There's a familiar combo in the world of Arknights: a sector with no money, and the bank that comes to collect it anyway. Davis Town, a mining sector stranded in Columbia's eastern forestlands, was no exception.

A year after its power plant blew, with the government doing nothing but watching the snow pile up, a Blacksteel mercenary unit is dispatched to this town. Their stated mission: repair the power plant.

But rookie mercenary Jessica is carrying a suspicious bullet secretly slipped to her by a superior — along with a vague errand: "give it to Woodrow Bianchi of Davis Town," and nothing more.

A few months later, the mercenaries who came to save this town are robbing its bank. A bit out of order, isn't it? Let's unpack what happened in between.

1. Picked up a hunter in the snow — turns out he had a name after all

Before the power plant mission even starts, Jessica gets separated in a blizzard. What appears with a gunshot is a gruff old hunter. Mid-dressing a deer he'd just shot, he casually offers to walk her to Davis Town.

On the way, they find a fawn caught in a trap. The hunter says to just wring its neck and let it go easy; Jessica insists on holding it in her arms until it dies naturally. "First time I've seen a mercenary do hospice care," the hunter remarks.

That evening, at Helena's restaurant, Jessica hears the hunter called 'Woody' and asks, "Do you happen to know Woodrow Bianchi?" Helena and Leon both blink. "Who......?" Nobody knew the real name of the man they saw every day.

2. A single bank has the whole town mortgaged

Davis Town's bank is the kind of place that answers a request for a power of attorney with "the seal suddenly went missing yesterday." The government office squats in the bank's garage, and residents scoop up snow outside their windows to melt and drink, just to save water.

Leon volunteers for the dangerous power plant repair, his eyes lighting up at the mention of a 200,000-check bonus if it's done within a week.

Pressed for the reason, Leon opens up. "Basically the whole sector's in debt. Most of the people who walked into the snow and disappeared did it because of money."

In fact, Jessica had just witnessed one of those missing people herself — a man who didn't turn even when called, walking into the blizzard and vanishing, leaving only footprints. She'd thought this was a cheerful little town; the chill sets in from the very start.

3. The power plant, and the people, were already wrecked

Inside the power plant, things are bad enough that even Laura says, "I must be hallucinating." There's even evidence of 'legal looting' from well before the accident — caravans quietly swapping forklifts and canned goods on the sly.

Laura normally talks to herself nonstop while working. So when she suddenly falls silent, a coworker explains, "When Laura stops talking, that means......" Before he can finish, the evacuation alarm blares.

Thankfully everyone makes it back without major incident. Laura's first words — "Move it, Jessica...... I'm starving to death" — finally let everyone breathe easy. Meanwhile, in the alley behind the bank, Jessica rescues Leon's son Benny, who'd nearly been kidnapped by thugs.

4. A friendly town makes for a scarier plan

The bank hands Liskarm a 'public order maintenance list' — essentially treating people in debt as would-be robbers to be dealt with. Liskarm refuses to take the list at face value and insists on re-investigating.

A Blacksteel colleague Jessica meets on patrol lets something slip. "A sector on the verge of bankruptcy like this — debt, tax audits, security loopholes...... plenty of excuses to go around." Once reclaimed by the government, whether it's industry, facilities, or residents, everything would get replaced.

Jessica bristles. "That's illegal!" The reply comes back flat. "Don't care."

That night, working late alone at the bank, Sylvia finds it strange that the main power switch sits exactly one hundred steps from the front door. Ever since her mother died, she's had a habit of walking the same route home every day and counting her steps. "No, that can't be...... it doesn't make sense." A suspicion even she doesn't want to believe.

5. Benny decides to leave Davis Town

Leon, Helena, Woodrow, Miles, and Jessica all sit down to dinner together for the first time in a while. Everyone humming an old song about the town — the warmest scene in this whole story. Then Benny quietly raises his hand.

"I'm leaving." A scholarship, he announces, to a school in Ironforge City. Leon just repeats "It's fine...... it's a good thing......" like a machine, unable to string together a proper sentence.

Right before leaving, Benny drops a bomb on Jessica: his late brother Karl was a Blacksteel mercenary, a 'Blackplate.' Jessica brushes it off, saying they didn't know each other long — but she's clearly hiding something.

That night, in the bank vault, Sylvia clutches a necklace and mutters to herself. "Karl...... what am I supposed to do?" Between the dead mercenary and the bank employee, there was a story nobody knew about.

6. Turns out the boss was an old comrade-in-arms

Jessica finally hands that bullet over to Woodrow. The moment 'the boss' in an old photo hidden in his drawer overlaps with Cliff's face, he murmurs low. "So he changed his name...... your boss...... it was him."

The fellow Sankta imprisoned alongside them died in Woodrow's arms in the end. Cliff was the one who gave up on the rescue operation. Woodrow goes to Cliff's office and demands he "call back his men and stop driving out the residents," but Cliff won't budge, insisting, "if Blacksteel leaves, the government will just send another mercenary company."

That night, thugs from the sector's east side riot. Miles fends off the intruders with a steam-valve trap, and Woodrow strings one up under the eaves with a noose.

And Leon's house burns down. "Not so bad, being burned down...... one less thing to worry about now," Leon says bitterly, and that's all.

7. A threat by the name of 'public order maintenance'

The bank manager hands Liskarm a document — a three-way contract between the bank, the government, and Blacksteel, making it a legitimate order, she claims.

Liskarm refuses. "I won't be firing my gun. And I won't let anyone on my team fire theirs, either."

Residents gathered outside the bank sing a protest song. "We're the ones starving, we're the ones who gave everything for a worthless promise...... farewell, my hometown ♪" With that song behind them, Helena quietly dances with Woodrow — a brief moment of peace in a town that could vanish any day.

But while sorting documents, Sylvia discovers a stack of blank contracts prepared for people who never signed anything, who never even set foot in the bank.

We don't even care about the paltry interest. What we're after is everything here. That's how it's always been.

— the bank manager

8. In the end, everyone decides to become thieves

Jessica confronts Cliff. "It seems like you've lost almost all your humanity just to get those things." Cliff calmly asks back, "Humanity, huh...... what good is a pretty word like that to the head of a mercenary company?"

In the end, Jessica walks away on her own, effectively splitting from Blacksteel.

Sylvia plays her final card: a large sum sitting in the bank vault, set aside for the new settlers. "Do you want us to return that money to its rightful owners, or do you want it taken from you?" Woodrow cuts straight to the point, and Sylvia nods quietly.

Helena is the first to set an old weapon down on the table — the resolve of someone who's survived twenty years wandering the Frontier. "If none of you want in, I'll do it alone." Leon pulls out a wrench too.

Woodrow points his gun at Jessica one last time, telling her to "leave," but Jessica lowers her own weapon and answers instead. "If I don't do something, I'll get used to a life where I never accomplish anything. I don't want that, even if it kills me...... let me in too."

9. How to rob a bank: one hundred steps and some dynamite

Following the bank's layout and passcode Sylvia memorized through years of footsteps, the four of them move. Woodrow and Jessica control the hostages, while Helena and Leon breach their way to the vault — the roles were split that way.

With their lives on the line, both the bank president and the manager give up the passcode without much fight. The president crumbles under Woodrow's countdown, and the manager, trying to provoke Leon, gets restrained by Jessica instead.

At the final door, Sylvia's instructions are simple. "Easy bonus question — blow it up."

The four of them stand speechless in front of the pile of money for a moment. "I've never seen this much money in my life," Helena says, and Leon answers, "But it's still a lot less than what the bank ever squeezed out of us."

Jessica just finds it strange — she's never wanted money this much in her life.

10. Leon stays behind with the power plant

The escape doesn't go as planned. While Woodrow stays behind alone to hold off Blacksteel, Leon and Helena rig the hidden passage with explosives.

With each charge he sets, Leon sees hallucinations — Benny, already gone; Karl, killed in action; and finally, the mother who once left him behind, all passing before his eyes one after another.

In the end, Leon decides to stay and seal off the passage himself. Over the radio, to a desperate Jessica, the last thing he leaves her is a song. "I won't die...... I'll be here forever, living forever in her embrace......"

At the same moment, Woodrow stands facing Cliff, guns drawn. For the first time, he calls him by his real name. "Rupert."

Cliff practically begs to be killed. "You can end me." But instead of pulling the trigger, Woodrow shoots and destroys his radio.

I can't kill you. This sin is yours to carry.

— Woodrow

Through her scope, Jessica sees strangers' faces flash past — a praying girl, a woman running through snow, a man who walked off into flames, one after another.

Jessica fires every bullet she has straight into the sky.

My tears can't stand in for their grief. But my gun will ring out for their grief instead.

— Jessica

In five years, did you ever once realize why I chose you back then? I chose you not for the gun in your hand, but for your tears. Tears are never a weakness, Jessica.

— Liskarm

Jessica lets herself be arrested without resistance, as Franka fastens a pair of handcuffs she'd warmed up beforehand. Realizing the night has passed and the snow has stopped, Jessica quietly hums along to the song Leon used to sing.

Epilogue. People starting over

Cliff quietly looks the other way. Jessica admits her guilt and volunteers for the Frontier instead of a reduced sentence; Helena also escapes safely.

Woodrow is offered a new identity and a mansion down south, but he refuses. "I'm going to look for family, not friends."

As they part, Cliff asks one thing of him. "Don't die somewhere I don't know about." Woodrow answers, "Even if there's no undoing it, I suppose I can still call you again sometime." Not a complete break, in other words.

Woodrow climbs onto the transport heading to the Frontier alongside Jessica. Fitting a wide-brimmed hat over her head, he says,

Cry if you need to...... every new life is born crying, after all. That's the first step to breathing.

— Woodrow

Davis Town is still right there, gasping for breath like a patient in critical condition. The only thing different is that it wasn't the bank, and it wasn't the government, that saved this town — it was four people who chose to become thieves. And what brought one of them back to life wasn't a gun, but tears.