The Other Side

Humanitarians

Location: Former Atlas territory, with the 12th

Out three soldiers rode in a LAV with Kromer at the wheel. Ikeman sat in the back messing around with the new machine gun controls. The army was experimenting with a few things recently. All LAVs had been given armor around the gunner and better armor panels with an upgraded motor to keep it at the same speed. This squad's LAV however had a remote controlled turret. The turret was controlled by the rear seat which protected the crew with the cost of being slower, less visibility, and an entire seat couldn't be used because the control panel was mounted where it would normally be. As a result the squad only had three men and was mainly dedicated to recon.

Frasel: So did you all hear about Menangerie?

Kromer: What bullshit happened now?

Ikeman: Well Kromer, a terror attack happened. Humans did it according to the local PD and our garrison. Insurgents escaped and apparently a bunch of people are missing. Sound familiar?

Kromer: Those bastards!

Kromer banged his hand on the dash of the LAV and Frasel looked at him. Just like Ikeman and Frasel he realized that the "insurgents" were SDC mercs. It also means that they aren't isolated and are taking people from everywhere. Command hadn't given any change of orders despite it being obvious so they were supposed to continue as normal. Of course Uyghur didn't follow that order exactly, he told all personnel to be on the lookout for anything moving. He spent a large amount of time sitting in an older version of the LAV retrofitted to be a field command post, it didn't have a turret but the hatch was still there. He would sit in that hatch with a pair of thermal binoculars and look for people. So far nothing was spotted.

Frasel: Oh that is cool as hell.

The convoy rolled past a few abandoned SDC mining facilities. The fences appeared to be breached at least two years ago. The main building appeared to be burned and plenty structures were partially collapsed. Frasel radioed to command asking to stop and search the abandoned facility, something about it made him want to investigate. Uyghur, wanting to learn anything he could about the SDC allowed it. The excuse was it was starting to get late and the soldiers should set up camp.

Within minutes of stopping the three soldiers were walking around the compound. A few squads were setting up heaters in a mostly intact warehouse and others formed a perimeter. Kromer led the three soldiers into random rooms with his rifle raised, clearly forgetting the place was abandoned. Eventually he led them over to a fenced in area where he stopped.

Kromer: This looks like some WW2 Nazi type shit. Just fucking look at it, I couldn't get closer without going to one of their camps.

Kromer was correct with his assessment. Behind a barbed wire fence was multiple barracks, very poorly made barracks. The barracks had writing on each wall going letter-number and watch towers surrounded the area. Machine guns were mounted on the towers and pointed into the fenced in area. There was also a flat area in the center, in the middle of that was a platform with multiple posts for hanging people, on both sides of it were small structures probably to distribute rations.

Kromer was pissed. He already hated the SDC and Atlas as a whole and here he saw a forced labor camp. He snapped the lock off of the gate and walked in. The other two soldiers followed with their rifles ready and pointed down, prepared to drag the moron out of there if he got to emotional about it. As they walked they heard a sound and all turned and pointed their guns. Frasel moved forwards with Ikeman following and they noticed a hole in the ground. Inside the hole was some light source and they could hear something moving inside.

Frasel: New Orderian Army, show yourselves now!

Someone moved into the open with their arms raised and the soldiers immediately lowered their rifles. It was a Faunus who had clearly been here for years. They didn't seem to know what was going on and only complied when they heard Army. This meant the person had been here for at least 4 years. 

The soldiers put away their rifles and got everyone out of the hole, there was 5 of them inside of it. They were all starved and barely able to stand. Ikeman radioed to command as Frasel and Kromer debated about what to do first. Frasel pointed out how Kromer was an idiot and a lower rank and as such would not be the one explaining things. Kromer response was simple.

Kromer: Fuck you, but yeah.

Frasel turned around and looked at the Faunus who were curious about the soldiers. He slung his rifle onto his back and began to speak.

Frasel: Do any of you know about New Orderia?

No Faunus responded. They only seemed more confused than they already were.

Frasel: How long have you been here?

This time a few Faunus shrugged but none spoke.

Frasel: Who do you think we are? That is an honest question, not a threat.

Faunus: A-Atlas?

Frasel: What is the world's strongest standing military as of today?

Faunus 2: Atlas, you guys are soldiers. You should know that, right?

Frasel: Atlas collapsed two years ago. We are the New Orderian government, our nation is south of Vale. We are here on a humanitarian operation to supply a village with food and water, we are willing to rescue you and bring you to either Menagerie or New Orderia as refugees.

Faunus 3: How is there a new country there when the grimm would kill everyone?

Frasel: Kromer, you can explain that.

Kromer: Guns. Your world's population is small, you have small amounts of armed personnel, and those personnel don't work together. We jumped universes with a modern military, killed any Grimm that came close, and made a city. After that we armed every police department to the fucking teeth and they could hold off the Grimm well enough by themselves.

Frasel: The armed officers, troopers, and deputies could kill any Grimm that came close, when they did fail we would airlift in some soldiers and just drop a bomb on the Grimm and it was handled. There was one case a few years ago where the police failed and even then they kept the death toll down by defending the civilians while the army regrouped and took back the city within about two days. Also we killed Salem, queen of the Grimm and they just died out.

Faunus: What? How can you just kill off something like that and downplay it? Also who is Salem?

Frasel: Salem is the queen of the Grimm, like I said. Basically she is a god that creates the Grimm and controls them. Something like that. All I know is that this officer, everyone calls him the Overseer, killed her with his fists and a baton.

Kromer: He is a badass, I have the video somewhere. I'll show it to you later when I find it. 

As the Faunus refugees continued to experience culture shock from the soldiers, who were the first non radical racist humans they had interacted with for years, they were loaded into the cargo hold of the LAV. The equipment kept in the back was strapped to the sides of the LAV and half of the Faunus were put in the command LAV. On the ride to the village Ikeman held Kromer's phone which played Kromer's helmet cam footage from the battle. Right before the Overseer stomped in Salem's skull Ikeman turned off the video.

Faunus: What happens next? Why did you cut it?

Ikeman: That moron probably didn't edit it, that is likely raw footage of someone having their head crushed under a boot. The public version was censored heavily to keep the gore off of TV but this is directly from his helmet camera.

Faunus: Where is the helmet camera?

Ikeman took off his helmet and showed them the right side which had a black box attached. He pointed out the light attached and then the camera below it. He explained how it always recorded so that command could figure out what happened during incidents and so that if someone went missing their status could be determined by viewing the footage remotely. It was also used so dispatchers could view a live feed of the fighting and direct forces in real time from a distance when it came to special forces. When morning came the convoy continued North to the village, it would arrive within a few hours.