much more rapidly in return. One of Dr. Shen's more recent upgrades allowed the Pathfinder to keep the Holo Targeting mod she learned to love from her days as a Scout, and the Heavy Floaters down below quickly became marked for death. While the fliers took to the safety of the skies, the Mutons scrambled for the nearest available cover. A carefully-dropped Proximity Mine gutted the front runners into a bloody pulp.

"That's what I'm talking about." Yang chuckled from the back of the squad.

"Nicely done, Four. Five, I need you to start hosing those airborne targets. Seven, back him up."

"On it!" Jaune confirmed. He hefted his LMG (or 'Plasma Dragon,' as Shen's engineers named it) and quickly ran through his mental checklist of instructions from Zhang. Feet steady, arms tense but not locked, and trigger finger relaxed. The Gunner took a deep breath, and then unleashed his first salvo of plasma at the Heavy Floaters. He watched with anticipation as the deadly bolts raced towards their targets, then sighed as he watched the shots go wide, completely missing their mark. Jaune gritted his teeth; He could do better than that, and he knew it.

Moments later, one of the aliens took a ball of plasma straight to the face, followed by a second to the chest and dropped out of the sky. Jaune inwardly sighed at his partner's cheerful tone, "Don't give up, Jaune! We've got this!" He knew that Pyrrha meant well, that she truly wanted him to succeed, but that didn't make him feel any better when the last five seconds so accurately juxtaposed their respective failure and success.

Ruby watched the remaining Mutons crouch behind the safety of a large fallen log and smiled, "Six. Do you mind getting rid of that cover so Two can move in and break some legs?"

"Aye aye, boss!" Nora cried. She ripped a grenade off of her belt, primed it, and chucked the beeping explosive at the hunkered Mutons. The resulting explosion blasted the wood to pieces, leaving the Mutons exposed and without cover. The stellerator whined on Ruby's Plasma Sniper Rifle, supercharging the weapon's plasma bolt and allowing it to vaporize the head of one alien before a Titan-clad Weiss leapt out from behind the trees to take care of the rest. Halfway through the arc of her jump, the Assault fired at her nearest target. The recoil from the opening mid-air shot propelled her forward and allowed the Assault to quickly dance out of the Muton squad's visual range. Within moments, Weiss reappeared behind the aliens and unloaded her Reflex Cannon at point blank range into a second target. The servos in her power armor absorbed the heavy recoil of her weapon and allowed Weiss to immediately line up a third shot and disemboweled her next victim.

Weiss grunted as she staggered from the impact of several well-placed plasma bolts striking the back of her armor. She turned to see several of the Heavy Floaters approaching her position from the trees. She deduced that they moved to flank her while she remained occupied with cleaning out the Mutons. Her assailants opened fire once more and forced Weiss to take cover behind a rotting stump.

"Got some Heavies on my flank!"

Before Weiss even finished shouting, a canister rolled up to her feet and released its concealing fog in a matter of seconds. Over the comms, Weiss heard Ren's curt reply, "Got you covered."

Blake switched targets from the Mutons to the Heavy Floaters, using her targeting module to keep the fliers marked. Ren tossed a flashbang to keep the Mutons locked down before he and Nora turned to assist the squad with bringing down the Heavies. One by one, the mechanized fliers started dropping under the force of Strike Eight's combined fire.

As the fight raged on, Ruby watched one of the Heavy Floaters stop firing and retract its robotic arms into its metallic shell. She wondered what it could possibly be doing and followed its line of sight down to Pyrrha and Jaune.

"Uhh… one of the Heavies is acting strange. Be careful Five, I think it's got an eye on you."

Jaune looked up to see the alien in question staring him down with its beady eyes. Even though it wasn't shooting him with its Heavy Plasma Rifle, the sight still sent a small shiver down Jaune's spine. He gripped his Plasma Dragon and started to line it up with the target. Feet steady, arms tense…

"That can't be good." He muttered as the Floater shot itself high into the air. It twisted around and started to plummet back towards the earth, and Jaune quickly realized it was set on a crash course with his position.

"Pyrrha?"

"Little busy!" His partner replied. Jaune stole a quick glance to his left and saw that Pyrrha indeed had her own problems to deal with. Two of the other fliers had a lock on her position and kept her crouched behind cover with their combined suppression. Ruby and Blake worked together to take down Pyrrha's suppressors, with Blake marking them and Ruby going for the killing blow, but the Heavy Floaters weren't making their job easy. The rest of the squad seemed to still be preoccupied with the aliens flanking Weiss and the few remaining Mutons. Besides, even if Ruby called in some backup for Jaune, the Heavy would reach him before the support did. Jaune fought down the rising bile in his throat and took aim at the speed demon.

He gently pulled the trigger and let his gun discharge a salvo of plasma at the suicide floater. The first two shots whizzed past the target, and the third glanced off its armored plating. Jaune steeled his nerves, readjusted the Plasma Dragon, and fired again. One of the bolts scored a hit on his target, and the specially-modulated flak rounds exploded into a small cloud of plasma that seared the Floater as it flew through the superheated mist. While the hit certainly maimed the alien, the damage didn't stop it from streaking towards Jaune at an increasing speed. At this rate, its wreckage would still collide with him even if he managed to kill it with a third salvo.

Jaune threw his gun down and deployed the retractable blast shield he carried in his armor, planted it into the ground and braced for the inevitable impact. The ground shook, and he heard the Heavy Floater collide, but Jaune didn't feel himself thrown back thirty yards like he expected. The hunter looked up over his shield and saw the towering figure of Yang's MEC standing protectively over him, its frame wreathed in tell-tale glow of its pilot's Aura. The smoldering wreckage of the Heavy Floater lay at her feet, and Jaune sighed. Once again, somebody else needed to bail him out.

"You okay, Jaune?" Yang asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Jaune assured as he grabbed his gun and checked to make sure he didn't damage it, "Even if you didn't step in and block it, I'm pretty good at taking hits." He slid the Dragon's power source back into place while Yang stomped off to help Weiss and muttered, "It's all I'm good at, apparently."

"Jaune." The Gunner froze at the quiet sound of Pyrrha's voice, loud enough for only him to hear, "You know that's not true. If the enemy was easy to kill, XCOM would have already won this war."

"And yet you make the killing look easy." Jaune countered. He didn't blame her for being naturally talented at XCOM's style of combat, but he couldn't help but feel jealous. When they found out that the situation on Earth would require a drastic change in tactics from what they were used to on Remnant, Jaune hoped it would be his chance to prove himself. Even if he wasn't the best hunter at Beacon (or even a good one), he thought he could train himself hard enough to be a worthy XCOM operative. Evidently not. Even countless nights spent at the range to learn how to how to wield his weapon seemed to have little effect.

Before he could get even more upset about the whole situation, Pyrrha gave him a light punch to the shoulder and flashed him a smile, "C'mon, the fight's not over yet. Let's help the team mop up."

The pair rejoined the squad in time to watch Blake charge the last remaining Mutons. Despite the heavy, bulky nature of her equipment, Blake's strikes flowed from one target to the next like water. A rocket punch to the first Muton carried through into a backhand strike for the second before Blake used her back-mounted drifter jets to rapidly close on the third. A multi-ton shoulder check crushed the Muton into a tree, and Weiss finished the engagement by paralyzing Blake's second target with a charge from her shotgun-mounted arc thrower.

The members of Strike Eight took a moment to catch their breath after the fighting ceased, checking their weapons for damage and counting their supply of spare ammunition. Nora entertained herself by trying to balance a grenade on her nose. Jaune gave Ren a curious look, which Ren returned with a helpless shrug.

After a minute of letting her team finish up their respective weapons checks, Ruby stood up and addressed the squad, "Alright, everybody good? We've still got the command group inside the UFO, and possibly another patrol or two to deal with. Two, how's your armor holding up?"

"Fine. Those Heavies hit hard, but it's nothing an application of sealant couldn't fix. Shen'll have to take a look at it when we get back, but it'll hold up until then."

"Good. Four, still got some explosives left?"

Yang, who took her helmet off to catch some fresh air while the team rested, winked at Ruby, "You know it, boss!"

"Five, how's that gun working out?"

Jaune jumped slightly, not expecting Ruby's question, "Oh! Uh, working great, Actual. Just, um, working out the last few kinks with it."

"Good, switch out the Flak Ammunition for AP, since we probably won't have any fliers once we head inside. Six, having fun with those grenades?"

Nora, who switched from balancing one on her nose to organizing them on her bandolier, gave Ruby two thumbs up, "Yep! They're not like Magnhild's dust grenades, but they still explode real nice."

Ruby chuckled, "Alright. Well, make sure you have them ready for our guests when the shooting starts. Eight, how's our medical supply looking?"

"I've got two more uses before the kit's dry." Ren answered, "Still have that experimental adrenaline boost, too."

"That'll be more than enough. Okay, so we're going to try and pull something clever with the command pod. Three and Four, I want you to prep a breach from two directions. Three, you'll come down from above while Four opens up a hole from the outside. Six and Eight, you're up with Three on the roof to get a superior vantage point for your explosives grenades. Eight, lead off with a Flashbang the moment Three drops in. Six, try to Chem as much of the alien squad as possible."

"Aye aye!" Nora answered with a salute, "Poisoning is pretty much the same as leg breaking, anyway."

Ren simply nodded and double-checked the functionality of his Flashbang.

"Two and Seven, you're with Four. Two charges in to support the MEC crash while Seven provides covering fire from the makeshift doorway."

"Got it."

"Five, you're with me. After going in hard and fast, Three will determine if the team needs to pull out and draw the leftovers right into our firing lane. Any questions? … Good, let's move."

Jaune jogged up to Ruby and followed her to the Lieutenant's chosen vantage point for their fire support nest. While Ruby optimized her scope to match their target distance, Jaune unpacked the modified Alloy Bipod attached to his LMG.

"How're you holding up, Jaune? I remember my first few weeks with XCOM were pretty rough, so I just want to make sure you're having an easier time of adjusting than I did."

"I'm… okay. I guess."

Ruby cast a sideways glance at her friend, "Still beating yourself up over that Heavy Floater?"

The young hunter sighed, "I was actually excited when my team first came through the portal: we finally got the chance to regroup with you guys and do something about your mysterious disappearance, and then we find out that you've been in a war that is fought in a completely different way than Remnant hunters are accustomed to. I thought, 'This is it! This is my chance to prove myself and show that I'm a capable fighter!' " Jaune looked down at his deployed Plasma Dragon and resisted the urge to kick it, "But as it turns out, I'm pretty useless at fighting even without my Aura."

Ruby nodded compassionately, "I can see where you're coming from, Jaune, but I disagree completely."

"But I couldn't even hit-!"

Ruby jammed a finger up to Jaune's lips, "Shush! Your commanding officer is speaking!" She gave her friend a wink before continuing, "There are hunters-in-training that are naturally talented, sure, but that alone doesn't make them good. Look at Cardin. Big guy, knows how to swing a mace, and has pretty decent control over his Aura."

Jaune started counting on his own fingers, "He's also rich, good looking, has lots of friends and connections..."

"He's cocky, Jaune." Ruby continued, lightly smacking her friend upside the head for his wisecrack, "He knows he has talent, so he never works hard at pushing himself further. He has no desire to coordinate his team, and he just relies on his reputation as a fighter and a bully to get what he wants." She poked Jaune in the chest, "You, on the other hand, are familiar with failure, and have made the decision to rise up and challenge yourself to overcome it. I've looked at the logs in the Armory," she said in a teasingly accusatory tone, "I'm amazed that you're even able to function during the day, given how late into the night you stay at the range."

"Yeah, well… I'm trying to prove that I can be as good a fighter as my teammates." Jaune grumbled, "I feel like I owe Pyrrha at least that much, given how much effort she's put into helping me."

Ruby made an on-the-spot decision to shelve that conversation for a better time before continuing, "And that's exactly what makes you a good soldier, Jaune. You want to prove yourself, because you're determined to be an asset to your team. That level of resolve is your greatest trait, and it's no less important than being able to swing a sword or shoot a gun." Ruby stopped herself for a moment to check on the progress of the rest of Strike Eight. Their efforts to move quietly slowed down progress considerably, and so Ruby determined she had another minute or so to finish up her little pep talk with Jaune.

"When I was promoted to Lieutenant, Bradford made it a requirement that I attend some lectures at the Officer Training School. One of the concepts the instructors talked about was 'Fortiores Una,' or 'Stronger Together.' The most obvious interpretation is to stick close to your squad, or you'll be plasma fodder."

Ruby laughed. After fighting for so long against a dangerous and overwhelming force, she learned learned to appreciate the necessity of dark humor to stay sane in a line of work like XCOM's, "But the more subtle interpretation is that every soldier has a role, and they all need to come together to form a cohesive squad. If I wanted you for your skills as a marksman, I'd have suggested to Bradford that you be promoted as an Infantryman or Sniper. Play to your strengths, and let the rest of us cover your weaknesses."

"I… Thanks, Ruby." Jaune replied.

"No problem." Ruby keyed her mic, "Everybody in position?"

"Roof team is standing by."

"Ground team is ready to make an entrance!"

"Good. On my mark, I want both MECs to punch a hole simultaneously. Three, drop down and let the grenadiers deliver their payload before engaging alongside Two and Four. After ten seconds, I want Three to make the call whether or not both teams need to pull out through the ground opening and draw the contacts into view of my killzone. Ready… Mark."

Ruby watched as Blake and Yang fired up their Kinetic Strike Modules and punched through the thin exterior of the alien craft. She heard Blake land inside the room, and saw a bright flash through Yang's doorway as Ren's grenade detonated. The ground team disappeared into the room, and Ruby waited for her squad to wreak havoc and retreat. As she did her best to observe the pitched fighting through her scope, she felt a strange presence in her mind.

The New One arrives with its kin, as we have anticipated.

Ruby snapped her head around, trying to see where the voice came from.

"You okay, Ruby?" Jaune asked, concern etched onto his features.

We took notice of the youngling the first time it stepped onto the battlefield, but our ambassador lacked… finesse.

The chatter over the comms did nothing to lessen Ruby's concerns, "What the hell is that?"

"You guys have been here for months, you tell us!"

As time pressed on, The New One assisted our foes in ways previously thought impossible. Time and again, our forces were bested by this new candidate and its pack.

"IT SHOT MY PARTICLE BEAM BACK AT ME. HOW DID IT SHOOT MY PARTICLE BEAM BACK AT ME?"

"Boss, we got problems in here!"

While the Earth Breed still shows promise, we have come to the conclusion that a more… direct approach is necessary to determine if The New One might provide a suitable alternative should the worst come to pass. Where our subordinates failed, we shall succeed.

"Get out of my head!" Ruby cried out, causing a started Jaune to jump back. Still, the leader of JNPR had enough situational awareness to understand that Ruby's current state prevented her from commanding. He keyed his comm and spoke to the rest of Strike Eight, "Ground team, pull out now. Grenadiers, try to leave a few packages for the chasers, but don't expose yourselves."

The raiding party didn't bother to ask why Jaune suddenly decided to start giving the orders, nor did they need to be told twice to bug out. Yang came barreling out of the makeshift doorway first, blowing by Pyrrha and looping around to find some cover large enough to hide a MEC. Jaune saw Weiss hanging off of an extruding handlebar on Yang's back before turning his attention back to the doorway. Blake dashed out next, her primary weapon locked firmly on her back so that she could scoop up Pyrrha with both hands and dash with her to safety.

What ran out next was the thing that apparently spooked Jaune's teammates. Or rather, Jaune realized that the more appropriate description would be to say that it floated out. It's head shielded by an ornate helmet, and it's thin frame concealed by a long, red cloak, the being emitted an aura of immense power. Jaune watched as it cast its gaze (at least he assumed so: the large helmet hid the creatures eyes from view) on Ruby, who still looked uncharacteristically terrified of something. Purple tendrils slowly snaked from the creature towards his friend, who visibly recoiled once the undulating wisps made contact.

"… Ruby?"

Jaune watched his friend open her eyes. Where he expected the usual silver color, however, Jaune only saw a radiating purple. Without a word, she snapped her rifle to her face and lined up a shot. The creature didn't seem to be the target, however, because Ruby definitely wasn't pointing her rifle at his big, stupid, helmet.

Jaune's heart stopped when he saw Ruby take aim at Nora.

"Ruby, no!" Jaune crashed into Ruby a fraction of a second before she pulled the trigger. Her plasma round streaked through the air and punched through Nora's shoulder armor. The Engineer yelped and dropped to her knees from the pain, unused to the sensation of taking damage without the safety of her Aura. Yang let out a guttural cry, and launched herself at the alien who forced Ruby to shoot her own friend. A thin, pale arm shot out from beneath the red cloak, and a wailing cyclone of psychic energy rushed into existence. Yang got caught in the deadly rift, and felt the mental weight of the assault wreak havoc on her mind.

"Eight!" Jaune growled through his mic, "Get Six patched up. Two and Three, stay out of that vortex, but try to flank the contact. Seven, keep firing. We need to figure out just how many shots it can deflect."

He looked down at the sprawled figure of Ruby before him, her eyes still purple from the psychic connection. Once she managed to recover from the Jaune-induced concussion, the Sniper let out a low growl and pulled her sidearm off her hip, hitting a switch to morph it into a sturdy knife. Jaune, alarmed by Ruby's apparent intentions, backed up slowly, "Ruby… what are you doing? This isn't you, and you know it."

The leader of Strike Eight lunged at Jaune, who barely had enough time to deploy the blast shield on his forearm to deflect the attack. Despite Ruby's smaller frame, Jaune still staggered back from the force of her assault.

"Seven… how much progress are we making with our guest?" Jaune asked, his eyes remaining firmly locked on Ruby.

"Its deflection is extremely impressive, though not perfect. I've managed to score a few hits, but they were all glancing blows. This thing is a lot tougher than it looks."

"Keep trying. It's got some sort of psychic hold over the Lieutenant." He managed to let out a small chuckle, "At least she's only bringing a knife to a gun fight."

The dark comedy of Jaune's situation vanished almost immediately when Ruby pressed a button on her knife that opened a small vent at the base of the blade. A second later, burning plasma started to wash over the business end of her dagger, and Jaune swallowed hard, "Faster would be better, Pyrrha!"

Again, Ruby lunged at Jaune, and he pivoted out of her way while using his shield to redirect her knife once more. His eyes widened when the plasma blade punched through his shield, the plasma hissing dangerously as it cut away at the hardened alloys. Ruby yanked her knife free, and a good chunk of Jaune's shield came with it. He let out a deep breath and tried to remember Pyrrha's training, wracking his brain for an exploitable advantage.

His opponent possessed great skill in melee combat, so Jaune had to find a different way to beat her. Hopefully the psychic link between the alien and Ruby dulled her senses a little bit, as even a slight drop in skill could drastically improve Jaune's chances at survival. He thought back to when he first shoulder-checked her, and remembered that it proved rather effective against Ruby's lighter mass. She'd probably be expecting a similar attempt now, but Jaune figured he still had a size advantage working for him even without the element of surprise.

Ruby launched herself at Jaune, her plasma knife outstretched and ready to punch another hole in Jaune's armor. Before she could reach him, however, Jaune dropped to his hip and used his shield to shove Ruby over his body and send her tumbling to the ground behind him. He quickly recovered from his feint, grabbed some dirt in his hand as he stood up, and threw it into Ruby's face once she turned to attack him again. The distraction lasted long enough for Jaune to get in close and use his shield like a battering ram, and he smashed his armor into Ruby's head, once again sending the smaller huntress sprawled across the ground. When her eyes finally opened, Jaune finally saw the familiar silver irises roll into place.

"You're back," He said, relief flooding his voice.

"My head really hurts, Jaune," Ruby chided, a smirk growing on her face, "But thank you." She let Jaune pull her to her feet and keyed her mic.

"Two and Three, activate your Aura modules, and go in hard and fast." She paused a moment to rub her head and blink a few times. Jaune didn't know whether his actions or the alien's did more to discombobulate Ruby, "Seven, get to Four and shoot her up with your medkit. Eight, now might be a good time to try out that stimpack."

"It should stop shock from setting in." Ren agreed.

"Good. Six, I think we could use a little Magnhild magic to distract this guy while Two and Three move in for the kill."

"With pleasure." Ruby could practically feel the sadism over the comm as Nora spoke. Judging by her tone, Ruby's shoulder blow didn't cause any serious damage, much to the Sniper's relief.

"Let's deal with this jerk and go home, guys."

The hunters hit their Aura modules and leapt into action. Nora pulled her grenade launcher off her back and fired Dust-infused explosives at the mysterious alien. It raised its hands up to telekinetically blocked the grenades, but Nora's rounds still exploded into clouds of obscuring pink mist around her target. The psionic rift locking down Yang finally subsided, and both Ren and Pyrrha raced to her aid. Pyrrha magnetically pulled herself up to Yang's 'cockpit,' granting herself a better vantage point to apply the contents of her medkit. The applicator end of Ren's medkit flipped to reveal a syringe, and Ren performed an Aura-assisted leap to join Pyrrha atop Yang's MEC. He jammed the needle into Yang's neck and discharged the serum into her bloodstream.

With the combined effort of both soldiers, Yang snapped out of her dazed state and protectively put herself between the alien and her JNPR friends. She put away her gun and extended the mobile defensive cover stored on her arm. The additional reinforcements from her suit's Juggernaut armor allowed Yang to strengthen the deployed fortification, and the cover easily concealed all three operatives while they waited for their squadmates to deal with the threat. On the other side of the engagement, Weiss pulled out Myrtenaster while Blake held her gun in one hand. With a flick of the MEC's wrist, Blake watched as the weapon's muzzle retracted and a segmented blade extended from the newly-formed cavity. It didn't hold a candle to Gambol Shroud, but at least the feel of a sword in her hand helped Blake remember the small things in life, like the satisfaction of carving the alien before her into little ribbons.

A field of ice shot up from beneath the alien, freezing around its robes and trapping it in place. A lance of psychic energy shot out from its hand at Blake, but she seemingly displaced herself, leaving a shadow of the MEC to eat the bolt instead while she and Weiss continued to charge. Two more lances erupted from the aliens palms, and Weiss gritted her teeth as one struck her in the chest. Blake briefly hesitated when a third arm came out from beneath the robes to cast the lance, but the shock left as quickly as it came: why would aliens be bound to the two-arms rule that defined humans and faunus? Blake resumed her charge, shadowstepping away from the psychic bolts while Weiss broke off to try and flank the alien's side.

Ruby found a smile growing on her face when she saw Blake field test her newest piece of hardware. Originally an idea spawned by Vahlen, it employed a combination of XCOM's mimic technology and Blake's trademark semblance. When she first became a MEC, Blake quickly discovered that her semblance had become rather dysfunctional. Even with Vahlen's MEC-supported suppressor module, Blake seemed to only be capable of creating a copy of her biological body while dodging. While Blake seemed to shrug it off when talking with her friends and teammates, Ruby could tell that the 'loss' of her semblance demoralized Blake deeply. Yang further confirmed Ruby's suspicions after having a private heart-to-heart with her partner about it. With guilt weighing heavily on her mind, Ruby approached Vahlen with the problem for ideas, and the Doctor thankfully had an answer.

Ruby watched Blake shadowstep once again. Closer observation confirmed that the activated semblance only replicated her friend's head and torso, but Vahlen's solution capitalized on the evanescent characteristic of Blake's 'clone.' By mounting some specialized hardware on the MEC, the suit could project a holographic afterimage that persisted with Blake's shadow. The fact that her clones appeared as static images only served to make the feint easier to pull off. The alignment wasn't perfect, but Blake's target would ideally be dead long before it had a chance to critique her on the inconsistency of her semblance projection.

With twenty feet between Blake's Vanguard and the alien, Blake launched into an aura-assisted leap, raised her sword above her head, and brought it down hard on her foe. A fourth hand came from beneath the robes to help the other three to block the deadly blade, but with the alien's full attention on Blake, it didn't notice Weiss charging in from the side with Myrtenaster outstretched. The rapier pierced clean through the alien's ribs, and the creature let out an ear-splitting shriek from the pain. Blake seized the opportunity offered by Weiss's distraction and vanished once more to deftly sidestep around the alien before bringing her sword up to cleanly decapitate the alien. As its life force vanished, the alien seemed to dissolve into particles of pure psychic energy, leaving nothing but bloodied robes and an ornate helmet behind.

Silence returned to the battlefield, save for Weiss's heavy panting.

"You know," she managed to say between gasps, "I kinda liked it better when the aliens didn't have bullshit powers."

Ruby chuckled at Weiss's complaint, "That's funny, because I'd bet the aliens thought the exact same thing the first time we deployed Vahlen's Aura module. Let's call it a day and head back to the lounge. I could probably use an ice pack and a drink."