You didn't think we'd leave you, did you?

Thank Cr00cy for readability

W.S. Quote Book says: "Those who make peaceful revolution impossible, will make violent revolution inevitable" - JFK

W.S. Playlist says: "They say sorry son accept it, same old song of the subjectors

Sorry sirs, but we don't sing along to anthems or your pledges

In your garbage rose the rulers of the restless, do not test us" – Run the Jewels, "Rubble Kings."

Ferdinand

Sergeant Thomas leaned back against the side of the bullhead, listening to the hum of the engines of the Atlas military craft flying low over the soft, green earth, eating up kilometer after kilometer of distance as they approached their destination.

Inside was the familiar sound of the various pieces of equipment jingling, the boots of a dozen men shuffling, weapons being checked…and, of course, a VERY familiar debate.

"I fucking HATE this shit man." Blaine said.

If he'd heard this speech once, he'd heard it a hundred times.

"This should be a night mission, but here we are, rocketing along in broad daylight, like a damn pleasure liner." Blaine made a dramatic sweep with his arm. "Our asses out for everyone to see, and do you know why?"

"No, but I'm sure you're going to tell us." Dominic quipped from beside Blaine.

"Is it faunus?" King asked knowingly from across the craft.

Blaine pointed at him. "It's cause fucking faunus man!" He then held out an apologetic hand to the snake faunus sitting opposite him. "No offense Copper, you're cool."

Copper shook his head. "None taken. Also, you're an asshole."

"Doesn't mean I'm wrong."

"Maybe we should stop picking fights with people with night-vision then." King offered. "Or at least tell security forces to stop beating the hell out of them at wage riots."

Blaine pointed a thumb at his chest. "Hey man, I don't set the wages. I'm just here, trying to help Irondaddy fulfill his destiny of world domination."

"Preach!" Came from somewhere else in the craft.

Dominic chuckled. "Everybody's got a dream."

"Seriously though, you think he's going to be there? Ferdinand?" King asked.

"I hope so. I got a lady waiting for me back home, ready to wrap this shit up." Blaine responded.

Dom shrugged. "Who knows? It'll either be us that gets him, or the Specialist's team at site one. How about it Copper, is he going to be there?"

The young man stroked his chin. "You know, he said something about it at our card game last week – How the fuck would I know? We don't hang out."

"Ugh," King let out. "Then what good are you?"

"I believe I keep your dumbasses alive."

"Yeah, there is that."

Thomas sighed and smiled.

It was almost like a bad comedy routine at this point, but there was some strange comfort in the sense of normalcy it brought.

A voice crackled over his earpiece. "Hey, it's time."

He stood, grabbing a strap hanging from the ceiling for support and looked out at the team.

"Alright gentlemen, and I use that term extremely loosely, we are 'five' out. I know you're all forgetful, so let's do this one more time. We're assaulting a Fang training compound." All eyes in the craft were focused on him.

"Intel says-" There were a few chuckles from around the craft.

"Hey, I get it, but they're telling us that Ferdinand might be at the compound. This could be a big win for us if that's true, so I need your A-game. In fact, I've been told the General himself will be watching the helmet feed through the short-range comm tower, so let's try to get this right."

There were nods from around the craft.

"The pilots are putting us down in the South end of the compound, Bravo will be coming in from the North. This is going to be an in-and-out job, we're not sticking around to set up shop." He let his gaze sweep over them once more. "You are weapons free as soon as we touchdown, there are no friends of Atlas in that compound."

The ramp door came open, and the tail gunner began to set up his minigun. It would start soon.

20 kilometers away, another set of bullheads were closing in on another compound, The occupants looking towards their team lead, for final instructions.

Specialist Winter Schnee met their gaze.

"We've run this a dozen times before, nothing changes because of who it is. Stay behind me, cover the flanks, call out Aura threats, and come home. Simple as that."

A man raised a hand.

She sighed. "What Stevens?"

"How are we going to live with the embarrassment if the guys at site two bag this dude?" He asked, eliciting a few chuckles from the group.

She smirked. "I don't intend to find out, I've been told that this is the primary location, he'll be here." She paused. "But on the off chance they do get him, I was planning on blaming you."

"Ma'am, how could you?" Stevens mock gasped.

More laughs erupted from the team.

A voice in her ear informed her that they were coming around.

"It's time gentleman, let's do this."

The bullshitting from earlier was gone, replaced by silent checks and quiet rituals.

The bullhead lurched as it began to circle the compound, angling to give the gunner what he needed. The gun whirled to life as it began to rake over plain brown and tan rooftops, ensuring as few surprises as possible when they landed.

He could hear the aircraft sigh and shift as they began the last part of their descent, and each man stood at the ready. It had barely kissed the ground when they poured out, quickly encircling the aircraft with weapons trained in all directions.

The bullhead roared again as it emptied, taking back to the skies and beginning its circling once more, waiting for their call.

Thomas motioned towards the designated building, and Copper took his familiar place at the head of their column, pointed straight ahead and moving with deadly purpose. The rest of the team fell in line, weapons pointing out like a phalanx, scanning over every door and window of the small two-story buildings that surrounded them on their way to the objective, Blaine making regular turns to watch their backs as he brought up the rear.

They flowed through the small corridor of buildings a steady pace, hugging the right side of the path, till they heard the frantic and familiar cracks of rifle fire.

Bravo was engaging someone.

Winter left the bullhead well in advance of it landing.

Aura had its advantages, regardless of what her team was willing to admit.

She bent her knees and rolled as she landed, dispersing the impact and coming up with her blade at the ready.

No one was in sight, so she quickly moved around the perimeter, scanning for potential threats as the craft circled for its landing.

"Dammit ma'am, we talked about this." A voice crackled in her earpiece.

"Talk to me when you can take a round to the chest Robin."

"I mean, I can take the one. It's the 'still be breathing afterwards' part I struggle with."

She shook her head as the bullhead landed and the team poured out, setting up a defensive formation.

She nodded to them as the craft began lifting off, and they fell in behind her.

Winter held her speed in check as they moved in a file down further into the compound. Ghostly white birds flowed off of her, darting forward and upwards to scan the buildings in their path, helping to prevent any surprises.

Her men scanned everywhere else, combing over each building and corner with their rifles. They were her extra eyes and ears, and she was their shield.

A flash of understanding flowed through her, and they shifted direction.

Her birds had found something.

Thomas nodded to Copper, and their pace increased. Soon, the structure recognized from dozens of photos poured over during planning came into view, and with it, the first of the Fang. A handful of members garbed in the familiar white and black, guarding the rear entrance of the building.

Copper's rifle spoke, and they were one fewer. The rest of the team joined in the chorus, and the entryway stood clear.

They stacked along the door, forming a neat file ready to pour through the building, and each man prepared himself as silent taps of readiness made their way up and down the file. When the final one reached Copper, they moved.

The flashbang rocked the men and women inside the building as Alpha team flowed through the door, rifles up and alight as they covered every corner and swept every hiding place. The Fang simply wasn't ready for the ferocity of the assault.

Room after room fell along with their occupants as Alpha made their way ever inward, forcing their way closer to their target, to their prize.

They reached the center of the building, pressing themselves against the wall just outside of the largest room seen on the floor plans. Intel speculated it might have been an assembly area or chow hall. Whatever it might have been, Thomas was sure that it was about to become a battlefield.

Winter's white Beowolf hit the front door of the target building like a hurricane, battering it off its hinges and immediately engaging the Fang inside.

She followed directly after it, using her shorter blade to deflect stray shots away from the team, as she cut a path through the room with her saber.

Stevens and Robin were already shooting over her shoulder.

She ducked into the room on the right, taking point again. Her Beowolf did the same on the left, the team splitting and following them.

Like a flood, they washed the Fang from each room in their path, sweeping through the building with brutal, practiced efficiency.

Then, she reached it, the door to the room that had been designated on the mission plans.

Stevens fell back in as his team reached hers, the white Beowolf that had been leading them began to dissolve into nothingness.

She braced against the wall on the side of the door, and waited for her teams to form up.

Then, they breached.

One more signal, and Copper led the team through the door.

They swept through the room like a storm, ready to engage, ready to respond to any and all threats.

Only silence met them.

And the bodies.

Bravo team lay scattered around the room in pieces, their limbs both cleanly severed and ripped apart by some unknown force.

Thomas felt his stomach drop as the silence, and dread, persisted.

It was then that he felt, not heard, Blaine die.

A spray of arterial blood coming from the entrance that the man had been guarding came into contact with his face, and a black shape stood over Blaine's body.

He raised his rifle and fired.

All memory of the silence fled, as the room became a cacophony of weapons, screaming, and the sickening sound of something cleaving into meat.

The team desperately tried to track their target, their fire always a step behind the form as it leapt from man to man, ending their lives with flashes of steel and the thundering boom of shotgun blasts.

One after another, the team fell. Dominic followed King, who joined Daniels, who fell beside Samson, till only he and Copper remained standing. A load of buckshot crashing into the plates in his chest quickly remedied that.

As he fought for breath, he managed to raise his head enough to watch as the form impaled Copper on its blade.

"Traitor." It spoke for the first time as it allowed snake faunus to fall to the floor.

Its gaze fell back on him as his bruised chest spasmed, and he let out a cough.

"A survivor." It drawled, crossing the room towards him. "Is he watching?"

"Fuck you."

He screamed as the form's blade sunk into his calf. "I'll take that as a yes."

Adam Taurus stared through Thomas, into the camera in his helmet and the man watching beyond it.

"Hello General. I do hope you've enjoyed the show." He twisted the blade, eliciting another scream. "It was foolish of you to come here. You can't stop the fires of revolution."

He smiled humorously. "You of all people should know that, Lion of Atlas."

He leaned down towards Thomas, who was desperately trying to stem the bleeding.

"The White Fang will soon be stained red by the blood of Atlas. Until then, feel free to send more soldiers. I'd be happy to help them die for their country."

He stepped back and raised Wilt.

Thomas closed his eyes.

The feed went black.

Far away, in a dimly lit control room, a small group of Atlas officers watched the blank screen on the left in silence, the feed on the right showing Winter's team combing over an empty room.

The only sound in the room was the slow cracking and splintering of wood under metal fingers, as the James Ironwood squeezed the table they were seated at.

Colonel Thomas Markus watched his General silently seeth, fighting to master his rage. The other officers at the table held their breath, waiting for the explosion.

It didn't come.

"Colonel Markus." General Ironwood spoke to the dark-skinned man on his right.

He straightened. "Yes sir."

"Spin your group up, you're joining the wing at the border."

"Yes sir."

"Go. Now." He commanded.

Markus found his feet and saluted crisply, before beelining towards the door.

"Markus."

He turned.

"Hunt him down." The General growled.

Markus nodded in understanding. "We'll get him sir," and with that, he was gone.

The General took a deep breath and spoke over the comm.

"Winter."

Kilometers away, Specialist Schnee and her team stood in an empty room, feeling powerless as they searched the obviously long abandoned command center.

"Sir?"

"We were wrong, it was site two." He paused. "Alpha and Bravo are gone."

Her fist clenched, she could feel the rage bubbling up in her stomach.

It should have been them.

"Winter?" Her mentor spoke again.

"Yes sir?" She hissed.

"Find me Qrow Branwen."

JJD: Hey Cr00cy, we back?

Cr00cy: We back.

JJD: Hey folks, good to talk to you again. Full disclosure, this is a sequel to Fighting Mean, but it shouldn't be too hard to keep up with if you haven't read it.

So here's the deal, we're going to revel in snark and violence, I'm going to nerd out about fighting, the author's notes are going to be way too long, we're going to talk about some heavy shit from time to time, Cr00cy is going to fight to keep me in line.

If that sounds like your cup of tea, then get in, sit down, and buckle up. We've got a lot of road to cover.

Cr00cy: Yeah, it's good to have this back. Initially we talked about releasing RWBY/FF crossover first, but then FS kinda… happened. Don't worry. Said crossover WILL happen - I'm not letting JJD back off on that one. When? Now that's good question.