(A/N)- Another Ironwood self insert! we'll see how this one goes

Waking up felt like crap, but when has it not felt like that in the past weeks. Waking up in a body that's not your own, with nearly more than half of your body weight being made up of cybernetics, yes it was indeed crap. He rubbed his chin, it was still gone replaced with another cybernetic, a prosthetic jaw that came with a synthetic tongue that allowed him to taste food somewhat normally, saltiness excluded. Speech was coming slow, his brain and his new cybernetic tongue had not yet synched as well as they should have. Getting up he went towards the small washbasin in his drab and dull apartment that was situated inside the academy, he had giving up on grooming his hair from now on and tried to arrange it as properly as possible.

"Two weeks here, I guess this isn't a dream is it?"

After he was done grooming himself and brushing his teeth he retrieved his uniform, it was clean, neatly pressed and in pristine condition, he put it on and detected the a slight hint of an expensive perfume, it brought a smile to his face.

"I'll have to remember to give a reward to whoever cleaned it" he said to himself, "Now, where did I- Aha!" He retrieved his pistols, Due Process. He had held guns in his previous life, his profession dictated it so, and he holstered them and walked out of his room to start his day.

Reich-stag, 1025 hours

The scene in front of him was things he encountered before, the other three members of the higher council and all the lower politicians and governors of the different sectors of Atlas, Mantle and even some prominent Mayors of well to do frontier settlements and coastal towns, there were shockingly enough a few Faunus sitting amongst them, officially they were allowed to do and own everything that normal citizens could, on the surface at least. There were still several tongue in cheek type of laws placed to either make things harder for them or for businesses or for the rich and powerful to line their pockets with more Lien.

"As you can see Lords and Ladies, while we did have a huge loss in equipment at the Battle of Beacon we did however have a minor amount of casualties in terms of visiting dignitaries, students and military personal" his speech hadn't recovered yet, Dr Polendina was kind enough to hook him up with a voice synthesizer that generated words based on scans of his vocal cords so as to avoid the embarrassment of him having to both lisp and struggle with his words.

"Thanks to you General" that got a few cheers around the seats, a man immediately stood and spoke in an accent that showed his upper class education and accent.

"That maybe so but your failures as a General still cost us Billions of Lien in equipment and embarrassed us on an International stage, but worst of all we have lost credibility. Credibility that cannot be won back, we as a people sacrificed a lot in the Great Industrial Rush to reclaim our place on the international stage" there were a few counter arguments thrown back and forth before a loud banging from Ironwood on his desk brought them back.

"Please, let us have order my lords and ladies" Councilman Sleet stood up from his place, "Let us not forget that it was us who denied the General his chance to fight with both his arms when we neglected to update our decades old mainframe security system" he straightened his tie before sitting again, "I propose we increase the defense budget, we're doing well enough as it is that we can afford it, until the people responsible for the attack on Vale are brought to justice back to you for now General"

"We know very little about the attackers but what we do know is that the woman who most likely coordinated the attack was her" a few taps and swipes and the giant blue screen in front of him changed from a bunch of statistics, photographs and repeating footage to an image of a single young woman, old enough to be a third or fourth year at a huntsmen academy, Mistralian features with bright eyes that resembled lumps of burning coal with Porcelain skin that radiated a velvety smoothness of silk, all in all a beautiful young woman.

"Cinder Fall, as far back as we can find any records of her existence was born in Mistral and then... sold to a hotel here in Atlas where she spent the rest of her adolescence, rumors were that a Huntsman by the name of Rhodes was helping her train and then one day she just snapped, killed the owner and her two daughters only to re-emerge years later at Haven Academy"

"And other suspects include her teammates, Mercury Black son of the legendary assassin Marcus Black, skilled hand to hand fighter who relies mostly on kicks and grabs. Emerald Sushtrai, there's no records of her existence before her appearance at Haven then there's the last one, a criminal and assassin and known associate of Roman Torchwick, Neopolitan, not much is known about her other than the fact that she first appeared when Torchwick hit the peak in his career. She is known to have the ability to mimic anyone's appearance"

There was a great amount more of murmuring amongst many but they quieted down again when Sleet proposed the expansion for the defense budget, it was passed with a three hundred and fifty four to two hundred and forty six, naturally it was passed on the higher council votes as well with his two votes as General and Headmaster. Councilwoman Camila took the floor, but his attention was taken by Sleet when he quietly tapped his pen on his desk whilst gesturing towards him.

"You've gathered quite the following here in the parliament James, and I'd say it was in no small part due to your performance at the Battle of Beacon"

"I did my duty Sleet, nothing more nothing less. I dislike fame really; it draws too much attention to my actions"

"Be careful James, I know you're neither as experienced nor interested in politics as the rest of us, but I'll tell you this one thing, inside the Reich-stag the mob..." he subtly pointed his pen in direction of the various lower council members "Is power, you're on a pedestal now, be careful they don't throw you off it"

The rest of the meeting sped by, but Sleet's words remained on his mind, the mob, the people were what gave them power, public opinion of him had always been sketchy at worst and slightly positive at best. He had knowledge of the oncoming plot, should he change it now that he had a power base to work himself up on? Diverging from the original timeline means that he would have to deal with the countless butterflies that spawn here and there, no; he can't outrun the storm or change its direction.

No the best he could do for now was to brace himself for the storm, he had ideas and knowledge of his own worlds that he could try and implement here, he had two years to prepare before the shitstorm that is team RWBY would arrive and drown Atlas and himself. Right now he had to pay the price for what he had chosen.

"Th-hat w-would that be forty Lien sir and twenty more for the Mango Fruit blast shake" the woman spoke as she slowly put the plastic cup on his table, she was a Faunus, a cat one to be specific, her tone of voice, the redness in her eyes, heavy bags under her eyes and that bony frame suggested that she was either being underpaid or she had a family to support at home so she wasn't spending that much on herself.

"Thank you" he took a gave her the necessary Lien, and then pulled out a five thousand Lien card, the girl looked on confused and it changed the moment he put the card in her pocket. Her eyes nearly burst out of her head, the rest of the people inside the cafe looked at him as if he was mad; the manager looked as if he wanted to shout at the girl for simply accepting but couldn't because the most powerful man in Atlas was sitting at that table.

"Times have been hard for us all, you looked rather tired my dear maybe that could help you out any problems you're having, remember look after yourself" he eyed her name tag, "Rosalina"

He picked up his Mango Blast Shake and walked out the door, Atlas itself was free of snow due to the artificial atmosphere so the weather outside was warm. He continued walking on the road; he liked walking, allowed him to think. People acted in a hush-hush manner when he passed by them, he even managed to find a few of his students... the ones who had survived that is.

The park was unusually quiet but then again most of the people were still in grieving over people they had lost at the battle of Beacon, people he had been responsible for or was it James? Was he James or was he still his past self? How much of the stubborn man was left inside him? His head hurt whenever he tried to work out which is which; his attention was drawn to the sound of boots crunching on the soil.

"General Ironwood, pleased to meet you I-"

"Robyn Hill, your reputation as a huntress precedes you" he stood up and shook the hand she offered, "And these wonderful ladies are your companions I assume... Some of whom were my past students" he eyed Fiona and May.

The women following her looked like a ragtag group of thugs instead of huntresses but their IDs were proof of what they've accomplished, especially considering the fact that huntsmen IDs were constantly updated with completed missions, this was good chance to start prepping for the future, if he built a bridge with Hill now then negotiating with her would be much easier later on. Hill had been quite persistent in trying to get a meeting with him, all those letters and messages and messages and appointments with his secretary.

"So what brings you here Miss Hill?"

"I came to offer my sympathies James; I know that publicly I've never been on a good foot with the higher authorities here in Atlas but seeing you fight the way you did on those cameras, that was mark of real leader and more importantly a good man" that was another thing that Cinder Fall messed up, she connected all the cameras and drones in Vale and live streamed all parts of the battle, perhaps it was out of overconfidence that the Atlesian Forces would fall apart but luckily one of the engineers had managed to jury rig a short wave radio using some of the skyscrapers in Vale, that allowed him to rally his men and coordinate evacuation efforts. "Are you here to offer only condolences or is there something else..."

Hill for her part just sighed and gave a short laugh,

"Quite perceptive of you James, yes I wanted to talk to you about something else"

"I'll humor you, come let's talk on the go"

"I've heard from my sources that you had quite a following inside the Reich stag this morning, the mob have found a new hero to champion"

He scoffed "Hero, that word leaves a bad taste in my mouth" they had made their way out of the park by now and were continuing towards the academy.

"I want you to use your power for once James, you've been sitting on the council for years and have deliberately avoided all talks and council meetings that don't concern you"

"I'm not interested in politics"

"You have the following in the Reich stag James, you have the votes yet you've done very little to change the position of the people for the better other than your own works in the military and the academy"

"Why don't you do it Miss Hill?" the woman stopped in her tracks and turned her head sideways, James rubbed his chin or what was left of it, "Popular Huntress who's a daughter of immigrants from Vacuo, known for charity works, grew up in the slums, graduated at the top of her class in the academy you're practically the ideal people's hero that everyone champions for"

"But the council elections aren't due for five more years"

"That maybe so but the Mayor of Mantle is pretty close to kicking the bucket"

"You're... not wrong" it was pretty much an open secret that Mayor Goldberg was ill and didn't have long to live, even in the council meeting this morning he looked pale and sickly, more so than the average Atlesian.

"I'd suggest you try and build up more of a reputation down in Mantle Miss Hill, the ruling elite won't blink too much about some random huntress trying her hand at becoming Mayor of Mantle it happened in the past and it'll happen again, they're only going to care if you start trying to eliminate things, they'll try to corrupt you with the politics of this pit of vipers"

"If you know what happens in the Reich stag so well then why haven't you done anything about it yet? A man who readily leads his troops on the front line" she walked up close to him, James slowly moved his arm towards his holster but to his surprise there was no dagger or bullet crashing against his aura but Robyn's finger tapping on his artificial chin and then his cybernetic shoulder, "A man who's sacrificed so much for his people just sitting on his ass with the power to bring about real change?"

"People can easily get upset by my use of power, when first started holding the titles of both General and Headmaster there were a lot of concerns regarding my misuse of power and so far I haven't given them anything to bite on yet, nothing that they can use to knock me off my seat then string me up and cut me to pieces"

Robyn Hill was clearly getting frustrated, every argument she threw at him he immediately shot down with a vague answer or some excuse about him being suspected of misuse of power.

"It seems you can't be made to see risk or reason General"

"Yes, perhaps you should be the one to bring about change or as the old saying goes 'Be the change that you want to see' "

Robyn scoffed, she wasn't that interested in politics beyond hearing occasional gossip from her sources and trying to expose the very obviously corrupt politicians. Maybe she was wrong about the General, maybe he wasn't the hero she was hoping for, but it didn't take a genius to figure out that he wasn't wrong about change, her face turned grim when she realized that most of the politicians must have started as normal people wanting doing their jobs before they were tempted and bribed and they gave in to their very human vices.

"I suppose we'll have to part ways here James"

"Yes, I suppose it was cruel of me to keep starving children waiting by keeping you here" he gave a warm smile, it looked morbid and unnatural considering the fact that the lower half of his face was gone Hill for her part was more impressed by the fact that he knew her schedule and was keeping an eye on her, but then again she tended to be a bit hot headed at times, perhaps it was just him making sure that rouge element won't step out of its line, "You're a good person Miss Hill, always have been since the academy days, don't let them steal your heart of gold"

/-/

James was in his office filling out several requisition forms and signing various deals and contracts for more equipment, paperwork was something he always hated. After finishing the last pile of paperwork he then turned and viewed the casualty list, thankfully less than one percent of the visiting students and dignitaries actually died but over thirty percent of them were gravely injured and another twelve percent of them had sustained injuries that would result in permanent disability, he clenched his jaw looking at the various photographs.

An arm cut off at the wrist here, an eye clawed out here and a leg chomped off by a Grimm, the least he could do was provide them compensation in the form of prosthesis or monetary compensation,

"E.V.E" he called out the A.I., a small holographic woman manifested on his desk, she had a head flowing with raven dark hair her eyes glowed much like that of hard light dust, her clothes resembled a stereotypical dress from Classical Roman or Greece consisting of a single flowing robe like dress with a small crown made up of olive branches, while various segments of random code ran up and down her robe.

"Yes General?" her voice sounded much more natural than his own synthesizer's, "Bring up file, Atlas casualties"

"File found and selected, how do you wish to proceed?"

"Run all the names and assign the standard fee or prosthesis for those with permanent disabilities"

"Request acknowledged, anything else General?"

"Yes, please alert Professor Polendina that I'm coming to visit him" he let out a small laugh, "The man hates being bothered in the middle of his work"

E.V.E gave a smile and a curtsy and slowly de-materialized from the projector on his desk, whoever came up with her model knew how to make her as pleasing to the eye as possible, but that means people would draw more attention and people would actually listen to what she has to say. He wasn't sure whether or not he should give her access to everything related to Ozpin and Salem, but for now she helped him micro manage his projects much better.

He walked through the academy with various students giving him a greeting; he replied them in kind with a smile. Atlas academy was strange, it was located right next to the HQ of the Atlesian Armed Forces, one would normally be concerned about some rowdy soldiers bothering what were basically college students but then again most Atlesian soldiers couldn't really stand up to teenagers with superpowers who have trained since their childhood to fight and kill monsters hell bent on killing sentient beings.

He arrived in front of the pristine white doors, the guards immediately saluted him. He entered the room, immediately the eyes of a decapitated Penny were on him,

"Salutations Sir! How have you been this morning?"

"I've been fine Penny, how about you" he put a huge smile on his face; it was nice that she hasn't lost her cheerfulness yet, "I've been feeling absolutely sensational Sir!"

"I have a feeling that you'll be getting on your feet in no time"

"Three days, four hours, twenty minutes and five seconds to be exact... make that four"

"Mind if I take a look at your new head"

"Umm... sure"

James picked her head up and turned it around; there was some decent amount of wiring still exposed by the lack of artificial skin and steel on some parts. It was amazing what Polendina had accomplished, giving an A.I. its own soul? That was some Warhammer level of shit to the admittedly smooth brain of his previous life. This time around he didn't have to use his own soul, mainly because Penny's personality, memories and even her feeling and emotions were somehow written on her core, all it needed to turn into an actual person's soul was "A dash of soul magic" according to the good Professor.

He had gathered people who were on death row and put them in machines similar to the one they had at Beacon, parts of their soul i.e. their Aura was collected and then transferred into her core. Was that unethical? Yes, yes it was, but so was murdering several people, taking and extorting blackmail from innocent frontier settlements and towns that couldn't protect themselves. But part of their Aura was still preserved so the afterlife was still open to them, whether or not they were punished for their crimes depends on the Brother Gods.

"Ah General how may I help you?"

"Oh nothing much Professor, I came for a visit"

"Well, it's a better time than any to show you since you're here, now where in tarnation did I put my scroll?" Penny immediately perked up and then her eyes lit up and she projected holograms from her eyes, "Thank you dear"

James carefully set her hair down, the hologram showed an Atlesian soldier, the only difference was that his breastplate extended down to waist and he had a mouth guard.

"Now your complaints regarding the equipment of your average soldier that I'm working on many weapons that were used in the Faunus revolutionary war were built upon strong concepts and engineering" he tapped Penny on her nose and she gave a short laugh saying how that tickled, she abruptly changed the hologram "The concept of a mass producible exo suits seems so simple that I'm stumped no one had attempted it yet"

"Anyone who has the money to finance development of anything isn't interested unless he can profit from it, simpler things like this are slept on for machines that can extract dust from their ore more efficiently or increased mechanization to cut down on costs on wages and increase production output"

"Ah progress, the double edged sword"

"Progress: The Double Edged Sword was a fictional novel written by an author known only by the name of Lady Lavender; its plot was directed as a criticism of the policies of the Atlesian government during the Great Industrial Rush"

"Penny..." his voice grew slightly stern towards the end

"Umm, apologies father I got carried away being connected to this wide array of information in the database is quite an exhilarating experience"

Peitro's face softened, his daughter's innocent curiosity was still there, the girl with an insatiable desire to learn everything about the world around her, for now he turned his attention back to the task at hand.

"As you can see General, Miss Bree was more than happy to help with the design. This exo-suit as you call it reduces the strain of the equipment on the wearer, allowing them to conserve their energy longer and carry more weight, wear more armor and use heavier equipment"

"What about durability, ease of repairs and ease of manufacturing?"

"It's cheap enough to make, it's simple enough that anyone with minimum field training will be able to repair it on his own as for the power source well it can work for forty eight hours without needing to recharge its batteries, next slide please Penny" Pietro's daughter did as she was told.

"I still don't know why you need things like Jet packs, miniaturized high explosive detonation packs, rail gun... carbines? A normal person would say that you're either preparing for another war and not Grimm invasions or just paranoid but seeing as what happened at the battle of Beacon, I'll have to give the benefit of the doubt"

"We don't have a choice Pietro, as much as we like to brag about our military prowess Atlas has barely been in any shape other than defending against Grimm attacks"

"As for upgrades regarding our air fleet, we've added more fighter type aircraft reminiscent of the ones from the Great War" he motioned his hands outwards and the various models enlarged, "The Atlesian Battleships as you requested now have much more CIWS systems, more air to ground missile systems, air to air missile systems, energy turrets and even bombing bays. As for the carrier types, most of the larger guns and artillery have been removed and more docking and launching bays to deploy fighters from"

"Ground vehicles?"

"I pulled out some experimental prototypes from the Great War and some of the more prominent design, APCs, mobile artillery platforms"

"What about Infantry weapons?" Pietro sighed,

"Yes and that too, Mortars, machine guns of both the heavy and lighter variety, anti material rifles made for specifically penetrating Grimm bone, flamethrowers, man portable rockets and missiles, grenades and grenade launchers and a variety of dust based ammunition as well"

"I have to say Professor" James said as he skimmed through the various models and blueprints, "For someone who doesn't specialize in anything beyond Huntsmen equipment in terms of weaponry, you design some mighty fine guns"

"You know sir, I had some concerns as of recently"

"Yes?"

"The creation of Penny two point o, while I am thankful that you allowed me to continue the project" he moved his hand towards the back of Penny's head and put her in sleep mode, he didn't want her to hear about this "Using someone else's Aura doesn't seem right"

"Your concerns are understandable but we only drained part of their aura not it in its entirety, besides those men were convicts given the death sentence it was me who gave them and convinced you to use them, if anything their blood is on my hands"

"Even if they're convicts with death sentences, it just feels wrong stealing a part of someone's soul, it's what makes them who they"

"True, it does feel wrong" he put his hand on Pietro's shoulder and gave it a light squeeze, "But sometimes someone has to make the hard decisions so that others don't have to, a few must sacrifice themselves so that others may live, that's the creed huntsmen and soldiers have lived with for thousands of years"

"It's also the same excuse they use to justify oppression, murder and genocide by various tyrants and despots, but I can't argue that some of them have done good for their people"

"I'm fairly certain I won't end up like them" James turned Penny on again, she blinked twice and her face twisted into one of confusion as she looked at the two men, "I have people like you and Penny to guide me"

He exited the lab leaving Penny and Pietro in silence, James was unsure how he would go on from there and hard decisions had to be made from time to time, the kind that would make him seem like a power hungry dictator. And he had very little people that he could truly call as friends, and even lesser people who he could call family that would help him to not stray off the path, very few who could remind him that was still good in this rather fucked up world. He felt a vibration move up his jaw and into his ear bone, one of the more "Secret" inventions he asked Professor Polendina to make, it was a James Bond-esque spy tooth that transmitted the audio directly into his ears.

"Sir"

"Yes Winter what is it?"

"Your mother wants to see you"

(A/N) – Expect Bad writing