Chapter 1: This Strange Place
Chapter 1
A/N No, I don't know what I'm talking about when I talk science, tech, guns, or anything for that matter as long as it makes some sense. I'm winging this story, this is terribly planned and outlined, and you get to read a somewhat pointless back story of Earth even though we'll most likely not visit anything Earth-related again anytime soon.
So now you can explore this idea with me and think that my writing is horrible and that you can write something ten times better! (Both may be true). Let's get to business.
"Speaking"
"Thoughts"
Disclaimer for the entirety of this story-I don't own RWBY, all things RWBY goes to Rooster Teeth.
File Recipient:
I.D. 356809
Name-Jerry Dawson
Assigned Codename: Dawn
DOB-[Redacted]
Martial Status-Unmarried
Sex-Male
Aged-26
Height-5'11" (~180 cm)
Eyes Color-Dark Brown
Hair Color-Black
Ethnicity-Caucasian
Latest Assignment: On March 3, 2095, Agent Dawn was sent on an operation to shut down Lunar Base X, a secret base on the moon dabbling in experimental technology based on dark matter and energy, a relatively new field of science. The supervisor/project lead of the Lunar Base X has gone rogue and refuses any and all communications from Earth. Hours after Agent Dawn's last message back to Earth when he entered the base itself, the base was obliterated from existence, all blame goes towards the unsafe handling of unrefined dark energy, a volatile substance. The incident will be noted in any further studies on dark energy and dark matter whilst the incident has been kept a secret from the public.
Status: MIA
March 3, 2095
Agent Dawn wasn't having a good day. Just after his last message to the United Nations Security Task Force Headquarters, also known as Command, his ship heading to Lunar Base X was struck by a rock particle about six centimeters wide moving at about several hundred miles per hour. Of all the places it could hit, it smashed into his ship's fuel canister. He had to quickly bail out hundreds of feet above the base in a suit very similar to those used by early twenty-first century astronauts only to then land on the base itself setting off all alarms possible.
Dawn really hated space right now.
Changing into proper gear was a horrifying experience. He had the full package any special military unit had a few more pieces of equipment since he was in space. He had some a carbon nanotube vest slipped on, an oxygen mask in so he could survive just a bit longer before suffocating on the airless moon, a gas mask if they actually want to try to gas the base if they're desperate enough, a Mag-Lite flashlight, a backpack carrying an assortment of supplies, materials, and ammunition that would come in handy, a ski mask over his face, and a tactical helmet with a pair of thermal goggles attached to it. If he wasn't using his thermal goggles, he switched to using his military issue tactical goggles.
He was supposed to infiltrate quietly as according to his plan. He would first land in an undisclosed location a few miles away before going to and getting into one of the many airlock hatches leading into the base. In the airlock hatch, he was going change into his gear quietly, hack the operating system to cause a massive blackout during which he'd switch to his thermals, sneak through all security personnel during their panic to restart the system, nab the Supervisor, and Supervisor's office, he'd commence a lock down and lock all doors so no one can move and the UNSTF would roll in to arrest them.
That would've been the plan but beggars can't be choosers, but, at the very least, he was able to make several scientists and researchers nearly piss themselves when he aimed his guns at them.
Combat was a nightmare especially in reduced gravity because of all of the bouncing and weaving around. At least the walls were strong enough to shrug off gunfire, hopefully they are because he isn't willing to be asphyxiated on the moon. He wasted no time reaching the Supervisor's office, killing a dozen or so security personnel along the way, mostly idiots rushing in solo, and grabbed the man hostage. It seemed like a good plan at first until he realized WHAT A PAIN it was to move a hostage in one hand with a gun in the other all the while trying to back pedal with only a third the Earth's gravity bearing you down. He back-pedaled to the nearest door he could find but now he was at an impasse in the Main Labs with rifles aimed at his face and weird dark energy technology at his back.
"Give it up you fool! You'll die regardless if you keep me hostage in my own base!" this man, we'll dub him the Supervisor, said.
The base's supervisor tried to sway him. He wasn't the first hostage to.
"What can I say? I love these odds! A couple dozen barrels staring me down in the face and weird freakin' Sci-Fi technology at my back, but at least it was better than my experiences dealing with women! Zero out of a couple dozen! Though I might take my chances with the lady security guards", he said giving a wink to the female security personnel yet not getting anything in return, "Plus I got to step on the moon!"
Agent Dawn wondered why he didn't abandon his assignment earlier and Command for help. He actually would've done so were it not for the fact that he had only had half a day's worth of oxygen in his space suit when a ship would take more than a day to reach the moon. Plus the next secret moon base was hundreds of miles down the road. He knows because he was sent to another moon base last time to deal with a hostage situation. Now that he thought of it, how many bases ARE set up on the moon? He never checked. Surely there are publicly known bases as well as the more discreet bases but oh well.
"Argh! I better get something out of having a perfect work record!" thought Dawn.
He was the best agent in the group having a flawless record. This part of his file was why he was chosen for the job, but now he was stuck in this predicament with his good old .44 Magnum Colt Anaconda. Why this weapon in particular? Intimidation pretty much and how effective it was a putting down larger targets.
If things went as smoothly as it should've been, he'd be using his Maxim 9 Silenced handgun, a good weapon of choice for infiltration and stealth. The rate of fire was a bit iffy though but it was quiet.
But in this situation where stealth is nonexistent, he was using his revolver. It had a long chrome barrel and black handle and its size made it frightening to stare down since it was larger than his hand.
"Eight inches of gun boys", Dawn thought, referring to his Anaconda Colt and nothing else.
He probably should switch it out with his silenced Steyr TMP in this situation but do you think the guy would just let him switch weapons without trying to break free? If he did then he was a man Dawn can respect. Too bad he wasn't.
He tried to think of a solution to his problems. He did have a Swiss Army Knife but he wasn't sure it would help. Maybe throwing knives would help? Most likely not. Flashbang perhaps? That would work. He had some M67 Grenades in his pouches as well. His impromptu plan wasn't good for the integrity of the base is all I can tell you.
"I guess it's time to set off the fire alarms."
He really hoped he wouldn't be the one that killed them all, more like he hopes he doesn't kill himself because screw the rest if need be.
His assignment was to bring in, IF he could, the supervisor of the base and put the base out of commission so the rest are collateral.
"Why the hell is this guy rebelling?"
"I heard that they were going to shut this base down for 'failing to produce results'! No way in hell will I let them make me the assistant to that Hall fellow again! That man keeps taking all the credit for MY work!"
"Sure, say that to ten failed projects on your track record", Dawn responded kindly, "You're lucky you weren't fired for wasting millions on failed projects."
Dawn glared at the armed security personnel.
"Anyways, why the hell are all of you splitting off anyways? How did this guy convince you of anything?" he asked.
"Oh I didn't convince them anything!" the Supervisor started rambling, "We're going in business with The League."
"What? The League stuck their hands up your rear too?"
The League was the embodiment of a radical organization looking for profits above all else. Their work was in direct opposition to the United Nations Security Task Force made in response to the out-of-control terrorist groups raging in the Middle East that had spread to northern Africa, Central Asia, and parts of Eastern Europe. The League was controlling the strings behind the Middle East terrorist movements along with bribing politicians and influential leaders of all sorts from numerous countries to keep military intelligence off their back until one of their very prominent members was captured in the Middle East.
"Damn League has their hands in everybody's rear with their trillions! And they want to add to those trillions with this state-of-the-art technology? This fu-"
The Supervisor elbowed Dawn in the gut. If that was an attempt to break free it was a weak try. It did break his line of thought for a moment there.
Anyways, with increasing public outcry, the UN tasked the UNSTF to track and bring down The League. From there, it had been a prolonged secret war across all continents and now the moon itself.
"Give it up! There's no way you'll be taking me in without you dying! I must be alive at all costs to be taken in right?" the Supervisor said thinking he was 'important'.
Dawn laughed. It was funny thinking how the Supervisor could possibly think he'd get scot-free for dealing with The League.
"What's so funny exactly?" the Supervisor asked.
Dawn's laughing slowed, turning into a small chuckle.
"Who said I HAVE to take you in at all costs?"
Dawn sent a round from his Anaconda Colt behind the Supervisor's right knee.
"AUGH! WHAT THE FU-!"
Any attempts by the man to struggle stopped or at least weakened for a moment. It gave Dawn the few needed seconds to switch to his TMP.
Flipping to full-auto, Dawn mowed down over half a dozen security personnel surrounding him. To be honest, they weren't wearing any body armor.
It took only the sight of six bleeding men and women for one guy in front of him to grow a pair and finally shoot back, scoring a hit in the Supervisor's gut and Dawn's left arm which is currently around the Supervisor's neck restraining him.
"Bloody hell!" Dawn shouted.
The Supervisor could only gasp in shock, now gripping his wound. Somebody wised up, probably the new de facto leader of the base, and just shot the Supervisor between the eyes.
"Wow, and I thought I was brutal."
The others got the idea that they didn't need the incompetent Supervisor to help their dealings with The League and began to mutilate his corpse with a hail of gunfire.
Dawn took a chance with his flashbang now that this corpse of a body shield offered a weak amount of protection against a dozen guns.
With a blinding flash and a loud *Bang!*, the opposing group was disoriented. Dawn wasn't blinded thanks in part to his black tinted goggles and the fact that he was covering his face. The damn sound was disorienting and only grabbing machinery at his back allowed him to remain standing, of which the others failed to do.
With this, Dawn, shot in the arm and bleeding profusely in his right leg, placed down a couple HE Grenades, a decision he hopes he won't regret as he made his way out of the Main Labs while putting on his oxygen mask.
The explosives were the best bet for Dawn. The flashbang was very disorienting for him already and he can't exactly dispatch a dozen people in a time span of seven to fifteen seconds without at least one of them getting a shot in his back, plus he was dizzy as well. It had numerous advantages for Dawn, it'd kill off the majority of people in the Main Labs so less to kill, destroy assets that can be acquired by The League, also it—
"Who the hell am I kidding? I'm gonna regret it!"
That was his last thought before everything in front of him seemingly faded out of existence. This moment will also be marked down as the Lunar Incident in UNSTF files as the entire base simply vanished out of existence and a crater took its place.
The first sight Agent Dawn had seen were falling red leaves . . . . . . . and a scientist in a lab coat trying to loot his equipment.
He responded kindly by immediately restraining his body and making him eat dirt while having an Anaconda Colt pointed at his cheek.
"Ah! Please! I-I'm sorry!" the scrawny scientist said.
"Sorry doesn't exactly get you out of trouble for dealing with The League! Plus I'm sure you'd shoot yourself in the toe!" Dawn said.
Dawn looked around. He couldn't help but be in silent shock seeing the forest. He took off his oxygen mask which he still had on during his final moments at Lunar Base X and asked the scientist a few questions.
"Where the hell are we?! Where is the Lunar Base?! How did we get here?!" Dawn demanded to know.
"I-I don't know! All I can say is that this could be an effect of dark matter and energy! The thing does make up the universe so why wouldn't it be able to bend space? But all the dark energy was kept in the Main Labs safe and sound! What happened in there anyways?" the scientist responded.
"You don't know what occurred?" Dawn asked.
"Not at all! I was sleeping the entire time!"
"How'd you sleep through that all?"
"Well, I do sleep with earplugs, keeps things silent and peaceful", the scientist admitted.
Dawn saw the fear in the scientist's eye, he probably was telling the truth. However, if this guy was here, you never know who else ended up here as well.
He looked at his surroundings. He was at a small clearing in the forest. An endless sea of red trees and falling leaves surrounded them. There was the occasional mountain peak he could spot out that towered over the tree in his vision. He assumed he was on a mountain chain or just surrounded by mountains.
However, he had no time to ponder his thoughts as a rush of pain crept up his arm and leg.
"Damn forgot about that!"
"Don't move from this spot!" he ordered as he zip tied the scientist.
He left him leaning against the tree before heading off behind some bushes. He sat on the earth and rolled up his pants. He was greeted with a deep gash in his right leg although it shouldn't be too bad of a wound. He probably got shot in the leg during the crossfire.
The only thing he had to do was to clean the wound with his trusty water-filled canteen he carries in his backpack, apply antiseptic, suture the wound, and field dress it, all of which is supplied by his mini-med kit although he'd probably use it all up after this.
It was bearable but the bullet wound in his left arm wasn't helping.
A quick shot of morphine and his hip was patched up. He had to move onto his arm next.
First he rolled up his sleeve and with a tweezer, he took hold of the bullet ingrained in his flesh. Thankfully, the 9mm didn't make it farther than a centimeter. With a few nudges, he pulled the round out and patched up the hole.
Satisfied, Dawn cleaned his work area and started to gear up until he heard the sound of gunfire in the distance followed by a blood-curling scream.
That made him pause for a moment.
Dawn hastily finished checking all of his gear returned to where the scientist sat. He definitely seems like he'll piss himself anytime soon.
"Did you hear that?" he asked.
"What are you talking about? All I can hear is the soothing sound of leaves in the wind and the birds chirping—OF course I can hear that ya idiot!"
Thirty feet from the two, the bushes began to rustle. Dawn swung his TMP towards that direction, safety off, and finger beside the trigger.
The only thing he didn't expect was a severed arm to jump out of it.
Dawn took a step closer to find that the severed arm held a handgun in its hand, probably from one of the former security detail of Lunar Base X
"What the fu—?"
Dawn didn't finish before a wolf in pure black fur came out of the vegetation, jumping at the arm as is dog attracted to a bone. It proceeded to swallow the arm whole before slowly facing the two.
This wolf was unlike any he could think of. It was pure black but donning bony plates of armor on its skin. Twice the size of a wolf and looking quite deadly with those bony spikes on its back and forearms. The enormous claws didn't look like it helped.
"Don't pani—"
The scientist got to his feet and ran in the opposite direction while panicking with a side of screaming.
"Oh for fu—"
The wolf lunged towards the scientist first. At least it wasn't as brutal as what Dawn imagined having happened to the other fellow that got disarmed. He was definitely sliced into quarters if anybody wants to ask, or it could be a she.
Anyhow, the scientist's head, unfortunately, found itself in the jaws of the wolf. The wolf didn't stop there and proceeded to separate the legs from the torso with its claws before it turned towards Dawn.
"Brutal much~—!"
With no time to ponder, the wolf, we'll call it that for now, charged head first at Dawn.
Dawn fired a few shots at the wolf from his silenced Steyr TMP before ducking under a claw swipe.
Dawn rolled to the side, distancing himself from the wolf as he switched to using his 15-round Maxim 9 silenced handgun in his right and a six-inch blade Combat Knife in his left.
He chambered a round and proceeded to fire three bullets at the wolf's unprotected areas of the body in quick succession. The wolf gained its bearings once again and, now angered at its wounds, lunged at Dawn's body.
The sudden burst of speed barely gave any time to react move out of the way so Dawn decided to tackle the wolf with his knife reaching out towards the wolf.
Idiotic? Maybe. Effective? Yes, especially when the force of the wolf's lunge and Dawn's tackle allowed his knife to travel straight into the wolf's throat with little resistance.
Dawn could feel the neck snap.
The wolf, now facing imminent death, fell to the ground. In its final moments, Dawn was able to catch a good glimpse of the wolf's crimson eyes.
Agent Dawn did what was probably the best for both of them and jammed his knife into the wolf's eye, but the image of those glaring eyes remained.
Dawn took one good look at the wolf's body as it disintegrated. He didn't even bother acknowledging it. Why was he so unfazed? Well, you are talking about an experienced, highly trained special agent of the United Nations Security Task Force. He's seen innocents just tortured in several hundred ways, been tortured himself, he saw some psychopath of a doctor hired by The League cut fellow agents into piecemeal, seen white phosphorus on a person in person, and the list can go on as long as you can imagine. Plus he really didn't care about some sell out defecting to The League. Also, you can say that his mind is a bit messed up compared to regular people.
The only thought on his mind was where am I? As he jogged through the forest.
He heard several bouts of screaming, flailing, and gunfire as he made his way but wouldn't actually turn to find the people lest he attracts the attention of whatever is attacking them to him. If anything, he's more focused on finding a way out of the forest but his situation did bring some questions into Dawn's mind.
"Odd, I can't recall such a place as here. These trees are . . . unique . . . I've never seen such a type before. I most definitely have not seen such an animal species before and I'd definitely know just about all aggressive animals on Earth. That wolf is unlike any I've seen. What happened back on Lunar Base X?"
With miraculous luck, Dawn managed to reach the edge of the mountain. At the edge of the mountain, he was able to see red trees as far as the eye can see along with other mountains of varying sizes. At the bottom of the small mountain were some train tracks. Train tracks would mean civilization but only modern society could build trains and the only modern society Dawn knows of is Earth and humanity. This was peculiar. Any person that has seen a satellite image of Earth would've definitely caught a red forest of this size and he is quite sure that no one would be able to miss a beautiful forest.
"It's like this forest is . . . . . . forever autumn."
But here he was, a special agent for the UN wearing black military gear amongst the sea of red.
"I'm sticking out like a sore thumb . . ."
Those redcoats from the American Revolution centuries ago would've love marching through this forest instead of a sea of green and brown.
"Maybe I can glue some red leaves on me?"
Dawn took a detour down the mountain. At the moment, he was standing beside the train tracks observing the structure itself. The tracks were elevated off the ground above the trees supported by pillars. It was an odd design choice but those leaves wouldn't cover the tracks and those wolves wouldn't be able to reach the train for the most part.
Dawn looked at the sun high in the sky and decided it was probably best to start following the tracks to a city and catch a train along the way if he would get on one discreetly.
"Welcome VNN Live, I'm Lisa Lavender, your newest reporter in the station. Earlier today, a team of Huntsmen and Huntresses were carrying out a mission in the massive Forever Fall forest to exterminate a sudden surge of Grimm activity. Instead, they found a few dozen dead bodies in a wide area of the mountainous region of the forest. The Headmaster of Beacon Academy has released a statement that they were merely a large group of people migrating between villages but the question remains, why were they in the forest in the first place and why not the main roads?
In other news, the White Fang has been blamed for the recent string of arsons in Vale which have destroyed several shops, stores, and restaurants. Perhaps this may be because of the recent change of leadership in the White Fang who had released a statement earlier today that they 'will not stand for this treatment any longer.' Stay tuned for more information about the recent string of arsons in Vale and about the change in leadership in the White Fang."
Ozpin switched off the television projector in his office. His eyes wandered to the other man in his office with him, waiting for his reaction. There was a small bout of silence before Ozpin started to speak.
"This report was broadcasted earlier today. So Qrow, what's your opinion on this matter?" Ozpin asked.
"You brought me here just to see this or is there something more? If not, I'll take my leave", Qrow replied.
"You understand fully that I wouldn't just call you here without just cause", Ozpin said as he started to project images of corpses, body armor, weaponry, and multiple identification tags found in the Forever Fall.
Qrow started to look at all the images in scrutiny.
"As you can see, we are dealing with an unknown group of people, it that wasn't quite obvious enough for you. All these people were found dead on arrival by Grimm attack. Normally this wouldn't garner much attention seeing how attacks are quite normal on a weekly basis. With all the strings I managed to pull, not one could come up with an explanation about these people, their weaponry, or their organization: the 'Lunar Base', or as it was found on their tags."
A picture came up for an I.D. tag, the name of the person faded off by blood but Qrow did see, in blue letters, "Lunar Base" followed by "Security Personnel Clearance Level 3" underneath the first words.
"What kind of name is 'Lunar Base'?" Qrow asked.
"I don't know exactly, but I do know that these people apparently belonged to some research facility. The location of the facility is something that I couldn't find in my own search", Ozpin admitted.
"Alright, so where do I start exactly to search for this organization?"
"Well, that's there this comes in."
Ozpin opened up a map regional map of Vale.
"We noticed an unknown frequency connecting to all signals possible right in the middle of the Forever Fall forest on the tracks before the frequency cut itself off. This happened earlier today. I urge you to start at the train station to check all arrivals, perhaps you'll find something."
A/N The stroll through Forever Fall was uninterrupted because survivors of the Lunar Base X are generating a lot of negative emotions so they all are attracted to them but not to the uncaring Dawn. He's not heartless per se but holds no feeling to those siding with radical, terrorist-like groups like The League.
Note the last couple paragraphs. This is set about five years before RWBY. This story will catch up with RWBY later (if I actually continue writing this) but now we'll just focus on Dawn and a few people he'll be interacting with alongside getting that back story running first before RWBY. Plus a special agent can't work without information right?
I'll say this now, Dawn is on par to a third year, possibly fourth year Huntsman in training mainly because of how ridiculous aura can be along with their uncanny weapons (which care surprisingly effective in their own right) and because Dawn could rely on wit and tactical cunning. This is if Dawn was fighting one-on-one. Fighting several aura/semblance charged Huntsmen and Huntresses is not good for our Earth human without the same advantages.
Skill and experience-wise, Dawn would outmatch most opponents if they had no aura/semblance or sorts if he was given the right equipment because you don't expect a person with a knife to beat a person with a tank would you? That would certainly count as an opponent.
Also, the forest scene took place in Forever Fall. Not the episode in volume one but as depicted in the Black Trailer. I'm saying this if you or some other person cross-referenced between the forest in this chapter and the Forever Fall episode in volume one instead of the Black Trailer.
Equipment
Backpack with various pouches and pockets containing water, ammunition, energy bars, electronic hacking tools, zip ties, etc.
Carbon Nanotube Vest
Tactical Helmet plus a Ski Mask and Black Tinted Military Goggles
Night Vision Thermal Goggles
Monocular
Combat Knife
Swiss Army Knife
Silenced Steyr TMP
Maxim 9 Silenced 9mm Handgun
.44 Anaconda Colt Magnum
Mag-Lite Flashlight
Gas Mask
Oxygen Mask (the guy was on the moon earlier) with spare oxygen
Earpiece
M67 Grenades; Thermite Grenades; Smoke Grenades; Stun Grenades (Flashbang); Flares
And whatever else the military equip their soldiers because I know just about the same as the next guy over about the military and weapons, meaning I have scrap knowledge from games and the rest is small time research.
So basically I armed the guy with whatever I came up with that seems reasonable (or not) for a special military and intelligence agent.
NOTE READ(or not if you don't care): Updates whenever. I'll let you know if I go on hiatus/drop at least.
PM or review if you would like to. No response guaranteed.I'll tell also tell you something I find ironic. I dislike OC's but I'm making a story ABOUT and OC. I guess I'm just indifferent to OC's unless they are given ridiculous powers better than the main character/s then I dislike them. I also dislike multiple OC oriented stories, something I hope won't happen in this story, at least not on a medium to large scale. I prefer canon if I can make it that way.
I'll tell also tell you something I find ironic. I dislike OC's in RWBY but I'm making a story ABOUT an OC in RWBY. I'm exploring this idea would like at least one message on how my chapters are. If they suck, let me know. If they're good, let me know. How can I improve bad writing if no one speaks up about it? Don't keep your opinions to yourselves and just tell them to me straight.
