A New Kind of Warfare

Chapter 1

Jaune awoke to a cool breeze blowing across his face, the smell of saltwater quickly clearing his foggy mind. His limbs and head felt like they were made of lead as he shifted back from unconsciousness.

He instantly regretted any attempt to sit up, as a searing pain pulsed from his side, his hand immediately moved to evaluate the damage. Jaune's hand came back slick with blood, far more than he was comfortable with in fact.

As if from memory, Jaune closed his eyes and focused on his side until a warm tingling sensation washed over him, a dull golden glow enveloping his body.

Jaune continued focusing on his wound for a few minutes, his current situation caused his mind to spin as questions started to surface one by one. Where was he? How did he get here? Who or what gave him that injury? He didn't have much time to think about them all before a guttural groan tore Jaune from his inner musings.

Until now Jaune's eyes had been entirely focused on his wound and questions, somehow neglecting to notice precisely where it was he had awoken.

His eyes darted around his surroundings as he tried to get his bearing, what looked to be fish market stalls surrounded him, their signs written in a strange unreadable language Jaune had never seen before.

However, it wasn't the signs that were alarming, those were pretty low on his list, It was in instead the man slowly shuffling towards him, his skin a sickly green, and his chest ripped open for all the world to see.

Jaune's eyes widened in horror as he began kicking away from the creature with all of his might, He only made it a few feet before his back made contact with one of the many market stalls surrounding him.

The man, if he could even still be called a man, continued shuffling towards Jaune, eyes rolled into the back of his head and face fixed with an expression of absolute unbridled terror.

Dread shot up Jaune's spine as he reached for the only thing he knew could save him, only for his fear to grow when his fingers failed to fall into the natural grip of Crocea Mors.

Jaune's eyes bolted to where he had originally regained consciousness, the sword lay abandoned, tripping the shuffling man with a slight clink as he proceeded to shuffle towards Jaune.

With no other alternatives and the man nearly upon him, Jaune drew the scabbard hanging from his belt and mecha shifted it, the shield coming up just in time for the sickly green man to stumble into it rather than himself.

Limbs flailed and crashed into Jaune's defense, unable to gain the momentum needed to cause any serious damage, however, they were still withering down his defenses, his limbs trembling with exhaustion.

The man's face was gradually getting closer to Jaune's, The stench of blood and gore was overpowering as yet another guttural groan excited a thick string of black ichor too trickle from the man's gaping maw onto Jaune's disgusted and shocked face.

With his features locked into a snarl, Jaune drew every remaining ounce of force into shoving the monster onto the ground, while partially successful, he was also successful in receiving a new wound to the side of his head.

Jaune cried in fear as he slammed his shield into the man's head again and again. Lifeblood streamed down his face with every thump of his racing heartbeat thanks to the wound.

Jaune didn't stop until the man's head resembled ground beef more than a head, the moment he had realized exactly what he had done, he doubled over and emptied the contents of his stomach, flecks of blood coming out along with his half-digested dinner.

"What the fuck," He rasped, voice breaking and breath ragged, Slowly, and with every bit of his remaining conviction, Jaune hauled himself from the dirt, and onto shaking and unstable legs, staring at anything other than the remains crumpled at his feet.

An ominous orange glow compassed Jaune thanks to the number of small fires nearby. Every gasp for air made him retch, smoke burning his nostrils as he worked to gain some semblance of balance before even thinking about moving.

Jaune's eyes were instantly fixed to the skies the second he could make out engine noise from farther within the village.

Taking one more minute to steady himself, Jaune scooped up his sword, Jaune shuffled as quickly as his battered and bleeding frame would carry him. Five minutes of dodging more of those creatures, and he was nearly there, fighting could be heard from just around the corner, and the sounds of an engine were excruciatingly harsh, running on willpower alone, Jaune forced himself around the final corner.

Time slowed as a beam of bright red angry light lanced its way into Jaune's chest, searing pain blossomed through his body, his chest plate doing nothing but yielding under the furious power of the laser.

He cried out in agony as his body crumpled into the dirt. For a fleeting moment, Jaune felt calm, the dirt all of a sudden felt comfortable, and he found his eyelids drooping.

His vision was hazy as he tried his best to make out the forms that came to hover over him. He could barely feel a set of arms grip under his own as he was dragged someplace else, Jaune didn't know to where and he couldn't force himself to care, He just felt so exhausted, everything was blurred and he couldn't think straight, almost as if he were dreaming.

Jaune's eyes remained shut till he felt a light pinprick in his chest, his eyes sprang wide, lungs struggling to swallow in enough oxygen. Everything around him became remarkably in focus, all of the prior tiredness was startled from his body.

Looking down, Jaune was jarred to find a burly dark-skinned man, wearing what resembled a thick set of navy blue and silver combat armor, hunched over him, the unfamiliar grey rifle slung to his side emitted a low hum, it's barrel radiating an angry red glow.

Embezzled on the man's shoulder plate was a white square with a red cross in the middle, the word 'MEDIC' imprinted right below the emblem, While the emblem itself was foreign to Jaune, the words were familiar enough.

Jaune's eyes trailed down the man's arms to get a better look at what it was he was doing just in time to watch as the man drew a long thick syringe from his chest.

As soon as he was done Jaune started to feel sluggish again, darkness crawling into the edges of his vision as everything started to move in and out of focus again.

"Don't worry kid, you're in good hands." the man spoke with a small smile on his face and a heavy guilt hidden within his deep green eyes.

The last thing Jaune could make out before passing out was an unusual looking yellow emblem, with the phrase 'Vigilo Confido'.

Jaune's senses were instantly assaulted by a number of unusual sensations, he could hear the low hum of a generator, the obnoxious beep every second or so of a machine, and the stench of antiseptics gave him the impression that he must have been inside of some sort of hospital.

The moment he cracked open his eyes they were clamped shut again in hopes that they don't cause his already pounding migraine to get any worse. His limbs still felt remarkably heavy, the pain in his side and chest, however, were all but a dull ache.

Jaune lifted his head and glanced about the room, abide with great difficulty. It seemed to be a sparsely furnished infirmary, not unlike the ones he had found himself being admitted to at Beacon on a number of occasions. however what stood out to Jaune the most was the woman standing directly in front of him.

Her chocolate brown hair was tied in a tight bun, A white lab coat draped over her green sweater with the same emblem Jaune had seen on the man's shoulder before succumbing to unconsciousness.

Jaune didn't have much time to examine his surroundings before the woman in front of him noticed his movements, the large device in her arms moved to her breast as her eyes meet with her patients.

"Ah, you've finally regained consciousness!" she exclaimed in a strange accent, lips set in a thin line as she lectured matter-of-factly "You're a lucky young man, not many outlast a Cryssalid infestation as extensive as the one you did."

"Where am I?" Jaune asked with a dry and raspy voice, he tried to think back but couldn't remember everything clearly, as if he was trying to remember a dream he had just woken up from, his mind flashed with red hair, green eyes, and bronze armor, but he wasn't quite able to form any of his thoughts into a clear image, he knew something was there, it was just like his mind was trying to hide it from him.

"Where you are a member of the rescue team?" The doctor questioned, her tone surprisingly curious as she scribbled something down on her tablet "When contact was lost with your team we were sent in, no other survivors were recovered."

Jaune's face scrunched in confusion, "Rescue team?"

"Yes," the woman replied, her eyes studying me in great detail, "You are a member of the Canadian Rescue Team are you not?"

"No, maybe? I'm not sure I can't really remember anything before waking up in the village," Jaune said, his stomach churned with confusion, the more he tried to focus on what remained in his mind, the quicker it began to fade away, tucked deeper into the recesses of his mind.

"Hmm, Perhaps you were a member of the CRT, but that doesn't explain your clothing, and archaic equipment." the woman stated, moving to the side of Jaune's bed, he could see the curiosity in her eyes, but also the caution. Without the end of the bed to impede his vision Jaune could see a strange blocky pistol strapped to the doctor's waistband, it hummed with power and emitted a red glow just like the rifle he had seen before had.

Jaune opened his mouth to answer but was interrupted by the door to the room opening, a tall strong looking man sauntered into the room, his hair was trimmed short, an earpiece rested on his right ear, a similar sweater to the doctor of the same color.

"I'd like a word with our new guest Valhen," The man said, his voice commanding respect, the man reminded Jaune of someone, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Right away Bradford, I'll be in the lab." The doctor, now identified as Vahlen responded, a small tinge of disappointment in her voice as she left the room. leaving only Jaune and Bradford in the relatively small infirmary.

Jaune gulped as the man's hard eyes looked him up and down before finally staring him in the eyes, his face portrayed no emotion and did nothing to ease Jaune's worry, "What's your name?"

"Uh, It's Jaune, sir," Jaune state, grateful that he could at least remember his own name, or at least he thought that was his name, "Jaune Arc"

"And do you have any idea where you are Mr. Arc?" Bradford asked his face still a stony visage of military professionalism, Jaune swore he could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

"No sir," Jaune responded softly, his fingers twitching with equal parts nervous energy and curiosity, "Where am I exactly?"

"You're in the heart of XCOM's operations," Bradford said with a smile, puffing his chest in pride, "Welcome to the Anthill Mr. Arc."

A/N

Hey all, that's right I'm back after an almost two-year hiatus.

My only excuse for not updating is that I'm a lazy piece of shit who just wanted to look at anime titties instead.

Well anyways, I read 'XCOM: RWBY Within' and 'Remnant Unknown' by DrAmishMD (I highly recommend his work, It's gutwrenchingly good) and felt the sudden inspiration to write my own XCOM and RWBY crossover with my own twists and turns, so here we are.

This story should be a little more structured than my previous ones, better writing, and a set posting schedule, (weekly updates)

I know my writing isn't the best, so if anyone is interested in Beta Reading my chapters feel free to PM me.

I hope you all enjoyed the read, and I hope to see you in the next chapter! :)