Disclaimer, I do not own RWBY or any of the franchises referenced in this work

Chapter 30: Fool's gambit

Inspiration: Command and Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars

"Oh, this universe, and this time period…" Blank muttered as the final preparations for the next viewing were completed.

"Is it bad?" Ruby asked.

"…"

"That's encouraging." Qrow's clapped sarcastically as Blank remained silent. Shaking his head with a small sigh, he took a large swig from his flask to fortify himself for whatever was about to come.

"So it's bad, great…" Yang drawled out and slumped over, sighing exaggeratedly.

"Question is, what kind of bad is it?" Weiss followed up.

"It's a completely separate universe again. This one is set on for lack of a better term, a death world." Blank spoke up at last.

"Death… world? Real cheery." Mercury said.

"It's a world supremely hostile to life, and civilisation is just barely clinging on where it hasn't collapsed entirely." Blank answered.

"They have a bigger Grimm problem than us or something?" Roman asked.

"Were it that simple. No, if it were Grimm, that world would have slaughtered them into extinction long ago through brute force alone. Their world is plagued by a mineral called Tiberium, a hostile terraforming agent slowly rendering the world uninhabitable." Blank said.

"No Grimm, but the dust on their planet is killing them. It's… hard to picture." Goodwitch muttered, her mind trying to wrap itself around the idea of their single largest advantage against the Grimm somehow being the agent of their extinction.

"It's… not dust as you know it, but I suppose if it helps you visualise it better. I'll just start playing it now."

The Ox transport skimmed the surface of the Badlands, harsh sunlight beat down on sandy surface of the ruined Yellow Zone, baking the dead earth and what little life managed to scrape through on it. Jaune's visor polarised automatically to keep out the glare, leaving him a good view of the war-ravaged land.

"Touchdown in five, thank you for flying Air GDI and we hope you had a pleasant flight." The pilot called out over his shoulder with a smile.

"Flight was good, but the food sucked." Jaune replied good-naturedly.

"Sorry about that, budget cuts and all, we make do with what we've got. Maybe we'll all get a nice fat bonus after this, and some real meat instead of that bio-meat crap they try to sell us." The pilot chuckled as he gently eased the transport downwards to an empty landing pad.

"We got those rats cornered now, just a matter of time before we get the son of a bitch."

"Yeah… maybe…" Jaune murmured, unable to share in the same optimism the pilot held.

"You don't think so? Most of NOD high command is holed up inside, those terrorists can't hold out forever." The pilot said.

"NOD isn't the problem, Ozpin is. Always, always him. We got him before, twice, thrice… they say he was one of Stalin's advisors too. And we've got reports of him being active long before that. But he keeps coming back no matter how many times we get him. He's either immortal or there's a 'new' Ozpin every time the old one dies." Jaune shook his head to clear his mind, thoughts about the potential hopelessness of this war would not help them at this juncture.

"Ozpin is NOD, unless he's permanently neutralised, NOD will always plague us."

"I'm what?" Ozpin blinked in surprise and lowered his mug, not expecting the viewing from coming so close to his actual reincarnation curse.

"The Ozpin of this universe is an alien who's been around since time immemorial." Blank said.

"Again… I'm what?"

"Huh, sounds like you're a bad guy here Oz." Qrow muttered.

"Are they fighting an insurgency of some sort?" Ironwood asked.

"Not exactly. The world is roughly divided into three zone types depending on how bad the Tiberium infestation is. Blue Zones are where Tiberium either doesn't exists or has very minimal contained spread. Life here would be comparable to living behind the kingdoms' walls." Blank began explaining.

"Then you have the Red Zones, areas where the Tiberium infestation has gone unchecked and control is no longer possible. Red Zones are effectively a completely alien landscape, chance of survival in such an environment if functionally zero if you aren't a mutant. Lastly, there's the Yellow Zones, which makes up most of the world. Here Tiberium growth is out of control, but the situation isn't as dire as a Red Zone. Despite that, difficulty of life is comparable to trying to build a settlement in the middle of the Grimm lands."

"…And that's most of the world? How could anyone survive like that?" Pyrrha asked.

"They do whatever they have to, lemme guess, Yellow Zones are pretty much crime infested cesspools." Roman said.

"Essentially. NOD grew out of the disaffected people living in those Yellow Zones. GDI, the Global Defence Initiative considers them a terrorist group trying to bring down the Blue Zones and ensure equal misery, but NOD is so much more than just a bunch of terrorists now. They have a functioning army with superweapons and are actually more technologically advanced than GDI." Blank said.

"That's… how can that be possible? How can a few terrorists have better tech than the world's main military?" Winter frowned, the idea felt all kinds of wrong to her, it was like saying the White Fang had technological superiority over Atlas itself.

"As I said, the Ozpin of this world isn't human, and he has access to alien tech he can share with his followers. It allows them to go toe to toe with GDI's industrial might by presenting outside context problems." Blank said.

"Maybe this time it'll stick." The pilot said as the transport touched down on the tarmac.

"Give em hell for the boys we lost on the Philadelphia sir."

"You got it Chief." Jaune rose, grabbed his gear and double timed it off the Ox. He hadn't taken two steps off before the dry air and sweltering heat assaulted his senses, making him wish for a cool drink. But there would be time for that later, shrugging off the discomfort with practiced ease, Jaune marched over to the welcoming committee.

As his new CO approached, Jaune dropped his bags and snapped off a quick salute. "Colonel Cordovin Ma'am! Lieutenant Jaune Arc reporting for duty."

"At ease soldier, welcome to FOB Argus, current GDI HQ." Caroline Cordovin returned the salute before gesturing for Jaune to follow him.

"This is HQ now? What happened to Castle base?" Jaune asked, falling in step behind the colonel.

"Destroyed. NOD stealth tanks overran most of the base defences with hit and run tactics, then those sons of bitches nuked the place." Ironwood snarled in frustration.

"They have a Temple of NOD here?" Jaune glanced skywards, half expecting an ICBM to drop out of the sky at any moment.

"Yes, damn thing is locked up deep in their complex, behind miles of heavy fortifications. Which is where you come in lieutenant. You'll be moving in with the 5th Armoured, punch through their defences so we can slip a sniper team inside and spot for the Juggernauts when they arrive." Cordovin instructed.

She withdrew a datapad and handed it to Jaune, on it contained every scrap of intel about Ozpin's defences they managed to purchase with an exorbitant blood price. Jaune's face slowly morphed into a frown as he read through them.

"Ma'am, any chance of air support? I'm not sure how we're going to break through on foot." The true scope of the daunting task at hand was becoming clearer by the second and it was looking more and more like a suicide mission with every word.

"I suggest you not count on it. We've managed to wrest air superiority from NOD but their AA net is still up and borderline impenetrable." Cordovin replied, causing Jaune's scowl to deepen.

"What about our ion cannons? Do we have orbital support?" Jaune asked again.

"At the moment no. One will reach geosynchronous orbit overhead soon, but even so, those guns won't do anything as long as NOD's ion disruption field remains up. The generators must go." Cordovin said.

"I presume I am to take those down as well?"

"You presume correctly."

"Ion disrupt what?" Yang frowned in confusion, the words going right over her head.

"The ion cannons are GDI's superweapons, essentially giant guns mounted on orbital platforms to rain death from above. The ion disruption field is NOD's counter to it, a field that nullifies the attack completely." Blank explained.

"The situation does not favour this GDI does it? I assume Ozpin's forces are thoroughly dug in and can effectively just stall out the siege?" Ironwood asked.

"Indeed. To add on to that, NOD possesses superior stealth technology and their ability to perform hit and run attacks are nigh unmatched. GDI's offensive has been stalled and repulsed multiple times with several bases already having been totally destroyed." Blank said.

"So what's Jaune's role here? If the odds are that bad, what can one more person do?" Blake asked.

"Quite a lot actually, sometimes one man in the right place at the right time can make all the difference. This version of Jaune Arc is a commando, one of GDI's finest soldiers and a one-man army capable of levelling an entire base if left unchecked." Blank said.

As with most of GDI's armoured units, they could be heard long before they were even visible. Jaune picked up the pace as the dust clouds near the war factories grew in size, the factories working over time to pump out more vehicles for the big push.

"What? Their armoured units are constructed onsite? It's not just a staging area?" Winter raised an eyebrow at the strange sight.

"Indeed. Technological advancements and Tiberium have changed the nature of warfare on this world. Mobile construction vehicles or MCVs are the backbone of both GDI and NOD's ability to wage war. Bases can be set up very, very rapidly and begin churning out more arms for the war machine. Onsite building eases up logistics too since only men need to be transported to the base, everything else can be constructed when needed." Blank said.

"Interesting, can such bases construct additional MCVs?" Ozpin asked.

"They can, for a sizable amount of resources." Blank confirmed.

"So in theory, a single MCV slipping by undetected could lead to many, many more spreading outwards to form their own bases and wage war that way?"

"Yes, the only limitations being what manpower they have available and whether there are resources to sustain production. It's a strategy both NOD and GDI have employed multiple times to great success." Blank said.

"Interesting." Ozpin sipped from his mug and allowed his mind to wander, wondering if he could find some way to exploit such a technique against Salem.

Despite the grim situation they were facing, Jaune couldn't keep the smile off his face at the sight of GDI's vaunted armoured might in action.

He was still too far away to make out which of the tanks he was to ride with into battle but he had no doubt that one of them was it. Several Predator tanks rumbled past him, causing the ground itself to tremble in their wake.

'Ah nice, looks like the railgun upgrades got through in time, that should help busting down NOD defences.' Jaune thought as he gave the modified tank turrets a cursory glance.

Other than that, Jaune paid them no mind. The Predators were nice and all, but his destination was their bigger, badder and all-around meaner cousin.

As he closed the distance, the dust clouds grew larger and larger, and he could just about make out the objects hidden by the localised storms.

Jaune's grin widened again.

"Are… are those houses moving? That can't be right." Emerald squinted at the screen.

"…That's no house…" Mercury muttered, joining Emerald in squinting and trying to figure out what they were staring at.

"Oh. My. God. That's a big tank." Yang breathed out in awe once they could finally see the source of those dust clouds.

"It's huge! That's bigger than our house on Patch!" Ruby concurred.

"Overkill much? I get that size matters, really, I do! But come on! That's ridiculously oversized!" Roman protested, throwing his arms up in exasperation. By his side, Neo simply nodded in agreement.

"Interesting design…" Ironwood rubbed his chin in appreciation.

"That, is the Mammoth Tank. Quite possibly the truest manifestation of GDI combat doctrine, no kill like overkill. A tank the size of a large building doesn't seem that practical on its own, but a massed force is extremely hard to beat. Guns strong enough to tear through even the toughest armour, missile turrets for additional firepower and anti-air capabilities, absurdly tough armour on its own and its size means it's capable of crushing lesser tanks just by rolling over them." Blank said.

"It's got to have a weakness." Cinder muttered.

"That it does, individual Mammoths are vulnerable to infantry assault since its weapons can't fire fast enough to wipe out massed infantry rush. But, with GDI, there is never just one. Put enough Mammoths in a line and they can erase most opposition simply by driving forwards and crushing everything under their treads." Blank answered.

"Bloody hell, that's one heck of a psychological edge." Qrow shivered lightly as his mind conjured up an image of a squad of helpless soldiers being squished flat by an unstoppable wall of advancing death.

"That it is." Blank agreed.

Jaune leant against a wall and watched the Mammoths go through their paces, no matter how many times he got to work alongside these behemoths, it never got old.

Eventually, someone must have noticed him and one of the Mammoths pulled over. Jaune noted the insignia proudly emblazoned on the side, a hammer and a lightning bolt.

'So this is the unit I'm riding with.' Jaune thought as the side door unsealed with a hiss. A short woman with orange hair and a mad grin on her face stepped out.

Jaune noted the rank on her uniform and saluted. "Major Valkyrie, Lieutenant Jaune Ar-"

"Pshaw! None of that rank stuffiness here. I'm Nora, and this here is my baby Magnhild!" Nora rapped the side of her tank several times before offering a handshake, manic grin still plastered on her face.

"That's Magnhild!? And I outrank Jaune-Jaune!? Other me is awesome!" Nora cheered at the top of her lungs and it took a combined effort from Ren and Pyrrha to keep her in her seat.

"Yes, it's very nice, please calm down now." Pyrrha pleaded as Nora nearly vibrated out of her grasp again.

"Nora as a commander… that very thought is frightening." Weiss shuddered.

"I guess, with infinite possibilities out there, it was bound to happen eventually." Blake muttered.

"Why does she get the tank? I want a Mammoth too…" Ruby pouted.

"You can't drive Rubes, don't even think about it. We remember what happened the last time you tried." Yang chided and Ruby folded her arms with a huff.

"You must be the commando high command dropped in, here to bust some NOD skulls?" Nora greeted when Jaune returned the handshake.

"Yes Ma'am." Jaune nodded and pointedly ignored Nora's theatrical sigh.

"Then I hope you're good at taking down enemy fortifications, I'm proud of my baby and all but those obelisks will tear through our armour like a knife through pancakes. We've lost a lot of good people trying to break their walls already." Nora folded her arms and allowed the mirth to die away, replacing her good cheer with complete seriousness.

"That's what I'm here for Ma'am." Jaune confirmed.

"Excellent! With any luck we'll be able to punch through their lines and get our snipers in, Juggernaut artillery support will handle the rest. We're just waiting on Zone Trooper reinforcements to arrive then we're off to break a few legs." Nora punched her open palm and wore a bloodthirsty grin in anticipation of the carnage to come.

"Obelisks?" Ren looked to Blank for an explanation.

"One of NOD's defences, a beam weapon installed in a tower, it's capable of melting through even the toughest armour GDI has and can be supercharged for even more range and power." Blank answered.

"We're gonna take it down anyways! No fancy turret is gonna stop us!" Nora puffed out her chest in pride.

Night had fallen and the main strike force of the 5th Armoured was holding position just beyond NOD's sensor range. The nature of the Yellow Zone NOD had picked to make their stand in

Jaune's jetpack left a trail of exhaust as it propelled the commando to the top of a ravine. Going prone and crawling the rest of the way to the edge, Jaune pulled out a pair of binoculars and surveyed the field before him.

"Ah hell, there's two of them again. They must have built another one after the first got destroyed by the Firehawks." Jaune frowned as he picked out the menacing talon-like towers guarding the entrance, glowing crimson lines marked the towers' active status.

"Damn, Black Hand guarding the things too." He murmured softly as his binoculars picked out the distinctive black and red armour favoured by NOD's fearsome flame wielding elite guard.

Backing off and making sure he remained undetected, he pinged Nora on his mic. "Ma'am, we have a problem. There are two functional obelisks and a lot of Black Hand guarding them. How shall we proceed?"

"Gah! We can't delay any longer or they'll bleed us dry. We've come too far to stop now… hold on…" Nora trailed off and put the call on hold to get hold of HQ.

"Alright, we've got limited air support, I'll patch you through to them, laze the obelisk and they'll blow it to hell, you'll have to take out the other on your own. We'll move in as soon as those blasted towers are down."

"Yes Ma'am." Jaune nodded and crept back to the edge to spot for the bombers. His earpiece crackled momentarily as it connected to the Firehawk squadron awaiting his directions.

"Bombers standing by, ready for coordinates!" Yang's voice came through, causing Jaune to blink in surprise.

"Yang? Is that you?"

"Sup, how's it Yanging?" Came the reply.

Jaune shook his head and sighed in exasperation. "Talk about a small world. Transmitting target data now… just like old times."

"Damn straight. Target confirmed! We're going in." Yang replied.

"Oh?" Yang raised an eyebrow.

"In this world, you're old friends. Both of you enlisted at the same time to fight the growing NOD threat, though your paths diverged when you became a pilot and he found his calling as a commando. You met up again during the war when he was the commando assigned to sneak behind enemy lines and take out their AA, allowing your unit to get through." Blank answered.

"Ain't that something." Yang said.

NOD's forces were thrown into disarray as four Firehawk bombers came screaming out of the heavens and released their deadly payloads. The bombs landed right on target and detonated with incredible force, instantly reducing one of the obelisks to rubble.

"Here we go, I got your present right here!" Jaune activated his jump jets and shot towards the remaining tower. Landing right before the structure, he sprinted the short distance left and slapped a det pack on the obelisk before it could get a bead on him.

The crimson tip was just beginning to glow when the det pack activated, scything through the tower's supports and bringing the entire structure down instantly. The once terrifying obelisk of light folded in on itself and its glow died away, the charge expended without frying Jaune.

Jaune smiled thinly at his success and activated a small transponder, sending the all clear signal. His carbine snapped up and started firing even before the ringing in his ears died away, nailing the nearest Black Hand troopers with pinpoint precision.

The 5th Armoured were on their way, but until they got here, he was on his own. And that meant surrounded by very pissed off NOD insurgents. And with his jump jets cooling off, standing his ground was the only option Jaune had.

"There he is! Burn him alive!" One of the Black Hand troopers yelled out right before Jaune punched a hole clean through his helmet. The others ignored the corpse flopping over in favour of bum rushing him, their flamethrowers raised and spitting flaming Armageddon everywhere.

"Tch, keep em coming and let's see who's left standing." Jaune held his ground for a little longer, mowing down the enemy infantry with his carbine, taking full advantage of his enemies' limited range.

Backpedalling and firing nonstop, Jaune blinked away some sweat that got in his eyes. His combat gear was rapidly becoming drenched in his own perspiration as the local temperature rose to very unhealthy levels, hellfire constantly licking at his heels as he retreated.

The kick of the carbine in his hands was a welcoming feel, every one of them indicated another kill under his belt. The Black Hand powered armour that was the bane of many an unlucky GDI infantryman might as well have been paper against his stopping power, but there were just too many of them.

"Fucking hell, how many of you godless bastards are there!? Grrr… you get a bullet, and you get a bullet, everybody gets a bullet!" Jaune roared as he switched from target to target as fast as he could, stretching out his ammunition and making every shot count.

"He reeks of fear! Exterminate the weak!" More and more of the flame wielding walking monsters converged on Jaune, unheeding of their own imminent mortality. Driven forwards by fanatical devotion to Ozpin, they sought to overwhelm the lone GDI intruder through weight of numbers alone, even if that meant climbing over the corpses of their own fallen.

Jaune kept an eye on his jump jets' cooldown, it was slowly ticking down but not nearly fast enough, he'd be overrun long before it came back up. Biting back a curse at the situation, Jaune could see the writing on the wall, he was slowly being boxed in and he couldn't aim and shoot fast enough to keep the Black Hand off forever.

Just when Jaune thought his number was up, sniper support fire came in from the ridge he vacated earlier. The Black Hand were unprepared for the sudden attack and their front lines folded, giving Jaune the breathing room he needed.

Between the snipers and himself, Jaune managed to hold the enemy at bay with his fighting retreat long enough for his jump jets to come back online. Smiling and giving the NOD forces a mock salute, he activated them and shot skywards to safety, heading for the approximate location of the friendly snipers.

The outraged howls he left in the dust were music to his ears.

"Too close, way too close." Weiss muttered and exhaled softly, releasing a breath she didn't even realise she was holding.

"Gee, could they try any harder to look like bad guys? Full black armour and cloaks… this is White Fang and Grimm masks to the extreme." Yang said, getting Blake to sigh in disappointment and Ruby to protest that there was nothing wrong with cloaks.

"It's the same as GDI and their Mammoths really, it is a significant psychological edge NOD exploits to the fullest. The armour makes them seem inhuman to their enemies, the fact that they kill by burning their enemies alive and are very resilient to small arms fire only compounds their fear factor. They may be infantry and have limited range, but the damage they can do is truly staggering." Blank said.

"As it should be." Cinder smirked, fully appreciative of NOD's living terror weapons. Effectiveness against the commando aside, she could easily see the appeal of such soldiers. Fanatics they may be, they were still far superior to the White Fang fanatical morons she was saddled with.

"Of course, you'd like them, miss dark and edgy." Roman rolled his eyes.

"Much appreciated." Jaune nodded to the two snipers that bailed his ass out of the fire, literally.

"Sniper team ready LT." Ruby hefted her rifle up and saluted.

"We have your back sir." Ren echoed her salute.

"You two the spotters for the Juggernauts?" Jaune asked.

"Yup!" Ruby replied with a pop.

"Leave it to us, we'll get it done." Ren said.

"Excellent, let's get back to the rest and get this party started." Jaune nodded and started making his way back to where GDI's forces were beginning their push.

"Ruby as a sniper? Some things never change." Weiss shrugged.

"Why not? Sniper rifles are awesome." Ruby said.

Bullets pinged off the burning wreck of a destroyed APC, Jaune ducked behind it and slapped a fresh mag home. Popping out of cover, he opened fire on several squads of militants, mowing them down like grass before ducking again when return fire came his way.

Their advance into the NOD base had bogged down as expected, the defenders putting up a truly fanatical defence of their holy ground. Every metre gained had to be bought in blood as NOD threw everything they had against GDI.

By accident or by design, there were barely any lights to be had in the area. Instead, the battlefield was lit by burning husks and muzzle flashes, playing hell with the combatants' senses. And loathe as he was to admit it, NOD held the home field advantage here.

Ambush troops had been carefully concealed and lay in wait for unsuspecting GDI forces. Popping out to wreak havoc only once the 5th Armoured had committed to battle elsewhere. Not for the first time in his military career, Jaune cursed NOD's stealth technology.

Emerald missiles streaked overhead as several Stealth Tanks decloaked behind a row of Scorpion Tanks and launched a full salvo. Jaune cursed when the missiles landed on target, reducing a group of Predators to scrap. The accompanying infantry men next to the unlucky vehicles fared no better.

And before GDI could retaliate against the invisible killers, they had already cloaked again, the Scorpions in front acting as meat shields to protect the more valuable machines. Jaune felt no satisfaction watching the Mammoths tear through the enemy tanks with their railguns, if their offensive stalled any further, NOD would just pick them off one by one until no one was left.

"Vertigos inbound." Ren's report came in and Jaune cursed, scrambling for cover immediately. Moments later, NOD's stealth bombers soared overhead.

Countless missiles and rockets fired as soon as the bombers came within range, every unit with AA capabilities unloading on the deadly aircraft. Two were shot out of the sky before they had the chance to release their bombs, detonating mid-air and scattering debris over the battlefield.

The third one however survived long enough to jettison its ordinance before it was destroyed. The heavy bomb fell through the clouds and impacted directly on top of one of the Mammoth tanks. The explosion rocked the entire armoured column and kicked up a cloud of dust and flames.

Miraculously, GDI's armoured behemoth continued to roll on through despite the heavy damage. It was belching black smoke and one of its treads had been destroyed, slowing it considerably. But its rail guns and missile turrets continued to function, firing continuously at enemy armour, defiant to the last.

Jaune's earpiece crackled and Nora's voice pierced the din of battle. "Push up and take out those SAMs, we're sitting ducks out here for their bombers. We need our own air force in play asap!"

"Yes Ma'am! Already there!" Jaune dashed out and activated his jump jets, boosting over the line of enemy tanks and making a mad dash straight for the turrets. Several canon rounds shot by harmlessly, destroying nothing but dirt.

Slapping the det pack onto the SAM hub and hurrying on to the next one, Jaune left a trail of explosions in his wake. With the central hubs destroyed, the missile turrets were little more than fancy statues, their guidance systems completely offline.

Ducking into cover as NOD shadow teams noticed his presence and moved to engage, Jaune exhaled quietly when several bullets lodged in his side. His armour bore the brunt of the attack, blunting the force but still leaving him feeling like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his body.

"Don't worry LT, We got em marked!" Ruby's voice came through and immediately the bullets pinging off his makeshift cover lessened, and before long had ceased completely.

"All targets neutralised, you're clear to proceed. Heading to new position." Ren followed up.

"Roger that." Jaune grunted and peeked out of cover just to make sure there weren't any hostiles around. The fighting had begun to die down again as NOD's inferior tanks were scrapped by the railgun equipped Mammoths and Predators, their stealth tanks had evidently retreated from the zone and were nowhere to be found.

Most of NOD's infantry units had fallen back as well, leaving just a few militant rocket squads behind. Confessors mixed in with them urged them ever onwards, driving them to make a last stand and go out in a blaze of glory.

Jaune himself had no patience for their rhetoric. Jump jets activated and propelled him behind their ranks. His carbine snapped up and painted the rocket squads' red ponchos crimson with their own life blood.

The confessors fared much the same as their lesser brethren, black armour punctured and bleeding scarlet. One shot each marked the end of their reign of terror. When Jaune's rifle fell silent at last, only a field of corpses marked where their last stand had petered out with a whimper.

"Effective. Very effective." Ironwood praised.

"I was wondering about it earlier already, but that's not a normal rifle is it? Feels too different from the other guns." Taiyang asked.

"That's because it's not a conventional firearm, it's actually a rapid-fire railgun. Exceedingly deadly against infantry, its main drawback is it's borderline useless against enemy vehicles." Blank explained.

"I see… still, the way he fights… he feels like a huntsman, not a soldier. It's… he's just tearing through the enemy on his own, he barely even needs the support of his fellows." Taiyang said.

"GDI commandos are one man armies and represent the second half of GDI's combat doctrine. Move fast, hit hard, move fast again. Overwhelm the enemy with a mix of speed and firepower, exit before they can react, a commando's entire kit is geared towards that. Light armour that offers reasonable protection against small arms fire, a gun capable of wiping out massed infantry, supremely powerful explosives for levelling enemy structures and jump jets for unparalleled mobility." Blank elaborated.

"Jetpacks to go behind enemy lines or break pursuit, personnel deletion with that railgun and then enough explosives to bring down a base on their own, jetpacks to escape again. It's… a very effective strategy." Winter analysed, giving a nod of approval.

"So that's GDI's way of battle. Steamroll the enemy or blitz them into submission. What about NOD then?" Emerald asked.

"Suicidal fanaticism mixed with unmatched stealth. A mix of hit and run strategies, suicide charges and plenty of cloak and dagger. On a one to one basis, their units might not be a match for GDI's forces, but they make up for it with sheer versatility." Blank said.

"And their commandos? They have them too, right?" Mercury queried.

"Ah, just wait and see." Blank said.

"Coordinates sent, bombardment on its way." Ren called out as he dialled in the targeting data for the first ion disruptor.

Jaune rested against one of Magnhild's giant treads, watching in silence as the artillery barrage arrived shortly after, orange shells falling from the sky at an unseen target hidden behind more of the fortress's nigh impregnable walls.

Those cold grey walls may have stopped the Mammoths from simply rolling on through but they did nothing to protect against the barrage. An unceasing rain of high explosives fell right on target, blowing through the generator's armour plating and then blasting the sensitive machinery beneath into oblivion.

A large blast and a mushroom cloud forming in the distance signalled the total destruction of the first generator.

Tired cheering came from the soldiers who still had enough energy in them to celebrate the completion of phase one. Most though were like Jaune, dead on their feet and just getting whatever rest they could during the temporary lull in battle.

The commando was fitter and had greater stamina than most, but even he was run ragged by all the fighting. Spending hours sprinting around the battlefield, planting explosives and gunning down enemy infantry had taken its toll. He'd already burnt through his supply of detpacks multiple times bringing down enemy gun emplacements and factories and fired his rifle long enough to wear out the rails twice. And they still weren't anywhere close to done.

The sun was nearing its zenith and the GDI offensive had ground to a complete halt. The 5th Armoured was constantly besieged by unending waves of enemy troops pouring in from all sides. All paths of retreat had been cut off as well by NOD reinforcements, and even with constant airstrikes from friendly Firehawks and Orcas, the 5th Armoured barely had any breathing room to work with.

Not even other GDI divisions attacking the base from elsewhere was enough to reduce the pressure. NOD's war factories and barracks continued churning out enough weapons and tanks for the insurgents to throw against all challengers, and they had no shortage of willing bodies to feed into the meat grinder.

"FANATICS INCOMING!" The shout dragged out a tired sigh from Jaune. Grabbing his rifle and rising, the commando joined a throng of other riflemen doing the same. Jamming as many guns as they could into the hastily erected walls, they opened fire on the screaming red tide rushing them.

Then there were these guys.

As a rule, GDI forces hated everything NOD. But for Jaune, Fanatics reserved a spot in the deepest pits of hell. The mindless devotion and religious worship of a madman taken to the absolute peak. Unlike most of NOD's other forces, these bastards had no special technological augment, they didn't even hold guns. Their main claim to infamy was their ability to run very, very fast towards danger.

Armed with only suicide vests and a prayer, their one strategy was to mob GDI positions en masse, pushing through the bullet storm by force of will alone and then self-destructing to take as many down with them as they could.

Death was the highest honour for these twisted souls, and Jaune had no qualms granting it to them. His railgun carbine spat death in an endless stream, scything through enemy ranks while other infantrymen continued firing like their lives depended on it… which to be fair, it kind of did. Those suicide vests packed a serious amount of punch and Jaune had lost a lot of friends to them in the past.

The men of the 5th Armoured did their absolute best to keep the suicide bombers at bay, but in places, their best simply wasn't enough.

"We will be remembered!" One of the fanatics threw himself forwards, scrambling over the barricades despite the numerous mortal wounds he'd already sustained. Eyes glinting with madness, he depressed the detonator and vanished in a blast of fire and death, taking a full squad of riflemen with him.

"Errgghhh…" Jaune growled in frustration as the last Fanatic spontaneously transformed into hunks of unidentified red meat when over a hundred guns took aim at it. Already wounded survivors were being carried off on stretchers to the medic tents while the dead were dragged off and unceremoniously left in a pile where they wouldn't obstruct the war effort.

It hurt to mistreat the fallen forms of their comrades like this but there was simply no choice. This attack was just the latest in a series of assaults designed to wear their defences down. After their offensive bogged down completely, they had been forced to hunker down and weather the storm. But there was only so much they could do to patch the growing holes in their defences, sooner or later, the 5th Armoured would break.

Wiping away a sheen of sweat, Jaune left the 'base' perimeter and returned to Magnhild, hoping that there was some good news to be had with the ion disruptor down.

"Ma'am, we can't last much longer like this. We'll be overrun in hours even with our air support up and running." Jaune said upon entering the tank.

"I figured. Good thing we don't have to." Nora sported a large grin as she spun around on her swivel chair.

"It's payback time Jaune-Jaune." Nora stuck a finger in the air and cackled.

"Thanks to Ren and Ruby scouting ahead for those generator coordinates, we, have, orbital support!"

Right on cue, several sapphire beams descended from the heavens. Forming a circle around a section of the NOD base they hadn't been able to push into. Slowly, the beams began to circle and converge inwards, until they formed a single line.

Then a blinding flash as the ion cannon fired.

The Mammoth rumbled and Jaune grabbed hold of a nearby console to steady himself until the earth stopped shaking. When the light faded and the smoke began to clear, the damage to the NOD base was evident.

The factories that had been churning out Scorpion and Flame tanks to harass them had vanished, being at ground zero. Two nearby air towers supplying Vertigo bombers and Venoms had been knocked over as well, cutting down NOD air power even further.

But best of all, entire sections of NOD's fortress walls had been completely levelled by the ion cannon strike. Now their forces could simply cut through instead of having to follow the meandering paths packed to the brim with ambush troops.

"That's some serious firepower." Qrow muttered.

"How hasn't this… NOD already lost when they're up against something this powerful?" Winter asked.

"Same way you haven't stamped out the White Fang I'd wager." Roman replied.

"All the power in the world won't help you if you're up against an opponent you can't hit."

"In essence. Advanced stealth technology grant NOD bases almost perfect invisibility. Aside from the main generator which cannot be cloaked, the rest of the base is undetectable, you'd have to be right next to a building to even notice it's there if you don't have advanced scanners capable to piercing stealth." Blank said, forestalling any argument from Winter or Ironwood.

"Then, they do enjoy significant support from the masses in the Yellow Zones and some supporters in the Blue Zones as well, letting them blend into the people and hide in plain sight. NOD also operates in cells, with MCV technology a thing, it's nigh impossible to stamp them all out, and GDI is playing whack a mole most of the time."

"And I'm sure the suicidal fanaticism doesn't make them any easier to combat." Ozpin muttered, ill at ease with the tactics employed by his counterpart. They were effective, and they were also too Salem like.

"If their biggest advantage is their inability to be detected, why throw it away in favour of such a large base? Even if they had a counter to the ion cannon… something's not quite right with this picture." Blake muttered.

Repeated ion cannon strikes had softened up most of NOD's defences greatly, GDI's orbital superweapon was more than enough to dislodge even the most deeply entrenched defenders. Walls ceased to be, minefields evaporated into nothing and garrisoned troops were blown away with whatever bunker they were hiding in.

The ion cannon coupled with other GDI forces pressing the advantage finally brought the 5th Armoured the relief they needed. Several corridors leading back to friendly territory had been cleaved open, allowing reinforcements to arrive in the form of several Rigs.

Now they had something of a proper forward operating base deep behind enemy lines. As long as the battle bases the Rigs unpacked into remained operational, they could resupply there and more importantly fix up their valuable tanks before the next push.

"Right, we've got word from the colonel, most of the 5th will continue pushing towards the second ion disruptor once our wounded have been evacuated." Nora said as she pointed out their planned route on a map. Jaune nodded quietly as Nora continued the briefing in a makeshift command tent.

"You on the other hand, have a different mission. The NOD science ministry is in the vicinity and so is one of their precious Tiberium chemical plants."

"Am I to destroy them?" Jaune asked.

"No. Quite the opposite really, your job is to take those buildings intact. High command wants intel and that's what their gonna get. Erase any opposition and escort our own eggheads in safely, they'll handle the rest." Nora corrected then turned to one of the Zone Troopers standing by.

"Winchester, you and your boys are going with. Your scanner packs working?"

"Yes Ma'am. Yeesh, escort duty again." Cardin grumbled and shifted his bulk, the giant suit of powered armour making surprisingly little noise as he did.

"Suck it up Trooper. Our snipers are busy calling in targets for the Juggernauts and our Pitbulls are too damned fragile to send on this mission. That leaves you as our only stealth detectors, we can't tell if there're any Stealth Tanks in the area but if there are, it's up to you to blow them to hell. Keep them off our APCs." Nora ordered and Cardin saluted after a small sigh.

"Field recon is sketchy at best, I don't know what you're walking into but it is imperative those buildings be taken intact. We have word that NOD brought something important here, something they fought like hell to secure and keep secret. We need to know what it is, get our engineers in, get out and regroup with the rest of us."

"Yes Ma'am. I know the routine." Jaune saluted and left the tent when Nora dismissed them to their duties.

"I control Cardin too!? Yeah! Other me is awesome!" Nora cheered.

"Still trying to wrap my head around that. What kind of armour is that anyways?" Weiss asked.

"Zone Trooper powered armour, a fully sealed battle suit that augments the wearer and provides quite a good deal of protection from enemy weapons and Tiberium contamination. Zone Troopers are also armed with scaled down versions of the tank mounted rail guns, allowing them to go toe to toe with enemy tanks without needing to worry about being crushed by all but the heaviest of vehicles. For mobility purposes, they too possess jump jets like GDI commandos." Blank explained.

"So between the two of them, they have anti-infantry and anti-armour capabilities in a mobile strike force. What about anti-air though?" Ironwood mused.

"The APCs' themselves are equipped with a heavy machine gun that can shred infantry and cut through the light armour of most enemy aircraft." Blank answered.

"So they have their bases covered. Not bad. Not bad at all." Winter muttered.

Missiles streaked across the sky and found their marks, blowing the Venoms out of the sky. The Firehawks that launched the salvo streaked by overhead shortly after.

"That's the last of my missiles Arc, heading back to rearm now. Skies are clear but you watch yourself down there alright?" Yang said as she picked out Jaune's little group down below during their flyby.

"Got it, thanks for the assist. Drink's on me when we're done here." Jaune replied as the burning wreckage of one of the destroyed Venoms crashed into a building nearby.

"Heh, I'll hold you to that. Yang out." The Firehawks shot by overhead again on their return pass back to base. Jaune watched them shoot past as their unit pushed on into NOD controlled territory.

So far, most of the NOD forces were tied up trying to push back the 5th Armoured's offensive, leaving only a token force to oppose Jaune and company. A few militia groups and confessors, some black hand squads and a couple of tanks.

Nothing that CRDL and himself couldn't handle between them. The lone Stealth Tank they ran into shortly ceased to be when the Zone Troopers dropped in behind it with jump jets and lit it up with their heavy railguns at point blank range. And Jaune had to admit, ambushing the ambusher was a bloody sweet feeling.

"Got a present for ya!" Jaune chuckled as his own jump jets launched him over a towering barricade and behind two of NOD's oddly shaped barracks. Slapping det packs on them and sprinting off, screams of surprise and fear echoed all around when the explosives went off and brought the structure down, burying everyone inside alive.

"What the!? Behind us!"

Jaune's rifle was already raised and shooting by the time the militant squads caught on to the fact that Cardin's frontal assault was little more than a distraction for the real threat, and they paid for their mistake with their lives.

With the sector clear, the APCs were free to drive up and pull to a halt outside the science ministry building. Jaune walked over to the nearest one and gave the door a rap. "Aight! Ride's over gentlemen, we're here."

Riflemen squads spilled out of the APCs alongside a few engineers. While Jaune and CRDL stood guard outside, the riflemen would have the unpleasant task of clearing out the insurgents hiding inside and supporting the engineers until they could do what they came for.

"How much time you gonna need in there? I don't know how long it'll be before NOD sends us an eviction notice." Jaune asked one of the engineers, a goggle wearing man with blue hair.

"It'll depend on how long it takes us to get to the data centres really. But once we're in, we'll it done asap." Neptune replied.

"Good then hurr-"

"Yo! LT! we got raiders incoming!" Russel's loud shout interrupted their conversation as the Zone Troopers picked up incoming enemy forces.

"Shit. Well you heard the man, double time it. We'll buy you as much time as we can." Jaune cursed under his breath and readied for battle again.

"Yessir! Just gimme a sec to get in there!" Neptune said and rushed off to join the others already breaching the science ministry building. Further off, a second group of engineers and soldiers had already started work on taking over the Tiberium chemical plant.

"Troopers! In the APCs now! Use them for cover!" Jaune ordered and followed his own advice, hopping into the nearest one and jamming his rifle into one of the gun ports. The Raider Buggies came roaring over the hill soon enough, laser capacitors spitting crimson beams every which way.

The lasers slammed into the APCs, slagging armour wherever they hit. Fortunately for the GDI troops sheltering inside, the laser weaponry wasn't anti-vehicle grade, only anti-infantry. They'd get through the APCs' armour eventually with enough sustained fire, but not fast enough to make a difference.

Jaune's sniped as best he could with his carbine, trying to nail the drivers with precision shots or hit something vulnerable on the buggy itself. He got lucky with several shots, but for the most part, the Zone Troopers did the heavy lifting.

Cardin's squad barely needed to aim with their own railguns, the larger more powerful cousin to Jaune's rifle, every hit they dealt was lethal, especially to a barely armoured light scout vehicle. And whenever one of their railguns scored a direct hit on one of the human occupants, the results were… messy to say the least.

"They use a lot of magnetic weapons, don't they?" Pyrrha commented, the more of GDI she saw, the more convinced she became that railguns were their answer to just about everything. More firepower on a tank, slap a railgun on it, need bigger guns for infantry, railguns again.

"It's effective. Unlike NOD, GDI doesn't focus too much on outlandish designs or technology. They simply take what already works and pumps it all the way to the extreme. Their successes on the battlefield speak for themselves." Blank said.

"Any chance they could be incorporated into our standing forces? These guns look easier to mass produce and field than some of the others we've seen." Ironwood asked, his mind already filled with images of Atlas troops wrecking Grimm with superpowered guns.

"Of course. Heavier railguns like the ones the Zone Troopers are using require recoil compensation beyond what your Atlesian Knights can handle, but huntsmen with aura and some training should be able to handle them just fine." Blank said.

"And their drawbacks?" Winter raised an eyebrow, it sounded too good to be true, and in her experience, it usually meant it was exactly that.

"Ease of production is one thing, there's the cost of doing so too, and of course, the bigger problem of maintenance. There is a reason why most of GDI still uses regular guns." Blank answered.

"One problem at a time. It's at least a path to consider." Ironwood said.

"How much longer!?" Jaune yelled into his mic as missiles from several Attack Bikes struck the science ministry building, damaging the structure and causing it to rumble.

"Just a bit more! We're grabbing all the data we can and we have VIPs to exfil!" Neptune shouted back on the other end.

"Hurry up damnit! We're gonna be walking home at this rate!" Jaune shouted. Cursing under his breath, he lit up a platoon of Black Hand approaching them, slaughtering them all before they could start melting down their remaining APCs.

Two of the APCs they brought with them were smoking burnt out husks now and the remainder weren't long for the world either as enemy forces continued pressing the attack. There were only two bright spots to their current conundrum

One, CRDL was still in tip top shape thanks to armour self-repair systems and an on-board medical suite while Jaune himself had managed to avoid damage by sheer dumb luck even when his APC was busted by enemy rockets. And two, NOD air power had not returned to the area after Yang's crew savaged them earlier.

And of course, fate would not allow them to get off easy.

"Uh oh. We got a big one incoming." Cardin's unsure tone got Jaune to pause in his shooting for a split second. Zone Troopers could go ten rounds with enemy tanks and come out victorious without breaking a sweat, what could possibly cause him to hesitate?

Jaune received his answer when a crimson beam lanced towards one of the surviving APCs and slagged the vehicle instantly, killing the driver and gunner inside. Jaune's eyes widened as the beam had literally come out of thin air, there was nothing there, no way for it to happen, unless it was… oh… hell.

Jaune's face fell when he noticed the disturbance in the dust clouds in the area where the beam had come from. The air shimmered as the perpetrator uncloaked and the Avatar battle mech faded into view.

Black and crimson all over, the titan towered over all other NOD vehicles in the area. The only true combat walker of the Third Tiberium War raised its arm and took aim at another APC. Scarlet light coalesced at the end of it before it fired, destroying the APC in one hit. A shoulder mounted flamethrower spat fire into the sky, issuing a challenge to Jaune's group.

"You gotta be fucking shitting me. We have to fight that!?" Cardin cursed loudly. It was a sentiment shared among all the GDI forces still alive in the area.

"Uh oh, big robot." Ruby muttered.

"Damn… of all the times to appear, they have to fight that on foot?" Roman muttered.

"So they do have mechs, why so few though?" Winter asked.

"At this stage of the war, there are really only two walkers left in service barring aging equipment leftover from previous conflicts. GDI Juggernauts and mobile artillery platforms and NOD Avatars which are more classic battle mechs with a variety of weapons. GDI used to field more, but walkers share a crippling weakness that their engineers could find no answer for, and so started phasing their own out in favour of tanks. NOD on the other hand, continued walker development and ended with the Avatar, an all-purpose, all-terrain titan with a surprising amount of modifiability for different situations." Blank said.

"So NOD succeeded where they failed and found a solution to that weakness?" Cinder asked.

"No."

"Screw it, we're out of time! Get out of there now!" Jaune ordered as he rocketed to safety, a tidal wave of fire engulfing the spot he just vacated as the Avatar warmech immolated everything in its path, heedless of friendly casualties along the way. Other NOD forces were sent scrambling away as the Avatar wiped the field with cleansing fire.

"We're not finished! We're still trying to download their database!" Neptune called back.

"We're out of time! You stay any longer and the whole building is coming down!" Jaune's words were punctuated by the Avatar firing a beam towards the science ministry, carving an ugly scar on the building and shearing through some of its supports.

"Alright, alright! We're on our way out now! Keep them off us!" Neptune replied.

Cardin growled as his railgun rounds impacted the Avatar head on and only just dented its armour. If they had more Zone Troopers in the area, they could bring it down with combined fire, but with only his squad, they didn't have a prayer. "Arc, we'll draw its fire. Get the eggheads out."

"What the? The hell do you think you're doing!? Get back!" Jaune watched in disbelief as the Zone Troopers jetted out of cover and into the open. Their railguns fired repeatedly on the walker, drawing its attention to themselves and away from the evacuating engineers.

"Get the eggheads back to Major Valkyrie. We'll hold that damn thing here, leave us!" Cardin replied as the flames began surging towards them, licking hungrily at their grey and silver armour.

"Fucking hell!" Jaune cursed as another wave of fire came perilously close to charcoaling him. Behind him, the engineers and riflemen had finished evacuating alongside some captured POWs. Fear was written all over their faces as they saw the giant robot incinerating everything.

But Jaune didn't have the time or energy to deal with them now. His jump jets had just come off cooldown and were usable again. Activating them, he shot forwards, right at the Avatar.

"What are you doing Arc!? Get out of here! We're expendable!" Cardin roared, sweat pouring down his face as the internal temperature of his suit spiked. The powered armour wouldn't hold against the flames for much longer.

"Not to me." Jaune landed right by the Avatar's feet, his skin felt raw and blistered as though suffering from a bad sunburn. The heat coming off the Avatar's endless deluge of flames was almost unbearable, his armour provided decent protection against bullets, but it was even less useful than CRDL's armour.

"Tch." Sprinting off as one of the Avatar's feet came stomping down, narrowly missing him. The walker began to turn slowly, its sensors picking up Jaune's presence at its feet and now trying to stomp the commando flat or immolate him with its flamethrower.

"Got for a present for ya." Jaune withdrew one of his remaining detpacks and waited for the Avatar to stomp down again. Dodging at the last moment, Jaune threw himself onto the mechanical limb, scrabbling to find a secure grip.

"Argh!" Jaune's visor shattered when the Avatar's attempt to shake him off caused his head to slam into the metal chassis. Despite the rough ride, Jaune managed to hold on long enough to attach the detpack securely.

Leaping off the foot when it came down again, Jaune went tumbling across the hard earth upon landing. Ignoring the pain and forcing himself to rise, Jaune staggered a bit before sprinting for the Avatar. Seconds later, the detpack he attacked to the mech exploded, shearing through the armoured limb easily and destabilizing the mech.

Unable to right itself, the Avatar toppled over and crashed to the ground, causing the earth to shake. With it brought down to size, it was the perfect time to strike and Jaune didn't waste it. The commando sprinted for the Avatar's control pod and jammed his carbine against the crimson reinforced glass.

The stunned pilot inside just managed to gather his wits to look up as Jaune pulled the trigger. His carbine might not be very effective against the heavy armour of the Avatar, but at this range and shooting at reinforced glass, it was enough.

Cracks spiderwebbed across the control pod's canopy as it sustained more damage than it could handle. Jaune let up on the trigger when the cracks were numerous enough that the glass was practically opaque. He would have continued shooting but a stray thought caused him to stay his hand.

Instead, he brought the butt of his rifle down on the glass, hammering away at it until it finally broke under the strain, exposing the defiant pilot inside.

"GDI dog!" The avatar pilot was still struggling to extract himself from his harness and attack Jaune with nothing but his bare hands.

"Yeah, sure, whatever." Letting his rifle fall to the side, Jaune pulled out his sidearm and planted a round dead centre in the pilot's head.

"Avatar down. Engineers, you're up."

"Oh yeah, the legs. Too tall, too heavy, its centre of gravity is all off once one of them goes. Then… timber." Qrow muttered.

"They couldn't have slapped more armour on it? Seems like a simple fix." Mercury shook his head and idly scratched at his own robotic legs.

"It actually has enough armour for standard warfare. Normal cannons, guns and railguns don't have an easy time getting through. The issue is commandos carry explosives meant to take down entire buildings in one go, armour tech hasn't evolved fast enough to counter that. It's why GDI retired most of their own walkers, the chance of NOD's own commandos sneaking by to plant their bombs could instantly cripple an entire strike force. It's a pressing concern especially since NOD favours stealth." Blank said.

"The flamethrower would have been effective at keeping people away, too bad it got distracted. If there were more present, I do not believe that manoeuvre would have succeeded." Winter mused.

"Correct." Blank confirmed.

"You got a fucking death wish Arc? That was reckless as hell." Cardin grumbled, limping slightly as the servos in his right leg were busted. His armour was scorched black in places and half melted in others, the rest of his squad didn't look much better.

"But… thanks."

"We're GDI, we look out for our own." Jaune replied and waved off the thanks. His attention remained focused on Neptune and the other techs working on the Avatar husk.

"Is it salvageable?" He asked.

"Yeah, I can get it working. Leg's busted bad, it'll work but it won't be pretty." Neptune replied.

"Better than nothing. Do it, it'll help get us back to the rest and I'm sure the boys at HQ would love to tear it apart for the goodies inside. Make it snappy, no idea how long before NOD figures out we're not dead yet and come back for round two." Jaune said.

"Yes sir. Gimme a sec." Neptune pried more pieces of the broken canopy off and slipped into the control pod, hooking himself into the Avatar's systems. The other engineers scrambled to finish field repairs on the rest of the mech, patching things up as best they could and making sure its weapons were functional.

The Avatar reactivated with a low hum, slowly rising back up as Neptune worked the controls. It was not a pretty sight, battle damage plus the fall had put some major dents into the armour and there was its 'repaired' leg.

With the damage Jaune's explosive surprise had done to it, it was pretty much completely destroyed. The engineers had managed to jury-rig a replacement out of what was left of the original limb and parts from destroyed NOD vehicles and the APC.

The final result was ugly as sin, but it worked.

"They stole the mech!? Damnit we have should have done that with the Paladin." Yang snapped her fingers and cursed the missed opportunity to take the machine for a joyride.

"Ahem. No stealing military hardware thank you, not even if it was stolen before that." Ironwood coughed out.

"No stealing, period." Goodwitch's glare bore into the back of Yang's head and she chuckled nervously.

"But man, piloting a giant robot of my own has gotta be awesome." Yang muttered.

"It is. I can assure you of that." Roman smirked before wincing when Neo jabbed him in the side. His assistant quite displeased he managed to lose the stolen Paladin before she had a chance to actually test drive it.

Jaune sat atop one of the still functional APCs as it rumbled along the road. The captured Avatar was leading the way back to the rest of the 5th Armoured and completely obliterating all opposition.

With CRDL scouting ahead to pick out enemy stealth tanks early, Neptune's new ride easily handled them by blasting them into oblivion with its beam cannons. NOD infantry rushes and other light armour were dealt with by immolation and in a few cases, stomping.

With no Fanatics in the area and only a handful of rocket squads, their Avatar simply steamrolled everything in its path. And the few venoms that showed up to harass them were dealt with by the APCs own machinegun turret. All that left Jaune little to do by sit and watch the show.

"Did you get anything useful out of there?" Jaune asked Neptune during a lull in battle.

"We couldn't get everything but what's there was… disturbing." Neptune replied.

"Disturbing how? More Tiberium human experiments?" Jaune raised an eyebrow.

"Worse. Those madmen were building a liquid T bomb." Neptune corrected.

"…In English doc?" Jaune said after a pause.

"A liquid T bomb is terrifyingly powerful, it's far beyond the destructive capability of even NOD's most powerful nukes. Worse, when liquid T goes off, it'll cause every Tiberium deposit in the area to go off instantly. We're not talking about wiping out this base lieutenant, we're talking reshaping entire continents if detonated in a Yellow Zone. If it goes off in a Red Zone… we might not have a world left." Neptune said tersely.

"Jesus… is the threat neutralized?"

"No. We grabbed the plans and their research but the liquid T itself is missing. Probably inside their main base." Neptune's words caused Jaune to sigh explosively and punch the cab of the APC.

"Bloody hell, how much time do we have left?"

"Enough… I think. From the research we got, it seems that NOD is having problems creating a method to actually detonate that much liquid T in one go. Essentially, they have the bomb but no detonator. We can still stop them." Neptune reassured.

"For all our sakes, I hope you're right." Jaune muttered, not quite convinced of Neptune's claim.

"A planet killing bomb, why would they even have something like that? This world… it doesn't have space colonies or other planets humanity can evacuate to, does it?" Summer asked.

"Some people just want to burn the entire world down with them." Ozpin murmured quietly.

"Or they just don't care about collateral damage as long as they win."

"Excellent work Jaune-Jaune! I knew you could do it, nice work with the Avatar by the way." Nora gestured to the captured NOD vehicle with an approving nod.

"Just doing my job Ma'am." Jaune replied.

"You're never going to stop calling me that, are you?"

"If you prefer, I can address you as Major Valkyrie." Jaune replied cheekily, getting Nora to chuckle as well.

"Heh, but seriously, good work. Only one ion disruption field generator remains. It's protected by more obelisks and Ozpin's elite guard. One last push, and then Temple Prime itself will be open." Nora said.

"Am I to take down those obelisks again?" Jaune asked.

"No. Not this time. We're on a time limit now, Ruby got back earlier with visual confirmation of the generator. It's next to the damned Temple of NOD that destroyed Castle base, and according to her, they're just about ready to launch the next Nuke. We've got to take it down before Argus goes bye-bye." Nora answered.

"Once resupply and refit are complete, the 5th Armoured will make the final push on Temple Prime, Opzin cannot be allowed to fire another nuke. Victory or death."

"Yes Ma'am." Jaune saluted.

"Elite guard? Guess this is where NOD's own commandos appear." Emerald commented.

"It still feels like they're walking into some kind of trap." Blake muttered.

"If it is a trap why is NOD fighting so hard against them? You'd think they'd want them to get further so they can spring it." Weiss replied and to her surprise, her sister spoke up to correct her.

"Not necessarily. There's a saying where if your attack is going too smoothly, you're walking into an ambush. From what I gather, this place is important to NOD, and GDI have come to expect fanatical defence of it. If opposition is lacking, they might smell a trap and back off. A spirited defence lowers their guard, and of course, if GDI itself is defeated along the way, I don't think NOD will be too disappointed with the result." Winter said.

"The victory conditions are different, aren't they? This Ozpin has no intention of winning here. I'd say he wins when NOD loses. I can't tell what his plan is, but he's left GDI enough rope to hang themselves with." Cinder spoke up.

"Correct." Blank confirmed but said no more on the matter.

Magnhild rumbled across the terrain as a row of Scorpion tanks opened fire on it, their laser cannons scoring black lines across its armour plating. Behind the controls of the Mammoth, Nora grinned and slammed the tank into overdrive, barrelling full steam ahead.

By the time the enemy tanks realised she wasn't going to stop, it was too late. They were only just beginning to turn when the Mammoth hit them and then proceeded to roll over them, crushing them to paste under its treads.

The turret rotated, bringing its twin railguns to bear against another Avatar squaring off against a fellow Mammoth. The tank rocked as the railguns fired, twin supersonic slugs crossed the space between them nigh instantaneously and struck something critical, causing parts of the walker to explode before it toppled over with a thunderous crash.

"Ma'am! Those obelisks are still up, recommend falling back until I get them!" Jaune's warning caused Nora to cackle.

"Nonsense! Magnhild and I aren't retreating no matter what! Ye verily, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for I am driving a house sized mass of fuck you!"

Magnhild continued forwards, heedless of the incoming enemy fire. Infantry and lesser tanks would wind up crushed underfoot if they tried to impede her and those pesky obelisks of light would not be enough to stop them in time.

A scarlet beam lanced out and struck a friendly Mammoth, the beam cut straight through its main guns and then through the armour itself, melting everything inside and gutting the tank. Nora growled in anger when it happened.

"Hey bastards! Knock, knock! Here's Nora!" In retaliation Magnhild rammed into the obelisk itself, cracking the armoured casing on it and almost knocking it over. Giant treads churned up dirt as the Mammoth continued driving forwards and bit by bit, the obelisk continued tilting.

Until finally, the entire structure was uprooted, not quite the immovable object to Nora's unstoppable force. Magnhild rolled over the toppled obelisk, flattening it too before bringing its guns to bear against the final obelisk in the area.

"Fire everything we've got!" Nora yelled and her gunner crew obliged. The Mammoth tank unloaded its railguns and missile turrets on her target, filling the air with ridiculous amounts of firepower as they pushed the weapon systems to their absolute limit.

The tooth shaped turret got one final blow in before the barrage landed, a glancing blow that cut through one of Magnhild's railguns and destroyed one of its treads. But the victor was clear. Unable to withstand the overwhelming amount of punishment, the obelisk of light sparked and failed, collapsing in on itself into a pile of rubble.

"Ahahahahah! 5th Armoured forever! GDI rules, NOD drools!" Nora cheered as the building went down, leaving the Temple of NOD and ion disruption field generator exposed.

"How very… Nora." Pyrrha said at last.

"Some things never change." Ren agreed.

"Why change perfection." Nora preened for a bit before falling over in a fit of giggles.

"God. Damn." Jaune shook his head in disbelief, his rifle hung limply at his side, the commando unable to do anything but watch Nora's rampage across the frontlines.

"We've breached the inner walls of the NOD compound commander-" A lone GDI soldier called into his mic, reporting their success back to GDI central command.

"look at the size of that thing!" Another interrupted with a loud shout upon seeing just how massive Temple Prime was.

"Cut the chatter soldier. Commander, Temple Prime is in sight."

Jaune spared them a glance before moving off again. Their assault on the temple's last line of defence was a costly endeavour, wrecked vehicles and fallen soldiers of both sides lay strewn everywhere.

With the obelisks destroyed and their remaining war factories in the area reduced to rubble by his explosives. NOD no longer had the capability to continue fighting here. They had more elsewhere undoubtably already producing more arms for a counterattack but for now, this area was theirs, barring a few holdouts.

Ozpin and his inner circle were somewhere inside Temple Prime itself and they'd flush the son of a bitch out into the open soon enough. While Jaune wanted to join the troops already battering down the front doors of the great temple, he was distracted by conspicuous silence in the area.

There should have been a few riflemen squads and Zone Troopers in the area, but his sensors were reading zero friendlies and there was no chatter to indicate it was an equipment malfunction. Grip tightening on his weapon, Jaune was on high alert as he strode through the seemingly empty battlefield.

The hair on the back of his neck stood up and Jaune's eyes widened when his instincts screamed at him to dodge. Trusting his gut, he rolled out of the way immediately and felt something invisible cut through the air, narrowly missing his neck.

Coming back up, Jaune raised his rifle and opened fire on the approximate location of whatever had attacked him.

Nothing.

Jaune eased up on the trigger when his shots failed to connect with anything. Rising, he exhaled slowly, eyes flicking from shadow to shadow, trying to spot anything that didn't belong.

"I know you're here. Still hiding behind your stealth generator? What's the matter? Afraid?" Jaune taunted, trying to draw out his invisible enemy.

Jaune ducked when his instincts screamed again, this time a laser bolt passed overhead, singing the top of his new helmet. Cursing he rolled away and sprayed the area with another burst, once again his bullets thudded into dirt or sailed into the distance harmlessly.

Backing away slowly while sweeping the area, Jaune cursed himself for walking out into the open like that. Classic rookie mistake, assuming the area was safe because friendlies had supposedly secured it beforehand. Now he was left out in the open where an attack could come from anywhere at any time.

"I'm not the one retreating."

Jaune spun around and brought his rifle up, the barrel catching an invisible knife before it could jam into his back. The air flickered and crimson faded into view as the NOD commando decloaked.

"Wonderful evening to run into old friends isn't it? Haven't seen you since Hampton Roads. Hello again." NOD commando Pyrrha Nikos's greeted with a gentle smile that held zero warmth.

"Oh." Pyrrha whispered.

"Wait what? Cereal girl is the enemy commando?" Yang exclaimed.

"Oh dear." Ren muttered.

"Infinite worlds and infinite possibilities… it had to happen sometime." Blake said, frowning.

"Looks personal. What's the story behind them?" Qrow asked.

"That Pyrrha Nikos was a NOD commando who infiltrated GDI territory on a mission some time back. On it, she killed Jaune's partner and fellow commando Sun Wukong in battle while he himself was away on another mission. Then NOD took control of the area and Jaune Arc was sent in to decimate the enemy around the same time Pyrrha Nikos was to leave. They fought and Jaune Arc stabbed her in the eye before their fight was interrupted and left unsettled." Blank said.

"Oh." Pyrrha whispered again.

"YOU! You're that bitch who killed Sun!" Jaune snarled and pushed back against her knife, trying to break their deadlock.

"Is that what he was called? I don't make it a point to remember the names of inconsequential kills. But you. You owe me an eye, ahhh… it itches just being in your presence. Shall we dance?" Pyrrha's grin widened as she released her grip on the knife suddenly, letting Jaune's force carry him forwards as she drew her laser pistol.

Jaune's elbow came up before she could depress the trigger, forcing her aim up as he ducked and the beam went wide. When Jaune himself tried to shoot her with his carbine, Pyrrha returned the favour, kicking the weapon away and throwing his aim off.

The two commandos, finest soldiers ever trained by GDI and NOD found themselves locked into melee. Neither of them was willing to back off and gain distance, just in case the other was quicker on the draw. Railgun versus laser weaponry, death in one strike was certain if it connected, whoever got the first shot off won, and neither would gamble on the off chance they lost.

"You've lost! Temple Prime is ours! Give up and your death will be swift." Jaune growled and rammed a knee into Pyrrha's midsection, knocking the wind out of her.

"Gah! Heh… lost? You're the one who's lost. It's already checkmate, and you fools don't even realise it!" Pyrrha recovered quickly and delivered a vicious uppercut to Jaune's chin.

"Your army is beaten! Ozpin will be brought to justice soon and you have no cards left to play!" Jaune snarled back.

"Ah, that's true. But you still have a hand left to play…" Pyrrha smiled enigmatically, a cursed half-smile hinting at knowing something exceedingly obvious that Jaune didn't.

"You lost long before today, lost before this war even began."

"You're delusional!" Jaune roared and punched Pyrrha in the face, drawing blood.

"And you're oblivious. Everything has gone according to plan. Now it's time yo-oh. It is actually time. I'm needed elsewhere." Pyrrha ducked under a rifle being used as a club and then roundhouse kicked Jaune in the sternum, sending him stumbling back.

Her pistol snapped up and pointed directly at Jaune's face. The GDI commando's eyes widened and he hurriedly tried to tilt away.

He was too slow.

Pyrrha fired and the beam passed straight through his helmet visor, then struck across his right eye.

"AAAHHGHGHGHRRGHGHH!" Jaune screamed in agony, pain wracked his form and his vision was cut down to one good eye, the other totally destroyed. The adrenaline surging through his veins and the pain gave him a burst of clarity for a single instant, allowing him enough room to dodge the second shot and kick Pyrrha away.

Raising his rifle with one hand, he fired at the NOD commando wildly, none of his shots landing due to his inability to aim right, but doing its job at suppressing her and preventing a coup de grace.

Just as Pyrrha was backing off from the indiscriminate fire, additional sniper fire came flying her way forcing her to jump back and activate her stealth generator or be sniped. "Tch, looks like you get to live today. Heh, it doesn't matter, I got my pound of flesh."

She faded into near perfect invisibility and dashed off, leaving Ruby and Ren behind to decide between chasing her or assisting Jaune.

Jaune fell to a knee and ripped off his half-melted helmet, the gentle breeze stung fiercely and his face felt like it was on fire. Another agonised howl tore its way from his throat as the commando fought to stay lucid and suppress the pain through sheer force of will.

"LT! LT! Oh… oh no." Ruby stumbled in her steps, the words dying in her throat as she saw Jaune's state.

"Damnit. Medic! MEDIC! We have a casualty here! MEDIC!" Ren yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Hang on, you're gonna be fine sir. We're getting you help now."

"N-no! Stop. Her! I'm… fine!" Jaune bit out through the pain. Pyrrha knew something they didn't, Ozpin must have set some kind of trap for GDI. She had to be captured for questioning or they'd risk walking right into it.

"We're not leaving you here sir. Where are the medics!?" Ren looked around, and frowned when he saw them hurrying over at a pace far too slow for his liking.

"Hurry up! The lieutenant is hurt ba-" Jaune interrupted him by grabbing his collar and dragging him close.

"NOD… trap… care…ful…" The last of his energy spent, Jaune Arc collapsed in a dead faint, unconscious before Ren caught his falling body.

"I… I took his eye!?" Pyrrha pulled at her hair in horror.

"The eye. The eye. Always the eye. Why is it the eye!? What's wrong with these people!?" Emerald yelled.

"Hmmph, not bad, not bad at all. He took yours so you returned the favour, should have gone for both eyes in my opinion but some pesky nuisances interrupted. On the whole, nicely done." Cinder gave a round of applause and smirked when Pyrrha's mood fell further.

"So that's why this universe is a doozy." Taiyang muttered.

"No. This is the one bright spot of this viewing actually." Blank said.

"…What." Came the collective reply of the audience.

"Ma'am, I can still fight." Jaune protested as the medics wheeled his gurney onto the waiting Ox transport. Half his face was covered in bandages now and numbness pervaded his body thanks to all the painkillers they pumped into him.

"You can, but you shouldn't. You've earned your rest lieutenant Arc, we can handle things from here." Cordovin said, her tone brooking no further argument from the wounded commando.

"Yeah Jaune-Jaune, just leave it to us. We'll bust down Temple Prime soon enough and then Ozpin will have nowhere to run. You're welcome to join the 5th Armoured again once you've recovered." Nora chimed in.

"There's a-"

"Trap. We know, Warrant Officer Lie managed to get your message across. We've relayed the warning to GDI central and awaiting their orders now." Cordovin interrupted.

"You're off to Stuttgart now, their medical facilities might be able to do something about your missing eye. Focus on your own recovery, we have things handled here. I dare say by the time you've recovered, the Third Tiberium War will be over."

"I… yes Ma'am." Jaune gave a weak salute as the medics secured him in place and the transport prepared to take off, giving him another dose of sedatives to knock him out for the flight. The last thing he saw was Cordovin and Nora walking back down the ramp, the major waving goodbye one last time and then sleep took him again.

"Ah, so the war's over for him, that's a good thing I suppose." Ironwood mused.

"He'll be back in action again soon, unfortunately, the war is only going to get worse from this point forwards." Blank said.

"Get worse? How could it get any worse than this senseless slaughter? What did that Ozpin plan?" Ozpin asked in a horrified tone.

Blank said nothing, allowing the viewing to continue playing, the scene transitioning away from Temple Prime.

"Well commander. I was wrong, you did a hell of a job capturing the temple and your timing was impeccable." General Ironwood addressed one of his subordinates, Cordovin's immediate superior and commander in charge of the strategy for Temple Prime's takedown.

"NOD was in the final stages of assembling a liquid Tiberium bomb, but we've managed to secure all the materials. We also have reports Ozpin and his inner circle have sealed themselves off in a sub-basement of the temple. Unfortunately, the place is impenetrable, so you're going to have to sweat them out."

"Tell me general, our ASAT defences are back online, are they not?" Jacques Schnee stepped up and interrupted them.

Ironwood sighed before turning to face the bureaucrat. "You're not suggesting the ion cannon."

"No general I'm not suggesting, I'm ordering it." Jacques said simply.

Ironwood looked to the ceiling in exasperation, wondering how he was going to get it through to Jacques thick skull how bad an idea it was. "You realise we're talking about a facility where liquid Tiberium was being manufactured? An ion cannon blast could be disastrous to the region. Winter, I need Dr Watts in Brazil. Dr Watts is our leading Tiberium scientist, hopefully he can talk you out of this."

"General, this is a NOD controlled Yellow Zone." Jacques spoke slowly, enunciating every word as though speaking to a child.

"Whatever the repercussions of the ion strike may be, my concerns are not for the locals of this region, my concerns are for our public! The GDI populace who have been promised payback for the Philadelphia!" His voice slowly rose until he was just shy of shouting and Ironwood felt the frustration build inside.

"God's sake man, don't make this about your political credibility!"

"Excuse me general." Winter stepped in, a frown on her face.

"But Dr Watts is missing, he appears to have been captured by NOD."

"Well that settles it." Jacques grinned and wave his hands in victory.

"Commander, I want you to end this once and for all."

"He's in charge of GDI!? How the hell did something like that even come to pass!?" Ironwood sputtered in disbelief. Any world where Jacques Schnee ended up in charge of any military was a nightmare.

"If that's GDI leadership, I can see why NOD enjoys popular support in the Yellow Zones… no offense Weiss." Blake said.

"None taken. How could that even happen?" Weiss asked.

"The Philadelphia was a space station and GDI central command once. Until it was destroyed by a nuclear strike that started the war. Nearly the entirety of GDI leadership was on board at the time of the attack save Jacques Schnee thanks to Ozpin's interference. With everyone more senior than him dead, he became supreme leader of GDI by default." Blank answered.

"So the entire war was a lead up to this point? That Ozpin wants to be killed by an ion cannon strike?" Goodwitch frowned in confusion.

"No. Ozpin is long gone at this point. This is just the prelude to the next stage of his plans. Everything else is collateral damage." Blank said.

GDI forces fell back as blue beams descended from space. The ion cannon was prepared to fire one last time to level the entirety of Temple Prime and wipe NOD out for good.

The beams slowly circled inwards, forming a single line right over the top of the structure as soldiers cheered the end of the war.

Then it fired and the world vanished.

the mother of all explosions erased Temple Prime and the surrounding lands. The titanic blast was visible from space itself as the liquid Tiberium stored under the temple detonated and caused every other Tiberium deposit in the region to blow as well, a chain reaction that covered a portion of the globe.

An aurora like glow fired off into space as the blast continued to devastate the lands, killing everyone unfortunate enough to be in the area. By the time it subsided, the world would be forever changed.

But for the GDI and NOD forces stationed in the region, they would never have the chance to see what their war had wrought. For them, their war was over for good.

GDI losses: 100%

NOD losses: 100%

Silence filled the theatre as the lights came back on and the viewing came to an end. Not even Cinder's group had anything to say.

"Did… did we all just… die?" Nora was the first to break the silence.

"…Yes. The only survivors of the incident are those who were evacuated out of the region before the strike." Blank said.

"Despicable. Absolutely despicable." Ozpin cursed his other self for even coming up with such a plan.

"Bloody hell. Bloody. Fucking. Hell." Roman summed it up nicely.

"Viewings done, take a break, go refresh yourselves, you all could use it." Blank said and dismissed his audience to their own thoughts.

Author's notes: This chapter was an experiment, I think it came out okay but damn was it hard to write.

Cast list:

Jaune Arc as GDI commando/Lt Fullerton

Nora Valkyrie as Mammoth Tank

Ruby Rose as Sniper Team

Lie Ren as Sniper Team

Caroline Cordovin as local GDI commander

CRDL as Zone Troopers

Yang Xiao Long as Firehawk

Neptune Vasilas as Engineer/Avatar

Sun Wukong as GDI commando

Pyrrha Nikos as NOD commando

James Ironwood as General Jack Granger

Jacques Schnee as Director Redmond Boyle

Arthur Watts as Dr Alphonse Giraud

Ozpin as Kane