Fireteam [REDACTED]

The Freelancer

I checked my watch as I leaned on the railing of my hotel balcony. 10:38 pm. My job tonight was simple, make sure that nothing happened to the chieftain's daughter: Blake. She was going around the whole city, trying to recruit citizens to defend Haven Academy. It was a bold move but wasn't gaining many (if any) followers. I was in support of them, even though I'm human. The Faunus did nothing wrong by being born with their traits. In fact, I'm quite jealous of them for their traits. I wish I could see in the dark. But no, I was born into an Atlas Engineering family who helped develop night vision tech for humans. Sure I use it but doesn't mean I condoned the production of it during the Great War.

I'm getting political now, we can argue about those at another time.

But on this night, I wasn't on the street. Ghira told me to stay out of sight when I worked security.

I pulled my binoculars up to see what she was doing. I tried to take a sip of my fresh coffee but ended up dropping it when I saw what was happening.

She was attacked by several White Fang members. Ilia was one of them. That damn chameleon-girl had me figured out the second we met in school. I knew she was Faunus and she knew I was an engineer. She knew I wouldn't rat her out because my personal ethics were way too high for that.

When her parents died, I pulled her out of the classroom when she turned blue. Saved her a lifetime of torment by letting her run that day. All of the others thought I'd hurt her, but she and I know the truth. She let them know what happens when you laugh at the Faunus...

But tonight revealed her path in life. She followed Adam down a path of violence and war. I needed to help stop this.

I rushed into my room, quickly donning my vest and helmet, grabbing my rifle, and holstering my pistol. My pants were already on and boots laced up. Ready for a firefight. I rushed down the street as I heard gunfire from the center of the city. My heart sank as I read my combat feed.

My helmet's Heads-Up Display read the origin of the shots in the Belladonna home.

"Sorry Blake," I muttered to myself as I ran towards their home. The shots rang louder and louder in my head. As I neared the front door, I lowered my shoulder and charged straight through. Ramming into a White Fang soldier. He attempted to hit me with the butt of his rifle, but I tackled him and knocked his head against the coffee table; he was out cold. I then flipped the table over and used it for cover.

"Who the hell is that?" a Faunus yells.

"Just kill him too!" another one replies.

"Good luck," I mutter, grabbing a smoke grenade from the pocket on my vest. I pulled the pin and chucked it into the center of the room. There was a pop and smoke began to fill the room. I took a deep breath and pulled down my goggles. After tapping the power button once they engaged in night vision mode, but with the second press is what I wanted: thermal vision. I saw the outline of my hand and grinned.

Popping out from my cover I took aim. With a suppressor on my rifle to help hide my flash, I was one with the smoke. I looked down my reflex sight and took aim at the first body I saw. One trigger pulls; three rounds; one body hit the ground.

After systematically clearing the room by moving from outline to outline, the smoke cleared. I stood from my cover, lifted away my goggles, and moved into the next room.

Kicking the door in to reveal more White Fang, but now they were fighting Blake's Mother: Kali Belladonna. She hadn't noticed me yet, but it didn't matter. Before I could do anything, the side of my helmet was struck by the butt of a rifle. I fell to the ground stumbling back and trying to regain my composure but felt a dust round penetrate my vest and impale my skin. Letting out a large groan I regained my footing along the wall. I had dropped my rifle in the scuffle and instead drew my pistol. I leaned against the wall and fired four rounds into the assailant's chest. He fell to the ground and I stabilized myself. There was a crash and I looked over to see what I assumed to be a bat Faunus pinning down a guard. But he was quickly dispatched by Kali, who beat him over the head with a tea tray.