Interrogation

"Interrogation" is a Season 2 oneshot series written on October 19, 2015. In-universe, it takes place after the Season 1 finale and during the feast in Season 2 before Grey shows up. 
== Summary ==
== Full Text ==
=== Part 1 ===
(Takes place between the Season 1 finale and the feast in Season 2)
As soon as Grey, Kiri, Bree, and Emily retrieved King Haddock, Vox, and Tree, who was just released from the Warden’s possession and led them safely back to Perch Hall, Grey knew immediately what she had to do. She had to interrogate the weapons smugglers, she caught with Greg, Warren, Asha, Nate, and Bree. She did not need an order from the King, especially given the place he was in right now to tell her that. The King entrusted the young woman to lead this mission, and that’s what she was going to do. 
Once everyone was settled at Perch Hall, Grey and Shadow snuck off to the prison where they saw Nate take the criminals to. Both she and Shadow stopped at the doorway leading into the prison and looked at each other. 
“What do you say, girl?” Grey said raising an eyebrow at the Night Fury. “You up for helping get some answers?”
Shadow crooned firmly showing Grey that she was ready for anything. Grey smiled and gently patted Shadow on her head. Then she turned back to the doorway and took a deep breath. This was it. There was no turning back now. Then she walked forward with Shadow in tow.
“Excuse me, gentlemen,” Grey said trying to sound as confident as possible. 
“What can we do for you, Grey?” one of the guards asked casually. 
“I’m here to interrogate the smugglers we captured earlier,” Grey said. “Where did Nate take them?”
“They’re in the first cell on the right,” the guard said stepping aside to let the young woman in. 
“Great! Thanks, guys!” Grey said happily. She was about to walk in when she stopped and looked at the two guards. “Wait…you mean to tell me that you put some dangerous criminals, who smuggled weapons from our camp in the exact same cell….together?”
“Yeah,” the second guard replied shrugging. “Why? Is that bad?”
“I’m…not even going to answer that,” Grey said as she walked past them with Shadow behind her leaving the two guards to look at each other and simply shrug. “Alright, girl, clearly we have some idiot guards here,” Grey added once the guards were out of earshot, “so these guys will clearly think we’re bluffing. So you got to really help me out in there, got it?”
Shadow crooned firmly with a look of determination.
“Now, remember, we’re not killing them,” Grey said. “We’re just asking questions and threatening them if they don’t fess up. They may be thieves, but they’re still human.”
Shadow crooned again, and with that, Grey led them down the hall until they came to the first cell on the right. Inside were the familiar faces of the smuggled weapons thieves. Grey glared only to change it into a smirk when she saw that they were still hungover. She then took out her sword and banged it on the bars of the prison cell.
“Look alive, boys!” Grey said firmly as another guard unlocked the door to let her and Shadow in. “It’s time you fess up!”
=== Part 2 ===
All of the prisoners moaned as Grey shouted at them to wake them up. The young woman watched as their eyes fluttered open groggily. She didn’t say anything yet. She merely waited until they finished processing their surroundings and laid eyes on her and Shadow. They were all chained to the wall, which made Grey feel a little bit better about them being in a cell together, but that didn’t take away much from the fact that they could still cause trouble. She merely shook it off for now as they looked around to take in their surroundings clearly trying to process it all.
Finally one of them, the one she and Warren singled out as the leader, finally looked up at her and glared after a minute or two. 
“Hey…I know you!” the leader said. “You’re one of the bratty rebels who captured us!”
“Got that right,” Grey said smirking at the men, “and now…you are going to answer my questions. Fess up, and maybe…maybe…I’ll convince His Majesty King Haddock to go easy on your punishments, we clear?”
All of the thieves groaned and rolled their eyes.
“Aw look, boys,” one of the thieves, a woman in her 30s, “she’s actually trying to be tough.” 
The young woman glared at the woman. “You know you might want to be careful there, lady,” she said. “I have a Night Fury,” she threw a thumb over her shoulder at Shadow, “and I’m not afraid to sic her on you guys.”
As if on cue, Shadow stepped toward the barred door of the cell and growled at the weapons smugglers causing them to shrink back slightly. It was easy to see that they were getting nervous, which was good. If they were nervous and saw that she wasn’t bluffing, they would be more willing to cooperate. At least, that’s what her father had told her. 
“Look, there doesn’t have to be any sort of trouble,” Grey said holding her hands up. “I just want to ask you guys a few questions, and if you answer them, my Night Fury won’t touch you. So, who are you guys?”
“Oh, well, that’s easy,” another weapons smuggler-another man replied, “we’re from the land of nun-ya…as in,” he glared, “none of your business!”
Grey glared at the criminal as he and his lackeys laughed at her; she and Shadow looked at each other and then back at the weapons smugglers. Then she had an idea to perhaps scare them into telling her the truth. Her father had told her stories where he and the Chief had to take some measures to get war criminals or traitors to tell them the truth during interrogation. Plus, these guys needed to know that she wasn’t kidding around. 
The young woman finally grabbed the keys hanging on the hook near their cell…as she noted that she really needed to speak to Haddock about possibly training the guards…and making new prison cells. She then unlocked the cell door and opened it quickly slipping in and closing it behind her. The prisoners might have chained, but they could still try something to escape. 
Shadow emitted a low growl at the criminals, but Grey placed a hand on her head petting her. “Easy there, girl,” she said. “Let’s not do anything crazy…yet.”
“Oh, please,” the woman said rolling her eyes. “What could a bratty kid and a stupid dragon do to get us to talk?”
“Well, we did manage to capture you and bring you back to our camp, so…” Grey said shrugging. “Now, I don’t want to have to do anything here, so…I’m going to ask you again…who are you guys?”
Instead of responding, one of the men simply looked at her and spat out a loogie at her feet. Grey simply stared at it and sighed in frustration, and she finally looked at Shadow and nodded. The Night Fury smirked at her rider and stared down at the criminals with her eyes narrowed into slits and her teeth unsheathed slowly stepping toward them. Thankfully, they seemed to notice the dragon advancing threateningly toward them and began to feel a bit uneasy seeing the Night Fury ready to attack. 
“Now, we can do this the easy way…or the hard way,” Grey said. “I hate to tell you, but my dragon here has a bit of a temper, especially when the bad guys don’t cooperate. So…I may not be able to keep her in check if you guys make her mad, or you could try to answer my question. The choice is yours.”
=== Part 3 ===
For a minute, the five criminals seemed genuinely afraid as Shadow approached them ready to attack should they not cooperate and tell them what Grey needed to know. Finally, it seemed like that they would actually take her seriously during this interrogation as they looked up at Grey and nodded, so Grey placed her hand on Shadow patting her head and smiling at the Night Fury silently telling her that she did great and could back down. Shadow did as her rider asked and slowly backed away while still keeping an eye on the smugglers in case they tried something in return.
“Good, glad we understand each other,” Grey said smirking at the prisoners. “Now, if I remember correctly and–please, stop me if I’m wrong at all–when my friends and I captured you guys…we found you at an abandoned outpost not too far from here…an outpost with the High Central logo on the flags and the tents. So, I ask you again…who are you guys?”
One of the men of the group–Dreng–finally sighed in defeat not believing that he and his comrades were resorted to this…tied up in a prison after being captured by those brats in the Grounded Dungeon and questioned by one of them and her dragon. Although…there was something odd about this girl and a few of the others that captured them. They were clearly affiliated with the rebels from the dungeon, but…he didn’t remember seeing this girl or her comrades–he was pretty sure he saw a half-breed among them–amongst the many prisoners in the dungeon. Who was she? Where did she come from?
His thoughts were interrupted when he noticed the Night Fury glaring at them intensely still looking ready to pounce. “Fine…we’re–” 
“Don’t even think about it, Dreng!” one of his comrades–Finngard–shouted cutting him off. “You can’t just give us up like that!” 
“Finngard, do you not see the Night Fury staring at us…ready to attack?!” Dreng shouted back. 
“Yeah, Finngard, do you not see the Night Fury staring at you?” Grey asked calmly. However, she was silently wishing that the guards had the brains to keep these guys separate; yes, they were teenagers–in fact, she was sure without a doubt that she, King Haddock, and a handful of others were the oldest amongst the rebellion. She didn’t have a chance to ask, but she had a feeling that her new friends Warren, Greg, and Asha couldn’t have been older than 17 or 18 years. So, of course, they wouldn’t know better, but still…she was getting somewhere with this Dreng guy. 
“Oh, please, you really think we can’t see through your bluffing?” Finngard sneered at her. “I’ve been trained to handle interrogations for a long time, kid. If you truly meant what you said, your dragon would’ve done more than just growl at us. You’re afraid to do anything to us, and if you weren’t bluffing, you would’ve had no problem–”
SNAP! Shadow suddenly jumped forward snapping her teeth just a few inches away from Finngard’s face causing him to jump back in fear.
“I’m sorry, you were saying…?” Grey asked smirking at her dragon silently thanking her for backing up her threat. She couldn’t let them sense any weakness in her, or they would never take her seriously. 
Shadow growled furiously at the criminals making them jump back in fear.
“Thanks, Shadow,” Grey said with pride as Shadow continued to stare their prisoners down. “Now, back to business, I believe your friend Dreng was about to tell me who you were, so I think it would be in everyone’s best interest not to interrupt.”
Dreng sighed. There was no way out of this now. “Okay, fine, we’re High Central soldiers, kid,” he finally said after a moment of silence. “That’s why you found us at that outpost.”
Grey felt her stomach drop. She had a feeling that that was going to be the answer, but it was still disturbing that there were soldiers still possibly running around in this area. Not to mention that these guys didn’t look like soliders…they were in ragged clothes…not those intimidating armor uniforms that people, specifically half-breeds had come to fear over the past few years. She wanted to urge the man to continue, but he beat her to it. 
“That outpost was how we were able to get supplies from home base to where we were stationed,” Dreng continued. 
“And…where were you stationed exactly?” the young woman asked…even though she felt as if she already knew the answer. 
“…The Grounded Dungeon,” he finally replied.
=== Part 4 ===
Both Grey and Shadow’s faces fell as soon as they heard Dreng explain where they were stationed. These criminals had been stationed at the Grounded Dungeon…the same dungeon not too far from here…the same dungeon that all these rebels with the exception of her, Greg, Warren, and Asha (as far as she knew) escaped from not too long ago. She had a feeling that that was the case when she first saw these guys, but that still didn’t mean it wasn’t shocking to hear.
“So…you’re a few of the guards in that Dungeon?” Grey finally asked. 
“Yeah, we were…until you and your friends broke out of the dungeon and started that infernal rebellion,” the woman spoke up. 
“Oh, well, actually, I–” she stopped herself and shook her head. This was not the time to discuss technicalities regarding whether or not she was a prisoner in the Grounded Dungeon. “But I don’t understand something. Why were you still hanging around the area? Wouldn’t you just run back to your bosses at your base?”
“Yeah…and risk our necks telling our bosses that we managed to lose an entire group of kids when the dungeon was guarded by a powerful demon? Sure, that will work out real well for us,” Dreng retorted sarcastically. “We smuggled those weapons to raise some bucks to get the Hel out of dodge…until you and your friends ruined that for us.”
Grey and Shadow looked at each other again as Dreng spoke about the demon. Of course, Ingrid confirmed the rumors regarding a demon guarding the dungeon when they first arrived to the rebel camp, but this only proved that the guards also knew that the Warden was guarding the Grounded Dungeon, which could only mean… She thought back to her conversation with Ingrid Rehan.
“Well…I…I don’t know. I…didn’t really think that far ahead. I mean, it seems all you guys are doing okay. I originally planned to stick around for a while to help you all get settled back into your homes…or wherever you guys decided to go, but even then I wasn’t sure how long I would be away from home.”
“Oh, about that…I haven’t talked to many people about it, but it seems that our memories have been more or less altered. There are some things we don’t remember, such as what we did to get sent to the dungeon in the first place. I remember my parents, but not what they did for a living, nor what I’ve been doing for the past five years. And a few others remember even less. So…I’m not sure if all of us can find our homes again.”
She was about to ask about what Ingrid had told her, but immediately decided against it. As far as these guys were concerned, she was just one of the prisoners in the Dungeon, and that would mean giving herself up if they realized that she was never a prisoner and came from the outside. Besides, she still needed to focus on the task at hand: interrogating these guys. 
“So, this was a win-win for you,” she said raising an eyebrow. “Weaken the rebellion by taking away our weapons and make a quick buck to get as far away from your bosses as possible by selling them.”
“Wow…nothing gets by you…” another smuggler added with sarcasm in his voice.
The young woman couldn’t help but growl under her breath in frustration. Their sarcasm was really starting to bug her, but just as her father told her when training her, she kept calm refusing to let the smugglers have the satisfaction of knowing that they were getting to her. Instead she nodded trying to think of anything else to ask these criminals, but instead, she decided that she got enough information…more than enough to tell King Haddock what she learned about the smugglers. 
“Well, then, I’m going to have to speak the King about this,” she finally said. “We have more than enough information to discuss punishment. Come on, Shadow…we have a feast to celebrate. After all” she looked at the smugglers with a smirk, “we don’t have to worry about the Warden anymore.” She was about to leave when something kept nagging at her, so before she opened the door, she stopped and turned around to face them knowing that she had to find out…for Ingrid’s sake. “Let me ask you one more thing…Why…why is it that…some of us can’t remember who our families are, where we come from…or what we did to get in the Dungeon in the first place?”
“Uhh…” Dreng was about to say. 
“Hey, Grey!” someone shouted. It was one of the guards, who was off duty for the night. “You got to come to the Great Hall for this feast! You’re missing the fun!”
“Uh, well, as tempting as that sounds, I’m–”
“No, I’m serious!” he said opening the door and dragging her out closing the door behind them and Shadow. “You got to come! Everyone is sooooo drunk! Some dragon lady just threw a fish at King Haddock! The guy got so pissed!”
Grey stared at the guard with widened brown eyes and then looked at Shadow and back at the guard. “Well, that sounds…interesting…?” she said. “Alright, you know what? We’ll come. I need to talk to him anyway.” She quickly turned around and locked the door to the cell and then followed the guard to the Hall with her Night Fury in tow.
Category:Events
Category:Season 2
Category:Grey Bergman
Category:Shadow
Category:BOTGD