"THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING CAPTAIN?" Ironwood yelled at Ruby. It's always kind of a surreal experience being chewed out in the military. Normally one would argue back and attempt to defend themselves but in the army or any branch you just have to sit , take it all in and wait for permission to speak, even then one must always maintain an air of professionalism when doing so.
Ruby and Jaune are currently standing at parade rest in Ironwood's office in the pentagon. Shoulders squared, standing tall, feet shoulder width apart with their hands clasped behind the arch of their back. They're currently being yelled at by the General for going against the mission boundaries. It was stupid to Ruby in all honesty. One of the first principles they learned in Basic was to never leave a man behind, and in her mind she was upholding this principle.
Ironwood though had laid out specific boundaries of the mission for a reason. It was difficult enough operating in the territory, even more so if the populace believed that they were just going to continue allowing excursions of troops into cities to hunt terrorists without evacuating first. They had to win the hearts and minds of the populace, so situations must be handled very carefully.
At this point Ironwood had been condemning her actions and giving theoreticals of disciplinary actions normally given to grunts but they were a different case. By now he was more calm but still pissed
"You had specific orders and ROEs(Rules of Engagement) for the mission. You were not to go into the town, too many civilians there could have been caught in the crossfire, what have you to say?" he asked with restrained anger clear in his voice.
Ruby took a breath straightened her posture more than it already was and began to choose her words very carefully. "Inside the compound we saw evidence of our informant being compromised, we heard the gunfire and I made the decision to attempt to extract the informant. We could not allow him to fall into enemy hands or to lose any information he had gathered."
The room was filled with dead silence as the General looked over to Arc. He was still stoic and looking forward. DI (Drill Instructor)Johnson made damn sure that he could know how to hold parade rest while being scrutinized. It was always the short DIs that taught the hardest lesson in boot short bastard.
"What about you Captain Arc, what was your role in this...impromptu secondary operation?" Ironwood asked, getting right in front of Jaune. Gods it was boot camp all over. "EVAC would not be possible without her team, I made the decision to go with it as it would have been detrimental to not have." Jaune responded to his facade of stoicism not faltering, continuing to hide his growing anxiety.
The General's hands were tied at this point. Both had reasons and Ozpin would vouch for them. All Ironwood could do was given a verbal lashing and warning. "Next time, ask for operational clearance before engaging in another action like this. Do I make myself clear?" Ironwood said, straining his anger. "Crystal sir," Ruby said, "Dismissed," Ironwood said before returning to his and Jaune saluted before leaving his office.
"I'm surprised he didn't mention your comment you said to Ice Queen, "Jayne said jokingly."Either we're finally warming up Ice Queen or her time in MARSOC training embedded the Marine Motto in her head" Ruby said, returning her joking tone. They entered into the parking garage getting into a loaned black government sedan and leaving for the safe house.
Meanwhile in Syria
"It was like you said the compound was raided all dead, all the information in the compound taken, hell even the kill team sent to the rat's house was killed." Adam said anger clearly in his voice. He loathed working the humans whether it be the religious terrorists or Cinder. Ask him what he thought of her and he would respond with "a crazy bitch". Her only apparent motive was anarchy, but even that was only speculation as she's constantly in contact with her boss. Who this boss is no one knows. All he knows is that he's got a lot dead soldiers and one dead lieutenant
"You should have listened to Adam, but no use in wallowing in the past. We have work to do" Cinder said. She was dressed in desert tan camo with a small flame sewn onto her shoulder.A red shemagh rested around her neck. Adam on the other hand he was wearing OD green cargo pants and shirt with Vietnam era chest rig and a shemagh around his neck as well.
"Whats your plan now a lieutenant is FUCKING DEAD!" Adam yelled in anger "Calm down Adam i have a plan, You keep doing what you're doing here, Torchwick and Neo will cause some trouble elsewhere, otherwise just follow my orders and all will be fine" Cinder said leaving the compound with her shemagh up.
"Crazy fucking bitch" was all Adam said as she left
"Sir what are your orders?" A grunt asked as he walked in "double patrols, increase pressure on the populace and start a larger search among the new recruits for moles and rats" Adam said looking over a map of the area.
"Like actual rat and mole faunus or"
"NO, you idiot double agents" Adam said, throwing an empty water bottle at the door causing the grunt to leave.
"Fucking hate humans"
Meanwhile in Atlas
Atlas, Remnants global super power. The only kingdom with a standing army and the most technologically advanced kingdoms of Remnant. The actual kingdom is literally a floating city in the sky due to advanced gravity dust technology...or so goes the story. In reality a lot of the inner workings and experiments that are performed within the floating city are not seen by the populace of Atlas or Remnant. It just so happens on this day the general of Atlas was visiting one of these classified projects. Nestled in the north facing side of one of the Atleasean mountain range's many mountains, a vast network of tunnels snakes through the inside of the mountain all leading to one center point, a particle accelerator or more accurately a dust accelerator, the was an absolute feat of Atlas engineering. Allowing scientists to fling or shoot dust particles at vast speeds. It was probably one of Atlas's crowning achievements. And thus the good General was there.
"Doctor Gray", the general called out as he entered the front blastdoors of the compound. It was all bare bones with a few dollies laying around and nothing decorating the concrete walls and floors beside the fluorescent lights hanging above and a few yellow arrows painted on the ground. "General Ironwood, it's good to see again." The doctor responded holding out his hand to shake the general's.
Doctor Issac Gray, one of the brightest physicists and overall scientists. The mad man had come up with the idea of a Dust accelerator and presented it to the council about four years ago. The idea was far fetched but his reputation and Ironwood's trust in the doctor's ability was what got him the funding needed. He got lucky in hindsight as if he were a year late to presenting his he would have competed for funding with Dr. Poledina's P.E.N.N.Y project , Dr. Watt's security system, and a multitude of other ingenious scientists.
"I assume we are making great progress since the last test run a few years ago." The General said as they began to walk down the concrete hallway to the ADA-02 and the command center. As they walked a multitude of other scientists could be seen walking by. "Sine our little incident a three years ago the accelerator had to be rebuilt and more precautions had to be put in but overall progress has been good. The estimated top speed has increased by 10% , the walls around the accelerator and command center have increased in thickness by 5 in , and new evacuation and emergency shutdown protocols have been implemented" Dr. Gray said while walking and reading off a scroll tablet.
Once reaching the control room Ironwood gazed upon the new ADA. The thing was essentially a giant mental tube in the shape of a doughnut with a multitude of tubes and gadgets that the General had no clue did. "How long till we can perform the next test?" Ironwood asked not to break his gaze from the Accelerator. "Ahh. well..we will need a few months to prepare but my estimates put it at three months." The doctor said while looking between his tablet and the General "You will have your three months but your dead line is set the second week of the new school year. I want to see the accelerator in action as well as the results before I leave for the Vytal festival" Ironwood said, turning to face the doctor. "Then we shall do our best to have it operational by then." Issac said, getting a nod from the General as he left with his hands clasped behind his back.
As he was walking back his scroll started to ring which was odd, as only a few select numbers were able to call and get through to the compound or any scroll within. As he looked at his scroll seeing an old friend's number.
"Hello Ozpin, Now is not a good time to call," Ironwood said, still walking towards the door. "I assumed so as your secretary said you were out of the office. I hope your not visiting your little science experiment that almost collapsed one of the Atleasan mountains." Ozpin said with his normal calm but with a hint of snark. "Oz the developments being made by this lab could help turn the tide of out fight with the Grimm" Ironwood said becoming defensive, this had become one his many "Magic Bullet" ideas to try and eliminate the Grimm.
"I understand but based off of your previous experiment with it I hold little hope that another disaster might happen." Ozpin said. "Just hold out with me on this idea with this we can create new dust that could possibly help eliminate the Grimm for sure." Ironwood said as if it were obvious. "Possibly is not certain and still leaves room for this to be a major setback." Ozpin said "Unfortunately for you you don't have authority in Atlas" Ironwood said as he approached his Bullhead getting bombarded with snow falling and being blown off the mountain. "Its not me trying to control and stop you. I'm just trying to caution you" Ozpin responded. "We'll see Oz, We'll see," Ironwood responded before boarding and setting off back to Atlas.