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Protocol Three

The ship landed in the desert, about a half mile away from the distress signal's coordinates. When we got out of my ship, Viper and I embarked our Titans and my team climbed on Scavenger's chassis. We started our trek, the crash barely visible in the distance. Viper and Northstar flew ahead, scouting out the path. He was back quickly. "THERE WERE CIVILIANS SURROUNDING THE CRASH SITE," Northstar reported.

I disembarked and climbed on top of Scavenger's hull. "...Fuck," I cursed under my breath. "Are they armed?"

"A couple of them had survival knifes," Viper said.

"That counts." I smirked. Scavenger grabbed her Splitter Rifle.

Northstar knocked the rifle out of her hand. "WE ARE NOT ATTACKING INNOCENT CIVILIANS, WRECKAGE," Northstar said firmly.

"Northstar is right. Why would you even think about harming civilians?!" Ilia yelled at me.

"Weren't you in a cult or something?" I retorted.

She glared daggers, swords, nuclear warheads, and other deadly weapons at me.

"Too soon? Coming from a mercenary?" I shrugged. Scavenger reattached her rifle to her back.

"While I do agree with Hunter that the civilians are in the way, we should get them to leave in non-violent ways," Viper said through Northstar's speakers.

"Oh, I got it. So only threaten violence."

Ilia punched me in the shoulder.

"Fine, fine. We do need to get them to leave, though." I crossed my arms. We started walking forward, coming up on the crash site. It was surrounded by Faunus. I recognized the large man in front of everyone from the Battle of Haven's aftermath. I believe his name was Ghira. He was standing with another Faunus, who I assumed to be his wife. I climbed off Scavenger's chassis, motioning for Ilia to follow me and Viper to disembark.

As we marched forward, people whispered, but not all about me. I heard things like "Isn't that the guy who captured Adam Taurus?" and "What is that?" I assumed they were talking about Scavenger and Northstar. I also heard things like "Is that the White Fang girl?" and "Was she at the Battle of Haven?"

Ghira heard us approaching and turned around. I could tell by his eyes that he recognized me. "I remember you. You captured Adam Taurus after the Battle of Haven," he said bluntly. "And Ilia. Very nice to see you. How are you?"

"I'm doing okay. Things are really nice in Vale," she responded.

"Very good to hear. And you." He turned to Viper. "I don't think we've met."

"I am Voodoo One." Viper bowed.

I elbowed him in the shoulder. "Dammit Viper! We talked about this."

He punched me back. "We did. I said I would drop the soldier act when you stopped being a jackass."

"Sorry, sir," I said to Ghira. "That is Viper."

"I never caught your name," he said.

"My name is Wreckage."

"Why are you here, 'Wreckage?'"

"That ship is Frontier in origin. I came here with my team to scope it out. I my Titan picked up a destress signal before it went offline. Now if you'll excuse us, I'm going in." Motioning for Ilia and Viper to follow me, I stepped passed Ghira and approached the door. "Northstar, if you could give us a hand?" I pointed at the door.

Northstar crouched to be at optic-level with the small door only used by humans and Simulacrums. She punched it several times until it was broken. "Scavenger, Northstar; guard mode. I don't want anyone following us in," I ordered. They stood up at their full height on both sides of the entrance. Emerald and Mercury were still on top of Scavenger's chassis.