A/n: Wow, procrastination is a BITCH. Also...

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Driver: Five minutes till arrival.

As the convoy makes its destination, Nick grabs his radio.

Nick: Listen up, everyone! The SDC building isn't going to be like a normal dust factory. Thanks to some ballsy White Fang raids in the past, the security here is gonna be more of a hassle to get through. Any guards and droids you see that ain't ours, shoot to kill.

The radio goes silent as the sound of explosions from outside reverberate in the vehicles. Donn feels a sudden acceleration in the APC.

Nick: Hold on!

The ranger launches a hand up to a railing over his head as the vehicle speeds up. Donn grabs a railing as well with both hands. All of a sudden, the APC shakes violently.

Outside the APC, it crashes through the SDC gates along with many more behind it. Its mounted gun swings to face forward and opens fire on some unsuspecting guards. The high caliber rounds left a few unfortunate souls to be completely destroyed with only a thick cloud of red mist to bloom in their place. The individuals close by only being thrown back by the force of the impact. Although shocked from the attack, the SDC security soon return fire.

The rest of the APCs spread out across the field as they continue to gun down anyone in their way. With Atlas droids charging in the field, a few of the Children's armored vehicles open up and release over a dozen of their own droids as well. Although the Atlas droids are more advanced, they are slowly being overwhelmed by the Children's. With the droids and the APCs, the front entrance quickly falls to the Children. The followers soon rush out of their vehicles and storm the building. Nick and Donn taking the lead.

Nick: I want one team to guard the first floor and the rest to comb through the building. We're looking for anything related to old fashioned dust fuel processing. We find it, secure the facility, and head back to the Raptor. Simple smash and grab. Clear?

There is a collective response from the soldiers acknowledging him.

Nick: Alright, move out! Kid, you're with me.

Donn follows Nick and the rest of the soldiers further in the building as the others stay put. As their group advances through the building, they come across the occasional guard. Swiftly dealing with them in a firing squad execution.

Nick: Stay sharp! They're making this way easier than I'd like it to be. I want two teams, one to search the West side and one to search the East side.

The raiding party splits up once again and head to their destinations. Donn and Nick join the team heading West, making an eight man group. Traveling further in, Nick stops them.

Nick: Alright, this is bullshit.

Donn: What is?

Nick: We're elbow deep in one of the Schnee's main buildings, and all we got were run of the mill guards with no trouble at all. Either the Schnee's pulled out at some point, or-

He pulls out a pistol and aims it behind them. A few soldiers quickly move out of the way as Nick fires the gun. The bullet whizzes past them and hits a transparent figure square in the head. It falls to the ground with sparks flying out as its form fades into view to show a dark Atlas droid. Its arms are tipped with sharp blades.

Nick: It's a trap!

Suddenly several dozen droids decloak all around and charge at the group with blades and mounted firearms.

Nick: Open fire!

Without delay the soldiers shot down any droids that got too close for comfort. A few were able to brake through and brought down some of the soldiers before succumbing to more damage. Donn and Nick fend off an oncoming group of droids, quickly dispatching any that got too close or beginning to transform their arms to gatling guns.

The situation gets worse as it is now down to Nick, Donn, and one other soldier.

Donn: There's too many!

Nick: NO SHIT!

Nick sidesteps from a slash from a droid and quickly brings his pistol down over its head. He grabs its body and swings it around infront of him as a makeshift shield from the oncoming barrage of bullets. He raises his gun as well and returns fire. The sound of another body falling catches his attention for a split second. It's now down to him and Donn.

Nick: God dammit!

He tosses the scrapped droid at the others and knocks over one or two. They get back up and keep closing in on them. As they draw near, the lights in the hall flicker for a split second. Suddenly bolts of lightning launch from the lights, electrical sockets, even the holographic displays on the walls and dance across the droids. Somehow leaving Nick and Donn untouched.

The droids convulse from the high voltage, leaving the two confused as to what the hell is going on. The sudden electrical burst finally comes to an end as the droids collapse to the ground along with the fallen soldiers. In one final burst the lights in the hallway short circuit and explode, leaving the remaining duo in darkness.

Donn:....

Nick:.... Well I have no words for what the hell just happened.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a flashlight, turning it on and scanning the area around them. The bodies of their fellow soldiers and broken droids lay at their feet.

Donn:... This is going to give me PTSD.

Nick: Eh, it builds character. Now I don't know what the ever loving fuck just happened, but I'm always down for some deus ex machina if it keeps me alive.

Nick reaches a hand and presses a button on the side of his head.

Nick: East team, come in.

Radio:..........

Nick: East team, do you read me?

Radio:..........

Nick:.... Welp, they're dead. I'll radio in some backup from down stairs and hope that those guys are still alive.

As he does so, Donn tries to divert his focus to anything other than the bodies of his comrades. From the corner of his eye he sees a hologram flicker to life. He turns his to the nearby wall and spots a blue screen. Its brightness lights up most of the hall and catches Nick's attention a moment later.

Nick: Another team is coming, but they'll be on high alert on their way he-what the hell?

They both focus on the screen as it starts to display static. A second later it shows only one word.

Screen: 《Follow.》

Nick:..... Hah! My ass!

Screen: 《If you wish to find the fuel processor plans, you will follow.》

The sudden response of what they're looking for catches them off guard. The screen then zooms across the wall down to the far end of the hall, only stopping at the corner as it waits for them.

Donn:.............. I might regret this.

He steps over the bodies and rushes over to the waiting screen.

Nick: Donn! Get back here! Hey!...... Dammit, I'd rather be dead then face your dad's wrath. Wait for me!

The two follow the blue screen through the halls as it leads them to, hopefully, not a trap. A few turns down the halls and with little to no resistance, the duo find themselves at a sealed door with the screen hovering over it. There is a key pad next to the door.

Screen: 《One moment.》

The key pad lights up as a combo of numbers flicker on in a quick succession. A moment later the screen disappears as the door slides open, giving Donn and Nick access to the room. They peer inside and see rows upon rows of computers.

Nick: Oh great. It's gonna take us forever to find what we need. Even with a full team in here!

The mysterious blue screen appears once again over a random terminal at a far corner. The two look at eachother then back over at the screen.

Donn: This is kinda creepy.

Nick: But convenient.

They walk over to the terminal the screen is hovering over and see it is forming words again.

Screen: 《I do not have access to these terminals. Please search for a file labelled *obsolete_pre_war_fuel_layout* and you will find what you are looking for.》

The screen disappears again as Donn walks forward to the terminal and searches through the files.

Donn: let's see. Blackmail on competing businesses, anti faunus rights campaign, love letters for Winter-Aha! Here it is!

Finding what he's looking for, he inserts a flash drive into the computer and starts to download the file.

Donn: C'mon c'mon... Done!

With the file downloaded Donn takes out the flash drive and stuffs it in his pocket. The blue screen returns on the wall.

Donn: Well, thanks. I guess?

Nick: Yeah, much appreciated. Bye.

Screen: 《A moment of your time.》

Nick: Nah, we're done here.

Screen: 《I wish to speak with your commanding officer aboard the dreadnought Raptor.》

Donn: What?

Nick: Yeah right! What makes you think you are in any... position... Wait. How the hell did you know we were looking for the dust processor plans?

Screen: 《I have been monitoring your movements ever since the Children's first attack on Atlas to the point of your breach of this facility.》

Donn: Since the Children arrived... That was months ago!

Nick: Alright, fucker, who the shit are you!?

Screen: 《This unit's identification is not important to you right now. What is important is that I helped you acquire what you want, and I only wish for you to return the favor. Two if we count on me saving you two from death not long ago.》

Donn: This unit's identifica-Who, or what, are you?

Nick: Wait... You've been watching us the whole time and waited for just the two of us to live until doing that whole zapping thing? You let my men die!

Screen: 《To answer the first one's question, I am an artificial intelligence. That is all you need to know for now. To answer your other questions, the matter of who survived in the end is of little importance. If I contacted you when your entire team was still alive, the probability of cooperation-if not you paying attention-would be slim. If a few of you were to die and I save the remainder, leading you to your goal, the odds are much higher. In layman's terms; you owe me.》

Nick: Fuck off, Hal.

The door leading out of the room shuts as the sound of a lock is clicked into place.

Screen: 《Your cooperation is greatly recommended.》

[Location: Raptor, Captain's quarters]

Sitting on the bed, with his jacket removed, Joshua looks upon his new left arm. With the help of the Father, he was given something more than a replacement limb. He looks over the near pitch black skin of his arm, a few veins showing here and there. His fingers ending in sharp digits. How his gloves still remain in tact, he has no idea. From what the Father has told him, Joshua's arm is capable of so much than what he thought. At first believing it to be some form of Grimm material. But later being told it is a new proto-

*Beep beep*

His attention is cut short from a beeping at his work table. He gets up and makes his way to the table and presses a button.

Joshua: This is Joshua, go ahead.

Nick: Commander, we have retrieved the plans and are returning to the Raptor. We've sustained some casualties though. Donn's fine.

Joshua: Ah, good. Th-the plan retrieval and Donn being okay. Not the whole casualties thing.

Nick: There's... one more thing, sir. Someone wants to talk to you.

A holographic icon appears on Joshua's desk. He hesitates for a moment before pressing on the icon.

Joshua: This is Commander Joshua. To whom am I speaking to?

Screen: 《Hello, Commander.》

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A/n: Oh? Who might this stranger be? What do they want? Speaking of which. Voting time! Y'all get to pick the name of our new mysterious friend! 'Cause I can't decide on which one I want to go with. So, will blue screen be called:

A. Laymen

B. Machina

Or

C. Cypher

A/n: Each name has a meaning behind it, so choose wisely.