Rwby: A Gutsy world
Trigger warning: Standard trigger warning it is berserk. If you don't like don't read. This is berserk after all.
Note because FFN doesn't allow highlights anything is [] should be considered Inked
With that over with I give you
Chapter 24
(James)
From the middle of the arena, James Ironwood stares up at Arthur Watts, who is standing on a platform in one of the four gravity biomes. A lava geyser shoots up from the fire biome to the left behind Ironwood, and another shoots up from the one to the right of the gravity biome Watts is in. Watts aims his revolver at Ironwood, who draws his black revolver and aims it behind himself. Watts pulls back his gun's hammer.
Watts counts out loud "Nineteen."
Ironwood fires a Gravity Dust bullet from his black gun, launching himself toward the gravity biome. Watts fires his gun at Ironwood, who shoots a Gravity Dust bullet to the side to dodge it. Ironwood then fires yet another Gravity Dust bullet to put himself back on course toward the gravity biome. Once he gets near Watts, he fires yet another Gravity Dust bullet to his left, sending him toward a floating wall on his right, which he kicks off of to put himself in the air above Watts. Not expecting this move, Watts had begun to aim his revolver at Ironwood and instead ended up looking up at him in surprise before jumping away just as Ironwood comes down and punches with his right hand. The punch connects with the floor, and as Ironwood stands back up, he tosses his black revolver into the air and catches it by the muzzle, having flipped it around.
Watts once again attempts to aim at Ironwood, but Ironwood swings the handle of his revolver at Watts' face. Watts leans back to dodge, leaving an opening for Ironwood to punch him in the diaphragm. While Watts is still in the air, Ironwood spins around and kicks him in the gut, sending him flying across a gap to another platform. Watts rights himself in mid-air and lands on his toes, sliding backward. He barely manages to lean his torso to the side to dodge a normal bullet fired by Ironwood. He then blocks two more normal bullets with a Hard-Light shield deployed from his rings. He aims his gun at Ironwood.
Watts panted "Eighteen."
Watts fires and then activates one of his rings. Ironwood dives and rolls out of the way of the Electricity Dust bullet that Watts had fired at him. He gets up in a kneeling position and aims his white revolver at Watts, but there is a dull ping noise, followed by the gravity around Ironwood changing to levitate him into the air. There is another dull ping, and Ironwood is slammed into a floating wall.
Ironwood groans in pain "Ah!"
Watts smirks and runs away, jumping to another platform, and Ironwood gets up and gives chase along the floating walls. There is another dull ping, and Ironwood begins to fall from the wall he is standing on. He fires a Gravity Dust bullet from his black gun to throw himself onto the adjacent platform and rolls across the floor. The force of the Gravity Dust bullet proves to be a little too much, as Ironwood stumbles over to the edge once he gets on his feet. As he teeters on the edge, he fires his white revolver, using the recoil to steady himself and keep himself on the platform.
Watts creates small Hard-Light platforms to traverse over the sunken geyser biome toward another gravity biome. Ironwood follows him across, barely managing to make it from one Hard-Light platform to another before they disappear. He fires his white gun at Watts, who activates one of his rings, triggering a geyser beneath Ironwood. Ironwood cries out as the boiling water hits him and throws him to the side.
As he falls, Ironwood aims his black gun below him and fires a Gravity Dust bullet, sending him flying back up into the air to land in the gravity biome that Watts had fled to. He runs up a wall and onto the underside of a platform. He and Watts run parallel with one another, firing normal bullets at each other, with Ironwood using his white gun to shoot and Watts using his Hard-Light shield to defend. Watts shoots two Fire Dust bullets at Ironwood. The first bullet misses, but the second bullet hits, causing Ironwood's Aura to flicker.
Watts hissed as he fired "Fourteen, thirteen."
Ironwood leaps across the gap toward Watts, who activates one of his rings, causing Ironwood to fall down to the platform below. As he falls, Ironwood uses his black gun to fire a Gravity Dust bullet, which hits Watts, knocking him off his platform and into a wall. Ironwood lands on his feet, while Watts falls along the wall, landing on his shoulder on the platform that Ironwood is on.
While Watts starts to get up on his hands and knees, Ironwood holsters his revolvers, walks over and kicks him in the gut, knocking him into the wall. Watts lands on his feet, just in time for Ironwood to punch him in the head. Watts attempts to punch back with his right hand and then his left, but Ironwood leans to the sides to avoid his fists, grabs onto Watts' upper arm, and punches him hard in the ribs. He then grabs Watts by the throat and presses him up against the wall, lifting him up from the floor. Watts aims his revolver at Ironwood's face and shoots an Electricity Dust bullet and a Fire Dust bullet, forcing Ironwood to let go and dodge.
Ironwood grabs Watts' wrist, reaches across his back to draw his white gun, and aims it at Watts. Watts leans to the side, grabs the underside of Ironwood's gun, and jumps up and over Ironwood, who fires his gun while Watts still has the muzzle in his hand. Due to his wrist being twisted around, Ironwood is forced to let go of Watts, who then lets go of Ironwood's gun. Ironwood aims his gun at Watts, but Watts shoots first, firing an Electricity Dust bullet, which Ironwood blocks with his right arm. Watts flies backwards, turns in mid-air and lands on the floor.
"Ten."
Ironwood looks at his prosthetic arm for a moment and then fires his white gun at Watts, who flees. Ironwood chases him, and Watts uses a ring to change gravity once again and runs up a wall in front of him. As he chases Watts up the wall, Ironwood fires at him with his white gun. Watts turns and shoots a Fire Dust bullet and Ice Dust bullet, which knock the black gun from Ironwood's hand. Watts shoots one more Fire Dust bullet and then runs up onto the top of the wall.
Watts was getting more concerned now "Seven."
He shuts off the gravity for the wall and flees, but Ironwood manages to grab onto the edge with his left hand and pulls himself up. Once he reaches the top, he sees Watts fleeing to another gravity biome on Hard-Light platforms. Instead of following, Ironwood looks off to the left.
Immediately after Watts arrives in the other gravity biome, a lava geyser erupts from the sunken fire biome below. Watts looks back at it, and when the lava falls, he looks around in surprise, having lost sight of Ironwood. As Watts peeks over the edge at the fire biome, Ironwood leaps up onto a platform behind him and begins running.
Watts nodded to himself "Hmph."
Ironwood fires a normal bullet, striking Watts' shoulder and causing his Aura to flicker. Watts cries out in pain, then turns and angrily fires an Ice Dust bullet, which freezes Ironwood's right foot to the floor. Watts moves up to the underside of a platform above them. Ironwood shoots the ice trapping his leg, shattering the ice, and runs toward Watts, firing at him. Watts blocks with a Hard-Light shield and fires back with a normal bullet at first, followed by a series of Electricity Dust bullets. At one point, Ironwood's bullet and Watts' bullet deflect each other.
Ironwood and Watts leap at each other and grab onto each other's hands, rotating in the air due to the conflicting gravitational fields. Ironwood lets go of Watts' gun and punches him in the jaw, and Watts counters by headbutting him. Watts changes the gravity again, and the two fall onto the underside of a platform, landing on their sides. They get up, and Watts activates one of his rings and attempts to leap away, only for Ironwood to grab his ankle and slam him onto the floor. Watts' Aura flickers and then breaks.
Watts stands up and aims his revolver, only to see Ironwood already charging toward him. Ironwood tackles him, and the two go flying from the gravity biome, turning and flailing as they enter the planet's true gravitational pull. They both slam into the floor of the arena's center platform, and the impact breaks Ironwood's Aura. As he slides across the floor, Watts rights himself into a kneel and uses his rings on the platform, which begins to rise up. Ironwood stands up and checks his gun's ammo, panting.
Watts growled at his "You never appreciated my genius, James."
Ironwood puts the revolving chamber away and flips his gun around to hold it by the muzzle.
"You just stood atop it and called yourself a giant!"
Watts, also holding his revolver by the muzzle, charges forward, spins, and attempts to slam the side of his left fist into Ironwood's face, but Ironwood backs away from him. Watts moves forward and slams the butt of his revolver into Ironwood's nose, causing Ironwood to recoil and stumble back. Watts then attempts to punch with his left hand, but Ironwood blocks and redirects it with his right arm. Watts swings his revolver to the left at Ironwood's face again and barely misses. He then swings his revolver and his left fist to the right, but Ironwood ducks under both attacks. While Watts is turned away, Ironwood attempts to strike him with his revolver, but Watts turns and puts his left arm up to stop Ironwood's right arm. The force of Ironwood's right arm causes Watts to bend at his knees, and he then slams his revolver into Ironwood's chest, causing Ironwood to stumble back.
Ironwood looked at Watts "I gave you everything you could have wanted!"
Watts growled "You chose that fat imbecile over me!"
The platform finally stops rising, docking itself in an octogonal ring just under the Amity machinery.
As Ironwood charges toward him, Watts holds his gun out, but Ironwood pushes it aside with his left hand and then slams the butt of his revolver against Watts' mouth. Watts stumbles back and then attempts to guard himself with his right arm and his gun, and Ironwood punches his arm, causing him to turn. Watts stumbles and backs away, while Ironwood presses forward and strikes him across the jaw with his revolver. He attempts to defend with his arm, but once again, Ironwood punches him hard enough to cause him to turn. As they near a metal beam, Watts hits across Ironwood's face with his revolver and moves forward to take the offensive as Ironwood recoils from the blow. However, Ironwood recovers and punches Watts in the gut hard enough to send him flying back against the metal beam.
Ironwood attempts to hit him with his revolver again, but Watts grabs Ironwood's arm and attempts to aim his own revolver at Ironwood's head. Ironwood grabs onto Watts' wrist and the two stand locked in place.
Watts chuckled "I suppose in this instance, my brains and your brawn are evenly matched."
Ironwood stares Watts in the eyes, with the barrel of Watts' revolver pressed to his temple.
Ironwood smirked "You're smart, but you're not the only one who can count."
The two of them pant, and Watts lowers his gun, Ironwood letting go of his wrist. Ironwood starts to calm down but is soon alerted by the tone in Watts' voice.
Watts smirked as well "Oh, I know."
Watts drops his revolver, and Ironwood looks at it. Watts then grabs Ironwood's left wrist and swings him around to trade places with him. He then shoves Ironwood's arm through a gap in the metal beam and shoves himself away, collapsing to the floor. Four of Watts' rings are placed within the gap in the beam, held in place by a Hard-Light barrier that has trapped Ironwood's left arm. Ironwood attempts to pull his arm through, only for the barrier to tear and burn his skin, causing him to scream in pain.
Watts walked away from him, "That was a little too close for my liking, James."
Watts stands up, flexing his fingers and then making a fist.
"Rebuilding those rings is going to be such a pain."
Ironwood glares at Watts, who turns and begins walking away.
Watts looked back up at him sickly, "Now, if you'll excuse me."
Ironwood grips his upper arm and begins slowly pulling it through the barrier again, groaning and wincing in pain.
Watts waved his finger at James "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I mean, unless you're hoping to add more metal to that body of yours."
Ironwood stops for a moment, panting and sweating. He closes his eyes and resumes pulling. Watts uses his remaining rings to highlight portions of the tower's machinery in cyan boxes.
Watts looked around "All right now, where did they put them?"
Behind him, Ironwood cries out, and there is a thud. Watts' eyes widen, and he looks over his shoulder to see Ironwood sitting up from the floor, panting, with smoke rising from his left arm. Watts turns to face him, shocked.
"What?!" He gasped
Ironwood stands, charges forward, and uses his right arm to grab Watts by the collar of his shirt. He slams Watts onto the floor and continues running, scraping the right side of Watts' face against the floor, before lifting him up to dangle him over the edge of the platform. Lava bubbles and rises from the fire biome far below Watts, who stares down at it and then looks at the panting Ironwood.
Ironwood held him like iron "I will sacrifice... whatever it takes... to stop her."
Watts chuckles, smirking.
Watts sighed "Oh, I hope you do, James." He spat out blood which fell far below "I hope you do."
(Guts)
Guts and the others got to Mantle and met up with Qrow and the others,
"Come on, come on, come on, hurry." Guts said as he waved the people in,
"Get to Atlas, we got this zone." Ruby said as they watched the Manta take off,
"Jaune take the east side, Ruby you take the north I'll have west." Guts said
"Ruby nodded "ok good luck." She said.
Suddenly Penny landed in front of them "you need to get to Atlas as fast as possible." She said
"Wha-but Penny we just got here!" Ruby said
"I know, but it's urgent the Troops and locals will handle the Black fang and Grimm hurry General's orders!" She said
"What happened?" Blake asked
"The General's office has been broken into," she said.
Penny and the others walked into Ironwood's office, "what happened?" Yang asked
"When I went to confront Watts at Amity, which I was successful at bringing his capture, he's in a holding cell now." He said as Qrow and the others entered,
"What's up?" Qrow asked
James continued to speak "as I entered my office after I defeated Watts, I found this at my desk" he said as he held up a feather,
Guts gasped
"No…" he said
"What is it?" Weiss asked
"That feather. It's a hawk feather." Guts said
Everyone looked at Guts but Ruby looked down clenching her fist,
"Is that relevant?" James asked
"The one who Guts trusted the most, the person who he just wanted to be his firend, and later who caused him to loose his eye and his lover, had a moniker of "the white hawk." She said
Everyone gasped
"What?! So you mean someone knows about the godhand was here!?" Yang asked
"No…this is more intimate." Guts said as he reached his hand out, James handed it to him,
"Pure white I was right this is a message for me." He said
Ruby stepped forward "what does it mean Guts?"
Guts looked at Ruby
"Griffith is here."
(Oscar)
Oscar walked down the hall and heading towards where the staff is housed and heard a warping behind him as he looked back he found a portal
"What is that?" Oscar said
'I don't know but I don't like it?' Ozpin said
Oscar stood there as Femto exited the portal
Oscar's eyes widened. As he recognized Femto as Ozpin screamed in his head
'RUN!'
Oscar didn't hesitate he turned and ran,
'Shit shit shit why is he here!?' Oscar asked
'I don't know but keep the relic safe!' Ozpin said
'Yea kinda figured.' Oscar said as he bolted
Femto opened a portal as another opened in front of Oscar but he was able to slide under him just in time to avoid the swipe from Femto, as he looked at his empty hand stilly
"Phew that was a close one." Oscar said
'No I don't think so.' Ozpin said
'Huh what do You mean?' Oscar asked
"From what I understand from what Guts told me the godhand have the ability to warp Reality to there will and are able to see all future events, if he really wanted you caught and killed he would have made the portal lower.' Ozpin said
'So he's not out to kill me…um us.' Oscar said
'Not yet, but there's no telling if that won't change if he figures out who I am,' Ozpin thought before he took a pause.
'Oscar I-.'
"Shush, I hear something." Oscar said as he pinned himself to the door and tried to keep himself as quiet as possible,
Just outside the hall Femto flew down the hall scanning each door for Oscar,
'Oh why does he have to be a giant bat?' Oscar thought mentality.
'Honestly I can think of worse things.' Ozpin said
'Your not scared of bats.' Oscar hissed mentally
'Oh so that's why you had a fear of the barn Sense you were 14.' Ozpin said as if a final piece of the puzzle slid into place,
'Oh fuck do you feel that?' Oscar asked
'The overwhelming sense of dread?' Ozpin asked
'That's the one.' Oscar said
'He's outside,' Ozpin understood what he was trying to convey
'Yep.' Oscar said
Looking at the door Femto phased his hand into the wall and started to pat the door, reaching lower and lower,
Oscar squatted down as the hand reached lower and just barely missed getting brushed by Femto by the hair
Suddenly there was a loud cry down the hall as a girl screamed,
"AHHHH!"
Intruder fire!" A guy said as several gunshots were heard
Femto raised his cape and all the bullets vanished.
"Son of a bitch call for backup!" The leader said as someone got on the radio
"General there is an intruder on the 27th floor black cape and Hawk helmet-." He said before he was cut off by an ear bleeding scream which was so high pitched that it killed everyone in the hall, as Femto flew away trying to escape before he was cornered,
Oscar opened the door panting
"What the fuck was that?" He asked
'An opportunity, let's not waste it.' Ozpin said
'Right,' Oscar nodded as he ran down the hall and passed the guards grabbing a gun and scroll as he ran down.
"Unit 5 come in UNIT FIVE ANSWER!" James said on the scroll
(James)
Everyone in the The headmasters office was shocked at the announcement that a godhand member was here,
"Oh fuck are we actually doomed?" Yang asked,
Suddenly there was a scroll alert,
"General there is an intruder on the 27th floor black cape and Hawk helmet-."
Suddenly there was a loud screech which made everyone cover their ears until Ironwood was able to end the call.
"Damn it, what was that?" He asked panting
"That was Femto. I'm going, get online with the team and tell them to follow it I need it's exact location!" Guts said as he raced out the door,
"GUTS!" Ruby called out worried he was being blinded by his vendetta.
"I'm fine Ruby, I just don't like the fact Griffith is here but not supervised." Guts said
James looked around
"We have no idea what he's doing here, for all we know he could be trying to make Atlas fall or try to bring both relics to Salem." James said
"What do we do?" Ruby asked
James sighed "I'm declaring Code black, Atlas has fallen, I want you to get the Staff of creation and make an evacuation plan for both Atlas and for Mantle to bring them to Shade academy, the Military will stay here and make sure that no no Grimm follow." He said
"But wait won't Atlas start falling if we use the staff?" Yang asked
"Only if it leaves the vault, now hurry, we don't have a lot of time." James said
"What about us?" Qrow asked
James sighed "there's going to be a massive influx of panic once code black is declared, I'm sorry but I need you on the ground helping civilians to the evacuation." James said
Qrow nodded
James sighed as he looked at his scroll again,
"Unit five come in UNIT FIVE ANSWER!" James Said
"Unit five is all dead General." Oscar said
James stood up "Oscar!" He asked
(Oscar)
Oscar had himself pinned to the wall to catch his breath,
"Right here General." He said
"Oscar are you ok? what happened?" He asked
Oscar shook his head "I-I don't know, he was reaching for me and then." He said
"Wait wait wait stop, who was reaching for you?" James asked
"The bird guy-um-Femto. He was after me. I think he's after the relic." He said
"Ok stay there I'll send Guts to you." He said
Suddenly there was a screech from someplace nearby
"Too late he's coming, tell him to meet me at the vault." He said as he hung up before James could warn him
"Wait Oscar don't go there, don't go there- click,"
James growled as he punched the desk although he couldn't blame Oscar for the idea, he clicked a button on the radio. And called team RWBY.
"Girls listen up your schedule got harder, Oscar is on his way to the vault amd Femto is on his heels." James said
The girls looked at each other worried,
"You must insure the Staff doesn't fall into Femto hands, the Relic of knowledge is fine, but if the staff is taken from the vault the entire place falls and millions will die," James said.
Ruby sighed "understood General were on it." She said
"Good, I'm sending Guts Oscars location." James said as he hung up.
James sighed and looked up to see Penny still in his office
"Penny I didn't think you were still here." He said
"Well I wasn't given any orders on what to do." She said
James sighed "Penny" he said as he got up and put a hand on her shoulder, "look there is a crisis happening, I can't always be giving you orders, especially now, your getting older Penny, I…Fria." James said as he rushed back to his desk
"Winter winter do you hear me?" He asked
(Winter)
Winter responded on the wall phone "yes General, I'm here." She said
"Jimmy…" a weaken voice said winter looked over her shoulder sadly
"G-James…your wife wants to have her final words with you." She said
"Tell her I'm on my way." He said as he hung up
Winter was shocked as his abruptness and hung up the phone
Fria sighed sadly as she looked down "he won't make it…" she said as tears fell from his eyes.
(James)
The General rushed down the hall and knocked on Pietro door
"Pietro open up, its urgent!" He said
Pietro opened the door
Cranky "what is it General?" He asked
"Your wife's final moments, come." He said
Pietro gapsed "oh my, yes, yes come on Penny," he said as they rushed down the hall,
(Winter)
The door opened and she was greeted by The General, Penny, and Dr, Polendina.
"Mum?" Penny asked
Fria looked up "I'm here sweet pea…" she said
Penny rushed forward and gently wrapped her hands around her mother,
"Oh Penny. I'm so sorry." She said
Penny pulled away "why? After all you've done, you birthed me, gave me life, taken care of me, you're the best mother I could have ever asked for." She said
Fria smiled
"That's sweet…but we'll it's this…" she said as she knocked on her metal skin,
"I just wished I was able to…to be able to give you real skin back…" she said fading in and out of consciencessness.
Winter pressed her hand onto her hand "madam isn't there something you wanted to say to James?" She asked
"Ah James, yes yes…James, I just had to say…thank you, I know we were the last to get married the archaic way, but you did make the most of it, and we're the best husband you could've ever been to me, even if i never did love you." She said
James nodded "I know I only wished I was able to get that damn law rescinded sooner." He said as he clenched his fist, "it's my one regret," he said he sighed
"I'll let pietro speak now." He said
"Oh no it's fine James, me and pietro have nothing to talk about now." She said
"But what about?" James asked
Peitro waved his hand "Fria is right James for the longest time all I had to do was look at her and know what she was thinking, and just like her I too am glad we got legally married before the end came." He said
Fria smiled "well said…my love…Penny?" She asked
"Yes?" Penny asked
"Please…protect them." She said as she closed her eyes and went to sleep,
Penny fell to her knees and let out a scream,
Winter gasped as she noticed that Frias' aura flowed from her body into Penny, making her gasp.
She looked down at her hands,
"What but, I?" She asked
"It's just like before if a maiden is split into two halves and one dies it will always go to the other half, congratulations Penny you're the new Winter maiden." James said
Penny looked at James as tears fell from her eyes
"Why does it hurt so much?"
James and Pietro silently hugged Penny, as Winter respectful covered Fria's face with her blanket,
Eoc
Short chapter but I felt it fitting to end it here, Keep reading -bankerrtx01-