Ruby made the quick decision to use one of the trains waiting on standby to get moving quickly and intercept the bandits, they had to convince the train driver quite a bit before he eventually gave in and set the engine to full throttle. But it was worth the effort for the team of four, as they sped down the line for a few minutes, they could see they were fast approaching the train that was under attack.

It was a large cargo train, one that was loaded front to back with all kinds of dust containers. And there currently was a bullhead hovering at its side, which was consistently winching up a few canisters as men loaded them up. These men weren't like any other bandits that Team RWBY ever saw, instead of ragged, worn clothing which often consisted of cloaks and masks. These troops were covered in tan and grey armor plates, and faceplates shielded their eyes and mouths from the dust kicked up by the speeding train.

"Who the heck are these guys?..." Ruby asked. Unfurling her cloak, she removed it to reveal her new clothing. Her red skirt remained, along with her boots and new black leggings. Her arms now showed right up to her shoulders and her gloves were smaller fingerless ones, giving her arms more freedom of movement. Her tattered cape was the sole continuous feature she still had from her Beacon days.

"I know that armor anywhere! That's desert combat armor used by the Atlesian army!" Weiss pointed out, "And I'm sure that bandits mainly use bikes, not bullheads. That's Nordwind PMC!"

"We've got to stop them from taking the dust!" Blake gripped the handle of Gambol Shroud tightly.

"Sounds like a plan!" Yang patted Blake's back firmly.

"Thank you so much, sir! I don't know how we can repay you." Ruby said to the train engineer, while her team was clambering on top of the engine.

"Don't thank me, stop those guys." The train engineer replied, keeping his hand firmly rooted on the throttle. Of course, Team RWBY's presence didn't go unnoticed by the soldiers stationed to keep watch for any interlopers.

"We've got huntresses!" One of the Nordwind mercenaries called to his fellow soldier, who nodded back at his friend.

"Panzerfaust!" The first of the mercenaries yelled out, unstrapping a disposable explosive launcher and aiming it directly at the approaching train.

"Weiss!" Ruby called her up. She spun Myrtenastar's chambers to select Hardlight dust. Quickly forming a shield that bore the brunt of the Panzerfaust's explosion. Yang launched herself off the engine with her gauntlets, Blake used her faunus agility to leap onto the opposing train, Weiss formed a glyph which launched Ruby before using it herself to leap onto the cargo train's tail end.

Weiss landed to see Yang and Blake finishing off the Nordwind mercenaries. Yang with a hard sock to the head, and Blake with a firm kick.

Weiss' new outfit consisted of a lightweight strapless light blue dress with her combat skirt making a comeback. Her footwear replaced with more flat-footed slippers.

Blake's new outfit resembled the one that she wore during their fight against Roman Torchwick and his Atlesian Paladin. Ditching the heavy trenchcoat for lighter clothing to help her move around much quicker.

Yang followed a similar trend with Blake, shedding most of her fur-coated winter-styled clothing for a yellow sports bra bearing her symbol and donning loose-fitting cargo shorts.

"What's the plan here, Ruby?" Yang asked.

"Our first priority is to keep the train safe." Ruby replied, spinning open Crescent Rose. "There is lots of dust on this thing, it could blow with just a stray bullet... let's be careful with our shots."

"Sounds reasonable." Yang cocked her gauntlets. "Let's roll!"

Ruby's plan couldn't have come sooner, a small group of Nordwind mercenaries clambered onto the boxcar they were standing on. Despite their faces being covered, the huntresses could sense the rage eminating from them. After all, they were standing before the ones they held responsible for the destruction of their home.

"You little shits..." One of them spat. "It's them! Team RWBY!"

"Looks like we're famous." Weiss rolled her eyes, spinning Myrtenastar and landing on fire dust. Pointing it directly at the Nordwind mercenaries.

"You're telling me..." Blake bent down into a pouncing stance, with Gambol Shroud seperated into sword and cleaver.

"Wait... wait..." Ruby said to her teammates, yet keeping Crescent Rose by her side. Deep down she knew that these men were just angry about losing their home, likely the only thing they've known. Now they stood trapped in the middle of the desert in a foreign land. Perhaps she could try and mediate, ensure that they all understood each other. And that maybe there wasn't any need for fighting, that much she hoped for.

"Look... back in Atlas we all fought on the same side... We fought to save people, to protect what we could... no matter the cost..." Ruby said, slowly approaching the mercenaries step by step. "I know what it's like to lose a home... and to be lost too. Beacon Academy, even though we were only there for a few months... If felt like home away from home. "

The Nordwind mercenaries exchanged looks between each other, before their focuses returned to Ruby. Her teammates looked on with weary eyes, Yang most of all, seeing her sister approach these armored soldiers with shaky confidence at least.

"I want you to know that you're not alone... and we understand... I understand... that... it was my-" Ruby stopped herself short of admitting it fully, a part of her wanted to. Even now her mind ran wild with contemplation and doubt. It was the right move, people had to be saved. Ironwood blatantly disregarded them, concluded that Atlas was worth saving over the people of Mantle.

But nonetheless Ruby knew that the only reason that they were even standing here confronting these mercenaries was because of her decisions. These men lost their homes because of her. Still, she was convinced that there still could be a chance at peace. Yet she wasn't going to compromise her own beliefs to fulfill that.

"We don't need to fight... there can still be peace." She raised her head up, silver eyes stared directly at empty visors. Though her stare was slightly diverted to their belts, where she could slightly see a device situated at their hip. A canister filled with strange green and violet liquid that glowed unnaturally.

The brief silence was interrupted by a slight chuckle from one of the mercenaries. One that snowballed into the entire group of men laughing at Ruby.

"You'll have peace alright... a piece of this, bitch!" The lead mercenary shouted out. Swiftly bringing out his electrobaton and swinging it at Ruby, who used her semblance to bring herself back to her team's side.

Yang growled as her eyes shifted to red, Blake's eyes tightened as did her grip on Gambol Shroud. Weiss ran her fingers along Myrtenastar's blade, letting fire run along it's length. While Ruby slammed Crescent Rose's large blade into the boxcar. Meanwhile, the Nordwind soldiers all brought out their electrobatons, activating them in near synchronous fashion.

"Beat them to a bloody pulp!" Another one of the soldiers yelled as he pointed.

Team RWBY charged at the soldiers, although they found that these grunts presented more of a challenge than expected. Blocking a few of their attacks here and there, those attacks that did get through were getting deflected by aura.

"What the heck?! How do they have such strong aura?" Ruby asked aloud. while deflecting blows from numerous electrobatons being swung at her. But not before getting hit by one at her side, causing her to cry out in pain as she staggered backwards. Hand held firmly to the site of impact, even dropping Crescent Rose on the floor.

"No semblance, no skill either!" Yang cried out, leaping into the air and slamming her fist down Creating a shockwave which knocked over most of the Nordwind mercenaries. All except one, who slid backwards without having slipped off. Only to find that Blake had leapt onto him, her right foot holding down his wrist and electrobaton as she held Gambol Shroud firmly against his throat.

"Why are you guys robbing dust meant for Vacuo? Aren't you supposed to be allied to the council?" She asked. But recieved nothing but a low chuckle from him in response.

"You ain't gonna kill nothing, pussyca-" The soldier began, before Blake raised her foot and brought it down hard onto the mercenary's head. Knocking him out cold and shattering his aura.

"Ruby!" Weiss called out, running to Ruby's side as she laid there, holding the side of her stomach where she was hit by the electrobaton.

"I-I'm fine..." She said, attempting to stand up. But every time she tried she only winced in pain even more. That hit from the electrobaton hurt, it hurt a lot.

"Ruby, just stay down..." Weiss urged, grabbing some bandages from her satchel and firmly wrapping it around her torso. Ruby began to black out from the sheer pain inflicted on her.

"Weiss, stay with my sister. We're stopping the train..." Yang said. "Can I trust you to do that?..."

Weiss firmly nodded, before nudging her head for them to head forward.

Yang and Blake quickly made a b-line for the engine. Leaping the gap between cars constantly, as they made their way to the front of the train.

***

"And here I thought I was in command of soldiers! Not a bunch of innate fools." Ulrich Foehn shouted aloud at his henchmen as they worked. He was a tall and imposing man. Face hidden behind a retractable mask, entire body covered in an advanced combat exosuit. And two large, oversized machetes sheathed at his hips. While they could be slow to swing, they still did a lot of damage to anyone unlucky enough to be caught in it's wake. Even as the de facto head of Nordwind PMC, he liked to be a part of sporadic raiding operations. Pinning such events on the bandits which roamed Vacuo's deserts.

"Get that dust onto the ship, else I'm throwing you off this train myself." He ordered once more, before turning his head toward his subordinate, Rio Reyes. Sat on an empty crate and polishing his high-grade weapon, he was an unassuming sight among the other Nordwind mercenaries. A swordsman in the midst of heavily militarized soldiers.

"Thought you were supposed to be watching out, Reyes." Foehn crossed his arms, "Getting sluggish on us then, aren't we?"

"You seem to be handling the mission well, let yourself have some fun." Rio replied, twirling around his blade Pulsar before efficiently sheathing it.

Rio suddenly ducked, hearing the signature faint sound of a blade swinging from behind him. Narrowly dodging the dagger of huntress Octavia Ember. She had swung it with such intense rage, even Rio checked his head to see if he had sustained any cuts.

"You bastards... you killed my entire team!" She cried out, right as her blade was parried by one of Foehn's machetes.

Rio's hand went for his blade, only for him to be stopped by Foehn who also raised his hand to halt the Nordwind henchmen coming to his aid.

"I guess you're right, Reyes. Maybe it's my time to have some fun after all..." Foehn said, as he grinned beneath his mask, grabbing his second machete. Both gleamed in the glare of Vacuo's sun, yearning to be stricken of their cleanliness and slick in blood once more...

"You're the boss." Rio shrugged.

Octavia charged forward with rage and anger in her every step, Foehn brought down both machetes which she dodged to the side. Though he quickly swung them upwards, catching her off-guard with the angle of attack. Sending her flying into a cargo container, the Nordwind mercenaries all laughed at this. While Rio looked on silently, as Octavia's aura flickered while she struggled to get back up. Her dagger was a few feet from her, yet she was thoroughly winded. Wide open to any attack.

Foehn quickly attached his left-hand machete onto a mechanism on his wrist which allowed him to operate both blades like a giant pair of shears. Both blades found themselves on opposite sides of Octavia's neck as Foehn watched with nothing but bloodlust behind that visor.

Octavia attempted to struggle, to get away somehow, perhaps even pry apart the twin blades as their grip tightened. Her aura began to flicker as it was close to breaking, at that moment she was little else than an animal caught in a trap. A slight sadistic chuckle could be heard beneath Foehn's mask as his massive pair of scissors clamped shut.

Blake and Yang arrived just as they say this occur, a fellow huntress thoroughly decapitated by a man who laughed at the notion that he was about to ruthlessly tear away a victim's life. In that moment, in that split second they saw her head roll off her body, they both knew that they were dealing with something entirely different. Not low life criminals, nor Creatures of Grimm, just people. Trained killers who would never give a second thought before or after taking their lives.