First time posting a fic here, so hello!
I got this idea last night, and I had to write it so here you go.
The chapter was not beta'd. If you find any mistakes let me know, and I would appreciate your feedback
Shortly after the Fall- Atlas.
To say that James was ashamed would have been the mother of all understatements.
Never in his life has he experienced such a humiliation. He thought himself a genius. He thought that he knew better. Oh, but how wrong he was.
Because of his hubris and incompetence, one of the four great Kingdoms had lost its capital.
5 days ago, Beacon was overrun by Grimm, and the Kingdom of Vale was on the verge of collapse.
In his juvenile desire to play the hero who protected the weak, he played right into Salem's hands. The great army of Atlas whose sole existence was to protect humanity had been the blade that doomed the citizens of Vale.
What should have been its greatest strength, an army of androids so that human lives were spared the claws of Grimm, had proven itself to be its greatest weakness.
The Atlesian soldiers have been hacked and turned their weapons against the only thing they were supposed to save.
All because he thought he knew better than the man who spends every waking moment of his life planning how to counter Salem and her henchmen. Though, it was 'spent' now.
'And now I can't even apologize for my fuck up.' James thought regretfully, his hands clenched. 'Though, I'm not sure if would face you even if could, Ozpin.'
A lesser man would have taken his life, but he would not. That would have been too easy. All he could is to take this failure as a lesson and a reminder of what was at stake.
So, as James mourned, General Ironwood was in his office working on picking up the pieces and salvaging what could be salvaged.
General Ironwood's eyes were glued to reports on his holographic screen. Reports were coming in from Atlesian military barracks both inside and outside of Atlas. The more he read the better and clearer the picture of the outside world became.
Things were bad and were rapidly becoming worse. Due to Cinder Fall disabling the CCT towers before the collapse of Beacon, most of the population of Remnant had been in the dark of the nightmare that was happening in Beacon at the time. But now several days later, word about the incident spreading around like hot fire.
Soon the entire world would know that Beacon had fallen, and it was the fault of Atlas. The anger of citizens he could handle, but the governments of Mistral and Vacuo, and to a lesser extent Menagerie, were something that he had to deal with immediately. The last thing he needed was for the other kingdoms to see his incompetence as malicious and declare war on Atlas.
He could not allow his failure to lead Remnant into another Great War.
The General raised his head and looked at the other occupants of the room. With him in his office were some of the few people he could still trust, two members of the Ace Ops and Winter. As if feeling his gaze, they turned to face him.
"Elm, I need you to contact the Atlesian Broadcasting Company. Tell them that the General wants to make a statement addressing the citizens. Harriet, you are to bring Doctor Polendina here immediately. The sooner we can start restoring communication with the other kingdoms, the better." Ironwood barked, and immediately his men went to work. He had already sent Clover and Vine to Mistral in order to talk with the Mistrali government. They were unlikely to pacify them, but it would buy him time to fix things in Atlas before going there himself.
However, the biggest obstacle in Atlas was the Schnee Dust Company. As long as he was uncertain how the other kingdom would behave, he could not afford to sell them Dust. An embargo was in order.
Normally, something like this would have needed to be discussed with the CEO of the company. Of course, Jacques would never agree to an embargo.
Fortunately, it seemed that Jacques was unable to run the company at the moment. Two weeks, the head of the Schnee house had fallen ill to a degree that left him stuck in his bed, at least according to what the head butler Sieben had reported. So, as long as he could intimidate the board of directors, it would be fine.
Though he felt bad to do this when an old acquaintance was bedridden, Ironwood really did not want to deal with Jacques' greed now.
"Winter," Ironwood called out to the only other person in the room. Winter perked up at his words, and the absolute trust he saw in her eyes made him feel pathetic. He really was undeserving of his men's loyalty.
"Yes, sir?"
"How is your father's condition?" Ironwood asked and he could see her face change from determined to discomfort.
" Last I hear-!" Before Winter could answer the entire office was shaking from an impact outside. The massive steel door had a large dent in it. Immediately the two got their guards up, and barely a second later the entire door was blown off its hinges, two bodies riding it.
"I told you not to get in my way."
As soon as the dust settled, Ironwood saw his Marrow's body imbued with the door, her aura dissolving in a shower of gold sparks. On his chest was the foot of another person pressing down. Ironwood leveled his gun at the unknown assailant. However, as his eyes caught sight of the white hair he had, James' eyes grew wide. The last person he expected was there.
"Jacques." Said Ironwood in a low tone.
"Speak of the devil, and he shall arrive! Hello, James. Long-time no see." Said the all-too-familiar voice. His eyes towards Winter. "Oh, your lap dog is here, too."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Winter spat with a venomous tone of voice, her saber still pointed towards him. The last person she wanted to see in front of her. ┌┘
"Just paying a visit to an old friend. Or at least, that was the plan, but this mutt…" Jacques emphasized this by increasing the pressure on the huntsman beneath him. "…got in my way."
"Get off him now!" James barked. Jacques merely looked at him for a second, before sighing and jumping off Marrow who dissolved into a coughing fit. Winter quickly went to tend to him.
"Sem-*cough* semblance. Do not.. let him use his semblance!" Marrow cried out to her.
"I need to talk to you in private," Jacques said to the general with a serious tone, ignoring the scene behind him.
"HAVE YOU GONE MAD!?" Winter demanded as she stood up. The famous Schnee Glyphs manifested across the room as she pointed her weapon at her father's back. "Do you think you can just waltz right in and start deman-!"
"[AIR]" said Jacques.
With that sole word uttered by her father, Winter fell to the ground. Ironwood could only stare in shock as the specialist whose strength he knew and vouched for was on her knees struggling to breathe.
"Enough!" he demanded. "We'll talk."
"Good." Jacques closed his eyes. With a snap of his finger, Winter could breathe again.
"Specialist Schnee, take your colleague and leave us alone," Ironwood ordered.
"But sir!" Winter protested.
"Do as you are told, soldier!"
With a heavy heart, Winter picked Marrow and left the office, but not before throwing one last glare in her father's way.
As soon as their forms were far away, Ironwood spoke again. "Have you lost your daman mind, Jacques! "
"Those two are not trustworthy. The moment things go south, they would betray Atlas." Jacques said in a cold tone.
"Do you have any idea what you have done! You barged into a military base and attacked two officers!"
"In self-defense. Both the Dog and Winter were the first to use their Semblances against me." Jacques retorted with an equally loud voice. "But that's not what I'm here for. I'm here to talk to you about your greatest humiliation."
"What are you getting at, Jacques." James gritted out. Second by second, his patience was running thin.
"I'm here to suggest a partnership between the two of us. You are the only person with the influence and power that I can rely on. On the other hand, now that Ozpin is dead, I'm the only man who has the answers you seek."
"And what are these answers that you think I seek?"
Jacques smirked. "Answers about how your army was hacked, about Cinder fall….
..And about Salem."
Short first chapter, I know.
But I had to write something to make sure I commit.