Moises Garcia Jimenez – I can't say if you'll like the rest of what's to come
InvictusValeyard- Thanks bud
Guest- Thanks, and I stole it from the MGSV
He entered the room; the old woman was currently having a talk with Winter. There was an empty set of tea cups on the table near them with a smell of chamomile hanging in the air, seems like the two have been having a good time.
"Hello Mama"
"James, how has my dear boy been?"
"I've been fine mama, I trust you've been getting along with Winter well enough?"
"She's a very good listener" she leant in closer to him, "And quite chatty too, she can't stop singing praises about you"
Winter looked abashed and turned her face to the side, James chuckled, it was not often that Winter ever displayed much emotion and certainly never had she acted embarrassed in front of him.
"Winter why don't you go and take a break for now, I think it's rather neglectful for me as son to not spend time with his mother"
"Are you sure Sir? I don't particularly mind it and Miss Freia is a wonderful companion"
"No, no you take off Frauline, I need to spend time with my boy here"
"As you say, Sir, mam" She gave a crisp salute and walked on out of the door, "It's a rather terrible thing isn't it?"
"Ma?"
"Someone so young will have to shoulder such a heavy burden in the coming future, tell me James why did you choose her?"
"To tell you the truth ma, I don't know... I just had a gut feeling that she would be different from the past ones and I trust her so that's a start"
"Yes but the poor thing is so closed off, she doesn't allow herself to feel at all. The powers of a maiden are strongly connected with her ability to feel, Love, Hate, Sorrow and even anger but that poor girl is afraid to show her feelings and keeps it all bottled up like a soft drink."
"That's why I need you to teach her"
"Enough talk about this maiden mumbo jumbo, how have you really been James?"
"Like I said Mother I'm fine"
"Don't lie to me dear, you should know better than to lie to your own mother" James sighed, the somewhat melding of their souls was not something he liked, too many memories tangling with each other, "Fine, I've been having nightmares"
"Go on, you can tell me everything"
"I feel so... guilty and angry and afraid, everywhere I look I don't know who to trust and then there's that face, that same damn face that I've seen for years, 'Why did you do this? If you weren't here this would have never happened' it's written all over their faces, it isn't their fault that they don't know the truth but it hurts every time they look at me like that, they sit there simply unaware of the looming dangers over everyone's heads"
"You shouldn't worry so much James, I'm sure people will pull through, its part of what makes us human"
"It's precisely their humanity that I'm afraid of, people are selfish Mama, they think about their own before that of the greater good, I'm afraid that they'll turn if they're given the chance, I'm afraid they might sell information, agree to kill someone important because of pettiness and most of all... I'm afraid of myself, afraid that I might be too blinded by myself to see them sneaking in behind me"
"You'll have to learn to take the risk James, learn to trust that they'll pull through for you"
"What if they don't?"
"No one knows what might happen even the next minute, I could drop dead, a bomb could explode out of nowhere, yet we still go forwards. It is because we have trust. Because we have faith, this whole kingdom was founded on trust, do you think the original pioneers knew that they were going to find that much dust here? No, for them it was either have faith and move on or die where they stood, just plant your feet firm and stand your ground, the question is where to plant your feet"
"I can't... I'm just too afraid to take that chance, risking the fate of the world on a two-way bridge of flimsy trust is something I don't think I can convince myself to do"
Freia looked at her son closely; she felt guilt in part, all the faint scars on his face, the fake cybernetic jaw, even his synthesized voice, they all pierced her heart. No mother should have to watch their children suffer like this, she regretted leaving him now. She slowly reached for the side of his face and ran her fingers over it, she wasn't a fool and knew she didn't have long, for now she was trying to memorise the details of his face, her other hand held his human one and clenched it tight.
"My poor boy, I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. It's my fault really, people coming after you because of me was only an excuse I used to justify leaving you behind, I was young and dumb, I wanted to live my life the way I wanted and go on adventures and fight monsters, anything was better than being trapped here in Mantle. Forgive me, I was selfish, I thought too much about myself, about how bad I felt living here that I didn't even consider that I was leaving you behind here"
James felt guilty in part, he had no idea if the real Ironwood was in there somewhere, there was no way to know, this wasn't his birth mother, his mother had brown eyes and died when he was but a freshman in college, and his dad? He was never the same after his mother died, he tried to be there for him and his siblings but he could see the pain in his smile. For now though, he was gonna enjoy this tender moment, both because he had James' memories and that Freia deserved to die happy.
"Ma, that thing was in the past, it's over now, and we have time"
"I told you to stop lying James" she gave a sad smile, "I know I haven't got long, and with the enemy bearing down on us I don't think you have much time left either and you might even have to jump the gun earlier"
"Ma..."
"I've made my peace James, I want to know that you'll be okay I if leave"
"I think I'll be fine, I have to be. I just wish that I had more time, if only the Gods granted us more"
"The Gods do as they will; we have to weather every storm or wave they send at us"
"I suppose"
"Now tell me more about this Glynda woman"
"Maa..."
"What? Can you blame me for being curious?"
"We're co-workers ma, there's an occasional date or dance but other than that it's nothing"
"No wife, no kids, no girlfriend not even a dog and fifty three years old" Freia let out a playful scoff, "You might as well start collecting guns and talk to them like a crazy person"
"Ma..."
"Oh it was an honest joke my boy"
"Anyways ma, why don't you tell me a few stories?"
"Stories?"
"Well we did miss out on years of mother son bonding, and storytelling is supposed to be one of the oldest tricks in the book"
"What book?" James sighed and rubbed his temples, she really did like playing around with him like this, "The metaphorical book of parenting ma, and please don't act senile, it doesn't suit you"
"Well what do you wanna hear about?"
"Let's start with your time as a maiden"
"My time as a maiden? Hmm, yes it should make for some grand tales. Alright then, there was this one time not long I started gaining better control over my powers when Ozpin sends me on this mission... "
Winter looked at them through the observation glass; she would be lying if she said that she wasn't jealous. She noticed how Freia tried to tell the story in way that was pleasing and as exciting as possible despite not being as experienced storyteller and how the General nodded along to every twist and turn in her tales. Maybe it wasn't too late for her to reconnect with her mother? Or even Whitley? But... Whitley hated her and Weiss for leaving him alone with their father.
Maybe it was too late, maybe it was not, but she could never know until she tried. For now all she could do was think up of an apology speech of some sort that could reach out to her mother's ignorant heart or her brother's cold and bitter one.
/-/
Fort Krieg, 0600 hours
"Now listen up here you maggots!" the drill sergeant walked up and down the line with his hands perfectly folded behind his back, "You lot have been chosen for some upper crust science program to create the perfect super soldier"
"As I see you all here right now, I see one thing and one thing only" his voice came out even louder, "I SEE A BUNCH OF GOOD FOR NOTHING GRIMM BAIT, DO YOU GET ME?!"
"WE GET YOU SIR!"
"LOUDER YOU MAGGOTS!"
"WE GET YOU SIR!"
"Good as of now we'll have a little introduction session; I'm Oberst Sigismund Von Blau and I'll be your commanding officer till the day you all retire, die or are kicked out of this unit, do you understand?!"
"Sir Yes Sir"
Sigismund wasn't impressed, not at all. From what he understood, the subjects were chosen on the basis of the amount of their Aura capacity and combat ability, however that meant that some of them were very ill disciplined and cocky, and if what those lab coats told him about their purpose was true than he needed to turn them from a ragtag group that barely trusted each other with their backs turned to people who are willing to dive out to rescue a person without thinking and having faith that his comrades would pull through with cover fire.
"Alright then, line up over there at the observation post" he pointed to a platform of raised earth a few meters away, it was connected to a bunch of wooden palisades, "I'm going to show you what you're going to be doing by the time you leave this fort"
The soldier walked towards the observation post, what they found when they got to it was impressed them, the platform of raised earth and the rest of the palisades gave it a sort of gladiator arena look to it, many of them grumbled and some junior officers grumbled along. Then they noticed the cages being wheeled in by Atlesian Knights, and then they noticed that the cages were rather large and were shaking quite the bit.
"Now if you all will give me your attention here" they all turned to see Oberst Sigismund walking in with bone white armour, and it was different compared to the armour that they were used to, he was carrying a rather strange new gun, it glowed a mix of golden and purple at the barrel.
"This here is a LB-57, or like the lab coats like to call it 'Little Betty'. Now it's an experimental weapon and quite an expensive one to boot and as you may see that it's glowing like a disco light towards the barrel, it's a combination of lighting and gravity dust applied that allows the wielder to use electro magnetism to launch projectiles at a very high velocity" he then inserted an ammo mag.
"For those of you less technically informed out there, it basically means it lets you hit something very, very hard I'll demonstrate now watch"
The moment he said that one of the cages opened and several Grimm came rushing at him; Sigismund stood his ground and squeezed the trigger. Several loud cracks sounded with whooshes following, each round was glowing bright blue and tore through the Grimm easily; in a single minute he eliminated several Alpha level Grimm that would have taken a normal fire team at least five minutes.
"Now on to the next" some of the men had to shake off the awe on their faces before they could actually listen to their new leader "Now listen closely because this one is more important"
He turned around and showed them a small pack, it looked completely normal then two small turbines emerged from it as they briefly glowed and Sigismund immediately shot into the air, the rest of the cages opened and chaos ensued. The Alpha Grimm all headed towards the raised platform where they were standing but were intercepted and torn apart by the same blue bolts, Sigismund landed behind the Grimm and unleashed hell, some of the Grimm were much older, larger and subsequently tougher hence he had to focus fire on them.
As soon as they got closer he jumped, then as he fell downwards four wings immerged from his pack, they were glowing bright purple, Gravity dust. He continued his shots, small precise bursts that split open heads like water melons and shred the smaller Grimm in half. He didn't remain untouched though, an Alpha Beowolf's claws digging through armour, an Ursa managing to grab on and bite onto his leg which he quickly disposed off with a burst from his Little Betty.
All the Grimm but a giant Death stalker was left, the creature's attention was on Sigismund who was not entirely unharmed. His armour had tears and holes here and there, the Grimm charged him once again, Sigismund then made a jump and landed on the back of the Death stalker and pointed his barrel downwards and began shooting once again.
"Sir you've got to get out of there"
Sigismund's LB 57 finally clicked empty, but he was not out of tricks yet, reaching behind him he pulled out two brick like shapes and slammed them into the eyes of the Deathstalker, he then immediately blasted off and the Death stalker rushing after him. Ten seconds later the front of the giant scorpion was destroyed by a huge explosion.
Sigismund boosted himself upwards once again and then extended his grav wings, slowly and surely descending towards a gaggle of soldiers who looked on as if an angel was coming down from the heavens.
"Now that there was a standard horde that professional huntsmen would be able to deal with, but I'll reckon that you'll have to deal with much greater threats" he took his helmet off and now his voice was no longer muffled, "Times have been hard as of recent, the world is in chaos and that means more Grimm and we have to start picking up the slack"
"Why us sir?"
"What do you mean soldier?"
"I meant why us sir? We're just some ordinary blokes who signed up to fight, we haven't trained from our birth and none of us have semblances"
"Because we're here lad and no one else"
/-/
Running a military and an academy is a tiresome thing, trying to change the outcome of the future without making anyone aware that you knew the future even more so. But trying to change the future while running an academy of hormonal teenagers with superpowers and if you add dealing with politicians to that list James was surprised that he was still alive.
He ran through the list again:
Ask the council for an increase in budget
Get someone to invest more heavily in Mantle's other industries (Use Ozpin's emergency funds if you have to)
Start up animal rearing in the empty districts to help increase food supplies
Parley with coastal settlements to provide more food in exchange for more security
Petition the Council for the establishment of a permanent militia in every major settlement (Crucial)
Petition the council for re instating the Atlesian Navy (Optional)
James looked at the list again, even if he couldn't accomplish everything else he had to make sure that he could have the militia tie up loose Grimm packs, relying on the militia to keep law and order would free up the military for more pre emptive strikes to take out small Hordes before they become a big problem. That said he closed the device and rubbed his forehead, he felt a migraine threatening to take over but he would have to power through it, for now he had something else to deal with.
Schnee Manor, 1340 hours
"Welcome sir, can I get you anything?"
"No Klein, thank you"
"I've seen that look before on you face sir, Council problems?"
"The damn politicians won't get off my ass; they all want me to intervene in Mistral"
"The Northern Bandit Tribe Alliance? I've heard that they've actually managed to capture the city of Hanoi"
"Yes and they've got a sort of working air fleet, what about you Klein, any rumors here in the manor?"
Klein had always been friendly towards him, no doubt due to Winter's praise and admiration of him. That had earned him eyes and ears inside the Schnee Manor, he knew for sure that the old Ironwood before his takeover of his body definitely had it out for Jacques and was waiting for the first piece of evidence to draw and quarter the man. Klein looked around to check if there were an ears listening or any cameras around.
"Well the other day two gentlemen came here, they were definitely Mistralian, had Tribal tattoos on their arms. It could be just an assumption but I think the old coot has been sneaking them dust and supplies"
"Interesting, but what does he get out of it?"
"Gold, silver and all other kinds of precious materials that we don't have"
"That's what they offered him?"
"Yes unfortunately I never got to hear if he actually accepted the deal, maybe the Miss has heard more, she's better at things like this than me but... you know how she gets"
Klein led him in towards his office, James had a small hate boiling at the back of his head, Jacques Schnee had been the bane of his existence for years, his rather harsh policies of brutally exploiting the system to use Faunus as what amounted to basically Slave Labour led to the creation of the White Fang then it's radicalisation and their terrorism which furthered the divide between humans and Faunus not to mention got a lot of his students and men killed.
"Yes and make sure that they report on time or I'm cutting their winter bonus, Ah James come in and take a seat"
He sat down in front of his table and put his briefcase on his lap, Jacques was still scrolling through various files and lists no doubt double checking everything to make sure nobody steals even a single Lien from him. His secretary stared at him; the woman personified the "evil henchman" look with her black pencil skirt and her top which looked like a strange combination between a Corset and a jacket, black lickstip and thigh high boots as well.
"Jesus it looks as if she walked out of a Hot Topic"
"Now what can I do for you James"
"I need two of your mines Jacques, they're outside the city, both old and run down" he opened the briefcase and put the map and blueprints on the table.
"Hmph, now why would you need two more forts out there in the middle of nowhere James?"
"If you must know then we need to make up for the slack so far, the world has been truly fucked over, that means expansion, new training grounds, more factories to pump out guns. We desperately need to adapt, and seeing as your side of the Reichstag are hell bent on intervention in Mistral I need the space to train and equip more men"
James showed him the various schematics of the mine from the seventh volume of the show, this was where they were gonna launch rockets. Thankfully Professor Polendina had some basis to work on; Watts had been experimenting with non dust fuels for vehicles as well as alternate propellants for bullets. And as if Lady Luck was smiling on his plans the second area was filled to the brim with minerals besides dust, and for some reason had high amounts of petroleum, which meant more fuels for the rockets.
"But why those two mines of all places?"
"It's out in the open and will definitely draw away Grimm from the local populace and that means more target practice for the troops and more field experience"
"Well I'll give it to you under one condition"
"I think I already know what you want but go on, let's see what you want again this time"
"I'd like you to vote in favour of intervention, no doubt our old Mistralian allies are crying for help once again"
"Hmm, I figured as much, a war means more sales of ammunition for you and more hegemony over the local Dust mines and Triads"
"And it'll allow us to restore our credibility as a nation, you and your men go on a grand Mistralian adventure and earn everyone's trust as restorers of peace and all is fine with the world again"
Jacques then regarded me with old and calculated eyes, no doubt trying to find signs of what I thought of his plans, he was a greedy businessman first and I didn't doubt for a second that he wouldn't think about throwing the lives of his own children on the line in order to save his company. Jacques moved to his cabinet where what appeared to be expensive alcohol with crystal glasses that had the Schnee logo displayed on upon it proudly, he poured two glasses and handed me one, I took it and sipped it, the liquid burned me as it went down my throat but it wasn't something I wasn't used to, it was rather the opposite with James having drunk more in his youth he had good alcohol toleration.
"I have a second offer"
"Oh! Really?" Jacques looked on with interest, "Do go on"
"I'd like you to start selling dust to Menagerie Jacques"
"Now pray tell why would I do that?"
"Because I had a meeting with the upper council, just the three of us and we've decided to open up to Menagerie, mainly to strike the White Fang at their heart and take them out"
"And why would the Chieftain accept our aid, correct me if I'm wrong but last I heard they fought against us for their freedom, Old Nicholas himself saw most of the war with his two eyes during his service in it and said it would take centuries to bridge the gap that has been created"
"Because I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse, add to the fact that Vale was because of the White Fang, huntsmen get respect wherever they go because they fight the monsters so that others don't have to and the Fang attacking a huntsmen academy? Considering the fact that they were responsible of the destruction of one that is situated in a country that strives to treat them equally? It will not sit well with their people either as for Belladonna he believes that Humans and Faunus can co-exist"
"Rather optimistic of him"
"You haven't made his work any easier but yet he hangs on by a thread, so Jacques what do you think?"
"Hmm, let's say I do influence the people I know and I convince them that opening up to 'a zoo of a continent' is in their interests" he made air quotes to emphasize his point, "What guarantee do I have that my cargo will reach there at all?"
"Well what I can offer you in return is this, every speck of Dust that we retrieve from your mines will be delivered directly to you by my engineers, so we provide free labour to you and the Atlesian military will escort every single shipment going to both Mistral and Menagerie till the upcoming conflicts brew over, So what do you say Jacques?"
"My, my, James Ironwood... Starting civil wars on faraway continents to further your agenda? It seems that this pit of snakes has finally corrupted you, anyways I don't see why I shouldn't accept so yes James, and my secretary will clear out the details and give you the paperwork in a few days"
"Don't forget that you were from down there too Jacques, we're similar you and me but the main difference is that when it all comes crashing down and our crimes are revealed I won't be on my own and I'll be the one to die with a smile on my face as I face the executioner's blade"
Jacques scowled, his past as a literal nobody from Mantle who climbed his way up the ranks to becoming one of the most powerful men on the planet is something that he didn't like to discuss. James downed the rest of his drink and went on his way.
"Damn Bastard"
"Blaming him will do no good, yes I'm James Ironwood yes I still exist somewhat and please keep walking on wards, you'll'' arouse suspicion" he did as he was told and continued walking on.
"How long have you been aware?"
"From the moment you woke up, it's just that your knowledge of the future had somewhat... traumatized me"
"Not a very pretty sight I'd imagine"
"No, no it wasn't"
"How much have you seen and how much about me do you know?"
"Let's just say I know enough Vincent"