(A/N) It's time for our latest update in the saga of X-Ray and Vav! Last chapter left us on a bit of a cliffhanger as the FBI discovered the sole survivor to the slaughter of the Friendermen by the Enderwolf. Now it's time to find out exactly what went on. Step forward X-Ray and Vav! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, and a big shout-out to its writer, the ever incredible LanaLlama! Some big chapters coming up over the next few weeks, so stay tuned for updates, same time every week! Also, for those not aware, the new episode of RWBY is already out for sponsors, and will be out soon for non-sponsors, and I, personally, can't wait!

Enjoy!

Chapter Ten – Interrogation

Dr Gavin Free / Vav

Written by LanaLlama

There comes a time in a man's life when to get where he has to go-if there are no doors or windows-he walks through a wall. - Bernard Malamud

Things had become way too much lately for X-Ray and Vav. Everything was piling on and they just couldn't seem to get a break. One thing after another came along, and now, here they were, walking behind J-Roll and the ever cranky Agent Burns, in a hallway sickeningly lit with yellow bulbs that washed the white walls with their colour.

Ahead of the two young men the curly haired agent and J-Roll murmured sharply, only small amounts of the conversation being thrown back to the superheroes. What little they caught, the two could tell that it was, yet again, about them. Agent Burns had never approved of the two heroes, their powers or their methods; it was clear in every word he said and every look he threw their way.

There had been an attack at the Friendermen warehouse, the two had been told, and only one survivor. About them they could hear low voices on the other side of the thick doors that lined either side of the corridor, punctuated by the odd yell off defiance.

It was seemingly random when the group halted before a door moments later and the two younger men were fixed with a cutting gaze.

"The survivor's in here." J-Roll announced to them, his voice quiet and serious, his eyes on X-Ray. "Try to be careful."

"We believe he's suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress." Agent Burns cut in, with a voice that could only be called arrogant with its knowledge. Vav's eyes moved about him, from the door to the two agents and back before he nodded and spoke up.

"You can count on us." The slight quiver in his voice was the noise of someone feigning confidence when they had nerves writhing about in their gut. It wasn't exactly the speciality of the superheroes, dealing with delicate matters, but their resolve to find out who was disturbing the peace of Achievement City was much stronger and overruled their lack of comfort.

While J-Roll searched for the key to the room Agent Burns stared them down, his eyes bearing his irritation and tiredness. The jingling of keys and scratching of metal on metal went on for longer than they could bear, and Vav found himself defiantly staring over his large nose at the broad shouldered man.

"Okay, like I said, go easy on the guy." The voice whipped through their competition and drew the looks to him. "You've seen the small evidence we have, this is the only other thing we have to go on and I don't need any of you ruining it with your dumb prejudices." The last few words were aimed by J-Roll at his partner.

With his hand on the key protruding from the lock the tallest of the group looked between the two parties. "Can I count on you to be civil with each other for now?"

"I'm not stupid." Vav began the left corner of his lip twitching up.

"That's debatable." The Brit's partner murmured, his eyes shining with some new found confidence about their situation.

"Hey!" A shoulder nudge and the two had proved the point that they would manage this as long as Agent Burns agreed too. "I'm the brains of this operation; you're just my dolt of a side-kick."

"Whatever you say, buddy." A returned nudge and X-Ray's eyes moved up to J-Roll. "Let's just get this over with; I don't want to deal with this any longer than I have to."

"That is something we can agree on."

"Wait, wait, we don't want to scare the poor sod, maybe just two of us should go in for now?" The high pitched suggestion of Vav had them pausing in consideration.

"Huh, maybe you do have some brains."

"Told you!"

It was agreed on, somehow, that if the two superhero's went in together, only to have the two agents arrive after the survivor would be even more terrified; it was extra authority arriving, and they could tell that it would only scare him even more. It took some talking, but eventually the key was finally turned and J-Roll stepped in with Vav by his side.

Inside was uncomfortable; the light's glow was invasive and attacked all who entered. Before them the survivor sat with his head on the table, wrapped up in his arms as though they could protect him from what he had seen. It didn't look comfortable, but that was probably the last thing on his mind considering he was trembling.

Strips of his not-quite-black hair peeked from between his fingers and Vav easily found himself pitying the man. He could feel the moment out in the hallway fading away and himself sobering up, becoming more serious, and at the moment a lot more sensitive to the events that had occurred. They were cautious in shutting the door. Well, as careful as one could be with a thick, heavy door that led into an interrogation room.

"Your name is Adam, correct?" J-Roll advanced cautiously, pulled out two chairs for himself and Vav to sit on, sitting himself directly opposite the stricken man. His tone was abnormally soft and comforting considering the agent was a guy who normally liked to yell nonsense in his spare time.

He twitched at the words, leaving them to think for a moment that it would be their only response before his head shot up, eyes wide and a gasp escaping his throat. In something of a panic he looked behind him, every which way, rising from his seat and moving with his eyes still on Vav and J-Roll.

"Why do you want to know?" His eyes blinked rapidly, as though trying to rid himself of an image he would rather leave far behind. "He sent you to finish the job didn't he?" The corner provided a nice security. "Well, I won't let you." It certainly seemed as though there wasn't enough fight within him however. The dark circles below his bloodshot eyes and his mussed up hair held balding patches where he must have tugged at it in his fear and frustration.

"We're here to protect you." Vav tapped at his chest, indicating the British flag that identified him as one of the two most famous superheroes in all of Achievement City.

"I don't believe you." He glared, pulling his eyebrows down and crinkling his nose into a snarl, almost animal in his reactions, his immense fear having stripped him of much of his thought processes, reverting his mind to a more primal form.

"Wouldn't we have already done it if that was what we wanted?" J-Roll swooped in and saved the conversation.

There was shifting of eyes and obvious decision making going on in Adams head before his lowered his defences slightly, though the man did remain in his secure little corner with eyes ready to shoot daggers. His arms folded about his torso.

"What do you want?" There was a fear in his defensiveness; his arms quivered in the slightest and his fingers tapped against his skin.

"We just need to talk."

"If this is about what happened I'm not going to say a word." He swallowed harshly, as though he were hiding everything he had seen. His head shook once more and his brown eyes grew shiny. "I can't. I just can't." With his back against the wall he slid down it, once again collapsing in on himself. Arms curled about his head and propped on his knees.

J-Roll and Vav shared a small glance. What were they to do about this guy? Neither of them was good at comforting people or talking, but something had to be done if they were to find out why a whole warehouse of workers turned up dead last night.

"Such big teeth and such red eyes." A mutter left the corner that had two sets of eyes turning back to Adam. "Terrifying, terrifying red eyes. They'll haunt you; stare into your soul." He rocked, forwards and backwards, knees hugged by his arms and head buried.

Unsure of what compelled him to do so Vav moved from his chair and around the table, while behind him he could hear the door open and words were murmured outside of it. He knelt before Adam, peering at him while continued to babble a train of words that he couldn't work out.

"Hey, buddy?" Cautiously Vav reached out to Adam, only to have the man flinch away the second he made contact.

"A wolf?" X-Ray's sudden words made Vav jump slightly and almost topple over.

"What?"

"It sounds like he's talking about a wolf." The Puerto Rican joined the Brit on the floor, crouching before the irrational survivor.

"He's not just a wolf; you didn't see him. He had such red, red eyes and such big, sharp teeth and fur that was made from shadows – it wrapped around you and swallowed you whole. Couldn't see….couldn't breathe."

"Hey," Slowly X-Ray reached his own hand out, and cautiously brought it down onto Adam's shoulder for comfort, as behind them, once more the door opened and closed. The two agents now stood not far away from them, watching. "You're safe now, that wolf can't touch you." Still Adam's body shook, but his rocking ceased, and slowly his head lifted to look at the two superheroes.

"He will find me." When his head lifted his eyes met Vav's directly, and behind the fear that shone at the front; despite it, the Brit could see just a hint of determination, the will to survive this. "He never leaves a job unfinished." Adam's words were just terrified whispers that were almost drowned out by the scratching of pen on paper coming from Agent Burns.

"Who're you talking about?" Vav was the one to ask this question, but it only led to Adam snapping away from the eye contact and shaking his head fervently from side to side. X-Ray drew his hand away, glanced at his partner, the two agents and the shaking man before him. Name? He mouthed to his partner in the next instant, his own face now set in determination.

"Adam."

"Look, we know you're scared and worried that he'll be back to finish the job, but unless you tell us exactly what happened, we" He indicated the room at large "can't do a single thing to help protect you or make sure that he's stopped; whoever it is you're talking about."

"The wolf had such big teeth and red eyes; he was our punishment." Well, it was certainly a start. The noise of the pen scratching slowed, and X-Ray could sense Agent Burns' eyes on him.

"Your punishment for what?" His knees were beginning to ache; this floor wasn't designed for kneeling or sitting on, but if he moved now he might distract Adam or send him spiralling back into the unchecked fear he had moments ago.

Adam shook his head once again and ducked it to tuck it beneath his arms to hide away from the world; away from what happened to him.

"He sent the Enderwolf after us," Though his words were slightly muffled by the way he was hiding, they all caught what he said; the rest of the room seemed to be holding its breath, just waiting to find out the stunning and horrific truth. "Because we didn't want to join him."

They waited, hoping for a name to arise, but all that was left was silence that rang even louder than it should have.

"Adam, look at me." Now it was Vav's turn to be determined to find out the truth. His words were so solid and stable that the black haired man before him just had to comply and catch the Brit's murky green eyes. "Who sent the Enderwolf after you?" The Enderwolf must have been that single image that they caught on the video, and what Adam had described so much and with such fear.

Once again the survivor's head shook in reluctance to share the information, or to rid himself of a terrible thought.

"He-" The words caught and he paused for a moment, as though considering them and their order. "He wanted us to join the Endermen…He used to lead them." The sound of the scratching pen picked up once more and they all knew that things were going on the right track now.

"Who was it?" Vav's words were strangely hushed and reverent. Both of the superheroes could remember that gang and the trouble they caused the duo well.

"Adam, please, we need a name." X-Ray chipped in too, and they both looked to the man in earnest. To be so close and for it to be messed up now because they said the wrong thing or spoke in the wrong tone would be quite the problem.

"He led the Endermen, said he needed members." His eyes fell to his knees and suddenly seemed to find them much more interesting than any of the other four people in the room.

"But what was his name?" Agent Burns' voice was loud and forceful and made Adam shrink backwards, towards the wall again; as though he were trying to phase into it.

Vav had a glare ready to shoot over his shoulder at the curly haired agent who had just messed up the system they had going. His only response was to look at Adam with eyes that could be seen as accusing.

"He's going to have me killed, I just know it. I can sense him coming for me, he's waiting…He's so angry." Adam ducked his head once more and tried to make himself as small as possible. "Please don't let him kill me, my dog won't know what's happened to me, she'll wonder where I am. I can't bear to think of her on her own."

"Adam, if we're going to protect you, we'll need his name." Again, Agent Burns' voice was much too loud and business like for this situation. Sure Vav and J-Roll weren't exactly comfortable with being careful and more sensitive to a person, but they weren't so dense and stupid to talk as though this were a business transaction.

"Such big, big teeth. His eyes were so red and bloody."

"I don't think he's going to tell us." X-Ray glanced between his partner and the two agents.

"His fur was made of shadows; couldn't breathe, couldn't see. Thought I was going to die."

"Maybe we should bring his dog in?" The two superheroes rose from their spot on the floor and made for the door to stretch their stiff legs. It had felt like they were kneeling in front of him for forever. "Get him to loosen up and feel a little safer." A snort sounded behind him as J-Roll turned to lock the door. "What?"

"You two really have no idea how any of this police stuff works, do you?" Vav and X-Ray both turned to face Agent Burns who decided, at that very moment to pull his sunglasses over his eyes, as though they would make him look "cool". "An interrogation does not take place on the floor, I hope you haven't made a habit of talking to everyone like that."

"Aren't you the one that told us he was suffering from PTSD?" Vav's hands actually went to his hips as he looked up at the curly haired agent once more.

"Yeah, you've gotta be careful and sensitive with people suffering from it, not talk to them like you're interrogating a criminal." X-Ray jumped in to Vav's aid immediately.

"I was just trying to get the damn thing over with! You two were taking far too long."

"At least they got something out of him, unlike you." J-Roll turned from the door, spinning the keys about his finger smoothly. "Which we should be focusing on, not fighting about dumb methods." Once again he looked accusingly between the two parties. "It's also getting pretty late; you two should head home and get some rest."

"Oh, but I shouldn't?" J-Roll's partner looked to him irritated.

"No, we've got work to do. " Agent Burns huffed, turned from the group and stormed away down the corridor, his footsteps loud and echoing.

Vav watched him leave, relief seeping freely as the air lifted and became a little less tense with him gone. "Was he always such a huge twat?"