XCOM enjoyed a great deal of success against the invaders in the weeks following Strike Eight's infamous "Aura Run." While Shen helped the hunters make minor tweaks and modifications to their personal loadouts and armor designs, the end result remained the same: Aura operatives kicked ass. Strike Eight became the 'new' Strike One in the sense that Bradford preferred to deploy them two at a time on other Strike teams for operations rather than sending Strike Eight on its own mission. He still deployed the entire squad twice in the three week period, but only when intel suggested a particularly dangerous composition of enemy forces. Otherwise, he preferred to assign a partner pair to another Strike's op and keep the remainder on standby for additional emergencies. Not only did this allow him to keep more of his trump cards in reserve, but it also provided an impressive morale boost for his other squads: everyone felt better when they had the hunters to back them up.

In addition to providing moral support, Bradford found that each duo's unique dynamics meant they all specialized in different mission types. Ruby and Weiss, Bradford learned, provided the greatest benefit when he sent them on Terror missions. Ruby's speed and Weiss's crowd control allowed them to lock down the alien murder squads before they could wreak too much damage on the local populace. They still needed the support of the rest of the squad, of course, but even keeping the Floaters and Chryssalids distracted greatly improved XCOM's overall ability to minimize the spread of panic on those missions.

Blake and Yang, with their heavy firepower and ability to go toe-to-toe with the reinforced hardware fielded by the aliens, found themselves assigned to operations where Central expected greater mechanized resistance. In addition to dishing out high volumes of explosive damage, Yang's semblance allowed her to take a beating that Archer MECs ordinarily couldn't handle. The fact that her Aura-charged explosives became even more powerful was merely a bonus. Blake's agility shored up Yang's weakness as a heavy-but-slow MEC: she could keep the alien squads off-balance with her rapid maneuvers, and she could use her close combat capabilities to keep high-priority targets locked down while the squad dealt with the remaining problems.

Jaune and Pyrrha served as 'blockade runners' on landed UFOs. Bradford noticed a pattern lately where the aliens appeared to get some advance warning of XCOM's arrival. Instead of facing a fragmented, uncoordinated force, his Strike teams began to report concerted defensive efforts from the aliens where they would hole up in optimal defensive positions inside the ship and try to rout XCOM in a battle of attrition. In these cases, Bradford learned that deploying Jaune and Pyrrha yielded excellent results. Not only did they both have extensive training in shield use, but Jaune's unusually large reserve of Aura allowed him to tank more hits than any of his non-MEC hunter colleagues, allowing Pyrrha to use her exceptional combat finesse to break the alien's defensive line and create an opening for the squad to exploit.

Bradford discovered Nora and Ren's niche by accident. Intel from the Hyperwave Relay failed to report the presence of an Ethereal command pod, and Bradford experienced a brief panic attack when the mysterious alien revealed itself. While a fully-unlocked Aura meant the hunters were no longer super-vulnerable to psychic attacks, Bradford didn't want to find out if a clashing of the two forces of will would result in unforeseen (and catastrophic) consequences. His fears were unfounded, however, when the Ethereal failed in its efforts to mind control both Nora and Ren. Nora's… extreme personality appeared to be reflected in her Aura, as it allowed her to completely ignore the psionic assault. At the same time, Ren's exceptional control over his soul's energy allowed him to further fortify himself mentally prior to the Ethereal's attempted intrusion.

Their mental resistance not only prevented their squad mates from getting targeted instead, but distracted the Ethereal long enough to allow it to be subdued. Bradford would have preferred it if Nora didn't go trigger-happy on the alien with her Arc Thrower, but Vahlen appreciated the new captive all the same.

Today's alien activity required the talents of Pyrrha and Jaune, so Ruby found herself in Mission Control with Bradford to relax and listen in on her friends' latest operation. XCOM's intel picked up a landed Harvester in South America, so the Central Officer dispatched operatives Arc and Nikos to accompany Strike Five on the operation. Big Sky dropped them off at the landing site a few minutes ago, so Ruby occupied herself and Bradford with some friendly banter while they waited for events to unfold on the ground.

"I mean it, sir. Once we're all done kicking alien butt and Vahlen figures out a way to get us back to Remnant, you have to come along. Even if you're only there for a few days, I'd love to show you around the Kingdom of Vale, give you a tour of Beacon, and introduce you to Ozpin."

Bradford chuckled, "I'm not so sure, Lieutenant. The way you build up Ozpin the Great and Powerful, it gets me thinking that I'm not even worthy to stand in his presence."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it!" Ruby pouted, "Besides, you're not giving yourself credit. I guarantee that four months of active duty on Earth has done far more for my team than all of the time we've spent at Beacon so far. Theory and training is all well and good, but none of it compares to the real thing. Without trying to marginalize how awful this war truly is for Earth, I honestly think it's been an amazing experience for my team."

"No offense taken, Ruby, and I can't argue with you about the combat experience. However, I think the credit should go to the operatives that accompanied you on missions and helped you learn the ropes." He waved at the room behind them and winked at Ruby, "I just sit in here and wave my pom poms around. Maybe say something every now and then."

Ruby gave Bradford a hard look, "You're the lifeblood of XCOM, the heart and soul of this operation, and you know it. Stop selling yourself short, and stop trying to weasel your way out of coming to Remnant. Because you're coming to Remnant."

"Alright, alright! You can be really persistent when you want to, you know that?"

"Central? This is Five-Actual."

Bradford shared a laugh with Ruby, "Never a dull moment when Captain Beags is at the helm." He keyed his mic and responded, "I hear you, Actual. What's the situation?"

"Sir, we've got new contacts at the AO."

Bradford hesitated. Something worse than an Ethereal? The Captain didn't explicitly say it, but the aliens seemed to follow a formula of escalation. From the lowly Sectoid to the terrifying Ethereal, every new contact somehow managed to be more problematic than the last.

"Say again, Actual?"

Instead of Captain Beagle, Operative Nikos answered, "It's… Grimm, sir. We've got eyes on Grimm."

Even when riding in the exceptionally smooth, super-high-tech Skyranger, Jaune still found himself struggling to keep his lunch down when taking to the skies. He sat in his seat with his head down and eyes closed while trying to will away the upsetting sensation growing in his stomach. The only good thing about his present situation was the comforting touch of Pyrrha's hand on his own while they waited to arrive at the landing site.

"Hang in there, Sergeant. We're probably five minutes out from the drop zone." Five-Actual said. Jaune didn't know much about the different language dialects and accents on Earth, but he did know that he found the Australian voice of Captain Beagle to be rather comforting.

"I'll be fine." Jaune answered, "Even though I never get along with flying, the feeling goes away pretty quickly after I get dirt back under my feet."

The Captain flashed Jaune his trademark grin, "Of course. Believe it or not, us lowly Earthlings are also capable of getting airsick. Just hang in there until touchdown, and we'll give you a minute to get right before moving out."

"Thank you, sir." To be honest, Jaune found himself handling the ride better than he usually did. He didn't know if his body finally decided to suck it up and adapt to flying, or his heart-to-heart with Pyrrha affected him in unexpected ways, but he wasn't about to complain.

He knew he should've had that talk with his partner a long time ago. She probably thought he was done with his stupid 'I can do things on my own' phase after The Cardin Incident, but they both learned the truth on that one the hard way. Admitting his incompetence to Pyrrha and asking her to help train him certainly made for a good first step, but the feelings of inadequacy still persisted. Whether he liked it or not, Jaune's pride had a nasty habit of clouding his judgment and driving him away from a problem's rational solution. It told him that he needed to prove to Pyrrha (and himself) that he could do something without her help. He needed to surprise her with his competence and prove that he had something to offer as a partner. Stupid, of course, but that's how he thought it had to be.

But then she cried in his face. They started off as tears of rage as she demanded that Jaune explain how he could possibly do this to her. She vehemently claimed that his secret would have been safe with her, and she would have done everything possible to help him with his goal. When he explained why he wanted to do it alone, the tears turned to frustration, and then finally to despair. Jaune eventually realized that they didn't only come from a place of helplessness, but also carried a 'been here before' sort of feeling. To her, Jaune didn't need to prove anything. She had made it clear time and again why she valued him as a partner, and that her reasons weren't hinged on him becoming this great hunter that he had stuck inside his head. The fact that he still couldn't understand this hurt her far more than his actual choices and actions.

Someway, somehow, the pin finally dropped for Jaune. Maybe the confidence he gained from finally accomplishing something helped him see the situation from a better perspective, but he finally realized how petty and stupid his logic sounded. His machismo, in addition to solving absolutely nothing that couldn't also be accomplished with teamwork, hurt the one person who mattered more than any other in his life. Pyrrha must have noticed his immediate change in attitude, because she gave him a look that asked, "Do you understand now?"

In that moment, Jaune decided the best course of action would be to quote a movie some of his friends at the anthill forced him to sit down and watch, "First, I must tell you that I've been the most unmitigated and comprehensive ass."

Amazingly, Pyrrha laughed at his attempted joke, and the tension in the room vanished. The rest of their conversation and subsequent reconciliation went far smoother than Jaune felt he deserved.

The pilot broke Jaune away from his thoughts with a call over the Skyranger's comms, "Touchdown." A second later, the ramp lowered, and Strike Five deployed without a word.

"All good, Seven?" Beagle asked.

"All good." Jaune confirmed, "Ammo's locked in, and Aura's at the ready. Let's do this."

Jaune smiled at the comforting weight of the compacted Plasma Dragon on his back. After talking with Bradford about his need for a ranged option, the Central Officer held a brief meeting with Dr. Shen. Two days later, and the Chief Engineer presented Jaune with a modified Dragon that folded into a mag-lockable backpack instead of a hammer. Now, if he found himself in a situation where Crocea Mors simply wouldn't suffice, Jaune could pull his trusty LMG off his back and lay waste to his foe.

Strike Five ran a quick weapons check before moving out to approach the craft. The Captain's standard protocol dictated that the team perform a roundabout sweep of the UFO's perimeter to catch alien patrols by surprise. If the operatives eliminated them quickly enough to avoid a raised alarm, Strike Five could continue the sweep undetected. While the plan didn't always work perfectly, it usually did allow Beagle to choose where and how to start the engagement. With his supposed propensity for bad luck, the Captain gladly jumped on any measure he could that might help control the flow of battle.

"Five? You hearing anything up ahead?"

With Desperado's gene-modded hearing, Strike Five had less of a need for a Scout on their roster than other squads. The Infantryman held up a hand, signaling for the team to stop while he listened. The operatives crouched low while their squadmate tried to pick up any unusual noises. After a moment's pause, he shook his head, "Nothing yet, sir. I can definitely hear stomping out in the distance, but it's too far away to identify."

Beagle nodded, "Alright. Let's be careful, people. Don't forget to stick to high cover when you can so your ass isn't hanging out for a Thin Man to shoot off."

"Just over the river and through the woods to Papa Muton's house we go, right boss?"

"Right you are, Three. Now shut up so the ayys don't hear us."

The team moved through the cover offered by the surrounding tree line, waiting for Desperado to pick up any more details on the alien movements. The Captain's caution meant that progress was slow, and some of the operatives started getting restless.

"Hey, Seven," The squad's Engineer started as he pulled up to the rocky outcropping next to Jaune, "I've been thinking about stuff."

Jaune cast a sideways glance at his new cover buddy, "What is it, MacAuley? Don't forget, we're supposed to be quiet."

The Sergeant waved him off, "Pssh, with ol' Cat Ears over there, we'll hear the aliens long before they hear us. Now, this thing I was thinking about." He looked around to make sure nobody else could listen in before whispering conspiratorially to Jaune, "I've been giving a lot of thought to your team's nicknames."

"Waaaaaiiiit a minute." Jaune said, suspicion growing in his eyes, "You're the guy who gave those nicknames to RWBY, aren't you?"

Conor grinned, "The one and only. Now listen, I-"

"Contacts." Desperado stated, "Mutons. Should be coming around the corner of the UFO soon. There's also something making a ruckus inside, but I don't recognize it as anything we usually hear from the aliens moving around. We should be careful."

The Engineer rolled his eyes, "Another time, I guess."

The team got into positions and waited while Desperado counted down on his hand. At zero, they saw a trio of Elites come into view. The team's Sniper, Tech Sergeant Pablo '3-13' Ortega, brought his weapon's scope up to his eye and tracked the targets.

"Hey…" He said, drawing out the word, "Is it just me, or they limping?"

Pyrrha's mentor looked down again, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Jesus, you're right. Dribbling some of that shit-for-blood they have down their armor, too. Either the aliens hold a secret fight club that we don't know about, or something fucked these guys up bad. Never thought I'd see what's under an Elite's helmet outside of Vahlen's lab, but here we are. Looks like the others are checking its face for injuries."

"That's… odd." Beagle noted, "But as far as openings go, this one looks pretty heavily in our favor. Let's gank the bastards. Three, will you do the honors?"

Ortega locked in a Dust-marked magazine into his rifle, lined it up with his first target, and breathed out. At the pull of the trigger, his gun kicked back and the Muton Elite's head exploded in a shower of flame. Before the other two alien could begin to panic, the rest of Strike Five rained plasma and supercharged particles upon them. Within seconds, the already wounded Elites disintegrated into pile of burning flesh and smoking armor.

The grin on Beagle's face vanished when a howling screech erupted from inside the UFO.

"Uhh, what in God's name was that?"

Pyrrha and Jaune exchanged glances. They both recognized the sound immediately, but they both knew that it couldn't possibly be what their instincts told them.

The Captain toggled his comm and hailed Mission Control, "Central? This is Five-Actual."

The sounds of rending metal reached the ears of the squad as they remained hunkered behind cover. Operatives took the opportunity to double-check the ammo reserves on their weapons from the first ambush and reload in preparation for whatever was trying to tear its way through the hull. Finally, Bradford responded, "I hear you Actual. What's the situation?"

The top of the Harvester blew itself wide open and a pair of fliers shot into the sky. These, however, were no Floaters. Black as night, save for their bone-white skulls and talons. The two birds flew straight up, then deployed their wings to show off their impressive size to the operatives of Strike Five.

"Sir, we've got new contacts at the AO."

Blood-red eyes scanned the horizon as the two creatures soared above the UFO. Neither Jaune nor Pyrrha knew what the birds were searching for, but they could both agree on one thing: the presence of those monster meant very bad news for XCOM.

"Say again, Actual?"

"It's… Grimm, sir." Pyrrha cut in, "We've got eyes on Grimm."

As if to punctuate Pyrrha's statement, the birds of prey shrieked once more. Several of the operatives, unaccustomed to such creatures, winced and covered their ears at the sound.

"Switching on tactical cameras, Central." Beagle quietly said over the comm while flipping a toggle on his helmet, "For, y'know, your viewing pleasure."

The Captain gently tapped Jaune on the shoulder to get his attention, "So, two questions for you since you seem to know what's going on here. First: what the fuck are those? Second: how the fucking fuck are we supposed to bring them down?"

"Those are Nevermores, Captain. Be glad they're not Giant Nevermores."

"Oh good, there's bigger ones." Beagle muttered, "Because why not?"

"Both variants have very sharp claws and beaks." Pyrrha said.

"Obviously."

"They extremely strong and highly intelligent." Jaune noted.

"Of course."

"And they can shoot quills from their wings like projectiles." Pyrrha finished.

The Captain groaned, "It's like I'm back in goddamn Australia. Tell me, do these things also have blood that will instantly burn through your skin? Laser beam eyes? Exploding shit?"

Jaune scratched his head, trying to remember what (little) he learned in Port's class about Nevermores, "I don't think so, sir. As for how we kill them…" Jaune pulled his backpack into his hands and began to unfold his Plasma Dragon, "Lots and lots of firepower."

Beagle sighed and grabbed his rocket tube to begin prepping it for combat, "Right, then. Considering you two know what the fuck we're dealing with, I'm going to give Sergeant Arc a temporary field promotion to squad leader."

The two hunters glanced up again at the Nevermores, who appeared perfectly content to circle over their UFO 'prey.' Whether they did so to search for more alien snacks or because they identified the ship as their nest, Jaune couldn't tell.

"Right," Jaune started, "Couple of things we know and don't know. What we know: these things aren't a joke. Stick to cover, but be ready to haul ass. I don't know how well Earth trees can hold up against their quills, so you might need to relocate if the contacts tear through these oaks like paper. We also know that Dust rounds can bring them down, but it takes a lot of them. They're pretty good at shrugging off body hits, so aim for the head, specifically the eyes or the mouth of it's open." Jaune glanced at Ortega, "I'm looking at you, 3-13."

The sniper gave Jaune a wry salute, "Think the Doc's Elerium Dust will work?"

Jaune shrugged, "It's never been tested on Grimm, so I don't know. Vahlen says it's got the same basic chemical structure as Remnant Dust, so I imagine it will. But this leads me to the point of what we don't know: whether or not Plasma can affect them. Now, since Plasma is just balls of superheated energy, I'm going to assume the answer is 'Yes,' but we don't know for certain. I think to start with, we should have most of the squad use Plasma ammunition, and adjust accordingly once we see whether or not it's effective. The two marksmen will drill it with specialized ammo while the Captain will be using his launcher. For the rest of us, though…"

The Gunner glanced over at MacAuley, "Hope you brought enough Flak Ammo to share."

MacAuley grinned, pulled out his ammo pack off his armor, and started digging out the requested equipment, "You know it, boss."

"Temporary boss." Beagle reminded him.

"Captain? Ortega? Keep an eye on the birds while the rest of us prep. I don't know if shredder rockets will help… but they probably can't hurt, either." Jaune turned his attention to the squad's Jaeger MEC, "Vulcan, you'll probably want to switch to a Mass Accelerator Cannon loadout for this, armed with Vahlen's explosive shells. Just make sure you're quiet about it."

"Understood."

In less than a minute, Sergeant MacAuley passed out Flak Ammo to the five 'Plasma Shooters' while Vulcan deployed and aligned his supercharged weapon. Shortly thereafter, all eyes became focused on the Nevermores. One remained circling in the air while the other landed on the roof of the Harvester to peer inside the gaping hole, probably for more aliens.

"Everyone ready?"

A varied medley of "Yes sirs" responded, and Jaune let out a shaky breath, "Alright, Vulcan leads off on the landed target, followed by 3-13. If it's not dead by then, and I suspect it won't be, the Captain will shred it with a Javelin and then everyone else will try to unload as much ammo into that thing in as little time as possible. If we can bring this fight down to one Nevermore before they even get a chance to respond, we'll be in good shape. Just remember that head shots are ideal, and we're trying to determine if Plasma works well."

Jaune brought his Plasma Dragon, loaded up with MacAuley's Flak Plasma rounds, to rest on top of a rotting log. As soon as that damn bird took flight, he planned to unload a flurry of fire into its face. But first… "Alright, Vulcan. Tag it."

The hairs on Jaune's neck stood on end as the Mass Accelerator reached maximum capacitance and discharged its high-yield payload. Vulcan aimed true, and a tremendous explosion rocked the sitting Nevermore while the weapon's Holo-Targeter fed the MEC's allies with critical aiming information. The Nevermore cawed in pain as the direct shot to its chest dissipated, and the bird turned a gleaming red eye toward its attacker. A mistake on the Grimm's part, because Ortega's Dust round cleanly pierced the eye and emulsified the ocular cavity in a second explosion.

Jaune had to admit, Vahlen performed nothing short of a miracle with her development of Elerium Dust. After spending a month or two researching the nature of Dust with Weiss, the Chief Scientist finally had a pretty clear understanding of the material's chemical composition and properties. The main roadblock she encountered in manufacturing her own, however, was something she referred to as the Dust's 'essence.' While the rest of the molecular compound could be easily fabricated, the essence of Dust couldn't be artificially manufactured. It's what made Fire Dust behave like Fire Dust, Ice Dust like Ice Dust, and so on.

Undeterred, however, Vahlen chose to look outside the box. If she couldn't fabricate the naturally-occurring essence found in Remnant's Dust, she'd have to find a substance that would serve as an adequate substitute. It didn't take long for her to consider Elerium, the 'miracle power source' of the aliens. If a single element could be harnessed to power electric plants, Hover SHIV thrusters, and even MEC flamethrowers, then surely it could serve Vahlen's purpose in her pursuit of manufacturable Dust? Well, even if Jaune harbored doubt regarding the potency of Vahlen's work before, Ortega just proved without a shadow of a doubt that the Doctor knew her science.

Immediately, the Nevermore took to the sky as a defensive measure. The bird's erratic flight indicated just how effective the two leading shots were at wounding it. The Grimm's partner looked down in alarm and turned to search for the noisy source of the assault. Not that it needed the help, because Captain Beagle's steadied rocket erupted from the tree line and struck the wounded Nevermore with deadly shrapnel.

"Open fire!" Jaune shouted. He spun up his Plasma Dragon and shot a volley of green death at the Nevermore. With Pyrrha, MacAuley, Desperado and the squad's Assault (who form-shifted her shotgun into an assault rifle for the long-range engagement) adding their own firepower to the fray, a veritable river of energy struck the bird and its surroundings. The pair of Grimm shrieked with unholy fury, and flew through the heated clouds straight at the XCOM soldiers. With flames licking their faces and bodies as they barreled down upon the soldiers, the Nevermores looked like a pair of Valkyries descending from on high to exact swift punishment on those who dared to attack them.

Beagle cursed, "Shit. Everybody down!"

As one, the squad took cover seconds before a hailstorm of feathers churned the earth around them and splintered the trees like an axe through basla. Vulcan raised a mechanized arm to shield his head from the deadly assault, and several quills embedded themselves within his frame. While they didn't set the MEC on fire or outright kill the pilot, the force of the attack caused Vulcan to stumble and ripped free the power connection between the MEC and his weapon.

"Damage minimal." The Jaeger called out, "However, main weapon system is now offline."

The Nevermore's swooped low at the operatives. While the healthy one easily cleared the forest to prep for another strafing run, its weakened partner did not enjoy the same fortune. It's flesh burned and bubbling from the heavy plasma fire, it clipped one of the taller trees as it flew overhead. The mistake was costly enough to force the bird into a crash landing. Beagle gave Jaune a questioning look, and the hunter nodded in response.

"Two, CQC the fucking pigeon while it's down. Eight will help you make sure it won't be getting up anytime soon."

Pyrrha broke off from cover with the squad's Assault, the two women shifting their respective rifles back into xiphos and shotgun form as they disappeared through the trees. The remaining soldiers turned to Jaune for further instructions. The hunter watched his prey flying low behind the UFO as it circled around for a second attack.

"I feel like I don't want to know the answer," Beagle said with a sigh, "But I'm going to ask anyway: do the little shits ever run out of feather ammo?"

"Nope."

"Yeah, I probably didn't need to even ask.."

Jaune watched it come up over the UFO and gripped his weapon, "Alright, it'll probably lead off with an intimidation yell before trying to drill us full of holes. I want everyone to hold fire, then light it up as soon as the Nevermore opens its stupid mouth."

The squad stood firm as the Nevermore approached, its eyes full of hatred. As the Grimm swooped in closer, it flared its wings out to halt its forward momentum, and Jaune wondered if his prediction was wrong. Thankfully, a shriek greeted the team instead of steel-strength feathers, and Ortega shot a Dust round straight down its throat in response. The bird choked mid-caw as the bullet detonated in its mouth, and the rest of the team seized the opportunity to follow up with a fusillade of plasma. Most of the rounds detonated along the Nevermore's tougher hide, but the laws of probability worked to XCOM's favor and several shots found their way to the bird's weaker head.

Ruby's teasing voice came over the comm, "What's the holdup, Jaune? Didn't Coco take out three Nevermore with one burst from her minigun?"

"That was total bullshit, Lieutenant, and you know it." Jaune replied in mild annoyance. Still, he could appreciate Ruby's attempt at comedy to help offset the implications of XCOM's latest problem. Jaune had a hunch there'd be more than one meeting in the next few days discussing how a pair of Grimm found their way to Earth.

The Nevermore, though blistering and enfeebled from the volley of plasma, still had enough strength to counterattack with a second flurry of feathers. While the hailstorm provided enough incentive for the squad to remain hunkered in cover, the Nevermore managed to get in a few good hits. Desperado cried out as one quill pierced his arm and pinned it to the ground while another grazed MacAuley's shoulder and sent him tumbling out into the open.

Jaune gritted his teeth, knowing that the two wouldn't last long if the Nevermore decided to unleash another attack. He stepped out of cover, brought his Plasma Dragon to bear, and pulled the trigger. He felt the familiar recoil of his weapon and used it to his advantage rather than trying to fight it. With the practiced motions drilled into him over and over by Zhang, Jaune allowed his weapon's kickback to sweep a wide swath across the Nevermore's body up towards its face. The first few rounds struck the Grimm and kept it distracted from Jaune's wounded teammates while his sustained fire continued to advance across the Nevermore's faltering frame towards its head.

The Grimm's black flesh bubbled and boiled away as it remained in contact with the plasmic vapor, turning the creature from a regal-looking apex predator into a disfigured monstrosity straight out of a nightmare. It shrieked and cawed in agony, but Jaune didn't let up. He could feel his hands start to burn as his weapon overheated from the sustained fire, but he ignored the pain and continued firing. The rest of Strike Five seized the opportunity to assist the hunter and added their own firepower to his onslaught. In a matter of moments, the mutilated creature began it's final descent to the ground. Jaune watched it disappear behind the trees, and felt its impact as it reverberated across the entire forest.

The silence that followed lasted for a solid minute, interrupted only when Desperado spoke up and asked, "Uhh… anyone want to get this thing out of my arm? 'Cause that would be swell."

"Let me help." Jaune looked up to see Pyrrha reappearing from the woods, her Assault buddy close behind. She quickly approached her mentor and wasted no time before bending down to examine the wound.

"Does it hurt?"

Desperado shook his head, "Not yet. But I bet I'll feel like shit once the adrenaline wears off."

"Good. We can give you a dose from Five-Six's medkit as an intermediary measure before Dr. Vahlen has a look at you. Brace yourself."

Before Desperado had a chance to protest, Pyrrha pinned his arm down with her boot and firmly gripped the Nevermore feather with both hands. With little effort, Pyrrha managed to snap off most of the exposed quill, but the Infantryman yelped as the foreign object aggravated his muscles for a second time. Even though his discipline allowed him to keep his wounded arm immobile (which Pyrrha appreciated), he swore like a sailor, beat the ground with his free hand, and thrashed his legs violently in response to the pain. In an instant, MacAuley joined Pyrrha with his medkit at the ready. With a hiss, the nanosuture aerosol blanketed the wound site, and Desperado let out a sigh of relief.

"This payback for all the drills I put you through?" He asked Pyrrha with a smirk.

"Do you mean the part where I answered your call for help, or the part where I wisely left the feather embedded in your arm until Vahlen can have a proper look at it?" She answered sweetly.

Desperado laughed and let Pyrrha pull him to his feet, "Fine, fine. Thanks for the assist, kid."

Beagle cleared his throat, "This is all very adorable, but we've got bigger issues to worry about. Namely, finishing this mission and figuring out what the fuck happened with those two shitbirds."

"Yeah, the sooner we can get back to base, the better," Jaune agreed, "The implications of the Grimm here are starting to freak me out."

The team took some time to catch their breath and perform a weapons and equipment check, then prepared themselves for the assault on the Harvester. Whatever they found inside, Jaune hoped that answers would be among them.