A/N: So, I had some trouble fitting my head through doorways this past week after all of your wonderful flooded my inbox. Seriously, it's an awesome feeling knowing that so many people enjoyed reading my work as much as I did writing it.

Regarding the epilogue, the word count on this thing kinda slipped away from me somehow. I figured it'd only be 4000 words or so, and then it just... doubled. Anyway, it's probably a bit rough around the edges since my editor and I were a little too busy to give it a solid editorial pass, but I think that actually fits with the chapter's theme: kicking back and relaxing for some good-natured fun after the hard stuff is over.

"Guys, hurry up! Bradford's waiting for us!"

"Sorry! Nora almost burned down the barracks while wrapping her gift. She apparently thought that lighting the wrapping paper on fire would 'enhance the presentation.' "

"I didn't hear you telling me I'm wrong, Pyrrha!"

Weiss sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose, "Yeah, well… I doubt she could've made the barracks look any worse compared to what the aliens did to them. C'mon, let's go. And put these on. Ruby wants us all to wear them for the exchange."

JNPR took the proffered hats from Weiss and followed her out of the barracks hall and towards Mission Control. Even months after the war came to its dramatic conclusion, the place still looked like a mess. Jaune picked his way around piles of scrap metal and boxes stacked to the ceiling. Shen's engineering crews repaired the damages enough to make the anthill livable, but they had other priorities that required their attention once they finished literally putting out all the fires at HQ.

After all, an alien mothership doesn't exactly fly itself.

"Hey Weiss, do you know if Annette managed to get permission for time off the ship to come down for our little event?" Jaune asked.

"I think so." Weiss answered, "That's what Ruby said, anyway. If anything, she probably could just park the ship somewhere and turn it off for a bit so that the technicians can safely poke around inside."

After Annette managed to stabilize the ship, Bradford quickly learned that XCOM's latest piece of 'salvage' was a double-edged sword. Even though the amount of resources gained from the completely intact ship was staggering, its acquisition also landed Bradford in the middle of the largest political headache of his career. Almost overnight, the nations of Earth went from lauding XCOM as 'humanity's first, last, and only line of defense,' to demanding heavy regulations and restrictions be placed on the paramilitary group to 'ensure the safety of mankind.' Evidently, the leaders of the world forgot just how much Bradford's organization sacrificed to save the Earth, because they were now afraid he'd be the one to start pointing the damn ship's guns at his fellow man. The only thing still keeping the world's governments off his back was the fact that Bradford had begun to use XCOM's resources and strike teams to hunt down reported Grimm appearances while Vahlen continued to develop a more permanent solution. Ruby offered to help Bradford with the politics and paperwork, but her friend was adamant that his guests from Remnant take some time to enjoy Earth's peacetime luxuries while research continued on the Hyperwave Relay.

During this entire ordeal, Bradford needed Annette to remain on the ship and pilot it while he wrangled with the politicians about what to actually do with regards to the giant hunk of metal. Nobody else's psychic aptitude came even close to Annette's, and so she had to remain permanently on site to ensure no future catastrophic failures could occur. Fortunately, the ship didn't require guidance twenty-four hours a day. The abrupt, violent severance of the Uber Ethereal's link to the ship is what ignited the engine core's failure, rather than a momentary lapse of a pilot at the metaphorical helm. As a result, the Major had plenty of time to rest and explore the ship at her leisure while XCOM's engineers and scientists came aboard to study the mechanical marvel and set up shop. For the most part, she kept the ship cloaked so that it remained out of sight (and ideally out of mind) for the people down below.

"So why did the Brad Man want to meet up at the anthill?" Nora asked as she cheerfully skipped along with a wrapped box strapped to her back, "Couldn't we just do this on his awesome, super-secret flying spaceship?"

Pyrrha giggled, "If I had to guess, the Central Officer is a sentimental man. We've made far more memories in this base than on the Temple Ship, and so for a sentimental holiday…"

"That, and there is a skeleton crew that still runs the base." Weiss added, "He wants to make sure that they don't feel forgotten, because they're still doing very important work down here."

The five hunters reached Mission Control, and Jaune stood there in shock. The place looked nothing like it used to, what with all the lights, ribbons, and ornaments streaming across the room. A giant holographic tree lazily rotated in place of the hologlobe, and a particularly enterprising engineer rigged up a few devices to spit little bits of foam high into the air and give the impression of snow falling on all of the room's cheerful occupants. A table full of food stood against the back wall, and base technicians and operatives stood around chatting idly and enjoying some holiday refreshments.

"Ruby!" Nora shouted upon spotting her friend, and the rest of JNPR could only watch as the surprised Captain caught a face full of Nora as the energetic red-head tackled her into a hug. Yang immediately took the opportunity to turn it into a group hug.

"Hey, Nora!" Ruby greeted as she feebly tried to return the hug, "Did you and -ooph!- Ren enjoy China?"

"Yup! Ren enjoyed all the boring stuff like meditating at monasteries and temples while went off and explored all the cool stuff!" She whispered conspiratorially into Ruby's ear, "Their big ol' wall is a really fun way to practice climbing."

"I'm surprised that you didn't get caught." Blake commented with a hint of amusement.

"Oh she did." Ren answered nonchalantly, "But Sergeant Gao offered to accompany us and act as a tour guide of sorts, and he was rather… proficient at convincing the local police that detaining Nora wasn't worth their time.

Yang snickered, "I'll bet it was something along the lines of 'people like us have ways of making people like you disappear.'" Before Ren could open his mouth to protest, Yang turned to Pyrrha, mischief still shining in her eyes, "Soooooo Pyrrha. How was the Mediterranean cruise with our resident knight? Everything you thought it would be?" She added, waggling her eyebrows.

Pyrrha smiled, pretending to be oblivious to Yang's overtones, "Oh yes! I have to admit, I didn't quite believe everyone at XCOM who said my attire reminded them of the Greeks and Romans of old, but I couldn't deny it once I saw the sculptures and ruins for myself. It really was quite fascinating."

"And the food tasted a lot like the home-cooked Mistrali cuisine that Pyrrha sometimes makes for our team when she's in a particularly good mood." Jaune added, "I wouldn't mind spending more time over there someday."

"You guys are no fun." Yang sighed.

The group continued to talk about their respective vacations that occupied their time over the last three months. Annette demanded that Ruby and Weiss go with her on a trip to France as their first tour of what Earth had to offer, so the partners had little choice but to stay with the Major on the Temple Ship and visit her homeland for a month before deciding where else they wanted to go and explore. The other hunters had similar offers from other operatives and technicians eager to show off their own culturally-rich nations to the heroes from Remnant. MacAuley took Jaune and Pyrrha to Ireland while Beagle happily played host to Nora and Ren in Australia. Blake gave in to peer pressure from the technicians at the anthill (and Yang) and agreed to visit Japan.

"You weren't kidding when you said she'd be popular there." Yang said, "Blake wanted to keep a low profile, so we kept her ears under wraps, but I'm positive she could have gotten us free drinks literally everywhere we went."

"Which is why I didn't want to do it." Blake added with an eyeroll, "I wanted to see these countries as they really are. Locals will only show VIPs what they believe to be the 'best' they have to offer, which isn't necessarily in line with what I think is the correct answer to that question."

"Spoil sport." Yang said, though her smile indicated that she still had a blast traveling with her partner.

The music gently playing in the background stopped, and the sound of Bradford clearing his voice caused everyone to turn their heads to see the man standing on his usual podium in front of the Holotree. He wore his familiar attire, though a Santa hat covered his clean-shaven hair. Bradford tapped the microphone he held in his hand to ensure that it worked before he began to speak.

"Now that we're all here, I thought I might say a few words before you all get back to your own conversations and gatherings." He glanced around at all the faces waiting expectantly for him to continue, "First, let me say that I am immensely grateful for your continued dedication to the XCOM project. Though the war is over, there is still a great deal of work that needs to be done. Even if the politicians of the world may not appreciate your efforts, know that there are far more people who do.

"Second, seeing as it is four days until Christmas, I don't want to see a single soul still working at the anthill come tomorrow morning. This is our first real holiday since the aliens attacked, and it's about time that you people start cashing in on your well-deserved vacation days." Laughter rippled through the audience, "But seriously, there is a sheet on the table in the back next to the punch, and I want all of you to sign in and list where you'd like to get dropped off for the end-of-year festivities. Even if you have no family you'd like to visit, think of someplace you've always wanted to go. I will work with Major Durand, and we'll get you all transported to your destinations via Temple Ship by no later than the 23rd."

A small applause broke out, and Bradford patiently waited for the noise to die down once more, "Look around you. Each and every one of you here tonight served a vital role in the defense of Earth. Nobody can ever take that away from you, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to get to know you all over the past two years. While the invasion was an absolute tragedy, humanity rose up to the challenge and succeeded in spite of the odds. We will remember those who are no longer with us so that we may be with our loved ones this season, but we will also honor them by continuing to move forward as a unified species and striving to be a positive force on this little blue and green rock that we call our home. Happy holidays everyone. I look forward to seeing you all in the new year."

"A toast to Bradford!" Van Doorn's voice boomed across the room, "To the man with the plan, who never stopped believing in us. May his green sweater vest never fade."

An amused cheer rippled across the guests, who all raised their cups to the Field Commander's toast. The music returned shortly thereafter, and everyone resumed their previous conversations before Bradford's little speech. Ruby waved as the Central Officer walked over to the group of hunters.

"Bradford! It's good to see you again!"

Bradford gave Ruby a pat on the head and returned her smile, "You too, kiddo. Glad you all could make it."

Yang snorted, "As if anything could stop us from coming. Especially when you decided to make an event out of it by suggesting a gift exchange. When's that going down, by the way?"

"Once the party's died down a little bit, and once Annette is able to arrive. She's double-checking to make sure the ship won't combust on its own if she leaves it for five minutes." Bradford joked, "But it should only be an hour or two before she's all done. In the meantime, why don't we grab some food and have a seat in the conference room? You've probably talked to each other about the past three months, but I'd love to hear about it myself."

"… So imagine my surprise when I find out that, while I feel right at home on a boat, Pyrrha has to spend most of her time with a small bucket in her lap." Jaune chuckled, "It was my turn to pay her back for all of the comforting neck rubs she gave me during our rides on the Skyranger."

"'She' is sitting right next to you, Jaune." Pyrrha said glumly, "I still feel awful knowing that I ruined the part of the trip you were looking forward to the most."

"If I had to guess, Pyrrha, just cruising the Grecian islands with you was more than enough to make the trip everything Jaune wanted." Bradford said, hiding a smirk as his comment elicited a look of embarrassment from the two partners.

A knock on the door spared the two hunters from further humiliation, and a familiar face peeked into the room.

"Annette!" Ruby exclaimed, "You made it!"

"I did." The operative answered with a smile.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Ruby asked crossly, tapping a finger to her head.

Annette laughed, "Because that would spoil the surprise." She nodded at Bradford, "I've also brought Vahlen and Shen with me. How's the party so far?"

"Better now that you're all here. Shall I round up the rest?" Bradford asked.

Van Doorn entered the room behind Annette,"Already done, sir." He looked completely ridiculous wearing a bright red onesie, a red Santa hat, and a fake beard while carrying a red velvet sack slung over his shoulder.

"Santa's here!" Ruby cried, "Man, you guys have the best holidays on Earth. I wish we had an excuse for an old man to run around throwing presents at kids."

"And I suppose in your version of Christmas, all the kids have to wear a full set of hockey pads to avoid getting knocked the fuck out by St. Nick?" Beagle asked as he stepped in after van Doorn, followed by the two lead scientists, MacAuley, and Penny in her HoverSHIV chassis.

"Well, that's everyone." Bradford observed, "Shall we get started?"

Annette sat down and rubbed her hands together with excitement, "Lets! I've been stuck on that damn ship for too long without spending any quality time with you guys, so let's get to it."

The rest of the newcomers took seats around the table while 'Santa' started pulling out packages and handing them to their respective recipients (or propping them against the wall if the gift was too big to lay on the table). Weiss talked animatedly with Vahlen while van Doorn worked and Ruby did the same with Shen. Beagle, MacAuley, and Jaune started conspiring about… something in their corner of the room.

"I hope you've been remembering to take occasional breaks from your work, Doctor." Weiss asked Vahlen.

"Yes, but there's much to be gained from the craft's databases, and a shocking amount of information regarding the Grimm. From what my team has been able to translate so far, there's a direct connection between the strength of the Grimm's essence and the soul force of its host. I've managed to run a few early tests that corroborate this, and it seems that the weaker the soul of the base biological matter, the stronger the resultant Grimm becomes. A minimum level of sustenance is required for the Grimm, of course, but anything stronger, and the energy attempts to repel the parasitic invader. When I cross-referenced this with some of my prior-"

"Doctor, this is not the answer I was hoping for." Weiss said with a sigh.

"So how much cool tech have you found on the Temple Ship? Anything that I can play with? How does something that big stay in the air? Oh, and the cloaking! Is it like what we did with the Shadow Armor?"

"Lots, some, not sure yet, and not sure yet." Shen answered with a laugh, "It's good to see you too, Ruby."

"Hello Penny." Pyrrha greeted cheerfully, "Have you been enjoying yourself acting as Annette's Second-in-Command and Robotic Liaison?"

"Hello, Pyrrha! Yes, I'm having a great time assisting Major Durand and keeping Gidjit company. He has proved to be a useful addition to the crew of the Temple Ship, and I think Dr. Shen wouldn't mind me saying that much of what we've learned about the ship's tech has been thanks to Gidjit's ability to access the alien databases and ship logs."

Pyrrha smiled, "That sounds wonderful. I'm glad you've been enjoying yourself."

"Indeed! It would have been nice to join in on some of your travels, but I don't have a humanoid hardware frame here like I do on Remnant, and a SHIV would raise too many questions in public."

"You'll get the chance someday, Penny."

"Alright, everyone!" Bradford said, cutting off all the small talk, "Van Doorn has finished passing out the gifts, so I think it's time for us to begin. If you don't mind, I have a small favor to ask: I would like for our friends from Remnant to save their gifts for last. I'll explain why when we get to that point, but for now… who would like to go first?"

"I would like Dr. Vahlen to go first." Pyrrha announced, "The eight of us agreed that the fairest way to determine who got each gift was to randomly assign them."

"So basically you used the Secret Santa method." Beagle observed.

Pyrrha gave the Colonel a confused look, "I… suppose? In any case, I was chosen as Vahlen's gift giver. Doctor?"

Vahlen smiled at Pyrrha before she turned her attention to the carefully-wrapped box in front of her. With surgical precision, she undid the wrapping, cut open the cardboard box within, and found herself holding a pair of ice skates.

"I had Blake covertly determine your shoe size for me." Pyrrha admitted, "But I picked them up while Jaune and I visited Canada."

"The land of your people: excessively polite and always happy to give an apology where none is needed." Beagle commented.

Pyrrha blinked, "I'm sorry?"

The huntresses unintentional response elicited a chuckle from most of the XCOM staff, though Pyrrha noticed that Vahlen's attention remained completely transfixed on the skates, "… Do you like them? The gentleman who helped us assured me that these were the best skates for a beginner, so I-"

"They're wonderful." Vahlen said, finally pulling her eyes away from the gift to look at Pyrrha, "Thank you."

After Vahlen spent a few more moments examining her new footwear, she remembered that there were still a lot of gifts to get through, "Ray? Would you like to go next?"

Dr. Shen nodded and grabbed the box in front of him, holding his ear up to the wrapping and giving it a shake, "Hmm… it's not too heavy. Feels like an aluminum tin, but I can't figure out what's inside."

Quickly admitting defeat, he unwrapped the box and pulled the lid off of the tin. After taking an initial glance at the contents, a wide grin spread across his face, "Which one of you was the thoughtful soul who gave me a box full of tea leaves?"

Blake raised her hand, "That would be me. While Yang was busy sampling all of the international alcohol wherever we went, I made a point of building a personal supply of tea." She gestured towards the tin in Shen's hands, "You can imagine my amusement when I was selected to be your…" Blake glanced at Beagle, "Secret Santa."

"Well if you ever find yourself aboard the Temple Ship, Miss Belladonna, feel free to stop by my office and share a cup with me." He looked over all the different flavors Blake managed to pack into the container, "I know I've always said I'm a Jasmine man, but some of these flavors… well, they might be giving my go-to flavor a run for its money."

"Beags?" Bradford said, glancing at the Captain, "Want to go next?"

Beagle shrugged, pulled his legs off the table, and picked up his gift. Unlike the first two, it was small enough for him to easily grab in one hand, and he turned it around curiously in his hand, "Well, experience has taught me that unless you're talking about rockets, size isn't everything. Call me optimistic, but I got a good feeling about this one."

He unwrapped the gift and pulled out a small bag that contained a pair of aviators, "Alright who-" He looked up to see Yang, her feet kicked up on the table and a matching pair of sunglasses resting neatly on the bridge of her nose.

Beagle nodded, put his new shades on, and assumed a matching position, "Fuck. Yeah." Without breaking eye contact with Yang, he nudged MacAuley sitting next to him, "You're up, buddy."

MacAuley nodded and opened up his gift, revealing a deck of cards. Upon closer inspection, he noticed something peculiar about the deck..

"Tarot cards?" He asked, looking around in mild confusion, "Who the fuck takes me for a superstitious fortune teller?"

"Well, not a superstitious fortune teller, per se…" Jaune said, "But a damn good story teller. My family had a deck like this back on Remnant, and my sisters and I would sit around in a circle and use them to invent a fictional story. We'd take turns drawing cards and use the content of our draw to build upon what was already said."

He grabbed the deck form MacAuley and pulled out the cards, flipping through the various pictures and words on them, "I was pretty surprised when Pyrrha and I found a shop that sold these. A lot of the cards are different from what I'm used to, but the idea looks like it's pretty well intact." Jaune handed the cards back to MacAuley with a smile, "You're a pretty good storyteller, Mac. I wanted to get you something that complemented that."

"Thanks, buddy." MacAuley shared a fist bump with Jaune, before turning back to the rest of the group, "Alright, who's next?"

"I'll go." Van Doorn, volunteered, picking up the biggest package in the room and placing it on the table in front of him, "I've been wondering about this one ever since I pulled it out of the sack."

"Well, I saw Nora carrying it on her way over from the barracks, so I'd be careful when opening it." Weiss warned.

The Field Commander chuckled before nodding, "Noted. Now let's see what the fuss is all abou-…. Whoa."

He pulled away the wrapping paper to reveal a very large rocket, the body of which boasted an extremely vibrant red, white, and blue design with the words "THE DOORNINATOR" stamped along the length. Van Doorn poked a small mechanism towards the nose, and several hatches slid open to reveal tube slots that looked like they were each designed to house a shotgun slug.

"My first guess for this would have been Miss Xiao Long, but seeing as she already gave Beagle a pair of sweet shades, I can only assume it was-"

Maniacal laughter cut off the Field Commander as Nora leapt up on her chair, hands on her hips with her head thrown back, "You expected a gift from RWBY's resident pyro…" She grinned at van Doorn and jerked a thumb at her chest, "BUT IT WAS ME, NORA."

She jumped off and appeared behind van Doorn, her hand on his shoulder, "Behold, The Doorninator! A delivery rocket designed to send specially-manufactured Dust high into the sky before detonating its payload in a magnificent display of heroism and wonder suitable for XCOM's one and only Field Commander!" She waved her hand dramatically before their faces, "All who gaze upon the Doorninator can't help but be struck by a sense of patriotism and pride as they are reminded what it is to be a member of the human race! Vibrant colors of red, green, and orange will light up the night's sky while you, the hero of the people, stand before them: a beacon of hope against all that is evil in the universe!"

"It's also worth mentioning that the rocket is reusable." Ren added, "So all you'll need is a fresh set of Dust cartridges, and you're good to go for another display."

"Renny!" Nora whined, "I was gonna get to thaaaaaat. I just had to finish my dramatic introduction first!"

"And what a fantastic introduction it was." Van Doorn mused, "I feel inspired already. Thank you, Nora. We can talk later about the rocket's specifics, and then send it off on its maiden voyage later tonight." He set the rocket on the floor next to his seat, "For now, we should carry on. Major?"

Without any fuss, Annette unwrapped the small box sitting in front of her to reveal a small display case. On a velvet cloth behind the glass lay a necklace with a pair of entwined, purple circles attached to the end of the gold chain. A look of surprise washed over her face as Annette opened the box and lifted the necklace off of its stand.

"Alright, so the suspects have been narrowed down to Ruby, Weiss, and Ren, so I wanna which one of you-"

"That would be me." Ren answered, a proud smile crossing his lips, "Three months ago, we unlocked your Aura. Without any time to learn how to properly wield it, you managed to channel your newfound force into the Temple Ship and save us all. Couple that with your years of combat training under XCOM, and I think it's safe to say that you're as much a huntress as Nora or Pyrrha.

"One of the most important aspects of society on Remnant is expression." Ren continued, "For example, you may have noticed that all of our names related to a color in some way."

"It… hadn't escaped our notice." Bradford admitted with a smile.

"Another form of expression that is more notable among hunters is a personal symbol. Things like Ruby's red rose, Yang's burning heart, and my pink lotus. I thought that, now you are a huntress as well, it's only fitting that you have a personal symbol of your own." He gestured towards the necklace that Annette still held aloft, "I did my best to come up with a suitable design, and I thought the duality of your psionic and Auric powers would be a good idea.

"Of course, it is a personal symbol, so it would be presumptuous to assume that you would accept this design without question. I made an agreement with the jeweler that crafted the necklace for me, and you have the opportunity to exchange the necklace you are holding for a new one with a design that you feel speaks to you on a deeper level."

"No." Annette answered, "This… this is fantastic. Perfect." She did the clasp in the back and put the necklace on, "Thanks, Ren."

"My pleasure." The young hunter said with a nod before turning to the Central Officer, "Bradford? I believe you're the last one."

Bradford adopted the Dr. Shen method of divination, lifting the package to assess its weight and dimensions in an effort to guess its contents before unwrapping, "Hmmmmm. It feels pretty light, and it's also small. I think it's in a box, though, so it's hard to tell what it is exactly."

"Then why don't you open the damn thing?" Weiss asked with an eye roll.

Bradford cast a sidelong glance at the huntress, "Oh? Someone's impatient for me to open their gift it seems."

"Bradford…"

The Central Officer sighed, "Fiiiiiiiine." He unwrapped the gift and lifted up an ornate pocket watch strung on a metallic chain, "Oh wow."

"I had some help from Ruby with the design." Weiss admitted, "And we may have… ah… borrowed some alien alloys for the chain, but I think you'll like it."

"I like it already." Bradford commented as he set the watch to the match the time on his chronometer.

"Of course, it wouldn't be a gift from Weiss if she didn't add a little something extra." Ruby teased, "Try pressing down on that little knob at the top there."

Bradford did as he was told, and a deep thrum preceded the strange sensation of the whole world slowing around him. He let go of the knob in surprise, and time snapped back to its usual flow. The shock registering on his face told Ruby everything she needed to know, "Pretty cool, huh?"

"What…? How…?"

"Expensively is how. I don't recommend playing with that function willy nilly." Weiss answered, "But the answer to your question is 'a lot of trial and error.' For the man who saved the planet, though? Totally worth it."

Bradford stared at the pocket watch, "This is a very unique gift." He looked up at the two huntresses and smiled, "I'm guessing this is a joint gift from both of you?"

"Yeah." Ruby said, and Bradford noticed that she looked a little bummed, "There's eight of us and only seven of you… I drew the short straw, and tagged along with Weiss instead."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "If I recall, you were ecstatic at the prospect of working with me to find a gift for Bradford. Am I not good enough for you or something?"

"No! No no no, that's not it at all!" Ruby squeaked, waving her hands as if she could blow away Weiss's accusation, "It's just that it seems kind've unfair that they had to get eight gifts and we had to get seven is all."

"Speaking of the eight gifts we had to get..." Bradford said with a wink.

Bradford's save brought a smile to Ruby's face as he preemptively cut off the quarrel between the two huntresses. He nodded to van Doorn, who got up and pulled out the second round of gifts from his Santa sack. As he passed out the wrapped gifts, the Central Officer continued to speak, "Now, you guys may have gone with a Secret Santa method of determining who gave out what, but… we sorta cheated on our end and collaborated on everything."

"… and then asked the two scientists to do all the heavy lifting." Shen added with a chuckle.

"Well, yes…" Bradford admitted, "But there's a good reason for that." He glanced at the rest of the Earth operatives, "Should we go with JNPR or RWBY first?"

Beagle jerked a thumb at Jaune, "JNPR. I wanna see the look on this doofus's face when he opens his gift."

Bradford shrugged, "Works for me. Jaune?"

The youngest Arc glanced warily at Beagle before looking down at the gift in front of him. Rather than leaving his friends hanging in suspense, he set to work tearing away the gift wrapping. When he saw the package's contents, his jaw dropped.

"This is my armor…" He looked at Beagle and saw his friend wearing the biggest shit-eating grin, "What did you attach to my armor?"

"Aww c'mon, kid. You telling me you've never seen a jetpack before?" Beagle laughed.

Jaune turned to look at Dr. Shen, who confirmed Beagle's claim with a nod, "It's modified from our Archangel technology. Beagle, Annette, and the Field Commander all noticed you have a penchant for getting magnetically thrown around the room by your partner." The Chief Engineer smirked when he saw Jaune and Pyrrha trade glances, "These jump jets output a high volume of thrust in the span of a second or two, which should achieve the same effect."

"You're basically an Assault Marine." Beagle explained, "All you need to do now is to attach a chainsaw to your sword, paint your armor blue, and constantly scream about your unwavering loyalty for the Emperor of Mankind."

Jaune stared at his modified armor for another minute before he remembered how to speak, "I'm gonna have to spend some time practicing with these, I think…"

Vahlen cleared her throat, "It should be noted that one of my side projects I have running is finding a way to utilize your Aura as a power source for hardware such as your new jump jets. I haven't quite figured it out yet, but I'd be happy to modify your gift once I crack the code. I assume that having a replenishing supply of energy to power your flight would be preferable to relying on a finite quantity of Elerium fuel."

Bradford nodded, "Indeed, and that statement actually applies to several gifts we have, but in the meantime… Nora?"

With Jaune's gift setting the tone, Nora grinned with anticipation before tearing into her package. Amidst a flurry of ripped wrapping paper, Nora held up her beloved hammer.

"Magnhild!" She cried happily as she looked it over, "Aaaaaaand it's got a big doo-hickey on top."

Dr. Shen chuckled, "That 'doo-hickey' is a modified Kinetic Strike Module, Nora. We noticed that you frequently make… creative use of your grenades to enhance your mobility in combat, but the orientation of the launcher prevents it from acting as an effective force multiplier when you want to actually swing Magnhild at a target."

"So we built a smaller-scale module similar to the ones you've seen employed by our MECs." Vahlen explained, pointed to a small trigger on the hammer's shaft, "Pull this, and it will ignite the Elerium boosters at the top to add a bit of an extra kick when you decide to drop the hammer."

Nora flashed her trademark 'I'm thinking sadistic thoughts right now, and I don't care if people judge me for it' grin, "Perfect…"

"Trying to adapt Aura as a power source for the strike module will likely be… trickier compared to some of the other tech we developed. Still, we'll see what we can do, and Elerium remains as an effective power source in the meantime." Shen added.

"Alright, Pyrrha." Jaune said, hoping to calm Nora down by steering the focus away from her new toy, "Looks like you're up."

With much more grace and poise than her fellow huntress, Pyrrha unwrapped her gift to reveal two small pieces of hardware: a transparent eyepiece and a dome-shaped camera.

"I'm rather proud of this one." Vahlen said, "We managed to strip down the Tactical Sensors we built for our MEC pilots and fit basic functionality into a monocular visor. When powered on, it will allow you to 'tag' a target by lining it up with the visor's crosshairs and blinking. At that point, the sensor will highlight and track the target -as well as any others you decide to tag- and keep you appraised of its location on the battlefield."

Dr. Shen gestured towards the camera, "That will allow the sensor to continue to track any tagged targets that move outside of your visual field. Generally, it's mounted to the shoulder or back, though it's ultimately up to you to know your personal blindspots and where it should be attached to compensate."

"Well that certainly sounds useful." Pyrrha commented as she attempted to put on the visor, "Is there a way to program it to use a different tagging trigger? I understand that blinking is convenient because it takes little effort, but perhaps a mechanical trigger would be better."

Vahlen nodded, "Certainly. If you believe the blinking trigger is ill-suited to your style of combat, we can develop an alternative method that better fits your needs."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea. I can get working on the designs by tomorrow." Pyrrha answered with a smile.

Ren watched as all eyes turned to him, waiting for the next gift to be revealed. He obliged, and found himself staring at his weapons. Like Jaune's armor, however, they had a noticeable modification in the form of a dull gray insulated box located below the front end of the trigger guard.

"We had a tough time working on yours, given how… compact the design of StormFlower is." Shen said with a chuckle, "But I think it turned out alright."

Ren examined the small muzzle protruding beyond the sharp daggers attached to his pistols, "It looks like you modified my weapons to give them the functionality of an Arc Thrower." He looked at Dr. Vahlen, "I assume this is another project you hope to have running on Aura in the near future."

The Chief Scientist nodded, "Correct. Our current iteration of throwers only have a few charges before they burn out, so having a hunter that can pour his soul force into keeping the hardware powered would be an impressive breakthrough. Considering that you're one of the more skilled Aura practitioners we know, and the fact that your partner is literally an electric capacitor…"

"I'm the most ideal candidate to test out the prototype." Ren finished, "How do I activate the Arc functionality?"

"There's a small button on the handle." Vahlen explained, "Press it, and the trigger will discharge the thrower rather than fire a bullet."

After watching Ren examine his weapons for a few more seconds, Ruby began to fidget uncomfortably, "Soooooooo is it our turn yet?" she asked, trying (and failing) to keep the anticipation out of her voice, "Because while I don't want to be rude, I also kinda want it to be our turn."

"Alright, alright." Bradford chuckled, "I think Ren's all done, Ruby. Go on ahead."

With almost as much ferocity as Nora, Ruby tore into her package. When a large, red cape fell out, her eyes grew wide, "Whoa…"

"Vahlen assigned a team to co-opting alien materials into woven fabrics as an additional layer of defense for our soldiers." Bradford said, "This is the first piece I requisitioned after the researchers reported positive results. The material is a little stiffer than what you normally wear, but it's offers a lot more protection at the same time. You should open it up."

Ruby unfolded the cape and saw XCOM's emblem sewn into the center, complete with the words 'VIGILO CONFIDO' along the top. However, while the XCOM insignia usually contained an x-shape superimposed on the top of the globe, Ruby's saw her rose symbol carefully stitched insead.

"You and your friends will always be a part of XCOM as far as we're concerned." Bradford said gently, "There's more, though."

When Ruby shook the cape to finish unfurling it, she felt a small metallic object drop into her lap. The young huntress looked down and froze, her eyes locking onto the familiar shape of Zhang's handgun. Carefully, she laid down her cape and picked up Aureate Mercy. Ruby felt her throat get tight as she turned the weapon over in her hands. Eyes shining, she looked up to see everyone at the table smiling back at her.

"I'm not gonna cry…" She whispered to herself, "I'm not gonna cry…" She glanced at Bradford before looking back down at the pistol of her friend. She drew in a shaky breath and barely choked out, "Thank you."

"Of all the people at XCOM, I can't think of one more deserving to carry that weapon than you, Captain Rose." The Central Officer answered before turning to Weiss, "Alright, kiddo. Before your partner bursts into a bubbling mess, let's keep this rolling."

Weiss sized up her gift before unwrapping it, "Bulky, but not heavy. Interesting…" She slowly pulled apart the wrapping paper, opened up the subsequent box, and started pulling out sheafs of paper.

"So everyone else is getting combat upgrades while I get scribbled notes?" Weiss joked, "I feel so appreciated."

"You might want to look at the contents of the notes and see if you change your mind about that." Bradford smiled.

With a melodramatic sigh, Weiss skimmed through the papers in her hand. Within a few seconds, her eyes widened, and she checked the box again. Along with a few more pages of notes, Weiss pulled out several vials of Dust and a USB stick. Mouth agape, she looked at XCOM's Chief Scientist.

"Vahlen, I…"

"The research into synthetic and modified Dust was as much a product of your hard work and effort as it was mine. I remember you talking about how you hoped that it would be something you could show to your father as a means of proving your worth. While I think you shouldn't have to prove anything in the first place, I couldn't think of a more appropriate gift for you."

Weiss shook her head, still looking through the notes, "I can't think of one, either. This is an amazing gift. Thank you, Doctor."

As Weiss continued to get lost in Vahlen's notes, Dr. Shen turned to the third member of RWBY, "Blake? It's time to pay you back for the wonderful collection of tea you gave me."

Blake quietly opened her gift. Similar to Jaune, Blake found her usual combat outfit neatly folded beneath the wrapping paper.

"It's slightly bulkier than before." The huntress noted as she unfolded the shirt and examined it, "You've added some tech around the neckline and along the back."

Vahlen nodded, "Correct. We've integrated the Shadow Armor's technology into your hunter's outfit so that you may continue to use the technology without the necessity of the bulky armor hindering your movement."

"It's not a perfect cloak, since a lot of that 'bulky armor' was important to the suit's operation." Shen added, "But we believe it's enough to help a master of shadows such as yourself become even more impossible to catch, And like Jaune, we hope to give you the option of using your Aura to power the cloak in the future."

"I'm certain I will be impressed by its performance either way." Blake said with a small smile, "As I always am when it comes to your tech." She looked at Yang, who still had her legs kicked up on the table, and gave her a nudge, "Your turn."

Yang unfolded her hands from behind her head and picked up her gift with a grin, "I know my babies when I see them. What did you guys cook up for Ember Celica?"

Bradford shrugged innocently, "I dunno. Why don't you find out?"

Yang sighed and pulled the paper off of her gauntlets, and her eyes widened with surprise behind her aviators, "Those are… ummm… quite the upgrades."

"From one explosive aficionado to another," Beagle said with a grin, "Merry Christmas, kid."

The front section of the gauntlets remained relatively untouched, though Yang noticed small laser apertures fixed to the forward-facing edge of the metal. Behind the usual ammo belts, however, Yang saw that Vahlen and Shen modified the more ornamental sections of her weapons to each contain a rack of rocket.

"Fly-by-wire Devastator micro-rockets. You can fire them one at a time, or deploy the whole cluster at once. Just stand still, fire up the lasers, and point them at whatever needs to be vaporized. The rockets will handle the rest on their own." Beagle explained.

Bradford coughed politely to get Yang's attention, "Those were the most… ah… resource-intensive gift of the group, so I recommend using them only when the fireworks are really necessary. It's up to you to decide that, of course, but I don't advise using them to see if they'll turn a lone Beowolf into Grimm puree."

Yang saluted, "No worries, Brad. As my uncle Ben once said, with great power comes great responsibility."

"We don't have an uncle Ben." Ruby said.

"Well that was a lot of fun!" Penny piped up, "Thank you for inviting me to your gift exchange, friends. It means a lot to me."

"Wait a minute, Penny. Do you seriously think we'd let you out of here without a gift of your own?" Annette asked with mock indignance, "Perish the thought!"

"Oh! I wasn't expecting anything, honest! I'm just happy to spend time with my friends." Penny said doing her trademark air flip.

"Out of the question." Bradford said, "You're as much a part of this team as any of us. You're getting a gift, and that's the end of it. Shen?"

Dr. Shen nodded, "I should start with the story behind this. Shortly after miss Polendina's arrival at XCOM, I received word from more than one amused operative that 'the new robot' seemed to have taken a liking to hovering next to the lounge's audio center and sitting still for hours doing nothing. Of course, I knew there was more to the story than they realized, so I took a trip to the lounge myself and accessed the audio system's data."

The Chief Engineer watched in amusement as Penny slowly lowered herself to the ground in an attempt to hide, "After only a week at XCOM, our friend here managed to play through the entire audio library twice. As of right now, I believe the grand total is forty-three times."

"... Your music on Earth is really pretty…" Penny mumbled.

Shen produced a small external hard drive and put it on the table, "On that note, this is a storage device that can hold fifty petabytes of data. I have taken the liberty of working with my engineering team to acquire and organize as much of Earth's music as will fit in those fifty petabytes of data."

Immediately, Penny reactivated her Elerium boosters and floated over to Shen with intense curiosity, "Fifty petabytes?"

"More or less." Shen answered, "All the music is indexed so that you can easily browse through the files using a multitude of filters. Hopefully this will keep you occupied longer than the meager offerings of our lounge's selection."

"... I wish I had arms to hug you with, Doctor."

"I can hear the appreciation in your voice, my dear." The engineer replied with a warm smile, "Believe me, that is enough."

Bradford leaned back in his chair, satisfied with the evening's events, "Well, that's that, I suppose."

"That's that." Pyrrha agreed, "Thank you all for the lovely gifts. I'm always humbled by how much you do for us."

"I will say that I noticed a rather… utilitarian theme to all of the gifts." Yang commented with a smirk. "Barring Penny's, of course."

"Well, we knew you'd be throwing yourselves back into the thick of combat once you returned to Remnant. Whether or not the business with the White Fang has been resolved in your absence, there's still the Grimm you have to deal with." Shen answered, "We could have gotten you conventional gifts like posters, clothes, or artwork. But we decided to use our access to… unique resources to provide you with gifts that will serve you in the months and years to come."

Vahlen nodded in affirmation, "Speaking of your return to Remnant, my team is almost done connecting the new Hyperwave Beacon to the Temple Ship's power generators. Initial tests for a reverse portal will likely commence as soon as they return from Bradford's mandatory vacation, and we'll hopefully have you returning to your homeworld in less than a month."

Silence fell across the room as the occupants considered the magnitude of Vahlen's estimations. The huntsmen and huntresses from Remnant had been with XCOM for the last eight months. Many of the newer recruits to the project had never even known of an XCOM that didn't include those legendary fighters, and now they were on the verge of the return to Remnant that they absolutely deserved.

"We're gonna definitely miss you guys." Yang said, "It'll be easy to stay in touch, I'm sure, but the whole time dilation bullshit will make things weird."

Beagle snorted, "What a crock of shit." He rested his chin on his hand and grinned at Yang in amusement, "Do you have any idea how many of the guys and gals in the barracks want to chill with you cool cats on Remnant and beat the shit out of some Grimm?" He looked around at his fellow operatives sitting around the table, "I count at least four in this room alone."

"Not to mention the knowledge that could be gained if I had the opportunity to compare notes with the scientists and engineers of your world." Vahlen said with a smile.

"And I do believe that I've been ordered by Captain Rose on multiple occasions to spend some time visiting Remnant, Beacon Academy in particular." Bradford added.

"So you see, Sergeant Xaio Long." Beagle finished, "You're not going to miss us. You're going to wonder how in the world you'll ever convince us to get the hell off your planet."

Yang sighed, "I guess I should've seen that coming."

"You think?" Ruby asked, "Or did you forget about our conversation with van Doorn on the Temple Ship?"

"Point taken."

Bradford clapped his hands, "Well then, sounds like we've got that settled." He peeked his head outside the conference room, "And it looks like there's still some life left in the party. Why don't we join the stragglers and start the holidays off right?"

Ren nodded, "I could go for a little food myself."

"You should try the noodles." Bradford said, "I hear the cook ran out of conventional pasta and started using Sectoid fingers as filler."

"Aaaaaaaand now I've completely lost my appetite." Ren sighed.

Weiss punched Bradford in the shoulder, "You should know better than to violate one of the rules on The List."

Bradford held up his hands in surrender, "What can I say? After years of needing to zealously enforce the rules, I wanted to know what it felt like to break one."

A/N: Before I say anything else, I want to give a heartfelt thank you my editor, /u/Metaboss84. He stepped in early on and offered to do an editorial pass on my chapters before I posted them, and I can honestly say that I've become a far better writer thanks to his guidance. This story would have been a lot worse off if not for him.

So... there it is. I feel like I managed to tie up most of the important loose ends. Bradford's got his work cut out for him with Earth's new political climate, the hunters of RWBY and JNPR only have another month or so before they can return to Remnant, and their XCOM buddies want to come along for the ride. A couple of plot threads ended up not making the cut (for example, I never found a good place to slip in that Ozpin's letter to Ren was advice about unlocking the Aura of an XCOM operative), but I think I hit all the really big highlights.

A lot of people have asked me in reviews and PMs whether or not I plan to write a sequel. The answer is "Yes, but I need to take a break." After writing for forty weeks (!) on a once-per-week posting cadence, my creative circuits are a little burned out. I was determined to finish everything before stepping back to catch my breath, but now I can spend some time doing other stuff while letting little plot ideas percolate in my head and grow into more concrete threads before I start planning stuff out. Moreover, XCOM 2 drops in a week (!), and I will definitely be spending all of my free time playing that until I beat it a few times. I don't plan on having a sequel along the lines of 'but the aliens came back, and now the events of XCOM 2 are taking place,' but I do want to use the game and its storyline as inspiration for what I have in mind.

So once again, thank you all for joining me on this adventure. It's been a pleasure, and I hope to do it again sometime (relatively) soon.