The Northern Expedition

"We're going back so soon? Wouldn't that risk us since people would be so suspicious that we would come back after an attack?"

Hanns did worry about people noticing but if they were to salvage the situation it needed to be done. "I know Blake, I don't like this situation too. Ironwood knows taking over the SDC would be met with protest by the council and the people. Having another seat by controlling the SDC CEO would threaten the balance and the people don't like the military being so strong to influence their lives. Dust is king, control meant Ironwood could bend the people's will - of course, they would be against it."

"Why would he do it then? Grimm would surge because of this, negativity would be off the charts." Blake handles the phone Neo had before typing something in. "Just as I thought." she hands over the phone to everyone else.

When it came to Torchwick he nodded and understood what Ironwood was trying to do. "Looks like the General started damage control like what he always does. He bought into the White Fang bit but blames the Wehrmacht but he doesn't know we have a hold on Vale."

This was where everything would pay off for public image. Despite Ironwood calling the Wehrmacht the White Fang, people would notice how far apart they were. Hence doubling the efforts of their soldiers to go out and act like a person.

It was harder to blindly hate someone you personally know and see. There would be a person behind that mask every time, unlike the old White Fang who openly avoided going outside.

"Wait so everyone knows about the Wehrmacht now?" Ruby asked.

Torchwick laughed, recalling the headlines where Ironwood was addressing the people in an obvious corporate speech. "No, I was just referring to us as a whole. He keeps omitting the exact word. They call us reborn terrorists or the new order or those animals. Something along those lines."

Hanns resumed. "We're going to make our move. The backlash will be a guarantee for Ironwood and the Grimm are going to be more numerous than ever. I expect Salem to hear about this and take her chance in commanding Grimm to overwhelm the place. She can't control everything but since there is already huge amounts of negativity, it would be the perfect opportunity for her to take out one of the nations."

Everyone had a determined look on their face, despite being with Hanns and undergoing an active shadow war against Salem. They still were huntresses, it was their duty to offer their lives in fighting the pest of the world called the Grimm.

"So what do we do, Hanns?"

"Do you have the design for the new experimental aircraft we have? Even though we have our newly acquired bullheads from the old White Fang, only about 5 people can fit in there despite being so huge. Though I do admit it has a nice lifting capacity."

They were waiting for this moment the entire time. After numerous calculations and small-scale tests, Merlot and Ruby had made a finished design and prototype.

"We do!" Ruby ran almost at Mach speed to just retrieve a huge assortment of papers in her hands.

It was a massive undertaking, no parts pre-made at the start. Engines that didn't get updated or used for a long time and a completely different concept even for Remnant.

Almost all aerial vehicles in Remnant used a combination of wind and anti-gravity to fly. Most technologies were based on these, there were some outliers like using combustion dust instead but it was found to be way too costly compared to wind.

Though, they didn't know how to use black magic called aerodynamics well. So when Hanns came up with the idea, he stole it from concepts on Earth, Ruby at first was skeptical. Then they saw the blades spin and lift a small object, then they saw how a turboshaft engine was going to work, they then promptly converted to worship Hanns for his ingenious ideas even though it wasn't his.

Sure, limited aerodynamics were loosely used but most if not all of the vehicles early on were large, bulky, unwieldy, or purely made for aesthetics and not functionality since gravity dust did most of the lifting.

This time, Hanns would be the first in all of Remnant to seriously pursue a concept the world rejected in favor of pure dust. Ruby and Merlot were at the center of it, for the sake of saving dust.

"Ladies" Ruby gestures to the girls. "Gentlemen" Torchwick appreciates the acknowledgment. "Weiss" in turn Weiss rolled her eyes.

"I present to you the Rose Weapons Industry-made Reichscopter VTOL Assault Force Version 121 Harypie!" she pulled out a massive amount of rolls of blueprints. "Or just the RWI Reichscopter VAF-121 Harpyie."

"Ruby? I thought I told you to only design 1 thing?" Hanns asked.

"These are what Merlot made for the more complicated stuff like the turboshaft engines, the rotor blades, the gyroscope,e and a lot of engineering doohickeys that I would love to explain. Though Hanns did most of the introduction to us, we just made it compatible with one type of dust."

Indeed, Hanns made a helicopter. Planes needed ample space to land and take off in and bullheads only had enough for 5 people which was too little in Hanns' opinion. So he made Ruby and Merlot figure out how to make something to his specifications.

Being an addict made you enter other gateways to more ridiculous and sometimes useful things. Knowledge was one of those.

Commonly would Hanns be playing Warthunder - the next day he would be researching how many slaps a chicken would need to be cooked or doing a complete turn in themes and researching how child labor was useful to the economy.

Days like those were filled with intense curiosity, particularly about the vehicles Hanns used in Warthunder. Hanns already knew most things by heart but he wasn't an engineer.

He did have the ideas and theories already established though, Ruby and Merlot were the ones doing the labor. Hanns' description did great to speed up their work with the addition of Hanns ordering stuff from the store for materials that were harder to acquire. He did have to personally slaughter more Goliaths for it though.

Ruby did some short introductions on how it worked. "It's good now I've gone through 120 other designs but either the engine couldn't handle our early designs or the Reichscopter was off balance. It's expensive since no one manufactures these kinds of parts but it's far above the dust needed to make it go up."

She whips out the largest blueprint on hand "It can carry up to 10 fully armed soldiers. It has a chin-mounted 30 mm cannon and 7.92 mm machine guns on both sides. It's a VTOL but no need for gravity dust or wind dust engines that makes it weigh down so much. Instead, we have only used fire dust for the twin turboshaft engines."

"The rotors are collapsable so it doesn't get in the way during transport. We tried the tail as well but it couldn't survive in our tests." She gave a tiny smile right at the end. She was proud of her and Merlot's work.

Everyone nodded along to the explanation. Hanns asked a damning question. "Have you tested this yet?"

The color drained from her face but she was stalwart nonetheless. "Not yet... but our small-scale testing worked out! We finally finished a prototype."

Yang was concerned. "Ruby, have you even slept yet? I haven't seen you go to bed when I sleep. The next morning I'd see your bed messed up with you gone."

"Milk does a lot of good things, Yang. Milk and Coffee just made it better." Ruby proclaimed. Her hand is above the air, a sign of energy and totally not hiding her less-than-stellar sleep schedule.

"By the Brothers. You haven't slept at all for the last week or so did you?"

"Hey! Blake did the same thing and she came out all right. Besides... It's not like those other 120 designs took a lot of time. Mostly just adjustments to how the VAF-121 would fly. Surprisingly we didn't take much time on the engine as we thought. Mostly just weight adjustments and fuel management."

Hanns coughed, despite not having a diaphragm to do so. "Ahem... We are kind of in a time limit so we can take it out today. You said a 10-person carrying capacity, right? I would've loved 15 but 10 is fine. We are going to bring everyone along."

"Hanns we only have 50 bullheads," Blake says. "There's about a thousand of us here we can only carry 250 people with us and then 50 for the pilots. The rest are technical so we only have a fighting force of 1000."

Hanns had a plan in mind though. It would cost monumental amounts of cash but since the SDC was about to get in his hands he could convert those directly to GE from selling in the markets and buying lien.

This process was kind of a loophole. Dust was sold and going for 1 GE per 2 kgs. Hanns could then buy Lien which was way cheaper since everyone in the multiverse didn't seem to care much about the Lien cards.

In Remnant, he would use the Lien he got from the store to buy back Dust. He could cycle this around but the price would eventually fix itself in the long run.

For now, he needed a huge supply of dust to sell to the market, use the GE to buy Lien, and buy back dust with Lien from Weiss so that she doesn't go bankrupt and let her use it to get more dust. Repeat this cycle and Hanns got himself an exploit since the market doesn't have fees.

"I'll be getting us the rest of the equipment." Hanns was going to fully arm an entire army with the remainder of his SL. The Wehrmacht was about to get rearmed like it was in 1935 - Versailles violating style.

Hanns did some very quick maths in his head. Arming the Luftwaffe section of the Wermacht was going to be his priority. Avian Grimm will be detrimental to a ground force.

"Hey, Ruby, how much has this costed you?"

"You know how the number means how many designs we went through, about 1/4 were made outside with a physical test."

Hanns tried rubbing his chin but forgot he was a tank. "So that's why we've only got one Reichscopter."

Ruby looked downtrodden. "I'm sorry." she kept fidgeting from her shame but Hanns reassured her. She had done quite the job along with Merlot. Perhaps fanatics were useful for something more than praise.

"No don't be - it's fine. Besides, I can always copy it myself and buy them for the supply depot. Though, it's going to cost twice as much as how much you made it by hand."

"…"

"You can copy vehicles now?" Ruby had excitement in her voice. Her creation being replicated perfectly and appearing out of nowhere again was going to be another upcoming heart attack.

"Only if they survive and actively participate in the battle." Hanns thanked the moderator for the last update. Though the thing would be subjected to real-world malfunctions and I have a time limit depending on how good the mood of the moderator was.

"What about the rest of the Luftwaffe? I doubt anyone would know how to pilot anything you have." Blake said.

"Oh, but they can."

Yang raised her arm after realizing something. "Right! You made us learn stuff without us even having experience before!"

"Exactly. Just need to figure out the costs of everything for me to buy it. It's going to be expensive but if we kill the Grimm there would be no problem."

'There he goes again with the costs.' everyone thought. It was creepy knowing Hanns based his earnings on the murder of Grimm. Extermination of a race was always unnerving but these were Grimm, they all justified.

"Wait so are we invading Atlas?"

"Let's call it an enforced armed intervention. Who's going to complain that we helped out?" He asked a rhetorical question.

"Remember about the Grimm? I may have begun to become a war criminal but I still have some morals." Hanns said.

His inside thoughts were far from what he said. 'Morals that align with my objective anyways - plus it'll let me see how good the Wehrmacht compares to Atlas.'

"All this army talk makes me think how we're going to fight. Shouldn't we follow Atlas' example and make droids?" Yang said.

Hanns recalls the tragedy in the show where Atlas' army turned their guns to civilians because of a hack. He shudders at the memory.

"People are cheaper, machines cost dust to run which is inefficient. You could've used the same amount of dust to power 50 paladins to make a Harpyie or three. Plus it's a lot of management for techs. Turrets sure, but androids? Just make something else."

Hanns went back to thinking and finally came to a solution.

'The Bf-109 E-3 would be nice for interception and defense. For close air support, I'll give them the Ju 87 D-3. I can use the bullheads to carry along Pz. IV F-2s for armored support and the rest will be infantry support and ground crews. Resupply is going to be an issue unless I use up more of my Silver lions.'

Hanns went to his HUD and clicked on the new technology tree he had been given alongside the Army, the Base tab.

'Hmmm… 500k for the supply depot if I remove everything but the stuff for the ammo and repairs. I would need people to defend the base itself though and people to manage the repairs.'

Hanns wanted 50 Pz. IV F-2s, 100 Bf-109s, and 25 Ju-87s. The cost would be the same as if he were to buy them but the maintenance would skyrocket. He had to pay 1% of the cost of what he bought per hour.

This would leave up to 550 infantry, 50 piloting the bullheads, 100 piloting the Bf-109, and 50 people for the dive bombers, taking away maybe 50 for the supply depot. It would require two trips from the base in Mountain Glenn for all the Heer to get moved. Training would cost 850,000 to make them all aware of how to operate the machines.

The total came out to be 1,100,00 SL for the tanks, 1,000,000 for the fighters, and 250,000 for the CAS with training costing 850,000 SL. The maintenance would now be 23,500 added hourly. In total 3,200,000 SL for just an equipped army with actual vehicles.

Hanns had enough, almost half his SL would be Thanos snapped away but it was going to be important for him to do so. "Blake, make an urgent announcement. We're going to do a live field exercise, destination Atlas."

SL = 7,293,278 SL -> 4,093,278 SL

VEHICLE RP = 139,726 RP

CONVERTIBLE RP = 2,172,918 RP

~

Half an hour later…

It was supposed to be a normal day for the average Atlesian. Days filled with dull work and proceeding to do their tasks with nothing wrong.

First was the apparent threat of a rapidly moving vehicle of unknown origin. Some thought it was an enemy attack but the threat of invasion was never one to be expected.

Long had been the days that armies were disbanded in favor of huntsmen and huntresses. So the common theory was that Atlas was having a rogue pilot.

Nobody knew what technology they have, it was kept in the dark so no one was sure if Atlas did have access to new technology.

The flying object started taunting the military and Ironwood himself. Everyone was starting to be confused, then came the Grimm.

"Too much to handle." Was a common thought. The military of Atlas blundered over and over again, injuring and killing some that were pilots.

They had forgotten about the thing that flew around, now something else was on full show. The population didn't know the command was being messed with at the time so they blamed Ironwood for being so foolish and called for him to be removed in favor of someone else.

The people were mad and disappointed in the General. Mothers with their sons were lost to incompetency. When a population got angry, they blamed others. Their targets were who was at the center of it all, Ironwood.

It was a powder keg and was ready to explode with even an ember of light. That ember came in the form of a single death and was the final nail in the coffin.

The SDC CEO died with evidence blaming the White Fang who was desperate. They had heard of the Wehrmacht forming back when it was announced Sienna Khan was overthrown but they didn't pay much attention to it.

They were returning to simpler times like doing donations and fighting Grimm. A far cry from protests, terrorism, or outright race wars. They didn't think the more radical side of the White Fang did something so… radical as to kill the CEO.

It was going to blow over though, Weiss was going to inherit everything despite still being in school. Ironwood knew what Hanns was planning, overcome by his semblance the only thing he thought to do was take the SDC itself.

That is when it all went wrong, the people now theorized what actually happened. Ironwood had planned all this, they thought. They killed Jacques to take the SDC itself as a response to the people protesting Ironwood's position.

To strangle them with dust and control their actions. The military had gone too far and the council did nothing to prevent it.

Curfews were immediately set and it looked like a return to the dark age. Only a few in the army actually knew what Ironwood was doing. To him it was necessary, Hanns was going to take over the SDC and empower his growing Wehrmacht.

That wasn't told to the people since it wasn't going to hold up in their minds. Ironwood would be seen as trying to blame something else instead of taking responsibility.

Everyone now saw the real reason or what they thought was the real reason. The response? A full-blown attempt to change the council and remove Ironwood.

What resulted from the negativity was predictable. Grimm arrived in full force, more and more was arriving not just in the air but unbelievably on the ground as well.

A soldier among the masses of androids was doing their best outside the perimeter of Mantle, the most vulnerable between the two cities. It had stages to their defense, the last of them being the wall surrounding Mantle.

"We can't hold on!" One screamed. The droids did their best while the airships in the sky focused fire on the larger threats. It was stretched thin, the previous damage caused by Hanns rendered the flagship incapable of fighting so it was up to the other airships to provide air support.

"Call in a strike, there's a group of Megoliath coming! About three of them, they're huge! Everyone make sure to target the legs!"

It was a mammoth in appearance with pieces of ice forming around them from the harsh cold. The environment forced them to evolve which made them tougher and more importantly bigger.

A soldier behind him responds, his hand over a device on his arm while placing another on his ears. "Support will arrive in 5 minutes."

"Five minutes?! Why!" the captain asked.

"Manticores are attacking the airships!" Another message comes in. "They're trying to shoot it down but our ships are getting too thin. They can't make it here in time."

The Manticore was a hybrid of mainly a lion's head with bull's horns, feathers, and wings like a bird and a scorpion's tail. It was a formidable opponent, usually only showing up in concentrated numbers, unlike nevermores that appeared with more numbers.

The ships in the sky battled with increasing levels of Grimm. They could hold but they desperately needed more help.

"Fall back! We have a trench line across the snow ready. The 2nd turret lines are operational but we need to delay them until airships can properly take out the bigger threats-"

*CRUNCH!*

The soldier whimpered, his device still activated as he falls backward from the sudden appearance of a Sabyr, its large canines making an audible snapping noise as the captain's armor gets pierced.

The body of his captain now lay in the maws of the saber-toothed Grimm. The thing eyes his next prey as the man lifts up his weapon to fight.

He opens fire, and the dust bullets inside spray fire dust all over the Sabyr. It roars from the pain while blocking with its front legs.

*CLICK!*

The man stares in horror at the sound of his gun running out of dust, his hands were shaking violently as he struggles to put in the magazine. It was his first time being exposed to such a gruesome death, especially when it was someone he knew.

The Sabyr recovers it rears itself back before leaping straight to the man. "Argh!" The man blocks the gigantic tooth with his gun, the Sabyr savagely claws its way into his armor.

He hears it crack and groans from the pressure. 'Shit! Shit! Shit!' He desperately holds onto his gun being bitten down before another person arrives across him while he was on the ground.

*BANG!*

The Grimm's black ooze sprayed outwards from the exit hole. Rather than spraying dust to kill, the bullet that entered lodged itself inside before exploding. Making it more effective than shooting dust by itself.

'By the Gods!' He relaxes, the Sabyr's dead body slumping from the shot through its head. The man goes back up with intensive damage to his armor and gun, rendering it unusable.

The Atlesian soldier looks to his left, the sound of where the bullet came from. "Who… are you?" He doesn't recognize the almost pure black armor. The red lens from the face place gave it an eerie image.

The person hefted around a gun with dust-infused bullets. The gun was based on the StG-44, though Ruby had made it more reliable by tweaking the receiver and ammunition to make it less likely to jam or break down from the continuous fire.

"Who I am does not matter, get up to your feet and head back. We'll take over from here."

The man looks questionable under his helmet. "We? Identify yourselves or we would have to take you in."

"If you would rather end up as another corpse in this battle, I suggest you ignore whatever order Ironwood has given you."

The Atlesian soldier had a twinge of disobedience raring to get out. It was suicidal to send out the infantry without proper air but the soldier justified it couldn't be helped.

Then again, would he be against getting help from the Grimm? The soldier doubted the black armored soldier's words before something took both their attentions.

Propellers droned in the air and a mass of steel flew above the airspace kilometers into the air. Then came the noise that could haunt generations.

A siren, it almost sounded.

The maiden of death if it were to be described.

A high-pitched shrill of pure fear-inducing wails.

The Jericho trumpet of the Ju-87.

"What's that noise?!" The man screamed, it was coming right on top of them. The dive bomber layed itself steeply as it targeted the Megoliath slowly approaching the line of Atlesian soldiers clinging onto the position.

"Air support." the soldier part of the Heer called out.

*BOOM!*

The pilot within pulled up from the precision strike, and one of five of its dust-infused 50kg bomb exploded, sending hot searing shrapnel and dust directly at the top of the Megoliath's head.

Soon, the droning died down but the propellers still ran at full speed. The Megoliath dies from the strike, its head caved in after the bomb detonated on contact.

The Atlesian looked amazed, seeing that what the black armored soldier said was true. They could help as he said. "…But I can't let you go free even if you help."

In response, the Wehrmacht soldier laughs. "You are being rescued, do not resist."

~

A while ago…

Winter Schnee was pacing around the control room, ordered by Ironwood to keep the flow of battle going and keep the Grimm out of the bay while Ironwood handled the home front.

Winter gets to call in another decision, send the air towards the outer perimeter of Mantle or keep them stationed on Atlas.

She couldn't do it no matter how much she wanted to save them both. Risking the airships leaving Atlas would endanger the citizens' lives while keeping them there would possibly collapse the entire front in Mantle.

The lives of the poor and less developed Mantle or the lives of the upper class in Atlas.

It was only a few hours after the announcement of her father's death. She held some sentiment toward him but she didn't care anyways. Familial ties were worthless when Jacques was the worst kind of person.

Though she held one deep relationship and that was with her sister. Knowing that she took what her little sister wanted their whole lives made her bitter. Not to Ironwood but to herself, nonsensically blaming her own actions instead of Ironwood's almost obsessive desire to not let Hanns do anything.

"Specialist Schnee!" One of the operators called out. The man looks confused more than anything. Winter walks towards the display.

"There's a message, it's from an unknown source." The radio frequency used for the Atlesian military was not publicly known, they would have either needed to use Atlesian-made vehicles or knew of the frequency and somehow accessed it.

Winter takes the man's earpiece and replaces her own. "Identify yourselves."

It was a moment of silence before awkward shuffling was clearly being heard from the earpiece. "You do it!"

"No, I can't speak to her like this!"

"It's just a simple call."

"For Gods' sake, Ice Queen just hand me the mic."

Winter didn't even know if the call coming from the other end was a prank call or not but she had to respond professionally, she was a Schnee and a Specialist after all.

"Ahem…" the voice of Torchwick sounded, being obviously deepened to try and mask his accent and tone. "We are representatives of the organization from the Kaiserreich? Gah- forget this!"

More shuffling was heard, this time another voice came and it was not who Winter expected. "Hello? Winter… I uh… well this is awkward."

"Weiss?" She almost raised her tone just from pure shock. "What are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be studying in Beacon?"

"So it's a long story…"

"Ahem!" Someone in the background of the call coughed out loudly.

Weiss' voice went further away in an attempt to not get heard but gets picked up by the mic anyways. "Ah right, reunion later sorry, It has been so long I thought I could push in some greeting is all."

"I would like to request permission to actively participate in this battle."

Winter almost dropped her head to the floor from her sister actively going to Atlas for the defense. "Weiss, I know you're possibly angry at me for taking your position but risking your life trying to prove yourself by fighting hordes of Grimm isn't conducive to becoming the heir."

Her heart twisted as she said those words. Winter never wanted this, she genuinely wanted Weiss to succeed and see her happy but Ironwood convinced her to take up the position for the good of Atlas.

"I apologize sister." Weiss immediately replied. "It's not just myself here. The Wehrmacht is here to provide military support."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her sister was actively in a Faunus terrorist group, in Ironwood's words. "Weiss! What do you mean-"

"We aren't taking no for an answer, we have your coordinate system, and if you want to contact us, use the frequency I am about to give you if you say yes."

Winter had another choice, maybe not too hard for others but she had an ongoing dilemma on her hands. Disobey orders for help from the Wehrmacht or arrest and possibly maybe even execute her own sister.

It probably isn't going to be that serious of punishment but even Winter knew Ironwood was going too far by this point. Winter gulped down before she uttered only one word.

"Please."

And so it was sealed. The day when the world would be introduced to a fighting force completely foreign to them. It would be led by Hanns, who insisted to the Wehrmacht for their affiliation to be not called with his name in it. The nation they would eventually be representing, the Kaiserreich - may be named in the future into something else.