When Weiss took her first steps into the war room in Atlas's tallest tower, she was left dumbfounded. Her eyes opened wide at the sea of high tech computers all around the room that emmited a bright blue glow from their screens. Seated in front of them were hundreds of officers. Every single one were like robots that were communicating with one another through headsets whilst their fingers were in constant motion on their keyboards and their eyes glued to the screen.
The floor, walls and support structures were a meld of metal and stone and holograms. Mounted on every wall except the south one were massive flat screens which showed either satellite images of terrain or live video of current battles.
On the ceiling was a transparent light-blue holographic roof which allowed Weiss to witness the countless ships hovering above Atlas. Weiss continued to be amazed as she further gazed all around the room.
When her eyes fell onto Commander Ironwood who stood at the end of a raised walkway that led to the south wall that had no flat screens and instead was a transparent holographic wall, Weiss swiftly adjusted her attire and walked toward him with her head held high.
"Greetings, General Ironwood." Weiss introduced herself. She noticed that he had an entirely new look. Ironwood no longer concealed his cybernetic parts. He donned more armour on his human parts mixed in with a little of Atlas's white-militaristic uniform. He even had a long white cloak over his back. General Ironwood was far from the man Weiss once knew from when she was younger.
"Oh! Hello there, Weiss." Ironwood seemed surprised by her presence despite him being the one who summoned her to the war room for the first time. "It's good to see you. Sorry for being so distant, I've had a lot on my mind lately."
"It's alright sir. May I know as to why you called me here?" Weiss asked.
"Well... As you know we've made progress on the southern and eastern fronts against Vale and Mistral. But recently, the sixth army was engaged by a small skirmish. Much to our dismay, this skirmish had hit the sixth army hard and they've suffered heavy losses. However, they were able to capture a few of Vale's Huntsmen. One being your old Friend." Ironwood then turned his attention to the holographic wall which popped up a video of Ruby looking pale and weak. Her hands and legs were chained to each other by metal shackles while she was kept within a holographic cage.
"Ruby!" Weiss cried. "What've you done to her?"
"Weiss, calm down. I've already given the order for her to be transported back to Atlas with a priority red status. She's safe for now."
"Thank you, General. But I don't think that's the reason you've called me here was it?"
"With you being a former student of Beacon Academy, we need your knowledge of all of your former schoolmates and friends you knew during your time there."
"Never in a million years. And by the way, she's still my friend and so is everyone else I know from beacon. I'm not about to just spill their secrets just so you could hurt them!" Weiss retaliated.
Ironwood kept silent and merely stared into Weiss's eyes for a moment before turning to one of his officers and nodding. Then, one by one on the holographic wall pictures and videos of Weiss's friends from Beacon popped up.
As more and more appeared, Weiss was horrified to see countless of her friends imprisoned and in chains. Some were even covered in blood, scars and wounds while others have been mutulated and had missing body parts.
"Rest assured, you will see them all again. I've ordered for every huntsman and huntress to be captured if possible and to be brought here." Ironwood took a few steps closer to Weiss.
"For what? To be tortured?"
"What? No of course not!" Ironwood defended "I'm bringing them here to keep them safe! At least until after the war."
"Still! They're my friends! What you did to them was cruel!"
"You think you're the only one with friends? I too have lost many of my friends to this war! A war your Principal started!" Ironwood snapped. Weiss took a step back in fear. "When Ozpin sacrificed those people, we all saw his dark side. We saw to what extent he was willing to go to win. If Ozpin has no limits, then neither must we."
Weiss felt hurt. Not just for Ironwood, but also for her friends, and everyone else that had lost someone because of Ozpin. But she knew that what Ironwood had done was wrong and that the war must cease before everyone dies.
"Your friends will arrive in the coming weeks. You'll get to see them. But as of today, you'll be suspended from any combat related activities. Guards, take Miss Schnee back to her father." Ironwood commanded.
Weiss now felt lost. She was happy that she could see her friends again, but would they be too? Ever since the war started three months ago, many of her friends were gone. With Weiss having played a part in a few of their deaths, her mind was then hurt from thinking about what her old team would say.
"Ruby, Yang, Blake. Please be alright." Weiss murmured below her breath. "Soon, it'll all be over. I hope."