The Imperial patrol walked by as Stalker watched the single, lone Stormtrooper stop and look over and as the trooper looked down the way Stalker was, Stalker was currently invisible under his Active Camouflage semblance as he took up a random can and threw it away from him as it bounced down the alleyway as the trooper saw it and brought up their blaster just before they began to walk down the alleyway.

Stalker stayed quiet as he watched the trooper walk along the alleyway, obviously knowing they were all alone, as the trooper walked right by him before Stalker reached out and grabbed the trooper.

When Ruby saw Stalker appear, he was dragging a dead trooper with him as she then nodded and jumped down to the ground from the roof with Crescent Rose in Rifle form and as she walked with Stalker slowly in the dead of night, she said to him, "I hope this armor fits you."

"Oh it will." said Stalker as he looked at her.

"Keep a moving. Another patrol is coming soon." said Alexandria over the two's radio.

"Yeah, yeah. I could just cloak us, you know." said Stalker.

"And let a horny guy like you be alone with a nice maiden like her? Not a chance."

Ruby gave a small blush and giggle as Stalker retorted, " I think you are just jealous."

"About what?" asked Alexandria. "I have yet to see anything from you besides that kiss of yours."

"Oh really?" asked Stalker and then Ruby shushed them both as she said, " If you want to fight like a couple, do it back at the safe house."

Both Stalker and Alexandria shut up as they trio then join up and began to creep back to the safe house.

When they got to the house, they found everyone getting ready for the coming fight as ten Rebel troopers were currently guarding Lilly and Leon and as Stalker dropped the dead trooper, he looked the trooper over for any ID before he dragged him upstairs to get changed. Alexandria sat down with Ruby as she quickly checked over her rocket launcher and her mace before she said, "I really hope Stalker can pull this off."

"You should trust him." said Verde from nearby.  "I've seen him do this so many times, sometimes just to help someone escape, and every time he has pulled it off."

"I see that Stalker is still the hero, even as a merc." said Glynda nearby.

"Eh, its not really being a hero. It's more down to luck, since he has had many scrapes with Death." said Retz.

Theo picked up his gatling as he looked at the rebel troopers and said, "Better keep an eye on those two. They are Syndicate so they can have some nasty surprises with them."

The troopers nodded and then they heard Stalker above them say, "Alright, how do I look?"

Everyone looked up to see a normal, Imperial Stormtrooper with E-11 blaster and as Stalker walked down, Weiss said, "Oh great. I feel oppression on me now."

"Oh hush, you big wimp." said Stalker as he then said, "We all are gonna have to move fast because I don't know what their schedule is like so... this is gonna get hairy."

"I have confidence in you that you will somehow manage something." said Ozpin from nearby.

But just as Stalker, in his stolen Imperial armor, began to walk to the door, he felt a tap and then turned just to see Verde's fist smash his helmet and almost knock him out.

The Imperial patrol walked along the road as he Imperial officer with his blaster pistol as he and the nine stormtroopers marched along the road with blasters at the ready but just as the officer walked around the corner, he suddenly saw a trooper stumble around in the middle of the road as he then said, "Trooper! Stop moving!"

The trooper looked and stopped and the officer could easily see dent on the trooper helmet, the lenses probably almost cracked, as he halted his squad and he walked to the trooper as he watched the trooper slowly list to the side, he knew the trooper had to have been hammered by something.

"Trooper," said the officer as he came to the trooper, "you seem to be disorientated... do you need assistance?"

The trooper was silent, probably in some form of shock, as the trooper then nodded and the officer motioned for one of his troopers to come over and he said to the trooper, "Alright, trooper. We will be taking you back to the HQ to check you up. Try not to do anything stupid to jeopardize us to the Rebels."

The trooper nodded and as the other trooper put an arm around him, the patrol continued onward as  the officer gave a audible tsk! as he knew that it just had to be him to find a trooper in distress.

And as Ruby watched with Theo on a nearby roof as the patrol with Stalker walk away towards the HQ, Ruby then looked to Theo as she said, "Time for all of us to shadow them."

Theodosius nodded as he took his beam rifle and followed her away while below, the Rebel troopers and the Hunters followed them slowly.

As Stalker tried to not let the headache from Verde affect him as he was helped along by the other stormtrooper and as he held onto the blaster in his hand, he kept his face forward as he watched them pass the laser barrier and gates and then they began to walk down the corridor as the Imperial Officer told the trooper holding Stalker, "Take him to the infirmary. And make sure we get an ID on his patrol and see what happened to them."

"Yes, sir." said the trooper and Stalker and the trooper slowly walked down the opposite hall as the other troopers followed them before splitting off.

"Darn Rebels..." muttered the stormtrooper. "Always taking out patrols... and now injuring them to fill up our medbay.

Stalker managed to look around from how he was stooped and as they walked down a lone, solitary corridor, he saw a small nearby alcove as he then suddenly stood up as he looked at the other stormtrooper.

"Sorry about this... but this is where you go to sleep." said Stalker as he knocked out the stormtrooper.

As the body fell, Stalker picked the trooper up and then threw them into the alcove and managed to find a way to close it before he sneaked along as he kept his E-11 blaster up.

He walked the lone corridors as he kept quiet and as he came to a terminal, he hacked into it easily as he began to sift through the data without even triggering any alarm. He managed to access all of the doors and opened them all up, except for the prison doors, as he saw he was two levels above the generator and he sighed as he looked through the floor plan and then found some stairs that, although lengthy, would get him to the generator smoothly.

And with that, he activated the alarm on a sub level away from the area as he was use the chaos to get to the generator easily.

Xenon "Crow" Aven walked towards the door, with his 7 foot tall body, grey eyes and silver hair with his dual, orange lightsabers as he had them blazing with life and as he came to the door, he cut it down as he used the metal fragments to shield him as the rebel troopers fired at him. Blaster fire struck the fragment as he then hurled them and killed a trooper as he then swung his first blade and killed another before killing a third as he deflected the laser blast away.

A trooper tried to kill him with a vibroblade but Xenon threw him and broke his back as he then took out a scythe and threw it at another trooper as the blade dug itself deep into the trooper.

The last five kept firing at him and he blocked and deflected the bolts with his lightsabers as he then used Force lighting on the five troopers and the men and women screamed as they fell down and died from the electrocution.

As Xenon walked to were Leon, his brother, and Lilly, he sighed as he said, "You.. are suppose to be better than this, Leon. I did train you, after all."

"Well if you saw what had been here, you would understand it wasn't that simple." said Leon in almost a growl as Xenon removed his and Lilly's gag's.

"What are you here for, Crow?" asked Lilly.

"Besides Leon? Well.. Cinder wanted to make sure something good came from this. Plus, if you all die and fail, I get to finish the job as always." said Xenon.

"Oh you are as charming as ever." said Lilly sarcastically as she felt her bonds be destroyed by Xenon's lightsabers and the two former prisoners stood up as Leon then said, "The rebels are attacking the Imperial HQ with a lot of good equipment."

"Not our fight. First, we must try to recuperate from your.... embarrassing defeat." said Xenon as he began to walk away.

And with some embarrassment, the two Syndicates followed Xenon out into the sleeping city.

Stalker made his way to the last level as he had passed several other squads of stormtroopers but none had paid his heed as he now passed the open doors into the large chamber that held the shield generator and generators for the systems in the HQ. As he slowly walked towards it, he kept to what shadows were around as the generators gave off a glowing light and as he looked around, he could see easily the many guards nearby but they all seemed to be looking away for the moment and he looked around him as he then slowly crept towards one of the power lines as he began to place charges on it and then he slowly worked his way towards one of the actual generators as he placed a charge then on it and as he looked at the guards nearby, he then looked down the long hall that was the shield generator, which would kill him if he were to step into it, as he then took several thermal detonators and armed them as he got up and threw them into the shield generator.

"All Rebel units, move in now!" shouted Stalker into the comms as he ran back the way he came as the explosion set off the underground part of the HQ and began a huge chain-reaction.

"You heard him, " said Ozpin as he held his cane like a sword, "All units, attack! The generators are down and he won't do this alone!"

And thus the battle of Vale began.

Blaster fire blasted the few patrols outside the HQ's small compound walls as the rebels came charging in and as Ozpin lead Ruby, Yang, Weiss, Juane, Ren, Nora, Mara, Sky, Theo, Glynda, Alexandria, and the mercs from the main fight, they ran towards another entrance as a officer spotted them.

"HALT, REBL SCUM!" Shouted the officer when Ruby's heavy blaster nailed him and the stormtroopers around the checkpoint opened fired at them all.

Ruby ducked behind a hovercar as she took out Crescent Rose and fired the heavy baslter at the Imperials as Jaune appeared next to her and fired his Clone blaster at them, the blue bolts arcing towards the Imperials. Two Imperials went down under the blaster bolts as the remaining 14 others ducked under better cover as Ren fired his dual blasters and Nora hefted her grenade launcher and fired several pill-like grenades into the checkpoint as the explosions suddenly caused some of the stormtroopers to go flying as they were killed by the explosions.

Yang, with her Ember Celica and her shotgun arm, charged the checkpoint as scatter-blaster fire lanced into a stormtrooper and he fell down quickly as she ducked behind a bench nearby just as Alexandira appeared and fired a rocket into the wall nearby and the rocket screamed form its launcher as it smashed into the wall and obliterated it completely.

As soon as it went down, Theo popped up as his galting laser spun up and then fired a stream into the breacha s trooper were felled and Mara popped up as she threw up her shielding semblance and then she took out her blaster pistols and fired them at the Imperial troopers as they bean to flee the area as quickly as they could.

"Quickly, we must go after them." said Glynda as she sent several shards of masonry into the backs of the troopers as several more troopers went down.

As the rebel group ran after the Imperials as they ran past neatly trimmed hedges as they watched several rebel troopers run towards the gates before them and as Imperials tried to hold the gates but a rebel trooper brought out a heavy blaster mounted on a tripod and the Hunters watched as red blaster fire began to steak into the gates as troopers and officers fell in droves.

The rebel troopers, two dozen in total, ran forward as Ozpin lead the mercs and Hunters after them and as Theo stopped at the entrance, he looked inside as he said, "Should we go after Stalker? Wherever he is?"

"He'll be making his way to the command center, killing everything before him. We just have to follow the carnage." said Verde as he lead them all into the HQ.

Stalker held up the E-11 and fired a stream of red blaster bolts down the corridor before him as he watched his shots strike down several stormtroopers as he then ran down the corridor as quickly as he could towards the stairs.

As he reached the stairs, he activated his last, few thermal detonators as he threw them up the stairs and he heard shouts as the explosions sent several troopers and officers over the railing to land on the floor before Stalker as he ran up the stairs and as he did, he fired up at the troopers above him as some return fire came lashing down at him.

He continued up as he past the fallen bodies of Stormtroopers and as he did, he almost raced up the steps when he heard the sounds of a jetpack and he looked up to see three Dark Troopers hovering in the air.

Dark Troopers were armed with a more powerful form of the E-11 blaster the normal trooper used and as the three troopers circled in the air, one took a shot at Stalker as Stalker aimed and fired a stream at the Dark troopers.

The Dark trooper zipped and zagged around the shots and fired back as Stalker ducked and continued to run up the stairs in his stolen stormtrooper armor as one of the Dark trooper suddenly rushed at him and Stalker stopped and fired a full stream of blaster into the trooper as he hit the troopers jetpack and as the jetpack began to malfunction, the trooper cartwheeled away as they then smashed into a nearby wall just as Stalker fired more shots at the troopers still above him with their jetpacks.

Ruby ducked with Yang from the blaster of the stormtrooper as Theo appeared ebfore them and spewed death with his gatling laser. The rebels were having a tough time getting into the HQ in general but not they were being bogged down in the fighting as Ozpin's team now found themselves unable to advance without advancing into the teeth of fierce defensive resistance. But they were still managing some small headway, even in such fierce resistance.

But it was costing too many rebel troopers lives as the Rebel forces was being whittled down and as Ruby blasted around the corner blindly with her heavy blaster as she forced the troopers heads down but she was forced back herself as Mara threw up her shielding semblance again to try and limit the amount of blaster fire hitting around them.

"We can't break through!" shouted Theo as he ducked back to reload.

"Then it's time for me to teach them a lesson." said Glynda as she began to use her own semblance, Telekinesis.

She summoned up the weapons of the fallen troopers around her as she aimed them down the hallway and then she had them all open fire before having them advance straight into the stormtroopers cover as the troopers couldn't hit the blasters as they hovered in the air.

"Telekinesis... Lilly had it but it nothing like this." said Alexandria as she remembered seeing the ability from Leon's memories.

As the remaining defenders ran away, troopers ran forward as they searched the rooms for anyone hiding in them and as Glynda dropped her semblance, she smiled as she pushed up her glasses and said, "Alright, children, lets get a move on."

The mercenaries Retz, Ray, and Verde were in awe as they were quick to follow and as the Hunters and Ozpin, who was smiling, followed her as well, the sounds of blaster fire could be heard all over in the HQ complex.

After the fifth Dark trooper and who knows how many more stormtroopers and Imperial officers, Stalker finally reached the commander center. The doors were bolted down pretty well but as he approached them, he knew that some rockets and maybe some welders could crack it.

Or, as he approached the nearby console, a good game of "How long does it take to hack the door" could do it as well and he chose that as he walked over to the console and brought it online as he began to time himself as he began to break down firewalls and unlock the doors in seconds.

A stormtrooper appeared and fired at him but the shot missed and Stalker kept typing and scrolling as the trooper almost fired again when Verde killed the trooper with his axes and he looked over to see the door then unlock and slowly open, even with blast-shielding as Stalker said, "2 minutes. Almost beat my 1:58 time."

"Still see you were once again at it." said Verde as he put his axes together to form his powerful rifle.

And then Ray and Retz, with the many others, appeared as Ruby smiled and Alexandria said, "Wow, you were quick."

Stalker nodded as they all soon entered the command center.

It was not completely deserted as Stalker, with his E-11, walked in as he saw the Imperial Commander standing at the nearby window, hands clasped behind his back as Stalker raised his blaster to kill a trooper who was trying to hide nearby.

As the trooper died, the commander looked at Stalker and said, "Well... I wasn't expecting a traitor in my ranks... this is quite.. the inconvenience.."

"I would like to say the same to your Dark troopers. What pains in my neck." said Stalker as he then said, "Tell what remains of all Imperial forces here in Vale to stand down."

"And why would I do that?" asked the Imperial officer.

Stalker snarled suddenly as Ruby saw him raised his blaster and fire it at the Officer and as the officer howled and fell over, Stalker looked around as he found the communication holopad nearby and he went to it as he activated it and then as he saw it was recording to all Imperial networks, he spoke.

"This is Stalker, Outlander Great Cheiftian and infamous Mercenary the galaxy knows of. I am here, part of the Rebel forces here in Vale, as I tell all Imperial forces to stand down and surrender to the Rebel forces that now will be taking over stewardship of Vale."

Stalker turned off the holonet as he then looked at the others as he said, "We have a lot to prepare before the General comes calling."