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

Chapter 31: Silent and deadly

Inspiration: Call of Duty 4

"Alright, the next viewing is ready." Blank said.

"Ugh, this one doesn't end with another big explosion everyone dies, does it?" Roman asked.

"No, but it does begin that way." Blank replied.

"…That's encouraging." Weiss grumbled.

"This is a world that has seen better days I'm afraid." Blank said.

"Really not inspiring confidence here." Qrow muttered.

"It's not that bad." Blank's words got most of the audience to stare at him dubiously.

"Okay, maybe it is that bad. I'll uh, I'll just let it play now." Blank flickered and the lights dimmed, the screen coming to life afterwards.

"All US forces be advised, we have a confirmed nuclear threat in the city, NEST teams are onsite and attempting to disarm, I repeat-" The radio cut off in a burst of static as a flash of light was visible on the horizon.

The soldiers on board the helicopter watched in a mixture of shock and disbelief as the giant mushroom cloud formed in the distance. Then the shockwave caught up with them and promptly knocked their heli out of the sky.

"Everyone hang on!" A lieutenant shouted, but it was hopeless. The stricken aircraft was in an out of control spiral towards the ground and no amount of bracing would save them. Some were tossed into the ether during the fall, others were dislodged when the helicopter finally hit dirt.

The lone sergeant who managed to survive the crash managed to crawl his way out of the downed vehicle and into the abandoned streets. Half destroyed buildings, billowing smoke and clouds of ash carried by the wind painted a vision of hell for him.

An attempt to stand and walk again took him several steps before he collapsed, brought down by his own grievous injuries. His vision fading, the last thing he ever saw before he expired was the slowly expanding mushroom cloud in the distance.

"…That's uh… one way to start things with a bang?" Yang offered.

"No. Bad Yang, bad!" Ruby scolded her sister and swatted her on the back of her head.

"How… how many died there?" Ironwood asked.

"Thirty thousand fatalities for the US forces. An unknown number of civilians and enemy combatants. A trap with no concern for allied or innocent casualties." Blank explained.

"Who would… who would mastermind such a thing!?" Goodwitch spat out.

"The White Fang of that world plus Lionheart." Blank answered.

"Leo, again. Reminds me, I gotta beat his face in sometime." Qrow muttered darkly.

"Adam?" Blake asked.

"Yes." Blank confirmed and Blake sighed.

"They get what's coming to them?" Taiyang growled out.

"Lionheart yes, Adam no, not this viewing at least."

Ren lowered his rifle as the last White Fang rebel collapsed against a barn wall, dead. Wisps of smoke trailed from his weapon as silence descended once more. With the coast clear, the squad moved up and stacked up against the door to the final barn.

"Remember, we want Lionheart alive, he's no good to us dead. Let's go." Jaune said before breaking the lock on the door and opening it slightly. Before the rebels inside had the sense to shoot through the door and perforate them, he tossed in a flashbang and shut the door.

Panicked and surprised screams echoed the flashbang going off and Jaune picked that moment to bust in. His sidearm snapped up and planted a bullet into both of Lionheart's bodyguards, icing them before they could react. Lionheart himself received a brutal right hook that knocked him off his feet.

Jaune knelt by the struggling terrorist and began raining blows on his face until the struggling stopped. Lionheart's face was a riot of purples, blues and red by the time he was done.

"He deserves so much more than that." Qrow muttered, wishing he was in Jaune's place.

"So they arrest him? He's off to jail now?" Weiss asked.

"Hahahahah! Not a chance." Roman laughed.

"They're out for blood."

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Weiss crossed her arms and glared at him.

"Only way he's leaving is in a body bag." Roman answered.

"And what about trial?" Blake muttered.

"What about it? Even if it's open and shut, you'll think they'll let him get off with something like life imprisonment? After what he caused? Not a chance in hell. There's only one way you deal with people like that." Roman smirked and pointedly stared at cinder afterwards.

"Why'd you do it!? Where did you get the bomb!?" Jaune slugged Lionheart again, doing his utmost best to beat the secrets out of their captive.

Lionheart yelled out something unintelligible as the beating continued.

"Who then!? Who!? Give, me, a name!" Jaune punctuated every word with another punishing blow. Their prisoner was being surprisingly uncooperative for a coward, at the rate they were going, he might just die from the beating before coughing up the mastermind.

"A name! I want his name!" Jaune growled and introduced Lionheart's battered face to his fist again. The sound of a phone ringing interrupted his interrogation and Jaune held off the blows while one of his men checked it out.

"Sir. It's his cell phone."

Catching the mobile when it was tossed over, Jaune answered it and put it to his ear. As he listened to the voice on the other end, his expression grew stormier with every passing second.

Once he heard enough, he hung up abruptly and tossed the useless device away. Gritting his teeth in anger, he drew his pistol and pointed it at Lionheart, waiting just long enough for the struggling captive to look up into the eyes of his executioner before pulling the trigger and blowing his brains out.

"Like so." Roman said.

"Summary execution." Ironwood's face scrunched up in distaste.

"Ugly business."

"He… he just executed him? What about justice?" Pyrrha asked, taken aback by the unfeeling execution.

"It is justice… isn't it? Lionheart was guilty of so much death, so this is justice… right?" Ren hedged, trying to see it from Jaune's point of view but still more than a little disturbed.

"Who was that sir?"

"Khan. Sienna Khan." Jaune sighed and glared at the corpse in the room before shaking his head. They had some time now and he might as well fill the rest in on the woman behind it all… and one of his bigger failures from fifteen years in the past.

"I was just a leftenant back then… doing some wetwork." Jaune began.

"Chernobyl, Christmas for the bad guys. Even a decade later, lot of em still used it to get their hands on nuclear material. A lot of em… including one Sienna Khan." Jaune folded his arms and leaned against a wall as the rest of his squad rested their attention on him, it was the first time any of them had heard about this.

"Of course we couldn't just let that happen. Cash for spent fuel rods? Hmmph, that's one hell of a recipe for destruction. It was the first time our government had authorised as assassination order since the second world war… I was under the command of Captain Port." Jaune's eyes dulled slightly as his mind cast itself back through his memories, back to that mission.

"Sienna? Not Adam?" Blake questioned.

"At this point, Adam Taurus hasn't stepped onto the world stage just yet. Sienna Khan is leader of the Fang and he remains one of her loyal underlings." Blank answered.

"Something tells me that's not going to last for very long." Yang muttered.

"Indeed, but the stage won't be set for his grand emergence for a while. Another viewing perhaps." Blank said.

An overcast sky with storm clouds rolling in blanketed the world in grey. No rain yet but the dull and dreary atmosphere sapped the life out of things. Abandoned human settlements dotted the landscape, slowly being reclaimed by nature as overgrown grass and trees encroached on what would once have been a thriving little village.

Then the tall grasses moved and a lump rose out of the ground as Jaune shifted to a crouch from prone position. Hefting his sniper rifle, he looked out at the desolate landscape with a grim expression, searching for any sign of hostiles.

"Too much radiation, we'll have to go around." Another patch of grass suddenly moved as Port rose up as well.

"Follow me and keep low." The two of them beat feet with Port leading the way, clearing the open ground as fast as they could without drawing attention to themselves from enemy guards.

"Careful… there's pockets of radiation all over this area. If you absorb too much, you're a dead man." He reminded Jaune again, getting a nod in response.

"Hey, it's Professor Port! He's not…" Yang began then trailed off awkwardly.

"Haven't seen Peter look like that in years." Ozpin mused.

"You mean decades." Goodwitch sighed.

"What happened in this Chernobyl?" Winter asked.

"A disaster at a nuclear powerplant caused the irradiation of a good chunk of the surrounding area. Forced the total evacuation of the locals and the fallout remains even decades later. Absorbing too much radiation is a death sentence." Blank answered.

"Wouldn't both of them know that already? Shit, they're already deep in, and he only mentions it now?" Mercury commented.

"Haaah… guess no matter what world it is, he does love the sound of his own voice." Taiyang answered with a small sigh.

"Contact. Enemy patrol dead ahead." Port stopped in his tracks and pointed out the two White Fang soldiers patrolling the area to Jaune.

"Stay low and move slowly, we'll be impossible to spot in our ghillie suits." Dropping down to prone position again, Port vanished into the tall grass, perfectly camouflaged and nigh impossible to spot. Jaune followed suit before crawling away from his commander to get a better angle on the enemy.

"Take one out when the other's not looking." Port whispered.

Jaune inhaled and held his breath, peering through the scope and lining it up with his target. The crosshair centred nicely over the militant's forehead and Jaune squeezed off a round. A spray of blood and the body crumpled.

When his buddy turned to look, he too copped a bullet to the skull courtesy of Port. "He's down, good night."

Both SAS operatives held position for a bit, waiting for any cries of alarm or gunfire to indicate they'd been discovered.

Nothing.

They were clear to proceed. Port stood and motioned for Jaune to follow. The bodies would be discovered eventually and it was best they be long gone before the alarm went up.

"Clean." Mercury said.

"What sort of rifles are those?" Ruby's interest was piqued instantly.

"Suppressed M21s. Not the most powerful or advanced sniper rifle, it's a workhorse that gets the job done." Blank answered.

"Hold up, there's more cover if we go around." Port halted and the two of them skirted the side of an abandoned house. As they passed under a window, voices could be heard coming from inside the building.

Jaune frowned and hefted his rifle, the house wasn't quite as abandoned as they thought it was after all. At the very least their tones were unhurried and unworried, definitely still in the dark about their two fallen comrades. With any luck, they'd avoid a firefight here.

"Four tangos inside." Port said after peeping through a broken window.

"Don't even think about it." The captain cautioned as he noticed his subordinate's fingers begin to reach for the trigger. The look on Jaune's face was borderline mutinous, but he did as expected and lowered his weapon.

Motioning to advance again, Port called a halt once more when their path forwards was blocked by a White Fang member taking a smoke break. "Wait there. Tango by the car. Take him out quietly or just let him pass."

The suppressed shot and body thudding softly into the grass came seconds later.

Port sighed, why did he have to get the one leftenant with a major murder boner for all things terrorists? Well, at least Arc was competent enough to back it up. "Ok, go."

"Merciless efficiency. I dig it." Mercury clapped, here was another Jaune he could get behind.

"…Awfully quick to jump to killing as a solution, isn't he?" Goodwitch muttered.

"This one is a patriot to the core. In his eyes, the White Fang are a clear and present danger, every one dead at his hands is one less to threaten his home in the future." Blank said.

"There must be another way." Blake stated firmly, that way of thinking was too close to Adam's for her liking.

"Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Considering the state of the world because he failed to kill two individuals on this mission, you see where he's coming from." Blank answered.

"Don't move…" Port called a halt when he spotted an enemy sniper on overwatch in a church tower.

"We've got a lookout in the church tower… and a patrol coming from the north." His mouth curled in a grimace.

"Let's move up for a better… view." Port trailed off as Jaune took the initiative to snipe the man in the tower. The bullet passed cleanly through the broken window and lodged in the target's skull. The White Fang member crumpled over and collapsed with nary a sound and the alert remained unraised.

"Beautiful." Port gave credit where credit was due.

"Target approaching from the north, take him out quietly or just let him pass, your call." Once again Port sighed when a spray of blood coated the faded blue paint on an abandoned car and the already deceased target slumped against it.

"Tango down, go. Forward area clear." Port slowly eased the church door open and poked his rifle through. Empty, aside from the dead lookout in the tower, the church was unoccupied. Port nodded and slid inside silently and Jaune brought up the rear.

Jaune paused in his steps and his eyes zeroed in on several Stingers just haphazardly stacked in a corner. These White Fang were packing serious heat, not a good sign for things to come.

"Coast is clear." Port's words dragged Jaune away from his examination of the weapons stockpile. The two of them exited through the empty church and found themselves in a cemetery. Overgrown with weeds and ivy, it had been a long time since anyone came to take care of the place and Jaune spared the dead a small prayer before hurrying on his way.

"You hear that?" Port halted when the sound of propellers reached them, the noise steadily growing louder and louder with every passing second.

"Enemy helicopter, get down!"

Seconds after they went prone, the Hind soared overhead, the burst of wind that marked its passing kicking up a cloud of dust and buffeting them.

Port cursed when he saw the Hind loop back for another pass. "Stay in the shadows, he's circling back around… don't move."

Given they survived the first pass, he didn't think the heli was equipped with IR scanners, just regular mk I eyeballs of its pilots and gunners. They should be impossible to spot while camouflaged but no point pushing their luck.

After a few tense moments, the Hind finally moved off into the distance to patrol elsewhere. Port exhaled softly, releasing the tension in his body. "Let's go."

"How big of a threat is this world's White Fang?" Ironwood asked.

"Significant enough that an assassination mission against one of their leaders was cleared. And it just gets worse from there." Blank said.

"How much worse?" Winter followed up.

"Plunge the world into a third world war worse." Blank said simply.

Rumbling in the dirt indicated their problems weren't quite over just yet. Port cursed and dropped to a crawl, Jaune followed suit and the tall grass concealed them once more. Dread filled a pit in Port's stomach as the White Fang's forces came into view.

Less a large patrol and more a small army repositioning themselves. Countless militants backed up by multiple BMPs were rolling through the area. And nothing but open ground in every direction.

"Easy lad… there's too many of them, let them go. Keep a low profile and hold your fire." Port cautioned, shooting Jaune a warning look to send the point home. Getting their cover blown here was an immediate death sentence, however good they were, they were no outshooting an entire frigging army.

"Try to anticipate their paths. If you have to manoeuvre, do it slow and steady… no quick movements." Port muttered while crawling forwards. The one bright side was the noise those BMPs were putting out would mask any sound they made trying to sneak past, and with the strong winds, any rustling of the grass caused by them would go unnoticed as well… as long as they didn't inadvertently crawl right into anyone.

Progress through the field was agonizingly slow. Jaune held his breath as several enemy troops passed within a single foot of where he was lying, close enough he could stare straight down the barrel of their weapon just by tilting his head up.

He only released the breath once those soldiers had left him behind a good deal. Beginning to crawl forwards again, he gave thanks for the BMPs on either side of him, they served as great obstacles preventing line of sight for the other soldiers on foot, allowing him to crawl a little faster.

It was nerve wracking having to reposition himself ever so slowly whenever a White Fang member suddenly changed his path. More than once Jaune worried that one of them would accidentally step on him and blow their cover instantly.

But by luck or divine intervention, none of them did. Eventually, both of them saw the light at the end of the tunnel and made it through the ordeal. They continued crawling even after passing the last soldier, only after the sound of the BMPs' engines were starting to diminish did they dare rise.

"I'm going to get a heart attack at this rate." Yang sank back into her seat and huffed quietly.

"Why not go around? Hug the treeline instead. Crawling right through the crowd is… ballsy as fuck but I'm not sure on the sanity part." Roman asked.

"They were out in the open and didn't want to risk being spotted if they ran for the trees?" Emerald hazarded a guess.

"In essence. There's also the fact that it wouldn't have worked thanks to the radiation pockets." Blank replied.

Beyond the clearing lay a boneyard of sorts, countless obsolete military vehicles littered the area, slowly rusting away. A graveyard for broken tools, and now a dumping ground for actual humans too.

"Looks like they've already eliminated the men they couldn't buy out." Port mumbled as the two of them watched several militants casually offload corpses and dump them unceremoniously in a pile.

"Let's move up for a better view." He lowered his rifle and shuffled off. Shifting to a better spot allowed them to catch sight of a few additional guards in the area, all of them blocking their advance.

"Taking them out without alerting the rest isn't going to be easy. But then again, neither is sneaking past them." Port muttered as the guards swept the area. These ones were more alert than the ones they made past earlier, and not a lot of tall grass to crawl by either.

"Your call." He left the decision to Jaune instead.

Jaune raised his rifle, spending a few moments swapping between targets to get the timing down. Once he was certain he had the timing down, he opened fire.

The first round caught one of the body dumpers in the chest, dropping him with a wet gurgle to join his victims. The second nailed his buddy right between the eyes before he could shout an alarm. The third struck true and downed one of the guards. Port himself was no slouch and added his own firepower to the mix, sniping the guards on the other end and silencing them as well.

The entire exercise lasted no more than ten seconds, by the time it was done, half a dozen new bodies were added to the rotting pile. Port ejected the spent magazine and slapped a new one home, shaking his head at Jaune. "The word 'stealth' doesn't mean anything to you, does it? Move up."

"Eh, no one will notice if there's no one left to notice." Mercury shrugged.

"Is it really that difficult to not kill unnecessarily?" Blake sighed.

"It's not like they didn't have it coming. Those bodies they were dumping said as much." Qrow replied.

"How did the Fang get so much men and material here anyways? The place may be abandoned but I don't think anyone will miss an army just moving in." Ren asked.

"I'd wager they have men on the inside covering for them, anyone they can't buy off or misdirect… you saw the bodies." Roman answered.

"Indeed, the White Fang of this world are ultranationalists, and they have a lot of support at every level of the government and industry." Blank confirmed.

Jaune sat back and watched as Port swung his rifle butt into an unsuspecting guard hard enough to crack his skull. The corpse flopped over bonelessly and Port ducked back into the shadows. Containers everywhere created a maze-like environment blocking their vision, still, they could hear enemy chatter coming from all around them.

Slinging his M21 over his shoulders, Jaune drew his sidearm for the close quarters and held it at the ready as he advanced.

"Hold up, wait here." Port dashed forwards to get a better look at the opposition.

"Patrol coming this way, stay back." Jaune slunk back, allowing his superior to handle things. Port's rifle raised and fired and another body crumpled.

"Tango down, forward area clear… go." Port lead the way forwards when no cry of alarm went up. They passed another set of guards taking a smoke break, unaware of the snipers sneaking right by them. Jaune wanted to eliminate their threat but Port held him back, these weren't in their way and there was no sense in pushing their luck trying to eliminate unnecessary targets.

As they pushed on, the sound of a helicopter greeted their ears again. Port frowned and slowly eased a container door open, he froze in place when he saw the welcoming committee on the other end.

"It's a bloody convention out there. Get ready to move on my signal, stay right behind me." Port said, Jaune nodded and the two of them remained in place, waiting for the other small army on the other side to go about their business and give them an opening.

"Hold… Okay… go!" Port hurled the door open and sprinted towards the main road and the line of vehicles waiting. The sound of the helicopter drowning out their footsteps as they cut in behind the oblivious White Fang members.

Ducking between the empty vehicles, they shifted from cover to cover, staying out of sight by remaining in the blind spots. Dropping to a crawl, Port made his way under a truck crawling along it to stay hidden. Jaune was right behind.

"There's a truck coming, we'll use it as cover. Keep moving." Port whispered.

The truck pulled to a halt right at the end of the convoy, granting them an easy time crawling under it too. Boots thudded onto the asphalt as the men inside disembarked, Jaune watched them go by with a wary glance, sighing in relief when none of them had the sudden urge to check their feet.

"Just wait here a moment, when they leave, crawl out and stay low." Port instructed.

"Patience… don't do anything stupid."

Jaune nodded quietly, remaining absolutely still and silent. Much as he wanted these terrorists dead, fighting them was a no win situation.

"Stand by… stand by… go!" Port waited until the White Fang had passed them and were well on their way to whatever assembly point they were headed for. Crawling out and remaining in the blind spot for as long as they could, they broke into a flat sprint for a nearby block of flats once they were absolutely sure no one was looking.

"Damn, what do they need so many people for anyways? They preparing for an invasion or something?" Roman whistled at the sheer amount of force on display.

"They're all on guard duty." Blank answered.

"Guard… duty? You're joking." Cinder shook her head in denial.

"It is how it is, they're here to provide security for an arms deal taking place in the coming days. They're the advance party laying the groundwork before Sienna Khan herself arrives." Blank said.

"Heh, not doing a very good job of that so far." Mercury chuckled.

"To be fair, none of them were expecting an actual assassination attempt. Most of them are operating on the assumption that no one would be foolish enough to try anything with this heavy a military presence." Blank said.

"Sniper, fire escape, fourth floor, dead ahead. Take him out or he'll give away our position." Port called out.

Jaune nodded and took aim quietly, as soon as the sniper looked away, he fired. The White Fang sniper clutched at his chest as the round punched through his heart before he collapsed against the wall and slid down.

"Beautiful, move out." Port praised and advanced.

Cutting through the apartment complex and the playground beyond, no more White Fang guards or patrols challenged them. Thus far, it appeared they had successfully breached the security perimeter and had a clean shot to their destination.

"Don't let your guard down, we're not there yet." Port cautioned as their footsteps on the concrete pavement seemed unnaturally loud in the abandoned city.

"Stop! Leave it alone, it's a wild dog." Port pointed out a rather large canine currently feasting on the corpse of an ill-fated White Fang militant. Jaune nodded quietly and the two gave the mutt a wide berth as they proceeded, neither interested in sharing the fate of the deceased.

"Pooch doesn't look too friendly…" Port trailed off as the dog growled at them, blood and slobber dripping from its maw.

"Dogs are evil. Proof!" Blake hissed.

"Ugh, eaten by a dog. Can you possible go out in an even more undignified manner?" Roman shook his head in exasperation, then sighed again when Neo shoved some notes into his hands.

"No Neo, no experimenting with Cinder and her gruesome twosome, we want em dead fast, no trying to humiliate them first."

His assistant pouted and folded her arms in displeasure.

"Look at this place… fifty thousand people used to live in this city. Now it's a ghost town… I've never seen anything like it." Port said as they moved through an abandoned mall. Toppled shelves and faded posters on the wall only served as a reminder of the people displaced by the disaster, a haunting sight.

Another Hind passed overhead, causing the building to shake when it came close. Port and Jaune ducked into cover as it passed by, staying out of sight.

Once it was gone, they were free to leave. Their destination was in sight now and nothing more stood in their way. All that was left to do was reach their vantage point to observe the arms deal and set up shop in the ruins.

"This way, let's go. There's the hotel. We should be able to observe the exchange from the top floor up there. Let's move."

"I… I don't like this place a lot." Summer said.

"It's… it reminds me of those villages or towns that have to be abandoned to the Grimm." Taiyang added.

"Yeah… seen too many of those already. Enough for a thousand lifetimes." Qrow agreed.

"Leftenant Arc, the meeting is under way, enemy transport sighted entering the target area." Port called out as he sighted a convoy of vehicles moving in through his spotter's scope.

Jaune stretched lightly, feeling his muscles pop after lying motionless for so long. Shifting over to the sniper rifle set up for the kill shot, he pushed aside the mug shot of Sienna Khan and rested his cheek against the cold metal of his weapon.

Zooming in, he noticed the transport in question immediately. The White Fang were already present in force and milling about, waiting for the last arrivals to settle.

"The wind's getting a bit choppy. You can compensate for it, or you can wait it out. But she might leave before it dies down. It's your call." Port laid out his options for him.

"Remember what I've taught you, keep in mind variable humidity and wind speed along the bullet's flight path. At this distance, you'll also have to take the Coriolis effect into account."

Jaune's breath hitched as Sienna Khan walked into view, carrying a large case. It looked like their intel was spot on after all. Zooming in closer again, he kept an eye on a flag waving in the wind, using it as a rough gauge for the wind speed and direction.

As he scanned the area, his crosshairs passed over an unassuming vehicle with two individuals inside. One with red hair and the other black.

"Haa… should have expected it I guess." Blake muttered upon seeing herself and Adam.

"Did I have anything to do with the explosion at the start?"

"No, aside from being unable to stop Adam from setting it off." Blank answered.

"Pity." Blake's mouth curled in distaste.

"Okay, I think I see her, wait for my mark." Port said.

"Target… acquired. I have a positive ID on Sienna Khan."

Jaune tuned out his mentor as his world shrank and fell away, until all that remained was the view in his scope. Exhaling slowly, Jaune allowed his nervousness and anticipation to drain away, he had all the time in the world to make the shot.

The flag continued waving in the wind, flapping about from side to side as the militants inspected the goods under Sienna's watchful eye. Then the wind died down and the flag went still.

Jaune's finger tightened on the trigger and he was just about to squeeze down when his entire vision was obscured by grey. Jaune blinked in surprise and shifted off the rifle to see what the hell just interrupted his shot. A single Hind on patrol had taken that moment to just swoop in and block him.

"Ach, where did he come from? Patience laddie… wait for a clear shot." Port muttered as the enemy helicopter maintained its position for a bit, shielding Sienna by sheer coincidence.

Eventually it moved away and Jaune calmed himself down, returning his full attention to the world inside the scope. The wind had picked up again and he allowed the irritation to drain away as he awaited the moment of truth.

Down below, Sienna was locked in argument with someone. He couldn't hear the details but he supposed it didn't matter, the wind had stopped again. The rifle kicked against his shoulder as he squeezed off the round, the fifty cal bullet found its mark.

Sienna had just raised her arms in an animated gesture when the bullet struck. She went down in a spray of blood and one of her arms was blown off too, falling to the ground as someone dragged her body behind cover..

"Target is down! Nice shot leftenant." Port praised as he watched the terrorist leader fall.

"Shit! They're on to us, take out that helicopter, it'll buy us some time." He cursed when the Hind circled back, someone on board must have noticed the shot and called their position in.

Jaune shifted his aim, centring his sights on the pilot. He squeezed off another shot and the Hind's cockpit became coated in crimson. With the pilot gone, it spiralled out of control and crashed to the ground.

"Great shot leftenant! Now let's go! They'll be searching for us! It's time to move!" Port called out as he spotted another helicopter coming in to strafe their position.

Jaune didn't need any further prompting, abandoning the larger sniper rifle, he shot to his feet and grabbed his M21 before sprinting away to their exit point.

Attaching pre-prepared ropes to their harnesses, both of them started fast roping downwards, hurrying to leave the area asap. Seconds after they did, the entire floor they were on vanished in a series of explosions as the Hind unloaded its missiles on the place.

"Alright, I get that it's a flashback, but how the heck are they supposed to escape an entire pissed off army now?" Emerald pointed out.

"Guns blazing? Hide it out? I don't know, just damn… can't believe she survived that. That's an arm gone, I thought the blood loss would have got her." Mercury said.

"They did so too. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, they were able to stabilize her long enough to get proper medical attention." Blank replied.

"Somehow, I don't think she's going to let that slide." Roman muttered.

"Why leave the rifle behind though? If they're going to have to shoot their way out? Wouldn't more firepower be better?" Nora asked.

"Too unwieldy, I think. Ammo issues too. Their standard M21 is probably better for mobility, since they don't have aura to help them." Ruby replied.

"Delta Two Four, this is Alpha Six! We have been compromised, I repeat, we have been compromised! Now heading to extraction point four!" Port radioed through to HQ their current situation.

"Alpha Six, Big Bird is en route, ETA twenty minutes, don't be late, we're stretching our fuel as it is. Out." Came the reply. Port grunted in response, their evac was on the way and now they just had to survive long enough to get there.

Jaune crouched behind a wrecked car as bullets pinged off the engine. The White Fang were pouring in now, drawn to them like moths to a flame thanks to the Hind broadcasting their position to every god damned terrorist in the region.

And just like the moths, their wings would burn for it. They were still way out of their effective range, just hosing bullets downrange in the hopes of getting lucky. Unfortunately for them, the same could not be said for Jaune and Port.

As one, the snipers raised their weapons and began picking off the incoming hostiles. The steady crack, crack, crack, of their rifles heralding death with every report. Screams of the wounded and dying filled the air as the militants were scythed down without mercy.

"Forget these guys! We're going to get left behind! Let's get to the extraction point!" Port roared as he noticed even more enemy soldiers rappelling down from helicopters in the distance. There were more militants than they had bullets, the time limit hanging over their heads just added more pressure.

Jaune nodded in understanding and booked it across the parking lot once the last militant in their way had copped a bullet to the heart. He could hear the angry shouts and gunfire from their pursuers, but there was no time to deal with them now.

"We'll lose em in that apartment, come on!" Port led the way into an abandoned block of flats. Jaune grabbed a machine gun off the corpse of a White Fang member and sprayed the area behind them, forcing enemies into cover. It bought them a few seconds before he tossed the weapon away and hurried to catch up to Port.

"What's Adam's role in all this?" Blake asked.

"At this point, nothing much. He's the one who got Sienna to safety, got himself noticed here. This is the first of many things that catapulted him through the ranks of the White Fang." Blank said.

"Pity Arc didn't take the extra shot then." Ironwood said.

"Well, with or without him, that world isn't in the greatest of shapes. Things would have gone to hell anyways. Adam Taurus just gave the world a little push."

Jaune's pistol fired once and the dog clawing at the fence between them fell over dead. They were ahead of the pursuit force but if that dog was anything to go by, other units were already moving to encircle them, they'd have company soon enough.

"Standby!" Port halted in his tracks and blocked Jaune from advancing any further. The White Fang massing outside failed to notice them in the shadow of the doorway they were in. Sweat trickled down the back of Jaune's neck as he realised he had been seconds away from blowing their cover.

"Quick, plant a claymore by the by the door up ahead." Port ordered and crouched down with his weapon at the ready. Jaune hurried forwards and placed the explosive right by the door before doubling back and joining Port.

Soon enough, the militants rushed in and were promptly blown to hell when the claymore was triggered. The few survivors who stumbled forwards in shock were put out of their misery by the snipers lying in wait.

Upon pushing out of the building, more enemies arrived, busting through another door. Shouts of surprise echoed into the air as the White Fang reinforcements were not expecting to just run into Jaune and Port there.

"More behind us!" Port called out as he downed the closest targets to him.

Jaune ducked back into the building as bullets punched through the plaster walls and showered him with dust. Priming a grenade, he tossed it towards where the militants were bunched together. The subsequent explosion silenced their cries.

"Incoming helicopter! Snipe the bastard!" Port growled as an enemy heli picked that exact moment to swing around the buildings. The two of them emptied their magazines into it and struck something critical when it started belching smoke and flames.

"Good night ya bastard…" Port waved his hand dismissively and began walking away. Then the helicopter crashed against the side of the apartment building and fired off its missiles, causing rubble to rain down when they scored hits across the flat.

"Ahh… crap! RUN!" Port and Jaune began sprinting away when the stricken helicopter hit dirt and began skidding right towards them.

"Gah!" Port cried out when he tripped on something hidden in the grass and collapsed. Jaune looked back with eyes wide as the helicopter continued barrelling down right on top of them, losing its sections of its main propeller as it struck the ground and snapped off.

When it finally came to a stop, it kicked up a large cloud of dust and smoke everywhere. Jaune coughed and waved away the smoke, searching for any sign his mentor was still alive.

He sighed in relief when Port's voice came through. "Bollocks! My leg's all mess up, I can't move!"

Port pushed against the propeller section that had come close to bisecting him, struggling to crawl forwards and failing. His legs were numb, probably broken but the pain hadn't set in yet.

"Sorry mate, you're going to have to carry me!" Jaune slung his rifle and grabbed Port's arm, gently picking his superior up, doing his best not to agitate the wound any further.

"If we run into trouble, you'll have to find a good spot to put me down so I can cover you."

"Ooh… tough luck." Taiyang winced.

"At least it's not our Port there." Qrow said, looking on the bright side.

"Hmmph, should have just left him behind." Cinder said.

"Of course you'd think that. Not even surprised." Roman rolled his eyes.

"Is there anyone you don't consider expendable?"

"Tools are there to be used. Besides, he's just dead weight now. Better to leave him and save himself, no one would ever know. It's what I would have done." Cinder said, oblivious to her underlings staring at her with differing levels of disbelief.

"Then it's a good thing Jaune is nothing like you." Pyrrha shot back.

"Such a bleeding heart. It'll only get him killed one day." Cinder's cruel smirk spoke for itself.

"Actually, saving Port here pays off in the future. But that's a story for another time." Blank corrected.

"Target neutralised." Port continued sniping from the cover of the bushes Jaune left him in. White Fang were swarming in from everywhere and the pain was starting to creep in.

Jaune was further ahead, drawing enemy fire away from Port and shooting back with a captured AK-47. As long as they were focused on him, Port's shots would go unnoticed amidst all the gunfire, keeping him safe and letting him pick off hostiles before Jaune could be overrun.

When a transport heli flew overhead and began unloading its human cargo right on top of them. Jaune simply raised his AK and fired on the fast roping militants, shooting them down before they could touch dirt. Internally he gave thanks the helicopter wasn't armed, or this would have already been over.

"Looks like we're in the clear, we should get moving." Port said when the heli flew off. Jaune nodded and clasped his hand, hauling him over his shoulders and double timing it to the extraction point.

"Head for that apartment! We'll try to lose em in there." Port pointed forwards and Jaune replied with a soft grunt, changing course and heading for it. Worry gnawed at Jaune on the inside, as snipers their greatest asset was stealth, now that they had lost the element of surprise, they were in seriously deep shit.

More troops were still scrambling after them on foot or dropping in by air. They just couldn't catch a break. At least there weren't any tanks knocking on their doors yet.

Pushing through the maze-like apartment complex was difficult to say the least. Sections of the building had already collapsed and fires were still burning in other places, for the time being, the floor of the second level held their weight, but the ominous creaking that echoed his footsteps at times inspired no confidence.

As he rounded a corner, Jaune's face paled when he came face to face with a very angry dog. Dropping Port to the floor with as much haste as he could, Jaune's hands snapped to his side, trying to draw his sidearm.

The gun had just cleared its holster when the dog was on him. Jaune dropped his pistol to free both hands for keeping the mutt's jaw at bay. Stumbling backwards, he fell, knocked over by the weight of the dog leaping on him.

Vicious barking and snapping teeth filled his vision, slobber and drool dripped from the rapid canine as it tried to bite down. Jaune struggled with the animal, forcing its jaw away with all the strength he had to muster, until he got a better grip on the beast.

Then with a brutal wrench, he snapped the dog's neck, killing it instantly. Shoving the body off him, he scrambled back to his feet and grabbed his discarded sidearm, shouts and more barking indicating there were more hostiles in the area.

The first White Fang soldier that bust into the room went down when a bullet from Port pierced his neck, going down in a spray of blood. The second met his end when Jaune took a side door and snuck behind him, shooting him in the back of his head before he even realised anyone was there. The final dog picked that moment to lunge out of the shadows and promptly ate several bullets as Jaune emptied the pistol's magazine into it.

Staggering back as the dog's corpse crashed into him, Jaune tossed it away and looked down at his chest. The entire front of his uniform was covered in dog blood now, and he threw his arms up in disgust. Sparing the dog one last hateful glare, he turned and headed back to Port, ready to just get the hell out of this cursed land.

"Thank goodness Grimm don't bleed. Imagine all that blood getting into your hair. Ick." Yang said, shuddering in disgust and getting nods and mutters of agreement from the others.

"Thank you for putting that image in my head Yang, thank you very much." Weiss grumbled and pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to wash that image out of her imagination.

"You're welcome." Yang smiled cheekily, grin growing wider when Weiss started growling.

"We're almost there! The extraction point is on the other side of that building!" Port said.

Jaune nodded and entered and old dilapidated swimming complex. Paint peeling, some walls knocked over and all the glass in the place shattered. Not a pretty sight.

Several wild dogs were resting in the empty pool, Jaune gave them a wide berth, skirting the edge instead, after the last encounter with angry canines, he had no intention of giving an encore. A small curse died in his throat when he looked out the shattered windows to where their extraction point lay, several militants had already beaten them there and were milling about, searching for them.

Carefully lowering Port to the ground, Jaune drew his rifle and prepared to snipe the hostiles. His trigger finger was squeezing down when he paused, one of the militants had the brilliant idea to kick a rock through the windows, out of boredom maybe.

Whatever his intention, it was a fatal mistake. The rock clattered into the empty pool, the sound thunderous in the silence. The dogs were spooked instantly and began barking angrily, rushing out of the pool and towards where the rock came from.

Jaune lowered his rifle and swallowed hard as he watched the White Fang be set upon by the wild dogs and torn to pieces before they could put up any kind of fight. Quick, brutal, and extremely messy. Once they were dead, the dogs simply ran off to god only knows where.

No time to dwell on things, Jaune slung his rifle and picked up Port again, continuing forwards. Just a bit more now and then evac would be here.

"Ooh… bad luck. Hehhehe, nice to see someone else get hit with it for a change." Qrow chuckled.

"I thought dogs were supposed to be man's best friend. Guess I'm wrong on that count." Mercury said.

"Alpha Six, this is Big Bird, standing by for your signal, over." Their pilot's voice came through the comms and Jaune felt his mood lift.

"Our helicopter is standing by at a safe distance, put me down behind the Ferris wheel, where I can provide sniper support." Port said.

The old fairground that was to be their extraction point wasn't the most defensible of places but it was all they had. Enough hiding spots for a sniper to vanish and pick off enemies at least.

Jaune set Port down by a large hedge, the injured man blending in with the shrubbery perfectly thanks to his ghillie suit.

"Take the rest of my claymores, now's the time to use them." Port shifted in place painfully, retrieving his stash of explosives and handing it to Jaune. They'd managed to lose the White Fang for the moment but it was only a matter of time before someone found them, and once the first search party sounded the alarm, the rest would come swarming.

Jaune took the explosives wordlessly, hurrying off to plant them in choke points or where he estimated hostiles would take cover in. While he did so, Port signalled their extraction team to begin their approach.

Once the last of his claymores had been planted, Jaune retreated into the shadows to take up his own sniping spot. Only thing to do now was wait for reinforcements and hope they didn't get overrun before the cavalry arrived.

They didn't have to wait long. Additional White Fang troops arrived, possibly having been drawn in by the patrol those dogs butchered.

Jaune held his breath and allowed them to get closer, sweat trickled down the back of his neck. Noticing a few getting closer to where he planted some of his claymores, he exhaled slowly and took aim.

The first shot came out of the blue, puncturing a man's neck. The second caught his buddy in the chest when he turned to look. Then the claymores were triggered and explosions drowned out the cries of pain and screams of outrage.

That was the signal that opened the floodgates. Other White Fang units started pouring in, drawn by the explosions and alerting every other asset they had in the area.

It was on.

"That's a lot of bad guys." Nora said, staring at the sheer numbers arrayed against them.

"They really want them dead." Taiyang folded his arms.

"And they die disappointed." Roman followed up.

"Enemy choppers inbound!" Port yelled when he noticed the troop transports coming in.

Jaune's aim snapped to them and he opened fire. Sparks flew as his shots pinged off the helicopter's armour harmlessly, the damn thing was bulletproof and his M21 just didn't have the firepower needed to get through and do some damage.

Cursing silently, he switched back to sniping the troops already on the ground, keeping them at bay. Enemies were everywhere now and their camouflage wouldn't be effective much longer, just a matter of time before their hiding spots were narrowed down and they'd be flushed out with grenades or killed.

"Big Bird! We are heavily outnumbered! Where are you!?" Port roared, dropping his empty magazine and slapping a fresh one home.

"Copy that Alpha, we'll be there ASAP, hold tight."

Jaune resisted the urge to add that if they didn't get here fast, they'd be extracting a pair of corpses. Tossing aside his M21, he grabbed a discarded RPD and began spraying the area with lead. His position was compromised and taking out targets one at a time was no longer viable, these White Fang zealots were unheeding of death and his sniping had lost its psychological edge.

When the sound of another helicopter reached his ears, Jaune's heart sank. Then bullets started raining on the militants and he blinked in surprise, looking up, his mood lifted when he noticed the heli didn't have any White Fang markings.

"Alpha Team, this is Big Bird, get your ass on board, over." Their ride had arrived.

Jaune abandoned his position and made a mad dash for Port, several stray rounds zinged past his head but most of the enemy were focused on the helicopter and allied troops shooting out from it. Not looking a gift horse in the mouth, he grabbed his mentor and booked it towards the air craft.

Once on board, Jaune set Port down on an empty seat and joined the relief team in shooting at the militants while they fell back. Once all were aboard, the aircraft lifted off and began flying off, eager to escape hostile airspace.

As they left that hell hole behind, Jaune himself collapsed against his seat and closed his eyes, glad that they were home free.

"A few more minutes and they'd have been toast. Cutting it close there." Ren said.

"All's well that ends well?" Nora hazarded.

"Hmmph, there is the detail that their mission was a colossal failure. Sienna Khan lives and so does Adam Taurus. All for nothing in the end, what a pity." Cinder's sarcastic clapping caused Nora to start growling at her again.

"They stopped an arms deal, it counts for something." Ironwood objected.

"Yeah, delayed the inevitable, I think. Just put it off for fifteen years until the big bang at the start." Roman muttered.

"And that was it, intelligence thought Khan dead for years. Until she resurfaced awhile ago. Bloody hell, they let her go because she didn't look like a threat anymore. Bollocks! We really dropped the ball on that one." Jaune slammed his fist into the table, bitterly regretting his failure fifteen years ago.

"Haaah… nothing we can do about it now, she'll get what's coming to her soon. For now, look alive gents, the White Fang will be here in force soon to try and reclaim Lionheart… or what's left of him. Search the village, grab everything we can use and start fortifying the place. Extract will be here in the morn, we just have hold out until then. Everyone clear?" Jaune looked to his unit, receiving several nods and salutes in acknowledgement.

"Good, you have your orders. Dismissed."

And with that, the viewing came to an end.

"And that's it for this viewing, feel free to go refresh yourselves." Blank said, dismissing his audience to their own devices.

Author's notes: Unemployment is coming to an end. First job is starting soon, not sure what kind of a schedule I'll be working with or how much free time I'd have left to write. I will do my best to continue writing though.

Cast list:

Jaune Arc as Captain John Price

Lie Ren as John 'Soap' MacTavish

Blake Belladonna as Yuri

Adam Taurus as Vladimir Makarov

Peter Port as Captain MacMillan

Leonardo Lionheart as Khaled Al-Assad

Sienna Khan as Imran Zakhaev