When they neared the Outpost, it was obvious it had been abandoned for a long time, years probably. The walls of stone, wood, and scrap metal panels was coming down in places, the banners that once fluttered in the breeze now rotted with mold. The road was slowly begin overtaken by overgrowth and as everyone ran on as soon as they could, Stalker waved them through the gates as he watched their backs before he entered himself.

Rebels made their selves comfy in the remains of the surrounding homes within the compound as Stalker went straight to the chieftain's hut and as the others from his group followed him, he looked around as he went to the fire pit and then began to pile wood into it as he tried to start a fire.

Well, he would have, had the weeping of Jaune not bugged the heck out of him and even with Ruby there next to him, trying to comfort him, Stalker was visibly trying not to do something stupid in Ray's eyes as he looked to Jaune and said, "Dude, I know you just lost a close friend... but we cannot afford the mourning."

"Then what can I do? Just forget about her completely?" asked Jaune as he looked at Ray.

Stalker, who was normally calm and quiet at times and also caring at others, finally got up from the pit and smacked Jaune.

Except the blow hit him and as he looked down at Jaune, Stalker looked at his hand and then at Jaune. And then he slapped him again with the same result and Stalker was looking at Jaune behind his Mandalorian helmet in pure bewilderment as he looked at Ray and then curled his fist and punched Jaune only to be hit by the same force.

"Have you ever heard of a semblance?" asked Jaune, watching Stalker stagger back and then walk back tot he fire to continue his efforts.

"I'm not even going to question your semblance but you really needed to stop crying." said Stalker in almost a growl as he then got the fire going an as it soon came to life, Stalker looked around as he began to light the nearby torches.

"What is this place?" asked Ruby as she looked around.

"This is the closest Dragon Clan outpost of my people that we had to the City of Vale. Thankfully it's somewhat still here so we can use it for shelter." said Stalker as he looked around.

Yang was still out cold as her arm was being dealt with by bacta vials from Verde and as Sky and Retz looked around, Retz asked, "Your people were... kinda rustic, don't you think?"

"We had mechs and jets and more. Rustic is the wrong term."

As Glynda herself walked around, she traced her hands over the worn trophies of the past and the seat that arrayed the large pit when she looked at the nearby throne and asked, "Who sat here?"

"When my father was around, he would sit there. This is the a Chieftains hut, both a meeting place and a place for the chieftain to live in. Of course, my home is farther north, near the mountains." said Stalker as he began to look around the place.

"What's our next move?" asked Verde as he looked up with his axes.

"Regroup, consolidate, get back to vale, and continue the war. I didn't come here to see it end so swiftly." said Stalker.

"But can you lead the others?" asked a Rebel medic looking over Yang, the medics female face smeared with blood and dirt.

"He's the son and would be Great Chieftain of the Outlanders... if there was any more Outlanders left that is." said Glynda but then she said, "But he is still a leader. He will not lead you purposely to your deaths."

"Even after he tried to punch me?" asked Jaune.

"Hey, your constant mourning was bugging me. A lot." growled Stalker as he then walked up some nearby stairs to the second floor.

"What's with him?" asked Theodosius.

"Stalker... as you already know he left his people to die... but not by choice... but he also lost his family and his original outpost tot he Grimm... let's just say at times, he like a time bomb and others he's a bomb with a smoking fuse. It doesn't take much to set him off when he is like that." said Ray.

"But.. then... why is he back now then? Can't he just stay a mercenary?" asked Jaune.

"A Hunter never abandons his duty... and he is also here to right the wrongs done."

And as Ray looked around, he then said, "I'm going to prepare a patrol roster with the troopers. Try not to die or leave while I'm away."

"I'll join you." Theodosius with his gatling blaster out followed him out of the very large hut.

Stalker opened the doors to the room and as he looked all around it, he sighed as he went to the fur covered bed and as he began to rip away the moldy furs and what not, he began to look around and then found the nearby chest and he opened it as he found some fur blankets that had not been eaten away by moths and he put them on as he then looked at the bed and remembered what it had been like with his family.

And then a voice of Ruby came into his ears as she said, "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine..." he muttered as he sighed and then asked her, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." she said as he sighed and then said, "But... with Ozpin and Blake gone... what are we suppose to do now?"

"Continue on, as I have said before. If we don't win the war, then what will we do with their sacrifices? What will we do if we cannot win the war for Pyrrha?" asked Stalker as he slowly walked to her.

She looked at him a she said, "You may be right but don't you think we should at least mourn for them and try to help Jaune and the others with their loss?"

"Why don't you do that then? I am going to continue the fight Ozpin gave us and see it won." said Stalker as he walked out of the room.

As he walked by, Ruby sighed as she shook her head and then sat on the bed as she then asked herself, "What is wrong with Stalker?"

Cinder was quite pleased and displeased at herself and the others. Roman was gone, eaten up by a Gryphon. Everyone else was okay but as she looked around, she had been disappointed they hadn't done better against the Imperials but it was to be expected when the Imperial TIE fighters began to shoot at them.

Leon practiced with his blade as sighed at Lilly and said to her, "Do you mind?"

Lilly, who was messing around with a White Fang mask, put it down from her face as she sighed and said, "You should have gone after the rebel Jedi."

"And Sith. There was a Jedi and a Sith." said Leon as he picked up some nearby crates with the Force as he moved them around.

"Well, regardless, we did relatively well. The Rebells are scattered and we have made ourselves finally known to the Imperials. Now we can continue on with our plan." said Cinder.

"What about... the boy the Imperials are calling Stalker?"

This last comment was coming from Mercury as he was working on his leg blasters as he twisted his wrench and screwdriver to fix it. Emerald was nearby but wasn't really in this.

"What about this Stalker?" Asked Cinder as she looked at him. "I thought we all decided to kill him? Along with the Jedi?"

"Since when can a guy that is currently being hunted by Dark Troopers be just killed?"

Cinder looked at Mercury as she then said, "Alright... do you want to take him?"

"Uh, Merc here would get his ass owned by the Hunter. Probably would get beaten to death by his very own legs too." said Leon.

"And I bet you would be absolutely demolished by his weapons, even for a Jedi." said Mercury as he looked at Leon.

"You two..." said Lilly and Emerald walked over as she then said to Cinder, "But he's right. if the Imperials sent Dark Troopers after him, he has to be very skilled."

"Fine. I send Lilly and Leon to go and find him and kill him along with the Sith and Jedi. I will expect them to return when the enemy is killed." said Cinder as she looked at the two.

"Fine." said Leon as he began to get his stuff together.

"Finally some action." said Lilly as she took her bat and twirled it.

Cinder watched the two of them slowly walk away as she smiled and then she said, "I can't wait to see them mature into... better members of our group."

Ozpin wasn't alone, that much was for sure. He had at least fifteen other rebel troopers with him and as he looked around, he sighed as the figure behind him asked, "Something wrong?"

He looked behind him to the figure of Qrow, who carried his folded up scythe that looked like a sword as he then said to the man, "Well... we have become separated from Stalker... this must be dealt with."

"Do you think he could have headed for an Outpost?" asked Qrow.

"There is one that I do know of. However, it might also be crawling with Grimm so we must be wary." Ozpin had a slightly limp in his gait as a blaster had grazed his leg and as he looked all around them, he then said, "We must hurry, though. Otherwise, we won't last the night."

As the team continued on, the sun was slowly dropping down and the visibility was becoming poorer.

And then, just as the sun hid itself behind the horizon and made everything night, Ozpin saw rebels patrolling and he looked around as he flashed the area with laser pointer and the rebels looked them as he then watched a clone appear with a large glatling laser in his hands come forward.

"Oh, it's you again. You look hurt." said Theodosius as he waved them over.

"Who made it back?" asked Ozpin as he limped over.

"We lost... Blake... several troopers... and... Pyrrha is dead." said Theodosius.

Ozpin winced as he then sighed as he said, "Take me to Stalker then."

"Yes, sir." said Theodosius as he lead them from the patrol towards the Outpost.

As they walked in, past rebels trying to recuperate and recover, Ozpin looked all around as he said, "I don't even think that I knew about this place."

"How is Stalker?" asked Qrow.

"How do you know Stalker, might I ask?" asked Theodosius.

"I was the one who trained him before Beacon." said Qrow.

"That explains everything."

"Thankfully he didn't take up on my drinking." said Qrow as he took a swig from his personal flask.

They reached the chieftains hut and as they entered it, Stalker was on the throne as he was cleaning his weapon. As the three of them sat down nearby, Stalker looked up as he said, "You are back? Wow... I... didn't think you would make it back... and as for you Qrow..."

Stalker went over and took the flask from Qrow.

"No drinking now that I'm back. Stay sober."

"Give it back, Stalker." growled Qrow and Ozpin chuckled as he said, "What has been done so far?"

"Nothing. It's only been a few hours. We have a patrol schedule but that's it."

Meanwhile, Ruby was about to leave the room when suddenly she opened the door jut as Weiss appeared and both bumped into one another as they fell on one another.

"MMH!" said Ruby.

"MMMRRRH!!!" said Weiss as it just so happened that they landed on one another and had somehow locked lips and as they got up and pushed one another away, they wiped their mouths a Ruby said, "What was that?!"

"I dunno! " said Weiss as she walked past and went to the nearby bed as she lay on it and then tried to get some sleep on it.

Ruby sighed as she began to walk down the stairs and as she did, she began to hear Ozpin and Qrow talking to Stalker and she listened in as she soon appeared on the bottom. She immediately noticed Ozpin was slightly hurt as a medic was trying to help him and Qrow seemed mad about something when she took one last notice.

Stalker's mandalorian Beskar'garm helmet was nearby and as she slowly walked over, Qrow said, "You have similar eyes to her... you know that?"

"She has eyes that slowly change with tendrils of colors? That's weird."  said Stalker and then he reached over and put his helmet back on before Ruby appeared.

"Wha'ts going on?" asked Ruby.

"Planning."