Save the world? Fuck that, I want to make money! (RWBY SI) ch 27

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Once more, familiar surroundings registered in Winter's vision as her Bullhead neared the Foundry. She could see the fluttering Wayland Flag, the tall smoking furnaces, the marble and concrete facade of the Wayland factory. Winter had to admit to herself that she felt excitement at her assignment. Why should she not when she could witness the birth of new and wonderful weapons that would contribute to the defense of Atlas?

She said her goodbyes to her unit. The swiftness of her promotion and assignment had made making lasting connections there impossible but Winter was ambivalent to that. Her duty was much more important rather than making friends or connections. She...she already had a friend in the form of Alexander. And she had Weiss, Whitley, Klein, and General Ironwood. Thinking about it, Winter realized that she could could the amount of people she knew with one hand. She didn't need to be told that was rather sad. No, no, friends were uneeded. Her duty was enough. And she had her books and assigned materials to keep herself busy.

Her task wasn't particularly difficult. Act as General Ironwood's eyes and ears in not just Royal and Imperial but also in other industries that the military was going to be working with. Winter had to admit that all her good fortune came a little bit too easily. She didn't exactly earn it. She had to do more. And she would do that by being the best gods-damned liaison there was.

The craft landed with a thud. Winter then stood up and went to leave as the Bullhead's rear doors opened. She was more than ready to do her duty what with her neat uniform, a white double-breasted coat with silver buttons, dark blue accents, collar, shoulder flaps with matching cuffs with two silver buttons and the Atlesian spear emblazoned on it. It split in the middle, showing off tights pants that hugged her legs and long black boots that reached her knees. Her weapon, a curved sabre, was sheathed on a belt around her waist. There would be a cap worn, normally, but Winter decided not to wear it and let her hair be displayed. Her uniform was more than official enough.

The landing pad opened to a man clad in a Doppelsoldner's armour. His face was old but the fire of youth was present in his eyes. "Winter Schnee," the man greeted gruffly. "The name's Land, Alexander's bodyguard. Normally, he'd be here to meet you but he's in the middle of working."

He had rough manners but Winter did not mind. At least he still had manners. "A pleasure," she nodded at him. There was little need to introduce herself, her purpose for being here was known already. She did lift a small briefcase. "I have here private letters for Alexander from General Ironwood."

The mercenary nodded. "None of my business, then." He side-stepped, motioning towards the Foundry. "With me, Specialist."

And so, they walked. "What is Alexander actually doing?" Winter asked, curious.

"You'll see," Land said mysteriously as the entered into the maw of the foundry. Winter held her breath as she entered. Multiple eyes were on her as they entered through the corridors. Winter kept her face impassive as the halls turned from ordinary office to industrial quickly. Another turn and Land led here to a walkway overlooking massive space. Her eyes settled on the space below, the sounds of industry registering into her ears. It smelt like it too.

"Stop gawking, come on," Land called after her.

"Of course," Winter stammered, stealing one more look at the work below before being led inside a room that overlooked still the work place below yet was built to be comfortable with its couches and homely Mantlese design. A contrast compared to the sleek and futuristic motif of the SDC.

"Alexander is going to be with you in a minute," Land informed her. She nodded as she stepped in, placing her briefcase at the lone table in the room. Land left, closing the door behind her.

Winter milled about, admiring the contrast of the room with the heavy industry outside. She wondered if she would have to wait long until finally, the door opened. Winter turned around expecting to see Alexander but instead, she found herself looking at a little girl with green hair and red eyes.

Said little girl was eyeing her with open and naked suspicion.

"Hello," Winter attempted, polite and disarming. She even offered her a smile. The little girl however decided to walk around, avoiding her and sat herself on a far chair. As she settled, her eyes never left Winter who felt awkward at having a strange child glaring at her as if she had committed a crime.

"What's your name?" Winter tried again, making damn sure that her smile was friendly. Still, the girl did not reply and instead crossed her arms. Winter for a moment thought that maybe she was perhaps deaf. Gods, her first proper job as a Specialist and she was struggling to deal with a deaf girl. And so, Winter went to sit on the couch adjacent to the girl, her face gentle.

"Are your parents workers here?" Winter asked. She ought to be concerned about a child walking around in a factory what with all the heavy machinery and dangerous substances that was present in there. She figured that the parents couldn't afford to leave her behind and had to take her here. The little girl shook her head.

"Who brought you here then?" Winter asked again, puzzled. Finally, she grinned and pointed out of the window. Raising any eyebrow, Winter turned around to find an aircraft she had never seen before hovering outside her window, kept aloft by a low hum. It was a fearsome thing that oozed danger and firepower, the long autocannons added on to that image as well as the numerous rocket pods underneath it. Winter's instincts screamed at her to take her sword out and engage but that feeling was disarmed as she sighted the pilots of the craft, one of whom was Alexander, who was waving at her. The little girl hopped off her chair and casually strolled outside the room, dress in tow. Winter followed as Alexander steered the aircraft onto the walkway that led into the room. There was a hiss as the cockpit opened and out leapt Alexander, landing on the walkway with an acrobats grace. He turned back to the craft, waving away.

"Take it back to the garage! We have a lot to show off!" he yelled. The other pilot nodded and the aircraft drove away. He watched it steer off with pride. The little girl on the other hand ran up to him and hugged his leg. For a brief moment, Winter's vision was filled by an image of the girl sticking her tongue out at her in a rude gesture. But when she blinked, the little girl was holding Alexander by the pant leg.

"You've met Emerald finally," Alexander spoke up, his voice the usual mischievous teasing tone. Emerald, so that was what he name was.

"She was...unique," Winter admitted. "Is she mute? She did not say a word to me."

"Is that so?" Alexander chuckled, looking down at Emerald. "You being a little cheeky with the Specialist here, Em?"

"I don't like her," Emerald spoke up, finally, glaring at Winter. "She looks like trouble."

Winter could not help but smile. She understood what was happening now, a younger sibling's jealousy. She bent her knees slightly to make herself less authoritative and official, smiling gently at Emerald. "I am not trouble, I assure you. Alexander and I are merely work mates."

Emerald glared a little bit less but held on to Alexander just as tightly. "You're not stealing him," she swore. Winter laughed.

"I am not going to steal him either, little one." She glanced up towards Alexander, noting the sweat on his face. "I don't like to steal sweaty boys."

"So you'll steal him if he wasn't sweaty?" Emerald asked in shock, eyes wide open. Winter was reminded immediatly of Weiss, young and innocent. And feeling mischievous, she grinned.

"Maybe," she said simply. Emerald gasped and looked up at Alexander. "Be sweaty!" she demanded imperiously with the righteous authority of a child.

"I will be," Alexander replied with a chuckle, patting Emerald on her head. "Could you leave her and I alone? We have work to do. Why don't you go and ask Land to take you to a restaurant? My treat."

"...Okay," Emerald said, hesitantly stepping away from Alexander. She sent Winter one last jealous glare before walking off. Winter chuckled, walking forward on the steel walkway.

"Cute child," she said. Her attention turned back to Alexander. "Is she your sibling?"

He shrugged, taking off his helmet and letting it rest at his side. "Well, her skin's a bit too dark and I am lighter than her. The eyes a bit of a dead give-away. Until we get it tested, we remain unsure. Family or not family, Emerald's been adopted informally into the Wayland household."

"How did you find her?" Winter asked.

"Oh, I picked her off the streets of Vale," he said casually, as if he just found a cat in a street corner and not a child. Winter could not recall exact laws about taking in foreign children from the streets of a different country but she was sure they existed.

"Is...is that legal?" Winter asked carefully.

"I never really checked," Alexander admitted again. "Then again, it wasn't as if we could go to Vale's orphanages and adopt her formally. She was a street kid when I found her, trying to steal bread of all things." He shook his head. "No child should ever have to steal bread to survive."

Winter could agree with that sentiment. "Agreed. However, you really must register her into the Citizen's Registry, Alex. And schooling! Has she been enrolled into one?"

Alexander had the decency to look abashed at that, leaving Winter horrified. "You are the heir of a multi-million lien industry and you didn't have the time to do that?"

"In my defense, I have been very busy!" Alexander said, tapping the helmet hanging by his side. "Father is busy too, being out of the house most of the time to deal with General Ironwood's demands for new arms."

Winter fought back the headache growing in her head. This dumb fool. She shook her head and curled her lips at him. "Register her then put her in a good school. She's a child, not an employee."

"I will," Alexander sighed. To his credit, he had the decency to look ashamed. Winter sighed and walked up at him. She glanced down at the helmet and wishing to change the subject asked about it. "So, you wave this thing around like its your life. What can you tell me about it?"

Immediately, he brightened up. "Ah, this looks like a normal pilots helmet but the glass has a integrated hud that feeds the pilot info about their craft! He will know exactly the status of his shields, which areas of the craft have been damaged, the amount of fuel, ammo, and rockets left!"

"A useful system," Winter commented. If she was a pilot, she'd appreciate such a friendly user interface.

"It is also linked to the Crocodile's autocannons so whichever direction he's looking at, the autocannons turn there too," Alexander revealed. Winter almost pitied the poor Grimm who would be in the sight of such weapons. They looked heavy. Alexander was not lying. He was busy.

"Is this all you have been working on?" Winter asked again, she would need to know everything before she'd write her report to Ironwood.

"Let me show you instead," he said with a clap.

"Oh?" Winter asked. 

And just like that, they were in a bullhead headed for the outskirts. 

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[SPOILER="Artillery blast"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaLy3YEfk58[/SPOILER]

First was the lightning then the thunder as multiple shells screamed over the air. Winter's face went bright with orange-red light as fire-dust artillery shells struck the dirt. Even from their far distance, she could feel the earth vibrating as each shell landed without reservation or mercy. The barrage continued and continued until finally, it stopped. As the dust settled and the smoking barrels of the artillery stopped, Winter took out binoculars to observe where the shells had landed. Once, old cars stood. 

No longer. It looked like some had melted.

​Alexander had taken her to a camp just a short flight away from Atlas. It previously used to be a small village that specialized in smoked fish but the village eventually became depopulated as its inhabitants chose to move to another village or return to Atlas. The company had bought it and its surrounding lands for a pittance. After making sure that nothing else remained, it became a dedicated testing ground for their weapons. 

Silver Shield soldiers milled about behind prepared sandbags and emplacements, rolling back artillery pieces with new ones. Alexander grinned, watching them all move with clockwork precision. "When your mercenaries are former soldiers, you only have to worry about training recruits." Alexander said as a newer and bigger artillery piece replaced the old one. 

"Anyway, this is one of many things that will make the enemies of Atlas quake!" Alexander cackled with a mad inventor's smile. "The 105 artillery which we've seen fire a fire Dust base. Dust by itself is incredibly volatile and launching purified fire Dust has taken its volatility up to extremes. We've discovered something fascinating with the Dust rounds, you know?"

"And that is...?" Winter asked.

Alexander giggled as he took out his scroll and whispered a few words. Not a second later, two Bullheads appeared on the horizon and dropped two cages at the testing grounds. They pulled back and the cages opened with a hiss, letting out boarbatusks. 

"Observe!" the apparently manic Alexander said as he turned to the new artillery crews and yelled out. "Fire when ready!"

Not a second later, Winter winced as an ear piercing barrage of artillery echoed, bright flashes of orange-red light emitting with each blast. The shells arced over, sailing into the air. Winter watched closely, remembering Alex's request for her to observe. The shells landed, throwing up a mushroom cloud of fire. Within that fire, the Grimm liquified, shrieking as they melted into a black tar before finally, they disintegrated as their corpses usually did. 

"They were liquified," Winter noted, impressed. 

"Yessss!" Alexander nodded enthusiastically. "And that was just with the Fire Dust! Ice Dust quite literally freezes them solid down to their base molecular level. Earth Dust generates a miniature earthquake, Wind Dust forms tornadoes, Steam Dust quite literally cooks anything organic! And oh, you should see what happens with Gravity-Wind Dust combination!" He turned to her, eyes shining. "Do you want to see?"

​"For Atlas?" Winter replied quizzically. A long series of giggles left Alexander's lips as he lifted his scroll to his mouth. 

"Battery 1! Blackhole shell, please!" 

Winter raised an eyebrow. Blackhole? She got her answer as the battery opened fire. Her eyes followed the shell sail right down towards the testing grounds and...

[SPOILER="Blackhole Shells"]https://youtu.be/6MYXky907C8?t=18[/SPOILER]

As the shell landed, there was a brief explosion of green-purple light. Then, chaos as a dark orb appeared that quite literally sucked everything close to it. When it was over, a large hole had occupied what used to be the testing ground. Winter's mouth went agape. 

​"How?" 

"Science wise?" Alexander asked. Winter nodded. 

"Well, gravity Dust pulls the objects in and the Wind dust generates the tornado like effect. Anything caught in that will quite literally be torn apart. Imagine the entire battery line firing it at once." He wiped away a tear. "Beautiful." 

Winter imagined such things being used against a horde of Grimm. She was quite sure that there wouldn't be a horde anymore. 

"General Ironwood would be pleased," Winter commented.

"Of course he would. This will make sure that he won't have enemies to fight anymore," Alexander nodded. "Now come with me! More weapons to show!" 

As they walked, a Silver Shield walked up holding a tube-like weapon on her shoulder. She aimed it ahead at a test dummy. The warhead struck the dummy and detonated, splitting it from the inside and letting its parts rain all around. "The RPG," Alexander introduced. "The warhead has a mix of chemicals and Dust. Again, the effect depends on what type of Dust is inside." 

"And it had fire dust, I assume," Winter asked. 

"Oh yes," Alexander nodded as a line of Silver Shields practiced their marksmanship with the RPG. "We are mostly keeping to common Dust for our warheads and shells, like fire dust. The more exotic Dust is expensive to buy and the effects they give off are a bit overkill." 

Her mind went back to the Blackhole shell and wondered what could possibly justify having such a thing. 

"I will also be writing up tactics on how to deploy the weapons I have crafted," Alexander said as they passed by more Silver Shields training with the new weapons. He motioned her to follow him into a tent where a holographic table lay. He clicked on a button and map came to be viewed. A simulation, Winter realized. She took her place at one side to watch him work. 

"In this scenario, a horde of Grimm are going to descend on a series of trenches," Alexander narrated. The land shifted, a comprehensive and complex series of entrenchments and firing positions. To Winter, the simulated field looked familiar, with its snow and rocks. 

"This is the mine," Winter realized. Alexander nodded, pressing a bit more. From their lines, hard light soldiers deployed mortars and artillery. Not a second later, multiple explosions saturated an incoming Grimm horde. There was no mercy, no discrimination as shell after shell landed on the enemy position. What used to be the enemy's position. 

"General Ironwood's biggest complaint was the lack of artillery. With the new mortars and howitzers, the Atlesian Army can rely on continuous fire support in the absence of the Navy." Then, the saucer like craft from earlier stormed in, their rocket pods showering the battlefield with mini-rockets, dousing the Grimm in liquifying fire. Those Grimm not taken were torn apart as its 30mm cannons opened up. "Crocodiles, heavy weapons and multiple rocket pods. You will find no better battlefield support."  

More of the Crocodiles came up, their autocannons firing yet their rocket pods were lacking. Instead, they carried with them a contingent of Atlesian Knights underneath its saucer body. A pair however closely to the battlefield. The Knights went to life, activating with a whine, before joining the battle. "Atlesian Knights, with Deuces," Alexander said, the staccato bursts of the heavy machine gun echoing with each step the Knights took. 

"There's a special feature that I am including in the Crocodiles. That feature being that each gunship has its own transponder meaning that the knights it deploys are controlled directly by that single Crocodile. Should there be an attempt to hack it, only a single unit will be compromised. But then again, the hacker would individually have to approach every single gunship before hand." Alexander smiled with glee. 

"Is such a system really necessary? Wouldn't it be much more efficient to have a single command node?" Winter asked, her mind taking back to the current deployment of Knights in the military. 

"And what if it gets hacked? To centralize everything would make commanding the army much more efficient, sure, but it will make screwing with it easier too. I would like you to speak with General Ironwood about separating the command nodes for our Knights at least." Alexander said seriously. Winter did not see any reason why Atlas should do such a thing, who would even attempt to do that? But the seriousness in Alexander's face made Winter consider.

"I'll go and give that recommendation to the General then," Winter said, to Alexander's relief. 

"Great!" he cheered, to Winter's pleasure. His happy face was adorable, in a boyish sort of way. He pressed on another button. "But that's not the end of this little presentation." He said with a wink. 

Winter raised an eyebrow. 

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Bonnie Clyde shivered. 

It had been a whole month since that murderer Brown and his faunus pet appeared on Mistral's outskirts. A whole month of terror and blood as their little league near wiped the countryside of honest folk such as her. Once, there was a thriving industry of murder and banditry that made sure Mistral's roads were profitable. No longer. Some bandit tribes had been wholesale slaughtered down to the last thug. Brown left no one alive, not even newbies. The Branwen tribe, the strongest in the region, was near wiped out as well. Their leader had vanished mysteriously and without a trace, leaving the tribe defense-less. 

Not that Clyde cared. 

She and other like-minded criminals had decided to flee up North right by the border between Mistral and the Atlesian controlled Argus. She figured that with it being so close to Atlesian territory, not even that maniac Brown would come up north to them lest he attract the attention of Atlas's finest. 

She rolled her eyes. 

Their finest weren't worth the shiny armor they clad themselves in. They stuck out like a sore thumb in their white chestplates and gear. Hiding from them was far easier to do since they had no idea what the hell subtly was like. Avoiding their patrols was easier too and they never strayed too deeply into Mistral's territory. 

Clyde yawned, deciding to lay back on the bed she had secure for herself. Their band had found an abandoned town with most of its buildings left intact, no doubt a town that had seen its population evacuated from a Grimm attack never to return. That was fine for her and her bedfellows. At least there was still running water.

As the bandit glanced up at the roof, ready to catch some sleep after being on the run for days, her ears perked as the sound of thrusters registered. She sat up on the bed, wondering if a bullhead was passing by. The town had seen a few come through here and there. If it was an Atlesian patrol, they would likely ignore them as the town was supposed to be abandoned. 

Just as Clyde was about to relax, gunshots rang out. 

Immediately, the bandit went down, revolvers in hand as she rushed to get to cover by the window. The thrusters became louder and louder then, a echoing thud and the whine of machinery as staccato booms echoed. She leaned upwards to peek and her heart sank to her stomach as in the streets below, bandits ran away screaming then dying as they detonated in brilliant squalls of gore. Not just in their street but also in distant streets, her fellow criminals dying to a man. One bandit had taken cover behind a car, shivering violently as a dark shaped marched up, a bulky looking weapon in its hand. It stood at 25 feet, the gun longer than anything Clyde had ever seen. It was painted a certain shade of blue, a eagle with raised wings on one pauldron and a silver anchor in another. Under it, soldiers wearing lighter exoskeletons marched up, weapons raised. But just because they were lighter did not mean their firepower was any less. One had a shoulder mounted minigun whirring quietly, another carried a box that Clyde guessed had mini-rockets.

In the sky, a saucer-like craft hovered, its front autocannons all swivelling as one.

Who the hell were these people?

"Contact!" one of the soldiers cried out as they spotted the bandit, his voice was scrambled from his helmet. The bandit froze, dropping her weapon onto the floor and quickly raising her hand up. "I surrender!" she screeched, tears flowing down her cheek. "Please! Please just don't kill me!" 

The soldiers rushed up to her, weapons raised. The mech striding up slowly turned around, a singular cybernetic eye affixed on the woman. "Identify yourself!" the same soldier from earlier barked. 

"I'm Vermillion!" the woman sobbed pitifully. "Please! I'll do anything you want! Just don't kill me!" 

The soldiers all glanced at each other. Then, a powerful voice spoke. A voice coming from the mech. "Sheila Vermillion, wanted for murder, banditry, and trespassing."

"I'm sorry!" The girl cried, desperation in her eyes. "I'm sorry! Please! Please! Don't kill me!" 

Clyde bit her tongue, watching as the soldiers led her away. She took in a deep breath as she took cover. As long as she would keep quiet, she could avoid these bastards. Coming so close to Atlas was a mistake. She should have went west and hopped on a ship to Vale. She could always just hire herself out as a gunwoman there or worked as a stage-girl. She'd always wanted to be an actress after all. This sort of life was getting dangerous. 

But before she could do that, she had to check if the coast was clear.

And she did so, peeking out.

​The mech's cybernetic eye swiftly turned, locking into position. "Target spotted. Weapon in hand. Opening fire." 

She was vaporized before she even knew what happened. 

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A/N: Our enemies have no nerfs. I fail to see why we should nerf ourselves.