Author's Note: Well, despite what I said in June, I decided to give this story another shot! Hopefully this time I can keep the momentum going. Now for some disclaimers; I don't own 'Dino Crisis' or 'RWBY', this work of fiction is merely for entertainment purposes only. Anyway, on with the story!
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Act Zero, Chapter 1: Prelude to the Interrogation
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A middle age man with a mop of gray hair and wearing a pair of spectacles was sitting behind a desk, reading some files. The man's name was Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Huntsman Academy, and his primary responsibilities (besides training the next generations of hunters/huntresses) was protecting Vale from the Grimm threat. As such, he was very well connected with generals of the four kingdoms, headmasters of other Huntsman Academies, and intelligence agencies whose goals were to monitor any major Grimm movement and alert hunters and the armies to respond to said threat.
As such, it wasn't rare for Ozpin to be called from time to time by the other headmasters, to discuss new ways to cull the Grimm threat, or by the various generals he was connected to discuss ways to stop insurrections. Ozpin sighed as he put the file down, as it was a file that his 'friend' Major General James Ironwood had sent to him. In it, James described the White Fang and their latest activities, ranging from train heists and assassinations of major industrialist, to staging riots and spreading anti-human propaganda in major Faunus settlements. James wanted his input on what to do before 'resorting to harsher means'.
Ozpin took a long drink of his coffee, wondering where the hell his care free and charismatic friend James went. Back when they were huntsman in training, James wouldn't have thought to use an entire battalion to suppress a district, he wouldn't have tried to push laws allowing law enforcement to arrest anyone and hold them indefinitely if the person was merely suspected of collaborating with the White Fang, and he certainly wouldn't have entertained the notion of putting the entire Faunus population under a marker system.
Unfortunately, times had changed, and James became more and more vocal in his assertion that the military should step in and take down the White Fang. Ozpin understood that the White Fang had become a terrorist group, but that didn't mean everyone in it was a terrorist. Most were still in it from the days that the White Fang were merely a civil rights group, trying to get Faunus equals rights. Sadly, due to anti-faunus media bias and the increasing number of hostile actions conducted by the White Fang, most people tended to associate anyone in the White Fang (or Faunus in general) as an unidentified terrorist.
Ozpin was debating how to word his rebuttal against Ironwood's increasingly militaristic measures when his scroll began beeping. Sighing, he pressed the button, with a hologram of the Major General coming into view. If one thing hadn't changed, it was that James held the appearance of power; broad should, rigid facial structure, black hair, and a properly fitted uniform gave Ironwood an aura of power.
"Oz, we have a situation," James began bluntly. Ozpin quirked an eyebrow; what could've come up in the last 48 hours since the file that James wanted him to look over arrived?
"James, what kind of situation?" Ozpin asked. James sighed.
"Ten hours ago, a patrol team in a research factory found a person who was not on the personnel roster," James began. "However, there are a number of issues that has arisen. First and foremost, where the person was found would have meant tripping any number of alarms, yet none were tripped. Second, the person was injured, yet there was no blood outside of the room they was found in. Third and perhaps most alarming, when we ran the person's DNA, fingerprints, and a photo of their face, the person wasn't on any database within the four kingdoms."
Ozpin frowned, his mind trying to think of how best to explain everything. He wondered if the security at the facility was compromised and someone simply erased the person from any surveillance record. He brought this point to Ironwood, who shook his head.
"No, the surveillance room is guarded by a pair of AK-160 drones, which would've prevented anyone besides the lead researcher and myself from entering, and if they were knocked out the facility would enter locked down," James answered.
Ozpin drummed his fingers, wondering then how to explain how someone could enter a facility undetected. While someone could use dust and aura manipulation to alter their clothing to infiltrate a facility under a false identity, from what James told him this wasn't the case. It was as though the person managed to remain unseen and undetected, something that no one has managed with any real success. Sure, Atlas military researchers were looking into developing a stealth cloak that would redirect light around a person, but the earliest prototypes were expensive and required an absurd amount of power.
"Was anything found on the person to indicate what the person was doing?" Ozpin asked. James nodded, and Ozpin saw a glint of anger in his 'friend's' eye.
"Yeah, a number of firearms, to include a pump action shotgun, assault rifle with an under-barrel grenade launcher, and finally a large caliber hunting carbine with the stock removed at the time of finding," James said. "Which would indicate the person was some kind of soldier, however, that's the odd thing; none of the weapons are anything I recognize from any armed forces of the four kingdoms or their settlements."
Ozpin rest his chin in his interwoven hands, thinking of what possible reason a person would need so much firepower. Granted, he knew of Hunters that has multi-purpose weapons that border lined into the realm of insanity, but generally speaking, a person would only have a single weapon, maybe a secondary in case of an emergency. But James had rattled off a whole shit ton on firearms. That amount of firepower could easily supply a small squad, so what reason would a single person need with that much firepower?
But the bigger issue that Ozpin realized was that James, a person highly familiar with weapons used across the world, couldn't identify any of the weapons. This meant that either they were make-shift weapons, or someone was manufacturing a series of guns under the radar. In either case, it was an issue, and one that James was asking his help for.
"So what do you need from me?" Ozpin asked. "I assume that you want me to see with my contacts and determine where the weapons could've come from?" James shook his head, which surprised Ozpin.
"No Oz, I need you here to interrogate the person in question," Ironwood asked. "Now, normally, I would trust one of the army's trained interrogators, but considering that the person was injured and lying in a room in a high security facility, I want as little exposure to the issue as possible. Which means going to you for the interrogation."
Ironwood sighed, tapping something on his scroll and checking something.
"While you and I have been butting heads over the issue of the White Fang, but for this, I need all the information I can get, and I need it done with the subtle touch only you seem to have," James stated. "I wouldn't have called unless it was of the utmost importance."
Ozpin narrowed his eyes, thinking of if this interrogation was truly important. On one hand, Ozpin did have Beacon Academy to run, he was tracking down someone that could only be noted to be known as 'the Queen', and there were the defensive preparations that needed to be done to ensure the safety of the upcoming Vytal festival. On the other hand, Beacon Academy was on break, with new and returning students coming in one month's time, 'the Queen' had been quiet for a while, and the festival preparations could be held off for a while.
"Very well," Ozpin conceded. "When are you sending a shuttle to pick me up, and how long do you expect this interrogation to take?" James shrugged, a grin appearing on his face.
"I've already sent the shuttle an hour ago, assuming you would accept," James said, a bit of cockiness present. "As for the length of the interrogation, I would pack for a couple of days; we don't know how resistant the person will be to talking."
Ozpin watched as the hologram quietly disappeared, his hand fiddling with his cane. He only had a moment to himself before Glynda walked in, the blonde professor's emeralds eyes piercing into Ozpin's.
"Ozpin, why do you have the look of something bad is about to happen?" Glynda asked. Ozpin sighed, leaning back in his chair as he thought darkly to himself; well shit, how am I going to convince Glynda to take care of Beacon's duties while I'm off?
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"Sir, Headmaster Ozpin has arrived and is being escorted to the interrogation room," Lieutenant Melody stated, snapping to attention and snapping a saluting. James nodded, ever thankful for his loyal brunette lieutenant's assistance. When he first became General, he had struggled to maintain all his paperwork, meetings, and research projects, but upon finding Lieutenant Melody, things started to fall into place.
"Thank you Lieutenant," James replied. "Follow me; with Ozpin here, we can finally begin the interrogation." James and Melody began walking out of Ironwood's office and towards the interrogation room that resided inside the military facility.
The facility they were at is an Atlesian Military Compound roughly fifteen square kilometers, with a ten meter tall, two meter thick reinforced surrounding the perimeter with a number of research wings inside. Each research wing was connected to the 'central hive' where most of the security personnel (not on active patrol), logistics, administrative, and commanding officers resided; with each wing have their own contingent of guards along with their own programs.
For instance, one research wing was developing a new line of drones that used an advanced AI and synthetic skin to integrate within human society and yet be around three times as effective against the Grimm. Another wing was researching the possibility of using a biological or chemical weapon to eradicate the Grimm. But each wing connected to the central hive through a tunnel that could be quickly sealed in the event of an emergency, and to exit the wing you had to go out through the central hive.
The two walked in silence as they entered an elevator, heading down to where the interrogation chambers laid. Unlike the three other kingdoms, Atlas didn't have laws forbidding torture against highly resistant individuals. However, to actually get to the point where torture was allowed was highly regulated, to the point where most of the time, the suspected individual was found innocent or they confessed to the crime, fearing the impending torture. As a result, the interrogation chamber had indeed a torture room, but more times than not it was used by on base personnel to 'get busy' with one another.
The elevator opened up, and outside of the interrogation room stood Professor Ozpin and his escort. James casually waved at Ozpin before turning to Ozpin's escort.
"Sergeant, you are dismissed," Ironwood stated. "Report to research wing 3 until you are called once again to escort Ozpin either to the guest barracks or back to the shuttle port." The sergeant snapped a salute before heading off to the elevator.
"James, it has been a while," Ozpin said, extending his hand. James nodded, grasping Ozpin's hand and shaking it firmly.
"That is has, although we often do talk over the net with regards to our work," James countered. Ozpin shook his head.
"Talking through a computer or some other medium isn't the same as talking in person," Ozpin replied.
"That's true I suppose," James said, before he sighed. "Ozpin, you ready to begin the interrogation?" Ozpin nodded.
"Yes, the sooner this situation is resolved, the better it will be for everyone," Ozpin said, something that James agreed with for the most part. Hopefully the incident wasn't something to worry about, and it could be resolved easily. Though for some unshakeable reason he had the nagging feel as he, Ozpin, and Lieutenant Melody entered the interrogation room where the prisoner, after being taken care of via triage was kept under guard, that the situation wouldn't be so easily resolved.
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Author's Note: eah, so as I said at the beginning, I'm rewriting the story, due to some reviewers being upset by my decision to cancel this story. And to be honest, I'd like to work on this story, but I worked myself into a corner, because I got a bit of information wrong due to revelations made clear during RWBY volume's 3-5 and due to rehashing ground that you guys know by heart, namely RWBY volume 1. I hate rehashing things everyone knows unnecessarcily, so this time, I am reworking the story to allow a new view of the story.
So thing's I'm going to be fixing are things like Weiss's family (who will be more prevalent this time around), changing Regina's path in Remnant, and incorporating most of the things that became clear with the later episodes of RWBY. However, I will not using everything after Volume 3, because somethings that have occured in RWBY after volume 3 irk me. Things like silver-eyed warriors, Ozpin being alive by some creepy means through Oscar, and the 'artifacts' of the 4 academies. Suffice to say, major characters will remain, but they will have clear goals, there will not be deus ex machina bullshit, and the characters won't be walking tropes (I'm looking at Mr. yandere, aka Tyrian).
I will talk more later in the next A/N, so as always, please follow, favorite, and review!