Save the world? Fuck that, I want to make money! (RWBY SI) ch 62

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​"You've been checking and rechecking your rifle since we left Vale. What gives?" 

"Better safe than sorry," Private Hitch muttered as she set her rifle on her lap. It was a bullpup rifle, lever delayed blowback rifle with a rather signature handguard that allowed Hitch to carry it that way. Regulations had allowed them to customize their weapons provided that they did not go too 'crazy' with the modifications, whatever the hell that meant. She did not have to worry about the Clairon's, that was the name of the weapon, ability to bring down a Grimm. Three bursts of the Atlesian 7.62x51 round were enough to put a charging Beowulf down. Anything larger like an Ursa, they had recoilless rifles to bring down. 

Hitch still hoped they wouldn't get to meet one. 

Their bullhead was moving fast, high above the treeline of Vale's forests. Their destination, a quaint village that had radioed for help before it went dark. Some no name village called Gevaudan. 

"Why are we being sent over there?" Her friend complained. A burly man whose muscles strained their uniform. They wore unisex powered vests worn over olive fatigues. Their vests had with it an enclosed helmet and gasmask combination that had a HUD display providing tactical data quickly as well as ID friend or foe and even monitored the user's health. A neat feature it had was a targeting reticle that provided her suggestions on where to shoot someone or something. 

"Because Gevaudan's calling for help, duh. That's what we're supposed to do: help people, Felix," Hitch mouthed. "What, did you think this gig was to look pretty and stay at barracks?" 

​Private Felix said nothing, merely leaning back on his seat as the Bullhead's engines hummed. Hitch rolled her eyes behind her mask. Unlike some people that joined for free food and lodging, her reasons for service was far different. She had lived in the frontier. She knew what it was like. While she disliked the Red Cardinal and everything he stood for which was basically bringing the world back to what it was, the benefits of a army was far too great for someone like her to ignore. 

Sure, they could hire Huntsmen to protect her town and for a brief moment, they had Silver Shields over to protect them but they were expensive. 

"Gods above..." suddenly came the pilots voice, shocked. 

​Hitch glanced to the left, wondering what that was about. 

"Pilot, stream what you see to me,"Staff Sergeant Marigold commanded. For a moment, Staff Sergeant Marigold sat long and still in his seat. Then, Hitch could see him tense.

"Staff Sergeant, what do you see?" Private Hitch asked. The sergeant turned to her and replied flatly.

"You'll see."

Suddenly, her vision titled. The engines of the transport slowed. The bullhead shook slightly as they landed. Collectively, they unfastened their seatbelts as they stood up one by one, a sense of unease going through the troop as the rear doors opened, flooding them with light. Hitch was closest and she hopped out onto dead grey grass. 

"Brother Gods," she hissed, holding tight to her Clarion as she saw nothing but desolation. What had once been a bright and cheerful village now reduced to emptiness and death. Blood and bodies decorated the streets, numerous arms and rifles laying about the ground. A good many of the aged houses had been broken into, debris and items strewn about. A lot more had been burned to cinders. The vines surrounding them had been trampled.

"Fucking..." Staff Sergeant Marigold shook himself. He then barked. "All of you, gather around!" 

The shaken troopers did so. Hitch resisted the urge in her legs to shake as their transporting bullhead rose up. Despite knowing it would return within an hour, a part of her felt that she was never going to see it again. She was from the frontier, damn it. Seeing desolate villages was nothing new to her. 

But why did it feel so new now?

"Squad 1, head over to the radio shack north of here. It's transmitting still, see if there are any survivors left," Staff Sergeant Marigold ordered, doing his best to hide the shaking in his voice. Their was a ping as Hitch's HUD expanded as a map of the village appeared. The radio shack was highlighted in gold as Marigold gave them their objectives. "If there aren't any, turn off the distress signal. This is just white noise and a waste of resources."

"Squad 2, head over to the Town Hall. Check for records on what might happen." The Staff Sergeant continued. He paused as he regarded the remaining squads. "3 and 4, we are going to do a sweep around town. 3, take the eastern side. 4, you go with me. Once your jobs are finished, we regroup at the Town Hall and get the hell out of here. Get to it, all of you." 

"Aye sir!" they announced collectively. Hitch sniffed, watching as Felix marched off towards the Radio shack. She wished him a silent good luck before turning for the east with her squad. 

They stalked the dirt road quietly, their Clarions raised and ready to fire at the first sign of trouble. 

"Where the hell was the militia?" Her fellow trooper muttered. "And wasn't there supposed to be Silver Shields here?" 

​His question was answered quickly. Not even a short stroll ahead, they found corpses. What remained of them. Hitch thanked past her for grabbing a simple protein bar as Private Luna and Sonne rushed to take off their enclosed helmets and let loose what remained of their lunches onto the grass. Below were the scattered remains of Silver Shields, their new Protector rifles strewn about the ground. Some were cut in two, intestines strewn about macabre gore. Some were had thick chucks bit out of them, cutting through their battle armor. 

"There were," Corporal Tan muttered. "Let's continue the sweep." 

And so they marched on, muttering under their breath as they passed by the fallen Silver Shield men. Despite them being foreigners, they were humans. Hitch still afforded them the same empathy she knew she would get if she was on the ground. 

Ahead, they spotted another building. It was a barn, fortified with barbed wire and those blocky barriers the Solitans were so fond of. All of whom, broken. The barn's door was wide open and breached. 

"Hitch, take a look." Corporal Tan ordered her. Hitch grumbled as she jogged over, Clarion at the ready. Again, she was treated to a similar sight from earlier. Fallen bodies, both militia and Silver Shield. It was a mess of gore, blood, and human bone. She tapped into her comms. 

"Charlie-One, do you read?" 

​The reply was quick. "I copy." 

Hitch thanked the brother gods that her helmet had filters. Otherwise, she would be spilling her protein bar and night's dinner on the floor. "Same story, over. Poor bastards did not stand a chance." She muttered. She glanced around, seeing a man impaled against the wooden barn wall. She walked over to him to inspect him. Curiously, he was impaled with a bone white material sticking him against the wa-

Then the body moved. And groaned. "Hngr...." 

"HOLY FUCK!" Hitch screamed as she she jumped back, shocked, and Clarion about to lodge a fire dust bullet into the man's skull. 

"Charlie Three, what's the matter? Are you alright?" came the concerned voice of her Corporal. 

"T-he body m-moved!" Hitch's voice came at a hitch, panicked. It took her full control not to just cry then and there. "We...we got a survivor, over!" 

"We're coming over to assist!" Corporal Tan promised, the sounds of running heard over the din. Hitch's breathing normalized as she strode over cautiously to the impaled man, fingers shaking. 

"U-ugh..." the Silver Shield trembled, blood leaking from his mouth. He looked no closer than in his early-twenties. His brown hair was a mess and blood dripped from his mouth. His eyes were red, filled with pain. 

"W-what's your name, s-soldier?" Hitch asked, the pounding of her heart calming as she took a stock of the situation. 

"M-Mahogany..." he coughed, voice pained. "Kill me..." 

"What are you talking about? We're getting you out," Hitch insisted as she stowed away her rifle and looked for a way to get him down. Her hands reached out to pull him out-

"Can't," Mahogany coughed. "Bone...barbed." 

Hitch froze, looking up to Mahogany. The sound of stomping registered in her ears as her squad caught up with her. 

"Brother Gods of Light and Darkness," swore Private Sonne. 

"Get him down, come on!" Corporal Tan ordered. 

"We can't!" Hitch informed them quickly. "The bone, its barbed! If we pull him out, its going to expand!"

"We can't leave him like this," Private Luna insisted. 

"Nor are we," Corporal Tan muttered. "I'm calling for the Staff Sergeant." 

Tan spoke into the comms as Luna and Sonne crowded around the heaving Mahogany.

"How the hell are you still alive?" Hitch demanded, turning back to him. Glancing at his wounds, the bone spike was roughly 40 milimeters by her reckoning. Barbed as it was, it would have utterly ruined his lungs and heart. 

"Armour..." he heaved. "Flooding...gel. Keeping...alive. Running...out." 

Hitch blinked. 

"What did this?" Private Luna asked, her question coming out as a frightened whisper. Mahogany's eyes glanced up, tiredly locking with hers. 

"Grimm..." he muttered. 

The Valeans pulled back as a automatic voice spoke. "Warning. Medi-gel reserves depleted. Seek medical attention." 

Mahogany took his final breaths then froze. His eyes rolled back to his head as he slumped forward, dead. Hitch swallowed something in her throat as her fellow troopers glanced away, refusing to look into the man's empty face. Corporal Tan however walked forward. With a grimm expression, the Corporal raised gloved fingers and closed his eyes. 

"May you find peace in the Brother's embrace," Corporal Tan muttered. 

"Grimm..." Hitch found her voice. "He said Grimm did this. What sort of Grimm can do something like this? Destroy a Silver Shield protected village like it was nothing?" 

To answer her question, distant howls pierced in the distance. Followed by long, throaty screeches. Hitch froze again. She had lived long in the Frontier. She had grown used to the different sounds that Grimm would make. 

These sounds...

She had never heard them before.

Before long, the comms broke out into panic as Clarion shots echoed, the screaming and dying letting out their final cries. 

In the distance, a woman watched it all unfold with a quiet eye. 

​Her body was youthful still, even despite her body maturing with time and two births. Cinder prided on her good genetics and natural beauty to carry her even despite motherhood. Now, she was in Vale. Officially, to be the cultural ambassador for the Kingdom of Vacuo and the Kingdom of Vale. Unofficially, she was here to bring this rotten kingdom to the ground. 

It was a long time coming. After all the disruptions that Ozpin's camp had given to the world, it was finally time to strike back. Sure, they had been quiet these past years but in silence, they were growth. 

The new Grimm had performed very well. The Shield tried so hard to resist but even they fell to the Evolved Grimm her Mistress had been working on. 

She glanced into the distance where high walls would be standing. 

Soon enough, there won't be walls to protect Vale.

​Cinder blinked as her scroll buzzed. She reached for it and read the message with a smile. 

"I'M IN. - M.BLACK" 

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A/N: Chat, we are so back.