James Ironwood put his feet on the ground and ordered the soldiers who were with him to plant the bomb. Cinder Fall, with a grin on her face, asked:
"What are you going to do, my dear? Do you want to commit suicide? I'm okay with that"
"Tch! With that bomb I'll end all this: you ... the relic ... and this war."
"I'm sorry, I can't let you do that," Winter intervened, drawing her sword.
"So what are you supposed to be? My ally?" Cinder asked the girl.
"You can forget about it. I will stop him and kill you."
"You don't have to do it Winter," Ironwood said regretfully.
"I have to. You've been my commander, you've been my light ... but you have lost your way and it's my duty to put an end to this madness."
"Don't you understand, Winter? I'm trying to save the world."
"You're wrong and you're not realizing it. With that bomb you won't solve anything. Do you remember what you told me the day before Beacon fell? 'Burning a house doesn't solve problems in its foundations'."
"Things have changed, Winter ..." he said gravely.
"You're changed."
At that moment a crow was heard croaking and Qrow Branwen appeared, with the scythe in his hand. He looked Ironwood straight into his eyes.
"I know your plan, Jimmy, and I won't let you activate the fucking bomb."
"So you want to stop me too, Qrow?"
"No, I want to kill you."
"Don't try, Qrow," Winter said pointing the blade at the man. "You will not kill anyone otherwise you will face me."
"Oh, no… poor me! The Ice Queen is threatening me!" he exclaimed sarcastically. "Get out of here, woman. This is not your fight."
Cinder Fall, without the slightest warning, launched a fireball at Winter then summoned several ice bullets and hurled them at the two men; Qrow used the scythe to stop the bullets while Ironwood directly attacked the woman and punched her. Cinder fell backwards and Winter used that opportunity to try to stab her. Cinder, as elusive as a mouse, managed to avoid the blow and with a wind of fire repelled the three opponents.
Winter used a glyph to increase Ironwood's movement speed; the man fired with such rapidity that it forced Cinder to let her guard down and then Qrow intervened and hit her several times with the scythe.
As soon as the woman fell to the ground, Qrow turned and shot Ironwood with his weapon, the latter dodged the bullet.
There was a moment of silence. Ironwood looked at Winter. They both shot a fiery glance at Qrow.
The two attacked Qrow in unison. Qrow was able to parry the blows of both of them and, after hitting James with a kick, began to duel with Winter. At first Qrow seemed to have the advantage but Winter then started using summons and, with the help of a huge boar, hurled Qrow against Ironwood's fist.
Cinder Fall struck Ironwood in the back with a fireball and then set off a wall of ice to protect herself from the boar's charge.
Qrow, who had just recovered, cut the ice wall in two and allowed the creature summoned by Winter to strike Cinder. The woman fell to her feet but, as she lifted her head, she found herself in front of the sole of Ironwood's boot.
Cinder was knocked out again and when Ironwood turned around he was immediately attacked by Qrow. The two men exchanged several blows and eventually Cinder Fall attacked them both with powerful fireballs.
Winter used a glyph to speed up her movements and struck a hundred swings within seconds. Cinder, at the mercy of her opponent, couldn't help but step back and do everything possible to defend herself; but she was taken by surprise by Nora who, with a powerful blow from the hammer, threw her against the wall.
"This is for Jaune, you bitch!"
"Do you really want to risk your life for that blondie? Pathetic."
Cinder, infuriated, generated a powerful tornado of fire with which she tried to hit Nora; but she ended up missing her target and instead she attacked both Qrow and Ironwood, causing them to fall into the void.
When the pilot of the aircraft, Ian, realized what had happened, he moved to try to prevent Ironwood's death. He positioned the craft under the two men so that they fell over the roof; Cinder intervened and hit the vehicle's engines with a spear made of ice. The aircraft began to lose altitude.
The two men, still above the aircraft, continued to beat each other while inside, Ian, tried to make an emergency landing.
"Here we are!" exclaimed the man when he managed, with the help of a good dose of luck, to land the aircraft safely under Atlas.
"You did a great job, Ian!" Kent exclaimed, patting him on the shoulder.
"Really good work, yes," said Laberge. "But now what do we do? The bomb is planted, right?" he added.
"It's all in Ironwood's hands now," Covell replied.
Outside the aircraft the two men were still fighting.
Neither was going to let the other triumph.
"Stop fighting, Qrow! Don't you understand that I want to save the world?!" Ironwood exclaimed wearily.
"You just want to destroy everything! When will this madness end, James? All these sacrifices you are making are leading to nothing! But do you know what's the worst? It's that you somehow managed to influence Ruby to the point that you made her a bad person!"
"So now you accuse me of this?!" Ironwood hit Qrow. "First Clover… and now Ruby?! When will you learn to take some responsibility?! When will you grow up?!"
"I didn't do anything to Ruby! It's not my fault that she's like you, now!" Qrow hit Ironwood. "You changed her! You made her feel bad about herself!"
The two men hit each other. They both took steps back.
"Qrow…" Ironwood grumbled breathlessly "… it's always been your fault, but you just can't accept it. Just like with Clover… you refuse to accept your responsibilities. It's you who have been unable to be a good example for her. It's not my fault that she has decided to follow my example ... who would ever want to be like you? Who would ever want to be a poor man who drowns his problems in a bottle of beer? Who would ever want to be a coward who refuses all responsibility?"
"Ah!" Qrow exclaimed pointing the weapon at his enemy "Don't pretend to be superior to me! You yourself abandoned your role as General to leave it to Winter! What is this, James? Is it being responsible? No, I don't think so. You ran away from your responsibilities and, now, you want to be the 'superhero of the moment'. You think you can save people with your extreme gestures but what you are really doing is making this world a worse place for all of us."
Ironwood fired. Qrow deflected the bullet with the blade.
"You're not a hero, James ... you're just a criminal who thinks he's right."
Qrow tried to hit Ironwood but the latter dodged the scythe and counterattacked with a kick. Qrow fell to the ground.
"Then that means I'm like you," Ironwood concluded with a sadly tinged smile.
"There's only one difference, James: I will live."
"Likely, however…" Ironwood took out a small white device that was shaped like a drop. "... I will not die without having done my duty."
Qrow, seeing the button on that device, quickly realized that it must somehow be connected to the bomb that had been placed.
"Do you really think it will work, James? What makes you believe that Winter or someone else didn't disarm that bomb?" Qrow's expression was victorious.
"Because it is impossible. If you try to destroy the bomb then it explodes. If you try to disarm it, without having the right experience, then it explodes."
The news wiped the triumphant grimace from Qrow's face.
"You see," said Ironwood, "I think you're right: I'm a villain in a hero's guise. But so what? In the end, what matters is that we would never have come to this if you had trusted me… we never would have come to this if Ozpin hadn't lied to me. You were the architects of your own defeat. Ever since team RWBY decided to lie to me … it made all the chaos that followed inevitable. If I'm a criminal, what are you?"
"Let me guess ... do you want to brand us as enemies of the world?"
"No, Qrow. I know my enemies. My enemies act in a coherent and organized way. I understand my enemies. If I see them I can recognize them. You're not enemies, in fact you're not even evil ... you're just a joker."
"A joker?" he asked confused.
"You don't have a role, you don't have a definite position, you don't even have ideologies. By now I consider you little more than a bad joke ... a ridiculous twist of fate."
"You can think what you want, James, anyway I won't let you push that fucking button." Qrow prepared to attack Ironwood.
Ironwood dodged Qrow's blow; he took out his gun and shot his rival, breaking his aura. Ironwood aimed the weapon at Qrow. He pulled the trigger.
Nothing. No shot went off.
"Look at that, it seems luck is on your side this time." Ironwood then raised his head and murmured these words: "I'm sorry, Winter, but you will have to sacrifice yourself for the greater good."
He pushed the button and closed his eyes.
...
….
He opened his eyes. Atlas was still there. He hit the button again. He shook his head slightly with his mouth half open and his eyes wide open. He pressed the button harder. He pressed it again. Again. Again. He pressed it again. His eyes, turned to Atlas, became clear. He kept pressing that button. His expression, first calm, twisted with sadness. His body, which had endured an entire war, suddenly became weaker and the man fell to his knees. He kept pushing that button, waiting, heart pounding, for that single and final explosion.
His gaze, glued to Atlas, got wet. He pushed the button again. He prayed, with words very difficult to hear, for the explosion to arrive, he seemed to speak to himself. He shook his head. He bowed his head.
"FUCK!" he screamed with inhuman energy.
He threw the device on the ground and bent over.
A slight itch slipped from the eye and crossed the cheek. The wet and subtle afflictions broke the banks and, like furious torrents, passed the cheeks of that man. He let out a silent moan, opening his mouth wide, and then came a strangled cry of agony. With his hands he squeezed both arms and bent so close to the ground with his head.
The sobbing of that big man made even Qrow uncomfortable. However, he didn't dare to approach him to comfort him. He took his weapon and sheathed it.
"It's not worth it ..." Qrow muttered. "You lose. What a pathetic man that you are."
The man raised his head towards the floating city and breathed a sigh of relief. But then he remembered something important: Ironwood had said that the only way to disarm that weapon was to have excellent computer skills. Only one man possessed that knowledge.
"No … shit!"
Qrow transformed into a bird and flew to Atlas in a hurry.