Three days after the failed Vale Attack...

This Atlan military facility is really nothing special. It was comically easy to break into, with the same barren and soulless white walls making it up, and standard white armored guards patrolled its halls. Blah, blah, blah. Honestly, they've been doing these types of missions for so long it almost made Sun want to leave their contract; Just for something a little different.

We should have done something more dangerous than the same old 'break in at night' deal. Maybe in the middle of the day, scientists doing work, more guards… It would've been better than this.

Finally the last of the patrolling guards came around the corner. His helmet flashlights giving him away as he walked casually down the hall. He seemed to be bobbing his head (probably listening to his Y-Pod), and he had even shouldered his energy rifle.

The poor shmuck didn't even have the chance to notice the tailed Faunus hanging above him. Bō staff at the ready.

Sun sighed as he stuffed the now unconscious guard into a nearby closet, manually setting it to stay closed and destroying the door panel. He had taken the guard's radio equipment, destroyed it too, and now started to casually walk away.

I bet Scarlet and Sage are having way more fun than us. They always seem to get all the missions involving explosions and daring getaways no matter what I do to change that.

Sun turned several corners and used a "borrowed" ID pass to get through the various checkpoints; eventually coming across a more secured and non-automatic vault that was already cracked open. Inside it, a blue light emanated from a larger than life computer monitor.

Standing at said computer, was a tallish and older teen. His hair a sky blue that almost blended into the light as he worked feverously at hacking.

"Sup nerd." Sun called out as he entered; A mischievous smile growing. He always knew how to push Neptune's buttons.

But of course, the blue haired "Intellectual" just ignored him. He may not have even realized Sun was in the room. His face showed all the signs of one in complete concentration: Eyes bouncing around the large screen to glance at fast flying data, pursed lips, and a slight sweat.

Jeeze. It's just numbers. How can anyone care that much about computers? Sun thought, making his way over to his partner.

"What's got you? I thought computers were your thing?" Sun snarked, taking a seat at the abandoned computer chair nearby Neptune. "Oh, and by the way, I got rid of the last guard. No need to thank me or anything."

Again, nothing. Neptune seemed almost in a trance as he continued to type faster and faster. His expression growing more strained, as the computer made more noises and more data whizzed by.

"Uh, you okay there dude?" Sun asked; dropping his act and showing real concern for his friend.

"Theé mou... Ti sto diáolo eínai af̱tó to prágma?" Neptune finally muttered, speaking in Mistrilian. He still didn't acknowledge Sun's presence.

Sun slowly raised from his chair. He came close and put his hand on Neptune's shoulder, ready to snap his friend back into reality. Though he never got the chance when, as he placed his hand, the computer screen made a loud dinging sound. The blue light was then replaced with bright green as multiple pop-up windows appeared; each of them some kind of file.

At that moment, Neptune jumped up and away from the computer and its several keyboards. He threw his hands up into the air, dancing around wildly and yelling out excitedly, "Hahha! Success! I. am. The. Greatest!"

"Uh..." Sun gawked, watching his friend celebrate with large white circles for eyes.

Neptune stopped dead, pivoting in Sun's direction and only now noticing his presence. He seemed startled at first, though once he realized who it was he became his usual suave persona. Trying to coolly cover up his embarrassment.

"Oh. Hey." He said, pointing at Sun as he said the words. "You took care of the guards?"

Sun nodded before turning towards the screen. Though before he could make anything out of the files, Neptune pulled back up beside him.

"So uh… what is this?" Sun asked.

Neptune shifted his weight and placed his right hand on his chin, taking a pondering pose. His eyes bobbing from one window to the next.

"To be honest, I'm not sure. I was just finishing up taking the data we needed, when all of a sudden some new data came rushing in. It was moving into the system and then trying to get back out at incredible speeds. I thought it was some sort of defensive virus made to destroy all the data in case it was being stolen, but then I realized it was something else."

The tech savvy mercenary took his seat again, typing away and clicking at several of the windows to try and read into them. Most of it Sun couldn't understand (being in Atlan and all), though there were some pictures to go with several of the documents and some Common Tongue words he could make out.

Neptune continued to elaborate. "It put up quite a fight to not get taken by me, so it must be something important."

Suddenly, Neptune's eyes went wide as he muttered, "Oh damn. Do you know what some of these are?"

Sun look over at Neptune, brows raised in waiting.

"I think some of these are schematics. Sun, I think I captured top secret weapon plans! They must've been going discretely through several networks to stay undetectable while heading to their destination. I mean the odds us crossing paths with this thing at just the right moment must have been..." Neptune trailed off, actually doing calculations in his head.

Sun's eyes went wide and a smile grew. Finally! He thought. Excitement on one of these stupid missions!

"Really?! Well what are they!?" Sun interrupted, breaking Neptune away from his mathematics.

Neptune did some more typing and some more window jumping to bring up several photos; all of them combat droids that neither of the boys have ever seen before.

"Oh shit…" Sun muttered as both boys' jaws dropped. "Those have to be new AK models."

Neptune highlighted numbers and some Common Tongue words for Sun, reading them aloud.

"Atlesian Knight… model 200. Scheduled for AK-130's complete replacement. And… Atlesian Knight model 230; Renamed the AP, Atlesian Paladin. The first mechanized battlesuit of its kind with all new, on board A.I. systems."

The two boys stayed silent as the weight of this discovery sank in. This… was big. Bigger then what Mistral was paying them for.

"...Do you ever wonder why Atlas never can count their robots correctly?" Sun asked. Completely breaking the tension.

Neptune only looked at Sun and facepalmed. He was also about to go off on Sun and call him some synonym for an idiot, though he stopped himself. He only rolled his eyes and sighed; going back to the computer to start downloading the files onto his scroll.

"Never really thought about it." Was all he muttered.

After a long silence and work, Sun spoke up again. "Hey, what's with that one?"

"Uh?" Neptune broke away from downloading files, looking where his partner was pointing. One of the files being downloaded had Valian writing on it, and unlike the other files, this one seemed to be locked by several passwords.

"That's weird." Neptune half muttered to himself. He looked into the file's name, and it read:

No Strings Project Update

"Huh. That's… really weird. That may be a joint project. Otherwise, I have no idea why Vale data would be in with this stuff."

Sun only shrugged as he played around with his staff; spinning it slowly around him.

"Ah well. We can throw it in for an extra commission. Mistral will take anything from Vale and pay triple for it." Neptune declared; Ready to get this downloaded and grab something to eat.

"Say, do you wanna get a pizza after this?"

Sun shook his head. He had now separated his staff into their nunchaku forms, and was now spinning them around with both hands.

"Nah. I'm sick of pizza. How about some ramen?" He countered.

Neptune shrugged. "I'd be down for that. I hear there's a pretty good shop nearby the entrance to the city dome. It's only a simple walk into-" He was interrupted by the sounds of the two teens' communicators going off.

Both boys put their hands to their ears to listen in. And what came through were the combined sounds of a garbled deep voice, static, and gunfire.

"...Nep…Sun…co…in! ...Contacts… ambush…"

"Sage? We can't hear you. Repeat, over." Sun ordered into the communicator. He sounded calm and collected as his leader skills started to kick in.

Static filled the silence that followed, causing Neptune to look over at Sun for a moment with a look of worry. Though his attention came back to the communicator as a different voice started to come through.

"Scarlet here. The situation has gotten bad. We were finishing up with our target when some White Fang soldiers and a freaky haired girl just showed up. We're falling back to the Odyssey. We'll swing by and pick you guys up. Over."

Sun and Neptune exchanged a glance.

"Right. Just get out of there guys. We'll meet you at the entrance of the facility. Over and out."

Sun didn't hear a response, though he wasn't going to wait for one. He looked back over at Neptune, giving him a serious look and a commanding tone.

"I don't care if we don't get every file. We are leaving. Now."

Neptune took on a focused look and nodded. "Right." He went over and checked his scroll, noticing all the files had been downloaded. Though just in case he also began backing up the files quickly onto his wrist tool.

"Do you think Mistral is cutting us loose? I mean, I know Scarlet said White Fang soldiers, but it wouldn't be the first time some dressed up as those guys as a cover." Neptune thought out loud.

"Who knows. Like you said, Mistral may have gotten new mercs and want us gone and they may have sent a strike team to end our partnership. Or maybe Scarlet and Sage were at the wrong place at the wrong time. Either way, I'd rather find out later." Sun looked over at Neptune, who was still waiting for his copy to finish. "Hey, lets go!" Sun ordered.

"Why the rush?"

Both Neptune and Sun froze. They both briefly looked at each other, wondering for a moment where that female voice came from.

The two then quickly armed themselves; Neptune with his rifle out and a charged shot pulsing, and Sun with his staff at the ready; to find two older teens waiting for them at the door. A girl with mint-green hair, and a boy with gray hair. Both of them wearing similar colored attire to their hair.

"Oh, hey." The grey boy called nonchalantly. "Did we interrupt something?"

Chapter 1 of Another Day Under the SSSN. The rest of this short story can be found on the story's page.

Thanks for reading!