Copper POV

"Athena 1, visual on target." Our pilot announced. "Fifteen seconds out."

"Roger, One. NODs down boys, we're on." I told the ground teams as we were close to landing. "Prophet 1, take overwatch."

"Check. Prophet on overwatch." He responded.

The pilot dropped Prophet 1 on the roof of the building across from the one that we would be entering. We had a capture order for the White Fang Lieutenant. Once Prophet 1 was set up, the pilot took us down to the ground. The four of us that remained filed out and stacked up on the door.

"Remember boys, we take the Lieutenant alive, hooah?" I asked while Alpha 2-1 picked the lock.

Once that was finished, another member of Alpha cut the power. Three of us entered from the front while the other came from the back. After a few minutes we all came to the staircase and confirmed that the floor was clear.

"Moving to floor two." I radioed to Prophet, letting him know that we were moving upstairs.

On the second floor, Alpha 2-2 took the first door, killing two hostiles and coming across civilian faunus. Alpha 2-1 cleared cleared room on the right, finding no hostiles, but three more faunus. Alpha 2-3 was with me.

The two of us split up to take the last two doors. Alpha 2-3 was met with an empty room, and I was met with three hostiles. I fired six shots into them, two for each. Once I had cleared the room, I signaled for everyone except for Alpha 2-1 to stay on the floor. The two of us moved upstairs and entered the last room, being met by a faunus woman that looked scared.

"Don't move!" I yelled at her, which seemed to frighten her.

She kept moving backwards and rambling, looking behind her repeatedly. As soon as she turned her back and moved, I pulled my gun up. "Drop her."

We both fired a single shot into her. Alpha's to her head, and mine to her heart. The two of us moved to the table she was going for and Alpha licked something up. "She was going for a fucking detonator."

"Good thing we dropped her then." I responded while looking through some papers.

"We made the right call, sir?" He asked me seriously.

I nodded while picking up a couple of papers. "You bet your ass we did."

As we left the room, I reached for my radio. "All callsigns, negative on the Lieutenant. But we do have a location. Regroup for exfil."

Timeskip: Beacon Air Base

I took the files to Ozpin once we returned. It didn't take long to debrief, so now I was on my way back to the dorms. It's been a few days since I talked to Blake about her issues and I had almost forgotten about it until I saw her with Sun.

"Captain, how'd it go?" Blake asked curiously.

"Not bad, Blake. Wukong." I spit his name with venom.

I kept walking towards my dorm, intentionally shoving my way past Sun as I neared my door. I walked inside and left it open in case Sun was stupid enough to try and fight me again. When it was clear that he wasn't going to try it, I took my gear off and grabbed my towel to go take a shower. Once I got into the bathroom, I heard shuffling in my room, but I assumed it was just one of my teammates.

A few minutes later...

"Captain Adel?" A male voice asked as I opened the door to my bathroom.

I had on a pair of Air Force shorts with my towel draped over my shoulders. "What is it?"

"Ms. Schnee sent me to collect you. I'll give you a minute to get ready." He responded while stepping out of my room and closing the door.

I threw on my shoes and a black Olympus tank top, grabbing my patrol cap on my way out. "Let's go, Lieutenant."

The two of us walked and had a short conversation on the way. When we arrived, he opened the door to her office and stepped out of the way, closing it once I had entered.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Weiss." I asked as I sat down. "I was about to go to sleep."

She looked up from her computer momentarily. "The files you recovered. The coordinates aren't adding up. They're in Menagerie, but the war is taking place here in Vale. Why would their Lieutenant be in Menagerie?"

"It's possible he could be in hiding." I theorized. "Unless they're plotting an attack."

"That is true. However, that's not all I called you here for." She told me.

I leaned forward curiously. "Then what is it?"

She seemed put of it when I questioned her. "It's uh, it's....it's nothing."

I didn't believer her at all, but I decided not to pry if she didn't want to tell me. I nodded and got up, walking towards the door. "Do it. He'll say yes. He's been trying to build the courage to ask you out anyway."

I closed the door behind me and went back to my dorm, closing the door and laying down once I arrived. When I slept, I had nightmares. Nightmares of my team before Olympus...before I became Zeus.

Nightmare

"You could've saved us, Copper!" A female voice yelled.

"This was all your fault!" Another voice screamed, male this time.

Suddenly, I fell into a pit, seeing the bullet riddled body of one of my old teammates barely clinging to life.

"You left us for dead, Copper." She muttered before the life left her eyes.

"I'm sorry..." I barely managed to say before breaking down crying.

In Copper's Dorm

I woke up with a jolt and looked to my night stand immediately. I quickly sat up and grabbed the bracelet that was sitting on it, reading what was on it before placing it on my wrist. It had three names that were near and dear to me, though they were no longer alive.

"I fucking miss you guys. I wish you were still here. I wish it had been me..." I muttered to myself before getting out of my bed and getting dressed. All I had on was boots and BDU pants as I walked out of my room in the dead of night. Everyone had seen the Lotus and Lightning tattoos, but no one had seen the last.

When I walked into the light, the last tattoo became visible over my heart. It was a memory to the love of my life.

I still wasn't over her, and I doubted I would ever be. That's why it bothered me so much when Blake cheated on (Y/N). I sighed and dropped to my knees by a memorial wall, hanging my head and crying after I read their names...Nora Valkyrie...Lie Ren...and Pyrrha Nikos. I had asked Pyrrha to marry me the day before she died, now her ring sits in a case on my desk as a reminder of my failure.

One man walked up to me and knelt beside me, placing his hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Adel. Let it out."

I looked up after a second and saw (Y/N) in front of me, offering a reassuring and supportive look.

"Why...are you out here?" I asked quietly.

"I heard you walking this way and wanted to check on you. It's not your fault, Copper. I read the reports, hell, I handled their bodies. There was nothing you could've done to save them. You couldn't have known about the attack." He told me.

"What would you know?" I asked semi-aggressively.

He laughed and stood up, offering me hand. I took it and stood as he spoke. "I know that Valkyrie would kick your ass if she saw you crying over her. Ren would reassure you that it wasn't your fault. And Pyrrha...Pyrrha would want you to move on and be happy. That woman loved you with every fiber of her being. Look man, we may not be close, but I'm here if you need me. Two doors down from you."

I nodded and hugged him. "Thank you."

I let go and we went our separate ways. He went back to his dorm and I went for a walk to clear my head. I don't really remember the rest of the night.

To Be Continued...

That's all for Chapter 3. I hope hope guys are enjoying the story so far and I hope you continue to read the upcoming chapters. As always, check out Pararescue's Heart by knownasS01 if you haven't already. I'll see you all in the next one!