The ships faded quickly from my view as me and the bot entered a hastily constructed building with the same Atlesian symbol plastered across the double doors it was taking me to. The white walls on the outside were only partially painted and scaffolding from containing the cement mold were still present. A few spotlights outside illuminated the area outside for the guards on the roof.
We pushed through the white doors and I donned my best nervous/confused face. We were in a hallway before the bot pulled me up to a control pad. A single small arm of metal inserted a piece of itself into a hole on the panel and a small discharge went off. The metal doors in front of us slid open and I continued to let myself be dragged inside the nest of my enemies.
The room itself held a chilled temperature of what I guessed was 60 degrees F., close to the conditions of Atlesian buildings I assumed. Two guards in armor had rifles slung across their backs and armed themselves when the PoI bot wheeled us into the room. One of them walked over while the other aimed his rifle at me.
"14326." The guard uttered into the robot after checking something on the back of its head. The cuff released my arm and sucked back into the machine. I rubbed my arm as if the harsh treatment was finally over.
"Would you two mind telling me where I am?" I asked the guard who set me free. He scrutinized me closely before deciding the information couldn't hurt them.
"You're in one of the five Atlesian outposts that are being built for security measures. Do you know why you're here?" He asked me. His words seemed more trusting but his partner had yet to lower his gun. Not that it would have done anything to me. I simply shrugged and tried to look somewhat nervous and confused.
"I'm not sure, but the robot dragged me here so..." I left the sentence hanging and he nodded. His partner looked at him disapprovingly while he explained things to me. "Look kid, we're gonna escort you to the back room where you'll put on these table mounted cuffs. Someone will be in to question you. Follow directions and we won't have any problems."
The guard tapped my arm twice with the barrel of his gun to move the point across that if I tried anything funny he would open fire without missing a beat. I nodded and shuffled my feet in the direction he was tapping me towards. Another hallway and sealing door later I was shoved into a white room with a black camera in one corner and a stainless steel table sitting in the center. On the side closest to me was a pair of cuffs welded and bolted on to the table. These looked much more industrious and resilient than the others. On the far side of the room was another door.
With a disappointed sounding sigh I sat down in a chair next to the table and laid my wrists onto the cuffs. They clamped down and began ratcheting, becoming skin tight in a matter of seconds. They were just loose enough that they didn't cut off much circulation, but still tight enough that you would have to break every bone in your hand to have a chance of getting out.
The room sat quiet aside from me whistling a tune to pass the minutes. I began to wonder how long they would want to hold me here if no one came to question me soon. Perhaps I could over tax the bindings of the cuffs and play off that it was an accident and they would let me leave. I could also just break out and slaughter this whole outpost, black boxes and all. The only issue with that would be the response and the force necessary to destroy black boxes that I couldn't find. There could also be server backups that would render my effort useless.
Luckily for me they did not take all night. An older man with greying hair and fancy clothes from the Victorian Era walked in, though his colors were all white. He held a mug of something in his right hand that he set down before taking a seat. Right away I saw the look of annoyance on his features and he sighed. "Of course. They couldn't tell me your face was stained, could they?" He mumbled to himself.
"What does me being stained have to do with anything?" I asked him. He looked up. "Nothing kid, nothing. That's the only real reason you look anything like our suspect, aside from unlucky genetics." He said.
"Could I see a picture of him? I might be able to help." I asked him. He shook his head. "I doubt you would have seen him and not remembered, but it isn't like showing you will hurt anything." The old man took a photo out of his overcoat and slid it across the table in front of my cuffs. I stared at him for a moment before he realized the problem.
"Right, right. Sorry." He pulled out a remote from another inside pocket and pressed a button. The cuffs ratcheted outwards and clicked open. I pulled my arms out and grabbed the photo. A ripped and bloodied face with pointed teeth and black eyes stared back at me, mid snarl. I put on a shaken expression and slid the picture back over to him.
"I definitely haven't seen anyone like him. Are you sure it isn't a mask?" I asked.
"We're uh, we're looking into that." Yes. This confirmed my suspicion that the soldiers had a hidden camera somewhere on their bodies. I needed more information on just how much they knew.
"Have you tried weapon profiles, searching recent purchases for the object?" I asked him. He shook his head again. "Most of the images were too dark or blurry or blocked by... blood, to be clearly seen. All we know is that it is large and made of what looks to be wrought iron." He said. "Know anything about that?"
"Almost no one makes wrought iron anymore, so maybe try searching for the largest purchase of the stuff as of recent." I offered. In reality this was a goose chase because my sword was not recently made nor was it made near this Vale at all. He took to the idea nicely though.
"Hey, that's pretty smart kid. Where'd you learn to make assumptions like that?" I sat up a little straighter and pretended speaking with pride. "I'm training to be a hunter at Beacon, so it's just one of my skills." I told him.
"A hunter huh? I don't think we collected your name." He said.
"Darren Bentley." I told him. He stood up.
"General Ironwood.
"James Ironwood. Good to meet you." He leaned across the table to shake my hand and I reciprocated. When our hands shook I felt metal under his thin dress glove. Not a weapon or plate of any kind but a metal prosthetic. From the fluidity of his handshake I could surmise that it was quite the impressive piece of hardware, so advanced and contorted to him that I would wager he forgot it wasn't real sometimes.
We sat back down and the General gained a slightly more friendly air around him. "I don't mind telling you what I've told you already as you don't have enough details to scare the public. If you're a hunter, even in training, I'm certain you won't cause trouble with it." He told me.
"So you are expecting e to tell people about this, get eyes out for anyone that looks like that? Not the best idea." I told him. He cocked his head to the side.
"That's right, but I also doubt that who-... Whatever did this didn't know about the cameras, but simply expected them." He told me. I caught another piece of his doubt that what committed the murders was human.
"Still, if he finds out you have any leads, he might still run." I explained. The more I made myself sound like I was on his side, the less he would ever look at me again. After that theory though, he still stayed silent.
"Well, I'll keep an eye and an ear out for your assailant. Can I leave now, sir?" I asked, the taste of giving a lesser man respect turning my mouth bitter. Ironwood stood up once again.
"Go ahead. I've got more important things to do than interrogate a teenager." He told me and left the room. I stood from my chair and exited through the sealed doors that opened as I approached. The guards barely looked at me as I exited the facility and turned down the street.
After the lengthy conversation and long walk the robot had dragged me through, I knew there wouldn't be any ships making any more rounds. I didn't feel like making the climb or having a drawn out glide to the school. After hopping in a taxi with the last of my money from the broken banking machines, I arrived on a road just a few miles out from the edge of the cliffs.
We were a ways from the Emerald Forest and I could see the ocean from where I was. The moon was high in the night sky and the driver was annoyed at having to take all these back roads to put me out here. He complained numerous times about the rocks scratching up the bottom of his car. I tipped more just to shut him up and left the car.
A long stroll through a field with sparse trees and even sparser animals ensued for me as I made my way closer to the school. The lights of campus were originally visible from the road, but now, at the base of the cliff, it was all dark. I scanned my surroundings for anyone that could see me before I erupted my feet into swirling flames.
The thrust of these flames carried me to the top of the cliff in less than a minute. My landing was not soft and cracked the concrete rim I landed on. The pathway to the school was lit by cool white street lamps. There was no one outside at this time. I could see that the light was on inside Ozpin's tower. He was probably unable to sleep well after our encounter and conversation. The old man was probably desperate trying to save his school without causing mass panic.
I moved on from his tower and into the school. The halls were empty of student and staff alike. While the lights were still on, they were dimmed into an energy saving mode. The quiet was actually peaceful in my opinion. I only wondered if my team was still awake, and if they were, had they brought JNPR to wait with them.
I knew that at least two out of the four of them would not come near or support me in any way unless they had to. If their friendship was as deep as RWBY's seemed to be, the other two would soon follow suit. It would most likely end bloody if they tried to challenge me like Jaune had. Maybe if the entire team were to fight me at once I would let them win, but that depended on whether or not Ruby had told them just how fast I was.
The hallway that held our dorms was just as silent as the last I had walked through. I quietly opened the door in case the team was asleep. I didn't exactly feel like answering questions until the morning. To my displeasure the light hit my face and I heard a few metal pieces clatter on the desk to my left. Ruby was working on a half dismantled Crescent Rose, one of her coping mechanisms for stress.
Before I could properly defend myself, Ruby had wrapped me in a hug that would have tackled most people out in the hallway. I stood there, not sure if it would cause tension with her overprotective sister if I faked feelings and reciprocated. I compromised and simply patted her on the back lightly, disgusted yet impressed by how much she actually cared about me.
Ruby removed her head from my chest a second later and wiped a small tear away. "We were worried about you." She told me. I shrugged as if the situation hadn't concerned me.
On the bed behind me, Weiss asked me a question. "How did you manage to get out of there so fast?"
Questions, the most annoying thing I had encountered so far. "I just told Ironwood that I was a hunter in training, and after seeing the wine on my face, he figured out he had the wrong guy." I explained.
"Did he tell you anything about what happened?" Blake asked me.
"Someone with a mask or got to a few people and they haven't been able to find him since. They've got some leads, and I gave him a few ideas, but he would like things kept on the down-low." I told her. Blake nodded and picked up a book to read. Oftentimes I figured this was just a guise to think after I watched her 'read' a few times and her eyes never moved across the pages.
"Well, in any case, you're back. And that's all that matters." I nodded and walked to the bathroom so I could wash the red off my face.
Ozpin
On Ozpin's clockwork desk his scroll vibrated. On the screen the green tinted visage of General Ironwood appeared. With a sigh the professor rubbed his tired eyes and picked up the device. A clear voice with a hint of pride behind it spoke through the speaker. "Have you seen them yet, Oz?"
The professor sighed again as he stood up. "No James, I haven't, but I'm checking out the window now." The grey haired man stayed silent for another few seconds as his eyes saw past blurred vision and locked onto the horizon. Airships and battleships were floating into the skies of Vale. Any other time this happened Ozpin would have criticized his colleague for bringing warships in a time of peace. Now though, they were welcome.
"Do you like what you see Oz?" Ironwood asked. A soft smile spread across Ozpin's face.
"Yes. I know I haven't given you much information on the matter, and this is no small order to be placed on a simple whim. Thank you James." Ozpin replied.
"You've never given me a reason not to trust you. I follow a hunch from you the same as I would a direct order. And anything that can scare you into asking this kind of help, I'm sure you needed it. And well... I had my reasons as well. If anything else, we will simply call it a show of strength from Atlas for the festival." As good a cover as any.
"I hope we won't have to. Maybe though, I may be able to get some sleep tonight." He said.
I hope you enjoyed this one. Leave a review if you've got anything to say, and stay frosty.