"You've never been the Tin Man."
Oscar's young words woke Ironwood from a deep sleep. The man was faced with the rubble of Beacon mixed with that of Atlas.
"Where am I? Am I dead?"
"One day."
"No, I'm dead. I saw it. Penny… Watts… he killed me. I can't be alive. So I'm in hell with you, Oz."
"I'm not Ozpin. I'm just Oscar."
"Why are you here? Do you want to haunt me for what I did to you? Do you want to take revenge?" Ironwood asked, rising to his feet.
"You clench your fists and look at me as if I am your enemy. But now this: I'm not. I'm your friend."
"You barely know me-"
"You too."
Oscar snapped his fingers and suddenly Beacon and Atlas disappeared, giving way to a white, empty and cold dimension. The sounds in there produced powerful echoes.
"You don't know who I am. I'm not Ozpin but you've always seen me as him… just like Qrow, who like you had total trust in me, and I'm sorry I let him down. Just like I let you down. I'm not Ozpin and I understand the mistakes that man made."
"Do you think this will solve everything?"
"I'm not concerned with big changes, but with small ones. I want to help you. That's a small change."
"Do you really want to help the man who killed you?" James asked incredulously.
"Do you really think everything has to end in revenge, James? I don't hate you for what you did to me, I feel sorry for you. That's why I'll not raise weapons, but I'll extend my hand to help you."
"Why? What do you get from it?"
"A friend."
"And what do I do with it?"
"James, you're a strong, courageous man and above all a good man, but you always want to do everything yourself. You always want to exclude others and fight alone. You force yourself to do too much. You have forced your body to be an expendable object, you have never worried about your well-being… and as noble as this is, it's also dangerous. A man like you will never be happy. You're not a man made of tin, you're a human being and like everyone else you have weaknesses and you need friends to help you."
Oscar held out his hand to James and smiling said:
"I want to be your friend."
James slapped the boy's hand. He knelt in front of him and put a hand on his chest.
"I give you my heart, save it for the day I want to cry. Until then I will be the master of my destiny."
"James ... why?"
"Because it's my duty. If I'm wrong, I will solve my mistakes myself. If I'm sick I will heal myself. If I'm cold, I'll warm up by myself. I don't need friends or even your compassion, Oscar."
"So you want to live an unhappy life for the rest of your days?"
"I've never wanted happiness ... but peace and order."
Ironwood stood up.
"James, what would you say if you were dead instead? If you were dead now, would you say the same things? Would you have no regrets?"
Ironwood looked at Oscar and answered with that cold look of his:
"I'm a machine, there's no grave that can keep my body down."
When James opened his eyes the first thing he saw was the monstrous face of a Grimm sniffing him. A shot went off and the beast died. The man, confused, tried to get up but his legs were heavy and his arms were too weak, and he felt he had a light head. A sudden rush of pain, starting from his belly, made his muscles contort and then, when Ironwood saw the blood on his hand, he realized that he would not be able to survive. He smiled with sadness.
"I got it all wrong. I wanted to save the world ... and I condemned it ..."
"Have you finished feeling sorry for yourself?" Blake asked, walking up to him.
"What do you want? Are you here to kill me?"
"Shut up, the way you act bothers me. Now stay still, I have to see the wound."
"Do you have any medical experience?"
"No."
"Then you can go. I don't have much to live, I'm losing too much blood."
"I'll be the one to decide when it's over."
"Why are you helping me?" the man asked, perplexed.
She didn't answer.
"I'm your enemy ..." he added.
"You're a victim."
Blake turned, Penny was lying on the ground behind her and looked dead. Blake walked over to that metal body, shook it a little bit and then asked:
"How do you turn this on?"
"I have no idea ... I didn't build it, don't you know?"
"I just thought you had some instruction manual. Bringing her back will be difficult."
"Better avoid it ..." Ironwood suggested.
"Why?"
"She's now under the control of Watts. Wherever she goes it will be dangerous."
"But we can't leave her in Watts' hands, otherwise he'll take the relic."
"So ... we have to destroy her."
"No. I refuse to do it. We'll find a way to save her."
"How? Pietro is not here and we cannot communicate with him and Watts can take over Penny at any time. Can you counter the powers of a Winter Maiden? I guess not. So taking her with us is nonsense."
Blake was about to get mad at Ironwood but she heard someone approaching. The girl prepared to fight but when she saw that it was Joanna Greenleaf, a member of the Happy Huntresses, she breathed a sigh of relief.
Joanna, seeing Ironwood, took out her weapon and said:
"I was going in search of survivors and look what I found: the greatest refusal of Atlas. Welcome to the real world, General, what brings you to us mortals?"
"Stop!" Blake exclaimed, stepping between Joanna and Ironwood.
"What are you doing, little girl? This is not about you. It's about Mantle and Atlas."
"You can't really think about killing him."
"Why not? The man behind you is a tyrant who abandoned Mantle to die against the Grimms just to save his ass! I'm not going to let such a man live!"
"And do you really think killing him will make you better than him? Ironwood lost. He's no longer in command of the army, now it's Winter who controls the soldiers. If you kill Ironwood you won't solve anything. You will only have killed one man. So put down that weapon."
"Otherwise?"
"I don't want to fight you, but don't make me do it."
"You realize that you're protecting a despot, right?"
"I will not let you kill this man."
"If you put it on these terms ..." Joanna put the weapon away and walked over to Blake. "There will be a trial. This man will be judged by Mantle."